Thursday, July 5, 2012

Crochet baby bootees and some skies

Joe and Sarah, have just been blessed with a baby boy and so I wanted to make something for the new arrival.  I scoured my pattern collection but couldn't find just what I wanted.

No problem as the wonders of the internet drew me to Etsy where I found a lovely crochet pattern by  Lisa named Modern Crochet Bootees.  So cute!
First bootee
I'd found out from Joe's boss that they'd had a little boy named Jake so I wanted a boyish pattern and this fitted the bill perfectly.  It is crocheted using an aran weight yarn and I chose 2 shades of Rowan Summer Tweed.

I love this yarn as there are flecks of the contrast colour in the main colour which helps them blend together well.

Side view
The instructions are very well written and easy to follow and they were soon finished.  I gave them a wash in Woolite to soften the yarn and they felt gorgeous and soft afterwards.

Joe was delighted with them when I saw him this morning and has promised to send a photo of Jake wearing them - I hope they fit!

Gravel garden
I took this photo yesterday evening to capture Berkheya purpurea 'Zulu Warrior'  as it is looking fabulous.  I've never grown it before and it was  a bit of an experiment on our heavy clay but it seems happy at the moment.

Salvia with bee
The beautiful Salvias are like a magnet to bees and pollinating insects and I love their dusky mauve stems and purplish flowers.

Sky at 19:33
It was a really warm and sunny day yesterday which made a change from the dreary grey and rainy days we've had for the last couple of weeks.  So we sat outside on the sunloungers for the first time in ages and watched the sun go down.

The first photo was taken when the sky took on tones of deep grey and we thought we might have to head inside but that soon cleared away, leaving us with a glorious Turneresque sky.

This is my penultimate month in my year of photographing our skies and it has been a very interesting exercise, yielding some exquisite images.  Some of them have inspired Mike in his paintings and some of them have made me want to capture them in stitch.

Sky at 21:06
As for my running, I'm slowly getting back into it and adjusting to my breathing problems.  I attended my first Asthma management clinic yesterday (now there's something that wasn't on my 'to do' list, that's for sure!!!) and I asked loads of questions and was reassured that with the right medication I will still be able to continue running marathons.

Phew!