Christchurch

source EDITED 1/9/11 to link to a home town party over at centsational girl. this is a picture of the Catheral at the heart of my hometown of Christchurch New Zealand. On Feb 22nd this year, my city suffered a devasting earthquake that took the best part of 200 lives and destroyed alot of the historic building, including this beautiful Catheral. It is now being propped up by scaffolding and has lost most its spire and roof. Below is a video i found which shows my town in all her glory before the quakes.

Christchurch-Timelapse from lukaskaupenjohann on Vimeo.

I was blog hoping this evening, and came across this time laspe video of Christchurch. its beautiful....my hometown before the earthquakes and how i remember her.

May i just say.....

That yarn i got is the most snuggliest wool i've ever felt i reckon....its so much nicer than the 100% i had for another project. I'm loving it, and have made 8 squares so far!. yesterday on the bus i only managed 2 rounds of a square, today i managed the whole square and the start of the next one!. i'm getting quicker, have pretty much got the pattern in my head now, and i'm also getting neater!.
I'll show some piccies over the weekend!.
Oh, and the cushion pad is at the post office waiting to be collect, so i hope to finish that this weekend!.
hope i've got the making of my own Lucy Ta Dah post!!.

new stash!

my new found hobby means i have to buy more stash!!. this is oh so yummy 100% merino wool for a blanket i'm making. i just ordered 7 colours to test how they would be in real life vs the colour on the net....just like i used to do with cardstock!!.
I ordered from yarns4less and am very pleased with the service and speed of the order. I ordered this 4 days ago and got it today!.
on the whole i'm happy with the colours, but would have liked the darker pink and lilac to have been a bit more vibrant. I cant wait to crochet a few more squares with the new colours.

I also won the cushion pad i was after on ebay, so hopefully that will arrive soonish, so i can finish the bloomin flower cushion.

some Sunday kitchen love!

This morning i planned to mow the lawns, 'cept when i got outside the grass was very wet and the sky getting darker by the minute, so i made the decision not to use an electric mower in those conditions!. I decided to bake instead!.
So i put on my stereo with its 5 CD changer and made a sultana cake from a recipe thats been in my mothers family for donkeys years!.
then i had a small tidy and decided to take a few picces to record the morning!.
so here they are....
my stereo on my lovely freecycle sideboard

the sultana cake

my kitchen bench


my lovely bowl from a pottery fair in St Albans(i have a bowl fetish!)

And finally my first 2 attempts at a crochet granny square!

I have begun the back of the bloomin flower cushion and placed a bid for a cushion pad on ebay. I'm not sure how big i want it to be, and part of me also wants to finish it as i have a history of not finishing projects, so making it smaller than Lucys may be the answer!. So now i wait for the pad so i can then work out how much bigger it needs to be.

new header #2

had another play this morning making a new header, adding in a piccie of the newly cracked hobby of crochet. i had to forgo my lovely tulip photo as its not portrait so have replaced it with a pic of Big Ben, since i currently live in London.
so l-r, (all my own images) my blooming flower cushion as of last weekend; a road in Oxford, North Canterbury, NZ; my dear old lilly puss back in Christchurch; and Big Ben taken from the Thames a year ago when i returned by boat from the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

on the flower cushion front, i have added another colour and begun the back as i'm not sure how big i want the cushion to be. I'd looked on ebay for a second hand pad to go inside and will then decide on the final size based on whichever pad i win.
I also made my first 2 granny squares yesterday...the first one was very tatty, the second one better, but the pattern is easy to understand, so i should be able to churn out a few on the bus or in the evening when i'm to tired to count the flower cushion rounds!.

Last comment goes to England Rugby......why the 'F' are you wearing black, you look ridiculous. everytime i looked at the screen i thought i was watching NZ play wales, not you. You're not the All Blacks, you never will be, go back to your white strip!!. *breathes out* that feels better!.
And didnt the AB's do a fantastic job over Australia.....i do love to watch a good Aussie defeat!.(wouldnt be a true kiwi if i didnt!).

things are growing!!.

I went to the allotment yesterday after a few weeks break....it's just so difficult getting there now, plus, having agreed a handover date with the council, i'm loosing the will and cant face how messy its become.
So i decided to face it yesterday....sundays are even harder to get there with 'sunday buses'!. Bless Jim (the neighbouring plotholder)....he was actually mowing my paths when i arrived!. I stayed for about an hour....feed the tomatoes in the polytunnel and harvested the first of the crops. they are certainly much happier in the tunnel.....i'm going to have the best crop ever this year!.
i watered the beans, squash and sweetcorn, and Jim has been watering them also...they will only survive thanks to him!. he also sent me home with some of his beetroot!.
i came home with this lot, that i grew - cheriettes of fire tomatoes, a blueberry and a purple bean!...


also growing is my crochet project!. i've done another 6 rounds this afternoon with the grand prix on in the background. i'm so chuffed with myself for attempting this, which i'm sure people would say isnt a beginners project!. heres a couple of sneek peeks!....

I can crochet!!!!

finally this afternoon i started a crochet project, having played with the stitches for some time. I saw on Attic24, a wonderful cushion cover and decided, rather ambitiously that that should be the first thing i made!. so this afternoon about 3, i sat down on the bed, with Lucy's blog open and just got on with it. I had to undo the 1st 2 rounds so many times, watch youtube tutorials to learn how to do simple things, but suddenly it all just clicked and away i went. I managed the next couple of rounds ok, then i mucked up again and just as i was ending a round, i had to undo it all!. but that taught me the final thing i needed to crack, and since then its been plain sailing *knocks on her head!!*.
so some piccies so far....

these are the colours i have to choose from...

finally....it looks like Lucy's!

it looks like a flower!!

more colour....and the round i had to undo!.




from now on, its a secret!!...until its finished!!.

man tho!, i think i need my eyes tested, i certainly had eye strain, but then again, it doesnt help crocheting when you have a headache, and infront of a computer screen!!.

But yay me!!. i can do it!!.......
just gotta finish it now!.