My secret garden

I live in an apartment with the most boring views. I don't have  a garden . I grow a few herb pots that sit on the smallest strip they call a balcony .That's  why I spent so much of my time admiring all my blogger friends lives filled with glorious views.

 I have to drive to parks to enjoy some greenery and in central London they are really hard to find. They keep building So with all that I think you can all understand why my house is filled with yarn.I know why I have a yarn garden . My cupboard are fit to burst with beautiful, colourful blooms would you like a little walk with me into my  yarn garden??

 

 

Would you like to see just a few of my favourites ??

 

This gorgeous jade green yarn is

Madelinetosh Pashmina  a superb 3-ply yarn made up of 75% superwash merino wool, 15% silk and 10% cashmere, a similar fibre blend to the infamous woven pashmina scarves.

This machine washable yarn is hand-dyed in small dye lots and knits up to create a soft fabric with great drape. Absolutely gorgeous!

content :: 75% superwash wool, 15% silk and 10% cashmere
length :: 360 yards / 329 meters

One skein  Peace, Love & Misti - Hand Paint Sock Yarn and one skein                                          Misti Alpaca - Tonos Carnival 4 Ply



Gorgeous hand painted 4ply (fingering) sock yarn. Peace, Love & Misti Alpaca represents the finest yarns from Misti's private hand paint studio in Peru. All collections from  Misti's hand paint studio carry this special label, representing Miguel's commitment to preserving the artistry of hand paint yarns and his mission to provide good jobs and fair wages and benefits to the people of his hometown, Arequipa. So soft and gorgeous to work with. I have since bought more Composition: 50% Super Fine Alpaca, 30% Fine merino Wool, 10% Silk and 10% Nylon for durability Weight and yardage: Approx. 100g - 398m / 436yds

 These five Skeins are Wollemeise

I found out about  Wollmeise yarn on Ravelry and it has became an international hit  Apparently,  the high demand couldn't be met with a steady stock. The online shop had weekly updates  where the shop would be stocked once a week and thousands of people were trying to snatch up a precious skein of Wollmeise. It's been a crazy race .I finally managed to get hold of these from Loop GB, you can  still only get this by going to the shop demand is to high that they still cannot sell online as soon as it comes in , its gone.

 

I am not sure how I feel about this yarn.  I have crocheted the peacock coloured one and I didn't find it very special at all. I think it might look better knitted .In crochet the colour pooled in the wrong way, it just didn't look right. I did not find it soft. I found it rather tough if I'm honest. I suppose they will be suitable for socks. However, I'm one of those people that likes my socks to be soft. I have only played with one skein that was 80% merino 20% nylon and I do have different composition so I will not condemn the brand .

                                                        Claudia Hand Painted Yarn
These beautiful Teal colour yarn is 100% silk, it has a generous 1000m .It is a discontinued yarn , it is so beautiful and will one day to be a delightful rectangular shawl.

Skein Queen's Five-4-Silver. It contains  silver stellina thread that adds a lovely sparkle

Lotus Yarn Cashmere. I love this yarn and have quite a lot of colours in this .It is 100% cashmere and my goodness it is divine.

                                                                               Habu
          Habu carries unusual and difficult to find fine yarns from small mills in Japan and Asia
The collection is pretty amazing.  I love the green cotton gima. This is a cotton, which feels like paper. “Gima” literally means “fake linen” in Japanese.  I made  cardigan in this fibre  in black it is very rough almost like working with raffia ,but the beauty of this yarn is once it is washed it becomes incredibly soft like soft silk linen.  
The red yarn is Habu Textiles Tsumugi Silk. This is a silk, which feels like cotton ,very textured and wonderful to work with. I made a sarong with it and I wear I every time I go away it is a wonderful fiber

 

 

Malabrigo

If the colours lure knitters to Malabrigo, the soft fibres reel them in. Malabrigo uses extremely soft Merino fibres for most of its yarns. The fibres are spun loosely enough to keep a marvellous halo and decadent softness that really does feel like you're knitting with butter. I love this yarn. It is one of my favourites

                                                I think you can tell I lovvvve Malabrigo

                           Juno Alice Lace                                 

                                      Content: 70% Baby Alpaca, 20% Silk, 10% Cashmere
                                                Approx 800m/874 yards per 100g skein

            Fabulous lace weight lambswool from Jade Sapphire that's machine washable. This is so soft
                                    Weight and yardage: Approx. 60g - 754m / 825yds

KPPPM - Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino

An exquisite fingering weight (4 ply) yarn  Beautifully soft. This finely spun merino wool is handpainted in small batches of colour-packed skeins. When knit or crocheted, the colours create a beautiful fabric of speckles and streaks. Each dye lot of Koigu's Painter's Palette is an individual creation and there are no two dye lots exactly the same with this yarn I recommend, as with all hand-dyed yarns, that you knit with two skeins, alternating every few rows for improved colour blending. Love this stuff.                                                     Composition: 100% merino wool                                     Weight and yardage: Approx. 50g - 160m / 175yds

                                                Lovely Drop Safran Egyptian cotton

I like the Drops range it is very good value for money .This only cost £8.10 for 800m .It is 30% silk, 70% Alpaca from woolwarehouse  it is also very good quality, It comes in a wonderful range of colours

                                                                             Noro,
                                                                  Everyone loves Noro

                             I will end on these beautiful green from Fyberspates, delicious stuff
                                                              I hope you enjoyed the views.
         Joining in today with the lovely Chrissie and Marianne for their 'Blooming Crochet-A-Long'

Oh we do love to be beside the Seaside

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside
Oh I do like to be beside the sea
Oh I do like to walk along the prom prom prom
Where the brass band plays tiddly-pom-pom-pom

 

Just let me be beside the seaside
I’ll be beside myself with glee
There are lots of girls beside
That I’d like to be besides
Beside the seaside, beside the sea

 

 

We enjoyed a  weekend spa break in Weston super Mare. As soon as I spotted the sea I broke into  this song. For me there is nothing  as comforting as a day at the seaside.

 

 

 

Seaside air was considered to be healthy because of its "ozone" content but the smell giving rise to this belief is in reality that of rotting seaweed, nevertheless I love it  .Ozone's odor is sharp, reminiscent  not only of  the sea but all the smells associated with a day at the seaside ,fish n chips, donuts, candy floss ,oh I do love to be beside the seaside

Is there anything more satisfying then  ambling/walking along the sea looking for those treasures in the sand ,tangles of seaweed, a piece of wood drift ,some shells.

I watched children riding the donkey .I remember having a go years ago.

 

 shadows in the sand

 

 We had a fabulous time. Massage, sauna. I really enjoyed the zero gravity massage chairs. Hours of self indulgent time .I love reading the National Geographic magazine so I furnished myself on a lounger with a pile .Oh it was sheer bliss.

All this was followed by a wonderful three course meal. We stayed in a lodge which had the most beautiful views , a lovely bathroom and the most comfortable bed. The following day we feasted on a very hearty breakfast. What is it about the sea air that makes us so hungry?

I feel so chilled , so mellow and very very happy.


 "I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside" is a popular British song made famous by music hall singer Mark Sheridan who first recorded it in 1909. It speaks of the singer's love for the seaside, and his wish to return there for his summer holidays each year

Apologises for the picture size I am having problems with adjusting the size blogger isn't allowing me to do this.

"2013 reading list

I adore reading .I was asked by brother how many I read in 2013? In all my years reads of reading I never thought to note what I had read but why not?

 I've read 160 books in 2013. However that does include the 30 cookbooks I bought and read from cover to cover, do cookbooks count as reading ? I do so often lie in bed with a pile of food porn, Nigel slater, Nigella, Simon Hopkinson oh these guys write it all so sexily, ha ha.
160 my goodness that's a lot, however, I know I would definitely read more but I am getting more and more distracted by your lovely blogs or articles on the Internet and of course Pinterest.


 I have always considered myself a fiction-only reader and it was a surprise to note that I've actually read 43 non-fiction books, Most of those are related to creating a  business , bookkeeping or being happy and the 5;2 diet, so not exactly weighty intellectual tomes but that's not what I look for in a book nowadays.

 I did try and choose a "Book of the Year" but found it too hard.

I love a book that makes reading enjoyable. I love the natural way of telling the story that draws you in and this series of books by Leigh Russell did just that. It had the quality that some books lack and that is the craving to get back to it. I have never really enjoyed the 'who dunnit' genre and have always steered clear from it but this lady has opened my mind .Very easy to read unputdownable book.

 Other books I've read - usually those which I've picked up somewhat randomly from the kindle library - have proved to be absolutely forgettable. This seems a shame when there are so many wonderful books out there waiting to be read but I still feel it is always worth taking a chance on unknown authors.

One book I really recommend is this

 If your son-in-law murdered your daughter in front of their children, could you forgive him and let him see his children again when he comes out of prison? This is the dilemma of this story. Beautifully told and not all is what it seems! This is a fabulous read.

This is also  a wonderful story that entertains and disquiets in equal measure. It is about a man, just retired, who sets out to walk from Devon to Berwick on Tweed after receiving a letter from an old work colleague. The colleague, Queenie, is dying of cancer. Harold pens a quick reply and sets off to post it, but somehow the posting of this letter seems inadequate. He decides instead to walk the 500 odd miles to Berwick, taking us with him. A pilgrim of faith becomes a journey of self-discovery, forgiveness and reconciliation. It's a powerful novel that portrays the strengths and frailties of the human condition and our need to love and be loved. It's slow in the beginning but persevere, the pace picks up and you won't be able to put it down. It's well worth reading

 I've really enjoyed this small project, so much so that I think I'll continue to record the books of 2014. It's exciting to think of all those books waiting for me. I hope this new year brings you some wonderful reading too. What are you reading.