A holiday cottage loo

Well, it seems only right that this is the first room I share from where we stayed in Norfolk last week. That’s another thing that 2020 has brought, or rather not brought, as there’s been distinctly less loos to share, if you know what I mean.

But this one is a stunner, though somehow I’ve managed to completely fail in having a picture of the high level cistern. I used to have one, though not as fancy, in my old house and there’s a definite knack to flushing first time.

I told you it was a stunner, didn’t I?

I quickly fell for the green, and the plumbing.

There were plants throughout the whole cottage, but these heart shaped succulents were my favourite, I think. Though the money plant brought back good memories of a much larger version, which lived on the doorstep in my old house. Well, it did until one day when it wasn’t there anymore - for a five foot plant to disappear into thin air was quite something.

The cottage had a fab looking shower, and bath - which we didn’t really get time to use. The one day we did, it was raining so much outside that spending more time in water, wasn’t top of our list.

It was the small touches, throughout the cottage that really made it work. Truly inspiring.

And thankfully, I still had the knack of a high-level cistern. I think it’s the prettiest I’ve seen for a while.

Starting another crochet project

Erm, yes - because I need another project on the go, but there’s no time like the present hey?

Remember those crochet threads I bought in Norfolk as part of a lucky dip of vintage threads, well I’m starting to put them to use. I’d run out of mini-skeins from my multi-coloured yet-to-be-decided item, but I was keen to keep the pattern going in my head. So without really planning to, I found myself starting another crochet project.

But before I tell you more about the new project, here’s the most recent additions to my rainbow squared thing. Thing, because I’m not sure what the squares will turn into yet - but at some point they will have a purpose.

My next box arrived while we were away and so I’ll be picking that up again too. I’m finding this pattern pretty addictive. And while it looks complicated, it’s actually pretty easy to remember. My challenge is coming back to it when the new mini-skeins arrive, and needing to relearn it.

What I needed was something to keep it going through the month, and that’s where the crochet threads come in. It’ll be no surprise that I’ve no plans for the resulting squares, but I’m sure inspiration will strike. Or I hope so anyway.

Not wanting, or needing, to buy anything to keep my brain working and my hands active I realised now was the time to dig out some of those crochet threads. In the end I settled on this neutral colour as there were 3 full reels, one that had been started and a small hand wound ball.

I couldn’t help but smile at the instructions to ‘buy sufficient to complete’ your project. If only they knew, and actually if only I knew. How do you buy sufficient for an unknown project, and how given the number of years since is that possible today? Exactly.

I quickly realised this would be an ideal project to take away with me, and so I needed something to put this in. A plastic bag didn’t really cut it. So when I found this square pouch, which the threads fitted snugly in, I had a project and a pouch to carry it in. The pouch was a present from mum and dad, and one that mum had made. I’m sure she said at the time, you never know when it’ll come in useful - and she was right.

Even the small metal crochet hooks fit into the pouch - it was clearly meant to be!

A crocheted heart

Quite often simple is best. And a spot of creativity can do wonders.

I’ve many crochet projects on the go, and most are larger items which will take a while to complete. A few weeks back - you can tell by the sun! - I felt like I needed to finish something, but wasn’t sure what. I’d started to sew in some ends of my vintage hearts throw, and being the magpie that I am, I’d kept the longer ends. Along with the scraps I’d deemed too long to throw away, but too short to be worthwhile using on a larger project, the blues - and I mean literally the blues - called me.

And so it wasn’t long before I’d crocheted myself a heart. My plan was a crocheted flower, but somehow this happened. I’d searched through several patterns, and this is a mix of many. It seemed to work well as a one-dimensional piece, and with a crocheted string soon added, it worked as a keyring.

I have it in mind to try a double sided version, adding some stuffing - but not just yet. For the time being though, my little heart of blues makes me smile every time I pop out the back. There’s definitely room for improvement, but as I said before simple is good, and so is done.