Quite a productive weekend

I've just finished the second of two "Ken's Dulaan Hat" hats. On the first I used 2 strands of "chunky" acrylic, and it turned out definitely large-child-sized. I used 3 strands on the second and it did turn out larger, but still I feel more suited to a child! I'm not sure what the original intent of the pattern was, size-wise, but they are lovely chunky warm hats. The nice thing is they only took me an hour or so each.

I think I'll use an odd ball of Colinette Point 5 next and make a hat using the pattern I got in the hat & scarf kit last year. I can knock out a hat in chunky yarn in an evening's knitting, which to me seems more sensible than trying to make larger garments in the time I have available. I want to be able to send a number of hats to Dulaan, along with the chunky double-thick scarf already done.

Thanks for all of the lovely comments on Clapotis! The yarn is so, so pretty isn't it. Not sure if I can get any more of it, I'd certainly be interested as I could make a matching hat and fingerless gloves :-) That said, I'm still on the first 50g skein, almost at the end of it, so it's going quite a long way!

My mother saw my steek boa on Friday and seemed to like it rather a lot - I'm considering making one for Mother's Day now. I also wore it out yesterday, when we had quite a wind-chill actor, and it kept me very warm indeed. It looks fab against a long black coat.

We're so looking forward to some warmer weather here, as we are formulating this year's plans for the garden. Last year we put up some square trellising which really improved the look of the patio-area by the garage, and also had the lawn replaced and an out-of-control border removed. We'd originally dug a lot of lawn out at the back, as we had ground elder growing and the only way to get rid of it is to dig it out ruthlessly. This ended up as a big deep border and after a number of years, it had got out of control, not least due to some zebra-striped grass which is truly invasive stuff.

This year we'll be rearranging where some of the wooden garden furniture lives, and attempting to terrace the gravelled slope so we can put some of our more "exotic" potted plants on there (e.g. banana, cannas). As I mentioned, there is scope or a few more plants in the borders nearer the house, which will definitely include some foxgloves. As Sharon has said, they are not invasive, in fact quite the opposite! (great to see you back too Sharon!). Yesterday we put up a bird box which may or may not attract one of the various small birds that frequent the garden, and I cleaned all of the bird baths out (we have four!). We think blackbirds are nesting in the conifer hedge again. Today we've seen the wood pigeons again for the first time in months. Also around was a robin, a bunch of collared doves (regular visitors to the bird tables), and one of the jackdaws eating seed too. The starlings are hilarious as they have learned to hang upside down and eat the suet out of the nets or the coconuts.