the twisted yarn

Knitting, crochet, running, and silliness.

In The Yarn Garden

by 29 Comments

Evenin’.

I’ve been busy in the garden. Not the real garden, you understand, where overgrown shrubs fight vicious battles for legroom, and where convolvulus sneaks across the lawn when it thinks nobody’s looking, although if we’re talking about the real garden, I’m quite partial to this quiet corner:-

the garden

No, I’m talking about the garden of the crochet house-related project. It’s going to be detailed, with paths and a pond, and lots of flowers and general garden stuff, but you have to begin with the basics. Those three 100g balls of poo-coloured mud-coloured acrylic-alpaca I bought a couple of days ago?

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2½ of them are now bare earth, ready for flowers and veg. I’ve been busy. I crocheted in bed. I crocheted in the bath. I crocheted whilst cooking and whilst reading stories to the Tyrannical Twinnage. I worked 108 rows of 99 single crochet stitches: that’s 10962 stitches. So I now have a big ol’ square of neat rows of earth onto which to attach my deliberately-wibbly-wobbly lawn. Sorry, fingers: I’m sure you’ll overcome the pain eventually.

So, badly lit by artificial light, here’s the basis of the garden. I couldn’t take photos any earlier: the Tyrannical Twinnage were swarming. I know there are only two of them but I swear they can swarm.

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Speaking of the twinnage, I’ve had to face the fact that they really are going to be starting school in a mere couple of weeks’ time, so we’ve been out and about buying the various bits and pieces they need. Since when did school uniform become so casual?! In my day, we tied a neat striped tie before going to school, and wore skirts with immaculate pleats. So what’s with all these sweatshirts and tracksuit bottoms they wear now? Am I sounding old, just a tad? At least there’s no need for me to master the arcane art of… ironing. But seriously, how many shirts and pairs of trousers are you supposed to buy? When the twinnage come home from a day at nursery, really everything needs to go in the wash. Immediately. Preferably handled with tongs from a safe distance. Does that mean I need two times five of everything to withstand a week of school? All advice appreciated…

Anyway, we should talk about yarn. A few of you asked in the comments about the limited edition Stylecraft packs of the 10 shades we shortlisted for the colour competition.

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Well if you’re interested in buying, they’ll be available from mid-October. And watch this space for a giveaway…

Talking of giveaways, you have not much more than twelve more hours to enter the Burrow And Soar giveaway! The competition ends at midday GMT tomorrow (Thursday). SORRY FOLKS, THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED. RESULTS COMING SOON. Anyone not entered yet? I can promise you that this yarn is luscious. The results will be posted on this site. 🙂

Comments

  2. For Pumpkin when he started reception last year, I went with a couple of ‘official’ jumpers and polo shirts (meaning with the school logo on) and then topped up with some plain jumpers and polo shirts – supermarkets usually have a good range of cheap school wear.

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  3. Lol, you need 2 of everything per child, maybe a few more shirts and socks. You WILL be doing a wash AT LEAST every 2 days. Unless you separate out whites and stuff… Please don’t say you do that, I’m seriously concerned that everyone does it but me…

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  4. My eldest started school this year and I bought him 2 polo tops, 2 skivvies (roll necks?), 2 jumpers and 2 pairs of trackie daks (no tie for me but yes, it’s FAR more casual than in my day too). I’ve since topped up with 3 more pairs of trousers and another jumper but a wet cloth on superficial mess can render a jumper ready to wear again. 😉 Trousers however get dirty knees and muddy ankles. We’re in winter here (we started the year mid term) in Australia so we haven’t had to deal with the buckets of sweatiness summer brings but I reckon 2-3 uniforms should cover. I mean, 1 to wear and 1 to wash with something close enough in case things don’t dry.

    Loving your garden too. I can’t wait to see it all unveiled!

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    • Thank you, seriously, for your advice. This is so helpful. And yes, I may have to resort to sponging away the worst of the dirt rather than washing sometimes…
      Hope your eldest is enjoying school.

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      • He adores it! Not that you’d know each morning when he falls sick to the point of dying (only to recover the minute breakfast lands on the table or something distracts him – beware the acting skills kids learn!)

        Glad to have been able to help. 🙂

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  6. You’ll want 2 of everything for each school day. Figure one outfit per school day. You will want something for them to change into when they come home because school can get pretty messy at times.

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    • Thank you. Sounds as though I just need to accept that my laundry pile will be always full and my bank account will be always empty! Right, I’m off to do some shopping. But seriously, thanks for the advice.

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  7. I have no children so my comment is based on observation of my now 13 year old nephew. Which is: Boys Get Dirty At School. Also my sister has frequently acidly observed on the staying power of cheaper uniforms…

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  8. Loving your agapanthus photo. I work in a Reception classroom. We actively plan ways of getting boys filthy each and every day!!

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  9. Loving watching the garden take shape.
    Re uniform, the primary objective is not to be having to crisis wash all the time. If tshirts are white and you are anal about them, invest in at least 1 week’s worth of tshirts per child. I usually manage (2 grubby boys) with 2 or 3 sets of trousers or shorts and a couple of sweaters (though mine are hot souls who take them off a lot, hence the destroyed polo shirts). Buy cheaper tshirts as they are going to get trashed/ripped/stained and then you won’t weep as much when you turn them into rags to clean up the other messes they make. Assume you will need industrial quantities of stain remover. Accept that nothing (nothing!) removes washable black paint or felt tip. For the future, many uniform sellers (esp M&S) have 20%-off sales before the summer holidays even start… ? Best wishes for the new phase of kiddy-dom

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  10. I agree wholeheartedly with AnnaH. Unless you are devoted to laundry, get 5 shirts and at least 2/3 trousers per child (or in my case skirts/dresses/trousers – which of course leads to the little darlings demanding to wear a dress on the day when only the trousers are clean,but that’s another story…)

    In the meantime, I’m most impressed by your progress on the crochet garden. 10962 stitches – wow! But I’m finally beginning to understand how you manage to be so productive… crochet in the bath, it’s so obvious now you say it…

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  11. Bravo! I applaud your tenacity in the creation of the bare earth. Soooo intriguing. As to uniform, all I remember through the mist of time (15 years ago) is that you always need more than you think. Buy as others have suggested 3 of bottom halves and jumpers (one to wear, wash and spare) and at least 5 shirts/tee-shirts per twin then you have a clean one for each day. I was a great advocate of a wet sponge to freshen skirt/trousers during the week too. Good luck with the mammoth shop ahead of you.

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  12. Lovely colour, that mud brown. I am travelling to the UK tomorrow and I am so going to do some serious English-yarn shopping ….

    In The Netherlands, we don’t do school uniforms. But I like them … 🙂

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  13. You are galloping towards the home stretch Ms T. Get into it! Soon it will be a wonderfully decorative memory punctuated with a hefty dose of pride displayed “somewhere” (note the questioning tone of that word carefully and casually placed between those two quotation marks…). You are not going to know yourself soon when the swarming masses of toddler twins are at school. A brand spanking new routine will need to be assembled (cobbled out of necessity and fear) and I suggest buying 40 uniforms as you are going to need to hide under the bed for a couple of weeks, huddled among the dust bunnies to recover. Seriously? No sweat. The swarming masses will LOVE school :).

    Reply

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