A day at the Zoo and a blanket reveal

Hello, I hope you are having a pleasant weekend. It's a shame the weather has turned a bit wet, where has the Summer gone?

We went with some friends to the Whipsnade Zoo on Tuesday and had a really pleasant day. The weather was perfect for walking around the zoo, the only fly in the ointment so to speak were the pesky wasps, that seemed to plague us all day. I really can't see the point of wasps, they are just a pest in my opinion. I know they eat aphids but so do ladybirds and they don't annoy or sting. Anyway, wasp rant out of the way, do you want to see some pics of the rather lovely animals?

A ring tailed Lemur walking the tightrope.

Some very pink flamingos. They were such a beautiful deep coral colour



My favourites, the elephants having their morning walk about around the zoo, nose to tail, so very sweet to watch. We saw the elephant show in the afternoon too, which was good fun to watch.

The meercats were rather amusing too. They are so busy keeping watch, squabbling and playing around. He reminded me of the compare the meercats fella - simples!




The penguins were very stinky little fellas.

The brown bears were prowling around, it was getting near to their lunch time when we saw them, so they were very active.

Whipsnade is well worth a visit. It is a really roomy zoo with loads of space for the animals. It is a tiring day out with lots of walking.

Anyway, moving on to my blanket reveal. I can't believe I actually have a couple of finished crochet projects to reveal. Three months ago I couldn't even crochet so it just goes to prove that we can all learn a new skill even at the ripe old age of 41!

First reveal - my ripple scarf, made as a practise for the ripple pattern and then turned into a scarf for Daisy.

I also crocheted the little flower on the bottom of the scarf. I treated myself to some Debbie Bliss cashmerino DK in 10 delicious colours. It was a dream to work with and I am really pleased with the result. Not bad for a first attempt at the ripple.

With the fuchsia pink, rose pink, cream, purple and beige pink that I had left over, I decided to crochet a giant granny square and see how far I got. Well this is how far I got (after a stock up on the colours) a girly blanket for Daisy.

Spread out in all its glory.

A close up of the colours (sorry not a good photo - taken in the evening). Do you like my edging?

The edging, ripple pattern and the flower are all courtesy of Lucy at Attic24 whose tutorials are second to none. Thank you Lucy, your tutorials have helped me learn so much about crochet.

The next project is to finish off my granny square blanket, I have about 30 squares finished so far.

I also splashed out today in John Lewis on this lovely lot.

What is going to be I hear you ask. Well Alex is making big noises that he should have his own blanket, only in blues and creams mind you. I did persuade him to allow me to include a really lovely deep dark purple. So that will be my next project I think, the pressure will be on! Granny blanket for the sofa will just have to wait.

For anyone who is remotely interested the yarn is a Rowan pure wool DK. Never crocheted with pure wool before so it will be interesting to see how it feels. The woman in John Lewis who helped me choose the wool was a Rowan rep who works in John Lewis most of the time. She had the most fantastic hand knitted sweater on in the most gorgeous soft heather colour. I was truly jealous of it and also of her skills as a knitter.

Enjoy whats left of the weekend.

Till next time.

Alison

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