Little Tin Bird

We have been forecast heavy snow here in the Midlands, and although the most we have had so far is about 6 flakes my mum dragged me out early this morning to do a pre-snow/seige situation Tesco shop. Unhappy as I was to get up into the cold very early in the morning (yes, I know you all get up early for jobs and I don’t have one!) it was a BEAUTIFUL morning and we were lucky enough to catch this gorgeous sunrise. I couldn’t stop looking at it for the whole journey and by about half way through I couldn’t bear it any longer and had to take a photo before we dipped over a hill and lost the view. Isn’t it wonderful colours? It’s incredible at full size, I wish you could see it so but photobucket auto resizes my photos to 1024×768. I have therefore cropped it a bit so that you can see it a little better.

Not bad for 50 miles an hour in the car.

What else have I done today … took down my Grandma’s Christmas tree (she was there, it wasn’t a random act of vandalism) and swept up all the needles it had dropped. We weighed the bag of them and it was 250g!

Don’t you just want her garden? It’s spectacular in summer. She’s beginning to struggle a bit with the slope. It’s quite a bit steeper on the left handside than the picture shows and she keeps scaring us all by going out in icy weather to refill the bird feeder on the big apple tree. I mean, really! Just chuck some food from the back door, they’ll eat it anyway! Besides, she has a bird table at the end of the flat bit of garden. Honestly, she scares me sometimes.

Speaking of feeding the birds, meet Mr Fieldfare. He has been visiting our garden every day this winter and stays for the full day eating and eating and eating the leftover apples on the tree. They were left over for this purpose, and he loves them! They have to scoff so much in a short space of time. He’s very territorial and keeps chasing away any birds larger than a sparrow. Poor blackbirds don’t get a look in! This was the first chance I’ve had to get a photo of him, he is a bit camera shy but has become used to me going out there to feed the rabbits. Pretty fella isn’t he? Blends in well with the tree and the fence though, it’s quite hard to spot him sometimes.

We’ve had a fabulous selection of birds in the garden this winter; aside from the Fieldfare we have had Mr & Mrs Blackbird, a songthrush, a pair of blue tits, a pair of great tits, lots of sparrows, a dunnock, a couple of starlings, jackdaws, collar doves, two wood pigeons, a pair of chaffinches, a wagtail and most beautiful of all a pair of bullfinches. If you have only seen a picture of a bullfinch before, it is hard to believe that they are actually that colour. But they are! So bright. We have also had a gull for some reason, not sure where he has come from as we are near to the most landlocked place in England!

It hasn’t been ALL about the birds though - I have done a spot of crochet as well. I have been admiring sunburst granny blankets on Flickr for ages but have not been able to find a pattern. I don’t think I want a whole blanket in this style as I have issues with blankets that are surrounded in white or black but this will become a cushion cover when I find a cushion pad. I can cope with small amounts of white ;-)

Anyway, since I wasn’t able to find a pattern I just had a bash at making one and it seems to work, which is most pleasing. It’s using the Rowan Handknit cotton that I bought for my Christmas decorations and it’s a good job that it’s just for a cushion cover as my white was just enough. I have made 9 squares now, 3×3 and I’m rather pleased with them.

What do you think? Likey or no likey? I think I likey, and would like to have a go with a whole host of colours. But for someone else!

Speaking of future projects, I’m thinking of whipping up a thick blanket to keep in our car as an emergency snow blanket and then summer picnic blanket. Just in acrylic, and cheaply. It’s also an excuse to buy one of those enormous comedy 400g balls of yarn, what do you think? hehe.

See you tomorrow … if we are not all snowed in! xxxx