Presenting

I haven't had many successes in the garden this year. Been too busy out enjoying the weather to truely care properly for my plants but despite my neglect there's been some progress. There's the beautiful Clematis above which has just begun to flower and this year has so many buds ready to open that the climber has not only climbed up the wall but also spread her tendrils left and right around the garden bench. I hope I can get a decent pic when they all open. They bring a smile to my face every time I look out the kitchen doors. Then there's the tomato plants. I've pictured just one above, can you see the orangey shades on two of these babies? I can hardly contain my excitement. For quite some time I feared I'd have to put out a call for a green tomato chutney recipe or something to use up those very green tomatoes. Without a greenhouse tomatoes in Ireland don't really stand a chance - we just don't have enough heat. But maybe, just maybe this year I'll get to have a tomato salad from my own garden.

Enough of the garden - I have been reading. I've already finished one of the novels I got as a birthday present - I tend to eat books - once I start I find them very hard to put down. I've been reading through the knitting books I got too. I have to say I really was looking forward to getting my mitts on my own copy of Mason Dixon Knitting - I have so many things in my head that I'd like to knit up from reading through Kay and Ann's book, it certainly hasn't disappointed. Unlike the "Greetings from Knit Cafe" - there's just not a whole lot in it that I find inspiring. There's maybe one pattern for a baby sweater that I really like the construction of but that's about it. My husband bought me this book - alongwith all the other knitting books I had requested ( he's brilliant Cheryl but I don't know any husband that would be able to pick out well chosen knitting books for his wife, so yes, there was a list involved).

I was flicking through the book when I commented to DH that unfortunately this book was a disappointment (not his fault I'd specified it) when he noticed one of the crazy patterns for a Felted Saddle Blanket - for a horse!!!!! The funniest part of it all though was his comment to me when he saw the pattern. "It's a FELTED saddle blanket, oh my god, that means you have to knit it up to about three times the size it is there to allow for shrinkage when felting" Laugh, I cried. I''m still laughing. My poor husband has to put up with a lot of knitting talk and he's even been listening.