Bunny Family Grows

This is the latest one. I am pleased that they stand up. It was lucky chance with how I have made the feet, but lucky chance is ok!

Camden

I spent a lovely Saturday in Camden with Caroline and Cheryl. We pottered, had churros and coffee, pottered some more, walked along the canal, nearly got pushed off the bridge by a huge wedding party and then had lunch. It was great!

This is Kiki the parrot. I saw her and was commenting and before I knew it she was sitting on my shoulder nuzzling my hair. Her owner said that she has been in Pirates of the Caribbean. She is 20 years old and was bought from Harrods pet department, which only recently closed. I asked if I could stroke her, but she prefers not to be touched, as once she got her tail feathers set aligh,t so doesn't totally trust people. Sensible bird! When the man said that she should 'come back to Daddy' she wouldn't get off at first. Perhaps my hair would make a good nest! Here is Zoe Hazel who has also met Kiki.

Amazing but slightly disturbing costume shop.

Caroline the cat.

Cow looking at the canal. 

Lovely ladies!

Ducks and graffiti. 

Cat Basket

A couple of weeks ago I saw a picture of a crocheted cat basket in one of my crochet magazines. I thought 'I can do that!' so I did. I had trouble using my big crochet hook last time I tried, but worked out what I had been doing wrong. (Not using the main part of the hook which measures diameter, rather winding the yarn too tightly around the neck of the hook. 'Loosey Goosey Baby, Loosey Goosey'.) Three balls of wool and a couple of evenings later I had made this basket. It has two circles sewn together so it is very soft and spongy.  

For at least part of the time I was making it I was watching the two episodes of 'Salamander', a great thriller/police series from Belgium. It has kept us going on Saturday nights since sometime in February. (Two episodes back to back) I loved it! The main character, Paul Gerardi, was a most attractive (in my eyes!) grey haired tough policeman  but with a soft side. It was quite hard hitting at times and kept the tension going for a large amount of episodes. Plus it was fun to hear the mixture of Dutch, French and Flemish which often sounds just like English. And to see the Belgian settings-a little like a mini break every Saturday night.

 Tiger was the first one to take to the basket-almost immediately. 

 Cassie the next day and then Lily a week and a half later (she doesn't like change!).

I have another one nearly made that I am going to send to my sister (who has five cats) and then I need to make two more so mine have one each. It is a great way to use up loads of yarn too. If you don't use chunky yarn then you need three or four strands of thinner yarn. I am back to rabbits now though. Knitting a little cardigan this evening for the newest one.

Daisies

Such cheerful little flowers!

Little Crochet Bunny

I may make more, or, like so many of the things I make he may remain a prototype. I made him this evening as an antidote to a long and difficult day at work. Crocheting small creatures works quite well for that.

Boot Fair Dogs

Relaxed in any situation...

 Patient while their humans do incomprehensible things...

 Or busy guarding the goods. 

I hung around this stall long enough to find out that this dog is called George, and that he doesn't necessarily want to come back to the van when called! I love the boot fair.

Colour

Turquoise trousers, orange van.

Magenta hyacinths, lilac bag, yellow watch. 

Yellow watch, magenta hyacinths. 

Green table, green leaves, pink and purple flowers. (The hyacinths were from the boot fair-unusual colours and three for £1)

Multi coloured marbles. 

White bear, brown table, brown bowl ( made by my Dad), white, green and blue marbles. 

Yellow sun, grey sky. (Hard to limit the sky to just one colour!) 

Neon yellow jacket, orange signs,  red sun, peach sky. 

Hung Out to Dry!

They had had a delightful afternoon swimming in the water tray. What better way to dry out than being pegged out by their hair. One of the girls in my class had the idea and one from the other class finished the job. When I took the photo I didn't notice the single leg! I am so glad I am not a Barbie!

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Mary had a little lamb.

His feet were made of rubber.

Her feet was made of rubber too.

That was why he loved her. 

This Week

This week has been quite a sociable one. Yesterday I had a meeting with an educational psychologist about one of the children in my class.Then I showed her up to the staffroom as neither of us had had lunch. We had a conversation about career paths and the changes to special needs and educational psychology training and role. It was interesting. Straight after school there was a union meeting-not very well attended this time but very interesting and one which meant I talked to a few people I never see at school. My friend Cleo is the union rep in school so it is nice to see her from time to time as well. We are all so shut up in our classrooms at that place that some weeks I don't see her at all! Then last night my friend turned up out of the blue at school so I showed her around, we looked at the ASD special provision area, - a new thing called 'The Harbour' and run by a lovely woman called Wendy, who took time to show us around. Children apply for a place in this provision and spend some time in there and some in class with support. My friend also works in a special school for children with various learning disabilities so they were talking the same language and getting excited about the resources they had. Then we came home for a cup of tea then went to the local shops together. Today I had a really interesting conversation with a young Canadian teacher who has been coming to the school as a supply teacher for a while now, but who I have never talked to. He overheard me talking about a child in my class with a speech sound difficulty, and how I can help him . The teacher had a speech impediment as a child and related in interesting detail how he felt at school going through lots of tests and medical examinations to find out what was 'wrong' with him. The way this affected his self esteem was significant, and, as a result of how he felt, and how he and his parents chose to deal with it-in the end choosing not to carry on with the tests but to work hard and to develop his own ways to study, has become a reflective teacher with a great interest in the different ways that individuals learn, and a real desire to empower children to realise that they can learn even if they feel judged or depressed by their experience of school so far. As well as all this he is a tap dancer! Most interesting.
Then tonight another friend who I have not talked to for a while rang me and we were on the phone for an hour. I am hoping the weekend continues in the same way!
The felt pictures were last weekend. The one below is one of four. I was thinking of table mats and wanted to make them look like china plates. I am not sure they do but I quite like them anyway. I have two this colour and two with turquoise borders.

 Face before felting. I am getting better at keeping the small details in place as I felt. 

 Rose larger piece. Afterwards I thought I should have left the bottom of the stalk leafless as it would have looked more 'right' but too late!

 I am using some new bubble wrap and it leaves really deep indents in the surface of the felt. Not sure what can be done about this.

 I finished my second flower wreath this week. I like these colours together. I am making bunting now.

New home corner resources at school. I love the fifties feel of the design. They are wooden painted models and very different to the usual plastic stuff.

 This is one of my lovely colleagues tossing a play dough pancake! It is black play dough scented with coca cola flavouring-it smelled delicious! (I didn't make it and had to ask about the smell-just couldn't place it)

 Weird face I drew last night. It is snowing in front of the face as I was just trying to cover the face up a bit! I enjoyed folding the end of the page.

Driving home tonight. The sky was amazing-sun setting, smudgy clouds, and contrails gradually breaking up in the most beautiful way. It was a pleasure to sit at the traffic lights watching it all.

 My work pile for tomorrow. I am going to take my time and try to enjoy it! I cleaned the house tonight so I can get all this done tomorrow but I will probably have a break and go to meet my friend at the boot fair for a while. Then on Sunday I am going with another friend to an antiques fair. I am planning not to buy anything- or very little at least! But it is fun to look.