Yesterday was a wet and miserable one. I caught the bus to Morrisons to get some milk and bread and it was packed full of people going into town. Not my idea of fun on a wet bank holiday Monday. I had other plans. I thought I'd spend the day learning something new - how to crochet granny squares. Simple for some people, but not for me. I struggle with crochet - I can't seem to get the tension right - and it's something that I want to spend more time getting to grips with.
I watched a few tutorials on You Tube and tried to crochet along with them but I still didn't feel happy with what I'd created. There appear to be several different ways to crochet granny squares. Finally, I tried putting bits from 3 different tutorials together and ended up with a set of instructions that I was happy with.
These are the start of a bedspread I want to make to use up my odds and ends of yarn. Long way to go. I still haven't got the tension right, but I reckon I might crack it by the time I've made a bedspreads worth of squares!
Crocheting was interspersed with watching the birds through the kitchen window. They are so fascinating. Two sparrows were eating dandelion seeds and they kept perching on the stems, which would then keel over with their weight. A female blackbird kept toing and froing with material for the nest she's building in the bushes at the back of the garden. I've just put some of my yarn ends out in the garden in the hope she might be able to make use of them. Meanwhile, Mr Blackbird was just lazing around watching her. Or maybe he was watching out for her to make sure she was safe? He ended up having a fight with another male blackbird who had the nerve to try and encroach on his territory!
No sign of the thrushes today, but I took these photos of them through the window on Saturday.
The birds love to perch on these recycle boxes that I usually grow my potatoes in. I've sown some sunflowers which will hopefully keep the sparrows well fed with seeds later in the year and I have a plentiful supply of slugs and snails for the thrushes!
I used to wonder what people saw in bird watching. But now I've allowed myself to slow down and take more notice of, and appreciate, what's going on around me I realise what simple pleasures I've been missing out on.
So, there you go. My alternative afternoon to trudging around town shopping. And it didn't cost me a penny!
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