Zeens & Roger Crochet Podcast. Episode 36!

Long time no see! Going OK?! …. Right, I’m getting stuck right in. Here is Episode 36 of the Zeens & Roger Crochet Podcast / Vlogcast (same thing, innit?!). Click on the pic above to go directly to the episode. Check out the whole YouTube channel HERE.

I haven’t taken up to date pics but there are a couple of progress shots below. And the links to stuff are… :

John Arbon Knit By Numbers 4ply.

Wool on the Exe – LYS

Yarndale. You’ve probs heard of it!

The Crochet Your Fade shawl is coming soon via Julme/MY Square Hat on Ravlery. HERE.

C2C dreaming…. Here is my C2C Pinterest board. Got any pics? Send them my way.

Somerset Yarns. Great colour ways.

Knitcrate. I forgot to mention that if you fancy a subscription box more than I do, ZEENSANDROGER20 is the code you need to get a discount off your first box.

You can find me in the following places: Instagram, Ravelry, Facebook, Pinterest.

Cheers. X

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;p

August Garden

Hello! It has been aaaages! How’s it going? I haven’t written for nearly a month! I’ve been working on crochet commissions and hanging out with the boys as the summer holidays have started. I wanted to write a garden update a week or two ago but either we weren’t here or the light wasn’t right for photo taking. I’ve given up on waiting to take more pictures so I’m sharing what I have manged to snap.

Flowers first. I’m thrilled that the white anemone has bloomed for the first time. I bought it about four years ago and planted it down at the very bottom of the garden. It had never been happy there and not once did I see a flower after itsΒ  first year. I dug it up last year and plonked it in a pot to live nearer the house. Hey presto! Flowers! I love anemones. I don’t suppose they’re anything special but I don’t care. They’re definitely a favourite.

See? I have a pink one too! These flowers have always been happy sharing a corner with ferns.

This plumbago lives next to the pink anemone and the ferns. It looks like the ferns are spreading and will swamp it. I ought to move it but don’t know where it could go. Given the opportunity, I think this could get much much bigger. Where would it be happiest? The borders are where I do a lot of guess work. I’ll do some research.

Then there are the patio plants. This is what I was waiting to capture; none of these photos really show what’s what. Maybe it’s a good thing there are no other images, it isn’t the best bunch of pots I’ve ever had. The prolonged high temps made things leggy and sparse. But the boys chose this year’s plants and they chose bright things. The flowers that have come out really do make an impact. Sort of. All the summer’s rain seems to have fallen in this single past week. I wonder if it’ll pep things up. Then I can ask the sun to come for a photo opportunity! Quick, please, before the autumn comes!

Veg patch. I’ve been much better at keeping things tidy this year. It helps to have more plants waiting in the wings. There has been no room for laziness. Once the mange tout was over, once I’d pulled up all the (sadly, maggotty) carrots and eaten all the broad beans, I pulled it all out to make room for leeks and purple sprouting.

I got the leek seedlings from my step dad and the purple sprouting from the garden centre. I have tried growing both from seed before but I no longer see the point. I didn’t like the tangle of microscopic leeks that you had to wrangle (and you get too many – even without sowing them all). And caterpillars ate all my PS babies (I can’t be bothered to keep typing purple sprouting). I don’t feel the need to cheat in the garden all that often but there are times when it works out for the best. Courgettes, for example, I buy two plants each year because you don’t need more than that. Even if you made all the chutney and cake to feed an entire town, there would still be a magic porridge pot of mini marrows.

Anyway, I made a PS net house.Β  Three sodding hours it took me to build! I had to sew the netting together at the joins, which took ages. But, I have noticed lots of healthy growth and no butterflies. I was told to build it high as butterflies drop their eggs like bombs! Cheeky buggers. I’ve had to make a few repairs already as the cat has seen it as a daily challenge to break and enter. Pfft. I am hoping my efforts will be rewarded with the gloriousness of the best vegetable in the whole world! (Now that I’ve written that I realise that they’re all my favourite vegetables. I’m growing all my favourites! Of course I am, I wouldn’t grow ones I didn’t like, duh).

Finally. Have you ever happened upon a mystery squash? There’s one in the herb bed. I thought it was going to be a butternut. It’s not. I grew them once so wondered if it was a rogue seed.Β  The other option is it’s a pumpkin. I grew mini pumpkins about five years ago. This isn’t mini. Whilst it isn’t orange, I’m guessing it’s a Halloween job. Last year I chucked the carved ones on the veg bed to rot down. There must have been seedsΒ  left in one of them. Do they turn orange at a later date? Squash Watch is a thing now.

Oh, hang on the rain has stopped. Right, I’m off outside. Whilst I’m gone, let me know what’s going on in your patch? Cheers. x

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When Did the Garden Grow?

Massive bush…

I find it so odd that a garden can grow and grow but it’s not until you look back on pictures that you really notice just how much. It’s all happened so quickly that I’ve been overwhelmed by the progress so I’m jumping in with random pics of the last couple of months before it all gets too much. This HERE is the last “stage” back in May.

I’ve only commented on a few pictures. You don’t need a massive essay on a garden I go on about all the time.Β  As it stands, right now we’re eating courgettes (zucchini) like our lives depended on it (for the first time ever, the yellow ones are bigger & better than the green).Β  The broad beans are just coming in, which makes me happy (I love them!). The mange tout are over but the runner beans are in flower, waiting to transform into my favourite ever beans.Β  Beetroot and carrots are being pulled up and added to salads and roast dinners. I’m also finding a plethora of wildflowers have cheekily wedged themselves between the rows of my veg (viola, nemesia, snapdragons). They won’t get pulled up though, they’re too pretty.

At some point this week you’ll probably find me in the kitchen, standing over a pile of courgettes, trying to decide whether to make chutney, cake or both.

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The hawthorn flowered much later than expected. Usually it’s May but this wasn’t until June. I look forward to it; it makes a great focal point smack bang in the middle of my view, down at the bottom of the garden.
Every year I forget what it’s called. Not any more, Love in the Mist!
Peony. Way too heavy for its own good.
Caught in the act. But I’m totally shocked to find that none of my hostas are riddled with holes. Winner!

Β  xxx

A Crochet Podcast. Episode 32.

Hola! It feels like it’s been ages but really it has been the usual amount of time, it’s just that I’ve been on holiday! For someone with a lack of crochet on the go I seem to have an awful lot to talk about. It’s all relative so don’t worry about any nonsense. See below for links to all things discussed in this episode, plus a few pics too. As ever, please click on the pic above to go to the episode or HERE to my YouTube channel. Thank you very much.

Holey Smokes! Version 1 is on Ravelry HERE. Version 2 is on the way at sometime in the future…

My original pompom edging tutorial. I plan on filming a version of this soon.

Granny and her rainbow edge. A free pattern.

Off the Chart. A c2c blanket, which is now available on Ravelry.

My C2C Pinterest board. Just in case you were interested!

Check out Crochetzine over on Instagram. I love that these things are happening for crochet at the minute.

Little Burrow Designs. A friend of mine and an amazing artist.

The Contemporary Craft Festival, Bovey Tracey, Devon.

A list of CALs: The KCACY calkal, Bad Boys/Bad girls summer romance cal,Β  The Cherry Heart mal, Summer top cal from the Crochet Circle podcast, Love Yourself cal from Hannah over at Cosy Cottage Crochet.

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Β  xxx

 

A Crochet Podcast. Episode 31

Howdy, are you after some crochet talk? Look no further, Episode 31 is here! Click on the pic above to miraculously travel to the crochet podcast episode or pop over and take a look at the whole YouTube channel HERE. Ta very much. Don’t forget to take a quick look at some photos below, they pretty much show what I’ve been up to over the last couple of weeks. Ta very much. X

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Links for stuff I chat about:

I got my star scissors from Stitchsperation. Charlie is a cross stitch pattern designer; her designs are modern and super hot!

Are you interested in pattern testing my new shawl? please email me at zeensandroger@gmail.com

Dodgy Bag MAL

Rainbow edge blanket

Inside Crochet magazine

Crochet market bag. Free pattern

Gingham Bow pattern

My Etsy shop

x

Garden in May

In absolutely no particular order (because there are just too many – soz!), here are some recent pics of the garden. It’s been just over a month since I last shared what was going on in the garden and it has been a very productive few weeks. I can’t believe the difference from these photos to the ones in the last blog post! The garden has gone bonkers!

We had the bonfire that I said I wanted to have, took stuff to the dump, sorted out all the pots and got planting. There’s still lots more to do as I’ve not done all the lettucey type things and there are baby runner beans and purple french ones to go out.

A sunny May day is the garden at its best before there’s the weird June/July lull. I’m curious to see what the pots will look like later on in the year; the kids have persuaded me to change colour scheme. They’ve chosen lots of garish, clashy things. I hope I like it! I’m also desperate to get my hands on home grown veg. It’s all late because my early stuff got bitten by the frost and I had to start again. But, hey, it’s only May!

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Β  Β  x

Eleven Days Later…

Alchemilla Mollis. Poppin up all over the shop. Keep or pull?
(Not steel) magnolias

I said all I had to say about the latest garden exploits eleven days ago so I’m not going to say much more. It’d pretty much be repeating myself. But I couldn’t ignore the fact that just a few days has made such a huge difference to the garden (to my eyes at least). And I always ramp up the garden posts in spring/summer anyway.

No bonfire yet but guess what? I emptied all my pots! A full on sense of achievement was experienced that day, I can tell you. Expect to see a better garden blog post in a couple of weeks or so.

Cheers. X

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Hostas awakening!
Such cute babies. More hostas.
Thought this was dead
Some sort of peony
Kerria Japonica. Tiddly om pompom

Β  ;p

Zeens & Roger Crochet Podcast/Vlogcast Episode 26

Happy March!! We’re supposed to be thinking about spring but it’s most definitely winter outside!! Brrrr, maybe keep warm whilst watching episode 26 of my crochet podcast!? As usual, click on the pic above to go to the episode or go to my YouTube channel HERE. Ta very much.

Here’s some links to stuff I talk about, I wasn’t concentrating so I hope I have it all. If not please give me a shout and I’ll give you extra info.

March Meet the Maker – A month long Instagram challenge

#hookedonyarn2018 Another month long IG challenge.

My Easter Eggs. HERE is the link to the blog post about the latest additions to the family.

Blacker Yarns. This is lovely yarn that I’m going to get more of. I used Tamar Lustre Blend. A real woolly wool from just across the border in Cornwall.

Inside Crochet magazine

Simply Crochet magazine

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x

Another Granny Chevron Cowl! Pattern & Tutorial.

Crochet Granny Chevron Cowl

Fancy a very quick and easy crochet project? Last summer I designed and made a fluffy chevron cowl (see pic below). Yesterday I made a smaller, non fluffy version. I made it when I was thinking about all things granny (I couldn’t wait for the Granny CAL! I just couldn’t!). This morning I filmed a short tutorial too. It’s now up on YouTube if you want to go and have a look!

You can find the original fluffier pattern Here. I made the new cowl a bit smaller as I was restricted by the amount of yarn I had: 200 grams of chunky alpaca/mulberry silk stuff I found for Β£8 a skein from last year’s Edinburgh Yarn Festival. The (impulsively bought) yarn had been sat waiting for nearly a year and I had no real idea about what to do with it for ages. Funny how something can jump out at you after all that time.

Righty, Some Pattern Details.

  • I used a 6mm hook for my chunky yarn.
  • The yarn I used was only 92 metres per 100g. I think other chunky yarns are usually a bit more than that. I used almost every bit so if you don’t have at least 184 meters of chunky then you might not make it to the end.
  • It measures approx 32×32 cm (12.5×12.5 inches). That’s a circumference of 64cm.
  • I chained 47 to begin, this gives you a total of 14 clusters per row
  • To make it bigger or smaller, add or subtract 6. That’s enough for a granny cluster for each side.
  • The pattern is written in UK terms. The video uses both UK and US terms but essentially all you need to know is that a UK treble is a US double.
  • 3tr = cluster.
  • Feel feel to keep on going to make a bigger version. Why not turn this snug fitting cowl into a cosy infinity scarf?!

Crochet Cowl Pattern

Chain 47.
Row 1: 3tr in 7th from hook, (miss 2 st, 3tr in next) six times, ch2, 3tr in next st, (miss 2 st, 3tr) six times, miss 2 st, 1 tr in last st. Turn.

Row 2: Ch3, (3tr in space between clusters) six times, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) in 2 chain space, (3tr in space between clusters) six times, 1tr in last st of row. Turn

Row 3 – 29: Rep row 2, changing colour every five rows.

Row 30: As row 2 but slip stitch to join to Row 1 between each cluster. Fasten off and sew in ends.

I hope you like it. I promise it’s super easy to make and can be made in a couple of hours (maybe less, I didn’t time it).

Jeepers, I’m not wearing make up on me peepers. Again!

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x

Episode 22. Crochet Vlog

Happy New Year!! Hope you had a good one. So this is the first crochet podcast episode of the year (above pic is the link but also HERE). Not many links to share but there are photographs to look at:

Geo Rainbow c2c blanket is now on Ravelry

Granny inspo on Pinterest is Here. Beginning date for the Granny CAL is Feb 1st! More info to come soon.

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And I forgot to mention that my sister sent me a photo of herself in her colour block jumper! Here she is on the beach (fully clothed)…

Some pics of my Christmas presents… x