Five On Friday

Another week gone by and it is time to join Amy from Love Made My Home once again for another Five On Friday. 


So what have I been up to this week:


One:  I have not had as much time as I would have liked to spend on crocheting this week and have yet to start my 4th week CAL square (hopefully will get to it sometime today). It took me until Tuesday this week to finish my four squares for week 3.

I have had some questions as to what the funny looking object is that I display my squares on - well it is a blocking board where you peg your squares out to the size they are meant to be, the square then settles into that size. This makes your finished blanket much neater and easier to join. Obviously your square does need to come out quite close to the recommended size before you block otherwise you would be stretching the square too much. There are various methods of blocking, some people wet block, some steam their squares but I am sold on this method of blocking since purchasing this lovely board from Daisyboo Creations a little while back.


The only other crochet I have done this week is the square shown below.

I had a message from one of my crocheting pals who had seen a photo of a square looking quite similar to the one above but after searching high and low in books and on the internet she could not find a pattern for it and desperately wanted to make it. She asked if I could figure out how to do it and write up a pattern for her so never one to shirk a challenge I set to and came up with this. This is just the prototype and I did perfect it as the rounds went on and have now produced a pattern for her. I am happy to say it worked out for her and she has now produced a lovely large square using my pattern. I think it does vary slightly from the photo she sent me but I am not sure that matters too much. 


Two:  Fitbit/weight loss - unfortunately after 17 days my streak of 10,000+ steps a day came to an end on Tuesday. This was one of my work days and a day of torrential rain so I had no opportunity to go out once I arrived home to try and get enough steps. However, I am now back on it and hoping to build up another streak. 

I am sure all the walking is helping me with my weight loss as I lost 1.5 lbs this week and only have 0.5 lbs to go until I reach my 5 stone award. Wish me luck, I want it to happen this next week. 1.5 lbs doesn't sound very much to lose in a week but just lately my progress has been very slow so this was quite an achievement for me.


Three:  A few weeks ago I showed you the seedling pots that I was hoping would grow, as I told you I am very new to all this so it was a case of keeping my fingers crossed and hoping they would grow. 

This was a wild flower planter that I was given, I have been carefully nurturing these indoors for a while but have now decided they will survive and hopefully flower outside.

Some more wild flowers, this time taking their chance by being grown outside.

Nasturtiums, these have only just peeked through the compost, I was beginning to think these were not going to do anything.

More nasturtiums, not sure about these, just a hint of a seedling emerging.

Four:  DH and I enjoyed a visit to the stunning Exbury Gardens in the New Forest yesterday. We haven't been here since 2011 so it was time for a return visit. I took far too many photos as usual and will just show you a handful (very difficult to decide what to leave out). Love or loathe rhododendrons and azaleas you cannot help being impressed by this place which is a riot of colour at this time of the year.

Five:  After visiting Exbury we motored onto Lepe Beach which is only a few miles away from Exbury where we planned to walk along the shoreline. However after not getting very far it started raining, very slightly at first so we didn't think it was going to be much so decided to walk on. However the few spots soon became a torrential downpour with hail and thunder and by the time we had walked very swiftly back to the car we were soaked through to the skin and looked like two drowned rats! A very damp journey home but it was still a fun day. I just managed to take these photos before the rain hit us.

Hopefully I haven't bored you with the overload of photos on my Five this week. I hope you all have a lovely weekend. See you next week for another Five On Friday. 

I love my Fitbit!

Just before I went on holiday I purchased a Fitbit to help encourage me with my walking. Would it help? Would it be a waste of money? Was I just jumping on the bandwagon because a lot of my friends had one?


I can honestly say it has been worth every penny, it has motivated me and encouraged me and challenged me.

I set a target of 10,000 steps a day and have managed to reach and succeed that on several occasions now. It really does spur you on to do those extra steps that perhaps you wouldn't normally bother with.


Last week my work colleagues organised a Fitbit Workweek Hustle to see who could complete the most steps from Monday to Friday. I knew I wouldn't come first but I didn't want to come last so that really drove me forward, so much so that I even found myself walking round the block (not a scenic walk at all) to increase my number of steps. Not that I am competitive or anything!!! I am pleased to say that I came fourth and definitely not last.

I cannot walk the long distances that I have done in the past, about 4-5 miles is my limit these days but I can honestly say that my life and sense of well-being has improved greatly this year and walking and enjoying the countryside has contributed a lot to this.

I have always enjoyed walking, I was brought up to walk and appreciate the countryside by my Dad from a very young age but in latter years as my life became more hectic with family and work and I put on far too much weight my walking activities decreased until this time last year I couldn't walk 100 yards without getting out of breath.

Last October I had a wake up call, I turned 60 years of age and was very overweight. I realised that unless I done something about it I would never be able to get out and enjoy our beautiful countryside again and would probably end up hardly being able to put one foot in front of the other. There was always a reason why it wasn't the right time to lose weight and so it went on.

After taking semi-retirement at the end of last year I knew the time was right. I was in a better place, enjoying having more time to spend with my DH and made a decision that once our new kitchen had been installed and I didn't have to live on take-away meals I would go back to Slimming World and start walking again.

I started SW at the end of March and to date have lost 2 st 10 lbs. Part of the SW regime is Body Magic so I started walking again. It really hurt to start with but gradually it has become easier. I still have a lot of weight to lose but I am spurred on by the success I have had this far. DH and I have really enjoyed getting out and about exploring the countryside and we both feel so much better for it.

We are lucky to have some wonderful countryside to walk in not too far away from home and we always have a camera to hand when we are walking. As our range of hobbies includes birdwatching, natural history and photography this walking malarky is satisfying a lot of our interests as well as keeping us fit and healthy. A win win situation.


Photos: Stockbridge Down 6.9.15, a walk we undertook on our 35th Wedding Anniversary.