Apparently....

...conkers repel spiders. They don't like the taste apparently. I HATE spiders. Especially since the time a particularly large one ran under our armchair, with hubby in fast pursuit, where he discovered the brand new oven gloves that I'd melted by leaving them on the still-warm hob (brand new because I'd bought them to replace the old oven gloves I'd melted the previous week), and which I'd quickly hidden to avoid him tutting and rolling his eyes at my carelessness. (This is the man who drove our car into a car park barrier just months after we bought it, may I add!)

Anyway. So spiders hate conkers. So guess what I was collecting this weekend...?

Madam was only too pleased to assist, and we collected a good amount to take home and plant in strategic areas - namely, behind the fridge and the TV, and in the corner by the desk. I'm sure I can spare a few for Madam to play with though. 

It was nice wandering through the trees. I especially love the ones with the red leaves.

Madam also gathered some acorns and when we saw some squirrels darting among the trees in the park, she tossed some over to them, and was delighted when they picked them up and started nibbling on them. I was able to get quite close for a picture. It's amazing how many squirrels you can see if you look for them; they seem to blend really well into the background if you are just walking past and not really paying attention. 

I also completed a quick crochet project this weekend. Although I am in the middle of several large projects, I felt the need for some instant gratification, so I decided to make a hot water bottle cover. I've needed one for ages, since the cover that originally came with the bottle was a hideous Winnie the Pooh bear pouch thing. I thought the simplest thing to make would be a granny square cover. I estimated that 20 small two round squares for each side would suffice:

I just used oddments of yarn I had left over, mainly Stylecraft. 

When I had woven in all the ends, I crocheted them together with dark purple yarn:

 It's not particularly clear from the photo but I added a bobble-shell edging to finish it off. I decided not to make it removable, because I couldn't be bothered faffing with buttons and really, how dirty can a hot water bottle cover get? 

Yay! I love it. And no more burns from now on! I have a larger hot water bottle too, with a cover I knitted when I first learnt, and which I don't really like anymore. I'm thinking of some crocheting something similar, in slightly different colours though, and maybe some flowers attached?