Year of projects 13.01.13

I've probably said it before, but boy did that week whoosh by!

The boys have all returned to school and my day is a little more orderly now that littlest has started full-time. This means though that there is quite a lot less in-car crochet.....more time to be at home (cleaning uuggghhh!) and hopefully more time to be a little more....organised.

Well, somewhere in all the orderliness ;-)  I managed to finish off hubby's scarf. It is just a simple knit two, purl two rib made in Kingcole Riot DK.

Fairly plain.....very manly (as someone rightly pointed out last week!) ....will it be worn?  We will see.....

There has been little other crafting this week, it has mainly been cleaning, our new house is a big project!

I have turned my attention to Stocki's beautiful bloggers' blanket for 2013.  It requires crochet squares, any design, any colour, just made from cotton.  So here I am thinking I am organised with my library book full of ideas, until I realise that the writer of said book writes in a crochet language I don't understand.  Backup plan....ravelry, where I found this lovely pattern.

So there is my first of four squares.....please check out Stocki's crochet blanket, last year's blanket was absolutely stunning....go on, get involved!  Be a  part of such a fantastic effort.

Well, it's a good thing this meeting isn't in person, as I have been suffering with the lurgy and have spent the day feeling sorry for myself, surrounded by tissues, blankets and more tissues.  I don't 'do' having a cold and one day of it, is quite enough!

Hope that you have all had good crafting weeks....I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone over the next few days.  Thank you, as always, for your lovely comments...any advice on keeping one's head whilst continuously cleaning, gratefully received!

Year of projects - 06.01.13

It has been a while since I did a YOP update, so here I am, a little behind schedule, but here never the less.

This was the blanket I was hurriedly finishing so I could wrap and send for my sister for Christmas..you'll be glad to hear it was done on time and was well received ;-)  The pattern was simple, and I used doubled-up chunky weight yarn and a silver cotton thread also....the effect was a subtle twinkle.

This is my 'in the middle of' project.  A very unlikely event happened just before Christmas...I heard my husband utter the most magical words

'can you make me a scarf?'

No longer were the words uttered, but the casting on began.  I knitted non-stop until I had finished the ball only to find it was a little on the short side.....so another ball went on order which arrived yesterday and knitting has resumed.....I am certainly not going to pass up the opportunity to make something requested!  Especially when the request comes from somebody who is not always particularly interested in the things I make!

This will be done in the next day or so, and then I think the socks on my list may be calling.  I am set to go, book at the ready.....

This afternoon, we took a walk to the beach which is closest now to our new house.  This beach is just a field away, a surfers beach, a little precarious to get down to....the beach that I may attempt to go to each day and take a dip in the sea when the weather becomes a little more conducive!  We'll see!

Really looking forward to catching up on all I've missed since November....have a happy crafting week.x

Bye, bye 2012!

I've pondered how to sum up 2012, and after much beginning and then backspacing, I've decided to just keep schtum......We got to about five weeks ago and then .....well, it really doesn't deserve the blog-space. It is sufficient to say that my family and I are dearly looking forward to the New Year.

Amongst the rubbish there have been a plethora of smiles......here are some recent ones.

(I giggled nervously as we drove through the monkey enclosure.....not sure I really 'enjoyed' it as I was feeling a little stressed that this cute monkey and his friends would make mincemeat of our car!)

Looking back at my last  new year's eve post, I see we went for a wood walk, and today we were also up to our ankles in mud and rain, trekking through my favourite walk in the trees.....lets hope there is far more of that in 2013!

In 2013..........

I am hoping to find  our things which are still waiting to be discovered in one of the many boxes we moved but haven't  yet opened. 

I am planning to over-do the sparkle that was somewhat sparse this Christmas.

I will make it my personal mission to discover whether a traditional English trifle should be jelly-less (this one has caused some debate in the most unlikely of situations).....please feel free to add your two-pence worth.

I will wear vests.

I will read.

I will again contemplate the idea of swimming in the sea everyday........contemplate.........

I will knit socks

D'you know.....I've cheered myself with the endless possibilities that 2013 holds....I've reminded myself how much I love being part of this little community.....thank you for making my year!

A VERY BLESSED AND HAPPY 2013 TO YOU ALL!!

Christmas ornament swap 2013

You may remember some time ago (in October?) I joined in with Christina Lowry's lovely ornament swap with much enthusiasm and excitement as Christmas IS my favourite time of year.

I had an idea of crocheting some baubles and went about looking at various people's patterns for making a ball.  I settled on this pattern here, as it sounded to make the firmest, most spherical ball.  The jury's out actually as to whether that is true, as unlike the pattern writer, I found the halves hard to match and sew together invisibly.....probably my bad maths (increasing), losing count while trying to listen to children's natter and yep, not using a stitch marker...will I never learn!

I used Kingcole Riot and the jewel colour changing suited the project well I thought.

I made about five of these, but in all honesty, the others are still languishing at the bottom of a project bag somewhere.....ah, well, just think how far ahead of the game I will be for next year!

So, as all good swaps go, as I made something, I also received something....I was not disappointed and received a beautiful patchwork tree from the clever  Elisabeth of  Sharks Dinner.  She has a pretty blog, and is brilliantly talented at all things sewing.....check it out.

Thank you so much Christina  for organising such a lovely swap!  My new decoration is just gorgeous!

(I am not ignoring the fact that I haven't blogged for over a month, just choosing not to clutter this post with 'other stuff')

Back in five.....

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Contrary to popular belief, I have not exploded, although I may have come fairly close to popping a couple of times. We are finally (sort of) moved. We are between houses, but not so much in the new house that I know where my camera connecting lead is. I have not picked up any crochet or knitting for three whole days....in fact I don't know where all my project bags are (ouch). But we are eating and doing some laundry, so it's all good! Looking forward to hitting normal again sometime very soon.....until then.x

Year of projects - 11.11.12

So here's the thing.........I've suddenly realised that Christmas is only two weeks away and I haven't finished all my presents........well, that's not strictly true.......but in relation to the number of things I have to finish (and even start in some cases) it may as well be two weeks.

Somehow, in among all the panic, I managed to start another blanket.....but there is some method in this, as I need it finished to wrap and give in a week or so, rather than posting something heavy and bulky.

It's a simple pattern found on ravelry here, and I am using two chunky yarns held together and also some silver cotton to give a subtle twinkle.......so far, so good....and it's a quick grower, so perfect for the job.

I also joined in with Christina Lowry's handmade ornament swap, which is due to be posted out in the next week or so.....I have the ideas.....it's just they are all stuck in my head!

And then, when you think it couldn't get worse, you are quite innocently browsing a blog when you get you arm twisted (....ahem...) into joining in a CAL.  You see, who could have known that Meredith from Mereknits would be so persuasive!

So this is the beginnings of joining in Stitchy's CAL for a gorgeous star table runner......I thought I had plenty of this white four-ply cotton, but I realise that the other ball is actually ivory......

I can't not picture this beautiful runner on my table at Christmas.......

So as you can see, I've switched in to 'mad-dash' mode and my YOP work is going to be varied, frantic and haphazard for the coming weeks....

I am dangerous around anything vaguely christmassy at the moment, don't remind me about those cute mitten advent calenders, or those gorgeous crochet nativity scenes....I may well finally explode....

Anyway...I have just returned from a scoot and skate party followed by a  birthday tea....I am going to sit and read blogs in front of the fire if you don't mind.  Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been up to this week....please no more christmassy crocheted must-haves....I couldn't take it!

Have a lovely week.x

Upping sticks

This week, I have mainly been.....

....Sewing..... I do enjoy a sewing machine project...I am dreadful at preparation and really always sew slightly faster than I am comfortable going.....but then there is nothing like a last minute idea that makes you sew faster.

Littlest's best friend celebrated her birthday with a tea party and we bought her a lovely story about a slug that wanted to be a  snail, complete with sparkly pictures (I can never resist a sparkly childrens' book)

Anyway, on the day of the party, I got it into my head that I was going to make a snail......a search on ravelry and a good dose of being realistic later, I decided that sewing one was the the way to go.  I saw some lovely ideas, but alas, all of them were way beyond my sewing prowess....so I went to a shop bought a big fleece blanket and made something slightly less ambitious.

I cut out some letters and shapes from fleece in my stash and after some careful pinning (this is impressive for me) I sewed away.

I was really pleased with the end piece, something useful and snugly which tied in well with the book and didn't cost a small fortune.

....... enjoying the good bits about the winter......I love bonfire night and although we didn't actually go to a display this year, the boys had fun with some sparklers....and I had some fun with my camera so it seems.

.........Knitting....ooooppppps, I may just have started ANOTHER blanket.....but in my defence it is a Christmas emergency....well, that's my excuse!

...............But actually.....I have been mainly....packing.....

At the end of last year, we knew this would probably be the year for moving, and I thought it may just wait until after Christmas......but I was informed last week that we have three weeks.....well, now we have two!

I am not dreading moving, we are moving to a lovely house....it's just we've been very happy here, and with a move comes a lot of changes......our animals are nearly all sold...and we can no longer call ourselves farmers....but hey, new adventures lie ahead.

In the meantime....I am packing.....there is no way of making it fun, and its only at times like these, you discover how many things you actually own..........I have a lot of yarn and fabric!

I wish I could pack my house on my back and off we go....as long as there was room for kids, hubby, yarn and ipad....well.....now I come to think of it, I'd want the sewing machine, my paints, my piano...............