Yarn Giveaway from Countess Ablaze (and a winner)

Hooray – it’s giveaway time again!

This week I’d like to introduce you to Countess Ablaze - the adorable Etsy shop stocking tons of beautifully hand-dyed yarns in an array of colours. There is a huge selection in the store, which is based in Manchester, UK and the lovely Lynsey has kindly offered one lucky winner the chance to choose any skein from her store as a fantastic prize!

I am the lucky owner of some of the iron oxide lace yarn:

And I intend to knit a scarf with it, I will let you know how my progress is going with that soon!

Here are some of the other beautiful yarns currently available in her store:

For yoru chance to win,

Either:

• leave a comment below.
• share this giveaway on the web (blog post, twitter, facebook etc) and let me know that you have done so.
• ‘like’ my facebook page (over there at the top on the right) and let me know that you have done so.

(or do all 3 for 3 chances to win!)

The winner will be drawn on 18th March – good luck everyone! xx

And for the winner of the Chunky Bunting giveaway I have used random.org to select a winner………………..

Congratulations Carrie.W!!

(PS. I have been flagging a bit on the creative front this week – I have just been knitting squares for the Aids orphans in South Africa but head over to 1st Unique Gifts to catch up on what the others are doing!) x

Weekending

This weekend I have been:

• Eating Tapas as our Saturday night treat. It made a deliciously lovely change!
• Dreading falling asleep at night as I know I will be woken up many times throughout the night by little ‘T’. I’m getting bored of trawling through library books, websites, and moaning about it, I think I may just have to reside to the fact that one day she will sleep but for now I have to try and stay awake and keep positive on little sleep!
• Enjoying seeing the spring bulbs coming into flower in various places.
• Taking comfort in making lots of soup and cheesy scones with ‘T’.
• Out for a splashy-puddle walk.
• Slumping on the sofa in the evenings and looking for knitting ideas, this new hobby of mine is a good one to do when tired!
• Visiting the in-laws for our last meal before our move away.

and on another note:

I have stopped knitting the dolly cardigan Ok, so here is the final look of the dolly’s cardigan. I’m not going for a one-armed look, it’s just that I’m not going to finish it as there are just toooooo many mistake on that arm! I intended it to be a practice piece (thanks goodness I didn’t do anything bigger!) As I wanted to learn how to use circular needles, dpns and try out some new stitches too so it was a great size for learning on, I was hoping that it may resemble something worth saving for dolly to wear but I can’t face looking at it with all of those mistakes!:

Knitted hat complete and knitting for Aids orphans of South Africa

I finished the hat made with the lovely wool from Six Skeins - it is the nicest wool I have ever worked with! I’m pleased with the hat, there is a slight mistake by the seam but overall it’s made me happy.

I have now knitted 2 x hats and one is too small for ‘T’ and this one is not really needed (she has 2 hats already – how many hats does a 2 year old really need?!). This week my husband was watching the BBC World News in the evening and my ears pricked up when I heard about the poor children in Afghanistan who were being supplied with hats by charity workers. Within seconds I was searching on Google and came accross many fab charities which provide for such terrible circumstances some of these children have to deal with. I’m not sure how or why I decided on this particular charity, probably because they accept hats, jumpers, knitted squares and all sorts of other knitted goods to go to their children, but Knit A Square provides knitted goods for the Aids orphans of South Africa:

I already had a little stash of crochet squares (given to me along with the wool from freecycle), the hats and a few other bits and now I’m knitting furiously to see how much of the left-over wool that I have will make of a blanket for one super grateful little person.

If you fancy joining in, or know a school, work-place or group that could get involved then please have a look here for more information.

Even if you have never knitted before, knitting a simple 20cm square is not that hard (I’ve only recently learned and there are so many tutorials on youtube to help you)

(taking part in this week’s Handmade Monday from 1st Unique Gifts x)

Today

Today I have:

• Had a lovely lie-in until 9.00am as my dear husband got up with little ‘T’
• Drank coffee and toast whilst removing shelves from the kitchen  and living room.
• Popped in to see grandma with ‘T’ (she is kindly doing all of our washing since Christmas as our washing machine broke down and it isn’t worth us buying one just weeks before we leave!), popped in again, to collect washing , and back twice more with another load. Oh how I miss my washing machine.
• Typed up my husband’s CV in preparation for our new lives ‘down under’.
• Finished off the sanding of the little vintage highchair I am restoring for ‘T’, it’s had it’s first coat of spray paint too. Finally:) I’ll let you know more about it when it’s complete, not long now.
• Waxed the Victorian toy chest I found on freecycle, it still has a LOT of work to go on it but whilst ‘T’ sleeps at lunchtimes I seem to be outside almost daily trying to get it done at the moment.
• Eaten too much rhubarb crumble with ice cream that ‘T’ and I made together yesterday, I’m also wondering if I’ll be able to grow rhubarb in Australia??
• Finished off the knitted bow, it’s a bit larger than I had hoped for but never mind. No dropped stitches and no holes so can’t complain! – taking part in ‘Handmade Monday’

Hope you’ve all had a lovely Sunday. My evening will consist of doing very little, perhaps some knitting, perhaps a glass of red wine, sat on the sofa.

(Pssssst. I’m hosting a fab giveaway at the moment for some gorgeous wool head over here to take part! xx)

Knitting update and a Giveaway – 100g yarn from ‘Six Skeins’

My little pile of things to knit is growing and I feel like I have made lots of progres in the last week, so far I have a hat that I have started (though think I will have to ditch this project as I hadn’t realised that I have to changeit to circular needles halfway through so think I might try something else!) I also managed to complete a little hat in under an hour!! (That’s a real record for me) and I’m pleased with how it turned out:

I’m also making a little purple bow for ‘T’ to wear in her hair, just a quick and easy project to keep me busy As this is part of the ‘Yarn Along’ for Small Things, I feel a bit bad that I’m not mentioning a book here, but I have neglected the reading this week, well for myself, little ‘T’ is enjoying her books more and more (I had to put a stop to the reading time after 13 stories in a row the other day!) I have a few to read but I’ll share my progress with them next time. I’m also linking up to ‘Frontier Dreams’ - head over there for some fabulous crafty creations x

On another note, I’m so excited to announce a great givweaway from the lovely Etsy store – ‘Six Skeins’. Steph is the lovely shop owner from the beautiful Cornish Coast, her store sells modern handcrafted accessories, gorgeous fingerless mittens and scarves, original knitting and crochet patterns, beautiful hand-dyed yarns, and fabulous knitting kits as well as a selection of hand-dyed yarns.

Steph has kindly sent me some of this yarn which I will update you all about once I have knitted something from it, I have started a hat and Im hoping that I have enough yarn to complete it – so far it has been so nice to work with and watching the bright contrasting colours is so much more enjoyable than a plain colour: 

Here are just a couple of the many beautiful items available in the Six Skeins store store:

I can honestly say that the photos do not do this justice as the colours are so vibrant and the wool is super-soft too, it’s really, very nice!

For your chance to win yourself 100g of wool of  your choice (excluding lace weight) from Six Skeins either:

• leave a comment below.
• share this giveaway on the web (blog post, twitter, facebook etc) and let me know that you have done so.
• ‘like’ my facebook page (over there at the top on the right) and let me know that you have done so.

This giveaway is open WORLWIDE, the winner will be drawn on  24th Feb and announced that weekend so all entries must be in by then- good luck! x

Knitted teddy complete, (and a belated ‘Birthday’ weekend update)

I have finished the little teddy! It was a joy to make – in fact it was very simple as it is made out of lots of rectangles (I’m still not brave enough to tackle anything too taxing – I don’t think I’ll have the patience!

I’ve given teddy a litle scarf to keep him warm and he will soon be posted to a very little special baby who is due to be born very, very soon.

I’ve been reading up on toddler behaviour this week from the fantastic book by Tanya Byron – I’m a real fan of hers after watching the TV series ‘House of tiny tearaways’ many years ago and she really inspired me with her clinical pyschology background (I started a psychology degree throughh the Open University though struggled to keep up with learning about the brain and writing essays on neurons late into the night on very little sleep after having a baby, but I really would like to finish it……one day!).

‘T’ has been more challenging this last week - hence reading up on toddler behaviour a bit more; she has been suffering with teething, a cold and has entered the phase where everything is repeated, I’m finding this age so lovely and she is such fun now, but oh she leaves me worn out by the end of the day (plus we’re back to night wakings again with this cough/cold which I’m SO scared will turn into a long episode of night waking like the end of last year. We are also going to turn her cot-bed into a bed over the next weeks or so to give her (ahem – me!) plenty of time to get used to it before our move.

So, I had better carry on with that stripey scarf I suppose!……………

Remember to check in with Small Things and Frontier Dreams for some other creative reads.

I had better show you my Birthday cake too – it was my Birthday on Sunday and I was utterly spoiled by my lovely friends and family. My Mum made me this lovely cake and I went out for the evening with my lovely husband for dinner – here’s a picture of my meal – it was delicious! We had an evening of wine and olives, laughter and lovely long chats, it was a shame the evening had to come to an end……………

An attempt at a teddy

I’m still being boring and knitted VERY easy things. Including this little teddy bear that I have started. I’m happy with simple, easy things at the moment that don’t require too much concentration, and I’m pleased to say it’s using up yet more of the free wool I got from freecycle!

I’ve borrowed a stack of knitting books from the library to inspire me for my next knitting project though. I enjoy flicking through them and getting ideas and trying to think of what to do next (perhaps I should finish that scarf first?!)

I’ll put up some pics if this teddy ends up working out okay! x

(I’m takign part in Ginny’s ‘Yarn Along’ from Small Things…….head on over!…………..

Knitting and reading

I’ve managed to get a little bit creative (thankfully) and start knitting a little scarf for ‘T’ – I managed to get a whole bag full of left-over wool from freecycle so I’m using up some of the colours from that.

It’s a bit dull to knit a scarf, I know, but I need something simple and easy to do whilst I’m busy sorting out the house for our move to Australia soon (under 13 weeks now – eeeeeeeekk!)

I was also recommended to read books by Anita Shreve by my very good friend and I’m so pleased she suggested them as so far I’m hooked and I’m only a little way in!

Adding this into Ginny’s ‘Yarn along’ over at Small Things………..

Knitting and reading

I’ve decided to give the knitting another go. I’m doing a great little design from Easy Care Knits and I’ve only just started but so far so good!

I’m currently reading a few books at the moment. I’m really enjoying ‘The First Wife’ by Emily Barr – I love all of her books and this one is a bit different than her usual types and took a bit longer for me to get into but all the same it’s a good read! We are doing lots of research on where to live in Adelaide so a where to live guide is often being skim-read (so much to read up on!). I’m also dipping in and out of Gina Ford’s ‘The Complete Sleep Guide for Contented Babies and Toddlers’ as well as ‘Toddler Taming’ by Dr. Christopher Green’ which was recommended by our Dr, we are still struggling with getting little ‘T’ to sleep well so I’m always reading up on what the problem could or couldn’t be!

Yellow snood scarf completed!

Hurrah! My first ‘real’ knitting project completed! I’m really pleased with it – it’s a bit more ‘snug’ than I was hoping for but all the same it will do the job over the winter! I’ve dropped a stitch as well but overall I’m pleased with it. I cast on 130 rows on to 7mm pins and used really chunky acrylic wool.

Now for some snow please!

Don’t forget to head over to ‘Handmade Monday’ to catch up with some other blogs! and of course ‘Small things’ for the ‘Yarn Along’ section t osee some MUCH better knitting jobs than this one!