First lace attempt

Here’s my first attempt at a bit of lace – I got the pattern from ravelry here and it’s a really great first pattern, I have got this far but decided that I don’t think that the yarn is right for this pattern so I won’t be doing anymore of this one but thought I’d show you my first lace attempt anyway!

I have been reading these beautiful baking books, I’ve been trying to find a lovely cake recipe for my daughter’s second Birthday at the end of the month. There are some beautiful cakes in these books – even some that look exactly like Russian Dolls! I think I have settled on a cake that I found on Pinterest, I’ll let you know if it worked out at the end of the month!

Hope you’re all having a lovely week xxx

Dolly cardigan update

The cardigan is making slow but steady progress and I’m so pleasedwith it so far! I have never knitted anything this complex before (ok so hardly complex but it is for me!) and there are a few minor mistakes but overall I’m happy so far. Now I think the sleeves may be a bit more tricky but I’ll try and work it out (oh thank-you You Tube)

It’s the perfect size for a little learning project and an excuse to use up left over wool too. The ravelry pattern is here and it’s very simple to follow.

Taking part in this week’s Yarn Along from Small Things an Crafting on from Frontier Dreams

(PS. I’m still reading Anita Shreve’s ‘Rescue’ and found it hard to get into at the begining but I’m now hooked!)

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)

A cardigan for dolly…

Here’s the start of what may hopefully turn into something that will resemble a cardigan for the Dolly fot T’s Birthday, I have a stash of small amounts of wool and thought a dolly pattern would be good practice for something a bit more taxing than hat. So far so good, though there is PLENTY of time for mistakes yet!

I have started reading Anita Shreve’s ‘Rescue’ this week, I’m finding it less easy to absorb than her last book (‘Let It Snow’) though I think that may have something to do with the amount of concentration I am left with when I get around to picking up my book.

Joining in with this weeks ‘Yarn Along’ from Small Things and ‘Crafting On’ from Frontier Dreams 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

Red booties

I’ve managed to knit a pair of red booties this week – ok so it’s THE most basic pattern ever but I’m pleased they are done – so is dolly (I think I used the wrong sized needles/wool so they are far to small for a real baby – which is just as well, as dolly was getting cold toes).

I’m really enjoying the knitting now, I feel like I have ‘mastered’ the basics, I think I could get hooked on this!

On the reading fron, I have just finished Anita Shreve’s ‘Let It Snow’ – I really, really loved that book, it was so beautifully written and I looked forward to reading it every day, I’m pleased to have been recommended this author as she has heaps more for me to get stuck into!

Head over to see what’s happening over at Small Things and Frontier Dreams xx

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……………

Today….

Today is slow going. I decided to make a pie from Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jamie’s Great Britain’ book (I’m really enjoying this book and looking forward to making many of his recipes). Ok so I have just tested it and it tastes absolutely wonderful but it did take a long time,well the filling alone took 2.5 hours of cooking, plus the preparation and making the pastry etc, hence I haven’t got a lot else done this morning, though of course the good thing is that I have somehow managed to make such a large amount that  I have enough for 3 meals, thank goodeness for the freezer! Anyway – a post coming soon about the pie, for now I’ll update you on the scarf. It STILL isn’t finished, I’m begining to get bored of knitting it now but I’m desperate to finish it off soon. So here it is at it’s current state:

Remember to head over to see Ginny at Small Things as well as over to Frontier Dreams too x

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!…………..