Scarves Galore

I've been a bit busy of late what with the renovations, the car booting and working that I have only just got round to finishing some projects.

I have only really started these a few weeks ago but sometimes when you only pick it up here and there it seems to take ages!!!!!!!

Me and my work friend Elaine decided on a mere whim that we would have a go at making neck warmers for my craft stall.  I did a little googling and mooching on Pinterest and hey presto I found some rather lovely patterns.  This one is made from 1 ball of Patons Fab Big wool and I got the original pattern via a link on Crafty Red's blog.  I think I used a 8mm crochet hook and the same number of stitches that the pattern suggests.

And look this is the same scarf as above but we decided that the top bit turned over worked just as well if not better.

The yarn was so lovely and they worked up so quick that I just had to have another go in a different colour this is more like a biscuit colour.  Again we manipulated the finished scarf into another style.

And last of all was this one.  I used Rowan Drift and a pattern from Loopknits which I amended ever so slightly at the end.

Quite happy with the results and enjoyed having a go at something different.  What do you think about the end results and would it be something that you would buy in Winter?

Motivation days 13-19 Back from Jollies!

Home sweet home - I do love going to our caravan but after a week I do seem to pine for home. We have had a lovely time, the weather was fairly mixed with some days it raining buckets and other days being glorious.

Here are the posts that I did whilst away :-

Day 14 - Off to the Lakes.

We had a lovely day in the Lakes and on the way home whilst driving through Bolton-le-Sands we made an impromptu stop at a lovely little shop called Etty-Lilly.  It was absolutely adorable, full of lovely yarn, material and crafts.  The lady was just in the process of knitting a nativity so I will be popping in when I next visit the caravan to see how she's getting on.

Day 15 - Rain and buttons.

Rain, rain, rain all day but we decided to brave it and went wandering.  I am sooooo glad we did as I found some lovely buttons in a local charity shop and all for 50p.  I love bargains - now what can I make!!!!!

Day 16 - Yummy wool

I got a book from the library before I went on holiday and I have earmarked lots and lots of things that I want to make.  The book is by Nicki Trench and called cute and easy Crocheted Baby Clothes and you can find it on her website here. 
There is a lovely blanket that is made of squares with love hearts in the middle that I really want to be my next project so in preparation I bought some new wool (I never need an excuse!).

Day 17 - A little bit of me time.

I managed to make 2 of the love heart squares ready for my new blanket - although I sort of forgot that I had not finished that last blanket!  I must finish things I start, I must finish things I start, ooooh yummy love hearts.........

Day 18 - Glorious sunshine!

What a lovely day we had - very warm but nice and breezy.  The day was spent having fun with the kids, went to the park, walked on the front, played on the 2p machines in the amusements and ate ice cream what more could you wish for (apart from all the 2p's coming down the slot!).

Day 19 - Time to go home.

Back at home now - feeling reconnected to the world and as you can see on with the blogging.  Before we got home we had another viewing on the house so fingers crossed yet again and hopefully some feedback tomorrow.  I have a craft stall at a local scarecrow festival on Sunday so now off to get some crafting done.

Day 3 - snuggly cuddly blanket.

I promised yesterday that I would show you my current work in progress (WIP).  So without further a do here it is!



I wrote about this pattern in an earlier blog (original here) and even then I loved the pattern but was not sure about the colours or wool I had chosen.  After a few more rows I decided that I was not 100% happy and so I pulled the original one back.  I found these lovely colours whilst on holiday in morecambe at a little stall in the market and could not resist using them for this blanket.  I will keep you updated on its progress x  If you like the pattern you can find it here mooglyblog.com.

I hope you had a fab weekend too and I will update you on my other antics over the next few days : )

Day 2 - a bit of DIY

Today I am not so chirpy : (   I had a rough night's sleep last night, my hubby started feeling ill just before bed and ended up with an upset tummy (not going to go into too much detail!).  Just as he went to sleep my little girl ended up waking up and she was chattering in her cot for a short while shouting for mummy, daddy and Jake to come and play.  I think I managed to see 2.30am.  Molly then woke up all chirpy and cheerful at 6am ready for the day!

Despite this I have managed to have an easy day and popped out this afternoon to Homebase to help my Mum pick some tiles for her new kitchen which was nice. 

I've just been catching up on sleepyjoes blog about being motivated and noticed that she has also started to forward plan - I have just finished a list of things that I would like to get done and how these can become blog posts!  Great minds think alike!

Before I go I will leave you with a little sneaky peep at my newest creation - it's not finished but I will show you more tomorrow.

Ta-ta for now - hope your weekends are filled with lots of lovely things.  Feel free to share what you have been up to x

I Love Lists!

Well after yesterday's post I was feeling really motivated and ready to tackle the world.  So this morning after the rainy school run I set to and started to tick off the items on 'the dreaded list'.

We went food shopping yesterday and bought lots of yummy fresh fruit and veg.  Just recently we have been very busy and seem to have been throwing away food that has gone off.  So I made a meal plan and bought what we needed.

This morning I have managed to make tea (sausage casserole), tomorrow's tea (corned beef hash) as I am doing a 12 hr shift at work, a slimming world tomato and mixed bean soup and a yummy scrummy courgette cake.     Everything looks and smells soooooo gooooood.

Corned beef hash just finished cooking in the pan - I know its summer but with all the rain and rubbish weather it's just so nice to have.

Courgette cake; I got the recipe from my friends mum and so glad I have made it, my hubby and kids love homemade baking x

You can just about see the courgette, dried fruit and walnuts - my hubby has already demolished this slice!

And after all the cooking I treated myself to 30 minutes of crochet time - a friend on facebook posted a pattern for a lovely baby blanket.  It looked all colourful and snuggly and I decided to have a go.  I bought some wool at Christmas that I was keeping for something special (I was thinking a Lucy blanket of some description).

Here's what it looks like so far - I'm not sure I like it, I like the pattern don't get me wrong but somehow the wool doesn't look snuggly enough if you know what I mean.  I did plan on backing it with fleece but still not sure.   Here's a link to the original post and pattern by mooglyblog.com.  Let me know what you think?

Weekend Wonders

What a busy day and it's only Saturday, thank goodness it's a Bank Holiday.

We have recently sold our little touring caravan and bought a static, so today we had to empty it and give it a clean before taking it to it's new home.  The only problem was all the stuff we had taken out needed to go somewhere (and I can tell you there was lots of Stuff!!!!!!!!).  This "somewhere" ended up being behind the sofa, in the shed, under the kids beds and in the corner of our bedroom - which is not good when you have a viewing tomorrow.  So we found ourselves zooming up the M6 to deposit it all in our very nearly ready static!

I have had quite a productive week too and managed to find some fleece (from Sainsbury's of all places) so that I could put a backing on my ripple baby blanket.  I can't wait to give this to my friend, I just hope she likes it and her little bubba is nice and warm.

In my last post I also mentioned my beads from www.beadcrafty.com and I could not wait to start making things.  This is what happened so I hope people like them and they will take pride of place on my table in June.

This might just be my favourite???????

Or maybe this one???????

What has everyone else been up to? What prices would you be happy to pay for a bracelet?  All thoughts would be welcome! 

Have a good bank holiday everyone x x x

Easter Fair

Woo hoo - Happy Easter everyone!!!!

I have finally got the time to blog and have managed to upload pictures although not by using my computer : ) I hope it's not poorly : (

I may have mentioned it just a few times that I have a stall at a local Arts & Crafts Exhibition for the next 4 days over Easter.  I went to set up on Wednesday evening and was very nervous!  Here is the result - what do you think?????

I did have fun making everything but it took me a long-time and now I worried about whether it will all sell and if it does I will not have anything to go in its space so it will look very bare!

I have also managed to get a couple of private orders for my little rabbits.  I got the pattern from a post on Attic 24 and I think it originally came from a blog called Greedy for Colour.  They are so cute, I just tweaked the original pattern so that they came out slightly smaller and more colourful on their tummy's.

This post is not going to be as long as usual as I'm popping over to the Exhibition to look for a special birthday present x

Have a lovely Easter whatever plans you may have

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A Lazy Day!!!!

Well I haven't posted in a while - I have been meaning to, but things have just got in the way and then another day has passed!

We had our first viewing last week after a couple of time wasters.  It went really well and they really liked the house but not the electric pylon nearby so still no movement.

I have also made some progress on those dreaded unfinished projects that I hide behind the sofa!  I have managed to finish the scarf, mug cozy and ribbon blanket so feeling quite pleased with myself.

I had the day off today and had lots of good intentions - I planned on doing some cleaning, crafting and others bits and bobs - but you know what, I started reading a book by M.C Beaton- As the pig turns, and that was most of the morning gone! 

I did do some crafting this afternoon and spent an hour making some lovely easter gifts ready for my table at the craft fair.

What do you think????  I could only seem to find a bunny one that was knitted, have never used circular needles before and am totally clueless about making stitches in the front and back!!!!! So I made my own pattern and this is how it turned out.  Have already got a list of people that would like some so might be busy for the next couple of days.

I also managed to make another ribbon blankie, this time using this wonderful fabric which I love!

I hope everyone is well and busy with their own projects; I would love to know what people are currently working on.

xxxxxxxxx

Spring

For the first time this year it actually felt like Spring was on it's way!  I bought some flowers (tulips and daffodils) last week to make the house pretty for our viewing on Sunday and these have really brighten the place up!  The splash of colour just makes me smile : )

On the way to work, the sun was shining and it felt lovely and crisp - I actually carried my coat and braved it in my cardigan. You know what, it didn't actually feel cold either - no icy wind in sight.

I am feeling a little more optimistic not just with viewings on the house but actually with life in general.  I'm still busy (if anything slightly busier) but this week I have actually managed to squeeze in some "crafting" time and have finally got round to starting my own ripple blanket.  I have been admiring "Lucy's" ripple at Attic24 for quite a long time!  It only took 3 attempts with the pattern but I think I have just about cracked it.

The only problem now is that I have already run out of wool!  When I was holidaying in Scarborough last year I bought 3 balls of Robin Chunky in lemon, pink and rose not really having a project in mind but loving the colours.  Hey Ho no big deal!  I'm going to have a little trip out to Bury on Friday to see if I can find some on the market; if not it looks like I will be bulk buying them on the Internet as that will be the cheapest option.  This blanket is not for anyone in particular and if I get it finished before Easter it may have pride of place on my table at the craft fair.

Still on the topic of "crafting" I received a parcel on Tuesday which I could not wait to get home to!  I bought some fabric from www.fabric.com a couple of weeks ago and it had come, excited is not the word.  This is what was delivered:-

I just can't wait to start making things with them and have admired these prints for some time, these 3 are my favourites though!  And the minky dimple in pink is just divine!

 I also ended up buying some cute little buttons and ric rac from a wonderful haberdashery in Skipton - it would have been rude not to!

 

 Anyway its getting late and it's work again tomorrow (12 hour shift) so I'm off to bed but I'll leave you with one last photo - I made rock cakes again this evening and they were yummy, although I have to be honest and say that some of them were slightly more browner than others ( I may have forgotten about some of them - oops).  I hope that you all have a good week filled with lots of spring-time moments and plenty of opportunities to spend time crafting too x x x x x

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well can't complain but soooooooooooooo busy! 

I so want to spend time being "crafty" and doing lovely "crafty" things but there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day.
I'm still getting used to being back at work after 12 mths maternity leave, but the two long days do seem like a hard slog!  So that only leaves me with 5 days - 3 of these I have my little girl with me at home so trying to knit or crochet is simply out of the question.  I can say, I did try ONCE but it took me a week to get all the knots out of my wool!  So we are down to 2 days - these being the weekend.  This is the time we like to spend as a family so knitting and crocheting are a no no and are way too boring for my 5 year old!  I do try and be sneaky though and suggest some days out to the Lake District or Seaside and this means that I can use the travelling time to get a few rows in!

This week has been so busy - we went to a pantomime at the weekend "oh no you didn't" I hear you cry, "oh yes I did" I reply (so couldn't resist) which was fab, it was nice to be out of the house and spending some us time with my eldest Jake. 

Then it was tidy, tidy, tidy on Sunday as we are going with some new estate agents in an attempt to sell our house. 

Monday we got an unexpected call from said estate agents as they wanted to come and retake some of the photos - thank goodness I did that cleaning!

..................................................................

and guess what?????? Yes it's already Wednesday - just where did the time go.  I have a 3 day craft fair in 11 weeks and no stock, with weeks flying by without being able to get a hook out let alone a sewing machine my little table is going to be a very sorry affair!!!!!!!

My mug cosies

This weekend I saw a lovely mug cosy on Etsy - it was pink (my favourite colour) and had a cable pattern running through it.  I loved it and had to investigate to see if I could find the pattern and make my own.

I did find some patterns but thought I'd better practice a bit first - here are my efforts and although I do like them for some reasons mine don't look identical to the one I found on Ravelry so I might have to do a bit of tweaking!  Like a daftie I have now deleted these pictures but my attempts have got better I'm glad to say so now I have included some more recent pictures!

Although I have to say, overall they look quite good together!  This week I think I will have a go at experimenting with some of the other designs on Ravelry and work out which cups to cover as I think that will make all the difference. 

What do you all think?  Is this something you would use at home or buy at a craft fair for a present?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

Checking in!

Nothing new to report so just checking in with you all really!  

We still haven't had any viewing on our house despite the estate agents "doing their best"!  We have now issued the ultimatum and they have a week before we moved to another agent.

Been really busy this week working and house tidying which with 2 kids and lots of toys is a mean feat, I can tell you.

Really want to have lots of time to do "me stuff" preferably crochet, knitting and sewing.  Want to make bunting for a craft fair at the end of March (and some for the new house of course), little purses from cutesy fabric, crochet mug cozies, finish my pink stripy blanket and make lots of fabric hearts but alas there is just not enough time : (

Here's one of the hearts I did make a few weeks ago and its one of my favourites - I've not perfected the stitching yet but there's time and I think it adds to the homemade look (It was only my second attempt!).

I have tried to make the mug cozies this weekend and have managed one - yes one full one!!!!!!! but the second one just won't finish and I've had to pull it back twice - don't think trying to count stitches on the motorway from Blackpool helped - especially as it was the journey home when dark, and no I wasn't driving ; )

When I've done I will post a few pictures and the pattern if anyone is interested as I've had to modify the one that I originally wanted to use as just couldn't fathom it out!

Ta - ta for now xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sooooo Excited

Well even thought the weather outside is horrible, wet and bleak I can't help but feel excited : )

We are going to view a house tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippee!!!!!!  We saw it on the internet just before Christmas but have had to wait for the estate agents to open yesterday - and I can't tell you how long that wait has been <3

It's so hard not to get giddy and dream about what colour scheme we're going to have and where our furniture will go - we've even named the chickens that we're going to buy for the back garden!   "No don't" I hear you cry and I know I shouldn't dream but sod it, I can only hope we like it and that we can sell ours too.

Just in case you were wondering the chickens are going to be Hetty, Dot and Peggy - what do you think?

I've had such a busy week so far, back to work, school runs and the weekly routine that it feels Christmas was a lifetime ago.  All the trimming are down and it all looks a bit bare.  Come on spring hurry up!

On a positive note people seem to want decorators so hubby is nice and busy and I've got a few orders coming in for scarves and my little baby comforters so that's a bonus.

I've also made some progress with my resolutions - continue with my blog - check, start my craft business - check and tackle my weight - check.  Only small baby steps but if I give myself too much I won't get it done. 

Better get on; little one is wanting some lunch and I'd better tidy up before the estate agents come to take new pictures. 

Hows everyone doing with their resolutions??????