French Knots

Pottering week

A low key half term for us, bit of baking, park visiting, some crafting and dvd watching. Naturally we had to buy HSM three and watch it several times, we also bought Sky High which was really entertaining. In fact My Little Helper would have done nothing but watch it all week! Throw in a growth scan ( all well, just the size it should be for 29 weeks) and the week off was gone in a laid back and pottering flash!

    

I finished sewing my little squares together, I'm glad it is a pram blanket and not a king size - some of the seams will not take close inspection!

A friend kindly showed me how to crochet an edging, now I have the crochet bug and see some granny squares in the near future.

The robot was eventually stuffed, (once the bag of stuffing had been unearthed - the sewing room is undergoing a transformation into a new bedroom and smaller sewing room so everything is goodness knows where ) and sent off along with a couple of kind contributions from friends too. Whilst I know giving money is probably the most practical way to help it feels good to send tangible evidence of our concern.

Hope your week has got off to a good start, the children were surprisingly keen to get into school this morning, must have had enough of my company!

WIP

 

Some squares in different stitches, mainly the same size..ish! Need to read up on finishing techniques so I can make my little blanket. Cotton cashmere has not been a joy to knit with, very splitty, so I foresee the need for more chocolate ahead as I try to crochet a border.

A little light reading

 

What a lovely stack of inspiration, these are keeping me company at the moment. The great thing about books for Christmas is the weeks and months of pleasure they give. I've earmarked projects in Sew Fabulous Fabric and Childhood Treasures but will have to wait a while to get started as my sewing room is undergoing a transformation. Mr FK is building a couple of walls to split it into a nursery and little sewing room, such a treat to still have my own little space even if it might be a bit neglected after May! The Cath Kidston Make book is my least favourite, nothing in it really grabbed me.

So while the building work is going on upstairs I have been knitting instead, some little squares to make a pram blanket trying out different stitches. Some are a bit wonky but I'm working on the basis that once it's been sicked on and through the washer a few times I'm not going to notice.

 

These lovely dpns were also a Christmas present, thanks to my lovely ( but blogless) friend Amanda. I find wooden needles much easier to knit with and now have them in every size I might need - more hats and socks to come I think. No surprises there!

Some advice too please. I have a great, woollen, stripey rug in lovely zingy colours that I got from a fellow freecycler in perfect nick apart from the fact that the end is fraying. I think I need to bind it with something to stop it getting any worse but amguessing I'd need to stitch it by hand as it's pretty chunky. Unless any one knows of an iron on wide thingy that would do the trick?!

Hope you are having an inspired and cheerful start to the week.

Sun at last

A lovely sunny day here has put me in the mood to get things done. As yet another dose of illness had me under the weather again last week (after months of one thing after the other and a total lack of appetite I now weigh the same as I did when I got pregnant 24 weeks ago) , a veerryy slow computer and typepad eating half written posts put me off writing anything for a while today was the day to get back in my groove. The sun just seems to lift my spirits and give me some energy, much welcome after grey damp days.

Thanks for all the photo love on my last post, they were taken at Beaumaris on Anglesey between Christmas and New Year on a freezing cold but wonderfully bright day.

Have been doing well with my cost control goal apart from a little blip in the wool shop

    

Such amazing, zinging colours had to come home with me! At least they were in the sale, it's silk and really soft to the touch and no, I| haven't a clue what I'm going to do with it.

Other than that my spotty jug keeps me on the straight and narrow

I stuff all the household shopping receipts in it and than have a grand tally up at the end of the month. I did this all last year too and it reinforces how much is actually spent, handing over a debit card still doesn't feel like spending money. Once I've got my monthly total I divide it by the number of days in the month to compare on a like for like basis ( I know, how sad....must be hankering for the days when I was working and a ran a £40million budget!) I aim for £10 per day for food and household stuff which is about right for us I think. I stockpile when things we use a lot are on special offer so my pantry is groaning under the weight of cartons of orange juice and passata at the moment.

Right might just fit in a walk in the sun before collecting the children...... hope the sun is shining on you too.

Small pleasures

 

Copied my friend Belinda and made some simple handwarmers, good for keeping me warm when blogging with the heating off! Simple rectangles of rib, stitched up the side.

The Big Sister's excitement and total lack of trepidation at going to Brownie Camp for 5 days next week ( unlike me, who is worrying about her already and shes not even gone yet!)

Borrowing The Kite Runner from a friend and reading it in one sitting

Planning the Christmas presents I'll be making, how I love a list!

Plum whisky in the jar on the window sill

Candles lit as the nights draw in

Autumn cooking, hearty stews in the slow cooker

River Cottage Autumn 

Sew Hip loving the fact that I know and read the blogs of so many contributors and of course the editor too, looking forward to the next issue.

Have a crisp, bright autumn weekend.    

Knitting makeover

 

It was a terrible orange when I paid the princely sum of £2 at the car boot sale, of course it had to have a revamp. Goodness it was fiddly! If I paint wicker again it will be with spray paint.

 

Love found on the playground

 

burgeoning late summer hollyhock

 

our weekend walk

I'm lovin' my new camera, learning all the time but finding it hard to remember it all as it does everything apart from cook dinner!

Clickety click

Regular readers may remember I learnt to knit earlier this year and got hooked on sock knitting. A few weeks ago I discovered a really easy pattern for a hat, a satisfying, snuggly, bee hive of a hat.

that looks great in all sorts of colours. Obsessive, hummm, yes I seem to be! I need to move on to something new as I now have lots of socks and lots of hats. Something simple,small and portable, hand warmers perhaps? Any suggestions knitters??

This was the scene a couple of evening ago

yes I know it looks like a sheet pegged up on a bit of wire in the bay window but it is actually our home cinema! Mr FK had a snazzy projector from work and hooked it up to the dvd player, once it got dark we hardly noticed the creases on the sheet/screen!

Hope you have great plans for the weekend either doing exciting things or relaxing and chilling out. I think I will be doing a bit of both -Sunday is my 40th birthday and there are plans afoot but I have no idea what they are. But I'm sure they will be fab, the children have been whispering in corners and I'm not allowed in the Big Sister's bedroom. Good, means she'll have to tidy it herself!

See you next week in a whole new era of my life!

Hat trick

This is what I found when I checked on My Little Helper on my way up to bed. Apparently it is his sleeping hat - dur Mummy! He was fast asleep so I just left it there!

I followed suit......

I thought I'd have a bit of variety after months of sock knitting and knitted this Noro confection in a couple of evenings. I love the colours and the way they blend and change. What a revelation after thin wool and toothpick style dpns - a project doesn't have to take weeks and weeks to complete. It was a pattern from www.saartjeknits.nl and was really easy to follow. I'm going to make another with the left over wool but will miss off a couple of the segments for a snugger fit. Just what we need for the miserable summer weather...but will it ensure me a good nights sleep??

Big socks, little socks

It's definitely an addiction!

No sooner is one pair finished ( not for me this time, a gift for a friend - hence them not being modelled on my chunky calves as I don't want to stretch them!) than another is on the needles

These little ones were so quick to do, but blummin fiddly. I could do with some mini dpns I think, wonder if they are available? Not that I should go looking anywhere,Helen at  Angharad mentioned that she had found a great offer on sock yarn at Get Knitted and before you could say knitting needle I'd ordered 5 more balls of sock yarn! Whoops.... but it was on offer so really I'm saving money and will be able to make a start on some Christmas presents early!

I can't believe it's the first of May, the year is whizzing by so quickly and some days I'd be hard pushed to say what I'd been busy with all day. I wish the weather would perk up, unlike the rest of the country we had a grey and wet weekend and it's still pretty cold. I want to move into flip flops and lazy afternoons in the garden pottering in the warm sunshine. At least the garden is beginning to come to life, our seeds are getting rather leggy on the window sill but I don't want to loose them to a late frost.

But the hoards are gathering ready to munch their was through our veggies and salad again 

I think some sort of slug slayer will have to go on the shopping list.......right off to squeeze in another row or two......

Better than an egg!

Oh yes, so much better than an egg! The yarn has produced a magical pattern and by some miracle I had the right number of stitches when it came to shaping the toe. I'm so pleased and rather surprised. I couldn't get to grips with grafting the toe so it's finished with a three needle cast off. So after spending the best part of a week lolling around feeling manky.............

a pair! It's funny how once they are off the needles they go from being my ' don't touch, be careful not to slip the stitched off the end of the needles, keep counting the stitches and writing down how many rows I've done' project to just socks! On my feet all day today and wondering if it would be ok to wear them tomorrow too as I'm so pleased with them! I can't quite believe I've managed to learn to knit and made my first socks in just a couple of months.

I'm desperate to start another pair, John Lewis didn't have any yarn I liked today so will have to brave the gallery ( with the children! Arrgh full of beautiful ceramics - perhaps I can handcuff them?!) to get to the knit studio upstairs and sooth my craving with some more Opal Picture...oh yes...got to have it!!

Thanks for your get well wishes, I manged to force down a Creme Egg or two and can only say thank goodness for Penicillin! Whilst I know the half stone I've lost is due to dehydration and not eating so will go back on in a flash, at least I can enjoy feeling thinner for a day or two!

We had a quick Egg Hunt between the snow flurries on Sunday

and enjoyed watching Over the Hedge all curled up together in front of the fire. Hope your long weekend was chocolate filled!