French Knots

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??

Splish splash!

Goodness what a wet weekend! We had our school fete on Saturday and as I'm on the PTA I was there all day, the rain started as I stepped out of the door at 8 am and by mid morning we were putting up gazebos in a monsoon! Luckily there was a bit of sun during the afternoon so the children could enjoy themselves and have a go at the games and a bounce on the castle. Today has been just the same, but without the sunny spell

The rose that grows up the children's swing ( well it's not got too many prickles!) has bloomed beautifully this year, despite being totally neglected by the lazy gardener. I got this picture last week when we had a couple of dry days, which is lucky as it's a bedraggled mess now...bit like I was on Saturday! 

Coniston

Before life went pear shaped we had a lovely time in the Lakes during the second week of half term.

We stayed right next to Lake Coniston at a super wooded site with glades for pitching, where the children could go off exploring and have far more freedom than usual.

Wonderful views with craggy fells rising high above the village

wagtails perched on drystone walls

sunshine reflected in the lake

 

delicious raspberry Pavlova ice cream from the village shop in Elterwater

Chocolate box cottages we'd love to live in

sun soaked sock knitting

magical dens built by the children

A wonderful family week, relaxing and exploring together.

Gently keeping busy

Have spent some time snuggled under this reading, you all have excellent taste in nostalgic comfort reading. I have learnt how to use the on line ordering service for our local library and will soon be joined by many of your recommendations, some of which I loved as a child and others that are new to me. 

These are some little notecards I made for my Littlest Sis, I scanned the appliqued picture and made some postcards and a wallet to keep them in. I was inspired by this excellent tutorial ( which I still can't link to despite an email from Typepad telling me what to do! ) http://www.feelingstitchy.com/2008/05/are-we-almost-there.html

I've also started a couple of new yarn projects, but as the camera has a cob on today I'll have to show them tomorrow!

My Little Helper came dashing into the house to tell my our little dog had done a poo on the path in the garden....as soon as I saw it I knew it wasn't the dog who had left it! Struggling between laughing at his ingenuity and keeping a straight face as I told him how it is wrong to tell lies and what did he think the big white thing in the bathroom was for, I tried to focus on how our children always manage to surprise us!!

Getting on

Thank you all so much for your kind messages and emails, the support and lovely comments are very much appreciated. We read them all and are comforted by their heartfelt words and it just confirms that my blogging friends are wonderful.

I have been resting and taking it easy, in fact have been in bed by 8pm every night for the past week. During the day I have been keeping Philip and Fern company ( for overseas readers - they host a lightweight daytime show over here) doing a bit of sewing and lots of reading. My sewing machine tension developed a mind of it's own so lots of frustration was heaped upon it, quite cathartic really even if the air was blue! Some foul language, cursing and foot stamping later I tightened the tiny screw that was hardly visible to the naked eye which seems to have worked.

I have been making some BIG doorstops, as usual with recycled fabrics, but with 2kg of rice in each one so they are up to holding open the heaviest of doors or ones with self closers on.

I have been rereading some of my favourites from childhood, so far Little Women and Good Wives, Swallows and Amazons, The Secret Garden and am just about to start on What Katie Did. Which were your favourites to read under the covers by torch light? I tried the children's section on the library but found it to be sadly lacking in nostalgic inspiration, just lots of Tracey Beaker etc which I'm sure children enjoy but didn't fit the bill for my wander down memory lane.

Hope your weekend is sunny and peaceful, thanks again everyone. xx 

10th June 2008

I woke up on Tuesday morning 11 weeks pregnant full of excitement and anticipation with a growing bubble of joy inside me. The scan brought the worst possible news and instead of being able to share my wonderful happiness with you all I feel devastated.

All the plans and dreams in my head are gone replaced by a grey fog. My children have been sweet and kind, concerned about their weeping Mummy who's trying and failing to hold it all together. My son climbed into bed with us at 4.30 am bring his special and most favourite toy for 'Mummy to cuggle' My daughter stayed awake till we got home from the hospital as she 'couldn't go to sleep until she had given me a hug'. Every time I look at their lovely faces it just reinforces what we have lost. My wonderful husband has been a tower of straight and support despite his own pain, pushing the hospital to stop shillyshallying and get on with taking care of me. Kind friends have brought flowers, hugs and shoulders to cry on. I never realised how common it is to loose a baby, or how little the doctors seem to know about why it happens.

I think it was Domesticali who wrote about the elephant in the corner, I feel a bit like that. I have nothing else to talk about or think about at the moment. Soon my little blog will go back to twittering on about creativity and domestic life but just for today it is full of tears.

Technology!

Ok so the PC has decided it doesn't recognise the camera any more so I can't get at my photos of the new things I've been making, Typepad still doesn't't want me to do links as the button won't work so this is a bit of a boring post before I've even started! And I was going to try and be smart and write a post to be published in a day of two just to see if I could do it. 

A rather windy and soggy half term so far, with just a few hours of sun yesterday afternoon when the children played in the garden making pies from sand, water and grass - how delicious! I took the opportunity to laze in a deckchair and enjoy the warm sunshine. Today though is back to the grey skies and occasional drizzle, ah well.

This lovely bag has been lifting my spirits since receiving it in a swap organised by Rhonda Jean over at Down to Earth ( sorry, still no links today!) from Julia at Blue Apple Farm. It's the perfect size for summer bits and bobs - brolly, gloves...... no I mean sunglasses and suntan lotion, if only! It's my favourite colour combination and has been complimented many times already.  

This is an amazing coat that we saw on a recent visit to the Museum Of Science and Industry, it's made of thistle down and has a wonderful magical appearance which hasn't really photographed very well.

I can only imagine the patience needed to make something so delicate, and certainly not something to try when you have the sneezes!

Hope you are enjoying half term, if you have children, mine are off next week too and we've some plans for a fun week so I'll see you in a while. Hopefully Typepad will be keener on doing links by then!

Friday Smiles

(Ok I'm going to be quick as Tyepad has already eaten one post - which was of course far more entertaining than usual! And goodness knows what all the new buttons do...I'm sure once I've checked them out it'll be great but at the moment the main problem is I can't do any links...thanks Typepad! And the jumping around the paragraphs when spellchecking?! What? Did they not test this upgrade? Grr!)

My Little Helper is keen to be out in the garden at the moment taking care of the peas and beans we planted and waging war on the slugs and snails. 'Take my picture for the blog Mummy'  - not a sentence you'd have heard a child say a few years ago!

We giggled every time we got in the lift while we were away

It was one of those without a door so you could watch the wall, ceilings and floors go past but be careful you don't squash your head with your suitcase!

I'm also still smiling from this morning when The Big Sister came down with an itchy eye and was worried she was getting 'jungleitus'! Bless. I love it when they come up with new words for things, which I them immediately adopt instead of the proper words, just hope it doesn't stop the children making themselves understood in later life!

Life's little pleasures. I'm going to have some delicious ripe, luscious strawberries now and watch the RHS programme that I recorded last night, small things to brighten a grey day.

Hope you have a wonderful long weekend!

Stockholm

Wonderful! Ok so I was missing the children by day two, we had a brilliant time! It got off to a great start when we saw The Hairy Bikers at the airport, I enjoy watching their programs, their enthusiasm and love of food really comes across.

Stockholm has wonderful buildings, painted in muted colours

lots of tall, thin buildings clustered together in the old town.

The amazing Vasa Museum with the breathtaking ship towering above you out of the gloom

Royal Jewels with diamonds the size of broad beans!

The chilly Baltic wind blowing off the sea and over the many bridges

The pelican crossings with their loud tick tock getting faster and faster

The ferry strike which meant we couldn't island hop as we'd hoped

The grocers shop at Skansen that smells just like Popsie's shed

Moose burgers and beer at £6 a glass. Lots of apartments with lamps in the window to welcome you home

and getting home to lots of cuddles from the children. Perfect!

Friday

What a glorious week, typical that after a grey and wet Bank Holiday weekend the week turns into a scorcher! We went to the May Day Steam again on Monday

more than a little mud, no sitting in the sun watching the traction engines in the parade ground this year as it was too wet for them to move

but we enjoyed the sights and the smells before squelching home to rinse off the mud - My Little Helper's jeans have been through the wash twice and are still not clean!

Never mind, it's Friday again and hopefully the nice weather will last and we can have a weekend of paddling pools, lazing in the sunshine. Well probably not too much lazing for me as Mr FK is away on a work piss up conference for the next two nights and will no doubt be a little worse for wear when he makes it home on Sunday! I've risked planting the peas and beans so will need to stand guard over them to stop the slugs and snails tucking in and I'd like to get some weeding done too. Other than that I think the deckchairs need an airing, which means I need to get them out in the sun for a few hours and should probably have a snooze on them just to make sure the cushions are still comfy.

I was the lucky winner of a draw that Florence held recently

The Big Sister thought it was some new fabric for patchwork and I have to agree that they are much to nice for washing dishes with, well perhaps Champagne flutes but certainly nothing too mucky! Thanks Florence, the little sparklers were a sweet surprise too.

Thank you all for you Anniversary wishes, we had a good day and are planning to make the most of our child free trip to Stockholm next week.....but I'll probably be missing them both by day three!

Have a chilled out weekend!