French Knots

Grrrrr!

So what better start to the day could there be than your youngest child climbing in to bed with you at 4am, crying as he had a bad dream, nodding of in your bed and then grinding his teeth to keep you awake till morning?? Well perhaps one that continues with returning from the school run to find water coming through the kitchen ceiling from the bathroom! Wonderful, a call to the insurance company just served to raise my blood pressure further as they suggested they'd be able to send an assessor in the next few days! Great ...no...not a plumber RIGHT NOW but an assessor next week! Fab!

A friend's husband cam to the rescue and has spent the better part of the day sorting out my bathroom, we were somewhat surprised when he lifted the floor boards and there weren't any pipes underneath - where was the water coming from? We investigated by the light of My Little Helper's Spiderman torch, which projected a spider onto the joist but didn't really shed any light on the problem. Eventually it was tracked down to the loo - great I'm so glad I stuck an empty fruit bowl under the leak in the kitchen,wont want fruit in that again! Lucky Mr FK will get in from fighting the traffic on the motorway to find the loo on the landing and a weekend project putting a new, dry floor down in there.

Is it time for a glass of wine??

This is my creative output this week, a little picture for a dear friend. The colours look a bit washed out  and the stitches on the background seem to have vanished. I must get to grips with my New Years resolution to improve my photography skills......once I've finished my sock!

Have a happy weekend, especially if you have access to a loo!

Monday

The Big Sister - Mummy when you're not here, I don't mean dead I mean gone to live in Spain or something, can I run French Knots?

Me - Yes, of course you can

TBS - But I'd have to call it French Fries!

Anyone that knows her will not be surprised in the name change as food is a subject very close to her heart!But I'm delighted she's interested in blogging, crafting and selling her creations. If the name suddenly changes you'll know I've been pensioned off to Spain - not quite sure why she chose Spain but as long as there's a good fabric shop, yarn shop, lots of jumble sales, broadband connection and cheap wine I don't mind going soon!

I made these Pizza Swirls for tea the other day, just for a change

Make your pizza dough by hand or machine, roll out into a rectangle, spread with your tasty tomato base ( a la Jamie) and top with cheese and what ever else takes your fancy. Roll it up like a swiss roll, cut into slices and bake. Eat quickly before the children devour them all!

I bought Miss Potter ,as it was reduced in the supermarket, the other day and a bit of Ewan McGregor is always a treat, ok only a couple of years after everyone else watched it, but it was brilliant. In fact Mr FK is away (yet again!) later this week so I think I'll curl up with Ewan again!

uh oh heel approaching!

The ankle part has knitted up quite easily but now those of you who commented that I was brave/mad may be proved right as I try and decipher the instructions for a heel flap!I've really enjoyed it and love the way the yarn magically makes the pattern for me.

I do have a secret weapon though - the experienced knitters at the knitting group I have been going to. It's held in the knit studio of a lovely  art gallery Fibre + Clay and is very tempting as you are surrounded on all sides by knitting goodies, yarn, needles, bags, buttons, markers...and lots of things I don't know what to do with yet!

The gallery has some wonderful, inspiring pieces chosen I'm sure to part you from your money with their loveliness! Felted bags, scarves, hats and wall hangings, amazing ceramics, embroidered brooches

Just the sort of place we all love!

Last week Florence very kindly awarded me an Art Y Pico award for creative and inspiring blogs. I have been totally rubbish at saying 'Thank You' as this week seems to have slipped away somewhere. So Thanks very much Florence, I'm really touched, what an unexpected compliment. It's so nice to think of people enjoying what I write and make, when I started blogging I wondered if anyone would read it and have been amazed at the wonderful people I have met.Florence writes a wonderful blog about her family and sewing adventures, she makes kimonos..proper sewing!!

I need to pass the award on and in part that has been some of the reason for my delay as I read so many wonderful blogs ( Bloglines currently stands at 243!!) it is hard to pick out just a handful but here we go -

So Tread Softly

Domesticali

Syko

Even though I don't go out to work any more I still get that Friday feeling, perhaps more so today as the sun is shining and I'm meeting a friend for lunch, which doesn't happen often! Hope you have the Friday feeling too!

Mother's Day

The day had an early start as the children climbed into our bed giggling at about 6.30, standing on my not-quite-recovered-from-being-sprained-before-Christmas-ankle in the process so Mr FK was woken by my loud screech! Breakfast in bed followed with lovely home made cards, present bags and a poster

We had a lazy morning as Mr FK was out on a course then he kindly took us all out for ice cream. Not just any ice cream but the most enormous, delicious, fresh from the farm ice cream mmmm.

And this is not a picture of my double chin, hand or camera but an attempt to show you the lovely necklace the children gave me and I was too lazy to take it off to photograph properly. Taking photos in the mirror is harder than it looks!

My Little Helper gave me a sunflower kit in a bucket so he's going to help me plant the seeds at the weekend.

All in all a lovely day, hope yours was too.

oh my goodness

What does the novice knitter choose for her first project following a pattern..........

surely not socks?! It's like knitting with toothpicks but the wool is gorgeous.

K1, P1, drop 1!

Another little hat, for me this time with some wool I've been hoarding for about 15 years. It is a little itchy round the forehead, but reading Lindamade I found the solution. I need to put a hat band inside, I've got some brushed cotton from an old sheet that should do the job and stop me looking like I've got nits as I walk round scratching my head!

I think it was Ginny who mentioned this book, it's designed for children which makes it perfect for a beginner knitter like me - plenty of clear instructions and projects that can be completed quickly. Like the little flowers that teaches you how to knit holes, I have no problem knitting holes put have unravelled it three times as I never have the right number of stitches! I'll have to move onto something more challenging like an ipod cover!

Well, I slept right through the earthquake, which was probably a good thing as Mr FK is away again this week. I seemed to be the only person in the playground this morning to have missed it. I do remember one about 20 odd years ago as I was on holiday in Wales staying in a caravan so certainly felt that one!

A Busy Week

Goodness where did half term week go, flashed by in a whirl! Lots of trips to the park in the sunshine, scooter riding, swimming, a sleepover, a fashion workshop to customise tshirts and jeans and a trip to the museum. The Museum of Science and Industry is a wonderful place to visit - trains, water wheels, weaving looms, spinning jennies, planes and helicopters plus lots of hands on things for me  the children to play with. My Little Helper took some photos of the things that interested him

We went to a great Gravity Workshop, the presenter was really enthusiastic and used lots of funny props to get the children interested and to illustrate the different concepts. My Mummy heart swelled with pride as The Big Sister put her hand up to answer a question and calmly explained to the whole auditorium why a scrunched up ball of paper reached the ground faster than the flat sheet of paper.

Look at my wonderful Valentines Swap parcel! Garden Girl really spoilt me, buttons, ribbon and ric rac plus a cute pink heart made from buttons and of course a packet of Love Hearts. There was a chocolate heart lolly too..humm..where has that gone! The blue beaded bracelet is marvellous, such a lovely combination of my favourite colour and so many beads, they tinkle together when I wear it. Thank you very much Anna!

I also won a prize in Monkee Maker's raffle, can you guess which one....

The chocolate muffin props didn't last long!

Some sewing too

Despite my new love of knitting and being a bit like the girl who drops her old friends once a new boyfriend comes along ,I have squeezed in a bit of sewing too. I have a couple of stalls coming up so needed to get my act together.

I made these for my PIF ( I know Lesley's arrived and as Marsha's and Ashley's were posted a few weeks ago I hope they arrived too, so I shouldn't be spoiling any surprises) and was pleased with how they turned out so have been making a few more this week to sell.

Just need to plunder my pegs to put a few of these together to go with them. Nothing beats the sunny smell of line dried washing - well maybe bacon butties....oh and cut grass too.....and newborn babies....ok back to the washing....so I hope the sunshine we've had this week continues. It makes me feel organised and competent once the line is full of washing as there's no pile of washing or ironing cluttering up the house and whispering to me when I'm trying to sew - easily pleased these days!

Ginny at The Flour Loft has tagged me for an archive meme, have been enjoying reading through the waffle in my archives and will post my findings next week.

Have a lovely weekend, filled with small pleasures

A lovely surprise

Emily from Ravenhill and I did a magazine swap. I was the lucky recipient of

Embroidery magazine with a great feature on Julie Arkell and a review of a Janet Bolton workshop too plus lots of inspiring articles. But look what else Emily included in the parcel

isn't she talented, a beautiful knitted and beaded bracelet! I wore it on Saturday night when I went to the Valentines Ball ( without my husband..long story!) and felt like the belle of the ball, possibly due to the champagne as well as the fabulous bracelet. Thank you Emily!

I must also thank Jessica Daisy at The White Veranda as she gave me an award - weeks ago actually and I've been pants and not thanked her properly. Some days the only person who thinks I'm amazing is the dog and that's only because I feed him! So thanks it's great to be appreciated! 

My password for Ravelry has come through and I've started exploring - there's so much inspiration on there, I just need to get better at knitting very quickly!.....so off to do more research...!

Sunny Monday

Thanks you all for your kind thoughts and supportive comments, much appreciated. So many of us are feeling the same trying to savour the moment and live in the present, perhaps it's our age......or something they're putting in the wine!?

Knitting has continued apace, the first scarf is finished and I've done one in the raspberry wool from Dunelm for The Big Sister

which grew really quickly on some chunky wooden needles from the charity shop. Thanks to Julie for the advice about blocking - the scarf sits nicely and doesn't curl up.

Totally copyingAli I have started a hat...on circular needles...like a proper knitter!

I've also bought some Debbie Bliss cotton to knit myself a cardi for the summer, I reckon if I get started soon it might be done for summer '09.

Tasty chicken pie mmmm nothing like leftover Sunday roast and frozen puff pastry for an easy Monday tea!

Hope your week has got off to a sunny start too.