French Knots

Time passes quickly

I like to read The Happiness Project where Gretchen records her investigations into the nature of happiness, quotes, studies, tips and information. Recently she has made a short internet film The Years are Short which really struck a chord with me.

We are so busy rushing through life gathering school bags, making pack lunches, shopping, cooking, swimming lessons, Brownies, homework, reading, spellings......that it's sometimes good to pause and grasp the moment. It seems only a moment since my children were babies, just a year or two since I was a newly wed and not long since I was at school myself. Where have all the minutes and moments gone? Washed away on the tide of  life.

Today my Mum would have been 65 had she not died far too early. Some memories are like photos in my mind,  others there but somehow just out of reach .So many moments not lived and too many rushed through, enjoyed but not really remembered as the days are long and the years,sadly, too short.

image from Gardenstuff

....and more knitting

Thanks for the knitting encouragement. I undid the bit I'd started and began again with larger needles and

look how much it's grown! It has a curling thing going on at the edges so I think I might back it with some soft brushed cotton,theser's only a bit of the second ball left so it will certainly be a short little scarf. I think I'm getting addicted - I've signed up to join Ravelry and on Suzie's recommendation went to Dunelm for some more wool, some lovely tempting colours for only 99p a ball

I fancy trying a hat or beret next or perhaps another scarf as I can just sit and do it without having to concentrate too much! I'm going to have a look at some of the sites you have kindly suggested and see what takes my fancy. I might do some dishcloths to learn new stitches, not that they could be used for anything as mundane as washing up if they come out right!

We woke up on Saturday morning to a lovely surprise

so we all got dressed quickly and had a brilliant, invigorating snowball fight before it all melted. The Big Sister made a giant snowball that she wanted to keep in the freezer......wonder where the hoarding gene comes from?!

Knit knit

Well thanks for the advice ladies, I plunged in and got started. Yarn seems very expensive and some of the balls I picked up were over a fiver each!More than I wanted to spend on my first attempt...so I had a rummage in the reduced bin and found a couple of bargain balls.

I think I like the mixture of colours better on the ball than on my fledgling scarf! It was strange but my hands seemed to remember how to cast on and it must be 30 years since Mum showed me how. The Big Sister has started doing some knitting too with some wool and needles she was given last year, hers is a scarf for Barbie - I wonder who will finish first?!

Sweet Hearts

I love using up little snippets of this and that, bit of pillowcase, old shirt and some lace from an old teacloth that has been made into doorstops. Words stamped on linen and a bit of lavender.

The sewing room smells lovely with all the lavender. If I can stir my stumps ( what does that actually mean?!) I'm going to put some on etsy.

I had an amazing win on ebay this week, I've been looking for fabric to make new curtains for ages and just couldn't find anything that was just right within my budget until I spotted these

The seller had them custom made but never used them, they came in their original packaging without so much as a crease in them. Fully lined. For less than I budgeted for fabric alone. Hurrah. Can I also point out the picture(the lovely picture of my favourite city in the world painted by my talented Mother in Law) is not wonky but the photo is!  Now I just need a new curtain pole as the old one is rather old and brittle and the weight of the new curtains is just too much for it.

Knitting Help!!

Knitting bloggers to the rescue I hope! I

I'm learning to knit - well on Tuesday actually at a get together of proper knitters, oh the pressure!. I fancy trying something simple like a little, short scarf...you know the sort that wraps around your neck and  lies just short of your cleavage. With a button to hold the two ends together?? Where can I find a pattern? Also will the pattern tell me what size needles and what sort of wool or can I choose any wool or will the size be wrong? So many questions!

Thanks experts!

Slowly does it

I bought one of these in the sales

and it's just right for this cold miserable weather. The idea of flinging a few veg and a bit of meat in with water and a stock cube really appeals - I've tried sausage stew, cowboy casserole and a tasty beef stew so far, all of which have been delicious. I've been reading this and it's full of great recipe ideas so I see lots more slow cooking on the horizon.

I've made a couple more tshirts, one with my favourite Michael Miller Rocket Rascals fabric

They've gone down well with My Little Helper and seem to wash well too!

Does anyone use a translation tool or gizmo? I've been looking at the pretty pictures on a few Scandinavian blogs and would love to decipher the writing too.

Right off to do some work on my Valentine swap that Lucy has kindly organised.

Family lego making

such a

busy

Sunday

sigh

20 :: 40

In the spring we will have been married for 20 years and in the summer I will be 40, good reasons for a trip away just the two of us, no children! Babysitters have kindly volunteered and we are enjoying discussing where to go.

About 100 years ago BC (before children!) we had some brilliant trips to Venice, Rome and Paris where we lazed in cafes watching the world go by, marvelled at the architecture and did the ubiquitous tourist things involving gondolas and the Eiffel Tower. More recently we went to Naples to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum where the excavated ruins captivated our imaginations. We stayed in a lovely hotel right on the Bay of Naples and on our second night there there was a wonderful fireworks display over the bay, how kind of them to welcome us so generously!

So where to go for our 20 :: 40 trip? We are leaning towards Stockholm. Has anybody been there? What's good to see? When is the best time to go - when it's cold and wintry or in the spring? 

Any suggestions of other places you have loved? We don't want to fly long haul for a short break, much as I'd love to go to New York again, and want a special hotel, museums, art galleries or architecture to visit and some great cafes for people watching. Somewhere we will look back on with warm memories when we celebrate our 40th Anniversary. When we were catching our breath under a shady tree in Herculaneum we got talking to a couple who were there celebrating their 40th Wedding Anniversary. They were revisiting the area as they had spent their honeymoon there, or perhaps being together, happy together is the most important part even if it's in a bus shelter sharing chips out of the newspaper.

Armchair envy

Oh I wish I could knit!

(from Red)

Janey Janome

Well Janey and I have been getting to know each other better, I think I know what all the buttons do now! My Little Helper requested a dinosaur for the front of his t shirt and fortunately Janey can run at a slow speed which was handy as I zigged and zagged round the feet

and manged to avoid my fingers.

I was reading Vintage Pleasure the other day who commented about the amount of fabric she has and the feelings of greed and self indulgence. It struck a chord with me as I had spent the afternoon riffling through my stash with an idea in mind for a project but unable to find just what I wanted out of the boxes and boxes of fabric and saved clothes & linens. I've decided to try and reduce it by a) weeding out the bits I'll never use and freecycling it b) making some projects to use up the stash even if the fabric isn't just what I wanted and c) encouraging the children to choose fabrics for their own ideas. If I keep collecting it at this rate we'll have to move out of the house and live in a tent in the garden! I've got that New Year clean slate feeling - clearing out, tidying and editing our stuff to what we need/love. Perhaps I'll tackle my extensive shoe collection later in the week - bearing in mind I've only been able to wear one pair since spraining my ankle as the bandaged foot won fit in most of my shoes or boots!

We had a lovely lazy weekend, I'm getting better at inactivity, in fact I've been practising hard! Before ( ie when I was working and stressed out) I found it hard to take it easy, to just be, perhaps because I was living on adrenaline and felt every moment had to be 'used' for something. Didn't leave the house on Sunday, got dressed at lunchtime, watched Scooby Doo with My Little Helper while The Big Sister and Mr FK were at the footie and generally mooched about. Lovely.

Hope your week is getting of to a good start.