Summer Shawl / Scarf

Hello all,
Thanks for popping over and having a peek at what I've been up to.
I decided to challenge myself this week and try something completely different, it dawned on me the other day that I had never used a 4ply yarn, to be honest it scared me a little, I was worried that it would be too delicate and fiddly and above all time consuming ( I do get bored quite easily) .
I love wearing scarves though and have seen some really pretty ones on Ravelry, so I took the plunge and found a beautiful pattern , you can find it here.

I can't believe how easy, enjoyable and quick it was to make. After the first 6 rows it was just a case of repeating 2 rows over and over again until I reached the desired length. I'm itching to do another in a different colour, but will have to wait as I have a few hat and bootie orders to do.

I was delighted to find this weekend that things were beginning to grow in the garden....

...... some yummy strawberries. I will be keeping a close eye on these, as last year a certain little girl picked them all whilst they were still green and ate the lot.

Ooh whats this hiding amongst the leaves.......

......he he he, it's a tiny courgette!!!

I've also noticed this morning that I have some blossom growing on the tomato plants, how exciting !


WARNING !!! If a child's play slide clearly states for over 5's only there is a reason why.

Oops , bad parent, thought she would be o.k with Lucie.

Well caught Lucie !! I will add she didn't go down the whole slide like this, she only fell off Lucie's knee on the last turn, and guess what she wanted to go "wheeeee, again, again" .

Just to prove she wasn't hurt in any way, these  photo's were taken later on in the day....

....still the most adorable perfect face, not a slide burn in sight.

Speak soon xx



Cardi for me.

Hello all, hope you have all had a wonderful weekend.

I was going to dedicate this week to finishing my bunting, but have had to put this on hold as the LYS has run out of the green cotton.
I know I should have used the opportunity of having no projects on the go and caught up with other jobs, such as, finish painting the garden bench, digging the front garden, clean out the playhouse, re pot the tomato plants, clean the whole house, blah blah blah ........ but I had spotted a cute pattern in one of my Japanese crochet books, I definitely needed a new cardi more than the tomato's needed a bigger pot.
So whilst at knit and natter on Thursday I purchased 2 balls of King Cole Bamboo, in what I would call a mustard colour, I was a bit unsure of the colour at first but had seen something similar in a shop in town, so I went with it and I'm so glad I did as I love it now it's done.

I really wanted to wear this today, so with half an hour to go before we went out I sat in the garden and tidied up all the ends, and sewed the button on whilst the kids were putting on their shoes and I'm pleased to say I made it in time and got to wear my new cardi, yippee !!

I've mentioned in previous posts about my love and addiction to home magazines, such as Country living, Ideal home.....and how I'm supposed to be cutting down , I had been managing quite well, and when ever I felt myself being drawn to them in the supermarket, I thought about what I could be buying in the wool shop instead with the money saved. Today though I will admit to buying the latest issue of Ideal Home, as it had a feature on log cabins and summer houses, so you can see I really needed it to help with the planning of my log cabin, which is still not here as we (Scott) haven't managed to finish clearing the space in the garden yet. Whilst flicking through and looking at all the lovely pictures, I found this .......

..... a crocheted garden chair, I love it and want it. Unfortunately its beyond my price range ( £200, HomeSense ) and my crocheting capabilities, so I will keep telling myself that its probably really uncomfortable, yeah right !.

Speak soon xx

1st Camping Trip This Year.

Hello all, hope you all had a fantastic Easter.
We were lucky enough to squeeze in a camping trip to Derbyshire, to try out our new tent.
The weather was beautiful in the day, but I will admit to being a little chilly at night, must invest in some warmer sleeping bags.

The campsite was great for the kids, plenty of room to play and kick the ball about.

We didn't do anything too exerting, a few small walks...



......relaxing and reading,.......

Lunch in the local pub.....

and most important of all , time for a little hooky, whilst sitting in the sun and a nice cold beer.

I managed to get a few triangles of bunting done.

In my last post I was torn between 2 patterns for my bunting, but have settled on good old granny for this set.

All in all it was a successful camping trip, until we had to get the tent back into its teeny tiny bag, why do they make the bags so small ??

Speak soon xx

A moment of weakness

Hello all,
Last Thursday I was overcome by a moment of weakness when Cath Kidston announced a special offer day, it would have been rude to not have a little peek , there's no harm in looking is there ?
I couldn't help but click " BUY " when I saw these enamel tin mugs, perfect for camping and they match perfectly with my picnic bag.

I have never been so excited about mugs before, sad I know !

I'm hoping to make a start on some bunting this weekend, to adorn my tent and then my log cabin. I have decided to use colours from the CK mug that the children bought me for Christmas, such pretty colours.

I can't wait to get started, just need to make a decision on what pattern to use. I am torn between the wonderful bunting by Bunny mummy or the equally gorgeous pattern by Crochet with Raymond . Decisions, decisions....

As well as spending far too much time on the Internet shopping for tin mugs, I have been working on some boys booties. I had been asked to make some booties similar to my Mary Janes but for a boy and came up with these....

I've also made a little newborn hat using front post double crochet stitch, as I love the way it looks.

I'll leave with you a few piccies of Dudley who has had his first big boy hair cut this week.

Speak soon xx

Elves and the shoemaker

Hi all, sorry I have been a bad blogger this week, I have spent most of the week feeling like the little guy above, staying up until all hours making little booties for orders, only when I came down in the morning the elves hadn't been to visit and the mess from the night before was still there. They are all done and posted now, just in time for the weekend.

This weekend is unfortunately a no crochet weekend as we are all very busy in the garden preparing for something very special.

Dylan was very eager to help his dad in the garden today, but only managed about 2 mins before he got side tracked by frogs.

Here they are working hard, clearing a space for this........................................

Isn't she beautiful , my very own log cabin. I'm so excited, a place for all my crafty bits.
I can't wait to paint her, adorn in bunting, crochet cushions and pretty jars of buttons and ribbons.
Right I'll have to be off now as I have to study the Cuprinol garden shades chart and decide on colours.
Speak soon xxx

Blossom, Booties and Boys

Wow, what wonderful weather we have had this week, more Summer than Spring.
We have spent the weekend pottering about the garden and visiting the boating lake, which has a fabulous park and coffee shop.
A lovely afternoon was spent sitting outside the coffee shop, looking over the lake and admiring the most beautiful blossom.

I was quite impressed with this picture as it was taken on my mobile phone.
Once the coffee and cake had been consumed we walked over to the park area, unfortunately Dudley wasn't allowed on the park, so he and I sat on the grass near by, whilst Scott took Isla-Rose on the swings. I even managed to get a little crocheting done, perfect.

I'm still heavily inspired by the Royal theme at the moment and found the most amazing buttons on Folksy, Alexis Barn Creates... , gorgeous handcrafted buttons.
Here is what I have done with them...

So that's the blossom and booties, now for the boys !!.................................................

How cute !! They even have similar hair.

Speak soon xx

London Break

Hello lovely people,
You may remember a few posts back I mentioned a surprise for Lucie's 11th birthday.
The BIG surprise was a trip to London on the train, a theatre visit to see Lion King, then an overnight stay in a hotel.
We had the most fantastic time ever. We went with my mum and my niece, as it was her 9th birthday the week before.
They didn't know where they were going until we arrived at the train station.
We had a real girly weekend and I loved spending some special time with Lucie, who suddenly seems very grown up.

Lucie couldn't believe her luck when she realised she could have muffins, croissants, fry up and cereals for breakfast.

We couldn't have had asked for better weather, we even found time for an ice cream.

You may have noticed  the first picture includes me !!  Never before has my face been seen on this blog, I have only included this one as we look like sisters....ha ha....in my dreams.

In my last post I was busy making Royal bunting which I was going to put in my Folksy shop, but has since found a new home.
We are currently decorating Dylans room and he has gone for a red and blue theme, which is great as everything is red and blue at the moment, when he saw the bunting his face lit up "COOL , that will look great in my room". So that's where it is.

It looks perfect there, what a great idea Dylan.

Gosh look at the time, school run time already, then ballet, then ikea for some storage for Dyl's room, then it will definitely be Swedish meatball time, yum yum.

Speak soon xx