Poncho progress

I thought I would show you the progress that has been made with the poncho. I would say it's about halfway there as I want it quite long. I'm planning to add tassels at the bottom and a big flower at the top to one side.  I can't wait to get this finished as I keep seeing them in all the shops.

Yummy biscuits have also been made this weekend, I tried a recipe that I haven't done before and they turned out lovely, so lovely in fact that they are now all gone!

Butterscotch and chocolate chip cookies

125g/4 1/2 oz butter
175g/6oz soft light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g/5 1/2 oz plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
200g/7oz milk chocolate chunks

preheat oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4
Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the sugar and stir until it has dissolved and the mixture starts bubbling, then take it off the heat immediately.
Beat the mixture to cool it down a little, then add the egg, beating it really quickly.
Add the vanilla, then flour and baking powder. Once everything is well combined. add chocolate and give it another stir.
Take small spoonfuls of mixture and plop them onto a baking sheet, leave plenty of room in between blobs as they really spread.
Bake for about 10 mins.
Leave to cool completely.

These taste better eaten a few hours after baking as the butterscotch goes all lovely and chewy mmmmm!!!

In between the poncho and baking I also found time yesterday to visit a few charity shops, I only made one purchase but what a little gem it was, look at this beauty....

Isn't she lovely, and for only £4.99.

She has already been given a new home on Lucies bed, it's a shame it's only single bed sized as I would have quite liked it for my own bed.

I am going to go and carve a pumpkin now ready for tonight.
Speak soon xx

Sunshine & slippers

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful here in the midlands, non stop sunshine and blue skies all day, perfect weather for a walk in the autumn leafs.

Isla-Rose decided to abandon the path and venture up a muddy bank on her hands and knees, I knew there would be only one way down....

.....that's on her bottom.  I did question my decision to put her in a skirt when I knew we were going walking, but she started the day looking so pretty.

Isla-Rose loved having big sister Lucie and big brother Dylan to play with her.

Dylan especially loved the responsibility I gave him of being in charge of Isla on the park.

Sometimes it's worth taking hundreds of pictures if it means you can capture special moments like these.

Lucie has been complaining of cold feet this week, this time last year we had carpets downstairs but have since had a solid wooden floor fitted,  I have to admit it's not that cosy so I decided to have a go at some slipper socks for her. I found a great pattern here that I thought I would try.

I had to add a chunky funky button as they were a bit wide around the ankle, she loves them and hasn't complained once since having them, hubby thinks they are just plain weird.



Here they are glued to her feet. If you look closely you will notice that she is doing something wonderful...... she is crocheting !!!!! Look at all those granny squares she has done this week, I now have somebody to go wool shopping with!!!!

I am off now to work on the poncho and watch Nigellas Kitchen, hopefully I'll get chance to post an update on the poncho tomorrow.

Speak soon xxx

Another hat

I have had some success with my new Japanese crochet book that I mentioned in my last post. I managed to make Isla-Rose a new hat to match her new winter coat.

The diagrams in the book were fairly easy to understand, it helped to have a list of the symbols in front of me with their meanings. I guessed at the hook size, using one that I had used previously to make Isla-Rose a hat.

I have also had an order this week for some little newborn booties, here they are already to be wrapped and posted.

So cute.. It only seems like last week when I was making this sort of thing for Isla, where does the time go? My little baby is growing up so fast, so much faster than the other two. At 18mths she is running about, talking, using a fork and spoon and is now almost potty trained, this means no more nappies or bottles, and her cot is being made into a bed at the weekend, all the baby things vanishing out of the house, on the plus side at least I can go back to using a lady like handbag instead of an over sized holdall, as all I need to take out with me is a pack of wipes and a spare pair of pants ( for Isla not me!!)

Goodies have been received in the post this week,  lucky, lucky me, I won a give away last week from the wonderful Clare at Green frog crafts. Look at all the goodies I got..

The pink heart was quickly grabbed by Lucie and is now hanging on the wardrobe door of the girls bedroom. Look at those wonderful shiny pretty buttons!!

Thank you Clare I love my gifts.

I will wish you all a great weekend, I know it's only Thursday but I have another hectic few days taxiing the kids around and probably will not manage to sit down, never mind switch the laptop on.

Speak soon xx

It's done.

Sorry I've not managed to blog this week, it's been one of those mad weeks....car  mot, dressing up day at school , 2 birthday parties, 2 ballet classes, football match, 2 mother and toddler classes and the list goes on and on. I have managed to finish my flower scarf in between everything else.

 

I am going to try and get it blocked this weekend as it's a bit curly and it has tatty tassels.

I did get to my knit and natter this week thank goodness, it was nice to have two hours to myself, I took my ripple blanket with me and at last it's starting to look like a blanket now instead of a scarf.

It looks so nice on my sofa, don't you think? Shame it's promised to someone else.

Can you remember the poncho pattern I showed you in my last post, well I started it today.

I know there's not much to show, but what happened was the postman arrived and brought these little lovelies...



..... ooh look, my new Japanese crochet books. I was supposed to wait until Christmas for these but like the big child that I am I needed them now because I saw lots of other people showing off theirs on their blog. I hope I can manage to follow the diagrams, what will really please me is if I gets lots of comments saying such things as " really easy" or " it's a doddle". If there are any Japanese crochet experts out there, please make yourself known so I can call on you in times of need.

I am going to go and make myself a coffee, a few biscuits and sit and look at the beautiful pictures in my books.

Speak again soon xx

I shouldn't, but I have...

I know I shouldn't, but I have.. started another project that is. I was determined not to start anything else until I had finished my ripple blanket, but to be honest it has got a little boring!!
Whilst at the knit and natter group at my local yarn shop, I spotted this gorgeous wool, in fact I think it spotted me as it seemed to be jumping about on the shelf every time I looked up and whenever I passed it whispered " buy me please" in such a sweet voice, how could I not.

Hopefully this will turn out to be a big chunky flower scarf, with all those colours it should match everything I own.



I have to admit that as well as buying the wool I had to buy the pattern book also to go with it, so many beautiful knit and crochet patterns.

I keep finding myself looking at these cosy looking poncho's, do I need one?  Yes I think I do!

The pattern book in case you neeeed one to is by Twilleys of Stamford, unfortunately I couldn't get a link to work, I am sure it would be easy enough to find in a search engine.

I have dedicated this weekend just to the RIPPLE, so you should see something resembling a blanket on my next post.

Speak soon x

Finished flower cushion

Hooray, it's finished at last!!  I'm really quite pleased with it and it looks so pretty sat in the beautiful sunshine that we have had today, but can you see the mistake??

I can see it every time I look at it now... yes there are four brown flowers in a row... oh well!!

I decided on a plain back as I didn't want to distract from the front, I didn't want it to be too fussy.



I found some little treasures this week at the charity shop, a wonderful lotto game with the most adorable pictures.

I also found some story books to read to Isla -Rose when she gets a little older, it has the loveliest stories in, just like the stories I used to read as a child .

Having a quick flick through the pages in the shop I had a little chuckle when I saw some of the illustrations, they wouldn't be suitable for childrens books today.

Oh dear the look on that poor gollies face, he's not happy about being scrubbed clean, and with that I shall love you and leave you as I have straps to sew on Lucie's ballet leotard for tomorrow, there is nothing like leaving things till the last minute.

Speak soon x

Ripples

Thank you to all you lovely people who took the time to give me advice regarding the back of my granny square cushion,  As this is my first cushion I am going to keep it simple, so I have decided on a large granny square. I am just going to stitch  the two sides together and not bother with an opening this time,  the recipient will just have to keep it clean!!

I have also made a start on my next project, a ripple blanket, using some of the same colours from the cushion, as the blanket is going to the same person.



I've also had a go at another hat this week,  this was supposed to be another slouchy hat but I obviously went very wrong some where along the way, it's more like a beret.



As you can see, I have a new model this week, the lovely Isla-Rose, she wasn't to impressed with having the hat on, she was more interested in watching cbeebies.  Lucie was to busy to model today as she had football training and then a ballet class with only 15 minutes inbetween to get changed, clean off the mud, put on a leotard , hair in a bun and then I drive like a lunatic to get her there in time.

I always said I wasn't going to be one of those mums whose life was taken over with after school clubs, but I am afraid to say we only have Friday nights that are club free.

 

Anyway back to the hat, I love the pattern it's just the size that's not quite right, so I'll give it another go with a different hook and maybe a few more increases to see if that will make it more slouchy. You can find the pattern here.

The back of the hat looks like this...

Hopefully I will be able to show you my completed cushion on my next post. One last question has anybody else had any problems loading photos on to blogger????? Maybe it's my  laptop.

Speak soon xx