Merry Christmas to you all, and a very happy new year!!!!

xxxxxx



Granny ripple.

Hello!

8 more sleeps to go,

8 more sleeps till Christmas,

8 more sleeps till the big fat fellow, comes down your chimney, and leaves you presents, and drinks your beer,

8 more sleeps till Christmas.

Every morning at 7:30 this song plays ( obviously with a different number!!)

It is now firmly stuck in my head, on a continuous loop! Grrrrrrrr!

Well on to other things.

We had a power cut the other evening.

Apart from being cold, it was quite a lot of fun.

Having to use the hob to make tea and hot chocolate.

J had never experienced a power cut before. Lucky boy!

We played cards, told stories of how things have changed since P and I were kids.

It was nice to have the time together.

I've been learning how to work the granny ripple pattern.

A couple of frustrating false starts!

Starting to get the hang of it.

Next it was time to take the plunge, and do it for real.

Yay it worked!

It's a little bit smaller than our bed, so by the time I add the border, it should fit.The pattern is a mixture of 2 other patterns I found. I will try write up a pattern with photos, but I'm not sure how long it will take. The pattern isn't hard, just a bit fiddly at the beginning, but once you're past that it flows beautifully.

Till next time.

xxx

Festive bits and bobs

Hello!

Lots of festive things have started to be dotted around in our house! The above is my favorite ornament.

The fire place has been decorated.

The wreath I made a few years ago is up.

So is the tree.

Need to hide all those wires!!

These little guys are from my first Christmas with P!

I have also made a patchwork cushion for my Nan.

The colours are a little washed out ( thanks clouds!)

I've finished the crochet cushion.

Back.

I have also had a change of heart about my previous snowy post. Walking to the shop the next day was a nightmare. The pavements were covered in ice, as was the road. On the way back............... Ouch! Yep down I go!

Of course there is an audience! I don't know if they laughed or not. I couldn't bear to look!

No place to hide my very, very red face. The only injury was to my pride! J was a total gentleman though, he held my hand the rest of the way home. Not bad for an 11 3/4 year old!



Yay snow!

Hello!

We have snow! About 2" of beautiful, soft, powdery snow.

I love the crunchy sound under my boots. I love the putt putt putt sound it makes as it lands. I love how quiet it is, with not so many cars on the road. I love how pretty and sparkly everything becomes.

It's fair to say I love the snow. (just in case you hadn't already guessed!)

J made this little snowman before school. Time ran out hence the lack of face!

We'll be making a much bigger one after school.

 I think J's school is one of the only schools that stayed open. He's not at all happy about that!

 I went for a slippy, slidey, skiddy walk, to take as many photos as I could. All in the name of blogging!!!

Walking through the woods was so beautiful. I enjoyed and savoured every moment.

Now it's time for yet another cup of tea, and something yummy.

Till next time

xxx

Crochet bunting/Granny triangles

Hello!

Do you like the new seasonal background? It's from Scrap-e-blog and there's loads on there to choose from.

I'm really excited to share my newest crochet project with you!

Crochet bunting.

pom poms!

This one is for P's mum for Christmas.

I'm going to make one for myself too!

xxx

Little spoke flower

Hey everyone!

It feels lovely to be creative again. I haven't picked up a crochet hook for nearly 2 weeks.

I've just made these little spoke flowers.

Here's the pattern if you are interested.

UK crochet terms.

ch 4 and join to form a ring.

Round 1. ch 4 ( counts as 1tr and 1ch)

Into ring work.

* 1tr,1ch* rep from * to * 5times, 1tr, join to 3rd of beginning 4 ch.

Fasten off. You should have 8 little spokes.

Round 2. Join new yarn to any 1 ch space.

ch 2 ( counts as 1 htr ) 1tr,1dtr,1tr,1htr, in same space.

Now work 1ht,1tr,1dtr,1tr,1htr, in each 1ch space all the way around.

Join to top of beginning 2ch.

Fasten off.

All done, very quick and easy, great for using up little scraps of yarn!

I hope you have a go! If you find any mistakes please let me know.

xxx



Thank you Nancy!

  Nancy from Nancy's Crochet has given me a beautiful blogger award. Thank you very much Nancy!!!

Now I have to tell you 10 things about myself.

1. I love writing lists, so this is tons of fun to do!

2. I love watching fishing show on t.v. Monster fish, Deadliest catch, River monsters, you get the idea.

3. I have wool stashed away everywhere. No exaggeration, I'll take a photo of it all one day.

4. I'm a little bit scared of our cat Molly. Blog post about her soon.

5. J is taller than me by 3"

6. I haven't worked for nearly two years after an injury to my shoulder. Another operation soonish.

7. I love watching all of the different birds that come into my garden.

8. I'm the reason why my sister is terrified of butterflies. (I still feel guilty)

9. Sometimes during the summer, I'll do washing that doesn't really need to be done, just so I can hang it on the line. (Not very green sorry)

10. When I hang out my washing, the pegs have to be in matching pairs. I'd go crazy if they were odd or mixed up!

So now I have to pass this on to 10 other blogs. It's going to be hard to pick only 10.

1. Crafty Valley

2. The misadventures of an ordinary housewife

3. Stitch of love

4. 'SIBOL'

5. Teacup lane

6. Coffee 'n' Crochet

7. Grannies and ripples

8. kookoo craft

9. Just Joan

10. Button tree crafts

xxx

Bloggers Block

I think I have been suffering from bloggers block! I haven't had the faintest idea what to write about for the last week or so. Everything has been  BLAH BLAH BLAH. Very mundane and boring. Not something anyone would want to read about I'm sure!! Just life pottering along.

During the pottering along, Coconut ice was made.

Very very yummy. J was mostly in charge. Reading the recipe, mixing.

We were making sweets as practice for Christmas.

There's been more christmassy happenings.

I'm going to make a few more and attach them to a ribbon to hang around the mantle.

They look better from a little bit of a distance. The macro setting is not very forgiving!!!

I have also made a cushion front.

Just the back to do and it'll be ready.

I hope to be over my bloggers block very soon.

Till next time

xxx

Crochet and buttons

I thought you might like to see the very first crochet item my mum has made.

She hasn't been crocheting very long. I think it was supposed to be a gift, but she has decided to keep it!!

There's nothing like the pride you feel about your first, don't you think?

I have been finding some uses for the buttons I have.

Hanging sign.

I really love this, and it makes me smile every time I look at it!

The buttons came from my Nan's clothes. She passed away not quite 6 months ago. When we went to clear out her flat, I spent 3 hours cutting buttons off of every single item of her clothes. So much needed to be thrown away, and sadly her clothes were not fit to go to the charity shop. I couldn't bear for nothing to be left, so snip snip snip! It's weird what grief make you do.

I've also been having a little bit of luck with my sewing machine.

Making this stocking didn't result in the usual temper tantrum!

Progress at last!!!

Till next time

xxx



Charity shop finds.

I've had a few lucky finds in the charity shops recently.

These books are fantastic, although some of the patterns are quite frankly eye watering!

They've given me lots of ideas. That though has started to become a tiny weeny problem. I have so many ideas bubbling around inside my head, I'm not sure what to do with them. I have notebooks all over the place with ideas I have jotted down. I have to write them down or they'll be lost forever. I new idea will pop in and the old idea will pop out! There just isn't enough time.

Anyhow the GRANNY CLUSTER HEXAGON blankie idea is progressing nicely.

P has asked if it can be HUGE this time, because previous blankets have not covered him properly, and bit poke out! Well who am I to argue with that? I'm just so happy that he likes the things I make!

xxx