Coffee And Chat

Well yesterday I had a lovely morning at my favourite town, Loughborough, with my friend who is also a very keen crafter.

The morning started off, as usual, with coffee and a chat, wonderful idling around.

Thursday, as I've mentioned before, is market day, and it didn't disappoint, even with a spot of rain! All the stalls are usually the same, week in, week out but they are my favourite types of stall, fabric, haberdashery, wool, fruit and veg, plants, flowers and sweets.

I ended up buying some gorgeous purple and white tulips and some spotty fabric to make bags for my Teddies For Tragedies that I'm making.

Also the sought after chartreuse/lime DK wool I wanted for DD's blanket, whatever the name of the colour it is exactly what I was looking for. This is a cheap acrylic yarn but it is oh so soft. I think it was something like £1.80 per 100g ball, bargain!!

The main reason for visiting Loughborough was to scour the charity shops, which the town has a fair amount of. There was plenty to choose from but in the end I opted for a tiny flowered blouse with pin tucks. Now this isn't to wear as it's much too small for me but to cut up and I love the pin tuck detailing.

Also a gorgeous pale blue cashmere cardigan with an eclectic mix of buttons. It does seem a shame to cut this up but, again, it's way too small for me and ideal for what I have in mind. A bargain was the girl's sun dress, I love how these fabrics look together.

I also bought a selection of children's books. I have plans for these and will show you more once I have started the project. I have high hopes for these and really hope they end up how I picture them.

My biggest problem with starting crafting projects is the fear that they won't end up looking how I picture them. So I don't start them and end up with piles of fabric/wool/books/etc that I don't do anything with. Then when I get round to sorting them I've forgotten what I had planned. So that's not going to happen with this. Hopefully I'll get started at the weekend, as no swimming competitions for DD, and I'll share them with you next week.

See you soon xxxxxx

Sunshine On A Grey Day!

How grey and dreary the days have been for the last few weeks, though the sun is trying it's best to shine at this very moment, very weak but it's there.
So to try to bring some sunshine on a grey day I bought some flowers from one of the local supermarkets and they are GORGEOUS!

I love these and they brighten up my coffee table. I'm looking forward to going to Loughborough Market tomorrow so I can buy some more flowers that are a little cheaper than these.

Want to see a close up:-

The other thing that is brightening my day is a Flower Garden Blanket that I have started for my daughter. Her bedroom is also due to be redecorated and I think one of these would look fantastic on her new bed. The one that really caught my eye was this one from the According to Matt... blog.
How stunning is that!! The photography is fantastic and DD fell in love with it straight away. I hope mine comes out looking as good.

Well I've crocheted 12 squares, who knows how many more to go!!

These are the colours I am using though I'm looking for a lime green to go with them. That orange is BRIGHT!!

Well it's time to go and get ready to go and watch both my peeps take part in the  Schools Area Sports day. DS is long jumping and DD is running the 800m. Good luck both :-)

See you soon xxxxxx


ETA: I forgot to mention that the yarn for DD's blanket is mainly Stylecraft Special DK.

There's:    1084 - Magenta
               1083 - Pomegranate
               1256 - Jaffa
               1114 - Sunshine
               1246 - Lipstick
               1067 - Grape
               1435 - Bright Pink
               1068 - Turquoise

The white is Woolcraft New Fashion DK - 7F76

Well It's Been A While.....

And it has been a busy time. Blogging for me hasn't quite become a habit yet which is something I want to work on. I enjoy it and it makes me stop and think about everyday life and what we do with it, everything just seems to fly by at the moment. I want life to slow down so I can enjoy it and my children. Anyway enough of the wallowing!!

I've been following Lucy at Attic24 for a while now and love how she approaches life. One of the things I have taken on board is FlyLady. This is a revelation to me as my home is a mess. Every room you go into has a pile of STUFF!

At the moment I am taking BabySteps but I can see that eventually my home will be somewhere I want to be and at the moment it's not, everywhere I turn I see piles.

So I started with my landing. I have a large area at the front of the house upstairs where items for the loft go or if I don't have a specific place for them. This is now clear though only for a short while. FlyLady suggests that you de-clutter 15 mins at a time and have 3 bags/boxes marked "put away", "give away" and "throw away". My "give away" is a "car boot" one as I have a lot of decent stuff that is just too small or never used. So the landing will become my "car boot" pile BUT I will only take it to 2 car boots, if it's not all gone by then it will be taken to the local charity shop. Charity shops are a bone of contention with me, I frequent them a lot due to a new project I'm undertaking with a friend, more on that another time, but after the last clear out a couple of years ago I filled 10 large black bin bags plus piles of books, I dutifully dropped them off at the charity shop and they complained!! I had donated too much and they couldn't deal with it!! This really annoyed me as they are supposedly crying out for donations due to Ebay and car boots so now I go to several shops and I try to sell items first before donating and I've never been back to that one again.

The idea after clearing a few rooms upstairs is to decorate my son's room. I asked him how he'd like it and the main purpose of the room is to play his Xbox. But he also came up with the idea of having 1 wall with graffiti art, not your under flyovers tags but proper commissioned graffiti that you can see gracing buildings locally. I love this idea so have been trying to find someone to do it, not an easy task but I have found one person but he did state that ventilation while spraying may be a problem, so I'll have to ask around a bit more to see if it's viable. If not anyone know where I can get graffiti wallpaper from.

Sorry this is a word heavy post with no pictures or eye candy but it's more of a getting back on track post.
I'll post about my craft endeavours another time.

So bye for now, until next time xxxx

BREAKING NEWS

It has just come to my attention that OH has actually worn the one and only pairs of socks I've made him. It took a while as they were finished end of March. Will miracles never cease!!

That Went Well....

I made a list of my August goals, twice, as I changed my mind about what I wanted to accomplish. Well I needn't have bothered as nothing went to plan and I would have been better not making any.

Here's the second version:

1. Finish my super secret project started in July.  Done.
2. Finish my I socks. Now on heel of second sock.   Done.
3. Finish my J socks. Only cast on done for first sock.  Not even taken out of the bag.
4. Finish my N socks. Up to heel of first sock.   First sock finished.
5. Start my P socks. I've decided on Polly Jean.   Done and finished.
6. Start my Q socks. Decided on Queen of Cups. Literally just the CO done.
7. Make progress on my Ripple Blanket.  Nope.
8. Finish my Ruffles Are Red Scarf. It just needs the ribbon adding and pictures taken.   Nope.
9. Possibly another cast on of a super secret project.  Started and nearly finished.

I did indeed finish my super secret project but I can now show pictures. It was another test knit for Meghan aka ButterflyKnit. It was a shawl for a yarn company and it's a great pattern. The pattern is a bonus when you sign up to Yummy Yarns Wrapped In YummyYarn Club.

Ta-Da:





Next up was to finish my I socks for the SKA August challenge.  I love these, the yarn is so soft and they are so so comfy.
The pattern does look quite complicated but is really easy. And I love love the block colour versions. Another pair to add to my sock drawer, Woohoo!!



The J socks never saw the light of day. I cast on DD's P socks instead and got them finished. DD insisted that she had to have the P socks as it is her initial so they were obviously meant for her. I am here to oblige...or do as I'm told!
I really must knit something other than purple socks (or red shawls)!!
These were finished on the drive to Norfolk. So DD, as you would expect, decided to wear them straight away and proceeded to walk around on warm tarmac. Result: fuzzy bottoms!!



I've actually got a shot of them being worn, very rare, especially when they are on my feet but as they are DD's feet it's OK.



I did manage to finish the first sock of my N socks but I haven't taken a picture yet. I also cast on my Q socks but this is as far as they got.

Now for the non-sock projects.
I didn't get to thread the ribbon in my Ruffles Are Red scarf. I really ought to do this as I love the idea and can see me wearing it a lot when finished over the winter.
Nada progress on my ripple blankie though I was sorely tempted to sneak a few rows in but it would have meant my next sooper secret project wouldn't have been started and it needed to be as it has a short deadline.

Let's hope September fares better, though looking back I suppose August wasn't too bad.

September's goals are short and sweet.

1. Finish my sooper secret project. This is very nearly done.
2. Cast on my R socks which are Riding On The Metro. These will double dip for SKA and the A-Z challenge.
3. Cast on and finish my S socks Salmon Run. I'm going to triple dip with these for SKA, Solid Socks in red and the A-Z challenge but they will need to be finished this month to qualify for the Solid Socks group.
4. Finish my Ruffles Are Red. I'll try to actually complete this.

And that's about it. I don't really want to overstretch myself this month though I am hoping to complete a few rows on my blanket.

Apart from knitting I have been on another one of my walks, which I'll tell you about tomorrow. It's been a while since I've been to this place even though it's only about 10-15 minutes drive away and I'd forgotten how beautiful and scenic it is.
See you tomorrow xxxxxxxxxxxx

First Day Back

Well it was the first day back to school yesterday for DS and DD and what a scorcher....typical really they go to school the sun comes out. Though to be honest in our neck of the woods we can't complain about the weather as it's not been that bad, mainly dry and warm.

Now I wondered where July went, well August, did we even have an August, it went by so fast I think I missed it! Nothing much happened except a visit to the in-laws in Norfolk but still it flew by.

As a new school year starts so does a new exercise regimen (and I mean regimen as it's the last thing I really want to do!) as I seriously need to lose weight. Up until my twenties I took part in a lot of sports and a keen athlete and even when I stopped running/kick boxing I was still a gym bunny until about 5 years ago, now I do nothing, absolutely zilch, a real couch potato!! Now I won't blather on endlessly about exercise and healthy eating (notice I didn't use the dreaded "d" word) as it's boring and not what anyone wants to hear about, myself included. My plan is to walk, that's it just walk with the occasional Wii/Xbox Kinect dance thrown in.
We have a Great Dane cross called Stan or his naughty name is Stanley...he's like a baby dane...but still a big dog so I've decided to take him out more often.
Do you want to see him....



And yes he is playing on the trampoline with DD, he loves it being bounced up and down, very strange!

So today we went for a 2.5 mile walk round Thornton Reservoir. I have mentioned the reservoir before but what a difference, the water is so so low after the summer.

April 2011


September 2011


September 2011


See the difference.  All the weeds seen above are normally covered in water. You can just make out the start of the water to the left of the picture. And what a difference in weather, it was so bright and sunny in April.

It was a lovely walk and I thoroughly enjoyed it. At one point a 'skein'  (they really are called a skein of geese when flying in the air, honest, I looked it up) of geese flew overhead and the noise, I have never heard anything like it, they were so loud, Stan wondered what was going on and was frantically running around jumping into the air.
We plan on doing these walks more often to different parts of the local area and countryside and there will be plenty of photos.







Time to go and do some cleaning I'll be back soon with how my August knitting goals went!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Change of Plan

I've decided to change my goals for August as I came across the SKA August Challenge to finish more SIP's (Socks in Progress) than Mapleweave, a SKA member who is renowned for sock orphans.
So my new goals are:

1. Finish my super secret project started in July.
2. Finish my I socks. Now on heel of second sock
3. Finish my J socks. Only cast on done for first sock.
4. Finish my N socks. Up to heel of first sock.
5. Start my P socks. I've decided on Polly Jean.
6. Start my Q socks.
7. Make progress on my Ripple Blanket.
8. Finish my Ruffles Are Red Scarf. It just needs the ribbon adding and pictures taken.
9. Possibly another cast on of a super secret project.

Now that's actually a lot of knitting, not sure I'll get it all done but I'll give it a good try xxxxxxx