Finally......

.......Something to show for all my crafty potterings......

Ridiculous really, there is so much that I should be making that is not actually for me (this time of year and all), but I love this.

The pattern is taken form Nicki Trench's Cute and Easy Crochet. I made it quite long as I love to wrap around a lot. I used Sirdar Supersoft Aran in shade 825 - Mustard

This year has seen me introduce more shades of yellow into my life. I have issues with orange, and realised that because of this, I tended to stay away from all types of yellow, gold and mustard. So...this was my attempt at trying a new colour...and I do love it. It is soft, I love the pattern and I love how it all bobbles around the neck. I have made a few of these in different colourways to give as presents for family......but sheepishly, I love them all so much, they are hard to part with. Me being nicknamed 'scarf girl' by my workmates tells you what i'm like. Hummmmm, well, I can see several more in this pattern being made after christmas when things have slowed down.

I have actually just finished another scarf which I am completely in love with, and I just couldn't part with it. If I can get my act together I will take a pic. 

Woo Hoo.....my WIP's are slowly starting to get finished!

Have a fab day all

xxx

Currently Loving..........

Three completely cute knitting ladies

 Reminding me of being 5....my first year of school.....and having an ickle boyfriend who got his older sister to teach him how to use one of these. He made me a belt, to go over my school jumper....awwwwww.....think it got confiscated though by the teacher!!!!!

Loving my morning coffee angel

Loving my new birthday tights....floral whoooppppeeeeeee...

Loving my other new birthday tights...spotty whoopppppeeeeee

Loving my complete want for this Princess Leia look. Would I be laughed at in the street?!

Loving clay making time with the Bears...my result....a trinket dish

Loving Cadbury's Snowbites....sorry a re-hash of a pic I took last year.....they seriously didn't last long enough for me to take a piccy! what a pig! Cannot get enough though.

Going all dotty over toadstools

See....told you!

Loving the light

loving a bit of spot and a bit of lace on glass......

Loving embroidery like this......sigh....I need to learn

Loving mid morning tea and granola snacks. It's become a frequent thing.

Loving wearing brights on grey, dull, depressing days

Loving little miss bunny light, how she makes me smile

Loving blankets

And loving the last of my roses by my kitchen sink.....you make being there bearable.

❅❅❅

So.....not many words....a lot of pics...but just some of the things making me smile at the moment.

What are you currently loving?

xxx

Remember........

 ...........the Sirdar Snuggly Snowdrops yarn I got a few weeks ago?

.............It was turned into this...........

..........Perfect for the coming months.............

.............A cute tealight cover, to carry on the tealight cover theme I seem to have going on at the moment!

I have to say.........I ADORE this yarn. All festive and snuggly. I went back to get some more, but alas, it seems other folk have taken a liking to it also and it had sold out in that colourway. Never mind, I shall keep my eyes peeled. 

Snow Drop...I am not done with you yet............

xxx

Cosying up........

 So......the days are drawing in.....the curtains are getting drawn earlier and earlier.....and now is the time to get all the candles burning of an evening.

Nothing new....quick and easy to make.....and look so much prettier on a mantel than just a plain glass votive....

There is plenty of inspiration out there on the web for all kinds of tutorials for different designs. I used this one here

So.......warm, cosy evenings now.....

....little candles twinkling in their jars.....

....I ❤ it......

The days have been mainly so grey and depressing here. It's hard to get into the frame of mind to take photos. I don't mind the cold......I don't mind the FREEZING cold.....just so long as it is bright.

So............lamps on to make it cosy. Tealights in my new jar covers to add that little bit of sparkle to the dark days and I feel all the brighter for it.

....Happy Twinkling....


XXX

Beating The Grey Days........

I was going at a great pace with this latest obsession.....

...then annoying illness forced me to take a break.....

....but i'm up and running again now....

.....ahhh....to you sweet cheeriness for making my grey days so much better!.....

....XXX....

Time.........

Why is there never enough of it?

Why does it go so fast when you do have it?

Why do I feel that a day has gone and I have achieved nothing?

Why is Christmas creeping up at an ALARMING rate?

I always get this panic at this time of year. A panic, in that there is simply soooooooo much to do, that I don't know where to start. I find myself pacing....trying to order my head with what needs to be done. I write lists...lose them....write more.....deary me.

Anyone else feel the same?

Five family birthdays in November always keeps me pre-occupied, then six in December...and before you know it, it's Christmas and i'm already a Headless Chicken. I used to love Christmas and all its build up......now.....I hate that I never get to enjoy the whole build up as much as I would like every year.

I don't think feeling like I have had some sort of constant cold for the last 6 weeks has helped. I seem to have kept catching the tail end of the rest of the family's. Fuzzy head is never a good thing for too long.

It all seemed to come to a head this week. Apart from de-cluttering (or should I say less-cluttering) my dresser at the weekend, nothing has been done. I have had the mother of all colds, possibly flu, but I would never give in to thinking I had that. I have allowed myself a heck of a lot of sofa time, boiling hot one minute, freezing the next and generally feeling like I have been about to explode. In between, the constant hot drinks to ease my throat and sinus, the feelings of nausea from drinking too many hot drinks, watching a complete season of the Gilmore Girls, and having a U2 week on my ipod,  my trusted hook has been with me. Ahhhhh even when feeling the most utter pants of pant-ness, it was still by my side. Completely ridiculous that.....

a) not only do I have a gazillion WIP's to be getting on with...

and

b) I need to start making Christmas presents.....


and


c) I have to get all these birthdays sorted...

...I decide that my state of health, combined with the grey, cold, and miserably depressing weather this week, needed a bit of a colour boost. So, a bright blanket has been started. Totally Summery, ridiculous really, but then, I think perhaps I need to work this way round. I can take muted, Autumny tones in the summer, as I am working in the sunlight, so it's not depressing. I'm not sure I can make Autumny stuff in the Autumn. Bright and colourful keep me sane in bleakness!

I ordered a book on Monday that I am eagerly awaiting. I am actually finding it hard to contain my excitement. When I spied it a couple of weeks ago, it filled almost every thought for days. I even printed out the preview sheets just so I could stare at them when I wasn't able to stare at them on the computer screen. How SAD am I?! Birthday pennies have meant I could justify it. My hooky-ness this week, has sort of been inspired by it. More about it when it finally arrives in my lap.

So.........

Calm, I think is the order of the day......

....okay........a cuppa.......and a sit down.......and a ponder........then a write some more lists and wonder if i'll ever get myself organised.?!!!!!

Have a good weekend all.

I may just have a little blog breaksie for a bit. I have a HUGE amount to do. Doing nothing all week has meant I am snowed under with all the mundane stuff, as well as all the stuff I NEED to be doing.

Hopefully, when I am back, I will have a few bits to finally show a tell of a crafty nature!

Cheerio all

xxx

Autumn Comfort.......

I don't do pumpkins generally. I like all kinds of squash, but I just have such a hard time looking at the colour of a regular pumpkin! That colour orange is the hardest I find to take. But now that halloween is over and all the little pumpkins are half price, one went in my basket for lunch. I love soup, but Mr H is not so keen, so I generally save it for a lunch. Today was pumpkin soup served in the pumpkin shell. It was such a dinky little pumpkin, perfect for soup for one! I caught a glimpse of Saturday Kitchen a couple of episodes back and saw this being made with big pumpkins and various kinds of squash, and thought....'ooooh I could just have a bit of that'....so I did.

Carefully take the lid off the pumpkin, or any squash you are wanting to use. Cook down some onion (I used half as the pumpkin was small) with a knob of butter. Add the scooped out inner of the pumpkin (minus seeds of course). Add some vegetable stock, a bit of grated nutmeg, salt and a good dose of pepper and reduce down a little until all soft and cooked through. Blend until smooth, return back into the pumpkin, put the pumpkin lid on so it's like a little casserole dish, and cook for about half an hour in the oven. Saturday Kitchen added a dollop of sherry before putting in the oven. Maybe if I was making this as a main evening meal I would try that as it sounds very interesting, although if Mr H were to eat it, I think I would have to make it really creamy. I added a bit of fresh coriander into the soup. Serve it with a good chunk of crusty loaf and voila!

Boy this was good.........warming, hearty, aromatic with the nutmeg and spicy with the pepper and it will DEFINITELY be one that will be made again and again.

xxx

De-cluttering.....

...this is actually after I have de-cluttered! ha ha...

....I think maybe a bit more is needed!....

Happy Monday to you all!

xxx

Nostalgic.....

One of my favourite memories.....

....was in a school kitchen. The school was actually a big house. The kitchen wasn't a big clinical affair. It was just like my mums kitchen. The dining hall, was a dining room. The cook was a lovely rounded lady who had the rosiest cheeks and ALWAYS had time for the children. Baking classes in the kitchen were always HUGE amounts of fun.....

...My favourite memory of being in that kitchen was making peppermint creams for our parents...

....I must have been about 7.....

....I loved it.....

....so....

....a trip down memory lane...

.....yes.....what is that you say?......Hummmmmm...yes.....I did say no more baking...

...but to be fair, these were never 'baked'....

...Am I forgiven?...

.....okay then....just the once...

xxx

The day ahead.......

Coffee and yarn.......

.....that sets the day up nicely for me!

xxx

p.s For those of you who asked, the pictures on the last post were taken on my iphone using hipstamatic. I couldn't be bothered to lug a camera around......and  there are no pyramid shaped sand buckets that I know of, they were made freestyle....and the star wellies I have had for ages, so i'm sorry I cannot even begin to remember where they came from! Think that's all the questions answered!