All of what's been going on

I feel a bit like I've lost my blogging-mojo and I want to find it.  I've been really busy when it comes to making things but when I look at my photos I'm not feeling inspired...  I'm just going to give it a go.

I've finished my Solstice cardigan but I haven't managed to take any photos of it yet, although it's been in almost constant wear since casting off.  I think these were the last photos I took but it shows you something I guess...

I had to do the sleeve again because my needles were a size smaller than the pattern said so it was too tight, but I'm really glad I did and I'm very happy with the fit.

I made some rather cute baby mittens for a friend and I forgot to photograph them.  I'm one hand into making some mittens of my own and I've only got a WIP photo to post ,but lets have it anyway

Lets see...  Oh yeah, my Uncle wanted a rag-doll style Dr Who so this is something else I've been hooking

He is meant to be the Eleventh Dr Who, although obviously he shouldn't be bald and hopefully at some point he'll have a mouth and a fez.

Christmas decorating began in earnest on the 1st, I've heard a lot of people say the start of December is still too early to think about Christmas but I want to make the most of it, so there ♥

I also wanted to see whether the cats would destroy the tree so for the first week I only put a few Ikea baubles on, but low and behold we have ANOTHER cat success story and that is they're not remotely interesting in destroying my tree.  Huzzah!

I've even managed to bake some mince pies (and I remember to do them in cases instead of straight into the tin...)

And I've been enjoying hot chocolate in my varying festive mugs.

And as with most years since discovering them I've been enjoying the Christmas Markets in town, made even better by the fact that I only work down the road now...

And a couple of weeks ago I got reaquainted with my sewing machine and made a cushion from an lovely off cut of fabric I found in John Lewis.

I realise that's a bit of an info overload but I think I needed it!

x x x x

Woodside arm warmers

One of my recent knitty projects are these arm warmers.  I had a pair in khaki green when I was at University, but someone stole my coat at a party and they were lost forever!  My mum called them my Fagin gloves.  Well Fagin wouldn't have been wearing a pair like these now would he.

They're loosely based on a Lion Brand pattern called Constellation although I realised my yarn was a different side so I did some customising and decreased to my wrists and played around with the increases to make it fit perfectly.

They're incredibly cosy and I've been wearing them at work although it hasn't been exactly necessary, but winter is coming and I'll be able to knit in these too!

I love the stripes the yarn has produced and that the main colour's the deep purple which is lovely.



The yarn isLoops & Threads Impeccable Ombre and the colour is Folklore; I bought it a few years ago when I went to New York, from Michaels.  I still have most of the ball left and two more, so I'll have to see what to do with those.  I'd quite like to knit more monsters...

I reckon I'm getting the hang of using DPNs too, which is good because I need to use them for the sleeves of my cardigan.  I don't like casting on because I've twisted my stitches several times, and I don't like starting out with a few stitches and having to decrease, but these weren't so bad.

Moggie decided she wanted to be part of my photography shoot too.  It's a shame she's not in focus but she was very curious about what was going on!

I made up three cushions today and I've almost finished some painting (only a door frame) so I feel pretty accomplished.  I just wish it wasn't Sunday and I wish I didn't have to go back to work tomorrow!

I had a go at making short bread, using the recipe that Lucy posted on Attic 24, although I ended up adding quite a bit more flour because it was too sticky to roll out.  I had good fun cutting out my shapes and make little stars to stick on top!

Right, dinner time for all of us.  Have you had a nice weekend with any craftiness?

x x x x

Back, of sorts :)

I'm not going to lie here, life post-Glastonbury is not good.  That's not because life isn't going well in itself but nothing will ever live up to being here

I tried two years ago and failed to explain it.  There's something about The  Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (trying to do it justice) that is magic and unless you've been you can't understand it.

Being back home, back at work, away from the outdoors, the music, the atmosphere, the being-yourself; it just makes things seem so blank! If I could I would live, breathe and work this place.

So to answer my top questions I've had in the last week
- yes I saw the Stones (but only for an hour, then we went to have fun elsewhere)
- Chic were the highlight
- you had to be there ;-)

Anyway, apart from being dead melodramatic what else has been going on... Well, as we're being honest I haven't checked my Feedly (blog feed) since being back and I'm dreading it! I think I may follow too many blogs now and I know there's going to be too many to catch up on. Rather than it being a pleasure I've actually been worrying about it? Which is silly I know, so I've in turn buried my head like an ostrich in the sand, except I think they do that to keep cool.

It is hot here though isn't it?

Before I went away I decided to yarn bomb my bike lock to stop it clanging & chipping at my paintwork!

 

And I had to use up bananas and eggs so they didn't waste, so I made a yummy banana cake :)

 

House hunting took a good turn up but we may have hit a snag!  We've found a lovely terrace, had an offer accepted, got a mortgage but then!  They valued it lower...  So we're just waiting to see what happens next :o

Over & out for now 

x x x x

What we do when we aren't blogging

Hello people :-) I'm sorry for being a bit absent lately but I haven't been in the right place for blogging. I caught up with reading some of my favourite blogs this week and one post from Little Tin Bird really struck me and made me realise that it's okay to share life stuff with you guys (because you are all awesome!)


My granddad who's had dementia for a few years died 2 weeks ago tomorrow and I guess things have just been a bit weird. Since I moved up to Manchester I've made an effort to see both my grandparents when I go home and I'm happy to say I don't have any regrets there. The last time I saw my granddad (on my birthday :-) we had a little chat I I'm glad I have that nice last memory.

I don't want this to be a sad post though because my granddad was awesome! So I have some happier things to share with you - I just wanted you to know :-)


So what wouldn't cheer a girl up more than red shoes?!


And I made an orange & lemon cake for my lovely peeps at work.

I'll see you very soon for a bit of a ta-dah post - I can't wait! I just need some good lighting and maybe some help on the camera front :-)

Much Love!

Nic

x x x x

Happy erm... Late Easter!

Ok so I know it's been and gone but I took loads of Easter photos with the best intentions of blogging and simply haven't had the chance to even think about it! A trip to my parents house in Kent was just what was needed and while I was there I found out I'd been accepted for a job I applied for! Good times :)

My mum has such lovely things and I always like admiring her garden and it's different phases each time I visit. I found some daffodils and tulips growing under some trees which I liberated to the front of the garden which I was quite excited by actually! We usually decorate for Easter with eggs and bunnys and now I have a few things of my own to put in our flat next year :)

These are the vanilla biscuits I baked as Easter presents for my nan and with my mum's catalogue of crafting equipment we also made this cute little box!

Now onto the good stuff...! A few weeks ago I took a delivery of something sooooo amazing I couldn't help keep looking at it. Ok it's only wool (no it's not only wool it's pure bliss) but I love it! Look at the colours, aren't they fabulous? I actually had no idea what to do with it, only knew it looked lovely and it was on offer. Yes on offer! It came from this lovely site called Hejhog and was in the sale which for Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino is very very good indeed. Sooooo soft. Soooo lovely. Mmmmmm...

Hello! Sorry where was I! Oh yes, wool. Lucy in the Attic of 24 has once again inspired me to make something pretty and quite practical! I have loads of pasta and jam jars full of pennies (and some with bigger coins!) but I've always hidden them away for they don't look very nice do they? Well following this tutorial did the trick and now look! Lovely jars, in lovely jackets, filling with lovely money for a lovely holiday. One day :)

Friday

Yesterday was a very sad day, I had to take our hamster Harry to the vet's to be put down :-( She was an old lady (I know, Harry's a boys name) and was looking a bit poorly but we've had her 2 and a half years which for a hamster is a pretty long time! This is Harry just after she'd had her three babies, Hugh, Little Ham and Baby Ham (that's how we found out she was a girl!) Only Hugh is left now, we're not sure why Little & Baby Ham died before their mum but I guess that's how things go.

In order to cheer myself up I decided to partake in a little bit of baking last night, which I've not done in absolutely ages, since I baked 4 huge cakes for a charity day at work (after which I decided I never wanted to bake again).

First up Kitten Fairy Cakes. Ok they don't look anything like Kittens but it's the recipe name, I think you're supposed to decorate them to look like cats but I think stars are just as lovely! The recipe is from an old cook book my mum has and it has never failed me.

Ta dah!

I also made some ginger bread stars although I'm not much a fan of ginger, but this was less of a following-a-recipe and more of a putting-pre-mixed-ingredients-into-a-bowl! Unintentionally they look quite festive but they were from a Christmas present so maybe this was inevitable!

Making and Baking

We had a bit of a joke party at work recently to “celebrate” a year of a new database we use; highly exciting but an excuse for cake!

It’s halloween tomorrow so another excuse for cake and office decorating! Our office is an ex old-peoples home so it really didn’t take a lot of effort.

This is my costume for tomorrow, thank goodness for old primark jumpers and felt!