One Hundred Giveaway

It is FINALLY time - horray! It took me a while to get time to make a giveaway prize and to find decent enough light to photograph it but here we are. I'd like to thank everyone who's encouraged me to blog and especially everyone who said I wasn't a rubbish blogger haha! I do need to organise myself better though to get time to a) read my favourite blogs and b) do the decent thing and leave a comment!

So Teresa Kasner... - finally time to put an end to the mystery! Do you remember back here where I posted about a miniature cactii garden I crocheted for my mum for Christmas? Teresa suggested this would make an excellent giveaway prize and she was so right!

I hooked up this little fella on Monday night and I'm very happy to say he/she/it will belong to a lucky winner :-)


It might have a flower but it can still be a he


Cactii have male and female parts apparantly!



Having never had a giveaway before I'm going with the flow - I've entered enough to know how it works :-)

Rules!

Nice and easy. You need to:

a) Be a follower or a new follower - I don't even mind if you only follow because you want a cactus

b) Leave a comment confirming the above rule has been adhered to and...

c) Tell me something that will make me laugh or smile! This bit's important!!

It can be a joke, something silly, something nice that happened to you or that you did - I don't mind one bit but when I come back from my climbing trip I imagine I'm going to be a broken individual and this sounds like a great way to cheer me up!

Closing date:

Sunday 25th March!

It's not a very long time but long enough I imagine. You can post all day Sunday, I might even let you off in the early hours of Monday morning but on Monday when I awake I want to be pulling a name out of a magicians hat!

I um'd and ah'd about who could enter but as I love all my followers near and far, you can enter wherever you live, unless it's on the International Space Station ok?

Awesome! What are you waiting for?

x x x x

Red, Yellow, Pink, Green, Orange, Purple, Blue

Thank you all so much for your encouraging comments on my last post :-) I've finally made my giveaway prize!! Unfortunately I haven't taken any nice photos so you'll just have to wait until I do :-)

In the meantime how about a ripple update?


It's going well! I'm actually back on the red now so I've come full circle and I just need to keep going until it's big enough for baby bump!

I've got a busy week coming up, on Friday I'll be off to the Lake District for a 5 day climbing trip - eeek! We're going to be camping (in MARCH!) and I've never done an outdoor climb before so it should be interesting. I'm going to have to put a LOT of faith in my friends.

If I don't blog before then... Wish me luck!!!

x x x x

One hundred lovelies

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

That's the noise you make when you realise you've got 100 followers :-)

I honestly don't know how or why - especially as lately I've been a pretty bad blogger - but I'm thrilled all the same and even more motivated to do my part and erm, write stuff!

So I would like to say "thanks very much!" indeed to all you followers, and all you readers who might not be followers - I love you too! I will be posting a giveaway as soon as I make something and thanks to Teresa Kasner I have just the idea!

Well part of the reason I've not been blogging much is I've been finishing off things and I think there's only so many photos I can show you of this scarf:

But there it is! Half a ball of yarn to go - I think it's going to be long!

I made another baby hat too for my friend - now very proud father - at work who had a little boy two weeks ago.

My only reservation was the colour because he asked for "United Red" - I could barely bring myself to do it!!

Moving on.

Since my granddad died my family have been on "Nan watch" which essentially means making sure she's got lots of visitors and things to do. I should take this moment to say that my Nan is super strong and copes with most things remarkably and has taken everything so well - she is no quivering mess - so last weekend we took her out to Dunelm Mill to buy cushions. As you do. She'd not really been able to leave the house without someone to look after my graddad so this new found freedom is all a bit, well new!

While we were there I found this amazing mug for £2.99! "NO MORE MUGS!" said J. Haha said I - this one is coming home with me and you'll just have to put up with it and ALL the other mugs we have. So here we are :-)



Even better is my Dad paid so technically I didn't even buy the mug we didn't need. WIN! The last time my Mum & Dad did this they paid for wool I was after as a Christmas present. We've never seen it since.

x x x x

Snood ta-dah!

Well I did promise that this year I'd start finishing projects instead of starting them and since I've made two hats and started another ripple I thought I'd ought to complete at least one thing! Then I finished two :-)

Right after making my Russian Dolls skirt I immediately set out to make another )now that I knew what I was doing!) I bought some polka dot fabric straight away and cut out the pattern. And then it sat in a bag until last Sunday :-)




It's navy blue and I added some white ric-rac (I love it!!) to the top. All the details of the pattern can be found on the link above :-) I went down a size and it's a much better fit. I have to admit though after wearing it once I noticed some of my stitching needs tying off a bit better!!!

The pattern is only £3 from Burda Style here.

Anway I digress.

Snood time :-) You'll remember this started as a straight garter stitch scarf and then a diagonal garter stitch scarf but I wasn't happy with either!  Before I go on I just wanted to say that the yarn (which I love!) is Lang Mille Colori, I chose colour 053 Green/pink/purple:-)







So then out came the 4mm circulars!






It kept growing!


And then last week I finally finished casting off :-)



This is the stocking stitch side



And this is the garter stitch side. I love both! I'd only intended to have it as garter stitch but being on circular needles even though I purled every stitch the "back" came out as stocking. I'm glad it did though!



I wore it all last week with pride and finally got round to "killing" it today. It was very very curly at the ends so I decided... To iron it! It was well worth doing, it's a lot floppier now and easier to wear.

I made up the pattern, cast on 200 sts onto 4mm 80cm needles. At least I think they're 80cm! Before ironing I thought I could have used more stitches but now it's stretched out a little I'm really please :-)

Horray one down only a million to go!

x x x x

Baby hat ta-dah!

I was all ready to give you an update on the baby hat I've been making but I realised I never even showed you the progress! I don't even think I mentioned it :o

So there will be no referring back to previous posts, just a good old ta-dah :-)



I've dabbled in cables ones before and they're very easy to do. The lovely Joanna Donaldson who I met on Ravelry sent me some hat patterns and the cable one stuck out the most. I-have-to-make-this!

Luckily two of my friends and Js sister are all having babies in the next two months so there's lots of opportunities for hat making!


This is number two already half finished :D

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

Decisions decisions!

It might be a bit late in the evening to be blogging but I really felt like saying hello and I'm definitely one of those bloggers who has to be in 'the right mood'. Which is now!

This is first weekend this year where I've actually been home and it's been nice to get stuff done, take photos of the things I've been making and just enjoy not travelling! I've been to London lots lately (don't get my wrong, I love it!) but it's been quite nice to have a weekend off. That said I've been very busy and I'd quite like to just sleep!

I think I've already admitted that I broke one of my resolutions about not starting a new project but this is kinda a replacement so that's ok right?



This is ripple number two! I decided (about 7 stripes in actually!) that I really wasn't liking my first ripple at all. My colour order was all wrong, who knows others might like it but I don't and that means I really don't want to give it to my new niece or nephew in a few months when they're born so I started this new one and I LOVE it! I'm basically more or less copying the same colours I used in my granny stripe


Having said all that I might give ripple number one to another friend also having a baby because I figure this is better than binning it (which she can do if she wants!!) or unravelling it for the sake of a little bit of yarn.

Or not! I'm very undecided. I do have a good friend who loves my crocheting, even the fugly stuff but unfortunately her kids are 4 and 6 now so I'm not sure what she'd do with it! Decisions decisions :-)

In other news the snood is onto it's last ball of yarn! I need to start taking proper lunch breaks as this is about the only time I seem to work on it now!

The last of the Christmas presents

I've just noticed I have ninety-two followers :D and I've decided that 100 will be a great opportunity to have my first giveaway... A lot of other bloggers do it and it's quite exciting! I just haven't decided what I might giveaway yet so I'm hoping the next 8 followers don't come all at once :)


So! I've been having a very educational evening watching Stargazing Live (on the BBC) while I crochet away with tea and cake. On Monday I went past Jodrell Bank on the train and I always get a little bit excited! I've wanted to be an astronaut for forever but maths just let me down :p

I've completely forgotten to show you the last Christmas present I made for my mum! I don't mean the pink fluff no ;)


These cute little cactii are from a pattern by Elf Luvs Dwarf who unfortunately seems to have stopped blogging so if you want the pattern I'd recommend saving them just incase!


I modified the pattern a bit - well I say modified! I stopped short of making the pot and just glued them into some tiny teracotta pots that our fish tank plants came in :) I reckon they're a bit more steady and it was a lot easier too!






And now they all live at my mums in little green houses. I might even get you a photo one day!

I've broken one of my resolutions already and I was doing so well for the last 17 days! I've started something new...


:o

x x x x

Pink Fluff Ta-Dah!

One of my 2012 Resolutions has been to finish my 2011 unfinished-projects and I'm very happy to have this one done, especially seeing as it was meant for Christmas...

But before you see it be warned, it looks like a giant pink fluffy caterpillar!!!



:D

I've told my mum she really doesn't have to wear it out if she doesn't want to just-because-her-daughter-made-it. It's not that I don't like it, I kinda do which I didn't think I would but it just seems rather large now it's finished!

This is me wearing it:



I'm pulling a silly face so I chopped my head off for blogging purposes :)

If you'd like to create one the yarn is Patons UK Lulu in Colorway
07005 (pink/purple). I cast on 36 stitches (I like even numbers) and knitted until my mum said STOP!

Well it's 1 down and a possible 5 to go before I can start anything else. Boo! The start of 2012 is going to be rubbish!!

Now if my herbs will just start to grow I can create some culinary masterpieces!!

Hello Twenty Twelve

Good bye 2011! I know a lot of people are glad to see the back of that year, for me it wasn't so bad. It feels like only yesterday I met up with friends on New Years day for an enormous fry up and here we are again!

So 2011...  I made new friends, started climbing, properly got into knitting which I now love, participated in my first Ravelry swap and stayed employed; always a bonus!

This is the end of day one here in Manchester :-) Beautiful!

Last night before going out I made some mosaics of 2011. I've never been an "end of month/year mosaic" blogger but I think I might start doing it because I was amazed by how much I'd actually made, lots of things I thought were from 2010!  It's a great way to remind yourself of all the things you've been upto :-)

Crochet





1.  Granny stripe blanket for my friends baby
2.  Japanese flowers wip
3.  Tissue box cover.  J *loves* this
4.  First wedding card of the year
5.  Amigurumi monster for G
6.  Flowers for N
7.  Wedding card # 2
8.  Hexagon blanket wip & One A Day project
9.  Wedding card # 3
10.  Cactus pin cushion
11.  Bunting for Wiggles - this went missing in the post and is now lost :-(
12.  Phone pouch for H
13.  Amigurumi mugs
14.  Rainbow ripple for J's sisters baby due in a few months
15.  Christmas trees

Knitting:





1.  First fairisle attempt wip / frogged
2.  Pink scarf.  Needed to be wider and less curly!
3.  First attempt with DPNs.  May also be the last!
4.  Knitted tea cosie, love this project so much!
5.  Moss Stitch scarf wip
6.  Monster for CJ
7.  First attempt at cables, coffee cosie
8.  First attempt with circular needles, my stripy snood wip
9.  Pink fluffy scarf (now finished! Ta dah post coming soon...)

I also did a fair bit of sewing too!

Sewing





1.  Baby owl
2.  Green bunting - first Etsy sale1
3.  First attempt at making clothes, Russian Doll skirt
4.  Blue knitting needle roll
5.  Heart for charity raffle
6.  Dotty bunting for E's wedding
7.  Christmas decorations
8.  Climbing chalk bag
9.  Felt Christmas Tree decorations

I have a few resolutions for 2012 though and although I'm not a great one for keeping to them I reckon these are pretty managable:

1. Crochet/Knitting: Finish my 2011 unfinished objects (see above!)
2. Climbing: Do an outdoors climb (at least one!) and by the end of the year climb a 6a on lead
3. Health: Eat less meat and be more creative when cooking
4. Life: Keep my house tidier!

That's it from me for now!  Hope the New Year brings you lots of love, creativity and happiness!  I'll leave you with some lovely Haycinths my Family got me for Christmas which have since been banished to the spare room because J can't stand the smell!




x x x x