MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

EAT, DRINK & BE MERRY !!!

XXXXXX

Snowy Fun ..........

Snow !! .........
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After a lot of 'will it, wont it', it did !!!!
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The little men where off from school today after having a nasty tummy bug but where so eager to play in the snow that after 4 hours of moaning & groaning I gave in & we walked up our road & then had a short time in the garden. They were happy to have the time outside but wanted to come back in after 10 minutes. This tummy bug is doing the rounds at the school & I had it too but luckily not too badly.

After their 10 minutes of play they where content to watch the snow fall from the warmth of the sitting room, & no more moaning !!!!!

Winter Head Warmers .........




I love to see little people in hand knits. I am in the process of knitting sweaters & hats for my two !! Here is the first FO that I knocked out over the weekend. I used this pattern to make hats 4 years ago & the little men have just about outgrown them, so it was time to make new ones !!!

Pattern : Snug from Rowan Babies (size medium)

Needles : 3 3/4mm & 4mm

Yarn : Patons DK (from my stash)

What I really like about this pattern is that you get a lot of wear out of it, the original hats fitted for 3 years & that it covers little ears & back of the neck. Just what they need in this cold weather walking to school & playtime !!!

Jack Frost ........

Jack Frost has arrived early this year & the snow maybe close on his heels.
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The little men are so excited about the prospect of snow & I must confess that I am too! But snow brings school closures & that I'm not so excited about so near to the Christmas hols.



But looking out the window at my beautiful crisp, frosty garden makes me look at the sky wondering will it, wont it !!

The Little Men's 6th Birthday ........

Yesterday was the little men's 6th birthday. My goodness where is the time going to.

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They managed to open a couple of presents before school & were over the moon with their Lego Atlantis kits!!!

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What made it extra special for them this year was that their Daddy came over to pick them up from school & spend some time with them before their birthday tea !

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They had 5 friends for tea & you can imagine the volume level with seven 6 year old boys !!!!

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They all seemed to enjoy themselves & I had 2 friends that gave a me helping hand, thanks Jo & Beccy x

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Birthday cakes made by yours truly !

My friend Jo stayed to help clear the decks & put the boys to bed for me while I had a quiet cup of coffee & a rather large slice of yummy Birthday cake.

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All in all it was a lovely day for both the little men & me, & they where in the land of nod within 10 minutes of having a story & lights out ZZZZZZZzzzzz !!!!!

Two Little FO's .........





While I have been off air, so to speak, I have been busy with my hook. My first little FO is a gorgeously warm & snugly scarf.

Pattern : Just Enough Frills for an Ascot ( Free pattern on Ravelry or can be found over at 'Becky Blue J' blog .)

Yarn : Rowan Cocoon ( 2 balls )

Hook : 6.5 mm

I made it longer than the pattern & was great fun to make.

The second FO are a pair of crochet tiebacks for the curtains in the study. I just made them up as I went, here is how I made them.

Yarn : Rowan Handknit cotton

Hook : 4mm

Chain 76 sts. Sc in 2nd ch from hook & then sc in each ch across. ch 1 & turn then repeat to end. I did 5 rows of sc. Now for the frilly bit.

Dc in 1st sc 5 times ( 5 dc cluster ). *skip next st, slip st in next st, skip next st then 5 Dc cluster in next st* repeat along the bottom only. I then did a 12 st chain at each end for the cords to tieback. I hope these instructions makes sense !!!!!!!

I definitely think that you need to use a strong yarn, like the Rowan Handknit Cotton, to make these as they need to be firm & hard wearing.

Bonfire Night .........

Hellooooo long time no see !!!!

I have been without my computer for a while after it caught a rather nasty Virus called 'The Security Tool Virus'. Please be on the look out for this virus, it completely buggered up my computer !!!! Luckily the wonderful Bruce from PC Pal came to my rescue & worked his magic & I am now up & running again !!

Anyway onto happier events. This weekend was Bonfire Night, & like many of you out there we had a wonderful time at our village firework display. In fact it was one of the best I have seen.!

The little men where just mesmerized by the whole thing !!!

The weather was kind to us this year, no rain, & the mega large bonfire kept the chill away as did the freshly made warm donuts, yum !!!!!!

I always feel that after Halloween & Bonfire Night we are truly into Autumn. I must say that I do love Autumn, when the leaves turn to beautiful colours & you feel all cosy & warm indoors while watching the wind & rain outside !! I do wish that we still had an open fire though, like in our old house. There is nothing like the sound & smell of a fire to give you that warm content feeling !!
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Poorly .......

Hello peeps.

Just a quick note to say that I will be posting soon but we have all been rather poorly in our household these last 2 weeks. I have been snuggled on the sofa with throat sweets & cough medicine & I have managed to make 2 more scarves, ready for the cold days ahead !!!!!

Puff Ball Scarf .......

Hello peeps.

I just can't believe we are now in October, we didn't have much of a summer did we !!!

October is the time of year that I start to look to making snugly things to keep the little men & me warm through the cold damp Autumn & winter. I am still working on their GSB's but I am running out of yarn so I need to order some more.





I have also been working on other projects when I can to keep me from getting bored with the blankets. I am quite excited actually as I have designed my first crochet scarf pattern. Do you like it !!!! I have called it my Puff Ball Scarf as the stitches remind me of little puff balls !!!



The yarn is much more vibrant in real life, beauitful rich blues & greens.

I am also very excited & a little nervous as I am going to be running a knitting club with little man no.1's teacher after school from next Tuesday for KS1 & KS2 children. I am really looking forward to it & I have been rummaging through my enormous stash pile for odd balls of yarn.


Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

bye for now

T xxx

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NOTE : I am going to write up this pattern to share very soon,

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Goodbye Bertie ........

It is a very sad day today, my mum has had to make the dreadful decision to have one of her beloved dogs put to sleep, & to make it worse it's her birthday !



You where a gorgeous & brave little boy & a great friend, we will miss you so very much Bertie Boy x

Toothache, Birthday & GSB Progress ........

The last two weeks have been rather eventful !!

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I developed dreadful toothache that turned into an infection in my jaw, OMG the pain was unbearable & my face swelled up to 3 times the size. I didn't sleep for 4 nights, I was like the walking dead ! I ended up having to have an enormous dose of penicillin which got rid of the pain & swelling but has left me feeling washed out.

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Luckly I woke up on my birthday, after the first good night sleep in a week, pain free & feeling oh so much better. One of my lovely friends made me a yummy cake & was decorated by her daughter & the little men which cheered me up no end, & I was able to have a large slice with my morning coffee.

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Over the past few evening I have been hooking like mad, my first GSB for the little men is half way done & looking good. This is such a lovely, easy pattern to follow that it just seems to flow through my fingers. I am hoping that I will have this finished by the weekend !
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9/11 ........

A day to remember & feel blessed that your loved ones are near & safe !

Rainbow Colours ........

Firstly, I would like to thank all you lovely ladies out there in blog land that sent such lovely kind comments on my finished GSB. I am very touched, your feedback means a lot to me. ♥

Now onto some hooky news.

Because my sitting room & bedroom colour scheme is pinks, purples, greens & blues I am quite restricted with colour for most of my crochet projects. Not so with the little men's room, which is a riot of red, blue, yellow & green. Here I can splash out with vibrant colours that are fun & jolly.

After having so much fun making my GSB I have decided to make two more for the little men's beds, knowing them though they will be bringing them down stairs as they love to snuggle under my blankets on the sofas. I have my work cut out if I am to get these done before Autumn take hold, but I'm up for the challenge & hopefully they won't take so long as I am going to use Vanna's Choice which is a chunky weight & a 6mm hook.

I can't wait to start the first one tonight once the little men are tucked up in bed & I'll keep you posted with my progress !!

bye for now

T ♥♥♥

Granny Stripe Blanket Is Finished !! .........




SOOOOOOO HAPPY with my finished GSB !!! I have loved making this gorgeous blanket, deciding the lay out of the colours as I went was great fun. I'm pleased to see it finished but part of me is a little sad as it was such a fun project to make. Thank you so much Lucy for sharing this pattern, your a little gem xxx

I edged my blanket as follows :

1 row of treble stitch clusters, 1 row of treble sts, 2 rows of double sts, 2 rows of single sts then a shell edging of *3 double stitch clusters then slip st in next 2 sts* repeated all the way around.

So here it is all finished & laid out to show you. My camera doesn't show the colours in a true light, they are actually much brighter & warmer in real life.
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Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK (16 colours )

Hook: 4mm

Time to Make: 3 months

Enjoyment Level: Very :)

I'm thinking of making another one for little man no.1 using Vanna's Choice yarn to match little man no.2's ripple blanket that I started back in February & is half done, which reminds me that I must pull it out & get on with it so that it's ready for Autumn

bye for now

T xxx

Coffee Pot Cosy ........

My GSB is all but done, just finishing the shell edging, love, love, love it !!!! I would have finished it about a month ago but my hooking mojo plummeted when I hurt my back at the beginning of the summer hols. I have been working on it every evening for the past week, with a snugly Cusso beside me eyeing it up, sorry boy this one isn't for you my furry friend!

Here's another lovely little pattern by Alice @ Crocheting with Raymond, a sweet coffee pot cosy. It only took me 2 hours to make this morning while the the little men & I watched Micky Mouse Club House & Handy Manny, so quick & easy & I love it !

I used some odds & ends of my Stylecraft Special DK and started with a chain of 39 stitches using a 4mm hook. I'm thinking of adding a crocheted flower, mmm maybe, what do you think !!!

Bunting .......

Oh I'm excited !!!

The other day I was trailing through Ravelry & came across another lovely lady & her blog. Her name is Alice & her little blog is
http://CrochethealingandRaymond.wordpress.com/ ( named after her gorgeous Siamese cat. ) She has some lovely crochet patterns that she is sharing, I fell for her bunting hook, line & sinker.

I just had to pick up my hook & start straight away, using odds & ends of the Stylecraft Special yarn from my Granny Stripe Blanket. Oh my, these little beauties are addictive & I love, love, love the pretty edging !!!

Talking of Granny Stripe, I'm now on the home stretch, so hopefully will be able to show it off to you in the next couple of days.

bye for now T x

Wow !!! My First Blog Award .........

I'm gob smacked. A really BIG thank you to the Clare at greenfrogcrafts.blogspot.com/ for giving me this lovely award. THANK YOU xxx

I have to write 5 things about myself before passing on this award, so here goes.

1. My dream is to move to Dorset & have enough land to have some chickens, a donkey or two, a small orchard & vegetable patch.
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2. I went to school with the Countess of Wessex, but alas I'm no lady lol !!!
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3. When I was at school I wanted to be a pathologist, Scene of Crime Officer or forensic scientist & all my friends thought I was morbid. ( Funny that now it's the IN thing to do ! )
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4. I lived in British Columbia, Canada for a couple of years when I was young (amazing place ! )
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5. I love the snow & thunderstorms ( I'm just a big kid at heart ).

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I would like to pass on this award to the following lovely ladies :

Lucy @ http://attic24.typepad/weblog/

Elizabeth @ http://byelizabethcat.blogspot.com/

Heather @ http://littletinbird.co.uk/

Jacquie @ http://bunnymummy-jacquie-blogspot.com/

Mia @ http://miaslandliv.blogspot.com/

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Ladies, you brighten my days with your lovely blogs xxx.

My New Kitchen ......

I am so happy & proud to show off my new shiny, clutter free kitchen. It has taken over six weeks to transform, but boy it's worth all the upheaval & mess. My handy man has been a star & has done a wonderful job, no slap dash. The reason for the wait was because he was ill for a few weeks & then had to catch up on other jobs as well. I didn't mind because I knew that he would do a great job, & he has !!!!
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Please note that I took the before photos as I was packing everything up ( it wasn't that messy & cluttered normally )

After :: New oven & hob that works ! New shiny white ceramic sink, my only extravagance.

After :: Ugly boiler hidden away in a cupboard & pipes boxed in.

After :: Serving hatch boxed in & tiled over, lots of work surface, wonderful !!!


I had a very tight budget to cover everything, units, appliances, sink, taps, flooring, labour etc & I did it, I think I was just over by £40.00, not bad hey !!! A big thank you to my mum who helped me turn my dream into reality, your the best !!!

Words can not describe how happy & thrilled I am, I have really enjoyed searching for everything ( Wicks - Units, oven, hob & tap Homebase - tiles B&Q - sink, flooring & work tops ) & putting it all together, with a little help from my handy man Ian !!!