Knitting goodies

First of all thank you all for the birthday wishes!I had a great day.....we took Imogen to the cinema for the first time and watched Enchanted, it was great!

Now onto the goodies!!!!My lovely family treated me to these lovely books




Now I'm the first to admit my photography skills are not the best....I apologise. In fact I never realised just how bad my photos were until I stared blogging but I'm sure you get the gist!

The advent decorations are nearly finished.....I know I know. I'm cutting it a bit fine but I just have a little santa to knit now-hurrah! I really hope I'm knitting an heirloom here, it's taken long enough!

Talking of heirlooms I found one today and gave it a polish

This was my Grandpa's. When I was little I used to look forward to trips upto Scotland so much and Grandpa's sweetie dish was part of that. He always had this on the table next to his chair and I loved sneeking sweets out of it! I found it today and thought just for Christmas it might be nice to get it out and use it!It's lovely seeing it again......of course I had to fill it with sweets.

Here's to happy memories

Hark the herald......

Introducing my favourite little decoration so far....I love this wee angel, she's so sweet!I can't wait to see Imogen's face when she sees this one.

The bag is also complete!Hurrah, Christmas presents are done and finished.Ok so I only made one but you've got to start small with these things!

I'm rather excited as it's my birthday in a few days and I have a sneaky suspicion that my family have been buying off my amazon wish list which consists of erm....... knitting books and craft books and more craft books!!!I'll be sure to share all the crafty goodness with you folks!

On the first day of Advent

I bring you ...........

The Advent Calander!Ta dah.

This was a joint project with my Mother in Law, she was knitting the pockets and the backing while I did the decorations. In the middle of November she suddenly needed to have an emergency eye operation so the last few weeks have seen me knit, knit knitting and then assembling the calender......phew, I'm so glad it's finished.

Here are a few more of the decorations.

Here we have a bell, christmas pudding, lantern, christmas tree and candy cane among other things. All this is an Alan Dart pattern. I love it, especially the decorations. I'll definitely be knitting some more for friends and family, just not this year!!

Also hot off the needles is my Mother's Christmas present


This will be a bag when it's all put together. I thought the green fabric would make a really nice lining for it. I LOVED knitting this. I don't know what it was but the combination of the Sirdar Bigga wool, Brittany needles, and the moss stitch was just so satisfying. Plus it was a quick grower which is always nice!
It's really beginning to feel seasonal now!After my Christmas meal out with all my other 'Mum' friends tonight I shall really be feeling in the mood.

Happy Advent Everyone

The Spoon Family

Oh the fun to be had with wooden spoons!

Can you spot the family resemblance?

Halloween Happiness

Ever since I read Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a girl not only have a desperately wanted to go back in time to pioneering America but I've been intrigued by 'pumpkin pie'. We don't have it over here in Britain, at least I've never seen it. I think it's been about 18 years since I first read Little House in the Big Woods and today I made my first pumpkin pie!!It was so exciting and really yummy!

I got the recipe here, it was so easy, I'll be making it again for sure.

This is what happened to the rest of the pumpkin

The complete Halloween experience

Ahhh what fun. I love doing things with Imogen for the first time, this was her first pumpkin carving and the first time she'd seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, it's so much fun sharing her excitement!

Lastly, I can't decide whether or not to do the traditions exchange over at Montessori by Hand
I've never done an exchange before but watched them with interest...Ooooo I just don't know if I've got enough traditiony stuff to share....plus more knitting, it is tempting though.

Have a fantastic Halloween!

Errr where did 11 days go?

I can't believe it's been 11 days since a post, that is serious slacking....apologies to blog land. A poor defense is visiting family and time spent enjoying this





Anyhoo, here I am. This wonderful post at noodles and doodles inspired me to turn the T.V. and get going! I'm not just lagging behind in blogging, my ambitious list of 'things to make before Christmas' is shrinking!

Back in....hmmm I dunno say June I thought ....Yeah I can

• knit Imogen an advent calender
• make finger puppet stocking fillers
• knit dinosaurs for Imogen's wee pals
• knit cardi's x2 for pregnant sis
• knit cardi for Imogen (DONE!!)
• knit hat for Imogen (DONE!!)
  
• knit bag for Mum

I've started them all, which perhaps was a mistake, I now feel paralised by the bags of projects stashed around the living room. Then in my stupidness last night I started knitting a dress for Imogen's doll?????I know, I know, I panicked, I needed something to knit and I couldn't possibly do something constructive like FINISH something.



I really need to get a move on with the advent calendar, I keep thinking I have til Christmas...er no Laura advent starts on the 1st of December, and these little fellas need 22 other pals to fill all the pockets up. I hereby pledge to at least finish the advent calendar and post a picture to prove it!!!The dinosaurs and finger puppets have been scrapped and baby cardi's...well he's not due until January so maybe I'll cut myself some slack and just aim to complete them by the due date!

I leave you with a picture of the funky witch who is really looking forward to a halloween party this weekend!

Arty Party Things

Imogen loves doing arty crafty things, although she gets a little muddled and asks for arty party things! I love it as we both sit there surrounded by paper, glue, paint or whatever takes our fancy and play around.Our latest creation was a real joint effort to make a dolly bedroom.....who needs a doll's house when you have cardboard boxes lying around. Imogen's favourite part were the 'Night Garden' posters.








Another favourite pass time is making butterflies which I love. I wish I could keep them all but of course you have to pick and choose. At least it's something to do with loo roll tubes!














I leave you with violent pink T-Rex. On my last trip to the wool shop Imogen insisted on adding a ball of this shocking pink wool to my basket. Being a wuss I relented wondering what on earth I was going to do with it but as it turns out Imogen had plenty in mind including this dinosaur from one of my many Jean Greenhowe books. I actually really like it although I have yet to find a way to attach arms, legs and heads that I a) find easy and b) doesn't look as amateurish as my current attempts, heads are particularly tricky. Any ideas on this one would be greatly appreciated!

Happy Days

What a lovely weekend. I had an old school friend come to stay so a lot of time was spent reminiscing about friends and teenage years, it was a lot of fun. We also went to the beach. You can't have a visitor in Cornwall and not take them to the beach.

Sand castles and sand turtles were made. It was lovely. I could just sit by the sea all day, I find the sound of the waves so relaxing it's therapeutic. Plus Imogen runs around and plays with minimal input from moi so all are happy! It also gave Imogen a chance to try out the new winter hat.

I love 2x2 rib. Not the most inspired choice but sometimes simplicity is the best option. It's just so super stretchy and snug.....Mmmmmm. Imogen likes it too which is a bonus, she seems to have a very over developed sense of taste for a 2 year old and if an article of clothing isn't to her liking, it will not be worn, for love nor money (or even sweets!)

The cats (or KITTENS as we are instructed to call them) are settling in fine. I'll try not to over do the kitty pictures but I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of our new additions.

Oops

I forgot to say that the Tabby is called Shrek (named by a 2 and a half year old!) and the black one is Binka. Awwww my little kitty cats!

Kitten Heaven!!!

From the ages of 5 to 9 I think I prayed everyday in the hope that God would soften my parents' stance on the 'No Pets' rule. That prayer was never answered. Now, with my own house and my own money I have pets!!!! I am stupidly happy. It's actually really nice to feel the kind of excitement that i felt as a kid the week leading up to Christmas or my birthday. It's kind of sad when life stops being full of new and wonderful things to discover. I am relishing this feeling and long may it last!




May be there's a resolution hiding in there to rediscover the excitement in everyday life. That's one of the things I love about being a Mum, being able to see things through new eyes, watching someone doing things for the first time. That and buying all the toys I wanted as a kid but never got!!!!!!

Ahhhh so this is where to type the title!

This is Monsieur cat, one of the favourite things I've knitted. He's a Lucinda Guy pattern and I just love him.
Well in the name of learning the ropes I'm going to try linking. I'd like to mention some blogs that have kept me going, amused and inspired over the last couple of years. The great yarn harlot
has spurred my knitting obsession to new hights. Crazy Aunt Purl can always be relied on to make me laugh a lot! Wise Craft inspires me and makes me want to make quilts and do patchwork but I still haven't found the guts to cut up any fabric.....I've bought the stuff, I have countless books but just can't make that next step! I was very excited to find a fellow Brit when I came across Quilt While You're Still Ahead , I was starting to think that all the craftiness was across the pond!And Twelve22 just makes me hungry!!!!There are so many more that I could and should list. Maybe I'll work out how to do a side bar thingy.
Well, I think that'll do for starters. I shall endeavor to post regularly but I was always one of those kids who started a diary, kept it diligently for a few weeks then it all went down the pan so I'm not making any promises!Hopefully I will have a working camera again soon. Mine died,how sad, especially as we are getting kittens on Saturday and I will need to take lots of photos!!!Anyway, watch this space for kittens, knitting (I'm into dinosaurs, baby cardi's and Christmas decorations at the mo!)and general rambling!

Well, I've decided to stop my lurking in blog land and join in the fun. I found blogs after I gave birth to my daughter and they were a real life line. They kept me sane and feeling like a human being. I love the idea of being part of such a big community (plus I'm just plain nosey!!) The small glimpses into other peoples lives are fun and inspiring......I have loved my 2 years of lurking round but now is the time to join in.
I must admit the majority of blogs I read are crafty but I'm not going to put my blog in the same catagory. Mainly because my crafty skills are not really worthy of devoting a whole blog to but also because I like the idea of consciously taking the time to think about my day(s) and my life and writing about it. It may not be wildly exciting or interesting but it's mine and I'm not forcing anyone to read!
It's very weird writing a post, I'm used to reading the finished article with all the links and pictures etc I'm still working out how to do all that fancy stuff so you'll have to bare with me!