Knitting bug

I wanted to make something special for my baby Nephew (who's due any day now!) and my sister said she would love it if I could knit her a blanket, so I set about learning how to. Luckily my mum knows how to knit, Im more of a visual learner so having someone show me how to, rather than trying to work it out from a book was really helpful for me and so once I had chosen the wool, and bought the needles, mum cast on for me and taught me how to knit and purl. After knitting for a few weeks, I had to put the knitting away so I could focus on Christmas crafts, but once Christmas bits were finished, I picked the knitting back up and a couple of nights ago, the blanket was finished! I had no idea how to cast off, and it was at a time where I couldnt go to mums to have her show me how, so with the help of Youtube, I managed to work it out and it was so much easier than I though it would be!



Im more proud of this than I am of anything I have created so far, I was practically dancing around the room when it was finished :-)



Its not perfect, its a little gappy in a few places, and I knitted when I purled, or purled when I should have knitted a coule of times meaning the pattern went off a little, but I think it adds to the charm...doesnt it?




The same night I finished the blanket, I saw on facebook a link for a Leap year blanket project, where you knit a square everyday, resulting in a lovely hand knitted blanket at the end of the year! I decided to join thinking that this could be a great way for my confidence to grow and hopefully learn a few techniques along the way! When I started the blanket, my mum cast on for me, so to start my first square, I had to go back to Youtube and learn how to do this, and again, I picked it up fairly easily and I thought it would be a lovely way to use up the last bit of wool I had leftover from the baby blanket



Im going to give pattern reading a go soon, I have allsorts of things Id love to make but I dont want to get too ahead of myself

If you would like to know more about the Leap year blanket or fancy joining in, here is the link :-)
The Leap Year Blanket

Happy New Year

Im feeling excited about the new year, no resolutions as such, but lots Id like to achieve and I love the feeling of a fresh start that comes with a new year, plus Im about to become an Auntie for the first time :-) We spent the first day of 2012 at a very soggy park and farm, it was nice to have a walk and blow off some cobwebs despite the rain



We stopped to say hello to the Highland cows













Spot of tractor driving





said hello to the turkeys



and then a bit of construction







Even wet sand gets everywhere!



After all that, the rain was really getting too much, so we headed home for a big roast dinner :-)

Wishing you all the best for 2012

Handmade Christmas

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas! We are still very much in holiday mode with Chris still being home, he doesnt go back to work until next Tuesday so its been a nice break for him and lovely to have him at home with us.

Christmas day itself was a little stressful for me, as this is the first year I have cooked Christmas dinner, we usually go to my mums but she had asked me if they could come here instead so I had dinner to cook for 7! Since then we have enjoyed calmer days playing with our new things.

I made a few gifts this year, which I think went down ok, the main thing was gift hampers filled with handmade bits, I made another batch of fudge for them, peppermint bark and popped in a jar of the Chutney I made at the end of Summer. Also added was a bag of Walnuts foraged in the Autumn and lastly a Mulled wine and cinnamon soap from my evening of learning to make soap







I also made several fabric Elf dolls



Not a gift but is being mostly given away due to there only being me that will eat Christmas cake, we made and decorated our own this year



I may not get a chance to post again until after the New Year so hope you all enjoy the rest of the holidays, Im off to find a tin of chocolates with my name on them ;-)

Hmmm

Our mudpie kitchen which had been forgotten since the weather turned cold was revamped into a mudpie bath this afternoon!

Making and baking

Lots of this going on at the moment while we plan and fill our Hampers we are giving as gifts this Christmas

Bashing up candy canes to make peppermint bark




We made rustic (totally gone wrong but tastes amazing) fudge




and of course where there are bowls with melted sweet stuff, there are little ones armed with spoons ready to scrape them clean, and in PJ's no less :-)



This little miss just had her 4th visit from the tooth fairy!




My Hamper baskets are slowly getting filled up, cards are made and written, parcels and cards posted, I just have some sewing to finish and a few more last minute treats to make before I can start wrapping everything up and then I think Christmas 2011 will be in the bag

Hows everyones plans coming along?

Overwhelmed

Is how Im feeling at the moment, so much to do, time is running out and all I want to do is sit back and enjoy the run up to Christmas with my family. I dont want to ignore this space in the process, but with very little time for Blogging, Im going to do little snapshots from our days, rather than lengthy posts

So for today, look what was waiting for us this morning, Snow!

Today

After the busyness of the weekend we have enjoyed a cosy day at home

We found out the Christmas music



which we played and sang along to while we made trail mix bars for a healthy snack



cut stars out of beeswax sheets ready for making decorations



After lunch we made a huge panful of popcorn



and settled down together to watch a dvd





Sometimes simple days really are the best ones