Away Day to London

Good Morning, yesterday I went Christmas shopping to London with my friend.

We started at the little station up the road, with its cute signal box and traditional gates, which we are grateful to still have as so many are now automated.  As you can see, it was a bit of a dull day.  It takes about an hour to get to London which is a great time to chat and catch up.

Then it was off to do some serious shopping in Oxford Street, which is very hustly bustly. It had already been decorated for Christmas

It was much more appealing than this photo shows, but it does prove how London is full of red buses, black taxi cabs, and people!

John Lewis department store is a favourite with me and I spent quite a lot of time in there.

unusually coloured decorations, but very effective I thought. (Looking at this picture now, it reminds me of bubbles in a fish tank!)

Anyway after several hours of shopping, pondering, drinking coffee, shopping again, it was time to head home. My arms really ached from carrying the bags and my feet ached from all the walking!  It was a relief to get on the train to come home to my lovely quiet village.

But now I have quite a lot of presents I can cross off my long list, so it was a day well spent (in every sense of the word!)  I can't show you the presents - have to send them off to Santa, but I did buy some new towels for our downstairs cloakroom

I normally go for plain colours, but liked these stripey ones for a change.  Oh and I tried, but I couldn't resist buying some wool!  You see, when I look back at my recent crochet projects, purples and pinks seem to feature heavily in them so I decided that whatever my next project is, I should add some different colours to the mix so I bought these to add to my secret Rowan stash!

Now that I have seen The Garden Bell's   fun neat ripple stitch, I just might have to have a go at that - I feel a cushion coming on!!!

Thanks for dropping by and have a lovely weekend!

Speak soon xx

Pondering about Projects

The last few days I have been pondering.  Pondering about projects, things that have to be done, things that I would like to get done and things that realisticly wont get done!! 

When I was out walking with my friend the other morning we were strolling along the muddy track chatting away but in the back of my mind I was listing all the things I wanted to do - not majorly things like hike up Mount Everest or anything like that - more basic things like getting the Christmas shopping done and dusted, keeping on top of the ironing Ugh!!  Hoping the surprise party I am organising for Mum's 80th birthday will be a success - lots of family have said they are coming so I  was thinking, will I be able to ice her cake to a good standard? will I have enough food , drink, space in the house, ooooh its endless - do you all get like that?  My mind just felt all of a jumble. It was a good walk and did help me to clear my head.

Here in the UK there are masses of berries on the trees and bushes

They are laden with them, the saying goes that lots of berries means we will have a hard winter - we shall see!

This is looking across the fields to where I live.  I love being in the fields and looking back at where I live. The houses seem so small compared to the surrounding area - and yet when I am snug indoors I sometimes forget the countryside is out there.

When I had finished pondering I decided the best thing to do was get on and do 'stuff'  so after boring householdy stuff I settled down to try to get to grips with the cot blanket I have been asked to make.  Don't get me wrong I am enjoying it but I am finding it rather .......................one colourish.

I think I have been spoilt by Lucy at Attic 24 since discovering her blog I have switched to colour BIGTIME so this pale pink is well rather PALE!  However I do love the stitch it is a treble relief and it makes a spongy waffley type fabric.  It does use a lot of wool though - when I look at this

I know I have a long way to go!  To spur me on I decided I needed a little colourful project to do when I am tired and need a rest from pale and pink - so I sorted out some wool from a secret stash of Rowan Wool which I have

And I am going to make myself a vertical ripple scarf  - its still very much in its infancy but I have high hopes.

    

Well thats crochet projects sorted - now I only have to think about the Christmas shopping, 80th Party, ironing .........................................................................................................................!!

Speak soon xx

Crochet Christmas Stocking - Tutorial

Hello!

I can't believe it's Tuesday already, the weeks are flying by, Christmas is getting nearer and nearer.  I always have a burst of Christmassy activity around beginning of November ----- then I become a little complacent thinking I have bags of time -------  then around second week in December I go into panic mode wishing I had been more organised earlier!   

I thought I would give you the instructions for making the Christmas Stocking that I made last week. 

I think these are really cute and you could do all sorts of things with them, like make them into bunting as I did with the Snowman Tree Decoration or you could make 24 and pin them to a board and fill them with goodies and use them as an advent calendar. Or as my son suggested, they make great Christmas bootees for the cat! however the cat wasn't impressed with that idea!

Here are the instructions

Christmas Stocking Tree Decoration

I used double knitting wool and a 4mm hook

                                                                   ch      chain

                                                                   dc      double crochet
                                                                  
Make a ch of 30 stitches. Turn

Row 2      In second ch from hook work a dc.  Continue working dcs along whole length of chain.  Turn

Row 3      Make 2ch and in second st from hook work a dc.  Continue working dcs along rest of row. Turn

Repeat row 3 four more times.  Fasten off.

With wrong side facing work a dc in the 6th st from the beginning. Work dcs along row but finish on the 6th st before the end. Turn.

Continue working dcs on these centre sts.  Work 6 more rows.  Fasten off.

The finished piece should look like this.

Now fold the stocking toe to toe with right sides together and sew up the seam along the foot and over the toe and up the front.  Turn the stocking inside out.  This should give you the boot shape with a rounded toe.

To make the edging use white wool and start at the back rim of the boot.  You are going to work into second dc row down - so it makes a longer white stitch.

So work a row of dcs around the rim of the boot, in the above picture you can see where I have pushed the hook through - that is how far down you need to go.

Don't worry if the white stitches look like they are 'parting' a bit, it adds to the over all look.  When you get to the back of the rim of the boot, in the last dc make a chain of 20 and slip stitch it into place to make the hanging loop and fasten off.

There you are - a tiny Christmas Stocking ready to be filled with tiny goodies  - have fun.

Speak soon xx

Snowman Bunting and Tutorial

Hello!!! Its a peaceful Saturday here - I have made the house look presentable and am now able to talk to  you without feeling rushed - its great!!!  Firstly I would like to thank those of you who have left me a comment and those who are following this blog - it is much appreciated - I feel it is a "two-way" thing so it is loooovvvely to hear from people.  Thank you!!!

I hope you like these..............

I've been fiddling about with the Snowman Christmas Tree Decorations and came up with these - aren't they jolly!!!!   I'm chuffed with them, they are quite easy to do.  The basic pattern can be used for the bunting or the Christmas Tree Decoration .  I have been asked about the using the designs so I thought I would give you the instructions - I quite like the idea of rows of these little Snowmen waiting to greet Santa! - so here goes.  I used a 4mm hook and some double knitting wool.

I will use the English abbreviations:   htr    half treble 
                                                       ss     slip stitch
                                                       ch     chain
                                                       dc    double crochet
Snowman Body

1st row    Make 4 ch and ss into a circle
2nd row   2 ch (counts as 1st htr) then 11 htr into the ring, join at end with a ss

3rd row   2ch, 1 htr into same st then 2 htr into top of each st join at end with a ss.  You should have 24 htrs

4th row    2ch, 1 htr into same st, then  *1 htr into next stitch and 2 htr into stitch after that.  Repeat from * until last st then do 1 htr. Join to the beginning st with a ss and fasten off.

Snowman Head

Make the first three rows of the body and fasten off.

Carrot Nose

Ch 3, turn and make a ss into 2nd ch, 1 dc into third ch and fasten off. Leave a long tail of wool which you can use to sew the carrot nose on.

Snowman Scarf

Make a ch of 30 sts, turn and work one row of htrs. Fasten off

To assemble the Snowman - overlap the head onto the body by one row and sew into place.  Sew the carrot nose into place, (over the chain hole works well).  Sew beads or embroider eyes into place and buttons.  Wind Scarf around neck and catch into place with one or two stitches.  You will find if its double knitting wool the scarf stands out and looks a bit "windswept"

Make a length of chain ( think mine was about 45) and then make a dc into the centre of the top of the head of the first snowman, then chain 45 again and so on until all your snowmen are chained together! 
There you are - Snowman Bunting !!!!!!! Have fun making them!!!!

Christmas Tree Decoration Snowman - make two bodies and two heads and the join the heads to the bodies.  Decorate one of them with eyes, nose and bead buttons.  Place them wrong sides together and do a neat row of dcs around edge, leave a small gap to add some light padding then finish off.  Sew on the scarf and make a chain loop on the top of the head for hanging on the tree.

Have a great weekend

Speak soon xx

Crochet Christmas Decorations

Hello!  I am feeling a little less tired today after the antics with the house alarm yesterday!  Managed to catch up with some very peaceful quiet sleep - bliss!!!!!   I was up walking with my friend before the moon went to bed today, it was a lovely morning

Even though I was a bit tired last night - I managed to finish these Christmas decorations that I have been designing and working on this week:

There is a Christmas stocking which could hold a little gift or sweets, a Snowman and a Christmas tree decorated with tiny beads

The Snowman and the Christmas tree are slightly padded  and they are all easy to do - ideal for beginners to tackle.  I had a couple of disasters before arriving at these and I am pleased with them. 

 I have also started the pink cot blanket - only done three rows - so not much to show you yet.

I love this time of the year, now that I have got used to the dark nights - it feels sooooo cosy, and I need no excuses to sit by the fire with a cup of tea and my crochet. 

Speak soon xx

A Night To Forget!

I have to tell you all that today I am feeling rather tired.  2 am this morning our house alarm went off, we both nearly fell over dashing out of bed to go downstairs to punch in the code to stop it ........... but that only worked for about a minute............ then it went off again - so we had to stand by it punching in the code each time it went off.  After about 15 minutes it stopped and we gingerly went upstairs back to bed. However, neither of us could sleep - and we just had this feeling it would happen again................ at 3am it did, big time!  Although its an internal alarm if we had tampered with it the bell outside would have started as well, and as it was, the internal alarm is EXTREMELY loud.  I have to admit hubby stayed very calm, but I was lets say, less than calm!!!  I have decided I do not like loud noises in the dead of night, I found it stressful and it felt like we were waking up the whole village.  In the end we stayed up the entire night, hubby working at his computer and me....... writing Christmas cards! each one of us running to the code each time it went off, which I can assure you was a lot.  This morning we have had the engineer out and hopfully all will now be ok, but it has left me feeling a little out of sorts, you know.  Also once daylight came, I felt able to cope with it more, funny isn't it. So we have two very tired people in our house today and for once it isn't the teenagers!

When I went shopping I did cheer myself up with these:-

I thought I deserved them after last night.!

Today in Sussex the weather started out quite fine and sunny but by mid morning the rain was chucking it down and the wind had got up and it felt like there was hardly any daylight left but it is cheering up now.

The little Pansies on my patio table were really wind-swept but they still looked lovely and colourful in the dreary light.

Whilst at the supermarket I also bought these

They are charity cards and I thought they were rather pretty - thats more cards to write, hopefully not in the dead of night this time.

This is a card I designed myself a couple of years ago and I did get an order for some from a lady in Spain which I was dead chuffed about.

It does involve punching out rather a lot of mini christmas trees, but the over all effect is quite good I think.  The bow and star have been hand painted in. 

Please wish me a more peaceful night!!!!!  I will try to do some more crochet this evening if I can keep my eyes open.

Have a lovely day

Speak soon xx

From Halloween to Christmas!

Hope you all had a good Halloween

We enjoyed quite a quiet snuggly sort of evening. We only had about four lots of trick or treaters knock on the door and they were all quite little which  makes it a bit more fun.  We snuggled and watched a scary film and ate chocolate (even though I'm supposed to be on a diet) and it was very relaxing.  We had thought about going to a Bonfire do, but decided to stay in instead and I'm really glad we did.

Sunday was an even more snuggly sort of day - I did go swimming first thing (trying to burn off the chocolate!) but then succumbed to a lovely cooked breakfast!

But what else can you do when the weather is so windy. wet and stormy!

Anyway today is sunny and bright here in Sussex and I'm glad to say that the lovely postman bought me my parcel of goodies!!!

The long awaited pink baby wool for the cot blanket and some Christmassy type cotton and wool for some little projects I'm dreaming up.  Over the weekend I have made a couple of Christmas items which I am perfecting at the moment and will show you sometime this week, its great fun trying to design things - some that work out and some that dont!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you all have a good day!

Speak soon xx