Finishing off and mending day

Do you ever have one of those days when all you seem to be doing is finishing off, stitching up and mending. All those fiddly annoying jobs you've been putting off.  Well I've bit the bullet today and did just that.  Seven buttons stitched on, one item of clothing repaired, one Duke of Edinburgh badge stitched to a uniform, and two projects finished off.

The first thing I finished off was my Owl wrist warmers from Mollie Makes, four button for eyes and loose ends stitched up.

They are lovely and warm and considering the temperature outside is only 2 degrees I may not want to take them off.

Another achievement for me this week is to almost master "magic loop" knitting.  After studying many videos on the computer I was still baffled but persevered and with the help of this tutorial Magical Magic Loop I cracked it.

What a tangled mess with my Knit Pro needle, cable needle and stitch markers

After several attempts, with frustrated frogging I did it

Bella's mitten (No 1) in progress

And Ta dah one completed mitten

You'd think after completing one the second would be a breeze, but no!  I kept twisting my first row which results in a tangled mess and me getting more and more perplexed, however after again several attempts I am now on my way to completing mitten number two Bella's mittens

And finally after miscalculating my stitches in completing Sock Monkey hat I inadvertently created an adult version.  Rather than yet another unravelling session I carried on and now have a new hat.  I don't think I'll be wearing it out but I'm sure it will get snapped up by a friend or relation.  In this cold snap of weather I may be getting plenty of requests for more hats!

I'm signing off as my magic loop knitting is calling me and I am seriously addicted.  As I've been a good girl and completed all little jobs today I feel I have earned the right to carry on with my happy knitting xx

Marth Vader

Just quickly I managed to get a photo of my Marth Vader hat made for my niece aged 6 months old.  She wishes to remain anonymous but is happy to show you her hat !

The force is strong with this one.

I'm dashing off as my challenge tonight is to master Magic Loop knitting.  I've never tried it before and it is confusing but I will not be beaten.  I'm trying to create these bellas-mittens as one of my next projects for Ravelry group 12-months-of-christmas-2013 where I have committed myself to create a gift a month.  This is actually my third project since I started just over a week ago so not bad going so far.

Wonderful weekend Part two

Before the Monday morning blues get a grip of me I like to get out every Sunday for a walk along the wonderful Wirral Coastline. I am lucky to live on this peninsula as we have coast on three sides with some fantastic beaches and coastline.  City life is just a train ride away to Liverpool or in the opposite direction a bit further to Chester and like I said in my previous post North Wales is just a short car trip away.

Today again the weather was fabulous, bright and sunny so we headed of to the North Wirral coastal park aka The Gunsite for a short 2 mile round trip along the beach then back along the sand dunes.

On the beach there are always swathes of empty razor clam shells washed in by the tide, which crunch under foot

Crunch crunch crunch.

Now that's too nice - another one to add to my shell collection.

All refreshed and back home for dinner - a Moroccan inspired lamb dish using my new super heavy cast iron casserole dish.  These French domestic goddesses must have marvellous biceps with all the weight lifting they do whilst preparing their meals.  I love this cartoon showing what I will be capable of doing if I keep using these pans ha ha !

punch.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Larry-Cartoons/G0000nxbjWWMhV64/I0000AKZ1rBRVpiI

What I will do even though I did not keep up my blog last year is to trawl through my camera memory card and post some photos as a review of what I've been doing even if I didn't share it at the time.  Most of my knitting and crochet is already catalogued on my Ravelry page jamecks I've got some good photos and they sit there being neglected on my camera memory stick. One of my other New Year resolutions was to properly organise and catalogue my photos.  I love my battered old Sony DSC H9 camera, its battered because it goes everywhere with me but I had a bit of a scare where I thought I'd lost it. I was so upset about the missing memory card, hence my reason to be more organised!

Right prepare for Monday some quick mending and alterations of clothing to be done, school uniform to prepare and lunches to pack.  I will not let Mondayitis spoil what is left of my weekend Bye for now x

A wonderful weekend

I've had a lovely weekend the weather here has been mild and sunny and there is no way I was going to stay in.  I believe we're in for a cold snap next week so enjoy the good weather as much as you can, is my motto.  I cannot stay indoors cooped up all day. I have to have a daily dose of fresh air (whatever the weather) after that I happily settle down.  Whilst I am out and about I'm constantly on the look out for interesting things to share on my blog, like I said I will endeavour to keep up to date with my blog.

So what have I done since my last post well truly inspired by Lucy at http://attic24.typepad.com/ I went out and got me some flowers as last Thursday here it was dull and raining and I felt I needed some colourful flora to liven me up.  I had seen this French Style planter in my local market so I knew where I was going to head as part of my errands for today




I know the lovely scented hyacinths are in full bloom and in fact are past their best, but they make my kitchen smell nice and they make me happy.  I plan to plant some Tete a tete miniature daffodils when the hyacinths have finished.

Friday back to work for just one day, my normal working week starts again next Monday.  I work full time so I will have to establish a blog routine within my normal routine.

Saturday a gloriously fine weather day!  After all hands on deck to pack away Christmas we then piled into the car and headed off to Wales for the day.  I am fortunate to live close enough to North Wales so I can nip in to take in the fantastic scenery.  You will see this is a regular occurrence, this week Llangollen canal path was our destination and here are some photos (see I'm getting the hang of this now )

An arty shot of a house right on the canal overlooking Llangollen, what a fab place to live!

I love the interesting shapes in this tree root, I can't imagine how much longer it will stay upright

Can you see the Troll face in the middle?

Llangollen Castle City Bran

I love love love the classic canal art

This boat was named Jamming - reggae inspired

After seeing the fantastic canal boats all personalised by their owners we all got to talking about how we would decorate ours if we had such a luxury.  Himself loves vintage cars so that would be walnut and leather and possible clasic Racing Green, H a techno geek would have solar panels and LED strip lights and all gadgets he would require, F would like a Formula 1 motor racing theme.  Myself would be shabby chic, gingham clashing with polka dots, Cath Kidston vintage styling.  Oh if only !!

One thing I forgot to mention is when we go out on our jolly weekend jaunts himself will drive the car.  I can drive its just that its his baby and he prefers to drive himself.  I am happy to be a passenger and gaze out of the window that's if I'm not knitting or crocheting.  Yes yesterday I was crocheting an owl hat http://www.repeatcrafterme.com/2012/09/crochet-owl-hat-pattern-in-newborn.html at 70 miles an hour, now that is fast !! 

And the rain came back !!

Well I get a day off work with my family. We could have a nice day out rambling somewhere scenic; but it rained and it rained and it rained !
Himself is getting over a bout of man flu but is actually looking forward to getting back to work to re-establish his normal routine, he's a right barrel of laughs!  We all feel the same at this time of year, too much excess over the festive season and too little exercise, isn't that why people make New Year resolutions. His answer to the rain is to park on the couch and watch trashy day time TV zzzzzzzzzzz.  I don't think he likes being home with the family and I'm still waiting for him to answer that very question - hmm !
Anyway, umbrella out and I trot up to my local village for some provisions for today's meal, a Thai style pork fillet dish.  I won't eat it as I don't like meat but I love cooking.  On my return to the kitchen I prepared a Thai marinade and left the pork to rest in it. I then made a rice pudding which I have never ever made before (apart from opening a tin).  I have fond memories of my mum making rice pudding and my siblings fighting over who could have the share of the crispy coating off the top.  Yuk I never liked the skin off the top and was happy to leave the squabbling to the rest of the family.   I recall one time when Mum forgot to put sugar in and another time when she forgot to put the rice in.  With this in mind I followed the recipe www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/rice_pudding_85172 to the letter and it turned out very well. Proper comfort food for a dull miserable day

As the oven was already on I also made some Banana & chocolate chip muffins.

And still the rain came down and still he lay on the couch.  After dinner was completed and all the chores done I settled down to watch my hero Batman in the Dark Knight Rises www.thedarkknightrises.com/dvd/  wowww!  Rainy days aren't that bad after all .

Well having spent New Year' eve in with Messrs Beechams and Kleenex, oh and Mr Covonia dropped round for a beverage I decided to get out in the fresh air today.  So off to  Thurstaston Country Park we went www.visitwirral.com/attractions-and-activities/wirral-country-park-p7711 and boy was it bracing, there was rolling surf a super strong wind and hundreds of people with the same idea.  There were group after group of ramblers and families all seeing their New Year start with a very fresh walk.

I even managed to use my camera on my new phone, this technology is fantastic.Firstly I had to get it out of it's new case, yes I yarn bombed my phone within hours of receiving for Christmas from himself.  I had small granny squares made from some leftover sock yarn so I stitched them up and ta dah !

Then I got snapping, they're a bit rough as it was blowing a gale and I'm still learning how to use the thing !

And off we go against the wind !

Lovely blue skies after all the horrible rain

After my lovely walk we're all back in the warm with a Vegetable Mulligatawny soup on the hob (made from fresh myself I might add).  I'm off to devour it then back to my crafty corner for the evening with a good movie I think :)

Well reflecting on 2012 I didn't do very well with my blog did I.  Note to self  "Must try harder".  Well I'm still crafting and still doing my Yoga (now that is an achievement for me !)
I had to be creative for Christmas as I was asked to make a Darth Vader helmet for my 6 month old niece, Martha, now affectionately referred to as Marth Vader.  I will post pictures when I get a nice one.
My knitting is getting known around friends and colleagues and orders are starting to come my way, I could have a thriving business if I knuckle down to it.  This may be a good thing as my job is under threat of redundancy, but hey ho every cloud has a silver lining.



It may be the opportunity for me to change my life to something I dream to do, something in the arts and crafts.

New Year resolutions are being made, the first one is to use up my wool stash, and how am I going to do this? By joining this group on Ravelry  www.ravelry.com/groups/12-months-of-christmas-2013, I vow to create at least one gift a month to give to my friends and family next Christmas.  I'm halfway through my first Owl wrist warmer, a brilliant easy pattern from December's issue of Mollie Makes



I love love love this magazine it is truly inspirational, it also has a fantastic website www.molliemakes.com if you love crafts you will not be disappointed.

I have no excuse not to maintain my blog as I now have a proper phone which will make it easier for me to update and add photos etc.  Another resolution get blogging !

I'm off now to rest my achy fluey body, curl up on the couch with my ginger tea and my knitting.  A quiet but happy new year I hope.

Happy New Year to you all xx