It's Hooky Time!

The time has come to start the wonderful granny stripe blanket inspired by the wonderful Lucy at Attic 24.

 The plasterer is booked so project lounge is not far away at all now and we are so very very excited.  It's a bit of a mess at the moment, for some reason the previous owners thought pink and lilac was a beautiful colour scheme (including a lilac ceiling) so when Tom moved in it was a quick slap of magnolia over the top.  There are holes in the walls and bits of skirting board missing so to finally make it nice is someone we are both incredibly excited about.

Tom is taking charge with the stereotypical "man" projects and I am in charge of paint and soft furnishings.  I got a huge quantity of yarn in the Knit Nottingham sale to go with some lovely turquoise I won last summer and I am now ready to hook away.

I started lastnight and today couldn't resist a little hooky time in the garden, blankets looking lovely already don't you think.

Elise...done!

I am so happy with how my Elise shawl has turned out, it was admittedly a pain in the proverbial because I used such a small hook but it really is gorgeous.

It will look fabulous with the dress I have made it to go with.

I am now working on a larger crochet project which I have mentioned before. We have been planning on getting the lounge re-plastered, floored etc etc for some time now and finally the time has come. It's currently in a bit of a sorry state so this is very exciting news. I am therefore making time to get the first accessory done for its completion.

Sweet cous-cous

As some of you may be aware I am attempting to lose weight at the moment.  I am going to slimming world and getting on quite well, apart from the last week after a trip to my parents.  Anyway, I was sat here earlier with no sins left and not a lot in my cupboard.  I racked my brains and looked online and realised I could cook cous-cous in milk.  Cous-cous being free and the milk being the remainder of my daily allowance.

Next step was look for something to flavour the cous-cous with.  I decided to boil the milk in a pan with some rose water, sweetener, mixed spice, a cardamom pod and some orange zest.  Once it was hot I poured in the cous-cous and let it thicken.

I didn't know what to expect but it was delicious which is why I am sharing this little story.

My beautiful birthday present.

Tom's parents have come to visit for a few days and with them they have brought my birthday present. It's amazing! It's an old printers tray and it has been adjusted to hang on the wall.

It was filled with beautiful items, too many to list and photograph individually but a few of my faves are an antique crochet hook holder with hooks in (its the long wooden tube), a lace tatting tool that belonged to Sue's Grandmother (the bone or ivory eye shaped piece), a tiny little pen knife which is in with the lace tatting tool, a baby picture of Tom and an array or beautifully coloured cotton.

I have added a few little bits and pieces including a pocket watch, two thimbles to go with the two already there and a few brooches.

It really is absolutely wonderful and looks perfect hanging to the side of my craft desk.

A little Lucy Cat

A while ago I was asked to knit a little Lucy Cat for Tom's Mum.  I searched for a pattern as the one I knitted before was very simple.

I found this lovely pattern and got fab silver, grey and white yarn and got knitting.

As she could be handed over in person rather than in the post I put her in a paper box with holes in to make it appear as though I had returned home from work with a stray cat.  Sue loved it! 

Elise

A while back I read this lovely little post about the Elise Shawl which I fell in love with.  How pretty is it!

As I am going on a posh cruise in the summer with Tom and my family I decided I needed something special to cover my shoulders when wearing my bargain £20 charity shop ball gown originally from Monsoon.  I looked at other shawl patterns but kept getting drawn back to this one so the next choice was yarn and colour.

I wanted an elegant and special yarn to match the occasion and decided to treat myself to a ball of  Regia Lace in the purples colour way.

I am using a smaller hook than suggested and it is creating a lovely tight pattern and the changing colours are very evident.  I didn't realise just how beautiful it would turn out to be, the yarn has a lovely sheen to it and the colours are just so rich, well worth the few bob I paid for it.

It is however taking me quite some time to make, Eleanor cast on one evening at knitting group with a large hook and double knit cotton soft, she was done the next day!  She is a speed demon anyway but this made me incredibly jealous and I have to admit I didn't look at mine for a week.

I am far from finished but I wanted to share my progress and show you all the lovely flower patterns forming in the shawl.  There are simple five petal flowers blooming but there are also what look like Fuschias forming aswell and I think this is because of the tightness of the pattern.

I am also working on a large number of other things but I just had to talk about this as I think it is one of my faves at the moment.

Bobble beard baby beanie (try saying that quickly)

How cute and utterly ridiculous is this!  I was sent the pattern by my sister and instantly thought of my pregnant friend and her beardy husband, who wouldn't want a beardy baby to add to the collection, it's brill!

The pattern can be found here on this lovely blog.  I made a different beanie to the pattern but loved making the beard, so simple and easy!

I do hope it fits Baby P-W when she gets here.

I only had my hands to model it on...or a cat!