Catching up time!

Hello all! The last few weeks have been pretty hectic for us. Sadly my blog has suffered a little bit but today I'm going to catch you up on everything that I've been up to.

First, there was Father's Day! I usually try to get my dad something but this year I decided to be different. I cooked him dinner. My first curry (his awesome recipe though). He had to work Saturday night so it was nice for him to come home to his favourite meal after a tough night. 

Sunday morning I cooked up a big breakfast of tomato, onion, scrambled eggs & bacon and then later in the day I made a Lemon cake (in the microwave) with lemon syrup drizzled over the top. It was a lovely relaxed Sunday and I think he enjoyed the rest. I've also finally got him drinking & enjoying green tea ☺ very good for you!

I made a bag a little over a week ago. I found this page on facebook and she has some awesome patterns. My favourite has been the cluster stitch bag. I saw an alternative version that someone had made. A larger version of the cluster stitch bag but using the handles from this bag. It's so easy to make. I went digging through my scrap stash, found a few nice colours and started making a bag! 

The double strands make it a lot stronger than most bags. It works up really fast & took about 2 days. I loved making it and plan on doing a few more. This one I decided to give to a lovely friend of mine. She's always helping us out and never asks for anything in return so I gave it to her as a thank you.

We've been finding it really hard to think of things to eat for dinner lately. I don't if it's the warm weather or the busy weeks but no one is overly fussed about eating. It's all about quick meals and one of the best ones is gnocchi with chicken, onion and a lovely cheese sauce. It was rather yummy! Today my dad is cooking a pork roast so I'm looking forward to a bit a crackling!

I've been doing a lot of shopping lately. I spotted these colourful plant holders. They were so cheap and the colours were so nice I just had to buy them! I don't know what I'm going to do with them. They might look great somewhere amongst my craft supplies once I sort them out! Their has also been a lot of new yarn coming into the house. I will tell you all about that next week when I take you on a tour of my yarn stash! I've got one last delivery arriving on Monday (hopefully).

Apart from the bag & the shopping, I've also been testing some colours out for a big project I hope to start before winter (once I finish my dad's massive blanket). I'm testing the colour sequence out on a scarf first, using scraps from my stash. I bought the yarn last year but when I went to catalogue it all, I realised I wasn't happy with some of my choices. My idea has changed & I'll have to buy more for that reason but I want to be sure before I do and so I decided it was best to do the tester scarf. I get a scarf out of it so it's not that bad! My dad's blanket is coming along nicely but I am way behind schedule. They are being stored in these self sealing bags temporarily. I'm also finding that my tension is all over the place with these squares. I just hope it all works out in the end! 133 done 642 to go! Oh & I'm making another scarf. It's for my fiance. It's my own pattern and so far so good. More on that soon!

Cats! The weather is confusing them! It was so hot for a while that they were sleeping on the floor or in any cool spots they could find but the last 2 weeks have had a few chilly days and so they've been seeking out the warm & cozy spots once again. Tabby & Vinnie actually slept next to each other which is extremely strange because usually they are attacking each other. Moe managed to squeeze himself into Munchkin's bed but only briefly because shortly after that he heard my OH coming down and that meant food time! He also decided that my scrap yarn stash would be the perfect place for a nap! 

Tabby, my beautiful boy! I love it when he poses for me because he's such a beautiful cat! This photo is in the collage below but I just thought it deserved to be on it's own too! As naughty as he is (and believe me he is really naughty) I still love him.

These fluffy little monsters have been a little bit spoilt this week. Lots of playtime, plenty of treats & catnip and a new toy! The new toy no longer has its feathers. Vinnie removed them within about 5 minutes! They've all been happy. We've been up at 4am everyday and they've been up with us (more for the treats than anything else). At least they get to go back to bed though!

I had to include this one! It's so funny! This is Moe and his big sister Soetie. He jumped up to see what was on the windowsill and got a slap. The photo makes you feel really sorry for him because he looks all sweet & innocent but believe me he's not. He can be really cute when he wants to but he can also be super naughty! The kittens have definitely taught us just how naughty & adventurous cats can be!

So that was a bit of catching up! It's been really busy but those were the only things really worth mentioning on the blog! I've also been doing a lot of reading. I've got plenty to share about books & things! So far I've read 33 books this year but there have been a few worth mentioning that lead me to an amazing band & a singer called Jimmy Gnecco but I think I'll save that for another time & another post.

One last thing I forgot to mention, I was teaching crochet again this week! A lady stopped in at our volunteer centre wanting to learn and after the 2 hr lesson she was able to make a granny square. She was chuffed with her square & will be back next week! It's all voluntary but still enjoyable for me!

I hope that you've all been well and I wish you all the best for the week ahead! Hope you drop by later in the week for my yarn stash tour! I'll try to make it as colourful as possible!
Thank you for reading my blog and for those that comment, thank you for taking the time! I appreciate it, even a quick glance means the world to me!

Take care!
♥

Scrappy Rainbow Ripple!

I started this back in February. Do you remember? At last! It's finished! Done! Complete! As I got near the finish line I encountered a few tiny issues. One was straightening the ripple top & bottom and the other was the border. I ran out of yarn! I honestly didn't expect that to happen seeing as how it's meant to be a ripple from 'scraps' but somehow even scrap projects always seem to result in the purchase of more yarn!

I honestly didn't know how this would turn out. I always keep stocked up on all Stylecraft Special DK yarn so I had a great selection of colours available. There were a lot of leftovers from previous projects but this was also about using colours I'd never tried before.

There were only 3 or 4 colours that I'd never used. Pale Rose, Pomegranate, Denim and Raspberry (I've used it once but never liked it). All the others are frequently in my stash. I also went for a different & maybe slightly unusual colour sequence and because of the inter-locking it worked. The border is pretty basic but it works nicely. I used a 3.5mm hook because I wanted the stitches to be tighter and my tension tends to be very loose.

Moe (who has had his eye on it since I started the ripple) didn't take long to claim it! He's very happy with his blanket. As mentioned in my previous post, he has been a little unwell and this week he's had a bit of a cold so the blanket has brought him a lot of comfort. He loves to snuggle into any/all of the crochet blankets (we have at least 8 out in various places regularly).

He wasn't overly happy about sharing it with Tabby (who has also had his eye on it)! There was a bit of a slapping match. Even though there are so many blankets in the house, a recently finished one is always the most popular. Even his brother, Vinnie, has tried the blanket out a few times!

We were so lucky to have a beautiful sunny day when I photographed the blanket. The sun added so much warmth to every photo which made me so happy. It's not a very big blanket. It's about 1.7m long and 1m wide but it's perfect for it's new home.

And here it is, in it's new home! It really adds so much colour, warmth & happiness to the lounge and to the chair that it will be covering. My rainbow granny square is on the sofa opposite it & together I know they'll bring me so much joy in winter! I've not listed all the colours I used but if anyone would like me to just let me know. ☺

Hope you've enjoyed my colourful post! I'll be posting my regular, weekly blog post tomorrow so hopefully I'll see you back here then!

Thank you for reading!
♥

*The pattern I used for my scrappy rainbow ripple can be found on the lovely Attic24 blog.

Life, always keeping us on our toes!

This little boy hasn't been very well this week. Yes, poor Moe had a (very expensive but he's worth it) trip to the vets on Tuesday. He gave us a rather nasty fright when we woke up and so our morning started with a mad panic. We were rushing around trying to sort out a cage and find out if the vet was even open (thank goodness it was). I'll spare you the gory details and just tell you that he is ok now. He's back to his usual naughty self. He has colitis (he's always had some issues) so we'll have to be careful what he eats in future otherwise it will be another expensive trip. ♥

These are a few things that made me happy this week. 

1. Blue skies! We had a few of them for a change. It was lovely and when it started to rain towards the end of the week, it was actually more relaxing than annoying. I love the smell of rain, especially after a week of warm weather.
2. The jewelry type thing on the right is an angel. I was given it last week by a lovely lady that stopped in where I volunteer. She said that all of life's heroes need an angel to watch over them. I was having a tough day & it really made me smile. ♥
3. I found some leaves in our garden in the shape of hearts. They are from our little rose bush that was grown from the stem of a shop bought rose that was given to me by my fiance a few years ago. We get about 2 or 3 roses a year from it. I'm keeping a close eye on it!
4. And lastly...I sneakily took a photo of my fiance. He was having some much needed rest. It's been a tough week (more so for my dad who worked two 14hr shifts with only 5hrs of sleep in between) but we've struggled through & there have been many happy moments to help. Our weeks are busy and sometimes it feels like our weekends are even busier. We're trying to find the balance but it's an uphill battle.

Drops Extra Fine Merino

Say hello to my new yarn stash! I couldn't resist. My order even arrived with a free gift from the lovely people at Wool Warehouse. I've been buying yarn from them for nearly a year now & they've never let me down. I honestly can't recommend them enough! I've had a lovely stash of DROPS Paris for a few years (bought when the label was black) but never used it because at the time it wasn't easy to purchase in the UK so I was waiting for the right project. I love DROPS yarn. They have a lovely range of yarns and at a decent price so I was overjoyed when I realised that my favourite shop (Wool Warehouse) were selling it. I've had my eye on the DROPS Extra Fine Merino for a long time so when it went on sale I knew I was going to purchase some as soon as I'd saved up enough money. I ordered one of every colour late Wednesday night, order arrived Friday afternoon, checked to see how they go together & then quickly ordered a second lot (with a few extras that I'll photograph next week) which arrived Saturday morning! See how fast they are? It's all going to be used to make a warm, snugly winter blanket.

(The blur on the left is Moe about to burrow into the blanket while I'm trying to photograph it)

The rainbow scrappy ripple is finally done! It would've been finished on Thursday if I hadn't run out of yarn halfway through the border. Thank goodness Wool Warehouse are so reliable otherwise I'd still be sitting here with an unfinished ripple! The colour I needed arrived with my DROPS order on Saturday morning. Isn't it funny how we almost always end up buying new yarn when making something from leftover scraps? 

I had planned on doing a separate post for the ripple earlier in the week but hit a few road blocks along the way (straightening a ripple is not easy & running out of yarn is not helpful either) so now it's going to have to be sometime this week. Maybe Monday?

Have you seen the neck warmer pattern over at Attic24? I've been itching to try it! Sunday was a lovely relaxed day so I sat down and gave it a go. It really is an easy pattern and keeps you lovely and warm but I think I'll put it away till winter. I'm planning to make another one with chunky yarn, using a different pattern I found. It can also be used as a hood. I will provide a link to the pattern when I post about it.

Friday was the best day of this week. I baked, relaxed, read a bit, had a cappuccino & started a new project. I am totally in love with this pattern at the moment! It's very popular right now & has been tempting me for a while. I found some King Cole Riot yarn in my stash and decided that this would be the perfect project for it!

At first it seemed really hard & I've never made anything like this before so a bit scary but once I got going it was easy! If I can do it, anyone can! I think I'll be spending my week working on this. Not sure how I'm going to block it but I'll figure that out when I get to that stage!

The birds are still very busy in our garden! Currently we have crows, the occasional ring-necked dove & a magpie visiting us. There are a few little birds as well but I can't remember what they're called. They've been enjoying bits of bread & seeded crackers. Can you see how close they are? I got some great photos this week. They sit right on the shed roof which is outside the kitchen window. The magpie likes to taunt me. He/she will sit on the shed roof and just stare so I'll grab my camera and as I go to take a photo, it flies off! If it had happened once I'd think it just got scared by movement but this happens regularly! Cheeky bird!

Moe & Vinnie....members of Bird Watchers Anonymous! Moe spends most of the day talking to them and Vinnie just watches. Can you see the photo of Vinnie scowling? I'm not sure why he was in such a bad mood! It couldn't possible be because of my camera ;) 

I'm not to sure why Moe's tongue is out....maybe he was thinking about having bird for dinner?

And because they all need their 5 minutes of fame...here is a collage of all of them & what they've been up to this week! The only one I didn't get a photo of this week was Bella so I'll have to make up for it next time.

So, this has been a very long blog post but thank you for reading (or just looking at the photos). I hope you've had a lovely week and I wish you all the best for the week ahead. Please stop by again in the week to see my Scrappy Rainbow Ripple post!

Take care

♥

Staying motivated!

Ok, let's start with the important question! What do you think of my new banner? I'm still umming and aaaaing over it...I just felt like a change!

I know the above photo is an old one but it reflects how I felt this week! Don't you hate it when you just don't have the energy in the week to get everything done? I've been up at 4am every morning (because my dad's been on the early shift) and am still behind with all my projects! I'm too embarrassed to list all my current incomplete projects! (The list is unbelievably long). My reason for being behind is a mixture of lacking motivation & being unwell. (And possibly a slightly bad habit of continuously starting new projects)

I did sort of conquer circles this week. I threw caution to the wind and just dived into making my rainbow rug. I don't want to show you too much of it just yet but here are a few sneaky photos. I'm planning on it being finished by next week and am hoping I will have enough Hoooked Zpagetti left for another one.

We now have not one, but two cat beds in our house! I started one on Sunday but this time it's actually all my own pattern & I wrote it down as I went along (I've not forgotten about the heart, honest! I'm still trying to figure that one out). This bed was mainly made for Socks (it's extra large) but everyone has tried it out including Mr Vinnie (as seen above). I plan on making at least two more, still using my leftover stash!

We had one or two sunny days this week. Tuesday was probably the warmest and so the older cats went out for a wander. I followed shortly after with my camera. It was the last of the lovely weather. We had planned to go for another picnic on Wednesday but it was far too wet & windy and I was unwell!

So from Wednesday our week went downhill. My poor dad was exhausted from the early starts and my fiance had more aches & pains than usual (I blame the weather). I ended up spending more time resting & reading and being taken care of by my wonderful fiance than I did crocheting & walking. The only good thing about my dad being on the early shift is that he insists on making dinner every night because he's home. Can't really complain about that! I ♥ his cooking! He made chilli con carne on Sunday & it was super yummy! All of the meals this week have been super yummy!

Speaking of cooking...he made brunch for all of us on Saturday morning. It was delicious! I had an omelette and a slice of toast with bacon, tomato and onion. Yum! The men had the usual big breakfast of eggs, bacon, tomato, onion and toast. I then treated us all to a 5 minute chocolate cake in a mug (my own recipe). It was surprisingly good for a microwaved pudding! Oh & can you see that there are 3 yolks in the photo of the eggs? We had one with a double yolk! First time for us ☺

The scrappy rainbow ripple is nearing the finish line. I feel like I say that every week but honest, it is! Sewing in all those ends seems to be taking forever! I had an assistant last night. Munchkin was after cuddles. It's not easy balancing a cat in your arms while trying to sew in ends but I managed!

And yes, we can't forget the cats! They've had a busy week of playing and sleeping. Munchkin enjoyed the sunshine on Sunday! She actually poked her head out from her little cat nest (she hardly ever leaves it) for a few hours to feel the warmth.

Tabby moaned (he's old) a lot & slept. Sometimes he likes to play but not nearly as much as the naughty kittens. He does join in with them occasionally but most of the time he's just grouchy uncle Tabby! He just wants to be outside 24/7 but only so he can beat up the neighbourhood cats! He's still my little baby though ♥

 Soetie (sadly I've not got any photos of her this week because she's always hiding) mostly slept and watched the water running in the bathroom, Socks (seen in the cat bed photos) enjoyed her new bed & slept & played....Bella slept & slept some more and had the occasional crazy half hour & occasional loving moment with her kids. Moe enjoyed watching a few home videos from when he was a kitten (he actually sat & watched them with us) and was his usual naughty but extremely cute self! He's the one on the yellow,red & orange granny stripe. He's the toddler of the family. ☺

Vinnie assisted with breakfast (we caught him licking the eggs). He also did a lot of whining and playing. Not that much sleeping. He's Mr Mischief! Full of nonsense & constantly after treats. At night, when we are all in bed and the lights are off, he sits on the banister rail and yells until someone gives him attention! He's also far too clever!

What a life hey? Eat, sleep & play...Lucky little spoilt monsters ♥

I hope this post doesn't come off as rushed. I've got a busy weekend & week ahead so I've had to try and get this done in less time than usual but I'll make it up to you. I might (depending on how the week goes) post more than once this coming week. We shall see! I'm not going to post any goals either ☺ I'll just let this week play out! I hope that you've all had a more productive week than me and I wish you all the best for the week ahead! Hope to see you back here soon!
♥

Sunshine & Rainbows!

Ok, so I think I achieved most of my goals this week...most! The thing is, I sort of forgot about a few other tasks that had to be done.  Sadly the rainbow ripple is still sitting on the unfinished pile. I don't know why I keep putting it to the side but hopefully this week it will be done! The rainbow runner is coming along nicely but it will definitely need blocking! As for the granny CAL, I've not given up on it but I've not had the time to catch up. Once I do then I will! Ok, so.......

I did manage to fit in some cappuccino time in between all my various tasks. Healthy cappuccinos of course! No sugar and lactofree milk but still yummy! We are still eating very healthy here in our happy home. Lots of fruit & salads. We tried something different this week. Pita bread stuffed with chicken and salad. Yum!

I just wanted to include this picture on my blog. It's an example of how I plan nearly all my crochet projects. I usually use Paint or Excel to plan them out and play with colours. I then go and play with my jar of swatches to see what works. I love playing with colours. My thing at the moment is rainbows. I'm playing with different colour orders.

Circles, circles, circles! They have been driving me crazy all week! I still can't get my circle to stay flat. I tried a slightly bigger hook and it was a small improvement but I might have to go one more size up. I honestly thought my tension was too lose but according to my little crochet bible it's because my tension is too tight...that can't be right can it? The one in the photo above is having other issues. It's ruffling. I have the right number of stitches but it's just not working out. I've also come across a new issue...octagons! The bigger the circle gets, the more octagon shaped it becomes. I won't give up! I will conquer circles!!!

Especially because I purchased all this beautiful  Hoooked Zpagetti yarn this week! Isn't it lovely? It did make a very large dent in my piggy bank but hopefully it will all be worth it. I can't wait to get started on my  rainbow rug! I'm super duper excited about it! Can you sense a rainbow theme going on? Oh & yes, I know! I went and bought more yarn and I've still not sorted out my stash! It's just growing everyday! I can't help it...I'm a yarnaholic! 

I didn't get round to showing you my lovely new pens, notebook and shopping list pad that I bought last week. The shopping list pad has a magnet on the back & can actually stay on the fridge. It's awesome! The pen is part of a set of 3 & has a lovely pattern all over it and the notebook is just gorgeous. It was the birds and flowers on the front that caught my eye. I also bought a friendship bracelet maker. I used to love making these but always used a safety pin to keep everything in place. These days they have these cool 'makers' that do it for you! I can't wait to try it out!

The waistcoat is done. I know it wasn't one of my goals of the week but that's only because I had forgotten about it. This was for a friend's granddaughter. It's the same pattern I used before, Sirdar Lacy Cardigans & Hat.......but this time I used the yarn that she gave me in the colour they wanted/needed it in. She was happy with it and I was happy that it was done and out of the way. It took me a few hours to make but I spread it out over a few days. The second time was much easier than the first but I don't plan on making another.

More cat beds were on the agenda this week! I saw this pattern mentioned on my favourite facebook page (The Creative Crochet Crew) and had to make one. I made a lot of adjustments to it but got the general idea from there. It has been claimed many times over the past few days so I can tell that I'll be spending next week making a few more. Good thing I had all that yarn leftover! I made it for Bella (she's the one in the pic) because she is so tiny and needs a little warm place but her daughter (who is much larger) keeps stealing it from her. Like I said, it's constantly being claimed by a different cat.

I baked! At last! I finally managed to squeeze in some baking. I made nutty muffins with a surprise chocolate centre. They were yum & the perfect Saturday afternoon treat! My father and fiance were greeted with a cup of a tea & a muffin when they returned from doing the shopping. Big smiles all around. I ♥ these two special men so much. I am so lucky to have them in my life. We'll enjoy the last few muffins tomorrow while watching the Motogp! ☺

Yay for sunny weather! We had a few lovely warm days this week. Look at that beautiful blue sky!

Yay for flowers, leaves and lots of colours! Total awesomeness!

My fiance and I decided to go for a picnic down by the river. We spent half an hour walking and enjoying the scenery. It was so nice to be able to leave the house without our winter coats!

We then walked back to the little park/playground to have our picnic. We were there for well over an hour. We spent most of it laughing and talking and just enjoying each other's company. It was a lovely day. ♥

And of course we can't forget the cats. They've been busy misbehaving, relaxing, playing and just being way too cute and entertaining. The kittens will be 2 years old next week! I can't believe we've had them in our lives for that long. They have brought so much life into our home ♥

Ok, so once again, that was my week! It's been busy and I did get a lot done but not all of my goals unfortunately. I did read though! I finished 2 books this week. Neither were worth mentioning but I'm hoping my current one will be. 

My goals for the week ahead:

• Complete the rainbow ripple!
• Sort my yarn stash!
• Conquer circles!
• Read two books!

Let's see if I can get all those done!

It's a bank holiday here on Monday but my poor dad has to work. I'll be getting up at 4am everyday to get his breakfast made & his lunch ready. Hopefully this means that I'll fit lots into my days! 

I hope you've all had an enjoyable week and I wish you all the best for the week ahead. See you next Sunday! x