Quick crafting

I was quite glad to have a quiet weekend after another eventful week at work - although it was the first weekend back on my own after Dan and Gemma have returned to Uni and it does seem lonely!  As you know I had planned to make a Paris pinnie this weekend... but the best laid plans ... Having cut everything out, I sat down to make a start at 4.00 p.m. on Saturday to find I didn't have any blue thread and the dogs had chewed the white spool!  So the pinnie was out of the question  I had a yearn for a make which was quick to finish so I turned to knitting instead. 

You may remember I knitted a  Isis & Giotto shawl a couple of months ago,

and when I recently visited the  White Rabbit wool shop  in Arnside, I thought I would treat myself to some wool to knit another one.  As I knew it didn't use much of the ribbon yarn I decided to get a couple of colours which would go with the ribbon yarn to knit two.

 ... and here they are.  This one reminds me of the seaside with sand and sea

... and this one has a touch of purple.

As I can't get Dan to take the photos they are now being modelled by my new dressmaking dummy - so no more saggy neck photos for a while!  They were such a pleasure to knit and no worrying about whether they will fit you.   Now a girl only needs so many shawls and I certainly don't need 3, so I am planning to use the second one as part of a give-a-way on my fiftieth blog (just 2  to go).  So if you fancy it make sure you don't miss that one.

Even though I have now completed a full crochet blanket I still need to learn a lot about good tension and neat edges, so I bought the first episode of Learn to Crochet (yes, I know they become a rip-off but the first issue is always a bargain) and used their DVD and basics to practice a square which worked reasonably well. and the tension looks much better  There is a nice pattern for a scarf which would be good for males as well as females.  I'm definitely buying the second one too as there is are instructions for a rag rug and a bag which I would like to try.

The rain made me feel like a bit of baking and so I tried a recipe for gingerbread from the lovely Sweet mag mentioned last week.  Don't know whether I got the ingredients wrong, or whether its just my taste, but there definitely seems to be too much treacle for me.  Nice, sticky texture though.  In case you are thinking I'm going to eat all this myself I will be taking most of it to a friends and to work.  (Sorry about the dark photo - best I could manage!)

And that was pretty much the weekend filled and now it's back to work   Thanks so much for any comments it's lovely to feel there is a community to be part of - still if you are reading blogs you'll already know that!  Have a great week