Easter loveliness

I've very much enjoyed reading lots of lovely Easter posts and I had a great time myself.  We joined in with the younger families and visited Docker Park Farm (one of our childhood favourites).  Lots of lovely animals to feed and things to play on!

 

 

 

 

There have been loads of lovely walks in glorious sunshine with the snow still on the hills .....

 

 

 

 

I've been trying some new recipes ...  my first attempt at lemon madelines

 

 ... orange and coconut cake (the lovely little teapot for one was a treat from Docker Park Farm)

 

 chocolate and coconut cupcakes

 

I've been doing quite a lot of crafting, but no ta dah this week.  I've finished the sleeve and almost the back of the fair isle jumper

 

 

 

 ... and inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee (yes I enjoyed it though I don't believe these are the best sewers in Britain!) I've been doing the first clothes sewing I've done since I was at school and I'm trying to make some trousers.

 

An excellent visit to yet another antique fair produced a good haul!

 

 

An art deco coffee table, three lovely glasses, 2 lovely children's books, an art deco scottie brooch and a string of pearls - all bargains!

 

 

I had a bit of the lurgy last week (hence no post) - but now I feel back on form and I have another 6 days of holiday to go!  Yeah!   So hopefully lots more fun this week.  Hope you are enjoying life at teh moment.





Fair Isle Fun!

Well I'm pretty pleased with myself this week.  I mentioned ages ago, having knitted some fair-isle handwarmers

that I would like to try and knit a fair-isle sweater and I found a pattern (and of course she looks just how I will look in it!)

 

I have been stashing some wool and building up to getting going (particularly as I wanted to change some of the colours) for some time.  So on Saturday I finally got going and this is my first sleeve.  I love it so far, just hoping and hoping that it will end up fitting, because it is pretty hard work!  This was 4 days progress and that makes it a couple of inches a day!  So don't hold your breath waiting for the reveal which may take 2 months!  As you can see I have changed virtually every colour.

I haven't quite captured the colours effectively but I will get some better photos later.  I picked up Debbie Bliss' Spring/Summer magazine and have already picked my next 2 knits

Both with a vintage feel - I think I'll knit the short-sleeved one without the stripes.


I love the way you get inspiration, recommendations and ideas from others' blogs.  On the recommendation of Jules whose blog I love I ordered this book

 

 

It's great!  and if you are a budding crochteter like me who doesn't know many stitches or block ideas it's a must.  I am particularly taken with the crocodile block - hopefully I'll make a start soon.  It's so frustrating to have so many projects I want to do but so little time!

It's been very cold here but we are still avoiding the snow and lots of pleasant dog ~(and cat) walking

Meg (the cat) still queues up to come and one day last week both cats came!  Very strange and what a sight we must look.

Only 2 days to go before the long weekend, can't wait.  Until then ......

These socks aren't made for walking!

I have two socks!!!  So challenge completed.  As you can see they are baggy (the left more so than the right, interesting!) and they are clearly socks for sitting in rather than anything remotely more useful.  As I have said before I really hate reknitting anything so I won't be taking them back, I will just enjoy wearing them when I'm in settee mode as they are warm and cheerful.  Will there be any more socks?  I'm not sure at this point, perhaps if I find the right pattern and I will definitely take Jilly's advice and try 4 ply next time.  The wool (Debbie Bliss Rialto DK) was nice to knit with - the stripes were very regular which did make changing balls a little difficult and I threw quite a bit of wool away.  I think it would be lovely easy scarf wool and there are some really lovely colour combinations. 

I rarely make the free gifts which come with many craft magazines (in fact I have a large pile which I intend to give to someone to make up for charity) but I did have a go at a wooden key ring free with Cross-stitcher magazine.  I have been curious about unusual surfaces that people have used for embroidery and cross-stitch (and I have even ordered some paper for a future project) so I was attracted to trying on wood and it was certainly interesting.  Not easy ... a bit hard on the hands and not as restful as fabric.  I hit 2 major hurdles 1) ran out of thread, so you can't see the finished product.

2) Life seems too short to me to worry about the back of things and I tend to meander around trying to save having to end and start stitching, so the back of this currently looks like this....

Whoops!  Still I have a cunning plan and will simply stick a bit of felt (or even some crotchet) over the back to cover. 

Not my most successful of crafting weeks really!  Never mind.

I had a lovely Saturday visiting Kendal Antiques Fair and Kirkby Lonsdale Vintage Fair.  Some great stalls.

... and even better cakes ...

I manage to find a few bargains.

A vintage vase (£4), scarf(£7), Cup (£2 for two), the couple of Kath Kidson teatowels came from a shop and not vintage!  And my favourite buys - 3 vintage broaches.  I love how you can pick these old broaches up so cheaply - the bar broach was the dearest at £10 but I think it is genuine Deco.  I've been enjoying wearing these (not at once) this week, a bit of bling on my rather sombre black jackets.

 

 

On Sunday the snow came again (but went as quickly) ... and I think many of us are in for some more tomorrow, so hope you can keep warm and snuggled up.  Till next time.

 

A yum, yum weekend

There was much to enjoy this weekend.  Gemma and Dan came home and we had a little trip on Saturday to Ulverston, which is a lovely town with some really unusual shops.  Lovely wool shop (Loop), fabric shop etc.

... and a particularly nice vegetarian, organic tea shop

.... and delicious food.

My favourite purchase was a new (old) chair which had already been uncycled and for £48 why do it yourself.  It matches my duckegg blue bedroom exactly.

I have been busy with my cross-stitch which seems to be taking for ever, but I've also been knitting .... can you guess what it is ....

.... is it a scarf, a long hat for the dogs ...  maybe this will give you a clue ...

 no it's a sock! 

Now I have to admit to being a bit sceptical about knitting socks.  Socks are so cheap to buy and I wasn't sure about how you get them to fit, and then would they fit in your shoes, but one of my resolutions this year was to have a try.  Actually it seems I was right as you can see the sock has turned out very baggy...

Now I know lots of you would just take it back and reknit it, but I hate redoing things so I will just wear the socks round the house and hope they don't drop off!  Hopefully a second sock will follow over the next week.  (The wool is the Debbie Bliss Rialto I included in my last post).

I hope you had as lovely mothers' day as I did.  First there was some sunshine (and an opportunity to wear my new cardie!)

Dan and I went to Samlesbury Hall near Preston, a 14th century building, very beautiful.

... Dan had his lessons

... and of course there was a bit of something to eat!

So a good weekend alround.  I achieved my goal to try a new recipe a month with a beetroot, pine nut and goats cheese tart

Followed by watching Argo which we really enjoyed.  Great tension so an 8/10!  And there seem to be lovely spring bulbs and flowers everywhere.

 

 

Have a lovely week and sorry if my blogs seem to be getting longer .... it's all the fun we are having!