Here Comes the Sun

Finally two consecutive sunny (and warm) days!!! We've been outside playing in the garden, so I thought I'd pop on and show you all!
Also, poor Emma is stuck in her office, so I hope it might cheer her up (and any other people stuck at work)!!

Football team endorsed bucket and spade - Daddy will be proud!

It's a shame that stones are so much more interesting than toys! I spent a few minutes trying to persuade her that she really ought to spit out the one that she was trying to chew!

These are just a couple of pictures of my flowers - the daffodils, cowslips, hyacinths and anemones have taken over from the crocuses I posted about before.

Easter Bonnet

Happy Easter!!

We've had a lovely weekend here - hunting eggs with my family and then over to my inlaws to hunt a few more! The weather has just about held and although it's not very sunny at the moment it's also not pouring with rain!

Here's my latest hat - made with the crochet cotton I spoke of last time.

Just another eight to make for other people now - oh and if I find time, one for my own daughter too!

Busy Bees

My little helper and I are the busy bees this week - so much so in fact that I haven't yet had time to make anything worthy of photographs.
 Today we've been to a local market and farm park to meet up with another naughty baby, and then we had a scrummy cream tea with the most enormous scones!! (I do feel slightly ill after eating all the jam and cream too!!). Yesterday we had lots of errands to run in town (posting parcels, going to the wool shop etc) and on Thursday we went swimming.

After my foray into hat making last week I now have orders for another three or four pink ones and a brown one (without the flower or frilly edge for a boy), only slight problem being I bought the last two balls of wool in a certain colour from my wool shop and it's now been discontiued - grrrrrrr!!! I'll have to find a different colour or a different wool. 
I've also been asked to make a hat for hotter weather using crochet cotton, so I've been experimenting with that this week too.

Now crochet cotton is funny stuff - it doesn't feel very thick and yet the instructions are to work it as you would for double knit, but also the weight is twice that of a ball of double knit the same size - very odd methinks! But... it is lovely to work and it has a slight sheen to it, so it almost glistens in the right light. I can't wait to see what a hat looks like in it!

Time now to put my helper down for a nap, and then hopefully I'll be able to make a start on one of these hats!

Cow Print and Ruffles

Ok, so here is the rest of my weekend's makes!

Cow print aprons for little ones....

... and a slightly bizarre 'ruffley' bag for shopping (my husband thought this was very funny)

My first foray into millinery!

I've had quite a busy weekend with making things. I managed to do a spot of sewing on Friday (my husband had a day's holiday to take, so he looked after my little helper for a while). I haven't quite finished it all though, so I'll blog again when I've managed to get it done!!!


I was asked on Thursday if I could crochet hats.
Errrr... well I'd never tried, so I though what the heck!  I was given a picture to try and re-create, although I ended up in my wool shop with a rather retro pattern to try and make a basic hat that I could then alter.

So...

... here is my second ever attempt at making a crocheted hat!

I'm actually quite pleased with it! I've spent a year making roses like the ones I posted about last week and never mastered working in rounds, but I have now managed to make 2 hats (and the flower on this one). I'm rather chuffed with myself!

This is hat no.1 - the first hat I've ever crocheted, but it's a funny size, so I abandoned it without any flowers or frills!

Spring has sprung!

Well, the weather is finally warming up and the sun has actually been shining this week! I was out on break duty and I didn't need a coat so it must have been warm - since October I've been wrapped up with scarf, hat and a couple of pairs of gloves, but none of that was needed this week at all!

These are the Crocus and Iris plants that I put in my tiny garden as bulbs back in the autumn. They have gone from stumpy shoots to beautiful flowers since the weekend. I always think nature is at it's most powerful during the spring, it never ceases to amaze me how something like a crocus bulb has spent so long underground (and this year under so much snow and ice too) and yet it appears unharmed and ready to do it's thing!

I got a bit carried away with my camera angles...

... and ended up with muddy knees and elbows! I don't think the ground has dried out as much as I thought it had.

Roses, Hearts and Stars!

Crochet roses (or whatever you might call them) are my ultimate favourite make! I've been experimenting with some summery ones with ribbons as Wedding corsages to wear on the wrist, I have a ball of similar wool in lilac, but I can't decide what colour ribbon to use!

  

I'm hopeless at setting up photos!

In the winter I made them as brooches from some rustic-looking wool in darker colours. These are all that I have left from last years stock - a lot of them went to relatives and work colleagues as Christmas presents.

My latest sewing got a bit fiddly, so I have put it to one side for the time being, but I was hoping to make some stars and hearts to string together. I might have to adapt my pattern to make them a bit easier!

I haven't sewn this one up yet!

This is my little 'helper'