Seeing out the old year......

This will be the last blog post of the year.

In some ways its not been a good year & I cant wait for the new one to start.Maybe with it will bring an answer to my back injury .

The Christmas period was a bit of a washout in some ways.I was ill throughout & have had about 3 weeks of some sort of flu virus.It absolutely floored me on Christmas day & left me in bed.Mr T to the rescue,he was going to cook anyway,but he ended up doing all of it.Bless him ,he is such a great man.Shame family were cancelled at the last moment & lucky for them they had food in their own cupboards.

Having been crook ,I didn't get to post any of the projects I completed.I will share these in the New Year .I have crafted my fingers off & knitted & knitted!

For now you will have to be happy with a picture of the loveliest Christmas cake in the world!(or at least mine!!)Its from Ruth over on The Pink Whisk & is a recipe she got from the Bourke Street Bakery cook book.Santa reckoned I was a good girl & I now have a copy of this in my collection.I cant wait to bake something else from it.

Have a great New Years Eve.We have a dear friend coming over to stay the night.We are childless this year as they are doing their own thing.

Have a lovely one & I leave you with a picture of my cake...Mmmmm

Door Wreath

I love having a new door wreath.

I had a lovely one last year but this year somehow it just wasnt going to cut the mustard!

I wanted to have a Pom Pom wreath!!

Any excuse to use my new Pom Pom malers from Clover....they are so good!

I bought a wicker wreath base form our local craft shop in Warwick Street in Worthing then applied using my trusty hot glue gun nearly a whole box of baubles from Wilkinsons & some lovely fluffy pom poms.

I just love it!

Christmas Treats!! Nom Nom...

I had a spare couple of hours this afternoon so I donned my pinny & turned into "Domestic Goddess", (said like the narrator on X Factor when he says "Olly Murs!!")
This what I whipped up for tonight’s Knit & Natter.

Just the usual Victoria sponge cake in muffin tins ,some Royal Icing & fondant icing Christmas trees & some edible glitter sprinkled on top.I used some Royal Icing from Tate & Lyle.I have never seen it before but it is icing sugar mixed with dried egg white.You just mix it with a drop of water until the right consistency.I also added a little glycerin to stop the icing from breaking any teeth.Very easy to use.

Mens Fingerless gloves

The weather has been very cold so I have made lots of these.
Here is the pattern for you to try.





Men’s Fingerless gloves

Materials

1 ½ 50g skeins of Aran weight yarn.
4mm needles
3 ¼mm needles. For ribbing
Sewing up wool needle.

These gloves are made knitted flat in one piece with a side seam.
Abbreviations
Sts stitches
Rs right side
Dec decrease
St st stocking stitch, knit 1 row, purl 1 row.
M1 make one stitch, by picking up loop between stitches & knitting into the back of loop to make a stitch.
Garter stitch knit every row.

Method for right glove

Using 3 ¼ mm needles .cast on 46 sts. Start by making a k2, p2 rib for 3 inches finishing with the rs.
Next row (dec) (p2, k2, p2tog, k2) twice(p2 ,k2)twice, p2, k2, p2 (k2, p2tog, k2, p2)twice (42 sts)
Next row (Rs facing)
Change to 4mm needles.
Stocking stitch for 8 rows (or you can form pattern of 6 rows st st , 2 rows reversed st st).Finish ending with a wrong side wrong leaving the right side facing for next row.

Shape thumb **
K22 sts, m1, k3, m1, k17 sts (44sts)
Work 3 rows in pattern
Row 5 (rs) K22, m1, k5, m1, k17 (46sts)
Continue in pattern for 3 rows, increasing as above every next & following 4th row until 52 sts are on the needle.
Work 1 row ending with rs facing for next row. **

Divide for thumb
K22, slip the next 13 sts on a holder (I use a piece of yarn in a different colour), knit next 17 sts .
Continue to knit for another 17 rows across 39 sts or as long as required to fit hand. Knit 3 rows in garter stitch, cast off knit wise.

Knit thumb

With stitches that are on the piece of yarn facing you with the right side, starting from the right end of the stitches slip them back on to a 4mm needle. Holding this needle in the left hand, rejoin the yarn at the base of the stitch at the end of the needle point, ready to start knitting again.
Next row
Purl into back & front of stitch, purl to last stitch, purl into back & front of stitch. (15sts)
Stocking stitch 7 rows.


Next row Change to 3 ¼ mm needles,
Knit 2 rows cast off knit wise. Try to cast off not too tightly. If you have a problem with this, try using a larger sized needle to cast off.

Making up

Using matching yarn & wool sewing up needle, stitch up the side seam of the main glove from the ribbing to end using either ladder stitch or over sew.
Stitch up seam of thumb using the same method.
Left glove.
Reverse shaping at **to** for thumb.This means instead of starting with K 22 ,you will start with K17.

I hope you enjoy making them.Let me know how you get on with the pattern & if I need to amend anything. You can message me easily via Ravelry , user name is Lilibet21. I am not a knitwear designer so my pattern writing skills are minimal.


If you live in the UK you will no doubt had lots of snow.Grouse & Maisie were not that keen on getting cold & wet ,but for Peggy it was a different matter!!Never mind being an oldie.It brought out her inner pup!!

Climb any mountain!!!

Little Maisie Magweed was sound asleep in her bed.How cosie she looked.....

But the bed happened to be on the dining table!!!

Unbeknown to me,my mother who was staying with me decided to wash the floor in our dining room & put the dog bed of all places up on the table while she did it( I cant work that one out either!!)

Maisie was so desperate to get in her comfy bed ,she climbed up on the table & went to sleep on the table.Usually we have all the chairs pushed in so dogs cannot get on the table ,but you know what its like when someone else comes to stay.They don't know your routine & why you do certain things especially if you have a dog that climbs.Please be assured the table was disinfected before we ate at it again & the shopping was put away!!

Here is my latest creation ,for myself this time.Millie hat & gloves for Moi!!Made in Manos silk mix yarn & shell heart buttons all purchased from The Wool Bar in Worthing.

I have also been making fingerless gloves for the men in double quick time.Each pair took me 3 hours to make from cast on the sewing up.I made a pair for No1 son & this pair is for Mr T.On order is another pair for No2 son.I still have so many projects to get done before Christmas.Obviously as some of them are for presents I wont be able to show them off on here until after Christmas.It will soon be here though!!

No1 son goes off on tour with his band for 3 weeks.I shall miss him & his birthday is while he is away.I am sure he will have a cool time in the tour bus with his mates!!I have made a birthday surprise survival kit for him to open while he is away.You can imagine what is in there!!

Elves at play!!

The Elves were at play last night.

Look what I found all lined up on my window!!

If you would like to own a soldier or a Fairy, just pop along to The Wool Bar.All proceeds go to charities .

I am going to make some more over the next few weeks so keep checking back here.I may even do a tutorial for them!!

Owl ya doin' !!

I have been a bit lax over posting this week.

I have been quite creative though.
Last Sunday I spent all day making a cake for a very special little boy who was One on Monday!I cant believe its been a whole year since I was sat on the labour ward with my friends waiting for Charlie to arrive.
It was worth the effort to make the cake I think. Apparently it tasted lovely.You see how good I was last week.Not a naughty morsel passed my lips.Didnt make a bit of difference on the scales though!






I have also been busy making Christmas presents for other people!
I made this lovely set using the Louisa Harding patterns from her new book , Fade to Grey. Millie hat & fingerless gloves.I knitted them in Manos silk mix .The gloves had a mixture of Sublime silk & merino mix yarn & some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino.





I love the way the gloves came out & the rosette was really easy to do.It is really just a scalloped elongated triangle which is curled round into a rosette.Very clever design.The pearl buttons came from my stash of many in one of my tins or jars of buttons.
I was a bit horrified when my friend who I knitted them for wanted to "give them a good pressing!" to flatten the flowers ,but I think I have convinced her they don't need it.I was really grateful for the snippets of advice from friends in the knitting world (aka ,Caroline at The Wool Bar & Louisa ,you know who!)who have said in the past they never block their work so this was passed on.


I am on a marathon knit session.I just finish one project & its on to the next.I wouldn't be surprised to see sparks coming off the end of my needles.

One of the projects is for making Christmas decorations for The Wool Bar .These are being sold in the shop & all proceeds will go to one of the Chronn's disease/Colitis Charities.If you are passing please pop in & make a donation.These charities will really struggle now with the Recession & any small bit of help will go a long way to help relieve the suffering of others.

Caroline has also got a raffle on the go.First prize is a £50 voucher with second prize being a set of Knit pro needles.What lovely prizes.The draw will be held a little closer to Christmas but get in there & get your tickets.

Crafty days!!

I have been having a bit of a funny 2 weeks since I last posted.We had visitors to stay with us which was lovely.I have been at work though & trying to cope with my painful back.I cant believe that 4 months on I am still in pain.This is one thing that the NHS are very slow to diagnose & sort out.I have had a session of acupuncture which was torture!Needles in my back & neck .It was so painful & has had no effect apart from making me very dizzy afterwards & my pins & needles getting worse.Still I haven't let it stop me from doing a bit of knitting.

I finished my Louisa Harding Millie beret which was gorgeous!The only pictures I have are of Mr T modelling it as I have now given it away to a very deserving person who looked fabulous in it.Well slightly better than Mr T!!

I have also finished my Debbie Bliss Riding coat.Its not lined yet but is sewn up & buttons on.I promise I will photograph it to show you.

I also finished another creation ,this time for Mr T.I will blog about that another time.It has taken me 25 years to make him something....he really does deserve it.He is such a star my man.I am one very lucky girl.

We have had a craft fair on in Worthing for the last 2 Saturday's.Some lovely stalls & fantastic art work on display.There was a display of work done by members of the public about buildings they liked & disliked in Worthing.I was quite taken with the display.I was really hard to take pictures of but I am sure you will get the idea.

Whilst I was out in town last week I walked past a house which had this beautiful cat sat on its doorstep.I couldn't resist a snap of it.How pretty it was.

Monday Blues

Do you remember the clock I bought a few weeks ago?Well it kept getting stuck when it got to showing 20minutes to the hour.I took it back to The Range today & they gave me another one.Not quite so straight forward as I hadn't kept the receipt,just the box!!Anyway,got home with it,got it out of the box & dropped it on the floor.......glass shattered ,hands fell off!!!Only I could do that!!I am really ham fisted at the moment with incredibly bad dropsies! Should a child's clock have glass in it though?

At least I didn't drop the boys brunch today.I did a bit of experimentation.Mr T was very dubious but he gave it the thumbs up after tasting it.

I de-crusted some slices of bread then rolled them flat with a rolling pin.I used them ,buttered to line a muffin pan then cracked an egg in each & sprinkled in some dry fried chopped bacon pieces.The last of the tiny tomatoes were added then the tray was put in the oven for about 20 minutes at 200 degrees till the eggs were cooked.

Yummy.Top tip....prick the tomatoes as they have a tendency to explode when you cut them or bite into them.

My Millie hat is coming on nicely.I have started using the second skein.I am very pleased with it.

The yarn is definately on the gorgeous list .So buttery in your hands!!

Louisa Harding

I went to a talk Louisa gave for The Wool Bar last week.What a fab time we all had.

Something clicked inside me when I listened to her & I realised I could do within knitting whatever I wanted & that its never too late to start.Trouble is that there are so many things I want to do .

I have fallen in love with her style & her products.We all had the chance to try on the samples as we did when Debbie Bliss came a few weeks ago.It really helps you decide what suits you best & also on sizes.

I purchased today the Fade to Grey booklet & the yarn for this hat.Isn't' it so lovely?

Here is a more detailed picture.

I can hardly wait to start ,but my Debbie Bliss coat must be finished first.I have also purchased some lovely purple lining fabric & black buttons for my coat.I thought it would help to line it to keep its shape & with getting it on & off.Knitting has the habit of sticking to you.

Of course I will need something to keep my hands warm & toasty as well!

These are just the bees knees!!!!