SHOW DAY......

Well, we've just returned from a really lovely couple of weeks up in North Yorkshire, with lots of family time and fun with the grandchildren. There really wasn't that much knitting time to be had, but I did spend a frantic couple of days finishing off an entry for one of the local country shows. 

We've had a great day out at the Thornton-le-Dale Show for the last two years and I've loved seeing all the entries in the craft tent, so this year it was time to support the cause with Bunny Girl (Knitted Toy),   Little Flower Coat (Knitted Matinee Jacket)  and Rainbow Marley Hat (Any Other Baby Item).

 As you can see from the photo below, the Marley Hat looked just a little out of place amongst the other traditional baby items :-) :-)! Needless to say, it wasn't placed, but baby Isaac has been a very grateful recipient of it.

 My Matinee Jacket was not placed either, although I thought it looked pretty good amongst the entries. It was a fun knit though and will make a useful gift for someone's newborn at some point, although I have to say, I'd not knitted a matinee jacket since my own three were babies. In fact, the pattern I used was the first one I completed when expecting my son ( my first born).

 Then, of course, there was Bunny Girl! I LOVE her! She looked a little lost and alone as I left her sitting on the white tablecloth, beside the many much grander and larger toys.

On our return during the afternoon, I have to admit to being very excited to see that Bunny Girl was proudly sitting on a blue Second Place card! WooHoo! All credit must be given to the winner, which was the lovely large brown bear sitting next but one to her in the photo above.

Yes, I'll take that! Well done Bunny Girl!

I'm off to Provence next weekend, so may or may not see you for a week or two, although I still haven't shown you my small, carefully chosen, purchases from Fibre, so I'll try to pop in again before I go.

DOGS, DEFORESTATION and EASTER HOLIDAYS....HOORAY!!!!!

 Hello there! YAY!.... the Easter Bunny came and left me some chocolatey goodness....... to make me smile! Thank you Easter Bunny.

This made me smile too.... it accentuates a more humourous aspect of a currently serious topic. It takes nothing away from the real important issue, just adds a new slant.

It made me laugh! It's always good to spread a little humour! There, that's better, all nicely relaxed.............

.............. Hooray! Relaxed, full of chocolate and looking forward to a two-week Easter break. The holidays couldn't come quick enough and now they are here. Time to welcome Spring and recharge the batteries and finish off one or two little projects...... or should I say BIG project, in the case of the 'Special Ripple Blanket'. Our little granddaughter is due to be born in early May and I have not even reached the halfway mark yet. Oh well.... looks like this holiday is going to be filled with 'rippling'.

I have completed the 'Very Special Teddy' though and am really pleased with the results. It's a very easy knit and although I used the pattern in Debbie Bliss's book 'Simply Baby', it can also be found free here . It takes just two balls of Baby Cashmerino.

A couple of weeks ago I treated myself to a new craft book. Years ago, I used to sew quite a lot, making small baby dresses and little dungarees etc when my daughters and son were small and then progressing on to dance costumes and silk painted card stitching. My machine has been safely tucked away for a number of years, except for a brief dusting off two years ago, when I stitched the wedding stationery for my son and daughter-in-law's wedding. You can see the very simple design design here. I have recently been seeing some lovely Cath Kidston fabrics around the net (I'm not always a fan of her stuff, but have spotted some gorgeous designs. So, when I spotted this book I just had to have it. Call it a small Easter gift to myself.

It is laid out beautifully and all instructions are clear and simple. There are some really lovely projects inside.

It even includes all you need to make the very pretty bag shown on the cover of the book. Excellent value!

The weather here in the East has been rather 'hit and miss', with some sunshine, but also some pretty heavy showers and cold winds. We did manage to dodge the showers to take Oscar to, what is becoming,  his favourite place to hang out and meet his friends.

He's just five months old now and getting bigger and bolder by the day. The water park is perfect for giving him some freedom off his lead. He has learnt to 'come' on command and is very, very sociable with all dogs, humans, ducks and swans. They are not all quite so keen on him though!

Even though it has not felt very Spring like, with a sharp, cold wind blowing these past few days, there are so many signs that make the heart skippety happy with memories of warm sunshine and lazy outdoors days. The shots below were from our garden just this morning.

We're off to Pickering, in Yorkshire for a week next Friday. It's one of our very favourite 'get away from it all' places and I'm really looking forward to some peace and quiet, beautiful country and coastal walks, fine food, good ale and ................ introducing Oscar to our favourite peaceful place!!! I just KNOW he'll love it!

Have a great week everyone, wherever you will be and whatever you will be doing.

MOUSIE MOUSIE!

Hello there! This is just a quick post, to relieve the boredom of marking endless end of year school tests. It's a good job the weather has been wet and miserable this weekend or I would have been extra grumpy at the prospect. Nearly done now, so a little 'play time' has been earnt!
I finished these bits and pieces for a friend's baby over the half-term holiday.


All the items were made using Debbie Bliss Baby Casmerino, which is very soft and great to knit with.

The little jacket was extremely quick and very easy, with the additinal bonus of not too many seams to sew up!!! The pattern was from Erika Knight's book, 'Simple Knits for Cherished Babies'. It's a lovely book full of modern, pretty, but straightforward knits.

The gorgeous hat was from 'Baby Beanies' by Amanda Keeys. This book is full of delightful, fun and colourful ideas. I had a major hunt for the light organza ribbon, finding that even John Lewis now stocks almost all of its ribbon on rolls. You end up buying metres of the stuff! Anyway, I was pleased with the finished effect.

Rowan's book of baby knits using 'milk cotton' is really lovely;including modern and more traditional designs. These little 'Lucy shoes' can be made with or without the bar across. They took about an hour to complete and used up some wool remnants.'Mousie Mousie' is from one of my very favourite books. It's another Rowan publication called 'Designs for Kids' by Lucinda Guy. The designs are colourful and creative, featuring jumpers with dinosaurs and diggers on the front and fab bags, hats and toys. Mousie Mousie has to be my favourite and again, he was made in an evening.



The whole set took 4 balls of yarn. Not bad eh!

It's taken me ages to find a pattern that would show off the gorgeous striping effect of my June 'Sock Challenge' yarn. I've cherished this gorgeous Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn, in colourway Dessert Flower, for ages. It's been carefully wrapped in the pink tissue paper that it arrived in; only to be unwrapped for an occasional sniff or fondle! So, now the time has come to use it, the pattern has got to be right. I have tried two patterns already and not been happy with the result, but I've finally plumped for this one. I'm not totally happy with it, but it does show off the striping to good effect, don't you think?






I also have this pretty little baby dress on the go for another family baby due later this month. I love the pretty cotton yarn, which is called 'Splish Splash' by Elle. I've never heard of it before, but spotted it whilst in my local LYS, 'Norfolk Yarns'.


Hopefully it won't be too long before I can show you the finished item, as the baby is due in a couple of weeks!

POST OFSTED ELEFANTE!

We had an OFSTED inspection last week, which meant NO KNITTING for a whole week, near enough! STRESS, STRESS, STRESS! Anyway, the inspection was successful and I celebrated by chilling out and knitting this little chap over the weekend..........

We had an 'Elephant Day' at school today and so I thought he would be my contribution to the 'art installation' of elephants in the school hall. I have to say he was by far the coolest Elly there and he was a big hit. Not big enough to give up the daytime teaching job though!!!!

The pattern was a freebie on Ravelry; 'Elefante' by Susan Anderson and I just used oddments of double knitting. The pattern was easy to follow, although it took a while to get the crotcheted ears right, as I haven't used a crotchet hook in many a year. He's so sweet!