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the sun was shortlived......(but thankyou for putting in a brief appearance, it was lovely)
but ......it means cosy afternoons filled with this:
and this:
so it's not all bad.....(plus I'm not working tonight in this weather....after 2 very busy nights)....... and relaxxxxxx............
A while ago I mentioned that my kind mum had given me a bag of old treasures...
a gorgeous overall....it's a little wide and may need a bit of taking in...but the pattern is wonderful, below knee length......'I wore it as a summer dress' said Mum...hmmm, I think I'll do the same. My Mum is so on my wave length with things like this (she is the queen of thrift........we're talking stopping the car to investigate 'interesting' articles abandoned in skips....)
and then..
the most fab antique petticoat ....parachute silk, beautiful lace and floor length.....given to her by a friend - it was his mothers...
It's just going to have to be hung up and admired, away from the cats (climbing kitties and razor sharp claws....shudder)
and lastly......
a lace scarf that I could just stare at for ever...long, delicate, dreamy, beautiful....not sure how old - but old.
'I'm giving these to you as I know you'll appreciate them' she said...and how totally right she was.......I was swooning !
Thankyou Mum, you know me well....x
Usually Mondays are a bit of a rush. Lily has two dance classes after school, so it's quickly home, get changed, shovel a bit of food down the poor child and then quickly run her across town.........get stuck in the traffic on the way back, nose to tail.
Today I took my camera with me and took the scenic route home. It's really no longer if you factor in the time spent sitting in traffic and the back way is so much more chilled. I may do it everytime.
The evenings are definitely drawing out which brings such a sense of hope. Too many days of wet gloom lately. The collective mood following suit. But now.....a little chink of sun here and there, still light at 5pm......we're on the right path......yes....
Here is my journey home....(you also have to imagine the little one saying 'whats happened ??' and 'I want to get out' everytime I stopped the car :)
It's amazing what pleasure such a little change can bring.
Over the last week Maddies drawing has hit a bit of a milestone. Faces now have features - eyes and smiles to be precise. I feel as if a major corner has been turned, she is seeing so much more, has control over that pencil and what happens when she puts it to paper. I don't know if you can see it that well but the above photo shows a spider (you can just about make out the many legs) - greeted with many ooohs and aahs and well dones. I don't know why this is such a surprise to me, or why I feel it's such a big thing....it's just what happens...they get older, they reach these developmental doors and pass through them all of a sudden - then on to the next. I feel happy and excited and proud as you would expect but it's tinged by a little tug at my heart.....my baby's growing up.
**
On to other things....I've updated the shop on Etsy (see link on left) so there is now actually something to see over there! Took me ages last night......I'm happy with the way it looks although the colours seem a little bright, so bear that in mind.....I may have been a tad over zealous with the photo editing or tired and bleary eyed more likely ;) Hope you like what you see.
This .....
plus this......
can only mean ........
yes I've actually finished something ! The little needle books are done and I intend to get them into the shop by early next week. Vague I know.......but there's a hectic (in a good way) weekend coming up and I'm not sure how it's going to pan out just yet.
Righto, back to the grind.....dinners to prepare, house to tidy etc etc.....all to the backdrop of a very noisy non napper upstairs.....heaven knows what she's doing up there, better go check.
How can a yawning, eye rubbing, head lolling with tiredness, 2 yr old revitalise herself like this the minute I put her in bed ?? One of life's sweet mysteries. I suppose it's just the same as how a yawning, eye rubbing, head lolling with tiredness, 35 yr old keeps going ........(you can tell by todays title that I'm feeling well inspired today). I'm dazed from a 0245 and 0600 wakeup call after getting in from work late last night, my eyes have rims of fire, I tell you.
What's for certain is that I'm in for one hell of an interesting late afternoon... BUT no work tonight so I'm sure a big glass of wine at tea time will take the edge off ! No I'm not joking, bad mother that I am....
Happy weekend..
Lily has got into crochet bigtime and pleaded to get her own. She spied these on ebay and just had to have them. All the way from Canada..........and very reasonable too. Everyday it was 'when will the crochet hooks come ?' and yesterday they did. Now it's serious !
Last week she won a head teachers award for crocheting a hat and scarf for the rock climbing action man on display in the classroom. She has now been challenged to make a jumper for him......now to work that one out !
All feeling a bit more lively here and the sun is even shining........
Ahh, thats better.......
Yes, I've been a poorly girl. Shivery and wobbly and nauseous. Nice.
Thankyou so much for all my get well wishes.....I really appreciate it... Definitely on the upturn now :)
It was a double bummer as it meant that I missed out on a very special birthday Saturday. My lovely Mama (my Grandmother) turned 84 and my little nephew was 3 a few days ago.
I put in a brief appearance but due to infection control concerns and generally not being able to hack it, swiftly returned to bed with a hot water bottle.
A carrier bag full delights made their way back to me from Mums though. Some lovely vintagey items. I'll show and tell when I'm a bit more motivated..
This has been my view for the last couple of days, with various visitors, human and animal, at different times....
kids, dogs, cats.....pile on up.....
Today was back to normal until Lily was sent home from school............I wish these bugs would just clear. I've honestly never known a time like this - everyone I speak to is under the weather. I was bragging early last year about how I'd not succumbed to even a cold.......it's obviously catch up time.
Roll on Spring.....the sun has poked it's head out a little today and was very welcome...it really does make all the difference to flagging spirits.
Right I'm off to take care of me and mine. Posting may be sporadic until normal healthy service is resumed !
Keep warm and toasty........
I took my eyes off her for a few seconds.....quietly transfixed by CBeebies I thought.....I'll peel those spuds now...........Oh, hang on it's gone a bit too quiet............
it's cream blusher, basically pure grease. On bed, pillow, carpet, hair, up nose etc, etc.
The stupid thing is, I don't wear makeup, it's a very rare occurence indeed. So it's not like I have stacks just lying around....This was dug out of an old washbag I'd taken to my Dads in the summer. That'll teach me for taking 5 months to unpack !
but those eyes melted my heart.....for a nanosecond, well long enough to take a photo.....then Mummy was a bit cross.....
We're friends again now though, now I've managed to get it out of the carpet.
Oh - I've got the sickie lurgy too, feeling rough....just nausea at the moment, hope it stays at that :(
Have a good one and see you next week , hopefully feeling a little brighter. x
Now there are plenty of things I should be doing (finishing), the few bits for the Etsy shop or Maddies birthday crochet project, for example. Instead I decided to follow my desires last night and found myself a supposedly easy pattern. Its the Lace Wrap . You may have to register to get into the Lion brand site to see it.
Despite the warning in the comments from yesterday (thankyou gigibird !) I decided to go with the mohair. I like a challenge. And a challenge it was, ripping out that third row twice after ending up with the wrong number of stitches at the end. BUT and it's a big but - I now know how to dissect what I've knit and work out where I've gone wrong. I was not going to let it beat me. I just went through all the stitches over and over and over and over till I found the mistake.
I expect this was the first of many rip out sessions..........Don't expect this to be completed (if I don't throw in the towel first!) anytime soon....or even this year..
The first signs of the lacy pattern are thrilling though and I even dreamed (honestly) about yarn overs. I do get a bit obsessed or to put it a bit better, focused, on things when I get going. Never the stuff thats a priority though ;)
I've spent the morning cleaning out the fridge, the most despised job in the world in this house..(yes the whole morning - lets just say it was last done way before Christmas and I get a muddy veg box each week)...so I think I'll reward myself with one little row......just one..............
At last..
The bag is done. It felted up a treat after two goes through the machine. Dinky, woolly, soft, colourful and made by me - what's not to love ! As you can tell I'm a bit pleased with myself........You see, I love knitting I really do, I just wish I was a bit better at it. I can never really take my eyes off the pattern and memorise, or off the needles to watch telly as well ! I've surprised myself on occasions, like the successful wool longies made with the magic loop method, that is, knitting both legs simultaneously on one long circular needle.....
how's that for a colourful picture !?
Kool-aid dyed and were (still are) well loved as you can tell from all the bobbles.
They were a challenge to say the least and splitting off for the legs caused me to literally break out in a sweat. I remember it well - I'd taken myself of to bed to ensure complete silence and no interruptions. I checked the pattern every 2 seconds and was holding the knitting like a vice - hardly a relaxing experience. Once over that hurdle however, it wasn't too bad. Seeing them on Maddie made it all worth while.
I think that is what I'm learning. Like the bag. I was bored doing all that stocking stitch and the i - cord frustrated me. Now though, I'm over all that and am just delighted with the beautiful end result.
So - no pain, no gain. I'm getting it !
I have a strong desire to knit lace. I seem to go through this urge every 6 months or so.I really want to have a go. But I have the fear, as I've read on zillions of blogs about how frustrated and stressy it can get you.
I got some bargain mohair in the charity the other day...................so - a nice complicated super easy lace pattern and my 'totally unrippable if I mess it up' wool.......how bad can it be ?
Any lace knitters out there to give me some newbie tips ?
