An update of sorts....

Please forgive my absence. Major things have been going on in our household & its been a roller coaster of emotions.
Firstly our little Scottie , Peggy passed away. At thirteen years of age I felt it would be someday in the not too distant future. She was a happy little soul & although she spent much of her days sleeping ,she enjoyed her food & coming up on mums lap to see out of the window.
Now if you read back ,you will find the history of how little Peggysue came into our family. She was our little foster girl & we loved her with all our hearts.

She became quite poorly & went off her food. I took to hand feeding her & for a while she was happy with this.After a few days she stopped eating or drinking & we knew she had decided it was time to say goodbye. I miss her terribly but I know she is happy & will never be in pain again.
The next thing that happened was in a space of days the following happened!We found a house we liked . The next day we sold our house & the following day whilst on our way to a wedding ,we bought the house!
I am quite excited /apprehensive!Its a huge move for both of us & our remaining No2 son. He will be moving out for a year & into  student digs. We will be moving away from jobs, family & friends & making a new life in Lincolnshire.

Many people have asked us why there & the answer is simple. We no longer wish to be a slave to the mortgage & enjoy the time left together.We have bought a smaller house with a much much bigger garden & will have the luxury of off road parking & surrounded by fields.Here is the view in the garden looking towards the house. I know its not quite ours yet but it all seems to be moving along & I am sure we will get there.Goodness knows we are having a bit of a time at the moment but I am sure things will work out.

The next thing that happened is about 2 weeks ago ,my mother became very ill.Mum had a complete mental health breakdown. We are not really sure why but I am sure she has had a lot of stress recently with us moving & my brother had a fire at his farm & she had recently had a knee replacement. I have found things very difficult & although I was visiting mum every day I found it too much & now go every other day.Its so frustrating to watch her & her moods & trying to make sense of what she is trying to say & get across to us.I am reassured by the nursing team that she will get better but some days I am not so sure & it breaks my heart.
Through all this my constant has been my loving husband & children. They are always there ,even No1 son who is hundreds of miles away. Thank goodness for smart phones!!

My other constant has been knitting. I have at last finished my Debbie Bliss shrug made out of Angel. It was not easy for me to concentrate on this & I was pleased when I finally got it finished. I must get some pictures of it. I had hoped to wear it to my friends wedding but with going up to Lincolnshire house hunting at the last minute that went out the window.The pattern is in the current summer Debbie Bliss magazine. Its well worth getting. There are some fabulous patterns in there.

At the moment I am knitting a very simple project in Katia Cotton yarn. This is lovely cotton to knit with & comes in some really bright zingy colours. I am knitting a round cushion.

Its from this book

This is a great book & well worth getting hold of one to add to your library. It has some lovely classic pattern in from a retro tea cosie to a patch work blanket all using colour block work.
The Queens 50th Jubilee is coming up fast!To enter into the spirit I have made a small strip of bunting to go across the fireplace.I used the yarn from the knitting set i got from the Works. The colours are not fast & the red dyed my needles somewhat.This wont be getting washed in a hurry so should be ok.

I shall miss this pretty fireplace. Our new one is a little plain at the moment but when we have time , maybe we will have a new mantle & a log burning stove! How cosy that will be.
Hopefully my next update will have some happier news in it. I may even have some completed projects to show you.
Enjoy the current lovely weather.
Lxx

Busy busy busy!!!!!

I cannot believe how busy we have been the past couple of months.
At long last our family countdown to Mr T's retirement has ended. At the beginning of March he officially became unemployed & was retired from his job!I have to say he has never been quite so busy since!
Our house is now on the market & we are looking for our dream home to buy. We don't have a huge budget & really want to have as small a mortgage or be mortgage free if possible.
For now ,we just keep as tidy a house as possible & entertain strangers looking around our home. Some have been very nice, others downright rude! Is it just me or should you really ask if you can use someones loo before taking to a squatting position in their house?!!I think I would....!!!
I have also been busy , making bits & pieces.I really must show you what I have been up to with the things I showed you the last time I was here.Some have been for the house ,others for my pure indulgence!

I finished off various rooms in the house for the market place & in doing so I made a blind for our bathroom out of an antique linen tablecloth.I also made blinds for our bedroom to match the wallpaper

from linen & beautiful Laura Ashley fabric.I need to get the bedroom blinds down again as they are not perfect & the defect is sooo annoying!!I am not going to say what it is, but its just driving me crazy!!!

I have a number of projects now finished. I really must get them photographed.
Our son & his girlfriend are home from Austria for a week & we are so enjoying their company.I shall really miss them when they go home again & I will be back to work myself.
For now I shall enjoy having a month off work. I so needed it.
I found this lovely sewing blog,Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing. I love her retro style & very handy hints & tips to brush up my sewing skills.Pop on over to have a look.

Knitting set in The Works.

Look ,

for £7.00 you can buy this set in The Works. Its really nice & would make a lovely gift for a new knitter , young & old alike.
It has 3 balls of yarn inside & some very nice wooden needles that are not too chunky for small hands but big enough.

There are also some simple knitting instructions in the lid of the box.

Full Steam Ahead!

Last weekend we went away up to Lincolnshire.We had a lovely weekend & stayed in a Travel Lodge room at Long Sutton. The staff were lovely but oh, how the room was so in need of a lick of paint!.Never mind, I was asleep most of the time when we were in it!
We saw a double Rainbow whilst we were driving around.I was so excited to see one. The skies are so big up there you could see both ends!Its a shame the second rainbow doesn't show up to well in the photo but it is there!

We went house hunting.
My life is about to change drastically!Mr T is due to retire from his job in March & we are about to put our lovely family home on the market & head into the future of unknown....Its quite scary really but also exciting.Technically he will be unemployed.As you can imagine ,so many worries go alongside that in this current climate.Its also time for me to do less hours at work.So with all that ,we are downsizing & hopefully will be almost mortgage free.Lets just hope we can sell our house.Fingers crossed.
Anyway , back to the weekend.I lost one of my lovely gloves I made using a green Zuberball. I was so annoyed with myself. We hunted all over where we had been & just couldn't find it. Luckily I had just enough yarn left to make another one. I have just sewn up the seam & so now will be back to having toasty hands.

My hands have been giving me a lot of pain during this colder weather we seem to be having.Apart from wearing gloves, does anyone have any good tips out there. The joints have been so painful.Its stopped me from knitting so much this week.
I snuck into town yesterday & treated myself to a few items.

The little girl always comes out in me when I shop for myself!Here they are. See if you can spot them in future posts. I am sure you will.
I also gave the dogs a haircut.

Phew ....what a busy week . Oh yes ,I was at work as well.
Have a great week & keep warm .

Make it Bling!

I saw this phone cover on a shop site called Make it  Bling.I really fancy having a go myself. Phone cover is on order & now deciding on what bits to use.A brilliant way to use up all those small bits of broken jewelry & beads.

Wishes were horses!

I just came home from Knit & Natter.
One of my friends was wearing this blouse.Click here to see where to buy this lovely!

How I yearn for this lovely little ditsy print!
Little cotton reels all over.Sadly it just goes up to a large. When I checked the sizing ,the large equated to a 12-14. Lucked out there by a size.Its just not on!!!
I had a bit of a rubbish day today.It was so good to be out with the girls tonight.They chill me out when I get quite stressed.Quite a bit of knitting got done too. I am making up my Zuberball I bought in Vienna.I will show you soon what I have made. Just 2 more evenings & its finished,I hope!!!
See you soon.

xxx

Sock workshop

In December I held a sock workshop at The Wool Bar in Worthing.
I have done workshops for socks before but this one was different.The group had not been knitting for too long & they wanted it the evenings.I decided to do it over 2 weeks & they had homework to do in between as this time we were making a full size sock.Previously I have taught the techniques using a mini replica sock.This time we used a lovely ,but simple toe up pattern which can be found on Ravelry.http://www.ravelry.com/projects/lilibet21/steel-toe-boot-socks

The girls did so well making this sock.They learnt a lot of techniques using this pattern & they all managed it very well.
I used a stretchy cast off technique where you do a yarn over before the stitch is worked & then cast off.
Two circular needles used throughout.
The girls all achieved a sock which they made to a high standard.They were proud of their completed sock & I was proud of them. We had a few exclamations of "I cant possibly do that" along the way, but they all finished their socks.Sadly I didn't get Clare in the picture as she couldn't make the last evening.

Well done ladies!!XXX

Last Post of 2011,bring on 2012!!!

Its seems weird to say this will be my last post.That is the last post of 2011 of course.
Its been not a very good year for me with one thing or another.Some of them remain private to me, others I have talked about because I was happy to share those things with you. Anyway, I am glad the year is over & 2012 beckons with all the unexpected & excitedly planned!!!Its going to be busy busy busy & all hands on deck to get where ,as a couple ,my husband & I want to be.
Tonight ,being New Years Eve, I should really be celebrating. Sadly I will be at work & leave Mr T on his own.No2 son is in Vienna with No1 son & will no doubt be having riotous fun. I hope to be home just a few minutes into 2012 ,but if the proverbial **it hits the fan ,then who knows?
I am not really looking forward to that part but something made me smile today.In fact ,if I was Lucy from Attic 24 ,I would say it gave me one of those Heart Skippy moments & I just had to have it. A beautiful Babushka mug slightly reduced in Past Times. Why do stores do that now? For most of the year they have been slashing prices & I have watched them go up & down & up again. Are they really supposed to do that?
Any way ,here is my mug that made me happy today.

Have a very Happy New Year wherever you are & whoever you are with & here's to a much brighter 2012!!

Oh Christmas tree....

Oh Christmas tree....
Well it did eventually get put up.It took me ages to do.I am so fussy when it comes to the lights.They have to be placed just so . Here are a few pictures of some of my favourite baubles & my little helper!

The last three are new ones we bought in the Christmas markets in Vienna.They are so pretty.I know it will take me ages to pack the tree away ,there is so much on it,but who cares?
The Christmas lights where I work this year have quite frankly been poor.What a shame.Usually there is a close & all the houses join in & light up.People travel from miles to go & see it but this year there was nothing.Not even a tree in a window.It was sad.
However , on my last night working, whilst out & about we had a little competition of our own for the annual Christmas lights.The runner up was a house in Lancing....

We felt it was suitably jolly to have the second place.
First place went to a house in Southwick!.....

There was so much going on & a real Christmas fantasy for any child that may pass.Well done to the owners of this house, you made us smile on a late`rainy night when we would rather have been at home with our families.Its a shame the pictures are poor as you cannot see everything.Not bad for a phone camera though!!I love my little Samsung Galaxy Ace!
This seems to be turning into quite a long post.I do just have to show you what happened when I tried to whip some cream up for our Knickerbockerglory puddings on Christmas day.I was left with one huge greasy mess to clear up!Yuck!!

For some reason I cant get the other picture to load ,but it shows the cream splattered all over the fridge, bin & up the walls. If it had been red ,you could mistake it for a murder scene! All I could do was laugh!! We got our pudding an hour later!!!
I had some lovely gifts from my family.They are so thoughtful .We don't go overboard in our family.I know people who spend hundreds of pounds just on one person & they really don't have the money to do it.Its so silly. We have a rule of only buying what you can afford & not to use credit cards. I love gifts that are handmade & try to make as many as I can.
I hope you had a lovely day too & wish you all a fabulous & exciting New Year.

Ooooh Vienna!

 We just got back from visiting our son in Vienna!
I am so silly though! Forgot to take my camera & my phone ,so I couldn't take any pictures.Luckily Jasmin  sent me some she took.
This is the second time we have visited them in Vienna .I had a lot of expectations! The first one was for snow...let  face it , a  week, just  before Christmas & it should snow in Vienna. No ??!!! Well it did try just as we walked to the station to get our train for the flight home!

 In spite of a week being ill with sickness,cold & sore throats & no snow, we enjoyed ourselves. We went to Hungary for a family meal for our sons 24th birthday which was fabulous! They certainly know how to feed people! I cannot eat a whole dumpling!

We visited the Christmas markets on the evening for lovely traditional crafts & yummy food & hot Gluhwein! Mmmmm . I bought some fantastic glass baubles for our tree this year & managed to get them home with no breakages.

All the time we were poorly was well spent too. I finished a present I had started for Jasmin's nephew who will be born in the spring next year.

The basket was made out of some Rico Big Cotton.It was not brilliant to knit with & kept splitting no matter how careful I was. The clock & baby Uggs & the hats were knitted out of various oddments of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino & Rialto yarn which as always gives a lovely finish.

I did find a tiny yarn shop in Vienna via an Internet search.More about that in a later post though.

Today ,now we are home, the decorations are going up! Once done I shall try to get some decent pictures of the new baubles for you to see them in all their sparkly glory.
I hope that wherever you are , you too have a nice day. I think I will just stay in my pj's & get a pot of Gluhwein on the stove to fuel my day as we get the house decked with boughs of holly!