Catch up on last weeks happenings

I mentioned previously that I wanted to get some projects that had been abandoned finished before the end of the year.  I chose two last week that had the least amount to work on to call them finished.  

The white cardigan is the Jasmine Baby Jacket, which only needed the buttons sewing on.  The pink cardigan is the  Puerperium Cardigan, all that needed doing on this one was the edging on the sleeves and to sew buttons on.

Both cardigan patterns are free and can be found on Ravelry.

This week I chose something else to try and finish and hopefully I will have that completed to show you next time.

I have also been working a little on my mitred square blanket.

This is a long term project and won't be finished anytime soon, but that's ok, I love working on it and I have plenty more mini skeins to choose from.  

Mine and Jacobs's outing last week was to a local canal trust which have toddler boat trips each Wednesday morning  for £1, well you can't get much for £1 these days so we had to give it a go.   

The trip is just half an hour with songs along the way to keep the children entertained whilst the boat travels along the canal and through a couple of tunnels.  Afterwards there are some crafty activities in the cafe.  It was something different and Jacob seemed to enjoy his trip on the banooke.  

( A Banooke is Jacobs word for a barge, we have no idea why, perhaps a combination of canal boat and barge and his little mind came up with the word Banooke 😆 )

Later in the afternoon we made gingerbread men, one had an accident, oh dear, lol

This week I took him to a local playcentre called Little Lobsters.  It's much nicer than the big indoor playcentres, everything is in one big room and is more geared to imaginative play with different sections of play such as construction, a shop, kitchen, dressing up as well as a ball pit, slide and various ride on toys.   All the children are called together at the end of the session for a sing-a-long, It's definitely somewhere I'll take him again, especially if the weather isn't good.

 

Last Sunday I had a day out to the Festive Gift Fair at the NEC with Joanne and Stevie and Bonnie.  Compared to previous years It wasn't so good, there were a lot of stands selling the same sort of things, a bit disappointing really.  The girls bought a couple of things, I came home with nothing, that must be a first, there just wasn't anything that took my fancy.  

The Grinch made an appearance though and Joanne queued for Bonnie to have a photo.

Well I think that's me just about caught up on what's been happening here.  

Last week Mark started the preparation to decorated the back bedroom so new wallpaper will be going up tomorrow, I said I would paint the ceiling so that he can just get straight on with it in the morning. Everything takes so much longer because he only has the weekend, but at least the bedroom isn't needed so I can shut the door on the chaos while It's going on.

See you soon

-X-

Six day socks and other goings on

 These socks were knitted up really quickly, well six days is quick for me anyway.  To be fair I didn't really pick up any other crafting that week and, they were a smaller size.

These are for my middle daughter, she is only a shoe size 5, the rest of us have big feet, lol.

I'm making the girls a pamper hamper for Christmas so these will go into her basket with the other goodies.  The yarn is probably one of the longest I've had in my stash, it's Drop Fabel, I can't remember the colourway but It was nice to knit with and I like the way they came out.

I mentioned last time trying to finish off some projects so last week I pulled out my Tresaco Jumper.  This is the second time I've knitted the Trescao pattern, It's really simple and easy to knit, only problem is all that stocking stitch can get a little monotonous, I think that's why It got abandoned.  There was very little work to do on it, half a sleeve and a cuff and It was done.

 I used Stylecraft Recreate yarn, again I'm not sure of the colourway but it was the lightest grey in that range.

Each Wednesday now I will be looking after Jacob.  Joanne asked me a while ago as It would mean that the remaining days he is at nursery they can take advantage of the free hours that the Government offer.  Nursery fees are so expensive and although free hours are offered from age two, there are conditions.  If you don't work you can get free nursery hours, you can also get free hours If you are claiming certain benefits and earn below a certain amount, but If you work and earn just a fraction over that amount you have to pay the full whack.  It's crazy.

Anyway, Last Wednesday the weather wasn't too good so we didn't go far just a visit to the library and then we had a day of baking.  Jacob loves to cook, he even like to wash up afterwards 😆 And I'm all for encouraging that.

He made Millies cookies, and he really did make them with only a little bit of help from me, look how pleased he is with them 💗

Later we made the Christmas cake.  

More help needed from me for this one, and making sure that he didn't try to sample the brandy infused cake batter!

Hope It tastes as good as it looks come Christmas.

Hope you all have a good week, see you soon.

-X-

Catch up for October finishes

I'm late in posting finishes for October, there were two, one knitted, one stitched, both were finished a couple of weeks ago but for some reason I've lacked the motivation to, (a) take photos and (b) write a blog post.  But I'm here now so lets get on with it.

My stitching finish is my piece for the Stick6in23, a year long SAL which is hosted by Martina and Manuela  

Promise of Spring by Silver Creek Samplers

The frame is just one off the shelf from The Range, I'm not too sure about it now but I can take the stitching out if I change my mind and see something else.  This one is stitched on 32 count with the recommended threads.

There is just one more chart to stitch in November and December for this SAL, the number 5 was generated for the last two months, happily mine is a smaller one this time so it should be easier to complete, even with the busyness of December.

Another SAL is in the planning for next year and I shall definitely join in, I've loved every minute of this years.

My knitted finish is another pair of socks, these are for my son in law, James.  He is a shoe size 10 so these are too big for my sock blockers!  The yarn is Stylecraft Head Over Heels and was a gift from my friend Jo last year.  I think they knitted up lovely. 

I want November to be a month of finishing things off.  I have a few things that don't require much attention to call them done, one of them has already been completed, hopefully I can keep it going.

October is the start of the Winter birthdays, Oliver turned 11 on October 17th.  I went with them to Pizza Hut on his birthday and on the weekend he and a few friends went to Laser Quest and he had a friend stay for a sleepover.  Mark also had a birthday on 21st.

Last week was half term here, I only had the boys one day as Jenny was off work, there were Halloween activities at a local library so we went there along with Joanne, Bonnie and Jacob.

They spent a good few hours gluing, sticking and painting.

As it was a reasonable day weatherwise we decide to walk to the library via our local park, It was before we had all the heavy rain and the colours were amazing.

Had a toadstool hunt but these were the most interesting we found.

Halloween was wet and windy and we didn't get any visitors, Joanne took Bonnie and Jacob to trick or treat with Oliver and Arty, there are more children on their estate and some of the houses make a real effort with decorating.  Jenny didn't send me any photos of the boys dressed up this time but here are Bonnie and Jacob and the pumpkins they carved.

That's me all caught up for now, hopefully I can get another post in before the end of the month to report how my project finishing is going.to

-X-

PS. Thank you to all who commented on my last post about the passing of my brother in law.  The funereal went as well as these things can, the crematorium was packed, a testament to how well he was liked.  My sister is doing well, considering, I think she did a lot of her grieving in the last four months they had together, I know they talked and cried together a lot in that time.  Of course she is going to miss him terribly, they were together from when she was 15 and he 16, there is a huge gap in her life which will she will never be able to fill again, but, she has to go on, and she will.