Happy New Year

Just popping by to wish

I hope the New year brings you renewed hope and joy and plenty to look forward to.

I’ll be back with a blog post soon

Sue xx

Happy Christmas

Before I write any more I'd like to wish all my readers a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas.

Above is the completed Crochet Advent Wreath that I have made during the course of December.  You will be able to see this in progress on my Instagram account which I am linking here.  I've had a lot of fun making this and putting items on this day by day.  There were some exceptions but I have mainly stuck to a daily schedule.

Here are a few pics of the progress (totally random)

The patterns mostly come from the book of Crochet Wreathes and Garlands by Kate Eastwood  plus her  Brussel spout pattern which is linked from the sidebar on her blog.  I've also used free patterns from Lucy of Attic 24 blog for the small baubles (at the top), hellebore (the purple flower),  snowflake (at the bottom) and the tiny hearts. I made my own up for the winter jasmine (the small yellow flowers) and the Christmas presents next to the snowflake at the bottom of the wreath.  There is also a bell which I found on Pinterest which is by Atty Van Norel.  The wreath came from Hobby craft and the cotton yarn I used was from various sources but mainly Rico Ricorumi, Schepjes Cotton or Sirdar Happy.

I've also finished a pair of socks for Christmas.  These are a pair of Easy Cable Socks from a pattern by Winwick Mum and knitted in Giddy Aunts sock yarn in Ooh La La colour way with Stellina.

I really liked the soft peachy/pink and blue in the socks with that little bit of glitter and can really recommend the pattern which I enjoyed making.

Not to rest on my laurels, there is a new cast on for today (Christmas Eve) and I intend to start on a new cardigan.  On my Facebook feed there was an advert for a knitting subscription box and a past box that this company advertised was no longer available but I did like the pattern.  So I ordered the pattern (which was available as a pdf) and some red yarn from the Stylecraft Bellisima range.  I ordered this the same time as the Dahlia yarn pack ready for the new Attic 24 Crochet Along which starts in January from the Wool Warehouse.  So as you will gather, there will be plenty to keep my busy.

Lastly, as well as the folded patchwork Christmas pudding that comes out every year since it was made I went out in the garden this morning and collected some herbs for tomorrow's dinner.  They looked and smelt so lovely they had to join our table.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Oh, Christmas Tree .....

What I like about this time of the year are Christmas lights and decorations and last weekend we went out to take in the Christmas Tree Festival at St Aldhelm's Church, Branksome followed by the Christmas Tree Wonderland in the Lower Gardens, Bournemouth.

We always enjoy the trees in the church that are decorated by local families, groups, organisations and this year the theme of 'A Piece of Heaven'  and below are some photos that I took.  It was late afternoon so it would soon be dark and the low light made for a lovely atmosphere.

The butterflies on this tree were lovely 

 Above is a tree of knitted squares

There were also some trees on which people could leave message for loved ones who won't be around for Christmas, which was poignant.  The trees will be there until Christmas Eve.

We went onto Bournemouth which was still thronged with people as it was late afternoon.  There is a Christmas Market in the Square and traders seemed much like those we'd seen at Bath or Exeter, so there wasn't a lot of original things to see.  Going passed them to get to the Lower Gardens which run down to the Pier Approach was really busy but it was a good display nonetheless.  The trees were like we saw last year but it was good to see them again.

Where we were parked there was a giant bauble

Here are the trees in the Lower Gardens

 This tree was behind a bar in the Square.  Looks almost like a witch's hat!

 In the pics above and below I took in the reflections from the Bourne stream that runs through the Gardens

 Above is looking towards the Ferris wheel on the Pier Approach

This festival is in Bournemouth until 2 January 2020.

December Catch Up - Exeter

What a month it has been so far.  David and I had a few days in Exeter, theres also been Christmas events and dinners at various times between then and now.  "Are you all ready for Christmas?" is often a question asked but no, still feel I need to get there!!

In my years as regional treasurer of the Quilters' Guild (that's going back a few years now) I had to attend committee meetings just outside of Exeter so I/we have travelled there but not really explored. So as our birthdays and anniversary are close together we tend to go away for a short break and Exeter is just a couple of hours away and we stayed at a hotel which was walking distance from the city centre so we could leave the car parked there.  We explored Exeter Cathedral and the Christmas market in the grounds, the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (the RAMM) and the Underground Tunnels as well as going around the shops.  We also found a pie shop, which was a very different place to eat, right by Exeter Central station.

The Cathedral is a historic one built inside the Roman city walls of which there still is a remainder of today.  The underground tunnels that we did a separate tour of, housed pipes to supply water to the cathedral back in medieval times.  As it was Advent there were angels made by various groups and schools around the cathedral, which were really lovely works of art.  At the back was a large Lego model of the cathedral and grounds which could be added to by buying a brick.

When we left it was beginning to get dark and the Christmas lights came on so it was lovely to the displays.  Near the Roman walls at Princesshay shopping centre there were community Christmas trees, which were lovely to see.

And more lights in the city

I only took one photo in the RAMM as there was one I couldn't resist.  A stuffed giraffe with a party hat!

We also visited a toy shop which I think has the largest display of Lego I've seen, other than in a Lego shop) so I had to take some photos

 Chewbacca

 Father Christmas (David got in the way)

Frendz

It was a good few days away, but then it was back to the Christmassy things, more of that soon.

December

Above is my marker for this month.  As in previous months I've used a 12.5" mini quilt from I made 10 years ago as part of a British Quilt List challenge and this was a quick mosaic technique in which the backing, wadding and background fabrics were layered up and quilted by sewing on the pieces of Christmas fabrics.  Instead of binding the quilt was finished of with zigzag stitch and Christmassy ric rac stitched on top.

For this Christmas I decided to make an Advent wreath in crochet.  I've got a book called Crochet Wreathes and Garlands, written by Kate Eastwood and I have a collection of small cotton yarns which I have (rather appropriately) in a Christmas fabric bowl. I hope I can use what I've got without needing to get more colours.  The twiggy wreath came from Hobbycraft.

It's the 4th today so this is how the wreath looks so far

The first day I made holly leaves and berries.   This was followed by a couple of Ivy leaves for day 2. Day 3 had mistletoe leaves and berries and today I made 3 stars which added a bit of colour to the wreath.  Some things, like the leaves may be repeated at some stage because they can be put in here and there.  There will be some bunting with little flags across the top part of the wreath and by Christmas Day there will be a baby nestled at the bottom of the wreath.

Following some knitters/crocheters accounts on Instagram there's been a lot about yarn advents, which while I admire a lot of dyers making, it just adds to the amount of things that I have with no aim in mind to make from.  So I decided to use what I've got with the resources that I have and make it personal to me.  I'm looking forward to adding to the wreath, so much so that when I'm away for a couple of days I'm taking yarn, book and hook with me together with my knitting (on second sock of my cable socks now).

Yesterday I had the opportunity of going on a coach trip to Bath to see the Christmas market there.  I hadn't intended to go but I took the place of someone who unfortunately had to drop out. It was a good trip with friends and it was a pleasant time wandering around the city which I really enjoyed.
I think it might have been Jane Austin who said if one was tired of Bath they were tired of life (or something like that - I'm not great on literature!). Its always good to go there.

And we had to drink mulled wine!

A November Furtle

Running a little late as November seemed to flash by and now in the second day of December!  November is a busy month with birthdays (including mine last week on Thanksgiving Thursday).

I've started on two new projects in November, one is a new pair of socks (what, another pair!).  I had the yarn since February from Giddy Aunt yarns which has a bit of Stellina sparkle and used this to make Winwick Mum's Easy Cable socks.  It does look lovely

I have gone past the heel shaping which is shown above and I had got down as far as the toe shaping when I realised I had more stitches on one needle than the other.  A fair bit of un-knitting back to the instep gusset to make sure I decreased back to the right number of stitches before re-knitting the foot. I didn't show the cabling, which is on the front of the sock.

I'm using a stitch marker to keep track of the number of rows before doing the cable, there's a cable front and a cable back on this sock.  I'm on a coach trip tomorrow so there will be plenty of knitting time to get more done.

Last week I started a sewing project. - Luna Lapin.  I bought the book months ago from The Works and meaning to have a go at making, when I saw that Cool Crafting had kits for sale to make the rabbit when I was at Yarndale.  The kit includes everything, even needles, pins and thread.  It would also have come with the stuffing too but I had plenty of that at home.

I've cut out and got as far as making the ears and attaching the fabric feet to the legs but seems she will be fun to sew.

I've started to plan projects for the New Year as I've been very tempted by Lucy of Attic 24's new Crochet A Long starting in January called the Dahlia blanket.  The blanket will have a home when finished as my daughter Sarah will have it.  And naughty Facebook had a suggested post called Knit in a Box, a knitting subscription box.  I didn't sign up for that but I did see a past box on their website that had a Stylecraft pattern and yarn but it was out of stock.  I found out what number the pattern was and that and some yarn went into my Wool Warehouse basket too!  I wanted to make a red cardigan and I liked the style too, which has patterning down the sleeves.  I'll show another time.

The December madness of Christmas shopping and getting ready for the big day has started.  I made a Christmas cake yesterday, so that's a start.  Meanwhile I am linking up to Mini Archie's Furtle Around the Blogosphere.

I hope you have a bit of crafty time amongst all the Christmassy stuff.