Little views of happy

Hello Lovelies :-)

I'm rather excited about a little parcel I received this morning, 

I couldn't resist the Drops sale over at The Wool Warehouse

 These beauties were inside...

Aren't they gorgeous?

I have plans a brewing for these oh so soft plump lovelies....

The ice blue skein will be lovingly crafted into a shawl for a beloved family member

And the others will become shawly things for me

...I think I'll start on the green :-)

*************

So there I was standing in the kitchen taking photos of the lace weight yarn when I thought how about showing you my happy cottage kitchen. I've always argued myself out of it before now as it's never pristine. I'm not the most tidy of people and to top the untidyness off, we have a solid fuel Rayburn... this means lots of sooty dust!

So, shall we start the little tour?

Our home it's full of things that reminds me of people 

- loved ones, both family and friends and others that remain in my heart that I can no longer see.

Creations from when my children were small and newer ones by Little Miss and Young Master...our beloved grandchildren.

Washed recycled jars drying and waiting for harvest jams and chutneys.

Lime pickle fermenting - my wonderful, caring son in law will be delighted :-)

And finally just to dispel all romantic notions.... my next job is.....

...sweeping :-)

Ok my lovelies, thank you so much for visiting and I wish each one you a wonderful weekend and half term.....  

Yay! I will have Lovely Husband home for a week :-) :-) :-)

Blessings to you all

Ttfn Tracey

xxxxxxxx

The gift... Ta dah!

Hi there!

I know there is more rain coming but right now I am just revelling in the sunshine.

I've had a walk around the garden picking daffodils for my neighbour.

I can hear you saying... 'Hurry up and get on with the ta dah!'

But first I really must thank all the lovely people who post comments and send me emails, I really appreciate every single one and they really make my day. Thank you! It's lovely to be making new friends :-)

Now for the ta dah... Actually, I'm a bit nerwous about it...but here goes...

Ta dah...!

It was rather windy

...and waiting patiently for the birthday girl to arrive...

My friend loves it so much but in the excitement of present giving I forgot to take a photo of the shawly scarfy delight on her person... actually, I think she would rather I forgot that!

I used this pattern by Kirsten Finlay, but not strictly. I would advise winding the yarn twice around the needle when making the first 'yarn forward' increase at the beginning of each increase row otherwise the sides are too tight and very difficult to block. I found  making that stitch loose was not enough and had to undo the work and start again.

I used this yarn in the colour way named Tamaya which I purchased from my

local yarn shop .

I previously made this pattern in Stylecraft Senses yarn in the Eucalyptus colour way and to be honest I preferred using that yarn for this pattern.

What other crafty things have I been up too...?  Well, my ripple blanket/throw is growing slowly but I am really enjoying it.

I've made several more dishcloths which I am going to sell to raise money for our village church - you can see a glimpse of the church in the background of the top photo.  I'm just selling them locally for now.  Actually, I gave my friend a dishcloth too but she said it was too nice and would use it as a cloth under a plant pot!  I had made a round one and edged it in pink :)

There's a couple of other things I'm trying to make for fundraising but I've not quite there yet.

I am very relieved to have finished the shawly scarfy thing as I missed being able to crochet.  I have been knitting since I was about 4 years old so that's nearly 50 years.  I have loved knitting but at the moment I LOVE CROCHET MORE!  Sorry for shouting but it was an excited shout, an almost 'I can't believe it' shout.

I think I may show you a couple of my knitty makes from the past in my next post... a shawl and a batwing jumper.  Of course there are many, many other knitty makes I've made but methinks you will like to see these two particular garments.

And what is my constant companion doing... need we ask!?

...and here is a peek off one of our window sills...

Well, it's been lovely chatting with you over our cups of tea, [mine is an Earl Grey], but the Rayburn is getting hungry so I must go feed her.

Bye for now my lovelies, have a fabulous week,

<3 Tracey xx



Hello and welcome

Hello lovely people and a very big welcome to my first ever post!

I would love you to join me on this new adventure.

My husband and I live in a small thatched cottage in the south west of the U.K. and have two grown up children and grandchildren. My constant companion is my little terrier, Bertie.

So, shall I jump straight in? Ok then.... to be honest I did learn how to do a simple granny square when I was a teenager back in the (mumble mumble). I made a tea cosy for my Nana that I have now inherited and it hangs at the end of my kitchen dresser......

Please excuse the dust!  And apologies for the not so great photos; I took them with my tablet.

The little jug hanging on my mini shelf (out of view)  was also Nana's. The polka dot mat was gifted me by my friend Gwyn and comes from the U.S.  The dresser itself is an Irish one and I'm sure will feature in the future.

Back to crochet.... One thing I had never got my head or hands around was how to hold the hook and yarn correctly. I awkwardly held both in my right hand... I know, I know....but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't hold the yarn properly. Recently I've had a lot more time on my hands so I made my mind up, I was going to succeed. I thought I would make it easy for myself and make something small that didn't demand perfection... a dish cloth. I succeeded. Yes! (But I now have enough cloths to last me about ten years.) I cannot tell you how delighted I am because through persevering I now not only find it comfortable to crochet but I am becoming obsessed with hooky creativity. Yippee!

The furthest one was my first with very wonky sides and the closer one is my latest. Lol... I can't believe I'm showing you a picture of dishcloths but I figured if you wanted to be on this journey with me I really should show my tentative first steps. I have made three cushion covers too but they can wait 'til next time :-)

Thanks so much for joining me and do pop over again.

As my Nana has featured I will use her most commonly used form of goodbye....

ttfn

(ta ta for now)

P.S. If you wish to leave a comment I would very much appreciate it. Thank you.