Little pleasures

Guess what? I've hung my washing on the line for the first time this year and it feels goooooood! I love sunshine  on our washed clothes and linens and having a soft breeze blow all the winter cobwebs away :0)

I've also had my little garden gnome helping me pot up some new rose bushes I bought and sew some wild flower seeds for our little courtyard garden. Alice has joined eco-club at school and is really into encouraging insect life and recycling which I am so chuffed about! (shhh...don't tell, I am a little sad she hasn't chosen knitting club yet.... oh well, there is still time and an excuse for me to carry on hooking and knitting so as to set a good example for her... hee hee that's my excuse anyway)

So should we get on with me sharing some of my little pleasures with you this sunny Saturday? Ok then, 

Little pleasure #1: a lovely little parcel was waiting for me on Thursday when I got back from work and it was my blog give-away win I received from the lovely Julie over at Swedish House, I was very happy to receive such a dotty prize, it makes me want to have a polka dot party....hmmm now that's a idea!

Little pleasure #2:

Beautiful, very fragrant daffs picked from a dear friend's allotment this week. This was my lovely friend who was given my last tea cosy and Japanese crochet flower scarf, a perfect exchange of happiness I think.

Little pleasure #3:

A heart cut out for mama by Alice from a galaxy choc wrap x

Little pleasure #4:

New magazines... pure curl up on the couch decadence

I like the look of these upcycling ladies who have called themselves The Skip Sisters (very clever indeed) and their website can be found here with a bit about them, their gallery and links. 

Little pleasure #5:

It's true what they say ~ there's 'nuffin like a puffin ~ I bought these on Amazon at half price and just adore them. I have always been a secret stasher of postcards and this little box of 100 have given me and I'm sure will continue to give me immense pleasure. My inspiration for buying these came from Sue at The Quince Tree who loves puffin publications.

Last but not least a little hint of things to come to this blog...

Little pleasure #6:

Have a pleasurable weekend where ever you are xox

Needing some inspiration

Did you all have a lovely, blissful weekend? I hope so xox  

It was a busy but lovely one for us, we wallowed in Friday night, went to give almost 1 year old Annabelle her present of home knitted bunting (her birthday is tomorrow so it won't be opened until then) and then after Alice's ballet jetted to Brighton to pick up Papa and spend the night at Granny's house. Sunday was gorgeous with sunnyshine and blue skies and heavenly warmth from the earth. These last 2 days have been so heavenly too, I feel a real spring in my step when it FEELs like spring.

Not sure about your but all my senses need to be stimulated to evoke a feeling / memory. So not only am I greedy for seeing buds appearing, flowers awakening and scents wafting. I need to feel the sun, smell the warmth, hear the birds chirping and taste the joy of spring :0)

A little tiny bit of retail therapy was done for a quick 1hour trek into Brighton town on late Sunday morning and a little visit to here was called for...

Have you got a Cath Kidston shop near you ? I have one 45 minutes drive north of me in Tunbridge Wells and 1 hour drive away to the West of me in Brighton and it's not that often I get a chance to potter in one of her lovely shops. I tend to buy things that are super reduced in the sales or small bits and bobs for adding to presents and sometimes I come away a little inspired (sorry CK but especially after seeing some of the prices and being a wee happy hooker myself)

So firstly I spotted these crocheted tea cosies for a cool £20 !
Love love love pink and green together, not sure if I could replicate the parrot but some flowers might do.

  
And then there were these for £18 ! Such pretties for the spring time me thinks.

I think it's time to get my hook out again and see what I can come up with ?

And then there were these gorgeous soft cotton waistcoats in delicious colours, so very beautiful but so very much too money for my purse at a cool £68, it did however remind me of the very creative and clever Julia Crossland who has been inspired by a picture of this waistcoat in last month's Country Living magazine and is creating her very own version! She hope's to make a pattern too so I am watching this space with bated breathe xox

One more

If your purse can afford it, you can of course purchase it here

We did make a little purchase for a little someone called Alice who has been pleading for a CK umbrella for sometime now and she is best pleased with her new acquisition and is hoping for rain.....charming :0)

In the meantime, I'm knitting my very first lacey beanie hat which is knitted lace for beginners really as it's something I've wanted to try for ages but just could not find a simple easy pattern to understand until I found this one. It's not very
complicated, just easy for building confidence in all those psso's !!!

I'm using a teal colour of alpaca 4ply yarn which is super soft and will surely keep those last winter chills away before we can go out without layers on (can't wait...layers drive me crazy).

Hopefully this will be finished soon before I attempt a crochet tea cosy and I'll let you see my efforts at lacey knitting.

Hope you all have an inspiring mad march hare week xox

Friday Bliss

Hello dearest fellow bloggers!

Have you had a good week? It's been a groovy kind of week here whilst Andy has been away, Alice and I have had such fun together doing all the great things mums and daughters can do. I know I go on about his sometimes, but I really do still have to pinch myself at how incredibly fortunate and blessed I am to have a beautiful daughter who is a true wonder and great company too xox

She made me this heart last night and it was waiting for me on my pillow as I climbed into bed... love the colours Alice x

Ok, enough of me being sentimental... I am going to be the worst blubbering mother when she reaches big milestones in the next 10+ years of her little life. Amazing how history repeats itself, I guess it's my turn to go through this process.

So.... back to the subject at hand.                                Friday b*l*i*s*s* , what a divine feeling after the working week. Don't get me wrong, I'm one of the fortunate one's to love my job and get a kick out of helping people in my daily work BUT nothing can take away that Friday feeling. I wallow in it to be honest, I take a few minutes out when I get  home to close my eyes and just embrace the joy of life and what we can do in our lovely family weekend time together. I have been known to do the dance of joy if I can use this as a confessional! {dance of joy = me jumping about in a silly way... poor Alice, note to self: I will must stop this habit before she becomes a teenager!}

We have a couple of routine weekend activities like Alice's ballet on a Saturday and church on a Sunday which gives us soul food for the week ahead, but other than that it's open sesame as to what happens.

Tonight we will be couch potatoes with a DVD and popcorn (home-made of course) and tomorrow morning we will be visiting a little new friend who will be 1 next week and will be the receiver of my 'mopping up yarn stash' mission I seem to have found myself on before I allow myself to indulge in buying more yarn. So, do you remember this photo from the last post?

You may very well have guessed that I was knitting little triangles for some baby bunting

A perfect little project to use up bits and bobs of yarn that you may have left over from other projects. It's also such a satisfying thing to do as it's quick and really involves very basic knitting skills. I casted on 30 stitches of cotton, merino, cotton wool mixes , anything i had that needed using up really and knitted 2 rows in garter stitch and then decreased by 1stitch at the beginning of each row until I was left with 1 stitch and pulled the yarn through to finish it off.

To finish these off I sewed the ends in and made a few decorative centres for the bunting flags...

I had great fun doing these and eventually joined them all together with one long crochet chain made from a natural  rowan tweed wool I had left over from one of my T-cosy's.

Not a brilliant ta-dah! photo as I didn't have time to hang it up before work this morning and I was afraid that the sun would have disappeared before I got home! I still need to add a couple of buttons on to finish it completely this evening. To really show it off a little to all of you who like this kind of thing I made a wee little mosaic on Picasa...

Yay, I really hope baby Annabel likes this and that it brings a little fun and joy into her new bedroom xox

All that leaves me to do is say happy weekend to all of you, and welcome to some new followers I've noticed arriving.  Thank you for letting me indulge my frivolity with all of you xox

While Papa is away...

Well hello there... it feels like I have been way for some time, that's half term for you! Anyway, today, we are back to 'normal' with school and work and packed lunches and homework and housework !?! and just general routine that is defined by time ticking away.

Of course it's not all that regimented when we are "let loose" to be free range in our own time away from the drabness of routine and institutions, such that sometimes we feel wilder than ever.......

like taking a ride on a vintage bike to a place we've never been to before

or a crazy dip in a freezing ocean with some 1950's goggles :0)

The moral of my story is a simple one, feel the fear and do it anyway xox

Alright, I'll come back down to earth now! I do so enjoy in embracing the extra-ordinary in life and fortunately I have a superb daughter who indulges me in being a little kooky at times (her words not mine!). I hope you have all enjoyed the past weekend and have had a chance for a little kookiness yourself?

Yesterday, we said farewell to Andy aka Papa for the next 6 days as he has packed his bags and gone on a business trip to Copenhagen and Berlin... oh boy how very much Alice and I wanted to climb into his bags and go to these most fabulous cities with him. He was rather excited and has planned this trip so he has a few little pockets of free time to do some exploring and indulging in local cuisine and beer no doubt! So...... while Papa's away it's a GIRLS ONLY zone here in chez L is for Love and demands a great degree of attention to planning our "free range" time!

We'll do a little of this....

and this...

and lots of this...

Some of this...

and of course lots of this...

and I think we will take a trip to the movies which we do very occasionally but somehow this girly week will be a perfect time to make an exciting mid-week activity for us :0)

It's going to be a fun week and even though we will miss Papa oh so very much we can celebrate and enjoy having a memorable time together (and not having to pick up smelly socks too! hee hee).

I hope you have a marvelous week ahead and get to do something extra-ordinary/wild/delightful/pleasurable in your free time. I'll say cheerio for now and leave you with a photo of my current left over yarn stash 'mop up' WIP which I'll show all you lovelies in the next few days. Thank you for your comments, thank you for indulging me in this pastime and thank you for your wonderful inspiring blogs xox

Rabbit hole

Hello my fellow bloggers I thought I'd just share one of my all time favourite '60's songs with you since I have fallen down the rabbit hole this week with my 10 year old Alice appearing in her local performing arts school production of Alice in Wonderland.

I have had the joy of chaperoning as I normally do in February half term and seeing her as a frog footman for musical theatre and whiting fish for her ballet is always a glorious moment of what a blessing we have in her. She really loves these productions and has now asked if she can join another class ... jazz dancing next term :0)

We are really excited to watch the show tonight with one set of grandparents, how lovely it would be if my mum and dad could be "beamed up" from South Africa just for tonight!

In amongst all the costumes, make-up, hair and general excitement (and stress in pulling it off with 180+ children from 5 - 18 years old) all good chaperone's remember to take this with them....

Can you see my needles sticking out my bag?

A bit of click click clacking of needles is essential to calm the nerves in-between scenes and children's lost and found parts of their costumes!

I sure am looking forward to being relieved of my duties and sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the show from the auditorium tonight.

Thank you for visiting my blog, thank you for your lovely friendships and comments, much appreciated xox

Hope you all have little sunshine moments over the next few days.