Zen and the art of crochet

Hello lovelies, how are you? Had a good week so far? We have been so fortunate here in the South of England these past 2 days, the sun has been shining in all it's glory. I love it when everyone peels back all their winter layers and the feeling of being care free in the sunny breeze, it really confirms that summer is truly on it's way ;0)

Yesterday I went for a cycle along the coast after work in the afternoon on my new bicycle that my beautiful husband bought for me, it was glorious and so lovely to ride a bike that works!

The sea was calm and very inviting, I saw a few very brave people swimming and the smell of BBQ's in the air was so summery xox

There were some gorgeous old boats and beach huts along the way ...

Tangled fisherman's nets

Such beautiful sea side colours

I Had to stop in St.Leonards-on-Sea for some tea and cake which was scrummy, gluten free and almond based. I also spotted a newly printed guidebook for St.Leonards-on-Sea and Hastings which talks about all the rich history of these places and the modern day attractions and festivals etc. that happen throughout the year. A few lovely events to look forward to xox



Now for some (promised from the last post) zen hooky reveal...



Ta da......

This very easy and simple Lotus flower bracelet that I hooked up was inspired from a lovely new blog I discovered via ravelry called Creative Yarn and and the pattern can be found here.

You could make this up in any wool or cotton and embellish it with fun buttons or sequins if you like? I wore it to work today and a few people gave me a compliment or 2 which is always fun.

So maybe this has inspired you to make a quick bracelet for yourself or someone else, it's a straight forward pattern and super fast to hook up and I think looks quite impressive xox

Well, that's me for the next few days, Alice's school broke up today and I have some time off with her this Easter holiday. I'll be blogging about what we get up to no doubt!

Just before I go I would like to say welcome to all the new followers who pop in to my blog and read my yabberings, I do try and visit your blogs too, great that we can share our love of life ad inspiration over the net. Thank you also for all your generous comments, I love 'em xox

 Hope the sun is shining where you are, until next time toodle pip xox

Mama love

Did you all have a great weekend? It flew past here, soooo much to doooooo and so little time! I've always believed in what I call the "University of Life" and I have so much I want to learn and embrace and do but too few hours in the day and oh yes, work! I must count my many blessings though and am fortunately in a very interesting field of work (nutrition and dietetics) which is ever changing and brings all sorts of new challenges xox

Well, here in the UK it was mothering Sunday yesterday and I was thoroughly spoilt by my beautiful girl, Alice who is now 10 and 1/2 (don't forget the half mum!) all supported by my love, Andy of course. Can I be indulgent and show you what I received?

OK then.... it started with these....

All being arranged into one of my favourite glass vases Andy bought for me a couple of year's ago in a French Antique market in Dijon.

Oh I am partial to a tulip or two xox

Then came the cards with such sweet words of wonder from my girl xox

Thank you my petal your are so enchanting xox

Then came the piece de resistance, something more beautiful than I could ever have expected, something handmade over the past month at weekly after school art class

A mosaic key holder!

I love love love it Alice, such retro colours!

She managed to keep it secret all this time and I am overjoyed with it for so many reasons, not only is it functional but it's made with her love, skill and beauty xox

It will replace this piggy which my Sister gave me many moons ago, about 15 years now. Thank you Ingrid for my piggy which has been very useful in helping me to not lose my keys.

I also had tea and toast in bed and a scrummy dinner made for me. On top of all that I got to spend a long while skyping my mum in South Africa which is always a delight and brings joy to my heart that I can celebrate what an incredible woman she is x

OK, before this gets all too gushy I'll show you what's on the needles and hook at the moment.

I started knitting this little jumper I found over at Aesthetic Nest's blog here, it's a Lion Brand pattern which can be downloaded for free if you register with them and I have had my eye on it for a while now as I grow more and more confident with lacier knitting projects. The other deciding factor for me is that it was branded EASY so that made me happy :0) The pattern can be found here

I have started knitting it for little B who will be 1 in June, she is one of my colleagues beautiful children. I'm using the pretty pink merino anti-tickle yarn I showed you in my last post and it's quick and fun so far..... wait till I get to the lacy bit though!

Did you spot the pink vintage needles? Oh they are so comfortale to knit with, I don't know why, maybe it's because they are more bendy and not so rigid than the metal ones?



Some more granny hooky business happened too and then can I admit I felt a wee bit bored ..... Thisis my BIG granny hooky WIP which will be worked on slowly but gradually for next winter, but in the meantime I needed some instant gratification (greedy am I not!) and started these...

 All will be revealed very soon I promise x

Wishing you all...

I spy with my little eye

The need for some sorting out of my mossy pebble collection from our beach

Some outdoor washing to dry with my new citrus zing pound shop pegs

Some growth in Alice's seeded wild flower pot

Some more hooky business this weekend

A ripe avocado to be eaten (yummy)

Rainbows being created in our dining room (ooh and a spider web outside too :0)

A cowl of mohair madness (+ headless me... and wierd looking chin!)

Little person in our house going green and needing this badge to be sewed onto her backpack

Thai green curry to be cooked this weekend

Some new merino anti-tickle yarn.... what is it with me and pink at the moment?

Alice's sleeping companions all tucked up on her (unmade!) bed together, Scamper, Rose and Bashful.... so sweet to see how she arranges them in the morning "so they won't be lonely mum"

Some dying Daffodils...oooooh I've just remembered it's Mother's day here in the UK on Sunday... maybe I'm in for a treat?

It's been one mad busy working week for me and I plan to wallow in that friday feeling now.

Wishing you all a dreamy weekend xox

Mid-week Meanderings

Hello, greetings to all of you, welcome to all those who have just found my ramblings, pleased to meet you all xox

I love it when I can pick flowers from my own garden, well, court-yard garden to be precise. I can only grow flowers and vegetables in pots but that's fine, I manage to grow a decent amount of veg / salad and flowers to make little posies and pop into my old bottles I collect and place them all around the house. The above picture is of some of my garden pot grown beauties that Alice picked on Sunday and she knows what pleasure they give me and I hope her and Andy too.

So, how is your mid-week so far? I've had one mad month of all my insurances coming to an end at the end of March, my car MOT and tax and 101 other "grown up" things to do. I've always said I wasn't very good at being a grown up and just hate anything to do with pensions, tax, insurance, cars etc and my lovely husband Andy is most tolerant with my stubbornness and generally does all the investigating, calculating and negotiating which I am eternally grateful for. He does make me smile at how thrifty he is and refuses to pay anyone more money than is necessary. I definitely agree with him but must say that I am a little naughty and tend to bury my head and not look into cheaper insurances etc. but this makes us a good partnership I think :0)

This Weeks lesson for a certain 10 year old started on Saturday when I found myself nagging on Saturday morning about the lack of discipline in picking her clothes up from the floor! I wasn't an angel growing up but I don't recall developing this bad habit... so Alice and I came to a handshaking agreement that if I sewed her a washing bag for her to hang on her door handle she would promise to pick her clothes up and put those for washing in the bag and any others would be neatly folded and placed back in her drawers / wardrobe. 

This is what was created up in our attic (which we call the snug, where I sew and she paints and we're generally creative / chill out together.... No boys allowed thank you very much daddy!)

Really easy peasy sewing of a rectangle, I hand stitched the seam to thread the pretty ribbon through and hey presto a washing bag for all those dirties and once it's full she gives to me to pop in the washing machine. A lovely case of "How to train your 10 year old" !!! her enthusiasm for picking up clothes off her floor has never been greater, lets hope the habit lasts :0) ...teenage years here we come!

"All good bags have a badge on mummy" Oh OK then I replied xox 

Thank you for all your comments on my lovely vintage knitting needle find in my last post. I had to put those 4mm pink ones to the test ASAP and found them so comfortable to knit with, smooth, silky and easy with some Debbie Bliss DK yarn. I planned to make a 'mug hug'  from a pattern I saw in one of my knitting magazines I indulged in last month and I wanted to teach myself a couple new knitting stitches too which I was pleased to master but when it came to hugging any of my mugs this baby was not complying ( conclusion = we only have fat mugs in this house, hee hee) and then I saw the perfect jar that needed a hug...  one of my jam jars that I store needles, scissors, tape measures etc etc in.

Here it is... ta da!

No chilly hooking / knitting implements in this house thank you very much! They are as snug as a mug hug.

Well that brings me to the end of this post and I will say cheerio and wish you all a peaceful rest of the week.

I will end, showing you a little peek at some granny square fingerless gloves that I hooked up for my friend Janice's sister who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. Unfortunately her and her 4 teenage children lost everything in the earth quake and devastation that hit Christchurch last month. Janice asked me if I could make her sister, Anne a pair of fingerless gloves( basic pattern found here) as she is the kind of person who always looks after others more than herself and with Autumn approaching she thought it would be lovely for Anne to have something for herself. It's been a privilege and real pleasure to make these and it's the tiniest thing I could do. Sending love across the world to all those people trying to re-build their lives xxx

Sweet charity

Good Morning Sweet People.

Please don't be put off by my toes! I was uuumming and aaaahing as to whether this photo might make you all run away but I decided that hopefully my very first attempt at ripple crochet over a year ago might make you stay a while. It's a cotton bath mat that I rippled away and I must say it's a little treasure of mine as it was in the early days when I was following on-line tutorials to help me go beyond the granny square so I am quite fond of this little bath mat.

It was also a time when I thought you could get away with being lazy and just snip snip snip the ends off without sewing them in to your crochet. Needless to say I have long learnt my lesson in being a lazy hooking girl!

Did you spot something else (other than my poorly out of practice painted toes) in the above photo?

 Hello vintage needles

Thank you Macmillan Charity shop for providing these for me to purchase at 20p a pair, they have gone to a good home I promise and oh to think of who used these needles, what they have knitted over the years. I am a romantic and nostalgia makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Knitting needles I LOVE you xox

Hello, what's this?

Pyrex!

Isn't it the sweetest little bowl (50p)?

Andy sure don't think so and advised me that it needs to promptly leave the house! Alice thinks "it's gross mummy, I'm on Dad's side" 

So what do you lovelies say ?

I will admit that I was charmed by the floral pattern and also wasn't sure about the whole pyrex joy but I have been coming round to the idea after following the lovely Flora and Purl blog which you can find here

She is a great collector of nostalgic Pyrex xox

And out of the corner of my eye I spotted this

Oh, hello Emu snowball, nice to meet you, I know a little girl who would love to knit you xox

At £1.00 I wasn't complaining and in fact felt a little guilty. My way of dealing with this is to donate my next spring clean charity bag to the Macmillan shop.

I'm not sure about you but I tend to try and give my charity shop bags to certain charities and I forget about how many more need our goods.

Long live sweet charity (shops) xox

I'll leave you with a little photo of 1 picked Auricula flower from Alice's art teacher's garden, they are so beautiful. Alice plans to do a little watercolour of this flower this weekend.

Blessings and sweet memories to you all xox