Projects - old and new.

I don't know about you but I always seem to have several projects on the go at once! And even when I get that sense of satisfaction and delight at having finished one it doesn't necessarily spur me on to finish others. I have pondered this over time: I used to think that it was a not-so-good thing, that I am a starter not a finisher, that I lack perseverance etc.

But I have now come to the conclusion that it is actually more about having different projects for different times. So, there are things I can work on while watching TV and others that I can't because they require more concentration.
There are small projects, like the flowers for my Flower Garden Blanket,

which travel well if I am on the move or away from home.


But once a project gets to a certain size, it really becomes too big to take around to be done on the move.

 I find it easier to take a hooky project out and about than a knitting one usually, mainly because of the size of the needles.

Also, and importantly, creating something with your hands is NOT just a practical thing! It's an emotional/spiritual experience too and some people just don't realise that. So, I need a range of projects to work on because what I decide to do at a given time depends on my mood and what I feel inspired to do. The truth is I LOVE starting AND finishing projects! Both are EXCITING! However, what I do in between starting and finishing is dependent on a lot of factors - and I am ok with that!

So, having finished a couple of projects in recent days, like my Rainbow Ripple Cot Blanket, yesterday I started a new one - my Rainbow Ripple Pram/Stroller blanket. A smaller version of the original one, just the right size for a crib, Moses basket, car seat or pram/ stroller blanket - and small enough for Little Peeps to carry around as a comforter, as they so often want to do!

I did this much watching TV last night......

 Because it's so much smaller it shouldn't take too long to finish this one - and I do so love rippling!

I've also set myself a target to finish another small pram blanket that I started AGES ago, when away from home for several months caring my lovely Mum. At that time, having something creative do with my hands was so important and therapeutic for me, even if I didn't have much spare time. So I got out some of my Mum's unused yarns and made a couple of small blankets. This is the one I still need to finish......

It's just simple, traditional Granny Squares in a turquoise green and pale pink which I am crocheting together with double crochets on the right side, which gives a 3D ridged effect, like hedges between fields.

And then I have a knitting project to finish.......

This is the back of what will be a one of my Hoodies - a hooded, double-breasted duffle style coat with wooden buttons and loops, like this one but smaller. This one will be for a 6-12mths old Little Peeps. I love this yarn, which I have only been able to find online and it ships in from Turkey. I've used it before for my Baby Hoodies in vibrant colour ranges. It's a lovely, soft DK yarn, not as thick and chunky as the Aran weights I usually use for my toddler-size Hoodies, but nicer for little babies I think. This time I ordered a range of softer pastel shades and this is the first one I have used. It's the same yarn as used for this blanket

which can be found here. I have got a matching lacy patterned version of the hoodie on the go too!

So, these are the four projects, two hooky and two knitting, that I have on the go at the moment and I have PROMISED myself not to start a new one until at least one of these is finished!

We'll see how I get on with that...........

Ok, must go.... We've got visitors arriving on Monday for the week and I've got chores to do now - and a project or two to work on later!

Update: Well, I THOUGHT I had these four projects to finish - until I got my craft baskets out! Of course I had completely forgotten my unfinished Flower Garden Blanket when writing this post! So, FIVE projects to finish!! Better get to it........

Tea Cosy Make-Over

A little while ago, whilst going through my baskets, I came upon a number of unfinished projects which had been abandoned for one reason or another - usually because I have become distracted by an amazing new yarn that I just have to try! I'm sure you know THAT feeling well! We all seem to share it.

Anyway, I came across a collection of small squares that I had done to use up some left-over yarn from some baby hoodies I had knit. I had intended to make a small pram blanket with them but wasn't sure that I had enough wool - and then I got distracted by other projects.......

Well, just at the time that I found these squares I was also looking for a nice new tea cosy to cover my beautiful Royal Doulton teapot that I had started using again.

My tea cosy was looking far too shabby for such a beautiful pot!

It was then I had the thought that maybe my abandoned squares, some of which were already joined together, might be made into a new cosy. As is often the case with these fortuitous 'meant-to-be' moments, when I draped the squares over the old cosy it was clear they would be PERFECT! There were exactly enough of them, with enough wool left over to do a border around the bottom edge. 

So, I joined them together to make side seams and folded one square at the top of each side to shape the corners.




I then did several rows of double crochet around the bottom, open edge to pull the cosy in a bit to make a snug fit around the pot.

 I was quite pleased with the finished result

 except that it was a bit floppy and, with all those holes, I wasn't sure how hot it would actually keep the tea! Fortunately I had not yet thrown the somewhat shabby but still functional quilted cosy away. So I washed it and put my crocheted cover over the top!

So now I have a luxury cosy with padded liner and crochet cover!



The old cosy inside keeps the tea lovely and hot AND protects my crochet cover from getting tea stained, which means I have to wash it less often - I just throw the old cosy lining into the machine as necessary! Brilliant!

I love the fact that I have been able to recycle something old and finish an abandoned project at the same time! All in all I'm really pleased with this little make-over! I wonder what my next one might be........... cushions maybe?

Blankets Galore!

As usual I've been working on several projects at once: the Rainbow Ripple Blanket is now finished, unless I decide to do a border down the side edges!

My Flower Garden Blanket is coming along nicely........

and I've just finished two more blankets! My Autumn Gold blanket which featured in one of my very first posts



I love these colours and am really pleased with how this has turned out.


I decided to do a shell shaped border: multiple rows in each of the colours. Yarn guzzling but I like it!

I also finished this.......






which I am calling my Sherbet blanket because it reminds me SO much of the rainbow sherbet we used to get in paper bags from the little sweet shop when I was a kid! I was always fascinated by how they got it into the jars in rows of colour, just like a rainbow.

I did multiple rows of the shell border on this one too




and I started experimenting with knitting a matching hooded coat.....

I want to design an open, lacy pattern that will match the openness of the crochet

This one seems to work. I'll keep you posted on how it progresses.......

I also spent some time today re-opening my Etsy shop, which has been closed for a long time since my Mum became ill and I went to look after her and my Dad. Anyway, I have started listing my hoodies and blankets for sale again there and will be adding a page of links to my blog over the next few days if anyone is interested. For now, you can find my shop here if you want to take a look.

Well, now I'll get back to one of my projects - just can't decide which one.......

But, before I go, just have a look at my pretty little Violas that I planted a few weeks ago and mentioned in an earlier post

I just love them! They are SO cute!

Well, bye for now .......
Ok, what shall it be? Knitting or hooking? Rainbow Ripple or Flower garden? Border or no border? Decisions, decisions....

Making a difference......

Young people get a LOT of really bad press these days and, yes, SOME of it may be deserved BUT why do we as a society focus SO much on the negatives, rather than the good that is out there? This morning I went onto Facebook, which I rarely use, to catch up with some family photos and found myself following various links about an AMAZING young man Stephen Sutton  who I had previously seen on TV.  Stephen's story is incredible, inspirational and uplifting and shows us all what life is REALLY all about. I didn't realise until today that Stephen sadly passed away on May 14, when I was abroad. The world is poorer for his loss but infinitely richer for having had him in it.

Whilst Stephen was undoubtedly an exceptional young man, he is not the only young person out there who is doing their best to live a good life AND to make a POSITIVE difference but too often it's the negative stuff that is focussed on and reported. GOOD news doesn't sell papers, which is why I stopped reading them 30 years or so ago!

I invite you all to read Stephen's Story, to share it and, if you feel able, to donate here to the charity that he supported because there are lots more great young people like him out there, too many of them battling with cancer. Stephen originally set out to raise £10,000 and to date has raised almost £4 million!! His story serves to remind me that we can all make a positive difference in our own world, in countless ways on a DAILY basis and it doesn't have to cost  us ANYTHING. In fact, it GIVES us so much.......

20 years ago someone gave me the original 'Random Acts of Kindness' book by Danny Wallace, a book which sparked a world-wide movement. There is a commemorative edition which is a bit pricey but I found another less expensive little gem here. For many years my boys and I have practiced the philosophy in countless small ways on a daily basis, as have so many others around the world, and we have experienced first hand the difference it makes in our lives and in our own personal worlds, even if we are not always aware of the difference it may make to others. We have had many heart-warming experiences of connecting positively with strangers by some small act of kindness and Stephen's story serves to remind me of how the intention to live positively and to make a difference can sometimes take off and become something much bigger and transformational.  

Right, inspired and uplifted (thank you Stephen) I must go and get something done! P got back last night from a week away sailing - and has gone sailing! So, I have the rest of the day to catch up with some chores and then do some hooking later. Flower Garden blanket is coming along nicely I think......

Can't wait to get back to it, so I'll catch you later.....

A trip down Memory Lane: Grasmere.

May 22 is my dear mother Margaret's birthday. Tragically, she passed away in December 2013. A couple of weeks ago, knowing that P would be away sailing in Croatia, I decided that on her birthday I would celebrate her life in one of her very favourite places, one full of very happy memories, where she & my lovely Dad had spent many holidays with us when my now grown-up boys were very little. So I booked myself into The Bridge House Hotel in Grasmere in the heart of the UK's Lake District.

This hotel is literally next door to the cottage we used to spend those wonderful holidays in.

Both hotel and cottage back onto the babbling river, right in the centre of picturesque Grasmere, next to the bridge.

Grasmere is such a pretty place nestled in with the hills and fells all around.......

- and with it's own lake of course.





The village itself has lots to explore: lots of little shops like the very famous Gingerbread Shop,

the only place in the world where you can buy Grasmere Gingerbread, which we have been enjoying for 30 years! Although tiny, quaint and Victorian inside, with servers dressed in traditional costume, Grasmere Gingerbread is BIG business - there is ALWAYS a queue of people waiting to get in and they have now embraced modern technology so you can buy online here.

Grasmere has lots of wonderful walks and a wealth of good places to refill your tank afterwards, from hotel restaurants, bistro-style cafes, good food pubs and, of course, the traditional tea rooms - LOTS of! One of the best is right beside the bridge with an outdoor terrace at the back where you can sit beside the river on fine days.

The weather was great on Wednesday when I set off, beautifully warm & sunny, and I thoroughly enjoyed the scenic route up through the Yorkshire Dales, through Windermere and Ambleside, driving alongside Rydall Water, past Dove Cottage where the poet Wordsworth lived, and finally into Grasmere itself.

Once checked into my quaint little room over-looking the river, I wasted no time in getting out to walk, camera in hand. I followed our favourite route around the village, crossing the bridge and taking the path to St Oswald's Church. I popped inside for a few minutes undisturbed heart chat with my Mum..........

before carrying on through the churchyard where you can see the grave stones of William Wordworth and many of his family. Just beside the church yard is the Wordsworth Daffodil Garden with its pathways of commemorative stones. Prompted by my eldest son,  two years ago I had made the required donation to have a stone laid to honour my parents in their lifetime rather than after, and the whole family had spent a very special weekend together in Grasmere to celebrate Margaret's 80th birthday. Mum and Dad had known nothing about this as we had walked the path together, reading the inscriptions detailing where people were from, until Mum had stopped suddenly, pointing and shouting to Dad 'It's us, we're here!!'

She was thrilled - and that walk now has even more significance for us all.....

So, leaving the Daffodil Walk, I continued on, following the river walk which goes all the way around the village, remembering the very many times we have done it before and missing my lovely Mum and my two wonderful boys who are now all grown up and off doing their own thing.


But the babbling of the river and the singing of the birds kept me company along the way, it's just BEAUTIFUL......

And the rhododendrons all around Grasmere are just spectacular this year.

Having thoroughly enjoyed a sunny evening stroll I settled in to my little room, with the window open to hear the babbling water, for some happy hooking! Inspired by the vibrant colours of the rhododendrons, I set about making more flowers for my Flower Garden blanket....

Lots of happy hooking until tired enough to go to sleep.....

The next day, Mum's birthday, brought a complete change in the weather:  although not nearly as bad as was forecast, it was very gloomy and overcast and rain threatened. But you just can't let the weather stop you in the Lakes, so, undeterred, I donned my walking boots and Musto waterproof coat, backpack of water and snacks and set off to walk in this wonderful countryside.

Just outside the village, behind Dove Cottage I found this wonderful place - I just love it. especially the chimneys! 

Being on my own and with storms forecast, I did not venture up onto the high fells but kept to a fairly low-lying circuit around Grasmere which still had very spectacular views down the valley,

taking me through beautiful woodland

beside the River Rothay

and along the lake shore

where I captured this view of another lovely house framed by this wonderful old tree....

before coming back into the village down a pretty lane lined with yet more GORGEOUS rhododendrons!

What a beautiful garden! 





And below is the house!





This is my idea of just THE most heavenly place to live!

I so thoroughly enjoyed my 3 hour hike, despite the drizzling rain which started towards the end but just served to enhance the freshness and beautiful colours of the landscape. Another uplifting if nostalgic trip down memory lane in Grasmere..........Another one to cherish.......