February......

Two months of 2016 gone already.  It seems most of this month has been spent helping to pack up a home ready for a move this week.  Exciting times.  It has also made me look around our house at all the "stuff" we have, not sure I am ready to tackle any of it yet, but at some point in time we will move on from this house and it will be a monumental task!!  Maybe I should take a room at a time and do a cull........

February - only 6 blog posts, most of them about knitting, my milestone birthday and half term with the boys. I'm still not used to the idea of being 60 but nothing I can do about it.

A certain young lady was 2 last Monday, I should have given her a blog post, shame on me.  We spent a fun day on Friday and she stayed the night so we got to have early morning cuddles on Saturday. It's so funny, Jess loves to get into our bed for a cuddle and a story or two, unlike the boys who want to fight and make tents, regardless of the early hour!

I picked up a bargain from the charity shop last week, a whole bag containing various Brio wooden train set parts for £10, all we need to add is some straight track

Jess spent most of Friday playing with it

We also went to the park, though it was cold and windy so didn't stay too long.  Jess is growing so fast, hard to believe she is 2 and will be a big sister come May.

don't you love the "biker boots"?

The cot blanket is now finished, I am so pleased with it.

I also made Jess an outfit for World Book Day this Thursday.  Her current favourite book is Where's my Teddy by Jez Alborough.  This is what she will be wearing, a tunic loosely based on the child's sheep outfit  and a headband, using the nose and ears from a teddy bear pattern.  Hopefully she will wear it and Rachel will get some photos.

I still haven't managed to get out on the garden that much, either too cold or wet or busy, well that's my excuse.  This weekend it's the Knitting show and helping unpack boxes so no gardening,  it will keep, Easter's not that far away and 4 whole days which at the present time are free...........

Family Fun Day

It's been half term here in the UK this week, which meant I had both boys yesterday, rather than just Laurie and then the school pickup for Rufus.  What to do with them both?

Fortunately, it was a sunny day so we headed into Stamford to check out the Family Fun Day at the Arts Centre.  The theme was Space which is always a safe bet with the boys.  Lots of arts and crafts, face painting, drumming, puppets, balloons, children!!

Our first stop was the arts and crafts in the main hall where we made rockets and drew on the satellite.

We then watched the UV puppet show which was interesting, one or two I found slightly disturbing but the boys seemed ok with it, followed by cartoons, running around with their friends and generally having a fun with balloons. We queued for face painting but Laurie got bored so we abandoned that idea.

Next stop was lunch in Cafe Nero

Followed by a run around on the park, before the rain finally set in late afternoon.

All in all a good day out and free to boot, thank you Stamford Art Centre

By the way if you were wondering who made my birthday cake then Beckie now has a Facebook page - Beckie's Cake Delice, pop over and take a look at her beautiful creations and let her know what you think.

Knitting - Wip Wednesday

Good afternoon all.  Wednesday again, and half of February has gone already.  I haven't made too much progress on my feather and fan baby blanket this week as I cast on another cardigan for Jess, not that I have got much of that done either.

My birthday cake went down a storm on Facebook, especially amongst the knitters on some of the closed groups I belong to. Thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes and comments regards the cake.  I will make sure they are passed on to Beckie who made the cake.

So those Wips - the cardigan is from Sirdar pattern# 1762, a shaped bottom for added interest.  I am making the round neck version which has 4 buttons.

then the Bernat Baby Blanket, looks like I only managed about 14 rows this past week

Right, the ironing is calling and then I need to make something warming for dinner, it's so cold and grey here today. Take care and keep warm

Sod 60!!

Yesterday was my 60th birthday.  

60! I still can't quite believe it.  

When I was younger 60 was old.  

I'm told now that 60 is the new 40.  

I certainly don't feel 60 and I don't think I look 60, others may disagree!!

To help me get over the fact that I have reached the next decade, my family spoiled me rotten.  On Saturday evening Peter and the girls took me out for cocktails and dinner which was great and yesterday I got to spend the day with my wonderful grandchildren and their parents.  We had a 50's style lunch party complete with sausages on sticks, cheese and pineapple (whats not to love) and even a game of pass the parcel!!  I love to see the children's faces when they hope they won't have to let that parcel go, of course there was a gift for everyone. 

Talking of gifts this was one of mine, hence the title of the post

I also have 3 trips to look forward to -  first being a day out in London at the Knitting & Stitching show with Rachel on 5 March.  Then Chelsea Flower Show with Rebecca in May. Followed by 10 days in New York with Peter in June. See what I mean spoiled.

I had so many flowers, my sitting room looks like a florist shop, all beautiful, different.

from Rufus and Laurie

 Daffodils from Jessica

From Rebecca and Tim

From Andy & Mel

from Judy & Stephen

 Then finally....... this beautiful birthday cake made by Stu's aunt Beckie, such a talented lady.  I have tried to take photos from every angle so you can see everything on it.  Laurie was fascinated by the scissors, everything is edible..... so much sugar

The cake is a rich fruit with marzipan and the balls of yarn are chocolate truffles!!  It was a real shame to cut it.  The perfect end to a perfect day

Knitting - WIP Wednesday

I'm having fun working on this week's project.  It's a large cot blanket - large because I am using aran rather than the DK yarn on the number of stitches suggested). It's approx 52" wide so I will need to make it around 56" in length to balance it out.  

The pattern is Bernat Baby Blanket and I am using Drops Loves You 5  which is a recycled cotton.  I am loving the colour combo that I chose and fortunately so does my daughter.  I am getting 2 colour repeats from each 50 gram ball, with just an oddment left or in some cases a few each inches!  The yarn was a real bargain at 80p per ball (still available at this price on the Wool Warehouse), so I went crazy and bought 43 balls.  I plan to make a matching cushion cover for the nursery chair and have enough left over for some sun hats, face/wash cloths and ........... it will get used for something!

I also completed another hat from charity box yarn.  This one is a T-bag hat, age 2, very quick and simple.

When I'm not knitting I try to get some reading done, usually at bedtime and at weekends, when I try to get a lay-in.  I am working my way through Sweet Caress by William Boyd, an enjoyable read, one of my pile of Christmas present books.  Must get more reading done before the garden takes over.  I did manage a quick tidy up down the drive this afternoon, pleasant in the sun.  The back garden is calling, maybe a job to start tomorrow

Knitting - and there's more

Just a quick post today. I forgot these little hats when I posted the other day.  Both are 6-12 month size and knitted in a pure wool which I can't now find the band for.  Anyway that's another ball used out of my oddments box

I also finished my 2nd Gallatin Scarf yesterday, yarn used for this was Caron Simply Soft Paints in colourway Harlequin.  It goes perfectly with my new dress, well I think so, you may not!

That's it, bye for now, happy knitting