Sweet treats

Jess and I spent the morning baking today.  She loves to help and today was chuffed when she managed to cut and line the tins with baking parchment all be herself.  She likes to help weigh out the ingredients too, though that does get a bit messy.  I actually think she spills the sugar on purpose.  We made a Coffee & Walnut sponge cake, Peanut Butter cookies, Oat and Sultana cookies, and Snickerdoodles (double batch).  The kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off at points.  Not to be left out Peter made a batch of Rice Krispy toffee and marshmallow treats. 

Jess went home with a share of all the cookies and treats, she told me she was going to hide them so that her daddy didn't eat them all!  The rest are packed in the car for our trip.

Whilst I'm waiting on Laurie trying his sweater vest and deciding if he wants another, I have started a Sonnensegel Scarf.  The mohair element has been languishing in my stash for goodness knows how long (never knew what to use it for), and actually thinking about it the 4ply yarn may have been there nearly as long too .  Anyway, I now have a use for it all, I've admired this scarf/shawl for a while, having seen them on Instagram.  It's also very portable right now, so ideal for sticking in my bag.

We got quite excited earlier, at least a dozen drops of rain fell, its looking like our 80% chance of a storm this evening has passed us by and no more rain in the forecast.  Poor garden

Wishing you all a great weekend whatever you are doing

Knitting - Dane Shawl and some knitwear in action

I am certainly getting through some knitting at the moment.  Put it down to the dark winter nights and wet weekends that keep me out of the garden.  That's my excuse anyway.

I finished my Dane Shawl before weekend and have managing to now get it blocked.  I am so happy with the result.  This for me was a challenge.  I normally avoid lace patterns that are charted, preferring written instructions.  When I saw this shawl on Ravelry I knew I would have to get over that and give it a go.  I won't say it was a breeze but once I got going I found the chart easy to follow, just not ideal for TV watching.  The yarn I used was a gift from my friend Joan - Sincere Sheep Silken Fingering - the 500yd skein was enough to do 4 pattern repeats with just a tiny amount left over.  This yarn blocked beautifully, the only problem with it was that I got green fingers whilst knitting, which was odd, as when I soaked it prior to blocking the water was clear!!?

So here is my Dane Shawl

Now onto the knitwear in action.  We had all the grandchildren here this weekend and I was more than happy to see them attired in their warm winter woolies.  The pattern for the boys sweater is this, Jess' this this one and Rachel's is the Ellen Cardigan

Knitting - 1st WIP of 2016

Good morning/afternoon and welcome to day 2 of 2016.  The trees are down, the house is tidy and I have been having fun with a new project.

This project is for Rachel, she requested a fair isle yoked cardigan and we trawled through Ravelry looking for ideas.  Finally deciding on the Ellen Cardigan by Amy Christoffers

The yarn I am using is Stylecraft Special Aran with Wool for the main, and just oddments of aran weight yarn for the fair isle. I love working top down as it allows you to make adjustments as you go (Rachel is very tall) and also allows for the fun bit right at the start.

There have been a couple of project that I finished in the run up to Christmas but haven't shared on here.

The first was for Rebecca, she wanted a short sleeved but long chunky cardigan, again we went to Ravelry for the source and found this pattern - Best West from Drops  knitted in Drops Andes.  Rebecca decided whilst trying it on along the knitting process that she wanted the neck line to be round rather than a collar and to leave off the pockets (they'd only get filled with tissues and odds and ends from the boys).  This was the end result.  Rachel says the photos don't do it justice but as yet I don't have any of Rebecca wearing it.

There was just enough yarn left over for a matching hat which I made up from a basic hat pattern using the pattern repeat from the cardigan

Next whilst awaiting the navy yarn to arrive I whipped up this little number for Jessica.  Her first jumper/sweater. The pattern is from Sirdar's Secret Garden pattern book and called Design A.  It have a flower design around the bottom but the yarn I used doesn't really allow it to show up. The yarn used was King Cole Twist which is an aran weight.

These photos were taken in bad light so don't really do it justice either

I have lots of plans and projects in mind for the new year.  One being to try and work through some of my stash.  Lots of it has been hanging around for a while and should really be used.  I have several cardigan patterns in mind for myself.  I have yarn for a cot blanket (needed for May).  I'd also like to make another Ten Stitch Blanket, no idea who for or what colourway, but they are such a fun project to do.

So there you have it a new year, a new project and a whole fresh year laid out with no firm plans as yet....... the possibilities are endless

Knitting - Blish

I am currently working on a garment for me.  How many times have I said that, then I get along a bit and frog? This one seems to be going well and hopefully I will stay the course.

The pattern is Blish, it's a free one that I found on Ravelry via Pinterest.  Don't you just love all the sources of knitting info/patterns these days?

The yarn I am using is an aran weight tweed effect which came from either Lidl or Aldi its an 80/20 mix, and lovely and soft not scratchy. Giant 400gram balls makes it not too portable but I manage!

I took these photos on Sunday so I am further on but you can get the general idea.

Hoping that this poncho style sweater suits me and doesn't make me look huge, if so, I'm sure someone will take it off my hands.

Rachel and I are off to the Knitting and Stitching show on Saturday, I'm sure I will have something to show you when we get back even if it's just yarn for sweaters for the boys.

2013 is nearly done....

...time to reflect on the past year.

As regular readers will know, there are several things that loom large in Granny's World;  our wonderful grandsons, knitting and gardening. The garden seems to take a bit of a back seat these days, but will always be there even if its not a well tended as it should be. To see our garden through the year check out "Our Garden" page.

Our summer garden

Another love is to travel, and we were very fortunate this year to spend some time with two lovely ladies and their husbands. You can read about our travels this year and our trip to the USA on my "We love to travel" page or here, here and here.  We are hoping to be able to welcome them all to the UK in 2014.

Joan's view 

Then on to our family, the grandsons continue to delight us, it is wonderful to watch them grow and this year Laurie has turned from a baby into a boisterous toddler!!  The words are starting to tumble from him and he continuously makes us laugh.  Rufus, a much more sensitive child, continues to grow into an amazingly intelligent little boy (can you tell I am very biased), he has a great memory and continuously surprises us.  I am fortunate to see them every 2 weeks or more if possible and they stay here often much to the delight of Pops, their number one fan.

In June we learnt that we were to be grandparents again in 2014. This time our youngest daughter Rachel and her partner Stuart are having a baby in February or early March at the latest, to say we are excited would be an understatement as this one will live just up the road rather than a 45 minute drive away.

In April we said goodbye to my Uncle Ken - my father's elder brother.  My parents and in-laws are still with us, if not always in the best of health, we continue to enjoy their company.

Knitting as always, is a huge part of my life.  Something I do most days!  I belong to several knitting/craft groups and have made some very talented friends, we knit for charity and our families and to see some of my work check out my "Knitting Projects" page, I do try to keep it updated.  I join in several blog related 'show and tells' - Tami Amis (for WIP Wednesday & FO Friday), Yarn Along (for WIP's on a Wednesday and Ginny also writes an amazing blog about her ever expanding family and their life, great photographs), Frontier Dreams (for crafting on Tuesday).

Blogging and the internet in general, some would say a waste of time, and whilst I still have an old school mobile phone thus resisting the urge to be online all day, I do spend valuable time interacting online.  To be honest I have made so many new friends it can't be considered a waste and it also allows me to keep up with friends much easier than any letter could do.  I do however miss that long awaited letter dropping on the mat. I have pages on Facebook one for me and one for the blog - Granny's World, be sure to stop by and LIKE the page, leave a comment, I love to know what you think.  The blog continues to attract a few comments, more I find on a Wednesday or Friday, but as I write this just for me I guess it doesn't matter.  A wave to all the blog followers, whether via email, Bloglovin , Facebook or Ravelry- as I said please leave a comment.

So here we are at the end of 2013, Peter and I still working, keeping in reasonable health, and enjoy a comfortable life together. We have so much to be thankful for, especially our family who continue to want to spend time with us and for that we are truly grateful.

I hope that your 2013 has been memorable and that your 2014 will be one to remember.

Conundrum Scarflette

As reported last week I have been taking part in the Grandmas Hand KAL on Ravelry.  The pattern is the Conundrum Scarflette by Hayley Foord.  Great knit, very simple and easy to remember.  The yarn I used was a gift, somewhere between a 3-4 ply with a glitter thread.  I did mine on 3.75mm needles.  I used 40 grams of yarn and once blocked the scarf measures 80" long and 7" at its widest point.

This will be a pattern I will do again.  You can use any yarn, just increase until its half the length you want then decrease. Easy. Thanks very much Hayley, what's next?

Knitters are the nicest people

Back in 2009 I started this blog, and around the same time I joined Ravelry – a website for knitters and anything knitting related. I joined a few groups and participated in the forums, little did I know that this would be the start of some friendships that would take us travelling across the pond for a holiday or 2. 

Firstly, I met Kathy (kburke57).  We met on the group - Knitting it one stitch at a time – which sadly is no longer very active.  Kathy and I seemed to click and were soon emailing one another outside of Ravelry. 

Secondly, I met Joan (marmepurl), first on a gardening group and then a few months later on – Grandmas Hand – when I found out I was to be a granny for the first time.  Joan contacted me as we had several things in common. As with Kathy, we were soon emailing outside of Ravelry.  I have regularly corresponded with both ladies since then.  Whilst they don’t know one another they do live on the same side of the USA, which was a bonus. 

After a less than happy holiday last year (for me) my husband said I could do anything I wanted this year, so I chose to go to the USA and finally meet up with the ladies.  As you can imagine this was quite a big deal for my husband.  One week with people he didn’t know and in their homes too!  Anyway dates were arranged and a plan was hatched.

We flew over on Friday 24 May arriving into Washington DC.  Joan surprised us at the airport with a brief meeting, she couldn't wait until our arranged get together on the Tuesday.  It was lovely to see her and a complete surprise, I was feeling less than lovely having been ill on landing, but that’s another story.

We picked up our car and drove 2.5 hours north to overnight in Harrisburg before heading out on Saturday morning for our trip up to Schenectady NY. 

We arrived with Kathy at lunchtime and immediately felt at home.  It was just like we had known one another forever. Kathy, her daughter Angela and friend Vicki had arrange a welcome party for us, which had been planned for the garden but due to awful weather, had to be done inside, so everything was taken to room they had hired.  These people certainly know how to cater a party, so much food!!  The theme was “I love NY”, everyone had a t-shirt to wear and all the food was from NY. We got to meet a lot of Kathy & Mike's family and friends, Peter was bowled over by Kathy's grandma - 99 years young, what a lady, what a memory.  I hope I could achieve that age with all my faculties intact.

the Manhattan Clam Chowder was made by Kathy's father, so good and very different from what we had had before

The Apple Pie Moonshine - oh boy that has a punch!!

The family & friends

Dessert

Kathy

Sunday, we headed into Schenectady for the Green Market - organic market, a look round town, then headed out to Saratoga Springs

Peter, Angela, Kathy & Mike

Peter trying the spring water

Peter & friend

Mike, Kathy, Me & Peter

Me & Kathy

Sunday evening we headed for dinner at Canalis, oh my goodness so much food.  The meatballs were the size of tennis balls to give you some idea of scale!! I think they boxed up as much as I could manage to eat, but it was so good, just a shame I couldn't eat dessert, NY cheesecake kept passing by the table, my favourite dessert, I was drooling.

Kathy and I sat up til gone midnight talking, with so little time together we tried to make the most of it. Ever tried Salted Caramel Vodka?  It is so good, I need to try and find some here

Monday we headed to the Veteran's Park for a Memorial Day Service given by the American Veteran's. Kathy's father was leading the National Anthem & Pledge of Allegiance and doing a presentation.

Leonard Porcaro - Kathy's father

10 year old reading an essay she had written

Award for having a lit flag for over 30 years 

Sadly we had to take our leave after the service, such a short visit, but an 8 hour drive back to Washington DC.

We have plans to meet again, I hope soon.  Kathy, the barn is awaiting your visit and I'll make sure we have some Baileys (-:.  Thanks again to you and Mike for welcoming us into your lovely home, it was a pleasure.

Tomorrow I will post about our day in DC and then our visit with Joan & Fritz