Christmas comes early.....

A parcel from my Grandmas Hand Swap partner, Bev, arrived this morning. The contents include yarn, which is very naughty as it adds to my already extensive stash, but I will find a pattern and knit it up quickly so that it doesn't languish there too long. And of course I will post a picture of the resulting item. I had planned not to open this parcel straight away but couldn't resist. Many thanks to you Bev

Introducing Rufus to our favourite place......

Southwold, Suffolk - my most favourite holiday destination. I have been every year since I was 9 years old.  I never tire of it and this year Rufus came with us for our November break. I think he enjoyed it, his mummy got another cold, which I now have, as does her husband and son!

In the collage above you will see Peter and Rachel paddling!!  Yes, they are mad, it was freezing.

I'm done.......

I've been very busy this week on the knitting front. I have completed the replacement Breton Jumper for Master Rufus, I think I actually prefer this one.  I've also completed my Celebration Swap package, which has gone in the post this morning to Noreen.  I will be turning the felted Breton into a textured bean-bag, as suggested by Mummy Jones.

My next project, which I will start this afternoon at my knitting group, will be a fairisle tank top, again for Master Rufus, I have sorted out the 5 colours required but need to decide which will be the main. I really enjoy having a knitting project on the go, its good for concentration, stops me eating and keeps me awake in the evenings!



Rufus 20 weeks or never to young to wear a poppy

Yesterday we got to spend the day looking after Rufus whilst his mummy and daddy decorated their bathroom. We had a lovely day; we spent the morning walking around Stamford, Rufus slept most of the time. Back home for lunch, then out again after a bit of a play. We walked over to Burghley Park to see the deer, Rufus managed to stay awake, in fact decided that he no longer wanted to sit in his pushchair so we took it in turns to carry him, Pops taking the lions share, good bonding time I say. Its amazing how heavy a wriggly little boy can been, we should have taken his sling, log that for next time.

As you can see Rufus is wearing his poppy with pride, a cute addition to his hat

Rainy day baking ........

what is it about these grey wet afternoons that makes you want to bake?

Here are some fruit scones I knocked up earlier, should be good with some butter and jam  - homemade of course.  I've a bran loaf in the oven which will also go down well over the weekend.  We will have to make sure we do plenty of walking to counteract the calories.

These little mittens are to go with the hat modelled on previous post by Rufus, it will be interesting to see if he'll wear them as he does like to suck his fingers.  We've had them stay for a few days as his mummy was poorly and his daddy was away on business.  We enjoyed their visit and I even got to go swimming with him

Busy needles - part 2

Oddments of aran weight yarn used to knit this little hat one Friday afternoon, don't you think the model looks lovely?

Rugby Romper finished

my model just needs to grow a bit! Though its not actually as big as it looks

Mittens and minder, dashed off on Tuesday evening.

So what next? 

I have several projects in mind but first I need to put together a parcel for my Celebration Swap partner on Ravelry - Grandma's Hand Forum.  This will comprise of some knitted christmas decorations plus lots of other goodies.  I will post some pictures once the parcel is sent and received, rather than spoil the surprise.  I get to send to Noreen and Bev gets to send to me and so it goes round.  I will also post pictures of what I receive.  No pressure then!!

Out with the old

this weekend has been about clearing out. 

As previously mentioned we are having our barn turned into a garden room.  To do this we need to clear out all the junk that has been dumped in there over the past 11 years!!  No mean feat I can tell you, firstly we needed to clear space in the stable - aka Peter's workshop/Harley store, this was done with him kicking and screaming that he would now never be able to find anything, to me its now tidy!!  So that was Saturday gone. 

Sunday we started on the barn, boxes and boxes of books mostly his!  This took us most of the day as he had to go through everything.  I have been ruthless and put out most of my old books for the charity shop, if I've not read them in 11 years I'm never going to.  Rachel was there to help and with a short break for a late lunch we have broken the back of it. 

My car is full of things for the charity shop.  We have a pile of stuff to go to the tip.  So once we've found a home for the remaining items, mainly christmas tree/decorations we should be ready for the carpenters to work their magic.

The only downside to my garden room is that I have had to cut down my beautiful Wisteria, I confess I shed a few tears whilst putting it through the chipper.