Wip Wednesday #21

Oh my goodness I am so excited today, I think I am finally getting my knitting mojo back! I have been doing some knitting but I've had a couple of disasters and to be honest my heart just hasn't been in it. But today it has all changed. I went into Newcastle this morning as I had heard about this knitting shop and I was looking for a gift and thought I would give it a go. Well I am in love!! Apart from feeling slightly foolish when I phoned to say I could find the place and thought the door I was trying was the wrong one as it wouldn't open only to be told to give it a better shove, honestly what a eejit I am! Once I finally made it through the extremely heavy, in fact lead like door (I may be exgagerating!!) and got into the shop it was amazing! So many beautiful things to look at and the lady/owner was so helpful and really just lovely, she has asked me along to the knitting group that she runs at the shop. I am so excited, I have been looking for a group and have found some but none of the times have really worked for me but this one is perfect! So I bought the gift I was looking for and some yarn for myself (how could I not?!) and almost ran home so I could tell you and cast on something so I can take something to the next group!

So no real wip today but I am going to show you this

This is all my lovely yarn that will be wips very soon as I'm back baby, I'm back!! (Sorry that seems a little dramatic, but you know what I mean!)

This is what I'm reading at the moment

I started it yesterday and so far quite enjoying it. It's one of those books that you've had for ages and never picked up and in fact when looking at it you can't even remember why you bought it in the first place... not to worry though it seems good and it's not very long. So far its about an Italian author in the 1950/60's and his experiences in New York. Its non fiction and wrote in a diary style, which I quite like so its not hard reading!

I'm off to visit Tamis and see what everyone else is up to!
I will also be linking this post with the following blogs
Wednesday - Show off your stuff party
                     Yarn along
Thursday - Our creative spaces
                 Delightfully inspiring Thursday
                 Creative Juice Thursday

Much love Monday - Durham

This weekend (Thurs-Sun) the city I live in, Durham has been having a light festival called Lumiere. It was held two years ago but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to go, but heard lots of good things. So this year when I heard it was on again and going to be bigger and better I decided I would definitely be going. Husband and I went on Saturday night and then again on Sunday, it was amazing, that really is all I can say, yeah it was busy and it was cold and some people were annoying but hey it was free and I'm sure you'll agree when you see the photo's it was very cool!

So today I am loving Durham! What are you loving?

Linking today's post with Anna over at Much love!

Sunday thoughts!

Fo Friday #11

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Today I have a little something to show you , it's a little bit of a cheat as I've shown it before, kind of... anyway here it is

I mentioned some time back that I had an idea about sending a Christmas card to fellow bloggers and I would love to still do this. All you have to do if you would like to receive a card from me is comment on this blog and email me at sam_mcconachie(at)hotmail(dot)com with your details! Simple! If you would like to send me a Christmas card in return, let me know in your email and I will send you my details! I will probably keep this open until 30th November, so plenty of time!

Well I'm off to check out Tami's blog and see other Fo's!
I will also be linking this post with the following parties:
Friday - Creative Friday
             Fiber Arts Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wrapup
                Weekend Blog Hop
                Show and Tell Saturday
                Lovely Crafty Weekend
                Link Your Stuff
                Strut Your Stuff
Sunday - Strut Your Stuff
               Sunday Showcase Party
               Think Pink
               Homemaker on a dime
               Linky Party Sunday
               Say Hi Sunday
               The Sundae Hop
Monday - Motivate Me
                Craft
                Inspire Me
                I made it
                Handmade Monday
Tuesday - Tuesday Timeout
                Topsy Turvy Tuesday
                One Project at a Time
                Handmade Tuesday
                Too Cute Tuesday

Wip Wednesday #20

Christmas is coming!

Well it is certainly starting to feel like Christmas in my house! I have done most of my shopping, made most of my cards and started sending invites for my Christmas party! It feels like its all coming together. I even went to see my first Christmas movie of the season in the cinema on Sunday!

So needless to say all knitting has been Christmas themed recently, partly the reason for the lack of blogging I'm afraid, but this week I'm back! This is mainly what my knitting and reading look like at the moment

I am desperately trying to get lots of these little trees knitted for my Christmas card event (read more about it here) which I am hoping to launch this Friday, fingers crossed! Other than that not much other knitting going on or reading really, things have been busy here with getting organised for Christmas, having visitors, going away and husbands birthday, but I'm glad to be back and can't wait to see what everyone has been up to and sorry again I have been absent, please pop by and say hello, I have missed you all! xx

I'm off to visit Tamis and see what everyone else is up to!
I will also be linking this post with the following blogs
Wednesday - Show off your stuff party
                     Yarn along
Thursday - Our creative spaces
                 Delightfully inspiring Thursday
                 Creative Juice Thursday

Much Love Monday - Ice skating

Well its been a while since I blogged and I thought what better way than to start again with a much love Monday post, so today I will be linking up with anna, pop over and have a look.

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Torvill and Dean we were not!

So yesterday the husband and I went ice-skating, it was husbands birthday on Friday , so it was kind of a birthday thing. We had a great time. I had however, forgotten how hard ice-skating is and boy do my legs hurt today, but it was so much fun. We were both a little tentative to begin with but once we got going it was really good. It had been I think about 10 years since I last went ice skating. I did fall over but just once and thankfully suffered no injuries so it was all good.  It was also such a good work out, we were only on the ice maybe 40 minutes but I worked up quite a sweat! I think husband and I will definitely be going again!

So there you go that's what I am loving today! What are you loving?

Where have I been?

I thought that since I have been a bad blogger this last week and a bit I would tell you all what I have been up to. Husband and I had such a busy week last week, we had our niece and nephew with mummy and daddy to stay. They arrived on the Friday evening and left the following Friday, husband and I were shattered! We are just not used to having a 2 year old and a 6 month old aound the house 24/7. It was a great week too though, we had so much fun and it was lovely to get to spend some proper time with them!When we go back up to Aberdeen it always seems to be a flying visit and there is never enough time. Here are a couple of photo's of Eva and James from the week.

James in his knitted jumper by Aunty Sam

 

James with Aunty Sam

Eva in her cardigan knitted by Aunty Sam

Eva with Aunty Sam

   

So needless to say I have done no knitting and actually think I may have lost my mojo! Feeling pretty tired and a bit run down this week in general, I've got lots on at work and I think things are just catching up with me! So no knitting post today but I hope to be back in the swing of things soon!

Giveaway - winners!

I think I'm just in time with this!

Thank you to everyone who entered! As promised I am going to pick two winners, one for the shimmer yarn and one for the stickers and pen! Now there was a little argument in my house tonight as Phoebe and husband wanted to draw the winners. We did finally explain to Phoebe that she is lacking in opposable thumbs so husband helped pick the winners! Phoebe did sniff the bowl though, so without further ado here are the winners

The winner of the shimmer yarn is FoFo! Congratulations!

The winner of the stickers is Sarah! Congratulations!

If you both email me (sam_mcconachie@hotmail.com) with your address I will pop your prize in the post!

Well done again and thanks to everyone who took part!

From the orient - far from the orient!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, here goes





Not entirely happy with her but she'll have to do!

Oh don't forget about my giveaway!

Well I'm off to check out Tami's blog and see other Fo's!
I will also be linking this post with the following parties:
Friday - Creative Friday
             Fiber Arts Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wrapup
                Weekend Blog Hop
                Show and Tell Saturday
                Lovely Crafty Weekend
                Link Your Stuff
                Strut Your Stuff
Sunday - Strut Your Stuff
               Sunday Showcase Party
               Think Pink
               Homemaker on a dime
               Linky Party Sunday
               Say Hi Sunday
               The Sundae Hop
Monday - Motivate Me
                Craft
                Inspire Me
                I made it
                Handmade Monday
Tuesday - Tuesday Timeout
                Topsy Turvy Tuesday
                One Project at a Time
                Handmade Tuesday
                Too Cute Tuesday

Wip Wednesday #19

Wips - knitting and reading

This week I have been knitting more Christmas items, which I'm sure you are all bored to tears hearing about but that is the time of year! Until yesterday I wasn't knitting anything other than Christmas things and then it dawned on me that I would have nothing to share for wip Wednesday, while panicking, I was out buying some lunch and just happened to pick up the latest edition of my knitting magazine and lo and behold was there not just the cutest pattern waiting for me to knit?! Yes there was, I was also encouraged by the catch phrase "quick and easy". So here it is

Can you guess what it's going to be? Hopefully I will have it finished for Friday! I'm enjoying knitting this especially as I have learnt two new things- kfb and pfb, all through the wonderful medium that is YouTube! I have also been able to do this project mainly by using scraps and the two colours I did need to buy were in a bargain bin and came to £1. So all in all I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself.

This week I am reading a different book, I didn't finish "The Aviary Gate" by Kate Hickson, which is so not like me but I just couldn't get into it and really was starting to loose the will! But my new book "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel is wonderful, I am only 50 pages in but already I am loving it and know I am not going to be able to put it down!

Well I think that's it for me this week, oh don't forget to check out my giveaway!

I'm off to visit Tamis and see what everyone else is up to!
I will also be linking this post with the following blogs
Wednesday - Show off your stuff party
                     Yarn along
Thursday - Our creative spaces
                 Delightfully inspiring Thursday
                 Creative Juice Thursday

Giveaway!

Wow that happened quickly, I had reached 100 followers before the end of Sunday! Thank you all again!

Now onto the giveaway! I'm going to make it really easy the only rule is you have to be a follower, you can be new, old or in between! Just leave a comment on this post, stating which prize you would like (more on that in a minute) and you shall be entered into the draw! It is open from today and will close a week from today - 18th October!

So here are the two prize options!

First this gorgeous sparkly yarn! I saw it and just couldn't help myself, with Halloween around the corner it was a must!

Next this lovely set of sticky labels and pen from my favourite stationary shop Paperchase. I just thought they were so cute and would be very useful!

I will be picking two winners, one for each prize, so don't forget to tell me which one you would like! So good luck everyone and thanks again for all your support!

Pinterest!

Do you pin?!

I discovered Pinterest a few months ago but never really got it. I had seen it on lots of blogs and heard people rave about it but i didn't see the attraction and I tried , I really did, I even got the app for my phone but I just couldn't see the point! However, this all changed last week! I have been off work ill again, this time with a chest infection, so I have had some time on my hands and thought I would give it another go! Well am I glad I did. I can't stop pinning, I go on for a quick look and half an hour later I'm still on! I think I am now somewhat obsessed and that this now applies to me

I have found some amazing ideas and there are now so many projects I want to do, recipes I want to try, places I want to go, outfits I want to wear and honestly so many funny images and sayings, its already enough to last me a lifetime, but am I going to stop? No way! not now I've finally go it! I am going to try and get a button for my blog too but at the moment I'm not sure how to do that (if you could help I would be very grateful!) but if you would like to follow me you can here. I would be happy to follow anyone as well just let me know and if anyone would like an invite I can do that too!

Now I would like to share my top 5 pin finds:

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This is just a taste, see how good it is?! So, I think it is safe to say

What do you think?

Linking up with Anna for Much love Monday

The big 100!

That's right, I am rapidly approaching the big one hundred! I am so close to 100 followers and I think this will be my 90th post! I had no idea when I started this little blog that I would reach either of these milestones and I can't tell you how chuffed I am! As a thank you for all your support, lovely comments and just awesomeness I am going to have a giveaway when I reach 100 followers! I will probably have two prizes one for my knitters and crocheters and one for my other followers! Well thanks again and keep an eye out for the big 100!

Mouse Trap!

Yay - Its Friday! Its been a long week and I'm looking forward to the weekend! First though here's my finished object

This was a super easy and quick knit! Which was just what I needed as the other projects I'm working on (Christmas gifts) are all causing me problems, in fact I have ripped out several things and more than once, so this little mouse was light relief! Phoebe I hope is still blissfully unaware that this little mouse exists but a few fellow bloggers have mentioned that their cats are avid bloggers so I'm slightly concerned Phoebe is a secret blogger, trust me she could be, she's sneaky enough!

Well I'm off to check out Tami's blog and see other Fo's!
I will also be linking this post with the following parties:
Friday - Creative Friday
             Fiber Arts Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wrapup
                Weekend Blog Hop
                Show and Tell Saturday
                Lovely Crafty Weekend
                Link Your Stuff
                Strut Your Stuff
Sunday - Strut Your Stuff
               Sunday Showcase Party
               Think Pink
               Homemaker on a dime
               Linky Party Sunday
               Say Hi Sunday
               The Sundae Hop
Monday - Motivate Me
                Craft
                Inspire Me
                I made it
                Handmade Monday
Tuesday - Tuesday Timeout
                Topsy Turvy Tuesday
                One Project at a Time
                Handmade Tuesday
                Too Cute Tuesday

Wip Wednesday #18

Better late than never! I do hope no-one has been waiting expectantly for this post as I'm afraid I haven't much to show this week. I have made lots of progress on lots of things but unfortunately all Christmas things that I can't share yet! Here is one I can share though

This stripy dream is going to be a toy mouse for Phoebe! As she's a cat and can't read my blog or in fact use the computer I thought it would be quite safe to blog about it. I do however, think she knows I'm talking about her as she is giving me a very odd look!!

As for books, this week I am still reading "The Aviary Gate" by Kate Hickman. I'm quite enjoying it but it not very fast paced and I'm struggling to stick with it. Never mind it might improve! The other book this week is this one

A friend from work has loaned it to me, very kindly. I love cookery books, so I'm enjoying this one, hopefully I will make something yummy from it at the weekend.

Well that's me for today off to visit Tamis
I will also be linking this post with the following blogs
Wednesday - Show off your stuff party
                     Yarn along
Thursday - Our creative spaces
                 Delightfully inspiring Thursday
                 Creative Juice Thursday

Try, try again!

This made me smile today as the last few days my knitting has just been one mistake after another, really, nothing has gone right! But it's a new day so I'll start again and keep trying!

What are you up to today?

Mervin The Molar!

 He's finished!

I am so, so pleased with how my little tooth came out! I just hope my friend Trish likes him too! I made him a little root/toe/luggage tag too just for extra cuteness!

And if that wasn't enough...

Well I'm off to check out Tami's blog and see other Fo's!
I will also be linking this post with the following parties:
Friday - Creative Friday
             Fiber Arts Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wrapup
                Weekend Blog Hop
                Show and Tell Saturday
                Lovely Crafty Weekend
                Link Your Stuff
                Strut Your Stuff
Sunday - Strut Your Stuff
               Sunday Showcase Party
               Think Pink
               Homemaker on a dime
               Linky Party Sunday
               Say Hi Sunday
               The Sundae Hop
Monday - Motivate Me
                Craft
                Inspire Me
                I made it
                Handmade Monday
Tuesday - Tuesday Timeout
                Topsy Turvy Tuesday
                One Project at a Time
                Handmade Tuesday
                Too Cute Tuesday

Wip Wednesday #17

Here we are again, another Wednesday! Wednesday's have become my favourite day of the week, I love sharing what I'm doing and recently what I'm reading and love seeing what everyone else is doing and reading! So Happy Wednesday to you all!

Here's what I've been up to this week.

This is the start of Mervin the Molar for my friend Trish! The pattern can be found here. So far he has been quite tricky to knit. The yarn I'm using is just some I had in my stash and to be honest it's not the best and also he is knitted on size 3 needles, which is the smallest size I've ever used and I'm finding that a bit fiddly too! Thankfully I read some of the comments as there is a slight mistake in the pattern, which I might not have noticed otherwise, which would have made him even more tricky! Having said all this, he's not very big so I am hoping to get him finished today and sent off to my friend this week, so hopefully he will make a full appearance on Friday!

I have also been working on some Christmas knitting but for obvious reasons I can't show you any of that yet! January will be busy catching up with what I made for Christmas, so watch out for lots of back dated posts!

I have also remarkably found time this week to get back to knitting my tie top, I haven't done enough to warrant a photo but I'm hoping to have the back finished soon and a photo will definitely follow!

Here's what I've been reading this week and a rather nice photo of Phoebe! This week's books are
Knitty Gritty by Aneeta Patel: still love this book and slowly working my way through the patterns and picking up new skills all the time. Honestly this book is perfect for a beginner.
The Aviary Gate by Kate Hickman: this is for the book group that I run, I've only just started it so not quite ready to comment yet!
101 Cataclysms by Rachael Hale: picked this up at the library book sale for £1 - lot of cute photos and sayings about cats - perfect!

What have you been reading this week? Head over to yarn along to see what others have been reading.

Well that's me for today off to visit Tamis
I will also be linking this post with the following blogs
Wednesday - Show off your stuff party
                     Yarn along
Thursday - Our creative spaces
                 Delightfully inspiring Thursday
                 Creative Juice Thursday

A motto to live by!

Create your own here

100 Days 100 Words #5 - Music

This is a rather sheepish post. You know how you say you are going to do something and you're all ready to go and it goes well for the first couple of weeks and then well not so good! Anyway, here I am and with another word. I'm not promising to be back next Saturday but I will promise to be a little more regular with these Word posts! (If you're new to my blog and have no idea what I'm talking about you can check it out here)

Music
I've thought really hard about how I was going to do today's post. The problem was that I couldn't possibly tell you all my thoughts about music - we'd be here all day week month... well a long time. So I thought what I would do is put my ipod onto shuffle see what came out and talk about that! As luck would have it the song was "End over end" by the Foo Fighters. Now the foos are one of my favourite bands, I love Dave Grohl!

Source

When the song came on my ipod it reminded me of the last time the husband and I went to see the foos, which was this summer in Milton Keynes. We had the most amazing time, there were two other bands also playing that day, Jimmy Eat World and Biffy Clyro, both of which husband and I totally love, so it was already going to be a good day! I can honestly say though, I have never rocked out so much, it was such an amazing performance! The foos were on fire!! I was screaming so hard my whole body was shaking, I had no voice by the end of the day. There is just something about live music that just makes me happy and feel good. Husband always laughs at me because at the start of any live music, doesn't matter who it is I always cry a bit. I don't know why, I can't help it, I'm not sad, I just get really emotional! We were also really lucky that day, for three reasons. First, we ended up in a line for inner pit tickets. This was purely by accident, we were just standing in the que and overheard someone saying that it was for the inner pit! Woohoo! There were 65000 people at the day and the inner pit had 10000 in it, so we were going to be closer to the stage and not get pushed about so much! Second, we managed to meet up with our friend and his fiance. This again was a bit accidental, we knew they were going to be there but didn't think we would see them and then we bumped right into them and then spent the rest of the day with them, which was really cool! Thirdly, we met someone famous!!! We met Ed Byrne. Sorry to any overseas readers, this probably isn't very exciting for you as he's a British comedian. He was lovely, he let us take his photo and and then at the end of the day walked out of the park with us, happily chatting away! A very cool guy! In fact husband and I are going to see his stand up show in December for our anniversary!
So all in all it was an awesome day and here are some photos.

 Me - ready to go!

Biffy

Jimmy

 Lots of people

 Ed Byrne

 Foos

Please feel free to add your blog to the Mr Linky. The blog post can either be your own 100 days 100 words

or just a post about Music! Also try and visit some other posts and share the love and link back to me!