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!

Fo Friday #10

James' Jumper

This was such an easy knit! I really enjoyed doing it, other than the slight problem I had with increasing, which turned out to be easily solved, it was a very stress free project! I think I will make more of these little jumpers in different colours and sizes, I might even experiment with stripes. The whole jumper really only took about a week to knit up so making more won't be a problem. I was hoping to have a photo of James in his jumper but I haven't got one yet, I will update this post as soon as I get one, so watch this space!

As promised

I also wanted to mention that when I say jumper I mean sweater. I was asked last week if I meant sweater as I think in America a jumper is a dress and a sweater is just a sweater. So I hope this clears it up!

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 #16

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope your all feeling good and happy!

These are my wips for the week! The purple and white is some Christmas knitting which I will be keeping a secret. Can I just say though I am loving the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, its gorgeous to work with, I think a cosy blanket in this would be amazing! The white yarn is also destined to be a tooth for my lovely Dentist friend Trish, who made a special request at the weekend! I found a great pattern on Ravelry which I'm really excited about, I can't wait to knit the tooth! Husband was amazed, I don't think he realised knitting was so much more than just jumpers and scarves! He's learning so much, ha ha! I've also been knitting some more Christmas trees, these are so fun and quick to knit!

This week's book is "Knitted Icons" by Carol Meldrum. Not sure if I'm going to knit anything from this book but its so much fun to look! I think my favourite is Mr T and Audrey Hepburn!

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

Buttons!

I think I've probably mentioned this but I love buttons!

This weekend I was doing some craft supply shopping with my Mother in law (I only went for paper but spent £20! I'm not sure what happened!!) Anyway, I was having a rummage in bargain bin and came across a very exciting little bag, which was filled with lots of lovely buttons! I think I paid something silly like £1 for them, I was so happy!

When I got home I couldn't wait to have a look at my loot!! Here it is in all its glory

There are some matches and some that go together and some that are completely unique and fab! I love them all!

I am posting this as part of anna's Much Love Monday Link. Pop over and check it out!

Rainy days!

Rain, rain rain!

It's too wet and damp today for a girl with a bad chest! Oh well I'll just have to curl up on the sofa with my knitting!

How's your Sunday? What are you up to? Have a good one! X

Fo Friday #9

Not much to say today, steroids are starting to have affect so starting to feel a bit better!

Also I have managed to get my cable bag finished!


I'm quite pleased with it to be honest, even though I made a small mistake! It was quite an easy knit and I really enjoyed doing the cables! I'm going to have to try more now!The only thing I might change are the handles, I'm just not entirely happy with how the are attached, but it's not a major issue! Can't wait to use it though!
I'm going to make another one as well for my mum for Christmas, sshh don't tell her!


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
                Handemade Tuesday
                Too Cute Tuesday

Wip Wednesday #15

Knitting and Books

Well its Wednesday again, it really does come round so fast! First I'll give you a wee health update: in short its not good, had a rather large asthma attack on Monday and back to the doctor, on more steroids and off work for the rest of the week. If there is still no improvment by Thursday I have to go back and see about alternative treatments. So not having much fun!

Anyway onto the knitting. I have managed to get quite a bit of knitting done. First up is the cable bag

It was going really well, however as you can see in the photo I have made a mistake. There I was knitting away on Sunday night and my phone rang, it was my mum (checking to see how I was doing) once I had spoken to her I picked up my knitting and away I went again, after about 20 seconds I realised I couldn't remember which row I was on. I had put my knitting down so quickly when the phone rang I forgot to pay attention to where I was, which has resulted in the above error! I have decided though its ok, I'm learning this is part of the journey, I am just going to make the bag longer and have the mistake at the bottom! Problem solved!

Next up is James' jumper

I have a sleeve! Now this has also been a bit tricky, I pattern says to increase one every six rows, this sounds fine, however I only know how to make one, so I thought how hard can increasing the other way be? Turns out quite hard, I'm not sure if it was just because I was feeling less than a 100% but after an hour and four tries and lots of frogging I gave up and did it the way I know. Turns out my way is fine, sleeve is done and looks fine. I will keep practicing the other way but I think just on a practice peice and when I can breath properly.

Now a new element to wip Wednesday, books! I have seen these book and knitting post around and did wonder what it was all about and decided to have a wee look. So I found out that a blog called small things does a linky party on a Wednesday that includes what you are reading and you knitting. So here is this weeks book

All I'll say is I love a good murder!

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

Fo Friday #8

Although this week has been pretty rubbish health wise I am so happy that today I can show you my first proper knitted piece of clothing! I actually got it finished at the weekend and in the post to my gorgeous niece, Eva on Monday, which is just as well or asthma would really have messed things up. So without further ado here it is

The arm is actually straight its just how it's sitting.

I wont lie I did have a bit of a problem with the picking up stitches. The first part (the collar) went beautifully,  no problems and I used a crochet hook to pick up the stitches to put onto my needle and I really think that helped. The first side also went beautifully and again no problems, but I tell you that last side was a nightmare. I couldn't get the unsightly seem to be on the inside, it didn't matter with way I turned the cardigan the seem always came up on the right side. The more times it went wrong the more frustrated I got which as you can imagine really helped. In the end I had to come away and leave it for a couple of hours as I was worried that in my temper I would ruin it. As it happened the time away really helped and when I went back to it I got it right first time!

Above is a close up of the neck and buttons. I was really pleased with the buttons. Not sure if you can see them clearly but they are cats. One of Eva's first words was Cat, she loves them, including our cat Phoebe (as you can imagine Phoebe is less fond of Eva!!) In fact I bought the buttons first and then the yarn, sometimes it just works better that way, don't you think?

So my final photo today is of gorgeous Eva and her cardigan, I received this photo yesterday morning, to let me know it had arrived and fit perfectly, which was my other huge worry all the way through knitting this. Am I alone in this or do you worry about the fit of projects too? Anyway as you can see it fits fine and I think Eva was pretty pleased with her cardigan! What a little poser!

 I also wanted to say a huge thank you for the amazing response and support I received last week for my idea about knitted Christmas cards. I am definitely going to do this, I am in production as we speak! Look out for further updates nearer October!

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
                Handemade Tuesday
                Too Cute Tuesday

Wip Wednesday #14

Hello everyone! Hope you are having a better week than I am, mine started so well too. However, yesterday I woke up with a tight (very familiar feeling) chest and knew instantly that my asthma had reared its ugly head again. I spent yesterday under a duvet watching TV. I didn't even have the energy to knit, so went to the doctor today and I been put on steroids again and told to take the rest of the week off work. Thankfully my work are really understanding about my asthma and were just concerned about me but I still felt rubbish having to phone in sick. I have loads I wanted to get done at work this week as well, but I guess I'm just going to have to let that go and start afresh next week. Anyway enough with the complaining, you came here to see some wips!

I'm actually pretty happy with my wips this week! No Eva's cardigan to show you as its....finished! Yay! Will show you that in detail on Friday! I have also put the tie top to one side and started two new projects and here is the first

So what you are looking at is the beginning of a cable bag! Its not the best photo as it was quite dark but hopefully you get the idea! I started this on Monday night and now that I have got the pattern memorised its going really well. I love the colour and the arran yarn is good to work with.

Next up is James' Jumper!

Not a very exciting picture and the colour is a shade or two lighter than it actually is but believe it or not that is the back of the jumper finished! I am using a pattern from a Debbie Bliss book called  "Baby knits for beginners" The jumper is a simple boat neck so the front and back are the same. The pattern says to knit the arms separately and then attach, which will be a first for me but I'm looking forward to it. I'm knitting it with baby cashmerino yarn and it is so soft and lovely!

Well that's it for me today! I'm off to look at some more wips at Tami's
I will also be linking this post with the following blogs
Wednesday - Show off your stuff party
Thursday - Our creative spaces
                 Delightfully inspiring Thursday
                 Creative Juice Thursday

Much Love Monday! - Lots of things!

Happy Monday everyone!

This Monday I am loving lots of things!  I really couldn't choose just one, so here is a list:
~ it's September and I can start looking at jumpers, tights, hats, scarves and lots of other woolies
~ autumn sunshine
~ my friend from work is back from her holidays, I missed her!
~ knitting, always knitting
~ seeing freinds for lovely dinners
~ spending Sunday watching movies
~ coffee
~ making plans for the next few months
~ really just loving life!

What are you loving today? Pop over to anna's blog for some Monday love!

Fo Friday #7

So I have been having a few ideas recently, one of which I would like to share with you. I love, LOVE Christmas, its my favourite time of year, everything about it makes me happy! So I wanted to do something on my blog to mark this amazing time of year. I know I'm early but I like to be prepared. Recently I have also been taking part in different swaps and events (giveaways) were you get something nice in the post. So I have been thinking that I would like to do something on my blog and when better than at Christmas.
So this week I have been working on these

What do you think? I came up with the pattern myself, its not perfect but I think they look ok.

So my idea is that I would like to send everyone a Christmas card with one of these cute knitted Christmas trees on them! I thought I would set up a linky and if you wanted to receive one you would add your name to the link, then you would email me to give me your address and then I would send you a Christmas card. It would be wonderful to send them all over the world and if you would like to send me one back that would also be great! So just now I would like to know what you think, would you like a Christmas card from me, do you like the trees, do you think I'm crazy?!!

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
                Handemade Tuesday
                Too Cute Tuesday