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:

image

image

image

image

image

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?