Starting early

This is my first attempt at stockings and colourwork! Pretty pleased with them!

I starting making these last week. Hoping to do 24 and use them as a advent calendar for my little boy.

Easter

Here are a few snap shots from our easter:

Easter cards Angus and I made to add to family and friends! 

Baking easter biscuits

Icing the biscuits

Angus' biscuits

Mine

Feeding lambs

I love lambs!

Watching the cows

Donkey

Excited about the rabbit

Little chick!

Easter rabbit coconut cake

Mmm chocolate 

Eggs decorated and ready to roll

Egg rolling

Hope you all had a wonderful easter, we did! 

Project 52...catch up

"A portrait of my son, once a week every week!"

11/52

At the park!

12/52

Taking a selfie!

13/52

18 months old 

14/52

Hiding!

52 project

"A portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2014"

8/52

Angus having fun on a Thomas ride at the fair

9/52

Busy boy colouring in!

10/52

Eating one of mummy's homemade scones

Joining up with the 52 project

Fo Friday - tiny rabbit

Happy Friday everyone!

Sorry for my absence recently, I decided to take a week off from blogging as I just had so much going on I needed to cut back a bit, hence the "gone fishing" sign. However, since then I have been ill. My asthma has been playing up and I've had a slight infection in my chest. So I have been totally out of action.

I am pleased to say that I am now on the mend and finally feel like I am getting some energy back! I haven't really been knitting since I've been I'll but yesterday I had a huge urge to knit so had a look on Pinterest and found this pattern for a  little rabbit and here's the result

How cute is this little guy! I used some left over mohair yarn and I am definitely going to make some more! They are really easy and so cute! 

Well that's it for me today, hope you are all well!

Linking up with  Tami's blog

Friday - Creative Friday
             Fiber Arts Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wrapup
                Show and Tell Saturday
                Lovely Crafty Weekend
                Link Your Stuff
                Strut Your Stuff
Sunday - Sunday Showcase Party
               Think Pink
               Homemaker on a dime
               Linky Party Sunday
Monday - Motivate Me
                Craft
Tuesday - Too Cute Tuesday
               one project at a time

Gone fishing

Gone fishing, back soon! X

7/52

 "A portrait of my son, once a week every week in 2014" 

Action shot: splashing in the puddles

Joining up with the 52 project

Cranachan

This is a lovely Scottish desert, if you remember I serve it when I had my Burns party which you can read about here. I thought I'd share the recipe today as it would also make a great desert for a Valentines meal! 

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp medium oatmeal
• 300g fresh British raspberries
• a little caster sugar
• 350ml double cream 
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2-3 tbsp whisky, to taste
• Method
• To toast the oatmeal, spread it out on a baking sheet and grill until it smells rich and nutty. Let it cool
• Make a raspberry purée by crushing half the fruit and sieving. Sweeten this to taste with a little caster sugar. 
• Whisk the double cream until just set, and stir in the honey and whisky, try not to over-whip the cream. Taste the mix and add more of either if you feel the need.
• Stir in the oatmeal and whisk lightly until the mixture is just firm. 
• Alternate layers of the cream with the remaining whole raspberries and purée in 4 serving dishes, I used wine glasses. Pop in fridge to chill
• 
• I got the recipe from here

Happy Valentines Day! 

Linking up with  Tami's blog

Friday - Creative Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wrapup
                Show and Tell Saturday
                Lovely Crafty Weekend
                Strut Your Stuff
Sunday - Sunday Showcase Party
               Think Pink
               Homemaker on a dime
               Linky Party Sunday
Monday - Motivate Me
                Craft
Tuesday - Too Cute Tuesday
               one project at a time

 

• 
  

Valentines day

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Go spread the love!

Wip Wednesday #31

I'm afraid there yet again is not much to show this week. I'm really disappointed as I thought I might have baby yoda finished for this Friday but the last two weeks have been bad ones for knitting.

I'll try and keep my tale of woe short! Last Monday when I went to my knitting group I was a bit grumpy to start with and then just kept making mistakes then going back and fixing them, so effectively got nothing done! It wasn't a good night for any of us we all made mistakes! 

Then on Wednesday my in-laws came and I didn't really get a chance to knit so was really looking forward to Sunday night; watching the Olympics and knitting! However, I just felt knackered and when I woke up on Monday my chest felt tight and my asthma has been playing up so I haven't really got the energy to knit! 

Anyway here's what baby yoda looks like today

I've also noticed a small mistake in one of the finished pieces that I'll have to fix, grrr! 

Hope you're all having better knitting adventures than I am! 

Happy knitting

Linking up today with Tami

 Show off your stuff party
 Yarn along

Book review

It's coming...it's just round the corner...how you feeling?

I am of course talking about Valentines day! Now I love valentines day but as a married woman with a pretty thoughtful husband it's not really surprising! Also my love of planning/organising and making a big deal out of holidays makes Valentines a no brainer really! 

(Image)

So what do you have planned, are you doing anything special? I think even if you're single you can still spread the love! My plans are pretty low key, no babysitter so I have put together a hamper for the husband filled with our favourite things for a romantic night in, DVD, chocolate, wine, candles and a few little surprises!

I hope you have a happy day even if you don't have a boyfriend/girlfriend, husband or wife!

Now onto my book review, I came across this the other day when I was at work (I'm a librarian) and thought it was fab

It's full of fab ideas so you can personalise your man! You can make him tall, short, thin, stocky, there's a section for hair and lots more! Here's my favourite 

The detail is so good! There are tips for clothes and accessories, so you can do more than what's in the book. The instructions look pretty clear as well! So really, perfect for anyone to make! I am considering making one based on my husband, just for fun! 

Here's the link for amazon where you can buy a copy! Or better yet go to your library and borrow one! 

Big love! X

6/52

 "A portrait of my son, once a week every week in 2014" 

A trip to the oriental museum this week!

Joining up with the 52 project

Fo Friday - Valentine edition

As well as being a knitter, before I had Angus I used to make cards. I still make the odd one but there just isn't time to make as many as I used to. However, this week I made a special effort and made this

I am really pleased with this, I did have a pattern that I found on Pinterest but I wasn't overly happy with the result so I decided to try myself and I think it looks really good! (If you would like the pattern let me know and I'll post it!) I think the grey card and the red heart looking really good together too!

Hopefully the husband will like it too! 

Well that's it for me today, we've got the in laws staying this week so we're off to the oriental museum - have a good day! 

Linking up with  Tami's blog
Friday - Creative Friday
             Fiber Arts Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wrapup
                Show and Tell Saturday
                Lovely Crafty Weekend
                Link Your Stuff
                Strut Your Stuff
Sunday - Sunday Showcase Party
               Think Pink
               Homemaker on a dime
               Linky Party Sunday
Monday - Motivate Me
                Craft
Tuesday - Too Cute Tuesday
               one project at a time

5/52

 "A portrait of my son, once a week every week in 2014" 

Playing in mummy and daddy's bed! 

Joining up with the 52 project

Nanny Bunty's Tablet

As I mentioned in my earlier post about Burns Night I made some tablet. Well today I want to share the recipe with you!

I was a bit nervous about making this as I knew toffee could be tricky, this however was surprisingly easy! The first thing I did was call my nanny Bunty as she always used to make it when I was little! She was thrilled to be passing on the recipe and was keen to hear how it turned out.

Ingredients:

2lb sugar

1 tin of condensed milk

2 tbsp golden syrup

2oz butter

7floz milk

2tsp vanilla

Method:

Put all ingredients in a heavy bottomed pan

Stir it together

Bring to the boil for 15-16 mins

Keep storing to stop it sticking

Prepare a  large baking tray

Remove pan from heat and let stand for 5 mins

Add vanilla

Beat mixture for 5 mins

Pour into tray

Leave overnight to set

Cut into squares

And that's it, really easy and super tasty! 

Linking up today with  Tami's blog
Friday - Creative Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wrapup
                Show and Tell Saturday
                Lovely Crafty Weekend
                Strut Your Stuff
Sunday - Sunday Showcase Party
               Think Pink
               Homemaker on a dime
               Linky Party Sunday
Monday - Motivate Me
                Craft
Tuesday - Too Cute Tuesday
               one project at a time

Wip Wednesday #30

Hello!

Hope you are all well! I have been having a good week so far, been to my knitting group on Monday and then out with girls for a couple of drink last night! The rest of the week is looking good too, tomorrow I'm off to see Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour!!!!!!!!! I am super excited about this! There may be a blog post in the future entirely dedicated to this!

Ok so on to the knitting...

I'm afraid I have abandoned the tie top and the baby blanket for now and really just have one thing I am working on and that's the Baby Yoda

First (and only) Wip - Baby Yoda

Although it is growing it's unfortunately not very exciting as far as wips go. I am hoping this will make it a much more exciting Fo... watch this space...

Well that's it for me today, linking up with Tami

 Show off your stuff party
 Yarn along

Burns supper party

As I have mentioned once or twice we were celebrating Burns night at the weekend. This is something the husband and I have done for years, ironically its not something we did much when we lived in Scotland but since we moved to England we haven't missed a year. Usually its a low key affair, just the husband, me and some haggis. This year though we invited some friends to help us celebrate. This meant that on Saturday we were expecting 10 people (6 adults, 3 babies) so there was lots of planning to do.

I wanted to make sure the place felt a bit Scottish and the atmosphere was perfect. I knew the food would be ok but the decorations could be tricky. The first thing I did was look to pinterest for some ideas and thankfully I was not disappointed! The main thing really was tartan and thankfully I had some ribbon and a scarf that I thought would work. I decided that if I had plain red napkins i could tie the cutlery together with the ribbon and it would look quite effective. 

I was quite pleased with the result. I used the ribbon for a couple of other touches but I'll show you them later. Now onto the food. Husband always does the haggis, neeps and tatties so I got to do the fun stuff. I decided I would make some tablet. I thought we could have some before haggis and then I could give everyone some to take home. Although I have eaten tablet since being a little girl and I used to help by Nanny make it, its not something I had ever made as an adult. So I rang my Nanny and got the recipe and set to work. It was surprisingly easy to make and the result was fab.

I tied little bundles together with ribbon for our guests to take home. I think they look pretty cute!

Next I made the pudding, I wanted this to be a traditional Scottish desert so I chose Cranachan. Again this was quite simple to make but very tasty and looked pretty good too!

I had told our guests that the dress code was tartan but then had the problem that I didn't have anything tartan myself except for some shoes

However, I think Angus more than made up for me

Husband also has his own kilt and I managed to get this very sweet photo of  him and Angus together in their kilts 

And here is the table all set. I used my tartan scarf as a table runner and I think it worked really well. I was really happy with the overall look.

We had a lovely time and hopefully shared a piece of Scotland with our friends. I will blog later in the week with recipes for the tablet and the Cranachan, so look out for those.

Thanks for stopping by

4/52

 

 "A portrait of my son, once a week every week in 2014" 

Angus loves books, here he is reading to his teddy! 

Joining up with the 52 project

Happy burns night!

The day of our party has arrived! As usual there is still lots to do, I'm at work this morning and Angus has swimming with daddy, but then after lunch it's all systems go! I have done some prep and the house is tidy but there are still some finishing touches to do! 

I can't wait to celebrate with my English friends and introduce them to a bit of haggis! If you are doing anything for Burns night I'd love to hear about it! 

I'll be posting about the party later in the week and I even have some recipes to share with you! 

Happy weekend!

Fo Friday - Not another hat

As the title may suggest this weeks finished object is another bobble hat! Ever since I made this hat for Angus he has received compliments on it and several of his friends mummy's have asked if I would make one for them! The pattern is really simple and quick so I don't mind at all but I do think this is the last one... for this year anyway!

So this one was for Angus' friend Elliott who wanted it in a bright blue

And here is Elliott modelling his hat 

As I said it was a quick simple knit and I'm almost certainly going to make more.

Well that's it for me today, I'm off to get ready for our Burns party tomorrow!

Linking up today with  Tami's blog
Friday - Creative Friday
             Fiber Arts Friday
Saturday - Weekend Wrapup
                Show and Tell Saturday
                Lovely Crafty Weekend
                Link Your Stuff
                Strut Your Stuff
Sunday - Sunday Showcase Party
               Think Pink
               Homemaker on a dime
               Linky Party Sunday
Monday - Motivate Me
                Craft
Tuesday - Too Cute Tuesday
               one project at a time