To buy or not to buy

That is the question...today

So what am I talking about, I am of course talking about the Devon sun yarn club. My friend joined last moth and I was so impressed with the parcel she received  (below) that I am really tempted to join too. 

I mean isn't this just such a lovely package to receive in the post, who wouldn't want it. Also my friend Vikki made this gorgeous cowl with the yarn. You can find Vikki's blog  "Bake Day Wednesday" here, she makes lots of lovely, very clever things.

There is also a ravelry group for this yarn club with ideas of what to make with the yarn, so it's not like it would be wasted... But I don't really need to buy yarn for unidentified projects and I shouldn't

really be spending money when we are expecting another baby. Then again it's not a lot of money and I would use the yarn (eventually), also I don't really make many yarn purchases during a normal month and I could just sign up for the initial 3 months then stop. However, this could lead to other purchases, it may be a slippery slope but what pregnant lady doesn't need a treat?! I don't know I think the jury is still out of this one...

Are you in a yarn club? Do you use the yarn you receive? Should I sign up? 

Oh only 3more days left of my giveaway!

Book review - 2015 #1

Jasper Fforde - Lost in a Good Book

I was given this book at Christmas, I had read the first one in this series and really wanted to read the rest so this was a very welcomed Christmas gift. I had another book to finish before I started this one that I started just before Christmas, so this is technically the first book I've started and finished in 2015.

First a little background to the story, the first in this series is "The Eyre Affair" and is an inventive adventure based around literature. This second adventure follows the  main character Thursday Next, who is a literary sleuth. In this adventure Next finds herself fighting to get the love of her life back, apprenticed to Miss Havisham from Dickens "Great Expectations, caught up in a deadly series of coincidences and is the only one who can save the earth.

There is never a dull moment in this novel and the pace of the story really keeps you going. I really like the main character Thursday Next and find it very easy to be sucked into the world which she lives in (which is an alternative England/world from our one.) the characters which are often from other novels are really convincing and entertaining. These books have a comic element running through them which I really enjoy, it also adds another level to some of the more tense dramatic scenes which I think is really clever. My only problem which is book is that it doesn't have an ending and now I really want to read the third book in the series to find out what happened! 

Jasper Fforde has a great imagination and a really great style of writing. The only thing I would say about this series is that they are not stand alone novels, you really need to read them in order. The story isn't overly confusing but they do follow on from each other and it is a lot easier to follow when you have read the previous novels.

Happy reading!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway which ends on Sunday!

Fo Friday - baby bear hat

In my last post I said one of the things I wanted to do this year was use up my yarn stash. Unfortunately I have already added to my stash with 2 50g balls of Rico. The only upside of this purchase is that I do know what I'm going to make with it. I did have to buy some yarn to finish my baby blanket but I used so little I gave the rest of the ball away so I don't think that counts. 

Speaking of the blanket, I did run out of the white yarn and used some from my stash so that definitely counts towards stash busting. I was left with some of the third colour, the plain yellow. I was not prepared to just add this to my stash so I thought I would use it up with a little baby hat. This was extremely easy and quick to knit, just stocking stitch and then just knit for the ears. I do love the ears! I still have some of the yarn left, too much just to throw away so I think a pair of booties may be in order.

Once the booties are done I think if there is any yarn left it will be such a small amount I can just throw it away and then I will have used up all the yarn from the blanket! And I won't be left with some yarn that I would probably do nothing with. 

Happy Friday!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Wip Wednesday - new/old projects

I've been quite quiet about any goals for my knitting this year, other than saying I must do more than last year. This is for 2 reasons I don't think the pressure helps me, life has enough pressure and my knitting is supposed to be fun and something I do to relax. I don't want to always feel pressured or that I'm behind in my goals. The other reason is that half of this year I will be pregnant and the other half I'll have a very new baby, so I have no idea how much knitting I'll get done. Having said that I do have some things I would like to do, the baby blanket was one, using up some of my stash was another and trying to reduce the number of wips I have, also to just generally make more than last year. 

So far things have been going great, I have finished the baby blanket, so that's off the list. I have also made another stocking so that's helping to work towards finishing a wip. And the Fo I have for Friday has helped to stash bust so all in all I'm very happy. I'm under no pressure and really enjoying my knitting and being back on my blog.

Now onto today, not so straight forward I'm afraid. This is a wip I started last year, it was intended to be a sweater for Angus for Christmas (the less said about that the better) it started off great I got the back knitted up in no time, got started on the front and here's where the trouble started. I have only done colourwork with my stockings which I've found to be really straightforward and I've really enjoyed it. The front of this sweater has a stripey monster on it, which I thought would be no problem, I've done some colourwork before so what's the big deal. Well as this is now the third time I am starting the front I think it's safe to say colourwork is the big deal. I think what I need to do is floats which, I am going to be honest here, scare me! I don't know why but they do! Thankfully I have a friend who I'm hoping will help get my floats started and then there will be no stopping this sweater. The only problem then will be if it still fits Angus!    

Oh don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Monday....

This is definitely how I feel today. Normally I quite like Mondays but it's a miserable day today, Angus has been up since 5:10am and the husband is on call tonight so I can't go to my knitting group tonight! Grumble grumble!

I do have some positives, over the weekend I managed to make another stocking (no 16) and a very cute baby hat (more of that later in the week!)

Well I suppose there is nothing else for it on this rainy Monday but lots of tea, some knitting and a bit of Agatha Christie! 

Oh don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Hope you're having a good start to the week! 

Fo Friday - baby blanket

I'm super excited today, not only have I finished my first item this year but I've finished the baby blanket! I can't believe how quick I completed this, I thought, in fact worried that it might drag on like the last time I attempted to make it! But no, in just 6 weeks it's all finished. Hooray!

I really enjoyed knitting this and can't wait to use it when our baby arrives! 

I have some yellow yarn left so I've cast on a baby hat that will match! 

Oh don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Happy Friday everyone!

Giveaway!

In my post on Sunday I was talking about how it's been 4 years this month since I started knitting. In honour of this I am having a giveaway. The prize is 2 balls of lovely purple chunky yarn! 

I used this yarn to make my snood which was also in yesterday's blog.

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is to comment on either this post or Sunday's. I'll draw the winner at the end of the month! 

Good luck! 

Postman calling

Just a small parcel but I love getting knitting goodies in the post! 

Have you received any yarn/knitting/crochet goodies in the post lately?

4 Years!

During a conversation last night with my husband I realised that this month marks 4 years since I started knitting. I can't quite believe it's been 4 years, some days I feel as if I'm still brand new at it! It's been a great 4 years though, I've had some disasters but I'm also really proud of the items I've made, they're not all perfect but they are all mine! I've also made some lovely friends through knitting both on my blog and in real life (not sure real life is the right term!)

In those 4 years I've had a few break from blogging and to be honest knitting too. This has meant I've missed documenting some of my projects. I'd like to take this opportunity to catch up. 

About two years ago I decided to make a snood for myself. I really enjoyed making it and made a couple more for Christmas presents. Unfortunately I only have the photo of the one I made for myself, which of course isn't as good as the others.

The photo doesn't really show off the stitch an I think the yarn colour also makes it hard to see. The pattern for this snood can be found here and you can see exactly what it should look like! 

Around this time I also started to make some quick lace effect scarves as Christmas gifts. I used a lace weight yarn and giant needles, the effect was very pretty. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of these.

The other project I wanted to share with you is Neve's nevermore. Detail of this can be found here. But I did actually finish this, unfortunately it never made it to wee Neve but I did manage to gift it to another lovely little girl who get lots of wear out of it 

Lastly there are some baby bloomer I made last year as a gift for my friend when she had her baby girl. These bloomers turned out much cuter and adorable than I had hoped! I did change the pattern a bit but I love these. Perfect for warm days or with tights on colder days

 If you would like to see the other items I've made over the last 4 years you can find them all on my gallery page! 

Also as its my knitting birthday I have decided to have a giveaway! I have two lovely super chunky balls of yarn that can be made into the snood I made. All you have to do to enter is comment on this post! I'll post more details about the giveaway later, including a photo of this lovely yarn!

 Good luck! 🍀

The end is near...

Could it be, could I actually be about to complete the baby blanket, the baby blanket I started 3 years ago and abandoned, unpicked  and started again last month?

Well if this photo is anything to go by then yes!

I have one square left to do and then I just need to sew it together. I'm so pleased the end is near, not because I'm bored with the blanket, not at all, but because I never thought I would complete it and here I am, just one square away. 

I've loved knitting this, is been so easy and really calming just knitting away, slowly growing (me and the blanket!) I'll be sad to see this one finished but also super chuffed! 

Watch this space next week for a finished blanket! 

My Super Easy, Super Yummy Cheesecake

This is very much a tried and tested recipe, in fact I think I've been using it for about 6 years, it never fails and is so quick and easy to make I would never look at any other recipe, although I'm sure there are some great ones out there.

I made this particular cheesecake last week for our Burns Supper and i think its fair to say everyone loved it. 

300g digestive biscuits

150g soft butter

300g cream cheese

60g icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

250ml double cream

2 capfulls of whisky

1 punnet of raspberries

1. Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until beginning to turn to crumbs, then add the butter and whisky and whiz again to make the mixture clump.

2. Press this mixture in a 23cm springform tin; press a little up the sides to form a slight ridge. I then pop it into the freezer as the whisky makes it a little wet.

3. Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth.

4. Lightly whip the double cream, and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture.

5. Take base out of the freezer, spoon the cheesecake filling on top of the biscuit base and smooth with spatula. Put it in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight.

6. When you are ready to serve the cheesecake, unmold it and scatter the raspberries on top.

Alternatives:

You can change the biscuits to chocolate digestives

You can leave out the whisky or use a drink of your choice

You can change the topping.

I love this recipe as its so simple, so yummy and so versatile.

The original recipe is by Nigella Lawson, which can be found on her website or book - Nigella Express.