Sunny Wip Wednesday!!

Happy sunny Wednesday!

I hope the weather is as nice with you all as it is here! It has been beautiful here the last couple of days! I'm posting a bit later than normal today as I've spent most of the day out in the garden, reading and knitting, it has been lovely. The husband and I are just back from a nice walk and an ice-cream! I love the way the sunshine lifts your mood!

Right so onto the wips, I'm pleased to say I am one wip less than last week as I'm pretty much done with Neve's knitting and hopefully will have it ready to show on Friday!

First wip - Baby

As you can see growing nicely and all set for summer!

Second wip - Baby blanket
I haven't done as much on this as I'd hoped as I've been trying to get Neve's knitting finished. However I am pleased with the progress and as I said last week its really nice to just pick up and knit, I do love garter stitch and super soft yarn!

Third wip - Circular
I'm really disappointed about this one as after being so excited about getting to grips with circular knitting last week I went to cast on and realised I didn't have the size needle I needed and when I went to my lys they didn't have it either, boo hiss! But they have ordered me one, which will hopefully be here by the weekend so I will be able to cast on then! Yay!

Books
I finished last weeks book and it was ok, I wasn't too happy with the ending but overall it was ok.
This week though I have started a new book and I am loving it. It's called "Company of Liars" and its by Karen Maitland.

Its about the plague when it first comes to England and an unlikely group of people who are forced to travel together to try and out run the spreading plague. I'm only a little way in but already the characters are appealing and the story has me hooked!

So what are you reading and knitting?

Well 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

Wip Wednesday #26

Well its Wednesday again, I thought pregnancy was supposed to make time go slower but for me the weeks are just whizzing by. I seem to have jinxed myself as well as I said last week I was feeling much better and this week I've been feeling rubbish. I was at the doctor this morning and I have a viral infection and have been signed off work for a week. Going to keep this post as short as I can due to feeling pretty rubbish.

First Wip - Baby
We had our 20 week scan on Monday and baby is growing very nicely and all healthy. The husband and I are so pleased! It was also lovely to see our little baby again and we found out that we are having a boy! 
Here's a wee photo

Second Wip -Neve's knitting
I am finally making some progress with this as you can see from the photo below the body is done and the hood and I have started the first sleeve. Unfortunately I think wee Neve is going to be too big for it now so I will have to find another little girl to give it to and I will have to knit Neve something else. I am glad to be nearing the end with this one though, it not be a difficult knit at all just life has got in the way of knitting and this has been dragging on for ages.

Third Wip - Baby blanket
This is the first thing I have started knitting for our baby and I'm loving it! My lovely friend Ellen gave me the wool and the pattern as a baby bump present! Is lovely wool to work with and a nice easy knit so I don't have to think too hard about it, which is perfect just now!

Oh sorry about the bad quality photo's I used my iphone as I couldn't find my camera.

Books
At the moment I am reading lots of pregnancy books and loads of new parent/new baby books (any recommendations greatly received!) so not done a lot of novel reading but I'm in the middle of one just now called "Sex and Stravinsky" by Barbara Trapido. Its just got to a really good bit so I think I will have it finished soon. This is the second Barbara Trapido book I've read and I would definitely read more, I think she is quite funny and like her style of writing.

That's it for me today, 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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