Short and Sweet Saturday

Anniversary cake - thank you lovely friends.

Seasonal Stationery

Fast approaching is the annual task of sitting down with list and cards and crossing off names on the Christmas Card List. I must admit to suffering from a card habit. I can't resist them. If I am ever away somewhere, more often than not, it's guaranteed that I come home with a selection to add to my stash. It's good to have a card handy to send whatever the occasion may be.

This year I'm a bit slow off the mark and am just starting to amass the cards I need to fulfil my festive list. So far I've been tempted by some Eric Ravilious designs from a lovely site called Art Cove, a new Facebook find Kirsty Elson who makes some amazing driftwood houses and scenes and some festive cats from a favourite printmaker Jane Ormes.

We are off on holiday in a few days and I am packing cards, list and Christmas stamps to take with me. I'm looking forward to some lazy days and the change of scene and maybe picking up some festive inspiration along the way.

Happy Thoughts

Some days you just need to have a few happy thoughts to get you through. Sometimes it's nothing you can put your finger on, sometimes it's a challenging day at work or a task you loathe that you can't escape.

For days like this I like to think of what makes me happy.

Today it was Evie and her unstinting curiosity and cheekiness.

I made a brooch last night and had proudly left it lying on the table. It was nowhere to be found this morning and I knew that my kitty friend had been unable to resist it overnight and had possibly thrown it across the room. Bad kitty. When I came in from work tonight, I spent a good few minutes on my hands and knees looking under furniture and around the sitting room, until I found it carefully hidden in a basket on a windowsill.

Anyway, the flower brooch was made from an icord knitted with some leftover Rowan tweedy wool - one of the many greens from a post last week. I saw the idea on Pinterest from Cards By Paula .

I did attempt to knit a tree on double pointed needles, but was not in the form for fiddling with four needles and six stitches, so I looked for something less stressful to occupy my mind with on a Sunday night. It was quick and fun to do and gave me an excuse to use up some buttons too.

Don't you just love Pinterest - so much inspiration for loads of crafting and if you need some happy thoughts you can always look for some cute kittens.

November Walk

It was a good day yesterday to head out with my camera for a walk. The mist was hanging low on the hills, but the sun was threatening to come out and it was dry, although the air felt a bit damp. In fact as I walked along the road, the long grass in the fields was sparkling with droplets of moisture.

Further on they had been clearing some trees beside the road and a solitary Scots Pine was framed against the skyline.

I walked into the woods and I love the way you can stop and look into the trees and feel like you are looking back in time at some primeval landscape. It's tempting to think what you would find if you wandered into the trees - but I stayed on the path in the sunlight and walked on towards the coast.

The only footsteps on the path were my own and the hoof prints of a deer. That was the moment I thought I should have left a note at home to say where I was going! A flock of birds followed me along the path from tree to tree - long tailed tits, blue tits, great tits, tree creepers, coal tits - lots of noisy cheerful chattering. 

The path suddenly opens out onto a lovely view of the loch, it was low tide so I headed down the path to the shore. It was a bit slippy and damp on the rocks, so I tried to keep to the grass. I decided to walk round the head of the estuary on the way home - it was hard going, wet and muddy - home looked so close and I was glad when I finally got there and was able to dry off in front of the stove.

Short and Sweet Saturday

A winter prediction "Mony Haws, Mony Snaws".

Looking Back

Mr M and I have a special anniversary coming up in a week or so and a friend is treating a gathering of friends to dinner at her restaurant.

I thought I should prepare a 25 year look back in photographs - so I spent some time today down memory lane, raking through photo albums and packs of photos. I've managed to find a photo for most years - we must have subconsciously developed a classic pose over the years.

Now I just need to write up some information for them all. I don't feel like I've been married for 25 years. If I close my eyes I can picture myself back in December 1988 and I can almost feel the sense of anticipation in the lead up to the day itself.

If I had looked forward in 1988 to imagine what I would be like now and what sort of married life I would lead - would I have changed my mind? I don't think I would. The one constant through all the years, in all the ups and downs is Mr M and I don't ever want to imagine what life would be like without him.

November Snow

I know it was predicted, but still, I can never quite believe it will snow, until the flakes actually fall from the sky. There is something magical about snowflakes falling silently in the darkness of night. The bit I like the best though, is waking up and not daring to look out in case it has all melted away. This morning the snow was still very evident and it must have melted a bit and then frozen again, so it fairly crunched as I walked down the drive to take this photo.

It was good to be able to work from home today and not have to go outside in the bitterly cold, damp air and cuddle the cat if I wanted and potter about.

The trip to Harrogate had to be cancelled as my friend is not very well and although she longs for the many stands of yarn and fabric, she needs to get better first. So instead tomorrow we will have a day of yarn and chat and maybe even look online at all the things we might have succumbed to if we were there. Parcels through the post are exciting too!

Some snowflakes of the woolly kind are on tonight's craft menu.

Yarn Stash Clear Out

This week I am off on a trip with a friend and one of the things we are going to do is visit the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. I don't know if I am quite prepared for the overwhelming yarniness of it all, but I know I need to take my camera and notebook to record what appeals to me - sometimes there is just too much to take in on the one day.

Of course a trip to Harrogate might also mean a visit to Bettys lovely tea rooms and shop, a real treat in itself.

In preparation for the trip, apart from catching up on a lot of ironing, I have been working through my  stash of yarn. I finished yet another cowl - I'm thinking of trying to sell some - the pattern was Swiss Tweed Cowl by Hannah Maier from the Knit Picks site. I used Artesano 100% superfine alpaca (4 ply) in Anenome.

It worked up fairly quickly and I like the way it feels light and airy and has lots of texture. 

Short and Sweet Saturday

Settling down for a good read.

The Squirrel's Breakfast

Remember that trip we had to Grantown-on-Spey? Well, when we were in the place with lots of second-hand treasure, I spotted a lovely picture (a print) of Red Squirrels. I can't say that Mr M was entirely convinced that it was something he wanted to hang on his wall and because we didn't have much time to linger I waved goodbye to the squirrels and that was an end to it.

A few weeks on and my delight for the picture hadn't diminished and Mr M knowing my love of all things squirrel - we are lucky enough to have them visit our garden - declared we should make a return trip and purchase the said item.

There it was waiting for us  - Mr M still not convinced - I took it down from the wall and the label on the back declared it to be "The Squirrel's Breakfast" by Muriel Dawson, some investigation when we arrived home found that she was an illustrator of children's books and that the Natural History Museum has a collection of her drawings. I love the wild primroses too - our woods are covered with them in spring.

I left Grantown-on-Spey with an odd assortment of things that day - a squirrel picture, a glass washboard, a mini wooden rolling pin, a glass Horlicks mixer jug and a blue and white spotty jug. I can not accurately describe the look on the lady at the counter's face.

Thank you Mr M for making me happy.

Bag of Wool

I thought I should have a sort through my yarn stash and do a bit of organising. I also felt that the many bags of yarn could be better consolidated into one or two bags and then it would look less like I was making a bid to take over the whole of our sitting room.

It's good to know what you have and surprising to find that I must be drawn to the same colours again and again!! Blue is usually the colour I gravitate towards, so it was a bit of a surprise to find so many shades of green.

I must find a project to use them up......trees for Christmas?

November Sun

A brief respite today from the rain and hail showers. Good enough to hang out some washing and know that it wasn't going to come in wetter than it went out!!

I even managed a moment of contemplation up in the trees on the swing seat. I should have been wearing my wellingtons, as moments earlier I had been involved in a cross country chase to catch our cat. As a result my feet were a little wet and muddy.

Evie had been allowed an unsupervised outing which as usual had turned into a "bolting up the hillside" exercise. We live in a really rural area, but still the road is close to the house and the traffic passing by, although light, can be fast. This is Evie planning her run.

I spent last night with crochet hook in hand and yarn purchased in the Spring from Alana, in Broadford on the Isle of  Skye. As I wound the hank of yarn into a ball, I made a mental note to write down the name of the yarn the next time I purchased any, as so many months later my mind is a blank! I decided to crochet a cowl in a similar stitch to the last one, but this time in the round.

Short and Sweet Saturday

A day to unravel.

Remembered Blue Skies

It felt like the sky had fallen in today. Really awful squally showers with a winter's touch that covered the hilltops with a smattering of snow. It's been like that for the last few days and the weather seems set for the days to come.

Hard then to imagine that just a month ago we were basking in sunshine.

Look how blue the sky was.....

....and if it had been a bit warmer I would have taken my wellies off and paddled in the loch.

Long Day

It's been a long day.....work, a relaxing visit with a friend for a few hours, home to make dinner and then more work this evening. I really should be thinking about bed, but instead one of my favourite films is on TV, John Boorman's "Hope and Glory", and I can't resist watching it again. There are some great scenes particularly the grandfather's toast at Christmas to all the women he ever loved - much to the horror of his wife and daughters. There are some great knitted pixie hats and lots of lovely (vintage) knitwear being worn!! Reminds me of Susan Crawford's Vintage Knits, my copy came from the Knitting & Stitching Show in Harrogate in 2011 and Susan kindly signed it for me.

I did some crochet today adding to a blanket I'm making, the pattern is Floral Fiesta by Maggie Weldon and I am using a whole lot of different colours of mainly Rowan Wool Cotton - a sort of Harlequin look I guess - great for using up some of my stash of yarn.

Crochet Cowl

I had some yarn left over from a sweater I knitted earlier this year and it must be the colder weather or something, but I am constantly looking at patterns for scarves and mittens. So I thought I would try and use the yarn to make a cowl. It is Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Chunky in a dark purple. John Lewis had it on sale over a year ago and I bought a whole batch with no specific project in mind, but managed to use the bulk of it for a pattern from Jane Brocket's book "The Gentle Art of Knitting".

A lovely book with great patterns. A lovely present from a lovely friend.

Take a look at Jane's lovely blog Yarnstorm and if you want to escape for a few hours I'd highly recommend another of her books "The Gentle Art of Domesticity" which I stumbled upon in the library one day and had to source a copy of my own.

However, back to the cowl.....the pattern was on the I Made It! blog, I used a 6mm hook and managed to use some ceramic buttons that I bought from Low Sizergh Barn on a trip South a couple of years ago.  A lovely place for a browse and some food shopping if you are in the Kendal area.

Saturday Short and Sweet

New yarn for a new project.

November is here

I travelled home from work today on the bus and I found myself thinking that I like living here. I like that people know my name, I like that I knew every one of the other 6 passengers and the bus driver. Is it a rare thing in today's world? All I know is that today sitting on the bus, I felt it was something to be valued and treasured.

The sun is peeking out between the showers today, but never for long. The beech trees along the roadside are full of small birds making the most of the season's bounty before November really takes hold.

It's a time of year to keep warm and flock with those that make you feel part of a bigger picture.