Coming Out Of The Woodwork

Hi everyone — have you forgotten me?
I hope not… but honestly, I wouldn’t blame you if you had!

Every now and then I pop back in to check if my little blog is still standing, and to have a quick peek at what you’ve all been up to. Recently, I was surprised (and delighted!) to see that visits to my blog have actually increased — not what I expected after neglecting it for so long.

It turns out many of you are still reading my older posts. Since I’ve been blogging here since 2011, there’s quite a backlog to choose from! Lately, the most popular ones seem to be my Stash Busting posts, which I first started in 2013 and kept going for many years. I guess stash busting is just as relevant now as it was back then — I know I’m still doing it!

It really warms my heart to see that people are still finding and enjoying this little corner of the internet. Thank you for stopping by, whether you’re an old friend or a new visitor — it means more than you know.

Life has been very busy this year with lots of health problems and family ups and downs but look!

I had some lovely visitors in July...

My son and his family came to the UK for a holiday and they stayed with me, so I had the pleasure of  seeing this sweet little face everyday for a month, little Sophie six months old and absolutely gorgeous 🥰

The little jacket she's wearing is one I made back in 2013, it was one of my stash busting projects, I loved it so much I put it aside hoping for a future granddaughter and here we are 12 years later. It's a newborn size and as you can see she is growing out of it so I made it a little bigger so that she can wear it that bit longer...

 

I remember it was a very easy quick pattern to make and I've decided that once I have finished the  project I'm working on below I'm going to make more for charity using my stash of course.

You can find the free pattern here.

I'm enjoying this little project too, I will show you once it's finished and tell you the little story about the pattern.

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the Summer or winter depending on where in the world you are. I am trying to make the most of the Summer because it seems as if it's gone almost as soon as it's here don't you find that too?

Take care and hopefully I will be back soon. 😊

Five On Friday.

 It's many years since I did a Five On Friday Post but I'm linking up with  My creative Life. this week, it's a good way to catch up on what's been going on of late.

Before I start I would just like to thank everyone for the comments you left on my last post.  I'm pleased to report that both groups were well attended with 16 attending the Hobby Hub and then 26! attended Udance. It was so nice to see everyone dancing and having fun. 

This leads me on to number one in my five..

1 Health Matters

Regular readers of my blog will know that I slipped a disc back in October 24. You would think that it would be healed by now but unfortunately it's not. I'm still in a lot of discomfort especially after doing any sort of exercise like dancing. 

I did eventually see a GP and he prescribed anti-inflammatory medication and told me to take it three times a day. I wasn't very happy to take it as it irritates the stomach and you have to take it with food six hourly. So if I have breakfast at 8am lunch at 2pm that means dinner won't be until 8pm which is far too late for me. I am managing 2 doses a day only. He says the left side of my back is in spasm. I got to see a physio a week after and she gave me some back strengthening exercises to do, which I'm doing twice a day, that was two weeks ago and nothing has helped so far. I have an appointment for a bone density scan on the 17th but then will have to wait 4 weeks for the result. So watch this space.

2. Garage Door

My very temperamental up and over garage door broke at the beginning of January. I use the garage for storage only as it's far too small to house a car. I have struggled with this door since I moved into this house and decided I needed an electric operated door, but finding someone to install one was proving very difficult, what is it with tradesmen these days. Anyway when the door broke I persisted and eventually found a local company to install the door for me. Two very friendly young lads who talked a lot, promised that they would take the old door away for me and install a new door. To cut a long story short it took three phone calls to actually set a date for them to come. When they did come and it only took them an hour to install da daa...

They assured me that they would be back that afternoon to collect the old door and seal the edges.

It remained there for four days and after three phone calls, one man came to collect it, the struggle he had to get it on the truck was painful to see, I told him that there should have been two of them to lift it and he would hurt his back (see number 2!) but I can't see anything changing anytime soon.

 What about sealing the edges of the garage door I can hear you say, well I'm still waiting, I phoned again this morning and he said today, haha what do you think will they come? again watch this space.

3. Grandchildren

Enough of the moaning something far more pleasant a quick snap of my 3 youngest grandchildren 

Big brother mikey will be turning 7 on the 8th of March too.😀

Louis and Daddy

Little Louis is as cute as can be, he took his first steps last week, he's wearing that little jacket I made back here, 11 years ago! still big for him but he will grow into it.

Julian took his first steps just two weeks ago, another little cutie.

Fridge magnet shots of little Sophie wearing a hat and jacket made by grandma 

It's lovely to see your crochet being put to good use, at least the blanket made by grandma is giving her a hug even if I can't just yet. Do you recognise it? you can find it and how to make it here.

4. Crochet

I have quite a few things on the go at the moment but this is what I have made today

Easter baby hats for babies born on and around Easter, very cute I think, I'm going to make some with bunny ears next.

5, New Yarn

Just feast your eyes on that, bought yesterday, buying yarn is still one of my favourite occupations but after my huge stash busting enterprise back here lessons have been learnt. I still have far too much yarn but I don't buy as much as I once did. This little lot is for my crochet group, the u3a treasurer had gifted the Knitting and crochet groups £50 each to buy yarn for charity projects as our efforts raise the profile of our u3a so it's a win win situation.

If you have managed to get through that lot well done, because I'm not blogging as much there is so much to catch up on, I used to blog three times a week at one stage, I don't know where I found the time.

Have a great weekend. 

Health News and A Finish!

 Two weeks have flown by in the blink of an eye, where does the time go? almost half way through February already.  As usual it's been a busy and quite a stressful two weeks because of family health issues. For regular readers of my blog you will remember I was sent to A&E last October with tingling and numbness down the left side of my head and face, I was told back then that it wasn't stroke related but I needed to see my GP, then I had Covid and I thought it was related to that, but it has never completely gone away and now the symptoms are there all the time.  After several attempts to see a GP I managed to see a Nurse Practitioner and she has referred me for an MRI, that was two weeks ago and I have no idea when I will get an appointment.

I have noticed that the sensation gets markedly worse when I'm using my phone or tablet and decided to do a bit of research on the effects of radiation from mobile phones. There's a lot of material out there and none of it is that reassuring, each mobile phone has it's own SAR rating all of which have to comply with health standards but some of them have quite high ratings even some of the most popular expensive phones. 

I am now limiting my mobile phone use, I admit to using it far too much in the past, I'm always looking things up on google, searching for patterns and anything and everything that takes my fancy and I have to say it's not easy to stop, we get addicted. If I, an old lady can get addicted just think what this is doing to the younger generation, think of how much SAR they will be exposed to over their lifetime.

I'm going to stop there it's a huge subject and it's quite scary when you get into it. I'm hoping that they will find nothing too serious when they eventually do their investigations. 

I had an awful dental experience at the beginning of the week too, the removal of two dental crowns, what an experience! those crowns were stuck down really hard and there was a lot of drilling, prising,pulling and tugging going on. I emerged from that Dental practise after nearly two hours of what I can only call hell😫  I was a quivering mess, thank goodness a friend took me and was there waiting outside to take me home. It took me ages to recover, I have to go back in two weeks for the new crowns but I'm hoping that will be a straight forward experience. 

That was just me, another younger family member has received some very worrying news which will necessitate some quite serious surgery so we are all very concerned as you can imagine.

ON TO BRIGHTER THINGS

My lovely daughter-in-law is due to have her baby on the 19th of this month so we are all excited about that.  I managed to finish the baby onsie

and made some tiny bits and pieces to go with it

Made in white to go with the toggles on the onsie

and these cute booties in the same colour.

Stats -  the onsie pattern was made with Stylecraft Special Aran colour Duck Egg it took almost 400 grams  and you can find the tutorial here

The hat, mittens and booties were all knitted and the free patterns can be found on the lovely Marianna's Lazy Daisy Days Blog  She has a wealth of patterns on there and it's my to go to place for any baby knitting that I do. 

The Socks

I know they look a mess at the moment but they are nearly done, I will complete them this week and have a lovely photo to show you once they are all washed and blocked.

The Embroidery

Yes there has to be some time set aside for embroidery, it's so soothing to sit there and slowly sew one stitch at a time, I'm really enjoying sewing my love heart and that's what I intend to do today along with some sock knitting of course.

I hope that you all have a peaceful Sunday😘😘

Linking with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching

January End Of The Month Round Up

 Hello and Happy Sunday! There's quite a lot going on in the crafty corner I can tell you and I think it could become a little overwhelming if I don't stop to re-assess and decide how to move forward.  

As you know I  love the idea of  making something different at the weekends so that I can put my WIPS to one side and get the satisfaction of having a finish. The Sophie scarf was made in a few hours and I'm wearing it ...

I quite like it, but it's too big if I make it again I would make it shorter and not so wide, I would also use a better yarn, something softer and maybe variegated.

The pattern I used is here.

This weekend I'm making butterflies because the u3a knitting and crocheting groups are going to yarn bomb our station again. Click here and here  if you would like to see our past displays, that was more than two years ago but since those displays were taken down we continue to hang bunting to the fence surrounding the Station and I think it really puts a smile on the faces of residents and visitors to the Town.   We are thinking a bigger Spring type theme/display this time and I thought that these butterflies would fit the bill quite nicely....

Aren't they pretty? they are named  The Resilient Butterfly and great for using up little bits of stash yarn, the  pattern for these comes with a youtube tutorial and it can be found here 

The reason why things are becoming overwhelming is because I have deadlines coming up for my WIPS and, it's all well and good putting them to one side at the weekend but it means I am more pushed for time.  

Things are progressing, the baby onsie now has the legs complete..

I'm going to concentrate on trying to finish this next week because I need to make booties to match too.  Grandson number three is due towards the end of February, but as you know babies don't always play by the rules and he could put in an early appearance.

The socks are progressing nicely and the heels are starting to make an appearance..

There has been no progress on my secret project and I have a feeling there will be a mad rush to get it finished at the end of February.

Along with the crochet and knitting I have to get my embroidery fix too and so I have started another project to sew along with the The Year of  Woodland Blossoms embroidery.  It's almost February and every year I like to have a heart themed project on the go, here are a couple I made  in previous years..

and I have just started this ..

I found this design on Youtube, there's a great tutorial which includes some stitches I haven't tried before so it should be fun to make. 

I'm sure you can see why I'm overwhelmed one doesn't quite know which way to turn but in all honesty I wouldn't have it any other way, I love to be overwhelmed with crafty stuff.  How many projects are you working on at the moment? 

I hope you all have a lovely Sunday, I'm off to rummage in my stash of little balls to see if I can find some lovely bright colours and then turn them into beautiful butterflies.

Linking with

Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday.

Something for the Weekend.

I'm please to announce that the new projects which I showed you in my last post at the beginning of January are progressing nicely.  We all love the thrill of starting a new project but I find that initial excitement soon wears off and so to balance that I try and make a small quick project over the weekend and for this weekend I was excited to read about the Sophie Scarf, have you heard of it? It's a very simple skinny scarf more like a neck tie and it seems to be all over social media at the moment, it's funny how some patterns just seem to take off and to be honest, I can't really see why this one is so popular but because it's so simple and will be quick to make I decided to make it and really you can never have enough scarves at this time of the year.

The original pattern is knitted and can be found here on Ravelry.

I have found a free crochet version on youtube here.  I intend to make this and show it to my crochet group because it's an easy project for them to make. 

I have found a nice squishy ball of DK yarn in my stash, I have no idea which brand it is because the label has long since vanished and I have made a start...

I will show you the finished article once it's done.

My WIPs are coming along slowly, I do have deadlines for these 

Kevin's socks ..

These need to be gifted for his birthday end of February, I have reached the heel flap on one and have started the second sock as you can see, I always make a pair of socks together otherwise the second sock would never materialise. Since starting these I have been asked to make socks for some of the members of my Lip Reading group so I have been taking foot measurements and asking them for colour preferences, I have told them it may take a while but I will get around to it sometime. 😊

Baby Onsie for Grandson number three due at the end of February too....

I have a third WIP on the go only to be disclosed after it has been completed and gifted and then we have the year of woodland blossoms embroidery, the January segment has been completed ....

Once again we are expecting a storm here with gale force winds so I intend to stay snug inside and crochet my Sophie scarf.  What are your plans for the day? whatever they are I wish you all a peaceful and relaxing happy Sunday. 😘😘

Linking with Kathy's slow stitching Sunday

The First Week

 The first week of the year has been a week of putting away the Christmas decorations and tidying up.  Everything looks quite empty when the decorations have been put away don't you think? I'm always in the mood for buying something new at the beginning of the year and I'm afraid I've gone a bit over the top this year..

A new runner for the hall, please excuse the dark photos we are living in a grey world right now.

a new rug for the kitchen, something nice and bright to cheer me up.

I bought this photo from a very talented photographer in my u3a photography group a couple of years ago meaning to frame it but not ever getting around to it until now. I love this photo and I think it looks lovely on my wall now that it's framed. 

There have been other bits and pieces like storage containers and this wall hanging

A planter to cheer up my Rubber plant

All quite small and inexpensive items but it does lift the spirits a little to buy something new in this gloomy cold month of January but enough of the cheering up I think I must reign myself in.😉

I have made a start on the baby onesie, requested by my daughter-in-law 

  It's a lovely pattern to follow and very well explained by Simona Crochet on YouTube

This came in the post 

and I have made a start

The yarn for the red and green man socks requested by my friend has arrived and I'm itching to make a start this afternoon, it's so long since I made socks I'm getting quite excited at the thought haha

The flexi hoop arrived for my The Year of Doodles stitchery and it's now hanging in my conservatory..

I found it really hard to place this in the flexi hoop, trying to get it centred while at the same time trying to push the hoop in place it took me several attempts and I have to say I was quite worn out at the end of it, but I do love how this type of hoop keeps the fabric lovely and taught not a wrinkle or crease in sight, it may not be perfectly centred but please don't ask me to take it out and do it again I will live with the slight imperfection haha, if someone has the knack of using these hoops without all the drama I would love to know.😄

What else has happened this week? ah yes a routine trip to the dentist where I was told I need two crowns replacing they have worn through to the metal! so I have a 90 minute!! appointment scheduled for February, 90 minutes in a dental chair, how will I stand it. I'm putting it right out of my mind for now.

Wow so looking back this first week of the year has been quite eventful, next week all u3a activities recommence and I have things on everyday so I'm going to enjoy a peaceful relaxing Sunday afternoon working on my man socks, I hope your first week of the year has been a good one and you have a relaxing Sunday. 😘😘

Linking with Kathy's slow stitching Sunday

A Month Of Purple

 Once again I'm finding it hard to find time to write a blog post I'm trying not to completely abandon my blog like I have done in the past but as you all know writing a post can be very time consuming. I'm afraid my blogging is going to be a little bit sporadic but I am around reading and enjoying all your posts even if I don't write that many posts myself. 

World Prematurity Day is on 17th November and the colour chosen to represent this occasion is purple.

As I have mentioned before N.H.A.P. have a crochet, knitting and sewing challenge every month and for September the crochet challenge was for the group to make purple baby hats the target being 150, well that target has been well and truly smashed as the number made so far as I'm writing this is 473 and they are trying to get to 500 before the end of the month.

It's just a bit of fun but it really motivates you I have to say, added to which purple is my favourite colour so I have enjoyed every minute.

There's quite a mix of different patterns and as usual I have been playing around with different stitches. Pattern writing is very time consuming and not really one of my favourite things to do but I will get around to it and will publish them as soon as they are ready.

Haven Baby Hat

Yet to be named any suggestions welcome.😊

Little Treasure Baby Hat

I have made fourteen so far but I should be able to get a few more made by the end of the day.

The knitting challenge was for purple baby cardigans and I only managed one of those.

Jordan Baby Cardigan Pattern

I found this pattern on Marianna's blog and that's my to go to place  when I'm searching for baby knitting patterns. I find knitting too slow it has to be said and it hurts my hands unlike crochet which thank goodness doesn't affect me as much.

And finally I'm making poppies as the u3a knicky knack knitters and my crochet group are planning to make a poppy display for Remembrance Day this November. 

We are making them in red, purple, black and white to represent each of the different causes, the purple or Animal Poppy is to remember and and represent all the animals that lost or loose their lives during conflict.

We are still unsure as to how we are going to display these and it's not going to be a huge display as we don't really have a lot of time, but we will do what we can.

Just in case you fancy making some yourself....

Poppy Pattern

The large one as seen above.

With black, ch 2. 

Round 1: 12 tr in second ch from hook. Join with sl st to first tr. Fasten off and leave a 10” tail. (12) 

Round 2: Using red yarn, join into the top of any of the black tr.. Ch 3 (counts as a tr). 1 tr into the same stitch.

2 tr into each of the remaining tr. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. (24) 

Round 3: Ch 1. 2 tr into each of the next 4 tr, dc into the next tr. *dc in next tr, 2 tr into each of the next 4 tr,

dc in next tr*. Repeat from * to * 2 more times. Join with sl st into bottom of starting ch 1. (40)

Round *2 tr into each of the next 8 tr, slip stitch between the 2 dc of the previous row*.

Repeat from * to * three times. Fasten off . (68) 

The medium sized Poppy pattern (4 petals) is from Spin a Yarn

The small one can be found here on Ravelry

I managed to crochet another two hats which brought my total to 16 and the both targets were well and truly smashed. yay!

The challenge for October is for snowmen in knit and crochet the target being 150 of each I can see that total being well and truly smashed too.

Have a great weekend I'm off to find some white yarn to get a start on those snowmen. 😊