A Hat and a New Friend

An easy project finished in a couple of nights, I love this yarn it's so soft and the colours are lovely

  as you can see I have quite a bit of yarn left more than enough for another hat but not quite enough for a scarf, I'll have to have a think  and decide what to do with it any suggestions most welcome.

The Hat only took 70 grams of yarn and you can find the nice easy pattern here

We have been so lucky with the weather of late, I have never known such a beautiful Spring, I have spent long days in my garden pottering about and I haven't been alone....

I noticed Jeremy  in my my garden about three weeks ago, at first I wasn't sure what type of bird he was I thought he was a crow but he had white markings on his wings and usually crows don't, but after studying him from afar I realised that yes he was indeed a crow.  Judging by the way he walked... very slowly indeed and by the way he flew...not very high and not very far I came to the conclusion that he was a very old crow and the markings are more grey than white.

Well over the weeks we have struck up a rather strange relationship, he's very timid as soon as I step out of the conservatory he runs as fast as he can in the opposite direction and usually hides behind the birdbath with only his head showing, then comes out slowly and starts pecking at the lawn quite contentedly while I do whatever I'm doing in the garden.

We had a few windy days last weekend and I sat in the conservatory crocheting, Jeremy sat on the decking looking over and didn't budge until I got up to go to the kitchen to make a coffee, he got up too and walked over to the birdbath and stayed there until I came back with my coffee, he jumped down from the birdbath and took up his previous position at the end of the decking looking over watching quite content.  We were keeping each other company.

Taken through the window.

Yesterday I dug a small border in front of my fence and planted some bedding, now I know from previous experience that blackbirds love to come pecking whenever you plant things out and usually pull the whole lot out so I was on my guard as I sat eating my lunch in the conservatory....




sure enough down swooped a couple of blackbirds and started pecking at the soil and then suddenly out runs Jeremy as fast as his tired old legs could carry him and he chased the blackbirds away as if to say can't you see she's been working on that all morning I shouted 'thank you Jeremy!' and he waddled off plumping up his feathers and looking quite proud of himself

I thought he deserved a blueberry treat

Jeremy is always right in the middle of the lawn when I open the curtains in the morning and he stays in the garden for most of the day then in the evening he's nowhere to be seen probably all snuggled up somewhere for the night. 

He is keeping me company in these days of lock-down and I hope he resides in my garden for a long time to come.

Have great weekend xx

See all the great parties I will be linking up to in my right side bar.

Month of the Baby Hat

I decided that February has got to be the month of the baby hat, it's great to put everything else to one side and just concentrate on hats and in particular baby hats, why? well sometimes you just need a quick finish making large projects can be boring they seem to go on for ever and dare I say it after the initial excitement of starting a new project wears off it can sometimes get a little tedious. 

I love playing around with my hook and coming up with new hat designs some of them work and some don't but it doesn't really matter as long as you have a wearable hat you can always find a home for it.

These particular hats were my attempt at designing an Aimee baby hat to go with my Aimee Preemie Jacket. I did start this last year but didn't have the time to put the pattern on here so I have pulled out my notes and have started again, there are so many different ways to make this hat, I have tried it this way and that until I came up with the most simple way of making it because I know that those of you who make baby hats for charity want something that is quick and easy so that you can make a few and I have made quite a few as you can see by the photo's. These were made last year I have made even more this time it does get a bit addictive I can't seem to stop.
   


Baby hats are a great way of using up those little scraps of baby yarn that you have stuffed in plastic bags, drag them all out, combine the colours and see how many variations you can make it's great fun.😊

Watch out for the Aimee Baby Hat Pattern coming next week.

Have a great weekend.

See all the great parties I will be linking to in my right side bar.

Something for The Weekend.

I think that I've found a solution to the granny blanket in my last post but it means quite a bit of mindless crochet which incidentally I do love, you have to have at least one of these projects on the go for watching TV or for when friends come to visit so it's all good, I'll show you how it's progressing when I've done a bit more. So for the weekend I have decided to make another one of these....

One of the ladies from Loving Hands found this pattern and we have challenged ourselves to see how many we can make. It is knit in the round but some of the ladies have made it successfully with two needles.  I made mine a size smaller than stated just to see if I could do it and because I was using tiny scraps of yarn and I wasn't sure if I would have enough to make a larger version.

It's much easier than it looks and there are other pattern variations too, you can find the free pattern here.

Can you remember me mentioning that I was going to make Daphne's 
Olive oil and lemon cake weekend before last, well I did but I only made half the amount stated in the recipe just in case it didn't turn out right for me but it did and it was yummy, I thought that you would be able to taste the olive oil but you couldn't it was light as can be.  I did mean to take a photo but it was eaten before I had time to get my camera out. 😄

Have a great weekend whatever you are doing. 😊 x

Something for the Weekend.

I hope that all you lovely people have had a great week! it's time to choose my weekend project again and this time it's something I need and not something for charity.  Back in September a lady from Loving Hands asked for help with a pattern, fortunately I was able to help her by making the item myself and going through it bit by bit with her and I loved how it turned out....

I loved the colours of the yarn and I really enjoyed knitting it too.  Now this particular hat was sent to a charity but I want to make another one for myself.  If I don't suit it then it will go to charity too and to be honest it may end up in the charity box because I don't usually suit hats but I'll give it a try. 

It took 132 grams of Aran yarn and you can find the free pattern here

I will also be trying a new cake recipe which has just come to my attention, Daphne's Olive Oil Cake, I know what you're are thinking, olive oil in a cake! well Daphne says it's yummy and that's good enough for me because I have tried lots of her recipe's and have enjoyed everything I've made so far.
You can find the recipe here 

What have you planned for this weekend? whatever it is I hope that you have a good one.😊

Something For The Weekend.

I always find it's a good idea to make a few small things in between a bigger project, once the excitement of starting a new project wears off I soon get bored with it and sometimes find it a chore to actually finish it. That's where the making of small projects is such a big hit for me, I put my larger project to one side at the weekend and make something small and easy, I get quite excited at the thought of starting this teeny project knowing I'll have a finish quite soon. It could be anything that catches my eye during the week or something that I've had on my to do list for a while. 

Hats feature quite strongly on my teeny project list because they are quick to make and are always useful. A couple of weeks ago Marianna from Lazy Daisy Days had a mystery knit and I joined in, such fun to knit something and not know what it is you are knitting of course you do guess as you go along but you don't know what it's going to turn out like until it's completely done. It was this cute little hat...

Marianna has since named this the Marty hat and has also added a cute little mitten pattern too.  So that's what I'll be making this weekend another of these little hats with a matching pair of mittens.
You can find the pattern for both here

I also fancy making this stir fry I think it sounds yummy.

What will you be up to this weekend? whatever it is I hope that it's a good one.😊

Hats In The Round.

 Although life has been a little crazy I have continued with my knitting and crochet it was the only thing that has kept me sane I can tell you, what would we do without it, there's something so familiar and comforting about picking up a crochet hook or a pair of knitting needles and creating something new,  I have to be honest though it has had to be simple my poor overtired brain would not cope with anything complicated.  

I don't know how many hats I've made over the past few months but making each one has been a pleasure so easy and so quick. I have made hats for all age groups male and female and I have sourced and found some great hat patterns along the way, all free and available for us all to use and I want to show and share.

I loved this pattern because it makes a great hat, the possibilities are endless and it's a good way to use up scrap yarn, trying to work out the different stripe combinations is fun too.

It's knitted in the round and I used the magic loop which is still quite a new technique for me, here in the UK we tend to use straight needles for almost everything.  

Earlier in the year I joined an already established knitting group in my new town to be, I find joining new groups quite daunting especially when everyone knows each other almost from childhood and strong bonds of friendship have already been formed.  So there I sat amongst these women with my circulars, they were all without exception knitting with straight needles, I got some very curious glances I could see them staring at the needles wondering why I was using these strange contraptions, some of them made remarks like oh I couldn't be bothered with those give me straight needles any day while another started laughing and said all that tugging and pulling whats the point.  

It saddened me really I thought what a shame that these women aren't open to new idea's and maybe even learning a new technique, but when I offered to show them how to do the magic loop no one was interested.  Perhaps it was a case of who does she think she is the new girl trying to teach us new tricks 😄 who knows maybe once they get to know me better it will be different.

Knitting in the round still poses some challenges for me especially when changing colour and avoiding the step effect, I found some great tutorials online here is the one which I found most helpful.

This was my first effort

My second attempt was better

I will be using this pattern again and I can highly recommend it.  I made the second size and it took 35 grams of Dk yarn you can find the pattern here.

These hats will be going to Muddy Footprint.

See the great parties I will be linking up with over in my right side-bar

Have a great week. 😊

A Huge Donation and Lots of Inspiration.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a lady who wanted to donate some yarn to our Loving Hands group.  She had found it while clearing out her parents home, one of the members collected it and passed it on to me last week, I wish I had taken a photo of it when it was stashed into my car, it filled the boot and the passenger seat, here is just some of it placed on my window sill...

I gave up counting after I got to 100 hundred cones. There is a mix of 1 ply and 4 ply in cotton, acrylic, wool and wool mix.  A few members of  the NELH group met at my home on Tuesday and took some and I'm sure more will shared when the rest of the group can get to see it.

Of course working with such fine yarn is a pain for me, as you all know I like quick and easy which means I will have to use several strands at once when I'm working with it and to do that a lot of winding action will need to take place.  The obvious conclusion was of course I needed to buy a wool winder ...

I'm having so much fun using this I love the lovely neat little yarn cakes it makes.....

As you can imagine coming into so much yarny goodness is like winning the yarn lottery for a stashaholic like me and idea's of how to use it spin around my head like crazy, I can picture a lot of lovely blankets, hats, scarves and other yummy makes spinning off my hook in the future and now everything I'm seeing online is a distinct possibility.  This is what has inspired me today...

A lovely Lapghan made by Olga from Lacy Crochet the new pattern is now available for purchase.

Pom Pom hat a free pattern from  Yarnspirations

Crossing Paths scarf a free pattern from the crochet crowd

I'm thinking that anything is possible with this yarn all I need to do is use as many strands I need to get the correct tension, it will be a bit hit and miss but the beauty of making things for charity is whatever the size, there will be a home for it somewhere. 

Before I move onto something new I must finish what I'm working on now it's a blanket and I'm using these colours...

It's a riot of colour, sunglasses will definitely be needed at the big reveal.

You can see the all great projects the NELH group have made here

Have a great weekend. 😊

I made it!

It's the end of May already I can't believe how quickly this year is speeding past, I hope you are all having a great Spring, the weather always lets us down on the cold east coast of England, the rest of the British Isles may be bathed in warm sunshine but it's usually freezing cold here with sea fret to contend with I'm hoping that the sun will burn the clouds away so that I can pressure wash my drive this afternoon.

This month like the last one has been extremely busy for me on the home front and I think it may continue for a while but at last the property is on the market which is a huge accomplishment. I have been trying for the past ten years and to be honest I never thought I would see the day, it's such a relief,   I'm hoping it will sell fast and we can draw a line under it and move on with our lives, it is as you can appreciate a very complicated family situation.

On the crafting front I have managed to complete the hat entry for the Crochet Crowd's feel good charity challenge.

I used my chunky yarn stash for most of these and made the smallest size which has turned out big enough for a young teenager.
It's a lovely easy pattern and you can find it here

I have also made my two Teddy Puppets...

You can read all about the Teddy Challenge and find the pattern here

As for my May boys sweater it has been started....

I have never used this method to make a sweater before so it's taking me ages but I am enjoying the process and I will finish it sometime but certainly not for this month thats for sure.

So counting the Afghan my total stash-bust for May is 1,626 grams which is the best month yet, it helps that I have been using bulky yarns of course.

June Targets

1. Finish May Sweater. 
2. Complete the sock I started months ago.
3. A boy sweater for June.
4. Two Teddy Puppets.
5. Start a doily for my coffee table, pattern yet to be decided.

How has your May Crafting gone and what are your plans for June?

Have a great week :) 

One More to Go!

Well it's been quite a week, it's that time of year when everything seems to accelerate and you don't seem to have the time to fit everything in.  It was my Birthday last Friday and that took me away from my crocheting/knitting in a very nice way of course while family and friends came to celebrate with me.

I'm also having to work extra shifts at work because my colleague is on holiday however I have still managed to make set number three....

This time made in crochet, I chose this pattern because I have used it before and I could remember how quickly it worked up and how easy it was. You can find the pattern here.

The mittens are knitted and I used Marianna's pattern here

I love crochet because it's fast but I prefer the finish of knitted hats and mittens, they stretch and give a nice cosy fit.

Only one more week to go before I need to get these sent to knit for nowt and I still have one more girly set to make and then I will have made two of each.

I doesn't end there either because knit for nowt has sent out yet another appeal they are asking for cardigans or jumpers for little girls, if possible in time for Christmas but because my box is going off at the end of next week I would have to make something before then, so do you think it's possible for me to make..
one hat
one pair of mittens
one scarf
one cardigan
before next Thursday? of course thats on top of going to work and the other million things that need doing Christmas is coming after all.  

I will try!!:)

I'm so sorry I haven't had time to visit your blogs but thank you so much for all the lovely comments and words of encouragement, I will be around to see you all as soon as I can, I hope that you are all well and have a great week! :) xxx

A Set for the girls

It looks as though the making of these little sets is going to take me longer than I thought it would, it's definitely the scarves that take up the time the hat and mittens take no time at all.

This time a little girl set made with stash Aran yarn in pink, white and grey. Again I used Marianna's Skye pattern which can be found here

 I knitted the scarf too and it took me far longer than I wanted it to, made in a very easy garter stitch. Using the same colour sequence and then bordered in crochet with reversed dc/sc in pink to hide all the yarn changes and to neaten it off.

Next time it will be crochet just because it's quicker, I'm hoping to get four sets done before the end of the month so that they can be sent to knit for nowt.

Two down

                                                                                                 and two to go

Can I do it?

 I hope that you are all having a great week :)

Linking with

Sometimes you just don't have the time and an easy peasy scarf pattern.

A Pattern for those  for those who want to make a super quick scarf, it took me 2 hours.

Age 3 to 5 years
Length approximately 4ft 2 inches
Aran or worsted weight yarn 100 grams but much less if you aren't adding pom poms mine weighed in at 20 grams each.
5.5mm hook
English Terms (US Terms below)
Using colour A
chain 144
htr in 3rd ch from hook and in each ch to end change to colour B with a 1ch turn
*dc in all sts to end change to colour A and 2ch turn
htr to end change to colour B and 1 ch turn
dc to end  change to colour A 2 ch turn*
work three rows htr with A (or more if you want it wider but make sure its an uneven number so that the contrasting stripes start on the same side.)
repeat from * to *
work one row htr and then ss along the length of the scarf on final row only.

Add tassels or a pompom or just leave plain.

I just love pom poms

US Terms
chain 144
hdc in 3rd ch from hook and in each ch to end change to colour B with a 1ch turn
*sc in all sts to end change to colour A and 2ch turn
hdc to end change to colour B and 1 ch turn
sc to end  change to colour A 2 ch turn*
work three rows hdc with A (or more if you want it wider but make sure its an uneven number so that the contrasting stripes start on the same side.)
repeat from * to *
work one row hdc and then ss along the length of the scarf on final row only.

Add tassels or a pompom or just leave plain.

Copyright © 2015 Linda Solaiman. All Rights Reserved

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