Looking Back At The Year Of The Sock

 I try not to set myself resolutions or targets when it comes to a New Year, I used to and I would get very stressed when I wasn't able to meet them, now I have learnt to do what I can and be thankful for what I have achieved. Last year I did set myself a target to make four pairs of socks for my Lip reading group as you can see in this post here. 

I was convinced that I would manage that easily but when I set that challenge for myself I was in the sock making mode and had already made a pair for Kevin..

Kevin's socks came first, for his birthday in February

I didn't really enjoy making stripy socks and was looking forward to making a straightforward pair for my lip reading teacher Anne, that's when I went out and bought four balls of lovely sock yarn

Anne's Socks were ready by April..

I didn't really enjoy making these either because they were a large size and it took me while to discover that I had the wrong number of stitches on the needle and I had to start all over again, it seemed to take me ages to finish them, the finished result was worth it though because they turned out really well. I knew that the next pair would be more fun to make because the colours were so bright and cheerful and they were a smaller size ...

LIz's Socks were finished in May...

As I thought, these were a pleasure to make and didn't take me too long at all. So two pairs down and just two to go but by this time I was really fed up with sock making and decided to have a break..

Maria's socks were finished in September

 I didn't enjoy making Maria's socks they seemed to take forever, it looked like my sock making mojo had well and truly gone and I still had Cecily's socks to make, I really couldn't do it and I felt really bad that I didn't have a pair of socks to gift to Cecily at Christmas, I don't think that she's that bothered I didn't make any promises and I did give her something else instead, but that ball of yarn looks at me accusingly, it's willing me to pick it up and get those socks underway, I still can't, and if I'm not in the mood there's no use me even trying, I'm happy that I managed to make four pairs of socks last year and I can't wait to meet up with the Lip Reading group to see if they liked them. 

This year I'm just going to go with the flow and make whatever appeals to me, crafting is supposed to be fun right?

Have you made any resolutions this year?

Thank you for all the good wishes for the birth of little Sophie, she is two weeks old already and she says hi 💖

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

Saying Hi And A Lovely Summer Display

 I can't believe that my last post was Easter, where does the time fly? the year is almost half over already.

I thought I would just show you the Marina display that we have been working towards for the past year, we eventually erected it at the beginning of June and it has been providing lots of fun and enjoyment for the people of Seaham

Choose your flavour of ice cream

Shamus keeps his beady eye on things

So much nicer in real life of course, it's impossible to capture the full effect on camera.

I hope that all my lovely blogging friends are happy and well and are having a lovely Sunday 😊 xx

Bit's And Pieces

 Hello all you lovely people, I hope you are all having a good month so far, I know that there is a deep sadness in all of our hearts at the moment because of what is going on in Ukraine but let that encourage us us make the most of what we have and live each day to the full.

Here we are past the mid point of the month and my poor head is spinning with  ideas of what I want to make, I'm like a butterfly at the moment (certainly not in the beautiful sense you understand😂) flitting from one project to another.  

I want to make a spring garland, something simple and pretty here is the start.

Some little primroses, I'm going to keep it very simple, more of these and a few blossoms and leaves.

I would like to make an Easter garland too along with a little Easter display, I like to decorate my Crochet board at the u3a monthly meetings to attract new members to my group and because this will be the last meeting before Easter it should really have an Easter theme. I'm thinking a bunny garland the start of which is below.

and maybe a little basket of Easter eggs and a chick or two, the meeting is week after next so I had better get a move on.

On the charity front I have knitted these prayer squares, which are given to bereaving parents.

I am in the middle of making a bed runner and I'm revisiting the circle in a granny square which is a pleasure to hook

I would say I'm halfway through so hopefully it'll be finished next week and I'll be able to show you the finished bed runner. 

Then there's the Embroidery, I have almost finished one birth month flower which is the daffodil for March, this is part of the Year of Flowers  SAL which I have just started over on Stitchdoodles, 

and inspired by Kathy from Kathy's Quilts I have started this as well, a simple but very meaningful stitchery because of what's going on at present.

Embroidery pattern  by Joy at Days Filled With Joy

and if that wasn't enough I have heard about a new crochet technique! you know I have tried so many techniques in crochet and have loved many of them, there are some which take an awful lot of time and patience and I haven't succeeded in becoming proficient simply because of the time it would take for me to understand and to practice to get it right. The one I'm thinking about is interlocking crochet, I did try but didn't pursue it further because I decided I liked the mosaic technique of crochet more and the finished  product.

This time it's waterfall crochet and I'm really excited to try it. Mikey from the Crochet Crowd will be hosting this, I love his video tutorials he makes learning fun, it will start on the 28th March and I can't wait to at least try. The blanket they are making is below it's called the Crochet Geometry Lessons SAL 

Thank you as always for all the lovely comments and the good wishes about my fall I did have some achy joints afterwards but thankfully they seem to be easing and I am trying to be more mindful in my daily activities.😊

Leaving you with some early Spring loveliness...

Daffs almost ready to unfurl

The view outside my conservatory door

 

I love succulents and cacti, this morning that tiny flower appeared 😀

Well the sun is shining and my garden beckons, I was going to wash my car but my neighbour's drive is right next to mine and he has just parked his car, I'm thinking I can't wash my car while his is so close (that's my excuse anyway haha) So I think I will make a start on cleaning my Summer House instead.

Stay safe until next time. 😘😘

Linking with...

Slow Stitching Sunday 

Handmade Monday

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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. 😊

Yarn Bombing The Station.

 Early last Sunday morning before most people had even risen from their beds a group of knitters armed with bags and bags of knitted and crocheted items, arrived at Seaham station, the plan was to decorate the station and put a smile on peoples faces after the long dreary months of Covid-19 and lockdown.

The theme -  Trains and Flowers

As commuters stood on the platform watching with interest, the station was slowly transformed, passing trains revealed passengers smiling pointing and peering out of the windows trying to get a good look at what was going on.

It took nearly three hours but the results were well worth the effort, it was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed every minute of it. As people came and went it was obvious that it was a huge success, questions were asked about the u3a and lots of interest was shown. 

I left a lot of my painted stones around with our u3a address on the back, which have incidentally become quite famous the picture of my rocks was the headline in the June u3a National Newsletter.

It has led to requests for me to teach how to paint rocks which made me smile as I'm certainly no expert, I can however point people in the right direction and I may start a Rock Art tab at the top of my blog which will have links as to where people can find more information. 

In other news our u3a website has been down for almost a week, apparently the auto renew for our domain didn't work and so we have had to purchase it again, it's been quite complicated process but thankfully it's now working again.  It brought it home to me just how poor my knowledge is in terms of technology, anything out of the ordinary completely throws me. 

I have been so busy with u3a things these past two weeks I haven't had much time for anything else so I'm now off to have a look around blogland to see what you have all been up to.

Have a great week.