Something To Make You Smile

I am a member of a lovely group called The Knicky Knack Knitters who are part of Seaham and District U3A.  For the past year or so we have been making all sorts of marine type objects from seaweed to mermaids the plan being to provide a nautical display for Seaham Marina. 

 

We all met early one sunny Friday morning and set about tying the display to any available railing.  



I was quite sceptical about the whole project to be honest, a lot of work went into the making and planning and I was afraid that the whole display would be ruined by the weather and possibly by vandals.



I'm so pleased that I was proved wrong, nearly two weeks later it still looks as good as it did when we first put it up and we have had a lot of wind and rain.



I have never really been a big fan of yarn bombing I've always thought that the yarn could be put to better use but I completely changed my mind on that first morning, as people began to drift down to the Marina the huge smiles on their faces as they caught their first glimpse of the display said it all.

 Some pieces are displayed inside the cafe's and shops too. 

My beach hut display resides in one of the cafe's, which hut would you like to rent? 😊

lollipop anyone?

We all need a bit of light relief away from the madness of everyday life and if this can put a smile on someones face and provide them with that then it's all been worthwhile.  Thank you to Pamela our amazing group leader for the great idea and her endless encouragement and enthusiasm.

 I hope you are all having a great week.😊

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. 😊

How Do You Eat Yours?

Just for fun I'm answering Rachel (radiostar) from eternally 28 who asked these questions...

How do you eat...


Maltesers... place one in my mouth and just let it melt away (it lasts longer that way)

Yogurt... Gently peel off lid  and scrape yogurt off with teaspoon  then stir yogurt until it's all the same thickness and savour slowly.

Crisps...For some reason I can't eat them anymore they give me heartburn...I really miss them😟

Fry's Turkish delight...I love to bite into it and hear that sound of breaking chocolate into pink yumminess, then it's nibble nibble till it's all gone.

Sunday Dinner... Yorkshire puddings are usually eaten when I have room left on my plate to cut into them usually after some of the veggies have been gobbled, I usually save a bit till last though.

Kit Kat...I like to bite the chocolate off the ends trying not to get any of the wafer then nibble the chocolate off the sides at the base, then I eat the rest, the second stick is quickly dunked and the soft chocolate sucked off the end, repeat till all is gone.😋

Crunchies... I like to bite as much chocolate off as I can, then I eat the crunchie bit in the middle, mind you crunchies sometimes get a bit of dunking too.

Chips... I like them golden but not brown and they must be cooked through, I hate dark chips that are raw in the middle.

Toast..I like it evenly lightly browned, still warm with butter and marmalade or jam or better yet cut in half with jam on one piece and marmalade on the other. 

Pasta....I like it just cooked not under or over and it must be wholemeal or (see crisps above)

Soup...I like it with bread liberally spread with butter.

Bacon butties...bread without butter with a dash of ketchup or brown sauce I'm not fussy but ketchup has just got the edge. :) 

So how do you eat yours join in it's fun!

See Rachel's answers here