A Little Glimpse At Benny

I never thought that the day would come that I would actually be getting out into Benny.

It was only two weeks ago we organised the last of the boxes.

My Attic 24 Blanket keeps us warm on the cooler days on the little comfy second hand couch. (it's still waiting for the ends to be woven in, too busy lately to get around to that)

Hateful as plastic is, living in the bog means moths and lots of them so to keep my yarn safe I have to sort them in plastic boxes. A box for each yarn weight.  There is probably about 12 boxes out there and I won't tell you a lie, there is still a lot more stored in the attic!

The threads and scissors are waiting for a display stand to be put up on the wall.

Pardon the blurry picture!

I love these door knobs. My hubby bought them for me last year as a little pressie.

This just had to come out here with me. I bought it in Munich a few years ago and I love it. 

The picture is painted on the reverse side of the glass itself.

I bought these wooden mushrooms at the Lamb festival. 

One Is worked from Ash and the other Hazel.

This also came from the Lamb Festival and we nicknamed him Ouch as he is to become my new pincushion!

The first job that I had to do when I moved in was to sew a new ironing board cover.

It's probably the worst sewing job that I've ever done. 

I really need practice more with my sewing, the machine was stored away for far too long.

Here is one little visitor to the studio that does not want us doing any work, except of course if that entails giving her tickles under the chin!!

It's hard to believe that Benny was once a sad mobile home with a leaking roof and holes in the floor.

Now he is bright and cheery and a home from home for me.

My little escape and just what I've always dreamed of.

Rosie

 

Little bits are slowly popping up around the mobile.  Decorative pieces that just seem to grow and appear naturally.  Not planned in any way.  Just the way that I like it.

I'm not even in it two months and already my work table is a total mess.  At least the trees outside the window are growing rapidly and offering no distractions.

Stitchy Pickings

Hello everybody.  

I've been trying so hard to get around all of your lovely blogs in the past week but time just seamed to run away on me. But this week I hope to have a lot more me time to knuckle down and get some serious blogging done!  There is so much that I need to catch up on.  I feel like I've been living in a bubble for the last year while everybody else was getting on with some seriously beautiful crafting. 

 I'm so far behind that only last night did I get to watch The Bletchly Circle.  

I SO loved it.

I was having a girlie night in with my mother and catching up on some much needed relaxation and down time, I noticed that the two series were up on Netflix and we sat down and watched every episode. It was two in the morning before the last episode ended and I was glued to the screen the whole time, interrupted periodically by my Mum telling me to close my mouth and stop drooling over the clothes.  

The clothes. The clothes.  Oh the clothes!!

They made me want to take out Cissy, my trusty sewing machine, and get making right away.

If only I was that talented!

One thing that I could do last night in peace and quiet was to sit down with my knitting tucked neatly on my lap.  I much say that I love this little stitch pattern.  It is not as boring as stocking stitch but not too complicated that you have to concentrate it all the time and not be able to watch a bit of telly at the same time. 

 It is a Stylecraft Alpaca pattern and has a lovely vintage feel to it.  I think that it'll be the perfect little cardi for a summers evening or a walk on the beach.  Can't wait to see it finished.

This is the other little baby that I'm working on at the moment. It is from Rico Designs in Melange Glitz Chunky.  It is an absolutely fantastic yarn to work with, so soft and tactile.

I wanted a quick knit after Christmas, to get my knitting year off to a good start but this has taken forever to get finished.  I ran out of yarn just as I was getting to the top of the back piece and have been waiting for the right yarn to be delivered since.  It's such a joy to knit that I'm sure that it won't take too long to finish once it arrives.

Just before I go, I thought that I might introduce you to the newest member of our clan, Fred.

The poor little fella was abandoned in the middle of the countryside when he was just a small pup.  He was found by a relation of my husband's and taken in but he couldn't stay there forever but I begged and whined and cried and when that didn't work, I throw a temper tantrum until the Hubby gave in and agreed to let him come live with us. He's been cursing me every day since then.

The least i can say is that Fred is a whirlwind of destruction.  never to be left home alone lest he eat toys, furniture, yarn or his favourite of all, books.  He takes them out of the bookshelf and nibbles on the cover and even if he's stopped and the book put away, he will always go back to the same book until it's totally destroyed. 

 Go figure!

And the worst of all?? 

He always, always eats the end of the book first!!

Hope to chat you all on your blog's soon,

Rosie

Shake, Rattle And Roll

Oh boy, how I've missed you being here!! And chatting to all the wonderful friends that I'd made here in blogland. It's been nearly a year since my last blog post.  Can you believe it?  I certainly can. I felt every minute of it.

This last year I've really been struggling with a lot of health problems and had quite a bad scare.  A simple tremor in my right hand developed into a violent shake throughout my body.  But thanks to a fantastic doctor and a hell of a lot of treatment, seven long stays in hospital, I've finally got it under control.  Well so long as I avoid all stress.....like that's going to be easy!!

I initially stopped blogging because I didn't want all my posts to be about me complaining.  I wanted it to be something more uplifting but every time that I sat down to write a post, which was many many times, it always returned to the same issue.  I wasn't ready to do that.

Then with all the stress that was happening around me I found that my crafting mojo was totally dead!  I would pick up project after project and not even keep it in my hands for 15 minutes before loosing all interest and tossing it aside.  It was so hard for me to keep up with other blogs too, seeing so my beautiful pages popping up each and every day.  It was like torture!!

And with my crappy luck, as I found my mojo hiding behind the sofa, what do you think happened??  The damn internet connection died in our house.  We've now been arguing for five months with the company!!  but all is sorted now thankfully and I'll soon be back in full blogging swing!  Lots of craftiness to share with you all and some recipes too.  And I so can't wait to catch up on all your blogs and see what you've all been up to.

Hope to chat to you all soon,
Rosie

AWOL

I went AWOL lately from blogland due to an ickey uckey virus that absolutely knocked the wind out of me. All that I seemed to be able to do was sleep.  I felt like I should have gotten down on all fours, drawn whiskers on my face and pinned a tail to my bum because I was living just like the cats in our house.  On my better days I managed to get a bit of stitching and sewing done.  I was feeling very low through all of this time because it was taking so long to pass but now in a strange kind of way I've realised that it has helped me a great deal.  I've been having a bad pain flare up since May due to my severe insomnia but all the sleep that I've been getting lately has broken that fatigue-pain cycle for me.  Slowly I feel like I'm getting a little more energy every day and my pain levels are beginning to drop at last.  Granted I am now writing this post at 2 am in the morning but I'm just a little giddy over something exciting that's happening tomorrow.  Well it is for me anyway!!

Yippeeee  I just can't wait!!

I've got a few crafty pieces finished in the last while but i never got around to showing them to you, so here goes.

After working for so long on the granny stripe blanket, I needed a break to something different.  I wanted a quick project so that I could at last see something done and totally complete.  The blanket at the mo feels like its taking forever to finish.  I found this little beauty of a pattern in Inside Crochet and it just hit the spot.  I just don't know what it is about me and doilies right now but I want to make lots of them and in lovely bright colours too.  Maybe it's because I'm just not quite ready for the winter that's knocking on the door!!

Sorry for the poor photo here but the light was not too good the afternoon that I took this picture....I know, I know that doesn't excuse the creases in my cloth, what can I say only sorry again.  I've been wanting to try making notebook covers for a while now and this was my first attempt.  I must say that I really enjoyed it and I learned a hell of a lot in the process.  I know that I'm certainly going to be making more of them.  Look out in your Christmas stockings everyone!!

I went to a patch work class the other day and one of the first projects was a rag cushion.  I'm so loving how it turned out.  It's a simple but very effective design and such a great starting point for a learner like me.  My biggest fault is that I'm not very good at cutting things precisely the right size and this class is perfect for me to learn this.  I'm really looking forward to the rest of the classes to see what will be coming next!

This little baby I made quite a while ago but forgot to show it to you.  It's one of my favourite things that I've ever made.  I love how it's not in any way perfect, nor did I worry if it wasn't.  I love the mix of colours.

I love that I finally managed to do buttonholes on a sewing machine.  I love the unexpected bright colours of the back.  And I love that it's the first cushion that everyone goes for when they sit on the couch....even the dog!!

So that's all from me now.  I hope to catch up on some blogs in the next few days.

Rosie xx

PS  Thanks for all the lovely comments on my last post called Like Minded People.  They were so lovely to read.  Sadly though I had to delete the post due to spam that kept popping up in the comment box.  But thanks again, I so enjoy reading all your lovely thoughts and comments.  They really help me to get to know you better.

Toddler Blanket

This is my big "Ta Dah" moment.  Finally I've finished my Toddler Blanket and I must say that it's been my favourite project ever.  Initially I was not so happy making it because I didn't really like the colours that I was using and I was convinced that it wouldn't work out but slowly I found other colours in my stash to add to it and brighten it up.  I will confess now and I did break my stash busting promise that I made at the start of the year.  I needed something to crochet the squares together that would bring it to life and when I spotted the green in the local yarn shop, I just knew that it would be perfect for the job.  But I did only buy three balls and I did use all of it on squares and the border.  So here it is......

Well?? What do you think?  Did it turn out ok?  I decided to use a double crochet stitch to join the squares instead of just a slip stitch because I love to see the obvious join and to make it not too uniform, I set them going in different directions.  Maybe not to everybody's taste but I like it like this.

I had to do the border a couple of times to get the tension right and that was a little frustrating but i got there eventually!

Folded and ready to wrap up into a nice parcel.

I met my friend today after 7 years and it was just like she had never left as we sat down on the sofa together chatting and gossiping and just catching up on all that we've missed out with each other.  There was a lot of laughter because I saw her little son for the first time and he had the most infectious giggle and we just couldn't help joining in with him.  I was very sad when our visit came to an end and I cried after she left not knowing when the next time would be that I would see her again.  But the thought that she loved the blanket cheered me and that she would have a little bit of me to bring home with her again.

Rosie xx

Going Vintage

Chaos has reigned once more on this little house of mine.  After labouring to clean all of the linen in our hotpress, or airing cupboard to everybody else, after the builders left the house caked in cement dust, my heart sank this weekend to discover that the pipes in the house next door had burst and the water had seeped into our hotpress and destroyed all of the contents once more!  Much screaming and pulling of already thinning hair ensued!
So to cheer myself up a little, I headed off to the local antique fair.  And with my beady little eye I found a beautiful set of dessert plates just begging me to bring them home.  They may not be perfect with their little chips and cracked glaze but I love them more for their little imperfections.  I shows that they were well loved and used plenty.  And they are certainly going to be well used here too.

This is the cake plate.  It may be a little cracked and warn but just look at the beautiful detailing on it.  Who couldn't just fall in love with it!












There are five cake plates in total and the design on each is completely different.








I was also going through some of my material stash because I've started my chrimbo present sewing and I found an old tablecloth that my mother used to use in her house a lot when we were growing up.  Because some naughty little mouse had a nibble one or two corners of it, it was put aside to be made into a bag of some description.  But when I saw it, it brought back a lot of memories and I no longer have the heart to take the scissors to it.  I love it just the way it is.  Perfect!

Well obviously it could do with a bit of an ironing!  But I never did say that I was the queen of the rubber glove and feather duster brigade and I am severely allergic to the iron.  Well that is what I tell the Hubbie anyway!

I also finally managed to finish my purple waistcoat from the pattern by Kyoko Nakayosho.  I really struggled to find a button that I really liked for it.  The only problem that I had with the pattern was that the number of stitches for the arm ribbing was very small and I had to rip them back and pick up extra ones.  Other than that it was a great challenge and now I am quite happy with the final result.

The light wasn't great today so sorry that the pic isn't that good.

Oh and one more thing I forgot to show you the finished mittens.  I really love them.  I knitted them in fine merino and they are so snug and warm.  I'm wearing them all the time.  I decided to cast off the top and thumb a little snug on them so that they don't get all baggy and loose because that is one thing that really drives me batty.  So far it has worked!

Well that was my weekend.  Eventful as ever.  Hope that you had a good weekend too.
Rosie xx

So Much To Do......

If I'm honest I don't really know what I'm at these days.  Christmas is coming and there is a lot of crafting to be done.  I'm full of ideas for presents and decorations for the house and I still haven't got my mincemeat made for my mince pies.  My problem is that I just don't know where to start!  And another of my big problems is that I've got a habit of starting a tonne of projects all at the same time and never seem to get anything finished.  I get too bored doing one project at a time and it's only been a few times that I've managed it.  And there are so many beautiful patterns out there to inspire me and tempt me to cast on a fresh set of stitches.
I do love that great feeling of achievement I get when I see a project finished.  It's something that I don't get from anything else.  I like to sit down to a nice meal that I've cooked or a scrumptious cake but I never feel like jumping around and shouting out the window, "look what I've made".  I can clean the house and do all my chores until the house gleams but I don't ever want to walk proudly into my knitting group wearing a nice Mr. Muscle shiny bathtub now do I?
Tomorrow I'm going to be brave and sit down with my dear little notepad and make my Christmas list (not for Santa...that one will come later on St. Nicholas' Day.  Hopefully he'll listen this year.)
The most important jobs first.  Sewing during the day because I can knit at night and when the kids are doing their homework.  I'm heading to Germany at the end of this month with my mother to visit the big bro.  We are going for a week so that is going to take more time off me.  And then when we get back, advent will have started.  And advent is such a big thing here in this house for us.  The stairs have to be decorated and small sweet bags hung out for Santa's elves to fill for the kids if they have been good that day.
Ahhhh I think I'm going to go mad.  But if I'm really honest with myself, I'm looking forward to Chrimbo this year for the first time in a long long time.  I'm more relaxed in myself.  More secure and I've finally accepted my condition.  As somebody once told me "it is possible to find happiness in acceptance".

Another promise I'm making to myself is that I want to take care of my blog properly and update it more often.  Every time I sit down on the sofa and take my laptop out, my dog Molly, jumps up beside me and lies right across the keyboard, nudging me and giving me those endearing eyes that say "please tickle my belly".  And if that wasn't bad enough, one of my cats, Nina, has a habit of sitting on the back of the couch behind me rubbing my head with her paw!
I often sign on to blogger land intending to write a post but I get so distracted by everybody elses beautiful pages that I spend all my time reading them and before I know it, it's already bed time.
So I'm hoping that with all the crafting I'll be doing over the next two months, I'll definitely be posting more news.  And hopefully there'll be some fab pictures from Munich and Salzburg.

Thanks for listening to my mindless rambling,
Rosie xx

PS  Can anybody out there help me please?  Whenever I have found new blogs that I would like to follow, I would click on the Google Follow This Blog button and that blog would automatically pop up on my reading list.  But the last few times that I did that, I had to copy and paste the address into my reading list.  Does anybody know what I'm doing wrong here?

Can I have a bun please?

Now that the kids are back at school I'm able to spend more of my time on crafting.  And as I spend a very pleasant morning sewing I realised that there is one thing in all of my crafty possessions that I use the most.  A little felt bun that my sister-in-law gave me two Christmases ago as a present.  I use it as a pin cushion and it is permanently beside my sewing machine.  Quite often  I can be heard asking one of my kids "pass me my bun please".

This got me thinking about other crafty things that I have that mean a lot to me.  At the moment I don't have my own craft room so these are dotted around the house and the first that I laid my eyes on is my Dad's old cigar box with a weavers knotter, vintage buttons and zips inside.  He was a weaver by profession but of all the tools and sample button cards that he had this is all that is left.

My button jar which is loved by my kids and whose contents are often spread all over the kitchen table.  And in this picture is a drawing that my daughter did when she was five of herself, my mother and me.  So cute!!

My mothers old sewing box.  A little worse for wear now being about forty years old.  I have memories of sitting on this as a little girl beside the fire while my mother brushed my hair.  I may be a bit battered but I love it.

The needle pot that stands on a shelf in my kitchen is one that I bought in a little pottery shop in Easkey on one of our first ever visits to the village.

And last but not least, my tablets.  Knitted by my friend to cheer me up when i was sick and going through a hard time changing all my medications.  Always hanging from my bookshelf, it cheers me up whenever I see it.

CraftyRie

I've just discovered this and I think that it is great idea a directory for all the mad crafters out there.    I've just spent hours looking through the different blogs.  Inspiring to say the least.  Pop over.  Believe me when I say that it's well worth it.  http://craftyrie.blogspot.com/
http://www.craftyrie.com/2011/10/universal-craft-blog-directory.html