Bye bye moles.

Well as promised in the last post, I have finished Junes birthday present and now that she has received it I can blog about it. I made a felted crochet hook/ dpn holder for her. I crocheted and felted the main part from SWS soy wool and then sewed the inner part using Mums sewing machine. I made a couple of knitted flowers to decorate the outside. I am quite pleased with it overall. Considering I never sew I actually managed to make it look ok. The photos are a little fuzzy as D managed to break the camera while he was in Scotland and I am having to use my mobile phone camera.
I have finished a couple of other things this week too. Both for new babies , one a girl and one a boy. The bootees are Saartje's bootees which are a lovely quick knit. I used some colinette jitterbug and they came out beautifully. The bunny blankie is the third one I have made, this time I used Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino which is wonderfully soft but meant the bunny was a bit smaller as the pattern is for chunky wool. It doesn't really matter about size for a teddy so it looks great anyway.
















In other news, I had some moles on my face removed this week. I have had a large lumpy mole on the side of my nose for as long as I can remember and it seemed to be growing, there was also another one just under my eye. I nearly had them removed a few years ago but chickened out at the last minute. Recently E has been getting comments at school about her Mum being Nanny McPhee and it was upsetting her, so I decided it was time to be brave. When I went in to have them done, they also decided to remove two more smaller lumps I hadn't even been bothered about so I came out with four dressings on. I look like I've been in a fight, one of the girls at work thought I'd been glassed in a pub brawl! As it turns out the very smallest lump may be a small skin cancer so it was a good job I did go to the doctor. The stitches come out tomorrow and I can't wait, the dressings are really uncomfortable and the one on my nose keeps bleeding and the dressing is nearly falling off. I have woken up the last few mornings with my face all swollen and puffy, I am truly fed up with it now.
The bunnies are getting bigger and are still very very cute. It seems we have a boy and a girl so will be getting them 'done' as soon as possible. That way they can stay together as they are always cuddled up together and grooming each other, it would be too sad to separate them.
Have a good week everyone.

Additions to the zoo.

We finally gave in to the begging and pleading from E and said yes to a rabbit. We had to then say yes to another one or R would be upset. So yesterday two little bunny babies came to live with us. They are so cute and fluffy, I am totally won over. They are dwarf lionhead crosses and are six weeks old. At the moment we don't know if they are boys or girls but they are living together in the same hutch as they love cuddling up together. The breeder has said they can stay together for a couple of months then we have to separate them. Without furthur ado here are a couple of pictures.

















At the weekend it was the local village fete, E was doing her bit on the Brownie stand and volunteered to join the 'Its a Knockout' team with the Brownie leaders and dads. Each team was made up of four adults and two kids and E was the only actual Brownie on the team! Anyway they won the competition so E now has a huge trophy sitting in the living room, she is allowed to keep it for a couple of weeks and then pass it on to Brown Owl to look after.
D has headed off to Scotland for 5 days with his mates for a motorbiking holiday so I have a few days off work and peace and quiet in the house, it is bliss. I am making some bootees for a friends new baby and also have a secret project on the go for a knitting friend who has a birthday coming up. It involves sewing and crochet and I'm not sure that it will work out as I am making up my own design as I go. I will post pictures up if it all goes well.

Holiday!

We have just got back from a fantastic holiday in North Wales. We went with my Mum, Dad, brother and his girlfriend and thier kids. It was not a quiet break by any means but certainly fun. We stayed at the Haven site at Prestatyn which was great for the kids as they could join in with the shows in the clubhouse each evening. It was a nice site, clean and friendly. North Wales is beautiful, there was so much to see that we are going back again because we didn't do half the things we wanted to do. We wanted to go on the Snowdon Mountain railway but it was fully booked so we will have to go back to do that. We did go on the Llandudno cable car so at least we went up a mountain.
There were castles everywhere and the scenery is breathtaking. The beaches were also very good, large expanses of sand and really clean. I visited the Trefiw Woollen Mills and chatted with a lovely lady about spinning then saw the industrial spinning turbines. I treated myself to some beautiful roving to do some needle felting with.
Now for the photos, just a taster of the week. Oh and this is the first time I have been to Wales and it hasn't rained, except for one day, so that was a first. I even have a bit of sunburn!

I have an Etsy shop!

I have finally taken the plunge and opened an Etsy shop to sell some jewelry and beaded bits. Its something I have been thinking about for a while and now seemed the right time. I won't feel so guilty about buying yarn and beads if I am earning some money from my hobby. Please take a look and let me know if you like it. The hardest thing has been taking the photos, I am struggling to get the colours right as I want the pictures to be as accurate as possible. Maybe if I sell enough I can buy a new camera! Here is the link for The Treasure Tub.

A perfect weekend

This weekend has been lovely. It has made me appreciate living in Kent. On Saturday we went to the Sweeps Festival in Rochester. The weather was fantastic and the atmosphere was lively and fun. There were loads of Morris teams dancing in the High Street, everything from the traditional to the more alternative.

















My swallowtail shawl had its first outing and Mum was so impressed with it that she made me pose for a photo.









On Monday it was a sunny bank holiday, which is a miracle in itself! We went to the Museum of Kent life as E was dancing round the maypole with the school team. I sat next to an oast house, listening to jolly folk music and knitting a sock. It was really chilled and nice.









Just to top off the day I bought some fresh rhubarb on the way out and have just stuffed myself on rhubarb crumble and cream. What could be better.

Swallowtail takes flight.

I have finished my swallowtail! It is absolutely glorious. I am so pleased that I did this as part of a knit-a-long, it encouraged me to keep at it seeing all the other finished ones on the Ravelry group, especially Hebe's as it was done in the same yarn as mine. The Posh Knitters group now has a page of finished swallowtails and they are all beautiful.




I did 19 repeats of the budding lace instead of 14 to make the shawl bigger, and used beads instead of nupps on the Lily of the Valley section. I also added beads to the peaked edging as I had plenty left. I do feel slightly sad now the KAL has ended for me but there will be another one soon so I' ll join in on that too. In the meantime I am going to try and finish the cabled shrug I started and decide which shawl to do with my goodies from Wonderwool.

I have been taking photos of Chandler, he is getting bigger and is still gorgeous. Everyone keeps asking me if he changes colour when I put him on a brightly coloured surface so I thought I would try and put him on my Wish scarf. Well, he stayed green, just a slightly different shade of green. So there is the answer.

Wonderwool Wales

Well I had a fab weekend in Wales at Wonderwool, there are loads of photos coming up so get a glass of your favorite tipple and enjoy.
This is Builith Wells, a very pretty town in mid Wales.









In the show there were things that grow yarn on them.......

















There were beautiful things made of yarn.......

















There was lots to buy........

















June had a go at spinning and extreme knitting......
















There were workshops, which sadly I didn't do, but will next time.......

The lady in the middle there is Linda whose blog is All knitting no sleeping in my links list.







Anthony Worrall Thompson was there as there was also a food and drink show going on, and they got him to do a bit of modelling on the 'sheepwalk'









I bought a few things, well it would have been rude not to.........










All in all a pleasant but exhausting weekend. Roll on next year when we can do it all again!