What a weird week!

Yes it has been a completely weird week, absolutely freezing cold one day with fires lit and woollies dug out from drawers that haven't been used for months.  Then within a day or so it has been super hot and we're all in need of sunscreen again!!  So on those cold nights it has been so nice to add a few more squares to my blanket as it can keep me warm while I work.  For this pic, I had draped it over the sofa and it looked fantastic in a very retro kind of way.  But it's still a long way off being finished.  I think I've calculated that I need a total of 48 squares to cover a queen size bed.  Eeek - I hope I've bought enough wool to do the job!

I just about went nuts this week trying to make some wristwarmers from a pattern I've had for ages.  I spent last Sunday afternoon having a go at this pattern, then unravelling and doing it again.  Over and over - I think I wasted 3 hours before I gave up completely.  I just couldn't get it to work, I still don't know what the heck I was doing wrong.  So I decided to make something up myself and it worked first time!!  Thank goodness I had decided to scribble down what I was doing so I could remember when it came to making the second one!

They fit really well and will be a snuggly addition to my winter wardrobe.  I had loads of this deep navy coloured wool so a matching cowl was made too.  So if by chance you are as blonde as me and want a nice easy wristwarmer pattern - here's one to try.  It's in US terms and I used a 4.25mm hook with 8ply wool.  This fits a smallish sized hand, so just use a larger hook for larger sizes.

Ch27 and join with slip stitch to form circle.  Or if you're like me and always get this twisted, then don't join it up until the end of Round 1, then stitch in the tail when you're finished (soooo much easier!!).

Rd 1:  Ch2 then 1HDC in each stitch around.  Join with slip stitch.

Rd 2:  From this round onwards you will work into the spaces rather than the stitches.
Ch2 then 1HDC in each space around.  Join with sl st.  Repeat Rd 2 until required length from arm to wrist, then join with sl st.

Next round: Ch3 then in the same space 1DC, Ch1, 2DC.  *Skip 3 chain spaces then in the next space 2DC, Ch1, 2DC*.  Repeat from * to * around then join with sl st.

Next round:  Slip Stitch into next stitch then Ch3, 1DC into Ch1 space from previous round, Ch1, 2DC into same space.  From here on you will be making your stitches into the Ch1 space from the previous round,  *2DC, Ch1, 2DC*, repeat *to* to end of round, joining with a sl st.  repeat this round until you reach your desired length and fasten off.

For my smallish hand I made a total of 12 rows of HDC and then 5 rounds of the fan pattern.  I wanted the wrist part to be nice and snug.  The fan pattern gives it a bit of stretch so you're hand won't feel restricted.

10 more pairs of earrings almost ready to add to my little shop!  I love every single pair, so it's difficult not to keep them all.  The sooner I get them listed the better really!  Otherwise they might find their way into my jewellery box. 

Miss 4 and I had fun on Friday decorating hair clips with ribbon and sparkly bits and pieces.  She gave me a lesson on how to use a glue gun properly as they have them on their craft table at kindy.  How cute are these??  I think she did a fabulous job attaching all the sparkles.  My favourites are the red ones with the big purple glittery discs.  We might have to make some more of these, they'll make brilliant gifts for her little friends.

A few op shop treasures were found this week also.  My favourite being a black merino wrap dress (which just wouldn't co-operate for a picture!).  But these fabulous books were also a lovely find.  My brother used to read Beano when he was little so even though this is from 1989, my wee guy is loving it.  The Rupert book is gorgeous - it looks brand new and my small folk are loving having it read to them.

Caterpillar update .... this wee guy had us worried all afternoon on Thursday because we couldn't find him on the swan plant.  We came to the conclusion that a hungry bird must have spotted him and grabbed him for a meal.  But a few hours later we spotted him, a very long way from his original spot.  He had crawled all along my vege garden then found his way to our solar powered fairy lights.  Yes that's a light right beside him.  So before he disappeared into his little cocoon, he was just dangling there uncovered.  He must have got a heck of fright when the lights came on that evening!!  He seems happy enough thank goodness.  We have to wait patiently now and hopefully we won't miss him on his grand exit.  We missed him turning into this little beauty - it happened so quickly!

And to end my week, I had some lovely news from Karen telling me that I had won her fantastic giveaway!! I couldn't believe my luck.  Thank you Karen - it really made my day.

Well that's me for now.  Have a fabulous week, see you again soon.
Leah
xxxx

A winning week.

My gorgeous wee Miss 4 came home from kindy earlier in the week bursting with pride that she had made this all by herself! I think it's absolutely adorable and a pretty good first effort don't you think? She cracks me up though as she refers to anything crafty as 'knitting'. Anytime I have my crochet hooks out, she wants to help with my 'knitting'. And so it was with her kindy sewing - she corrected me and told me it was again 'knitting'!! Who am I to argue with the mind of a four year old?

I had some lovely news this week - I was the lucky winner of Pixie's 'slightly wonky if not a bit odd Dickie bird' giveaway!! Thank you so very much Pixie - your lovely wee bird will be right at home here amongst my other slightly wonky and odd things!

I haven't achieved very much in the way of crochet this week, but now that I'm starting to feel a bit better I will get back into the swing of things! My granny blanket is progressing slowly but surely. Each week I look at it and think I'm done but somehow I then change my mind and convince myself to do just another few rounds! So each week I take a picture, but because I'm using the same rotation of colours, it looks exactly like the previous week so I don't bother popping a pic on my post. I will wait until it's complete which shouldn't be too far away hopefully. So to keep me inspired and motivated to move on to the next project, I treated myself to some gorgeous wool this morning. I am planning on making a bed cover using an African flower motif and I am bursting to get it started. This Ashford Tekapo wool is a delight to work with - I've used it quite a bit before. I really have to finish the granny blanket first or it will linger in my basket forever. I am definitely not the most patient person in the world so this will drive me crazy!!! The African flower blanket is to replace the hexagon one I started. I will have another go at it in the future but I just couldn't get excited about it at the time.

I had a fabulous op shop find on Saturday which has completed my little mix and match set. I started with this fabulous teapot (which had no lid for some reason). It belonged to my Nana and I had always loved it. About a year after my lovely Nana died I managed to find a lid for sale on Trade Me which was the perfect partner to my teapot. Then I found the cup in an op shop about two years ago which I used quite happily on its own. But a quick pop in to my local op shop at the weekend completed my wee set. Sitting alone on the shelf for all of $1 was the saucer I needed! Well worth the wait!!!

We had the most crazy hail storm yesterday - completely out of the blue. With it was spectacular thunder and lightning, according to the newspaper we had 581 lightning strikes! The hail was so dense that our property was absolutely white in some parts - more so than when we had the freak snow storm last month! Here is a shot of our front garden/garage - it was so beautiful but so flippin' slippery. It happened about half an hour before school pick up so you can imagine the fun we had walking home. When we got home, all Mr 6 wanted to do was eat it - so instead of being the spoil sport I usually am - I said go for it. Just eat the white stuff on the top. If you get to the brown bits - stop! You really don't need to eat dirt for dinner. He then decided to collect it in bowls and try and sell it to passers-by! Strangely enough he had no takers.

I love this picture of Miss 4 in her very pretty Spring time dress and gumboots!!

It was the perfect afternoon to come home, light the fire, get cosy and do some baking. I kinda made up this recipe and it actually worked out. Anything with chocolate icing has to be good really. The kids loved them.

And just because everyone is Rugby World Cup mad here at the moment, we iced some biscuits with what is meant to be the Silver Fern and Rugby Balls. Again, the kids thought they were fabulous so that's all that matters! As a grown up - black icing doesn't seem so appealing.

I am still in catch up mode with visiting all my favourite blogs but am slowly getting back into my routine. Can't wait to see what everyone has been up to. I hope you're all having a wonderful week. Take care and see you again soon.

Leah
xxxx