Half Term Treats

Hello there,

Isn't is lovely to feel Spring on it's way? Cold, frosty nights followed by bright, clear days, I love them. This week has been half term here so today I'd like to share some half term treats with you. It's been a little strange this year as the schools are off at different times so it was unusually quiet around here as the kids in this area have just started their half term today.

My first treat was hooking up some of these sweet little hearts for no other reason than they are so pretty, though I can use them to decorate the house as a nod to Valentine's Day too.

This is from a pattern in one of my favourite crochet books, 75 Lace Crochet Motifs and I used size 10 crochet cotton with a 2mm hook. If you fancy making some hearts too there are lots of gorgeous patterns about. I like this one which I think would be pretty worked in pink instead of red.


My second treat was this magazine, I couldn't resist the cheerful cover of primroses and the article on the gorgeous crocheted blankets by Amanda Perkins "Capturing a rainbow in wool".

I love the bright colours and Spring beauty running through the pages. If you haven't seen this magazine before it has articles about nature, the British countryside and crafts as well as food, just about everything I love. I enjoyed flicking through it while enjoying my next treat with a mug of tea.
 

Stem ginger biscuits. I used a shortbread recipe and added finely chopped preserved stem ginger. Making these little biscuits is almost too easy. We really like ginger so I used quite a bit in the biscuits. This is my recipe if you would like to try them.

175g plain flour
115g butter
60g caster sugar
2 pieces stem ginger, finely chopped
Extra sugar to sprinkle

Sieve flour into a bowl and stir in the sugar. Cube the butter and rub it into the flour and sugar to form a dough. Add in the chopped ginger., roll it out and then cut out rounds. Place on a lined baking sheet and bake until firm and lightly coloured, about 30 mins. Transfer to a cooling rack, sprinkle with sugar and store in an air tight tin, if they don't all disappear before they are cold that is!
 
Unfortunately our planned half term trip to Perthshire was cancelled when N came home with a nasty virus last weekend. After a couple of days of staying in bed (for him) and lots of exercise running up and down the stairs fetching drinks etc (for me), he was better in time for the sun coming out so we managed some time pottering in the garden in the sunshine which was lovely, I really appreciate the happiness in these moments of simple pleasure. The garden is really too waterlogged to do much so we contented ourselves with a tidy up before it got too cold again. There have been more bright days this week which have made it a joy to potter about and spend time crafting in good light. I've done more of my cross-stitch project and sticking to a theme of small projects here is a little peek of my newest project. Can you guess what I'm making from this small piece?

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while might recognise this yarn, it's the same one I used for the tunic I was making last year. I got all the way to the end then decided I didn't like it on me and unravelled it, making for hours of frogging. Do you ever finish something then change your mind and rip it all out again or it that just me?

I hope there are lovely Spring/Autumn days and holidays to enjoy where you are too.

Til next time,

Hx

A Highland Fling

Hello, I'm back after a taking a break for the Easter hols and as you may have guessed, we went North this year and spent a few days in the Scottish Highlands. This is something of a departure for us, we usually head south of the border if we stay in the UK with the Lakes, Yorkshire and Cornwall some of our favourite destinations however there were a couple of places I wanted to visit so north we went. We stayed in the popular town of Fort William situated at the foot of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, it marks the end of the West Highland Way long distance walking route.

We had a beautiful drive north passing Loch Lomond in glorious sunshine on the way up the Great Western Road (or A82) with a break at Glencoe for a bit of a potter about and to admire the majestic mountains.

These photos were taken on the walk from the car park just before the National Trust Visitor centre to An Torr and Signal Rock, where the signal to start the Glencoe Massacre was given.


It was much hotter than we expected at this time of year which made for a lovely ramble. We returned to the car to move just a little along the road to the  NTS Visitor Centre  which made an ideal stop for a late lunch before visiting the exhibition and having another wander, this time round the waymarked path outside the visitor centre. I enjoyed the exhibition here, brushing up on the history and geology of the area and seeing how hardy the climbers of old were, I certainly wouldn't fancy walking in hob nailed boots and even shorts as they did.

We left Glencoe in a happy mood, refreshed by the fresh air, food and sunshine and carried on to our destination in Fort William where we were staying the night in the friendly Myrtle Bank  B&B overlooking Loch Linnhe. This guesthouse has a great location with fantastic views across the loch to the hills opposite and with a friendly welcome and very high standards of accommodation I felt very lucky to wake up to the stunning view of an early sunny morning with the mist coming down over the loch.

It is so beautiful I remarked to N that I'd like to wake up to this view every morning. By the time we went downstairs for breakfast the view was completely obscured by the mist and it was very grey however it soon cleared up and as we left to make the short drive to Glenfinnan it was sunny again.

I had wanted to climb the monument at Glenfinnan  for a while, we had planned to go last autumn but circumstances prevented it so I was pleased to be there at last.

There are only six people allowed to go up the monument at a time as there is very little space up there. I happily went in to ascend the spiral stairway and oh my, that was a little hair raising. It is so very narrow, steep, dark and has trip steps. N and I were last to go up in the group, with so little light (the others were blocking what light there was) I was in pitch black holding on to the grab rope with N behind me thinking I needed some help and trying to give me a push upwards! Not being the bravest (or should that be foolhardy?) of souls I opted for patience and waited for the others to ascend so I could see before continuing myself.












Once at the top there was a scramble up through a small hatch to be met with this view, isn't it stunning?

Loch Shiel from the head of the loch on one side





 and the 21 arch viaduct in the other.

Those who are Harry Potter fans may recognise it as both it and the Jacobite steam train were used in the films, sadly it was too early in the year for a trip on the "Hogwarts Express".



After lunch we headed out to follow the Road to the Small Isles. We got a good clear view of the island of Eigg

and a hazier view of Rum, I hope you can see it.

We passed the silver sands of Morar, which looked very white in the bright sunshine before arriving in the fishing village of Mallaig mid-afternoon where we enjoyed a wander around the village before watching the ferry leave for the island of Skye. We then returned to Fort William and our B&B for our last night. The next morning we had a last wander around the town before having a loch-side picnic to make the most of the beautiful weather and returned home.

It's safe to say that my crochet has been sadly neglected over the last couple of weeks, the baby Mary Janes which I decided to make in a summery yellow and red for my friend's grand-daughter are still awaiting completion. As the holidays are now at an end with school going back tomorrow normal life has returned and I will be aiming to get several WIPs finished very soon. I'd love to hear what you have all been doing.

Hx

Accessorising With Flowers

A few weeks ago I posted a pic of some spring flowers but hadn't decided what to do with them back then.  Various ideas flitted through my head over the following weeks, including a suggestion by Josie (Sew for Soul) for a Spring wreath. Ooh, choices, choices, how to make my mind up!  In the end I went with my first idea of a tissue box cover as I thought it would be nice to have them on view all the time to brighten up our living room so off I went with some cream DK, a 3mm hook and a box of tissues. A few attempts later, as I didn't have a pattern for the cover and was sizing and shaping as I went, I had this.

I already had the flowers but no leaves so once again it was my yarn stash to the rescue yielding some dark green DK yarn. A spring green would have been better but it as it was alternating between snow showers and hail at the time I didn't feel like going out and made do with the darker green. I didn't have a pattern for the leaves, I just made it up as I went along using double crochet, half treble and treble stitches to shape them. As those who know me are aware, I'm not a fan of making up and like to keep sewing to a minimum  so this cover, flowers and leaves have all been worked in the round. 

Then I had to decide where these little flowers would live so it was time to move it around. The windowsill was nice and bright but I didn't want it there,

 so I moved it to here.

 It now resides in full view on my lamp table to add a touch of bright Spring colour to my home.


Whilst working on the tissue box cover last week I got a surprise call from an old friend to tell me she has a new granddaughter, a big surprise as it was a little earlier than I expected and....we thought she was going to be a boy! Now, little girls are definitely thin on the ground around here, it's mostly boys, so I was delighted to be able to think in terms of pink and lilac instead of blue. Out went the baby converse boot pattern and in came pretty pastel bootees and Mary Janes. Oh the joy, the boys are lovely but I feel so happy to be making something pretty for a little girl. I'll show you the finished article once it has been safely delivered to the recipient.

On another note, I love Easter, love that it is less commercial than Christmas, more time for family with the holidays, the signs of new growth all around, the traditions we have started such as making Easter Bread for Sunday breakfast and Hot Cross Buns for tea, it's the only time we have them. What are your traditions? Wishing you all a lovely, Happy Easter.

H x

D is for Daffodils

Hello, how are you folks? I love having a garden, it's why we moved to this house. I find it so peaceful getting out in the sunshine and putting it to rights, in between the rain showers that is. At the moment the Spring bulbs are coming out and everything is starting to look more cheerful. The early flowering narcissi were gently nodding their golden heads in the spring sunshine when I was out there while the crocus flowers are providing carpets of purple, yellow and white in the gardens, parks and even roadsides. It really lifts the spirits after a long winter.

I'd been thinking for a little while of making a flower brooch for my Mum, so with Mother's Day being last Sunday, I came in after enjoying the flowers outside and had a bit of a play with some spare yarn from my stash. This is what I came up with, shown after blocking, do you like it?

 I wanted the stamens to be more visible, the trumpety cup part of the flower is just under 2cm and I felt they got a bit lost so out came my new Pinflair Pearl Wand. I bought this on impulse at the Hobbycrafts event I went to.

Now this I love! It was really easy to use, I just put a dot of the gel on the tip of each stamen and left it for 24 hours to harden. The wand instructions say it can be washed at 30 degrees and even ironed on the reverse so it should be plenty tough enough for anything my Mum might do with it. I think it worked well, the stamens don't disappear into the cup anymore. It was so much easier than using beads and worked so well I won't think of it as cheating, nope, definitely not. What do you think of it, have you used a Pearl Wand like this?

I made this spring green cardigan in Wendy Supreme Luxury Cotton 4 ply a little while ago. Unfortunately, my Mum didn't fancy being a model so here is the brooch on her cardigan minus Mum wearing it.

I wanted to design the brooch myself instead of going looking for a pattern and didn't want narrow petals so I worked it in the round using slip stitch, double crochet, half treble and treble stitches with a picot at the top of each petal ( for US it's slip stitch, single, half double and double crochet).  It was easy and quick to do and although I used it for a brooch for Mother's Day, I think it would be lovely for Easter too so plan to write up the pattern and post it on here for anyone who would like to make it. I've also toyed with the idea of crocheting stems and using pipe cleaners in them to make a posy.

 I hope everyone had a lovely weekend doing something special with your Mum if you could, or if you are a Mum being cherished.


H x

Hooking up the blues

It's time to welcome March already, can you believe it? In my head that means daffodils, Mother's Day and of course Spring! For the moment though winter is clinging on as much as possible. Cold it may be but the days are getting longer and the lighter evenings are on their way which turns my thoughts to sprucing up the house and garden. On my last visit to my local wool shop there was an offer on these which I just couldn't resist.

I've been meaning to buy blue yarn for a while now as I have a very plain cushion  which could do with jazzing up, so with a blue and white guest room this will be ideal. It's Robin acrylic double knitting yarn which can be tossed into the washing machine and tumble dried, quite important here in the west of Scotland where we have quite high rainfall!

So having bought the yarn, the next question was what to do with it. Should it be shells? Ripples? The cushion is a very plain Ikea bolster and the guest room already has blue toile de jouy bedding and curtains so after a bit of a play about with it I decided to do plain stripes. I have three shades of blue and one cream, worked in trebles here to see how it looked.

 

I decided I liked this, it looked nicer than double crochet (single crochet in the US) and isn't too fussy for all the other pattern going on in the guest room. I hope to be able to show you it finished soon, in the meantime it's doing a great job of keeping me warm while I hook it up.

This week is going to be a busy one with the Glasgow Stitching, Sewing & Quilting and Hobbycrafts event starting on Thursday and running to Sunday 8th March which I'm really looking forward to. I'm especially looking forward to the Glimpses of India exhibition and the Mr Selfridges costumes as well as all the yarny, stitchy shopping oportunities and demonstrations of course. I have so many ideas for projects I've had to exercise a lot of restraint to stop myself ordering more yarn before the show. I still have some of the discontinued Rowan Kidsilk Aura (in blue of course) which I bought at a previous event and haven't used yet. It's a beautiful yarn which is heavier than Rowan's popular Kidsilk Haze. Luckily I have ten balls of the Aura so have plenty for a future project in the pipeline for this year. I adore fuzzy, lacy type yarns and lace weight shawls and scarves, don't you? They just take sooo long to hook up though!


H x

A Touch Of Spring

Hello there, are you looking forward to Spring? I am, it's my favourite season. The snowdrops have been out for a few weeks now and already the daffodil shoots are peeking up into the weak sunshine.

It was rather grey here last week so what better to do than snuggle up on the sofa with a big mug of tea, my favourite hook and some bright yarn to make some colourful little flowers. Do you like them?

I was thinking primroses when I made them, I saw some in the shops recently but although they looked lovely I think it's still a little too cold here for them. So these are my colourful, cheerful little primroses. Aren't they pretty? They really have brought a bright note to my day. Have your thoughts turned to Spring too?


Whilst in the mood for flowers, I remembered I had made a couple of Russian dolls (Babushkas) from Nicki Trench's Cute and Easy Crochet book a while back. I hadn't finished them, so I duly dug them out and added some little flowers to them too.

Here they are, spending a cold day warming up on the radiator. The weather can't make it's mind up today so we are having sunny spells, snow flurries, rain and a cold, cold wind.  I think these little ladies are cute though they are definitely a bit chubbier than the ones in the book!

The Babushkas were worked in the round and were very quick and easy to do. I used bits and pieces of double knitting yarn from my stash to use it up instead of the yarns used in the book. It was an ideal project for those. Now I just need to think of somewhere to use my cheerful little primroses too. I hope something brought some lovely colour into your week.

H x