oh dear

Oh dear,, Santa's come early and look what's happened ,, he's got stuck up the chimney

long time no blog

Well ,   I have finally got round to updating my blog,,  shame on me.
I've been thinking of letting this blog go,  lost a bit of interest in it,  I'd rather spend time crocheting than blogging, and reading other , more interesting blogs,  hey ho

Just to show you what I've been upto,  doing a few crochet swaps on Ravelry has kept me busy,  also a friend held a fund raising for a school, so I helped her out ,  thats my excuse anyway.

A whole month, plus,  has gone by since my last post.

The two swaps I've just done on Ravelry, ormament swaps were great fun, putting together a package for like minded crafters.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures before sending them off,
Apart from this one

I love this crocheted monkey



This is what I've received from Leah, all the way from Australia, on  Ravelry's ornament swap

I love the Candy Cane each in their own cozy, they are going on the Christmas tree. Also a Teeny lovebug,  with a tag attached,  to make my day a little bit brighter,  and it certainly did that. Thanks Leah. Leah also thoughfully sent me the pattern for the Candy Cane Cozies , so I can make my own.


This is what I sent to  Dylan in New York,    and for a short while I thought it had gone missing, it took that long to arrive.

my parcel from Dylan can be seen in a previous blog

These are the tigers I donated to Sophie for her fund raising,  I loved making these, very simple and quick to make up

Against my better judgement, I got involved in Sock Monkeys, again for Sophie's fund raising ,  so as well as my yarn stash I've also got a sock stash.

I was surprised how quick these are to make and so effective,  just from a pair of socks,

Just a few photos and words to show I'm still in the blogging world,,

I've signed up to be a giver for next years World Book Day , here's hoping that I will get accepted

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to all who reads this

ripple along

Much against my better judgement, I've joined in with a ripple along (got enough wips to last me a lifetime)

It is being hosted by Attic24 & Little Tin Bird Ripple-along over on flickr,
fortunately you don't have any time limits and just to post photos, there's some great ripples over there,

I haven't attempted a large blanket before, wanted to get a feel for the stitches first, hence my dilemma, do I go for ripple no1 or ripple no2
what do you think ?

Ripple no1 is Tr3 tog  and ripple no2 is Tr2 tog

Ripple no1 is from  here  ripple no2 is from here

Both are great crochet related blogs well worth a visit

And here is a ta ta drumroll moment, it is finally finished

my giant pinwheel cushion, which has been on the go for ages and these photos does make it look giant

I decided to put a button in the middle and give it a bit of shape,

all in all i'm very pleased with how it has turned out .

I also like the colour, the variegated yarn with a block border (which was my hubbys idea)

I've wanted to make these for a while now, and the opportunity came up when a friend got married. I loved doing these, and my Daughter has asked me if I would make another for my grandson's teacher, so my wip no 34

free books yes free

You may (or may not) recall an earlier post where I won some vouchers for hobbycraft from Lets Get Crafting Mag, Well they finally arrived and these are what i got

 Because my wool stash is so hugh I decided to get these books which i have been coveting (is that the right word ) for some time now, normally it would have meant a win on the lottery or premium bonds for me to go and  buy all three books at once, so to say i loved putting them in a shopping basket is an understatement. I did succumb and got two balls of yarn, some darning needles, two handcrafted buttons and only had to pay £ 2.00 in cash, it was great.


I also had a £15 voucher for Amazon thanks to a free trial of Lovefilms, so what else did I spend them on but books.

Hooked For Life,  adventures of a Crochet Zealot is the first humorous essay collection available for crocheters. It also contains three fun crochet patterns and tons of hilarious truths about our much loved craft.
Here are a few quotes from the book which i wanted to share and i can so relate to them
                             xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Gauge;   for tight crocheters Just add water Fermented water that is--  a glass of wine or three is bound to loosen up a too tight gauge Just make sure you knock back a few each time you crochet or your gauge will be inconsistent throughout

Sometimes just knowing i could crochet if i wanted to is enough to get me through an event. I'll tuck the hook and yarn in my purse purely in case of emergency . i keep a fifth of good vodka in the freezer for much the same reason

If only i could crochet through a root canal, there are some hours that i wish would flash by at the speed of light.

Just the other day I uttered a phrase that stopped traffic, a phrase i never in a million years thought i would utter  " I have too much yarn"
Was i sick with a fever?
                                      xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I highly recommend this book, a really good, enjoyable read for all you crocheters out there

off to ogle my books for the millionth time and to try and choose my next crochet projects

yeah

swap again

Aren't I lucky ? These are what i received for my latest swap

 All beautifully wrapped up, it was like Christmas, In fact i don't get as many presents as this at Christmas.

I so love these, so so apt.

ravelry swap

These are the parcels from my first Ravelry Swap
Look at the difference in sizes
The first one is what came from Ashley in such a hugh box
The second one is what I sent all fitted into a padded bag, but they do say size doesn't count.


These are what I sent over to America, I had so much fun putting it all together

This is another Panda but this time I made the arms and legs moveable.

Ashley's got a baby daughter, so it was easy to include some things for the baby.
The swap theme was  something to wear so i sent the shawl which i had previously made as I doubt that i  will never get the chance to wear it.


These are my goodies I received, all nicely boxed up and look at how they've been tied up.What a good idea.

The cowl is a lovely colour I will feel proud to wear it knowing that is has come all the way from America.
Attached was a card with the make of the yarn and washing instructions another clever idea.
 

I have signed up for an october swap, in fact , I've just received a message to say that my parcel has been posted .  Wow that is so early, i better get on with mine instead of wasting time on blogger

long overdue

I am ashamed with myself. Its took me too long to post these photos. I should make more of an effort with updating this more often .

These are the gifts I received from Laura over at http://cutecrochetedcreations.blogspot.com/  Laura has recently been married,been on honeymoon and back, and she has still managed to update her blog and posted photos of a giveaway she won. Which put me to shame.

oops

that's what happens when i rush things you will just have to lay down to see him properly

look at his "created for you" badge

I love these so much , went onto Internet and bought some but mine has got "hand made"

thank you Laura I love everything.

We were in our caravan for the bank holiday weekend and stayed at Oliver's Mount Scarborough.  Thankfully the weather was kind to us after all the rain we had.

what a view, I just love Scarborough, I remember coming up here years ago with a family friend who lived in Scarborough and she wanted to share the view with us , my mother and father, memories.

Down on the harbour, hard to believe you're not in some exotic country abroad.

And here is Bridlington Harbour with the Pirate boat, this photo is for my grandson who is into Pirates at the moment.

This is my package ready to be posted over to America, Its the first swap I am doing over on ravelry. I don't want to post photos of what I've sent just in case my swap partner will read this but photos to follow

wow

I've just previewed this post and noticed that over at Urban Tortoise there has been hatching's so I am hopping over there now to see the babies

speak to you soon

funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3JcHhA7M-Y&feature=player_embedded



Another brilliant video from Facebook I wanted to share with you

cal

I really shouldn't have done but what the heck lol
I signed up to a CAL
I've already got in mind the yarn I'm going to use and I haven't done a CAL for a while now so thats my excuse

If you fancy it pop over to Maybe Matilda blog, how come I've haven't come across this before?

It could be my WIP number 12

meerkat fun

Just had to post this so funny for all meekat lovers.
A friend (Loraine) has just purchased insurace and she posted this on Facebook so i had to share.Shes now waiting for the toy.

It takes a while to load up but its worth the wait.

winner again

Just a short post before we head off to Scarborough for a week in our caravan, how am i going to cope with no blogging sob sob

I think i've mentioned before that I'm a fan of Lets Get Crafting mag, as soon as its due out i rush to the shops to buy one and

and


there on the letter page was my letter !!!!!

not any old letter but the STAR one that means i have won £ 50 gift voucher from Hobbycraft

whoopee

so all of you who buy Lets Get Crafting that's my letter,

my second win this week hoping i can make it a third with the lottery and guess what?

I've got two numbers that means a win of

ta ta

£ 2.50

What will I buy from Hobbycraft ?

A book or two I think as my wool stash is overflowing , but there again will I be able to resist. I haven't been to Hobbycraft for years I'm sure it will be hard trying to spend the voucher.

Thanks again to Laura for her super giveaway and I  haven't forgotten to post pictures of the goodies, I'll get straight onto that on our return .

Buy for now

giveaway winner yeah

I'm a winner   whoopee,
Laura from Cute Crocheted Creations is doing a lot of craft work to prepare for her soon to be wedding and still has time to host a giveaway.!!!!!
Amazing giveaway thank you so excited.
Go and check out Laura's blog, brilliant photos especially from her mums garden,
I will post photos of the gifts as soon as possible.



just as a matter of course, do you prepare a post, keep adding to it, then post it when you are happy with it or just post it anyway.???

I've been doing the later but I'm finding it easier to prepare a post first, then if it needs editing or adding to, it's quick to do, before finally posting it.
does that all make sense???

this is one i prepared early
didn't want to post it until after 19th as it would have spoilt surprise for Jo's birthday

hope its the right colour Joanne
Happy Birthday Jo hope you have a good one.

this picture is a bit dark it doesn't show the true colour off very good
since taking this photo i have added a card insert also a loop and button on top so it can be closed if needed. loved making this as a break from ami's

I've also loved making this cushion cover i got the idea from the
thegardenbell.blogspot

 wanted to use this variegated yarn tho saves the hassle of sewing in all the ends from colour changes



again the photo doesn't show the colours up

I've had this hook case for quite a while now but only just remembered to take a photo. It contains most of my hooks, and has a small, lined pocket to keep some scissors in, i made a chain to link through the handles to fasten to a button to prevent them from falling out genius or what lol

I've joined a swap a month group over on Ravelry, my partner lives in America, good idea or what?
How much is it going to cost me to send a gift over there oh well, I've more or less decided on what i am going to send,something already made up, so that will save me some work.

This is the completed basket, with the button loop closing and i hope a better photo,to show up the colour.
This is the the third one I've made, love the texture of the stitch, as with everything else, it takes longer to sew up than to crochet it.

More photos of my cushion as you can see its got rather big, that's to accommodate the cushion insert that hubby got .I decided to join on a darker colour and i do think its superb, I'm considering joining  front and back with white or pale blue as a contrast, what do you think ?
It looks like a huge pinwheel or a cover for the spare tyre on the back of our car
.I've actually read someones blog and they crocheted a wheel cover for the back of their camper van , it looked amazing but I don't think I'll go that far.

 

 

 

Going to Bridlington for the weekend and hopefully when we get back I might have received a surprise in the post, photos to be posted as soon as i can

Thanks again to Laura for holding a great giveaway and of course to Laura's mum for picking out my name.

Have a good weekend everybody I know I will.