Hurrah for Finished object Friday!

Hello and welcome....

just a quick one for me today as I am ready for bed!!!  

I have a finished object to share!!!!

I present...

"I heart knitting" fingerless mittens knitted out of my hand spun which was dyed using natural dyes by the lovely "My Heart Exposed" 

I am really pleased with them , they knitted up really quite quickly even though I procrastinated like a good un before dealing with the thumbs ~laugh~

Don't forget to head over to Tamis Blog for other wonderful FO ! and thanks for dropping by :)

T x

Work in Progress Wednesday 14/09/2011

Good Afternoon ....

So I have been trying to get back into knitting.... having been sucked into crochet more recently.

Well I shared some hand spun yarn on FO Friday and finally wound it into a ball and started knitting it up and so far I am really pleased with how well it is going.

It has no thumb yet or a partner but I love the hearts and the way it has knitted up on the other side we have solid twisted rib

I can't wait to get them finished.... the pattern is here 

I have also been doing a few more boarders on my flowers in the snow blanket

and here is the mountain of centres waiting for my attention ~hides~

Oh and look at all those ends to be woven in!!!!  I think I will take my time with these.

Thanks for passing by and joining me, and if you have a moment head on over to Tami's there are some lovely WIP's being shared! 

I hope to have something to share with you on Friday too but I am working every evening so maybe not!

Tuesday Treasure ~13/09/11

Hello there!

I do hope we find you well, not too wind swept or dripping from a torrential downpour which has been the pattern of the days here of late.... I am optimistic this morning however that the weather will be kind enough to dry some washing, the sky looks promising like a soft blue hue.  I think I should probably tie my hair up though, yesterday the wind was so strong I spent most of my time feeling like I was being attacked as it was whipped into a frenzy around my face!

Anyway.... Tuesday Treasures?  it's been a little while and there have been many treasures in my life recently BUT yesterday I had a stroke of good luck,  I won a competition ~happy dance~ and the person running the competition is such a lovely person and is such an inspiration. I wanted to let you know about her blog where I  won two spooky craft books, which I have no doubt the children will love flicking through with me...

So here it is Crafts From the Cwtch, I've been following Sarah's progress with her knitting and crafting on another forum so was very excited when she started a blog.  I do hope you all like it too, go and say Hi, Sarah is LOVELY but don't blame me when you have LOADS of WIP's at the moment Sarah is hexipuffing.... intrigued?  you should be ~laughs~  good luck resisting the temptation.

Thank you Crafts From the Cwtch for being such a treasure ~mwah~

and of course don't forget to have a peek over at The House on the Side of the Hill for others "Tuesday's Treasures"

and off I go....   I have a date with some hand spun perfecting magic looping.


I'm currenting knitting this hand spun 

Hopefully into something lovely so I can get some spooky craft on the go next week :)

Have a great day 

T x

FO Friday ~ it's done!

Well hello all and welcome back!

Well here it is it's Friday!  It's the last day of the summer holidays for my oldest two children and we are housebound as little J is poorly sick and despite the sun shining and it being blissfully warm out we are having a peaceful gentle day at home with some colouring for the other three children and maybe some baking later.

So I have a kind of finished object to share... which is the N-plied Northern Lights Fibre from My Heart Exposed,  it is a beautiful shropshire fleece which spun up like a dream and I enjoyed it immensely.  Now obviously I am going to have to knit or crochet it into something for it to be totally finished but I think from fibre to yarn is quite a transformation to share ;)

It almost looks like sherbet pips spum into yarn, it's hard to believe that it is dyed using all natural dyes, the colours in the fibre are incredible! My camera and the light really does not do it justice.

It's about DK weight N-Plyed and 150m....  so now what to make this into, tempted by a cowl but it doesn't feel wintry enough with the colours in it hmmmmmm  your ideas are more than welcome!

Don't forget to go and check out the other FO over on Tamis blog and have a fantastic weekend!

~shuffles out of hiding~ WIP Wednesday!

Hello you lovely people!  Well I'm out from under the rock.... and hoping to be blogging a little more again although life is HECTIC at the minute!

Having spend half hour looking through the work in progress blogs this morning I was inspired to get this blog out of moth balls and share this...

They stayed as colourful little circles for a while as I forgot to buy white wool and then managed to loose the silly hook ~blush~ but eventually I managed to get to the next stage along....

Yes I am making my first crochet blanket ~jumping~ having being inspired by a lovely mama who made one of these and is currently in the final hours of giving it away for charity!  You can see her lovely blanket here .

So it's going to be a while, I've also been spinning and I do have a finished yarn to share on Friday, just need to decide what to knit with it ~ponders~

So much to share with you all but too little time today.

Will be back soon, thank you so much for dropping by, and remember to go and take a look at Tami's blog there are so many lovely projects on there!

T x

This Moment 15/07/2011

With ~ Soulemama ~

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Summer Sunshine and Water a perfect recipe for smiles and dimples...

Finished Object Friday !!! 15/07/11

Hello Everyone, thank you for popping by, put your feet up, fancy a cuppa?  and now relax!

Yes RELAX!  this is the message for my weekend after a busy couple of weeks of teaching being a doula for a wonderful couple and obviously the usual mum type things,  I am going to spend this weekend doing basically nothing.

And what a better way to relax than by showing you all my FO....

The first has already left the building as a birthday gift for my mother in law, Knitted with my hand spun camel silk it's "The Age of Brass and Steam" shawlette and it is lovely!  the camel silk gives it a lovely sheen and a divine squishy feel which drapes wonderfully but still feels light and airy!

I am so pleased with how it knitted up and I believe my mother in law likes it too :)

and now for a drum roll......

The bag has finally been finished!  I don't think I need many words as this has been a LONG road but it is DONE!!!!

now onto a granny square blanket I think.

Thank you for coming and having a look at my FO please take a look at Tami's blog, there are links to some wonderful FO's inspire you!

Tx

Tour de Fleece ~ Day FOUR

Hello Lovely people!

Well day three of the Tour de Fleece and I can't help being annoyed at the fact I am too busy to spin!!!  with work and children spinning is something I am trying to fit in but alas I have spun today! hurrah!

so I finished the first bobbin of the delightful sixth sense...

and here is the completed bobbin with Northern Lights which is resting awaiting N-plying :)  in the lovely morning sun.

and then this evening I have squeezed in a little more spinning after work

here is bobbin number 2 "in progress"

I feel a little annoyed that I have not done more but I have been VERY busy with work and children so I guess I need to let it go....

Tomorrow hopefully I will get the bulk of bobbin 2 done and then once complete I can ply Northern Lights ~squee~

On another note, I am considering a belated started to the "year of project"  just wondering if this is a big bite too far.... I will ponder until Friday when I have a day off from work when I shall make a decision.

I am heading for an early night, just in case the mama I am currently Doula'ing for goes into labour tonight... baby is almost hear!  lots of lovely birth vibes please!

T x

And... it's Tuesday Treasure with Tour de Fleece DAY 3!

Evening all!

Wow today has been HOT!  and very busy so busy that I have only managed to do half hour spinning today.... but lots of yoga and driving...  

Anyway I missed last weeks Tuesday Treasures with The House on the Other Side of the Hill

and here is my Tuesday Treasure....

How lucky am I that my lovely husband bought me these beautiful flowers ~mushy~

oh and another treasure from the garden which I love as my Grandad used to be an exceptional gardener and loved to grow carnations and I remember wondering round his garden as a small child with the heady scent around me but I never inherited his green fingers and almost everything I grow ends up withered but look!!!!

Such a happy sight and smelling gorgeous!

And not to be out done by their daddy the little unconventionals surprised me with some treasures of their own :)

And now to the Tour de Fleece!!!

unfortunately I have been VERY busy today with over 300 miles of driving.... a few hours of yoga practice and of course the "bedtime" of the children it was a early start so not much spinning done although I promise this is not the same picture as the last night, I have made progress ;)

almost finished the first bobbin now ~happy dance~

And that is that... to bed I must go as I am teaching tomorrow and have much preparation to do in the morning.

Thanks for popping by

~waves~

Tour de Fleece ~ Day TWO and Thomas Land!

Good evening :)  what a wonderful day we have had here!

All we are midway through the Birthday season here and so it came time for our annual "Birthday Funday" so we took ourselves off to Thomas Land.

Oh how much fun did the children have!  although they were not overly co-operative with the photographs! Heres a few the Unconventional husband got!

and after stormforce I convinced the biggest unconventional child to go on with me ;)

not very happy is she... thankfully it was a warm day and we dried out quickly :)

and always nice to have a sleeping baby on your back, especially when that baby is 2 years old and as light as a feather in a wonderful bamberoo ssc ;)

I see the tomato ketchup as a sign of a happy child ~laugh~

so.... after all that excitement we came home, had a water fight which of course I won as the children had a squeezy water bottle each and I had the garden hose ! Bath time and bed for little unconventionals and then...

TOUR DE FLEECE TIME!

So tonight I have started spinning the most amazing fibre I have ever spun!!! it is  simply gorgeous.

Its "sixth sense" naturally dyed by My Heart Exposed and you can see it here

Its Shropshire lamb fibre and I have about 120g of it to spin :)

So out came Bertie... and here we go attempting to spin it softly 

I am also trying not to go too fine... trying to keep it a bit thicker than my recent yarns and so far so good, spun about 40g tonight it is beautiful and the photographs simply do it justice!

heres a close up of the bobbin 

and the other half of the fibre wound in a ball as I split it length ways so I will end up with a lovely 2 ply yarn once I have finished 

~sigh~ So that is that... tomorrow I have a big day and I'm unsure how much spinning I shall get done but we will see.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend

Tx

Tour De Fleece 2011 ! Day One!

Well hello again!

And what a stupidly busy evening I have had here in the land of unconventional.  

So I sit with my glass of sparkling water in one hand feeding G flicking as you do through the many fantastic blogs and as I do so I realise it is "the day"  the start of the Tour de France!  and this can only mean one thing!  YES!!!! the Tour de Fleece has begun!

So for those of you who are not spinners and spend silly amounts of time browsing ravelry  it is an online spinning/blogging event where for each day of the event the wheel or spindle comes out!  you spin something appropriate to the day too so the first day is quite easy (LOL not if I was riding the bike it wouldn't be) so tonight once I had sent all the children to bed, done my work and at last sat down I dragged out the wheel... faithful Bertie!

and I spun the rest of the beautiful northern lights from My Heart Exposed...

and because this is set to be navajo plied (fab link about how to do it) I then set about getting back into the swing of it as I have not n-plied in a little while so I used some left over single on a bobbin and n-plied this teeny tiny cute ball of spinning a yarn merino

So now I feel slightly less nervous about N-plying the gorgeous northern lights, although the pictures doens't do it justice the colours in the single are sooooo beautiful!  I can't wait to see it finished.

Anyway, to bed with me, I may be attending a birth in my role as a doula very soon so need to get my z's

T x

WIP Wednesday - Return to blog land!

Hello you wonderful people you!  Wow it feels like ages since I wrote on here although it has only been just over a week... my lovely laptop is currently poorly as some horrible individual gave it a virus ~sigh~ and in order to blog I am using my husbands netbook which is much slower and with smaller keys which I am finding it very hard to adapt to and it makes being online not as exciting and as comfortable as usual :(

Anyway seeming as I have been missing you all so much ;) I thought I would brave the netbook.

Work in progress phew.... just a few!  I have been putting in much more time to the crochet Lucy bag... to such an extent it may be finished for friday! and it is much bigger than I had expected it to be! I love it, it is wonderful!

As you can see it really only needs handles and flowers now!  YAY!

And I have finally got round to doing a bit of spinning, I had to really as next week "tour de fleece" will begin and I need to have as many bobbins free as possible!  Oh how excited I am about "tour de fleece" watch this space, as I will be blogging further about it soon!

so here is my WIP spinning which is STILL the lovely northern lights by my heart exposed yarns (there are some gorgeous fibres in the shop at the minute)

 And this yarn should also be a finished yarn by Friday or maybe the following Friday as I always underestimate the time taken to ply my yarns and set the twist :)

is that it?  ermmmmm nope, remember my "age of brass and steam shawlette"?  well I had to frog it ~sigh~ as I got distracted but it is now back as a work in progress.... and here it is!

And this is a lovely knit.... not so easy as to be really boring but not too difficult so I can't pick it up and put it down easily.  Oh and the camel silk?  it is knitting up so beautifully, it feels amazing, so lovely!  I'm so pleased with how the shawl is feeling, I just can't stop squishing it ~lol~

Anyway... I'm off to go and spin some more and hopefully peruse the other WIP Wednesdays which have been shared over at Tami's go and take a look, I'm sure you will not be disapointed :)

T x

Tuesday Treasure 21/06/11

Hello lovely people!

I've not been around the last few days as life has been very busy... fathers day, work and of course mothering and crafting!

Today it is the longest day of summer here... the wind is blowing up dark clouds and the sound of the leaves being whipped into a frenzy gives me the wonderful anticipation of a heavy summer downpour... although it would be slightly more welcome had I not had to get my car loaded and unloaded several times for work this afternoon ~sigh~

Anyway joining in with the house on the other side of the hill with Tuesday Treasures, please go and take a look, lots of wonderful links to pass a rainy summer afternoon while keeping dry...

here is this weeks treasure (Well one of them)

Little Unconventional J got his first ever swimming award!!! we were so proud watching him as he jumped in on his own and blew bubbles under the water!!!  although he was a bit miffed it was pink ~laugh~

And the other treasure which I wanted to share was the fathers day present I had made from the two little unconventionals...

And so it is with great regret I go back to the grind stone....  I have nappies to fill with pretend poo and a car to load up before the clouds crack!

Have a wonderful evening.

This moment .... 17/06/2011

Here we go again... this moment with Soulemama

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

FO Friday ~ Not exactly as planned! 17/06/11

Good morning all,

Hope you are all well :)  I thouhgt I would get my FO Friday done first thing as I have a day of essay writing and class planning stretching out ahead of me ~heavy sigh~

Well my FO's are nothing like what they should be, I was at least expecting an apple cosy to grace this page but alas it seems I can't count! ~blush~  Anyway I did manage to finish something this week unless you can count frogging which I have finish lots of over the past couple of days!

Here is another jar cover... The kittens that resided here broke my vase so I had to make one really...

And the roses are from our garden, which is in much disarray so thought as we can't enjoy them in the garden I would bring a few in to brighten a dull tedious day of work!  The jar cover was very much inspired by the colours of my garden with the gorgeous silk/merino green really vibrantly cutting through the pinks and lilacs just like the natural beauty of an english summer garden :)

Right then... back to the books for me, although if you have some lovely time to browse take a look at tami's blog to see lots of other FO,  I will later as my reward for working so hard today.

Oh Bother!

~sigh~ good evening... Bit of a late one here from us.  Life is pretty hectic now we have a long school run to fit into our days.

Today has been very disheartening involving much ripping out... far too many ~sighs~ and a few yawns to boot.  My Age of Brass and Steam has been ripped back twice today, not because it is complex but because I am far too easily distracted and trying to play catch up in a not of quiet moment of the boys playing trains was not the best thing to have been doing this afternoon ~rolls eyes~

My lovely apple cosy has also been ripped back!  I know how could I go wrong with such a simple little thing?  well I think it was too much picking up and putting down over too great a time as it seemed to be big enough for a melon! so may give that another go tonight, depending on what time little unconventionals go to sleep, by the sounds coming from the dining room where they are colouring with unconventional daddy they are about ready for bed, about half an hour ago! 

And seeming as I have nothing hugely productive going on, my knitting and crochet disasters were ripped without pictures I thought I could share a couple of pictures of my little dare devil!

look no hands!

Yes thats my 2 year old who can't reach the foot rests on the seesaw going for the thrill, especially for the camera!  my heart was in my mouth knowing I couldn't stop him from falling. No children were harmed in the taking of this photograph may I add!

but nothing beats a sleep on Daddys back... no?

Lovely Bamberoo SSC in Echino Scene Green, which I think wins the award of my favourite fabric ever!

I also had the pleasure of wrapping lovely G in our Didymos Goldfish wrap as he was a very tired grumpy boy and I needed to get dinner cooked. Such a lovely flood of memories from last summer when we were wrapping more often.

Right then I am off to get the little ones ready for bed and try to finish something ANYTHING for FO friday tomorrow eek!

wish me luck can't bear to rip anything else out tonight!

T x

camel silk! WIP wednesday ~ 15/06/2011

Hello lovely people!  I do hope you are having a fantabulous day :)

Well it is WIP Wednesday with Tami today ! and here is my offering.

I've decided to not bore you today with the incredibly slow progress of my crochet Lucy bag and instead thought I would share this with you.

I started with this....

Gorgeous yummy camel with tussah silk tops ~drool~  it was/is just lovely... if not a bit static and fly away.

which I then spun into two singles on my lovely Louet wheel Bertie which looked like this...

so once I had spun the singles I plied them together into this...

This picture was taken before I set the twist so it ended up much more even than that and the colour is much more golden IRL it feel very silky and has a nice drape to it.

So then I wound it into a ball and it languished in my yarn basket for ages!  It would look at me with pleading eyes demanding attention so when I saw the pattern for "age of brass and steam" kerchief it would just look amazing in this yarn!

So today here we are... we have another WIP!

So here we go!  hopefully this one won't haunt me for the next month or two ;)

And as we were all hungry for something lovely I used my favourite allergy friendly chocolate cake recipe (egg,nut and dairy free) to make these which were enjoyed by all!

If you are looking for a fab cake recipe safe for allergies you can find the recipe here 

Anyway... we are going to go and find some muddy puddles to splash in before dinner.  Have a lovely evening, which should probably involve heading over to Tami's Blog and looking at all the other WIP posts that are there.

Thanks for dropping by...

T x