Re-Arranging

can't believe I haven't posted since Monday, not v good at all.

I have been busy though, re-arranging the house, our office/spare room/crafting mess is slowly being turned back into a bedroom. So I am now writing this from down stairs in the living room, we'll see how it goes, we might have to move to a bigger house!

So, not much craftyness, finished the mose stitch coaster, can't find it to take a photo of it and I have been writing huge lists of stuff to make and I spent another £30 at the local craft shop, it should have been £60 (everything is half price) but (boohoo) he's closing and moving to Hastings, but he is still going to run his online shop.

What I have also been doing is a lot of reading of blogs, and my new hobby is clicking on the random button on the London Knitters widget and look what I found....











Yes, it is what you think it is, check out the story behind it, it's v funny.

Ok, so I can't post without photos so here are some large kittens.......













and some windmills we made a while ago using origami paper.......

Finally.............Some knitting!

It was so chilly last week that I started knitting a scalf. I have had the yarn for ages, it's called Click by Sirdar and it's great for chunky scarves. I knitted quite a few last year as Christmas presents.
















Well, I had used the two balls I had and then realised it wasn't long enough so it's on hold for now.















I have been making these little pin cushions using milk bottle tops as bases and one using a beer bottle cap from Alla's collection.


















I took my friend Alla one of the Morsbags I have been making and came away with some bootle caps and the idea for mini pin cushions.














The weather has been warmer the last few days and because I was in the mood for a knit I thought I'd do something with this cotton, I don't know what it is called but I think it's Sirdar again.














So, I made a coaster in basket weave and then decided to make one in moss stitch.















Can anyone tell me why this happens?















Is it because my tension is too tight when I cast on? if you know a solution please let me know, I would be very greatful.

I'm not the only knitter in my family, my mum and sister both knit, a lot better then me it must be said, and look what my mum knitted for me....................




















Isn't it great, I'll find out from her what the pattern and yarn is.


And just for good measure...........



















Some kitten love...... ahh................



Before I forget a 'Hello' to all the 'I Knit Londoners' who might be having a look at my blog today. I blog tagged the guys at the I Knit London Shop and they have mentioned me in their weekly newsletter. Cooeeee

I'm It!

Just been 'tagged' by Ari, (thanks Ari)

The rules of the game: list 6 weird/interesting things about yourself and then tag a further 6 bloggers (by going to their blog and telling them to check out your blog post related to this) to keep the momentum going. List your 6 tagged bloggers at the bottom of your post.

ok 6 things............

1. I love buttons (see previous post)



2. I have a collection of 4 stove-top coffee pots.



3. I hate Plasticine and blutac, yuk



4. I can't where a black bra with white knickers.



5. My favorite meal is roast chicken and I would love to own chickens (but I wouldn't eat them).



6. I have a 10 year old Hydrangea given to me by Christpher Biggins.

Ok, I am going to tag- Hannah, Cassie, Karyn, Tittykaka, I Knit London and a random London Knitter Knitterrooney.

Bloggy knitty stuff

Sorry, changed my blog template again, quite pleased with the photo banner thingy, (doesn't always work) needs a bit of jigging though.

I have joined the London Knitters Netring - hello London Knitters! - so I'll have more blogs to read through, (hurray, any excuse) but I can't get the cool London Knitters button to work, I'll need to email someone to find out how to sort it.

ppp

free pattern from Laughing Hen's

Found out from I Knit London's e-newsletter that -

St John Ambulance seeks 5,000 knitted tea cosies to help raise vital funds for their life saving work.
They are encouraging us to - Grab your knitting needles and cosy on up by getting involved with St John Ambulance's BIG tea cosy!
The BIG tea cosy is the charity's national fundraising day on November 30 where friends and workmates will be encouraged to have a cuppa for St John Ambulance.
I'll have to see what the ladies at work think, they like a knit......and tea........and biscuits............

A Week in Photos

Hello to all the new people looking at my blog, hope you like what you see.

I thought I'd do a bit of a round up of what's been going on over the last week.

Firstly, I received this beautiful bag from May-lis in, as part of a handmade bag swap, she also knitted me a lovely hat. Thanks May-lis!

Every holiday I plan to have a major tidy and I finally started (that's a photo of a tidy utility room!) but of course you find things when tidying, like a box of broken crayons............... (cue craft project)

I knew I'd seen on t'internet that someone had melted crayons into big cake sized ones, so I thought I'd have a go. Waste not, want not and all that.

This is what happened, they look a bit of a mess but when you peel the cases off they look a bit more promising and they work. I think they'd be great for toddlers who want to just scribble!

(I'll post instructions if anyone wants to know how to make them.)

Then I decided to try and get the stains out of our damask napkins, nearly did it, only a few are still stained. So if you come over for dinner and I start rearranging napkins you know what you've sat at the place with the stained napkin!

I'm not house proud at all but I couldn't resist taking a photo of these on the line, they looked so cool.

Now, why is it that when you try and get sorted and tidy, someone else gets bored and makes a mess?

Then after 364 days of planning Euan finally reached his 6th Birthday, hooray! only only 359 days until his next one!

Bread and Butter

On one of our days out while camping in West Sussex we visited the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.

It's a fantastic place, full of buildings that have been rescued and painstakingly taken apart and rebuilt at the museum.




One of the buildings is a working water mill and Euan brought some flour ground by the mill......

and decided he wanted to make bread with the flour.

At another of the houses someone had been making butter, which he was very interested in, so while we were walking through the woods on our way back to the car park it was decided to try and make some butter to go with the bread when we got home.

I found a recipe for a really simple loaf called a Grant Loaf:

700g stoneground wholemeal bread flour
1 teaspoon of salt
7g sachet of easy-blend dried yeast
1 tablespoon of Honey
600ml Tepid water
and a 2lb loaf tin greased with butter.

It's very easy and very tasty.

Mix the flour, salt and yeast with your hands.


Add the honey and water and mix it up with your hands, after about a couple of minutes the dough should start to become slippery and elastic and leave the sides of the bowl.

Put the dough into your tin and smooth the top.

Cover with a damp clean tea towel for about 30 mins until it's risen to about 1cm from the top of your tin. Pre-heat your oven to 200c (400f) gas 6 while it's rising.

Bake your loaf for about 35-40mins, remove the loaf from the tin and tap the bottom, if it sounds hollow then it's cooked, if it makes a thump then put it back for another 5 mins.


Making butter took a bit longer. I found a great explanation of how to make butter.

We could have made it by hand but we (I) decided to do it in the food processor.

Basically the cream is whipped up until it separates. (It was at this point that enthusiasm wained and I was left to carry on by myself)

It's then washed in water.

Then mashed to remove more water. It's really easy to make, to see more detailed and illustrated instructions check out this site.

And there you go, home made bread and butter, plus a homegrown cucumber, it's just like the 'Good Life'.

That's me, the one with the glasses!

Make a Sunflower.

Why not make a sunflower, you will need...............

Paper plates or card cut into a circle, white glue, yellow and orange tissue paper and lentils or split peas (optional)

Cut the tissue into triangles and glue round the edge of your plate.

For the centre you can either glue on more tissue or..................

put lot's of glue in the centre of your plate and pour on the lentils and pour off the excess lentils that haven't stuck.

Camping not knitting

Not much knitting recently, but lots of camping and trips to the seaside.

Also had a family barbecue and met some new additions to the family and my uncles chickens.

More beach fun!