Highs and Lows!

We've come to the end of the week again.

It's a very blustery day here, hence the slightly

blurry photo from my workroom window.

November will soon be a memory.

December is almost upon us and we will be able to 

open the first door of the Advent Calendar.

So exciting! I love Christmas.

My post today, mainly concerns, the highs and lows of

my first, Craft Stall experience.

To be honest, it was mainly lows, unfortunately.

With hindsight, I think my expectations were too high.

We are living life on the edge at the moment. I had pinned

all my hopes on earning some much needed cash

to help pay for Christmas.

At the end of the day, I only just covered my costs, with

a tiny, tiny profit, which was probably gobbled up,

by the cost of the petrol I used, getting there.

I had lots of questions ......

Were my 'goodies', just not good enough!

 [ Collaged Yorkshire Landscape ]       

 but that couldn't be right as I got lots

               of great feedback, from the other stall holders.     

 [Rag Rug Kit]

The truth was, we just didn't get the footfall.

It was a bit dispiriting. 

All that hard work for very little return.

On the plus side ......... 

I met lots of lovely people with the same interests as me

 and I did cover the cost of my pitch.

One lovely stall holder, who's things I lusted after,

took nothing at all. Poor girl!

Anyway, that's enough of that......

I'm putting that experience behind me and

getting straight 'back on the horse'.

I've booked another stall for 7th Dec,

at our local Christmas Fair.

It's cheaper, no petrol expenses and

I already have the stock!!

Must go now, need to get to the post.

 More Christmas Pudding Hats will be 

winging their way onwards.

Have a great weekend everyone!

As I Was Walking

It seemed appropriate to name this post

'As I Was Walking', which also happens to be the

title of one of my textile pieces.

It's been a lovely week, here in North Yorkshire.

It's true it's rained but mostly, at night. 

I have been out and about taking photos of where

we live, decked out, in all it's Autumnal finery.

This is a view of the village, where we live.

You can see the church spire in the distance, among the trees.

I love hearing the clock in the distance, chiming the hour.

lots of 'hips and haws'.

All the photos where taken on my usual dog walking route,

through the fields surrounding our cottage.

The trees are amazing this year.

Almost unreal.

This is of necessity, a short post , as my friend, Sally, 

is still here and my first Craft Stall date, is almost upon me.

It's this Sunday, in fact.

Am I ready ?

I think so.....

Am I nervous ?

Definitely .....

Looking forward to the challenge though!

Here are the last few items, waiting to be packed.

                                              

Wish me luck !

Have a great weekend everyone.

The Story of The Christmas Pudding Hat

We've arrived at the end of another week and I've,

'Reasons to be Cheerful, 1,2, 3'

(there's a song in there somewhere).

Reason 1: The boiler is fixed. We have heat !!

I am so thankful. Not a minute too soon, as if the forecast

is to be believed, next week we are in for an Arctic blast !

My partner gets the star prize.

He managed to fix it, after I downloaded a troubleshooting

guide for our boiler and sourced the part on the net.

What a team.

A happy dog, snoozing in the warmth, while I write this post.

Reason 2: My 'bestest' friend, Sally, is coming for a visit next week.
We've known each other since we were eighteen and that's

a very long time indeed.

She is travelling up from the deepest South. 

Not seen her since last November, when we went to 

The Knitting and Stitch Exhibition, in Harrogate. 

Sadly, funds won't allow a visit this year.

Instead, there will be lots of gossip and giggling in my,

now cosy, workroom, while we catch up on a years worth of news.

There'll be work and swapping of ideas going on as well. 

Bring it on !

Reason 3: Last but not least, my Christmas Pudding Hat, has arrived at

it's destination. Have heard that it's new owner is delighted.

Great news.

This is it's story.

Once upon a time.......

In a county, far, far away............

 I had an enquiry, via the 'Worldwide Web'.

A lovely lady from, Nottinghamshire, asked if I could knit her a hat.

Not just any hat! a Christmas Pudding Hat.

This meant adapting my pattern, as it was for a 'babe in arms'.

I love a challenge and agreed.

I immediately went to eBay to see if I could find the materials.

It was meant to be, as I found the chocolate and cream wool

in one pack..... done deal !

The pattern was for two needles but I didn't want a seam,

 so I decided to use, the Magic Loop. 

 This is just a fancy name for knitting on a circular needle.

Great for all tubular knitting i.e. sleeves,gloves, hats. No seam.

It's easier than you might think and it's well worth the effort, just

takes a bit of practise.

This is a great little tutorial, on You Tube, for those of you, who fancy

giving it a go. Just follow this link.Magic Loop

After finding out Esther's (who pointed out that her name is very like Ethel)

head measurements, I cast on, what I thought would be the right amount of stitches.

I must point out here, that I never knit a tension square.

I should, I hear you say but I don't.

I should have because after I'd knitted the brim, I realised that 

it was going to be too small. Nothing for it but to

start again..... That'll teach you !!

Began again with more stitches and we were off and running.

The next challenge was adding the cream topping and shaping.

Took a few goes to get that right. It was off the needles

more that it was on but eventually, it was done.

Prudence, Ethel's friend, tried it on, so that I could check 

the measurements.

Then on to the holly leaves and berries.

I crocheted these from my 'stash'.

 More confident about 

making these, as I had made them before.

Placed the leaves and attached them to the hat

and ..........

Here is Ethel, modelling it for me.

She loved it, 'cause it was so warm.

 I had a job getting her to take it off.

THE END

Have a great weekend everyone.

'Lest We Forget'

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday

The Weather Man has forcast a beautiful day,

which will be great for all those who will be taking part in 

commemoration parades.

We will remember them.

The weather has definitely slipped into Autumn.

Most days, here in Yorkshire, have been much

colder, with frosty nights and dank and dreary days.

Although, there was a brief respite on Thursday.

View from my workroom

This week has been challenging in so many ways.

By far the worst, is that our boiler has broken, which means

 NO heating.

I don't do cold!!

 Ever since I was a child, being cold, reduces  me to tears.

This necessitated a text to our friendly plumber, only to find he was

in the Caribbean. Oh No.......

Thank goodness for the fire and warm clothing is all I can say.

I keep telling myself it's character building.

Anyway he's back and on the case.

So here's hoping it won't go on much longer.

The next challenge came via the Internet, which was to

make an adult size Christmas Pudding Hat.

Infant size

This deserves it's own post...... more next week.

I'm on with it, in fact it will be finished today.

On Wednesday, I went for my first day as a volunteer

at my local Charity Shop. Lots of challanges there.

There's much more too it than you might think but I loved 

every moment of it, especially being with people again.

On Thursday, I was asked by my lovely neighbour, Ann,

if I could make her a Poppy brooch.

Short notice but I thought that I could rise to the challange.

This was the result.

It was worth all the effort. She was delighted.

Phew!

Before I go. Just time to show you the finished

bag that I blogged about last week.

Hope you like it .

Wonder what next week will bring!!

Vintage Sheet Addict: Yummy Yarn Giveaway!

Vintage Sheet Addict: Yummy Yarn Giveaway!:       Yummy Yarn Giveaway......well we all love a bit of Yummy Yarn, don't we?!         I've put together 6 ball...

Walk on the Wild Side

It's 'All Hallows Eve'.

Happy Halloween everyone!

The Post title today is an homage to one 

of the icons of my mis-spent youth.

R.I.P. Lou

and.....

Storm St. Edmund's, which reeked havoc, in

some parts of the country but mercifully, the worst

of it, passed us by.

We got the rain but not the wind.

This is a photo of ducks (almost too small to see), happily

playing in a temporary pond, in the field behind our house

Yesterday, we took advantage of the lovely,

autumnal morning and set off on another trip 

into The Dales.

This is the road to Grassington. What a view!

We are so lucky to live here.

This was our destination, Upper Wharfedale.

Stunning!

Lastly, caught this Highland cow, happily having

 a good scratch on the 'Welcome to Richmondshire' sign.

 Picture doesn't do it justice but it made me laugh.

The rest of this week has been spent in my workroom.

I'm working on another bag (the last one), for my stall.

See what you think.

Adapting this from a pattern from one of my favourite

bloggers Lucy, from Attic 24

It's going well so far. Found some fabric that I liked

for the lining.

This one won't be felted. 

 I've made it before but it was larger and I didn't line that one. 

Also trying an experiment with the handles and closure.

 Will show the finished article next time.

I'm delighted with this vintage booklet of sock patterns.

It was delivered on Monday and is in perfect condition.

I have had the idea of  knitting a pair of  Christmas socks ,

for the man in my life.

I've purchased the wool  (love the soft colours),

and cast on.

It's a start!!

 I'm going to use the 'magic loop' (more about that later)

method, rather than my usual 4 needles.

I like to alternate between both approaches to circular knitting so

that I keep my skills up.

I've got another days work on Saturday, so that will be coming

 with me, as I'm trying to knit them in secret.

Before I go Ethel has asked me if I could show you

a photo of her 'fully' dressed.

She said it was getting a little chilly for being so scantily clad.

     

How could I refuse !

Oops!

It's a lovely day today, after all that rain.

Thought it was worth a photo.

This is our little cottage garden, basking in the sunshine.

So lovely.

It's been another busy week.

Thought I was going to have a quiet time of it, in

my workroom, but fate stepped in.

Suddenly realised, on Sunday, that it was my niece and

great nephew's 1st birthday at the end of the week.

Thursday, in fact.

With all the things going on here, it had slipped my mind.

A very big oops!!

What to do..... not much time.

Make  something of course.

Found a pattern for a lovely little hat, in a Debbie Bliss baby book.

Out came the needles and yarn and I set too.

Adapted it a little, to make it my own and this is the result.

 What do you think ? 

 I've just heard little Archie loved it.

 Couldn't ask for more.

While I was in town, on Tuesday posting my package,

 I had to visit my favourite shop, didn't I ?

    

Found this lovely lilac soap (loved the box) and this hat pin.

I also dropped in my application form, to act as a volunteer.

That's it I'm committed now.

before I go, a couple of photos of work, completed since I

last posted.

I've upcycled this lovely silk mix, pokadot scarf (purchased for very little money),

  by crocheting and attaching some matching flowers.

I'm very pleased with it.

and ...

Here is Ethel wearing my new sweater.

Finished at last.

Phew !!