I love watching the birds in my garden, so decided this year to take part in the Great British Bird Watch, which took place over the weekend and today. The idea is to watch the garden for an hour and note down the maximum number of each species you see together at any one time. I’ve really enjoyed seeing and hearing about which birds other people have seen, so thought I’d share my tally from Sunday morning: Continue reading “Great British Bird Watch 2018”
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2017 in Photos
2017 has been a bitter sweet year where I pretty much battened down the hatches and did my utmost to do the best I could for my beautiful friend Mr Hicks as he became increasingly in need of support and understanding. But as I’ve looked back through this year’s photos, I’ve been reminded how much easier that job was made by all the fabulous people I have in my life… Continue reading “2017 in Photos”
Christmas Sevens – 2017
Posting my last ‘Sunday Sevens’ of 2017 on Saturday, because I have the whole year to roundup tomorrow.
The weather over the Christmas was typical UK Christmas weather; damp. This year we had extra fog: Continue reading “Christmas Sevens – 2017”
Tuesday Sevens – 13th November
Late again this week with Sunday Sevens – started by Nathalie at Threads and Bobbins – sharing seven (or so) pictures of the week beyond the blog. Continue reading “Tuesday Sevens – 13th November”
Dachshund and Beach Hut Knitting Needle and Crochet Hook Bags
You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I posted a pic of this lovely Dachshund fabric in my Sunday Sevens post.
But I was so busy getting ready for Stitch Fest, I didn’t have time to show you what I made from it. The moment I saw the fabric, I knew exactly what I wanted to make…
A needle bag…
A slightly shorter needle bag…
And a crochet hook bag…
Or it could be a pencil case.
I also spotted another fabric that I also thought would make a fab needle cases and turned it into these…
If anyone fancies one, the ones that didn’t find good homes at Stitch Fest are now in the shop.
How Things Grow! Christmas Knitting Workshops
Oh my, how things grow! Last year, in a moment of madness, I decided I was going to knit a Christmas Santa sack each day throughout advent. Eleven months on I’ve improved and added to them, published them as a pattern collection and now I’m absolutely delighted to tell you that I’m running some Christmas knitting workshops on them at the Woolly Beader in Okehampton.
One of the aspirations I had for the patterns when I put them together as a collection, was that as well as being fun for experienced knitters, that the simplest Santa sack could be used to learn to knit from, and that the collection could be used to build knitting skills. The three workshops I’m running are based around this idea.
Thursday 9th November: Textured Santa Sacks (Suitable for Beginners and Improvers):
Learn to knit, or to improve newly learnt or rusty knitting skills, through knitting a simple textured Santa sack.
Thursday 16th November: Picture Santa Sacks using the Intarsia Technique (Suitable for improvers and more experienced knitters):
Explore the intarsia knitting technique to knit one of the 20 adorable picture Santa sacks.
Thursday 30th November: Colour work Santa Sacks (Suitable for improvers and more experienced knitters):
Learn to knit stranded colour work/ fair isle or to improve your stranded knitting technique through knitting a festive Santa sack. Areas discussed will include tension issues in stranded colour work, knitting in the round, two handed colour work and avoiding the ‘jog’.
If you’re in interested you’ll need to sign up by contacting The Woolly Beader.
And finally, a BIG thank you to all my lovely regular readers who’ve cheered me on with this project since the first mad moment when I decided I was going to knit a Santa sack each day throughout advent last year.
Thank You Mr Hicks. It’s Been an Amazing Adventure
I’m so sad to tell you that on Thursday morning Mr Hicks had a stroke and we had to say goodbye. I’m absolutely heartbroken. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to write about it here, but a month ago we were told the tumour on his leg had started growing quickly and he only had approximately two months left.
But in the end, the cancer – which didn’t hurt and was isolated in his leg – played no part, apart from helping us prepare for what has happened now and for making us appreciate and enjoy him more over the last month.
Mr Hicks was an amazing dog who really knew how to have a party. I remember one dog groomer saying he had the ten times the personality of the other dogs who came in.
Unfortunately, Hicks also had ten times the health problems too, but he always dealt bravely with his troubles and rarely stopped smiling.
Hicks enriched my life in so many ways and brought me so many friends I would have otherwise never met. He also taught me many things. I thought I’d share some of them with you.
Mr Hicks’ Rules for Life…
Just because you have a bad start in life, doesn’t mean it can’t get better…
Never be afraid of a little mud…
You can always have a party, no matter where you are or what the weather.
However bad it gets, there’ll be better times in the future.
Treat everyone as a friend.
Tell your mum you love her a million times a day.
Spend plenty of time with your friends.
SAMSUNG
NEVER turn down a biscuit.
Always get your beauty sleep.
Break the rules.
Thank You Mr Hicks. It’s Been an Amazing Adventure!
