September!

Wow. Every now and then I have gone missing but the last time I posted was March. Crazy!  This year has been a bit mad. Not all good but not all bad and now we have 4 months left, I think it's about time I dragged myself back on here.

I've still been posting bits and bobs on Instagram but words seem to have been escaping me; when I don't really want to be talking about what is going on, photos are easier. Am I the only one who finds this?  Sometimes this is all you need....

However, onwards and upward, eh?  We've had a fun summer. J starts secondary school tomorrow. We're both a little nervous but it *will* all be ok.

I've been trying to get my stock sorted because it's also not long until Yarndale!  I cannot wait to go. Skipton is a lovely part of the world and it is a great show with a variety of things for every knitter, crocheter, spinner and lover of lovely things. 

I'm sharing a stand with The Knitting Goddess and CoopKnits.  Coopknits has booked our hotel.  After Wonderwool,  she's not saying it's because she doesn't trust me to book somewhere that uses a tv stand as a 'wardrobe' but, to be honest, I don't blame her!

I may have been quiet, but I have still been making.  Look what I made last week...

I've had my eye on these frame purses for a while now so I decided it was time to have a play. I bought the frame from Etsy and expected it to take longer than it did to come. As soon as it arrived, I grabbed the nearest yarn (this is why a girl needs a *ahem* small yarn stash!) and got hooking.  There are a fair few tutorials online but none that are very precise so I winged it. I think it looks quite good and will definitely be making more.  The sewing-up was the hardest bit and that was due to the holes in the frame being smaller on the corners and the fact that I could have done with another hand.

Fabric, fabric and more fabric.....

I'm sure you can imagine that I have a little *thing* for fabric, pretty fabrics, geeky fabrics, kooky fabrics and just fabrics that shout 'Buy me now!!'.  I really need little encouragement to go out and buy more....It *is* for work...I buy for YOU!!

 

Until very recently though, fabric shopping in my local area was a little sparse; we had the usual Dunelm Mill with the same old fabrics that you get everywhere, Boyes, a cheapy fabric shop, I am led to believe are only located up north and one fabric shop that sometimes has fab little gems in it but generally is a bit of a mish-mash, piles of fabric everywhere, not particularly pleasant shopping experience.

A few weeks ago though, I noticed a new fabric shop opening in Cleethorpes, a mere few miles away from home so I obviously had to go and investigate.  The photos on their Facebook page looked good; lovely light and bright shop, fabrics I *needed* to buy.  Due to other work then friends coming to stay, I resisted visiting until a few days after it had opened and I wasn't disappointed.  They had fabric I had been led to believe had been discontinued and lots of other fabrics I loved.  I left with a big bag of new prints.

A week or so later I had a chat with the lovely Lisa who owns the shop and she asked me to make some bags to show some of the fabrics she sell...who am I to refuse?  So, I went, we picked some fabrics and this is what I made... 

This little bag is my surprise favourite.  I wasn't planning on making any Ruby bags but I had a bit of fabric left over and couldn't resist adding the red band to the top. It would make a fab book bag for a little (or not so little!) person.

This Aneela Hoey fabric is cute. All of the cats have been named!

 

These bags are now all with L & C Fabrics on Grimsby Road in Cleethorpes.  If you are local, pop down and tell Lisa I sent you.  If you want bags making in any of these fabrics, just let me know.  If you are local and you go into the shop, see a fabric you like and would like me to make a bag out of it for you, I can do that too. I wish Lisa and her family lots of luck with this new venture. The more fab crafty shops there are in the world, the better.  My bank account may not agree with that though......

Finally...a winner and 2014!

Sorry everyone. Everything got crazy busy in the run-up to Christmas and when I thought I would have lots of time to catch up on things before New Year, we all had a bit of much-needed time away from computers so I failed at blogging and *finally* drawing a winner for the competition.

Thanks to everyone who commented on the blog. I loved seeing all of the posts and am glad I'm not the only one to have multiple projects, bags and random things in their knitting bags!  I asked Lou to pick a number for me and she chose number 1 so well done to Evelyn of  'The Soaring Sheep'  .

Christmas seems ages ago now. I did manage to do some Christmas knitting. I made this little cardi for my baby nephew because everyone needs a Christmas jumper, right?

Here it is, all pinned out on the settee on Christmas Eve...nothing like a bit of last minute finishing off...

And with buttons! It is knitted with Sirdar Snuggly from a pattern in Let's Knit magazine.  I like the finished result but I can't say I enjoyed knitting it as much as some other patterns. I was impressed with the yarn though as I was worried it might be a bit squeaky but it was actually quite soft and I'd use it again for a easy-care baby yarn.

I am struggling a bit to blog at the moment but I am still posting on Instagram so if you want to come and find me, I'm here. I'm doing the #100 happy days challenge and not doing too badly. When the weather is wet and cold and you seem to spend most of the few daylight hours at work, it's good to focus on the happy things.  Today, this was my post; 

Catching up on some sewing to stock the shop up makes me happy! I knew I had to have this fabric when I saw it because we all love to have a cup of tea while we're knitting, don't we? If you love this, you can find it in the shop just here.

Not quite Whitby.....

On Friday night I had great aspirations for this weekend; it was the last weekend of a wet and fairly uneventful half term, the forecast was good, it could be the last good weekend for ages.  We live an hour or so away from Whitby and I always think we ought to go, reading all the lovely things and seeing everyone's photos so I decided this was the weekend to go.

As is often the way though, after a chat with Mr on Friday night, we decided that really, saving a bit of money and sorting the garden out so that the chickens could go back in the greenhouse for the winter (and the impending storm!) and we could get Sylvia down the side of the house would be more useful so yesterday saw us moving rabbit hutches, hiding fence panels from Billy Wind, moving the chickens out of their summer house and parking Sylvia right outside the back door ( perfect for me to escape to have a cup of tea in the coming winter months!).

With everything done and the sun shining when we got up this morning, I decided we had earnt our day out but instead of going to Whitby, we packed Sylvia with bacon, bread, tea and kites and went ten minutes down the road.

No one really comes down here except for the occasional dog walkers because it is pretty exposed and mainly salt marsh but there is still a fair bit of sand and plenty of room to have fun on a sunny Sunday morning. 

Don't believe this child...it was cold and windy. She is just crazy.....

See, we needed scarves and winter coats!

.....and to escape back to Sylvia for bacon sarnies and cups of tea......

Perfect for blowing the cobwebs away before school tomorow....

*How much* do you have in your project bag?! competition!

It's the last day of half term today, you can tell by the amount of grump and sulking there is going around the house. I decided I'd make the most of my last lie-in for ages by getting up at 6am, making a cup of tea and taking it back to bed. Whilst I was sat in bed, I got thinking about how it was about time to have a competition to cheer everyone up in all the doom and glum of back to school and grey, rainy, windy weather.

It always entertains me when some people look at my bags at shows or while I am at knitting groups and say 'Well, it's not very big, I could never fit everything I wanted in there.'   It doesn't matter how much I show them how I manage just fine, they need bigger bags, more pockets, more zips and I get that, we are all different, we all want different things out of our (knitting) bags but  I thought we could maybe play a game. Remember the 'What is in your hand bag' game that was going around the blogs a few years ago? Well I bring you the '*How much* is in your project bag' game.

Take a project bag, any project bag you have because we all know that you have more than *ahem* a couple, take a photo of it then empty everything out of it, take a photo of everything that comes out of it and blog about it.  It doesn't matter if it only contains your current project or a ball of yarn or the kitchen sink, just link back to here, comment on this post and we'll have a prize draw on Sunday 10th November.  The prize will be a bag and notions purse of your choice from my shop and I'm fairly sure I will find some yarn and bits along the way to add to it too.

So, it would only be fair of me to start it all off.....This is my every-day project bag and it normally includes my house keys, wallet and phone; I take it with me to knitting groups and if we are going out for any amount of time and I think I might be able to sneak some knitting or crocheting in....

It looks quite innocent, sitting there on the settee but turning it over reveals this...

Waa! An explosion of yarn, hooks, needles, patterns and maybe another project bag inside it.........

I have -

• Four crocheted stockings from a pattern at Annaboo's House. I have plans for a string of bunting using them or maybe decorations for the tree or, or.......
• Two sachets of sugar and a spoon from Yarndale. Remmeber the tea and coffee queues? I did the tea-run, there was no way I was going back into that again so I picked up supplies ;) 
• A stitch holder, a crochet hook, two sets of needle, scraps of yarn.
• A packet of boring stitch markers that I use for crochet....I've temporarily lost my usual notions purse with my funky stitch markers that usually lives in here.
• A funky button tin containing honeysuckle lip balm. Sounds odd but tastes delicious.
• An empty knit pro cable packet because like shoes, bags, cake and cups of tea, I never have enough cables and always end up needing a new one when I start a new project.
• A random assortment of Rico Creative Cotton for those moments when you just *need* to have a go at hooking something like a poppy...also in the bag-that red thing is half a poppy. 
• Left-over Knitting Goddess yarn from my last pair of socks. I'm trying to decide if I have enough left over for some socks for Little Miss Lou.  
• A pile of patterns, ball bands and a heart with 'I love you' written on it by Lou. 
• A drawstring project bag containing.......

Oooh more spare needles. Ten to be exact and a circular and yet more yarn....this time a few little balls of Knitting Goddess yarn I acquired last weekend to make the worlds brightest scrappy socks..that'll be the blue and orange sock on the straight needles then some Natural Dye Studio mini skeins.  In a fit of craziness on Wednesday night, I decided to pull the first Saltburn sock down, all the way from the toe and start making Mixalot instead...much better choice for the yarn and knitting up really well already.

So, you can't fit much into a Karrie bag.........

Get snapping your project bags and blogging, people!!

All change....

I haven't run away over the last few months, just been busy behind the scenes, working away one way or another.  Things have changed here again...Mr Nicsknots started a new job (which he likes heaps better than the old one) at the start of the summer and because of that and because a job I *had* to apply for or I'd be kicking myself further down the line came up (and I got it!), I've ended up working a fair few more hours out of the house and things have all changed here so it's taking a while to get a new kind of normality and things like blogging have taken a back seat.

For the first time ever, J and L have had to get used to going to kids club after school. While J has loved it (more computer time!...or rather no mummy telling him not to play on the computer time), Lou hasn't. We've had lots of tears and grumpiness and general 'I really wish you could pick us up from school like you used to' comments.  After-school club is too loud and she generally wants to go home and do whatever, not spend another hour with lots of boisterous boys running riot but we seem to have turned a corner and everyone seems happier and now it's half term so we all have time to take a breath.

We went away for the night at the weekend. The plan had been to go away for most of half term but then the weather forecast mentioned rainfall of biblical proportions so we decided a night away and a few days at home were probably a better idea.

We went for a walk in the woods. J and L collected pockets full of acorns. Lou tells me that she is collecting them to feed to the squirrels but J is apparently storing them somewhere safe in his bedroom...I can't wait to find them in a few months time!

Back home, I've been tidying the website up as it was looking a bit neglected. Another few hours on it tomorrow and a bit more photographing bags and I'll be happier. 

I went to Yarndale (and had a fab time!!) with Knitting Goddess and CoopKnits a couple of weeks ago and as is often the case, CoopKnits stood next to me, knitting another one of her fab sock designs with one of my Miya bags on her arm so of course, lots of people wanted them and I ran a bit low so I have been stocking up on the Miyas. 

I've also been rummaging through my fabric bags and found some fabrics I thought I had run out of a long time ago, such as the gnomes, here. These are in the shop now but I only have what is there then I *really* have run out....well unless I find another secret stash but I don't think that will happen so grab them now if you want them!

With it being Wednesday, I should really be blogging a WIP but I don't really have one....well clearly I have loads that have been kicking around for ever but nothing that I am working on as such. I am thinking that taking a few down and starting again might be a better idea .........

Finally finished and a little distracted....

Back in May last year, I started crocheting a granny square blanket. At the time I thought I was being a bit optimistic but I thought it would be a good way of practicing my new-found crocheting skill and didn't really mind when it was finished. Tonight, I finished the last stitch.

People on my Instagram might have been getting a bit bored with all of my photos of the blanket this last few weeks as I have been sewing it up and it's got bigger....and bigger....

My plan was to do it 15 squares by 10 but then I realised just how huge it would be so I made it a bit smaller; 15 x 8.  Here it is on the sofa with half of it over the back so plenty warm enough for cold autumn nights. 10 x 8 would have been big enough but at least we will all be able to sit on the sofa in the autumn and not have to fight for a bit of blanket!

I used the Summer Garden Granny Square pattern from Attic24 for the main blanket. My plan had been to do a shell edging but once I had done a few rows of trebles, the shell looked a bit odd so I decided a few more rows of trebles was the way ahead and I think it looks good. I joined all of the squares using double crochets to make the edges stand up a bit, I love the look of the ridges.  If you want to know any more about it, pop over to my project page on Ravelry.

I'm a little bit distracted here at the moment so excuse the lack of updates but we are busy enjoying the summer holidays. All too soon, everyone will be back at school and work and the nights will be pulling in and we'll be complaining about the cold. I love the holidays and spending time with my (not so) little people so we have been baking...and of course, licking the bowl out.....

..riding donkeys on the beach....

..playing in the park......

....and finding brambles on our walk back from the Post Office and making makeshift containers to take them home and make crumble for tea .....

All too soon everything will be back to normal. I hope you all enjoy the long bank holiday weekend. 
For more Finished Objects, have a look at Tami-Amis blog.