Going to be away for a while.....

Just a quick note to let you know that I am not going to be here for a while as we are embarking on a trip to the Stubai Valley in Austria. We are staying in a town called Neustift not too far from Innsbruck.

I am looking forward to the trip - just not the early flight!

I will be sharing my photos on my return :o) See you all soon!! *waving like mad to you all!!*

Toodles :o)

pattern for the baby socks...

As promised, here is the pattern for the baby socks! If there are any mistakes, please bear with me as this is my first attempt at creating my own pattern :o)

I used a 4ply yarn and 4 2.5mm dpns.

Cast on 36 stitches and split 12 on each needle and join in the round. (place marker)

K1,p1 rib for 8 rounds.

St st 20 rounds (or length required) to heel flap.

heel flap

knit 10 st, turn work and work on two needles only.

S1, purl 19, turn.

S1, knit 19, turn.

S1, purl 19, turn.

repeat these last 2 rows 7 more times.

Heel shaping.

Knit 12, ssk, K1 turn

S1, purl 5, P2tog P1, turn

S1 knit to 1 st before gap, ssk K1 turn,

S1, purl to 1 before gap, p2tog P1, turn

repeat these two rows until all stitches are used up.

Needle 1 - knit across all stitches, knit 10 down side of heel

Needle 2 - knit across all 16 sts,

needle 3 knit 10 down side of heel and across 6 sts of needle 1

N1 16 sts, N2 16 sts, N3 16 sts. (48 in total)

gusset shaping

N1 knit to last 3 sts, K2tog, K1, N2 knit, N3 K1 ssk, knit to end

round 2 - knit

repeat these 2 rows to 36 stitches

Continue straight for 12 rows or length of foot required (less about 1cm)

decrease for toes

N1 Knit to last 3 sts, K2tog, K1, N2 K1 ssk, knit to last 3 sts k2tog K1, N3, K1 ssk, knit to end.

repeat until 12 stitches remain.

knit 2 stitches from N2 to N1, and slip 2 sts from N2 to N3 (6 sts on each)

Graft the remaining edges together.

I hope that makes sense! It is very easy and if you are familiar with sock knitting I am sure you will be able to correct any mistakes I have made :o)

A nice relaxing evening in store.....

Richard has gone out this evening, Leah is in bed, so I am going to put my feet up and read my new book and magazine.

I have already baked some chocolate fairy cakes to take to work tomorrow, so I may 'steal' one of those for myself too. However, Richard has gobbled down two already, so there are not so many for my colleagues tomorrow!

My finished socks!

I said I would post a picture of my finished socks and here they are! I wasn't sure how much yarn I would have so I didn't bother starting on the same colour for each sock ( Mum says she prefers the odd look anyway). Even if I did, there was a knot half way through and the colour was repeated in the wrong place, so it wouldn't have looked right anyway!

Aren't they lovely?

My sister arrived at my house yesterday afternoon with the most beautiful bouquet of gerberas yesterday - just because Leah had her appointment on Friday and she thought we might need cheering up!

Aren't they lovely!

The paediatrician's appointment was both good and bad. Although he is happy with how she is doing she still needs a few more scans, as there is more fluid on her kidney than there should be.

One will involve having some dye injected to see if there are any blockages from her kidney to her bladder - if there is she may need surgery, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that there isn't. He did say this was quite unlikely.

Then she will be having another ultrasound next June, and we will see how she goes from there. We think she is doing fine, and that's the most important thing!

Wheeeeeeee!!!!!

Richard, Leah & I met my friend Lucy for lunch today, so we went to a local pub which has a lovely children's play area outside. The sun was shining, so we all relaxed whilst Leah played. She wanted to go on the slide, so with a bit of help from us she climbed the steps by herself (on her knees obviously!), lined herself up....


... then with a little help from Daddy ( I just LOVE her little face here, it is totally lit up with excitement - now I know what people mean when they say that!).... .....WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

.....WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so pleased she had fun!

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside.....

I've decided to post some more pictures of where I live, so yesterday afternoon Leah and I went out armed with the camera and this is what we saw...



this is the view from the end of my road, and you can just see the sea in the background. Its a 5 minute walk at the very most and is lovely when the sun is shining....


here are a few of the boats on the water, mainly small fishing boats and sailing boats for pleasure. You can just about make out Kent in the background across the estuary.

Here are some of the beach huts that people use when the sun is out. They are so useful for getting changed, having your lunch etc. I would love one myself but they are quite expensive to buy. You are looking at £10,000 upwards - quite amazing actually for a glorified shed! I must admit they do have kitchens inside most of them, but no running water.

Leah and I ventured onto the beach itself and Leah wanted to throw stones in the water...

...this is what she chose....

...and here she is on a mission to get to the water!

We decided to finish off our walk with an ice-lolly - well Leah did anyway! It took her a while to grasp the fact that she had to hold the stick rather than put that end in her mouth, but she got there in the end!

Going to the paediatrician today....

Leah's got an appointment with the paediatrician today at 11.35am so thought I'd just make a quick mention of it before I get ready to take her.

Hopefully everything will still be doing fine and she won't have to have any more ultrasound scans - it was a bit of a nightmare keeping her still last time! At least she shouldn't have to have any more tests - the last ones were a year ago now...

To look at her, you wouldn't know that she was being monitored, and to be honest if she had been born 20 years ago, nobody would be any the wiser!

Off to put everything back in the bathroom cupboard now - she has decided to take all the toilletries out!

I'll let you know how we got on....

What would you like to learn?

I just wondered if anyone has a skill they'd like to learn, but never have the time or patience to do! I'd really love to make lace, but it looks so fiddly and very complicated!

what would you like to do?

Woo Hoo! Almost finished!

Just a quick update to let you know I have almost finshed the socks I started for Mum with the Noro yarn. They aren't quite as good as I had hoped they would be - well you'll see for yourselves when I post the photos at a later date!

I'll also be posting the baby sock pattern real soon :o) The first one turned out great!

Finished Leah's cardigan!

I finally got round to finishing Leah's cardigan, so whilst she has been asleep this afternoon I sewed on the press stud and the ribbon for the tie around, so hopefully she will be able to model it for me very soon!

I need to give it a press (as you can see from the photos) but other than that I am really pleased with the result.

I used Sirdar Snuggly DK in Daisy and the pattern is from the Little Sweet Peas booklet. Next I'll be doing the v - neck tank top from the same pattern booklet for William.

I've also been working on my first ever original pattern for a pair of socks - they are only very simple and baby sized, but will be posting the pattern once I am happy with it, so that I can share with anyone who'd like to make some!

The Essex Country show - part three - the machines!

Finally I wanted to show you some of the steam engines and other vehicles they had on display. Richard said I was a geek for taking photos of these, but I didn't really care!


This was the first one I saw and thought it was a rather nice specimen to show on my blog...

and this one was working to do something with straw - not quite sure what - but I'm sure it was useful!

There was some power taking place- where a very powerful tractor like thing (the best description I can think of) has to pull another as far as it can without the engine blowing (you should smell it at the end!) They were really noisy but quite amusing to watch. Its quite difficult to explain exactly, but you get the idea..

here it is being hooked up just before the ploughing takes place...the second truck has a blade type thing at the front, which digs in the further it gets pulled, making it more difficult to pull along..

...and finally some cool American (or American style) trucks which looked great all lined up together.
Richard liked the yellow one best I think :o)

The Essex Country show - part two....

As well as looking at the animals and the displays they took part in, in the main arena, there were also lots of other things to do.


Leah has never been on a carousel before, so I was a good Mummy and went on with her (she kept pointing at it for ages - so we got the hint).

It was a little faster than ones I have been on before, and Leah was ok for a while - then got a bit worried! She didn't actually cry at all, but got a bit unsettled - the brave little girl!

I also had the opportunity to hold a beautiful snowy owl (the males are more white all over so I was told).

You had to make a small donation to hold a small owl - so when I asked the man which one I wanted to hold he said any one within reason. So I chose this beauty - and even stroked her chest! I was a bit worried she'd eat my finger, but luckily she didn't :o)

Richard had a try at electronic clay pigeon shooting - he did pretty well for a first attempt, especially as he's never tried the real thing (in real clay pigeon shooting the clays are small discs shot out by a machine - no birds are hurt at all!)

The Essex Country show - part one - the animals....

Today we went to the Essex Country Show at Barleylands farm in Billericay with my Mum and Dad. We haven't been for years, so it was a great day out and we saw lots of great crafts, events, steam engines and animals!

Here are a few of them...

...a lovely sheep (I just ADORE) them!.....

....these two calves were really cute and they liked to be stroked. We just about avoided being licked by them - those tongues are massive!

We had to have our photo taken by this sweet donkey, although I don't think he was that bothered about it!

We saw some lovely sheep on show.....

... this ram was one of my favourites....

...and a few more in their pen.....

...one of the heavy horses in his stable after the show....

.....and a lovely Suffolk Punch.

Wheal Coates - a Cornish tin mine....

Where we stay in Cornwall has lots of historical tin mine remains, and below is one of them. (For those of you that often see tin mine images from Cornwall - Wheal Coates is one that you will probably be familiar with.

It is protected by The National Trust - although free to visit - and the views out to the Atlantic Ocean are fantastic.




You can walk right down to the mine, but as it was very windy when we visited, we gave that a miss this time!



Here are Leah & I posing by part of the old bulidings - just before it poured down with rain-

and here is another part of the old ruins - what could be some kind of shaft? - I'm not quite sure!

What a spectacular view!

My little pudding's new favourite thing...

For some reason Leah has decided that whenever she is on our bed, she must get under the covers and make herself right at home. I know that everything new children do is novelty, but this is a little annoying, especially as I have to put the duvet straight again every time she does it!


She's taking after her Mum and getting lost in a good book - not quite sure how much of a classic 'Keith the Caterpillar' is - not quite Austen but a start! It does make her look quite the bookworm....

I think she is much more interested in the TV than the book, but we all have to start somewhere!

Some goodies to show you......

This morning, after doing all the ironing and cleaning, Leah and I (well mainly me) decided to pop out for a bit to a local supermarket to pick up some avocados and plums and for some reason my brain wanted to take a detour into town. I needed to get my friend her birthday request, so I thought it rude not to go along to my local (well nearest decent one) yarn shop, to look for something nice to make my bunnies from (I am still practicing so have not used a good quality yarn so far).

I saw this Sirdar Eco wool, which comes in lovely undyed colours, and has a wonderful feel to it to. Just right for a little bunny boy or girl.



These are the three shades I chose, all good for bunnies......



..... and a little closer look at them here.


The next thing I want to show you in my next sock book purchase - I can't get enough of them at the moment, and once I have practiced enough from various patterns, I'd like to create my own designs from different stitches and lacework you can find in most knitting magazines.

I ordered this from Amazon and it arrived yesterday - pretty quick delivery - and I was intrigued to see what was inside. I always find that although the internet is great for shopping, I still never quite know what is going to arrive or what it will be like, especially if I haven't seen the product 'in the flesh' before (sometimes you can see things in the shops but get thm cheaper online, which is great when you can net a bargain).

I was suprised to see what was inside - but then if I actually read the title properly I should have guessed (little box of socks!)

Here's a selection of my favourite designs in the pack - what i like is that they are each on an individual card, so they are really easy to take about with you (if you knit on the go) and are also really easy to manage at home (if you knit whilst watching TV with your feet up on the sofa!)

We are going on holiday to Austria soon, and as we are staying in a hotel, someone - i.e. me - will have to stay in the room of an evening to make sure the little pudding is ok. I know that hotels are safe and we could leave her there, but as things have happened in the past, I would never forgive myself if something happened to her whilst we enjoyed ourselves downstairs. It would also break my hear of she woke up and no one was there to give her a cuddle!

Anyway, back to the subject in hand, I think these would make a great addition to pack in my case for something to do in the evenings - that or to read a good book (of which I will be taking a few ..)

Need some friends on Ravelry!

I've just recently joined ravelry, but need a bit of guidance and a little help - plus a few friends! So if anyone who visits here is a member, any tips would be great and I'd like to be your friend please *big smile :o)*

My Ravelry ID is here and I'd love to see you there!

Meet Wilbur the wabbit!

here is my latest rabbit creation, for my little nephew William. He told me his name was 'Wilbur' so i couldn't disagree with him....


.. he's made from acrylic yarn (will use better yarn once my rabbits improve) and had a nice pair of dungarees made from bergere de France Caline yarn, which is lovely and soft. The buttons are vintage ones - from a charity shop!



I think he's a bit of a cheeky rabbit, as when my back was turned he was riding dapple, my horse! What a cheeky, cheeky rabbit, i think we'll have trouble with him!

How cute???

Don't these just look so delicious? I think they're such a great idea - I'll definitely give them a go next time I bake some cup cakes!

FBs being sent today....

These are the latest fbs I've made via a group swap......



..My melody to K in Cananda.....

... Rilakkuma to A in Japan...

....Diddl & Friends to S in the netherlands....

...and Disney characters to S in Finland. Enjoy them!