Welcome to my blog.

Welcome to my blog.

Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Hope to be back soon

It's been about 5 weeks, maybe 6 since I last posted but I hope to be able to get back on here soon now.
It started off that my husband has been getting back problems for some time now and he had a particularly bad one come on at the beginning of November. He ended up being sent for X-rays and so now has physio starting later this month too.
We should get the results from the X-rays anytime now.

He was just about getting mobile again when I got concussion from a bang on the head. That was on the 14th November and although thankfully much improved now from how it was, I'm still suffering some of the symptoms from it and have to be careful what I do.

As if that wasn't enough, my mum was taken into hospital with a suspected heart attack and believe me, travelling in a car to go to her and walking round the hospital to different wards when you have a minor head injury yourself, is not recommended, lol
I think they thought they would have to stick me in the bed next to her.
With the worry over her as well, it made me pretty unwell.

Thankfully it wasn't a heart attack but it was a bad angina attack so we brought her back home with us the next day and have had her staying here since, where we can look after her.
She's doing better now and seems to be picking up at last, although she has had a couple of smaller angina attacks while she's been here.

So up to now I haven't been able to sit and do anything on my projects, which is so annoying when you consider all the time I've had on my hands since the 14th, but the constant head pains/ headaches, concentration issues and swaying feelings etc, etc have made it impossible. 
Well last night I picked up my last cushion cover and was able to work on it for awhile, so I'm really happy about that. 
Hopefully it won't be too much longer before I am back on my feet and have things to show you again.

Just wanted to apologise for not keeping up with your blogs either but it's just all very difficult at the moment. 

Take care everyone

:-)



Friday, 31 October 2014

My name's Kim and I'm a serial starter....

I know, I know ... it's shameful. I just can't seem to help myself though.

So I was being really good, well almost good because I had made a start on my mystery project, but that doesn't really count as a new start because it's still something for the home, for the living room in fact, so surely I can lump that in with the cushions can't I??
No??

Oh well .... ok, so yes, I started something new ... my mystery project.
I'm really enjoying it so much.  I have no idea where I'm going with it, I'm just making it up as I go along, lol
Any guesses on what it is??


Actually, I don't think it's much of a mystery now, looking at it, lol

Once the main body is complete, I'm thinking I might put some small crochet flowers on the green part of it.

So I had every intention of getting the Tee finished and giving it to my mum and working on the final cushion cover and also on the little shrug and my tube socks.

I wanted to get them all finished up and then I can start more things without pangs of guilt .... but it wasn't to be.
We are going to an anniversary party for some friends and there's entertainment, some of which is in the form of a few short sketches. My son's are both in them and so I found myself enthusiastically volunteering to my friend to make up a couple of bits as part of their costumes, as she and her husband are sorting that part of the evening.

My youngest needed a sort of balaclava, as he plays the part of a burglar in a fun sketch and I've never made one before so that was a bit challenging to work out.
I think it worked out not too bad myself.



Then my oldest plays a bit of a funny piano playing character, so he is wearing bright yellow sunglasses and we wanted a really fun/silly hat .... so I made up this, lol



So as you can see, I've had great fun, but now they're both finished I'm getting an attack of the guilts over the projects I neglected. lol

Here's how far I am on the last cushion cover. This is one side. 



Then this is going to be the opening cover, for putting the pad in and out and I am thinking to just do one plain colour on this side because the flap is so colourful, being a granny triangle. But we'll see. 



Also, the dreaded teal tee ... I CANNOT get those sleeves sorted. So I have two options. Ask my mum for help AGAIN or I do it myself.
If I do it my way I could crochet round to even it up and either pick up those stitches to knit from or just do the sleeves in crochet.
I'm thinking on that still.

Can I admit to a poncho or shall I forget that for now and admit to it next time, so I don't look quite so bad??
Look at this yarn!!
Sirdar Evita  



It's a bit of a mix ... see label



I've never used this before and there was a bag of it hiding in the charity shop. I couldn't ignore it. The colour is so lovely and perfect for this weather plus it's an aran weight, so nice and thick. Should be lovely and warm.
A perfect poncho hopefully!!


So now I'm off to catch up on the blogs I read and watch the Vlogs I like to keep up with as well.  I have a few I subscribe to, but I have no idea how to comment on video's as I don't use my google plus if I can help it.
I'm still trying to work it all out.

Hope everyone is well and I'm looking forward to catching up with all your lovely projects too.

Take care everyone!!

:)

Monday, 20 October 2014

Cushion catch up

It seems ages now that I've been working on these.
That's what comes of just doing a bit here and there rather than getting stuck in and finishing them all before moving onto other things I guess.

Well I'm on the last one now, so I hope it won't be too long before I can declare them all finished!! 

So I thought I would show the ones I've finished to remind us of where I'm up to with them so far. 

Cushion one.




Cushion two.




Cushion three




I meant to take a picture of the one I'm working on, but of course, I forgot!! 
I've been working on these for so long now I can't actually be sure I even like them anymore. 
How mad is that?!!

Anyhow once I've got the final one done, I was going to make a little throw for the back of the settee but I've had a different idea. I'm not sure it will work but once I get started on it, I'll show you but for now at any rate, this is the cushions. 

:-)




Friday, 17 October 2014

Holiday catch up.

So I thought it would be nice to show just a handful of pictures from our holiday, just to give an idea of what we did.

We went to an open air 'living' museum called Beamish. We didn't manage to get round it all but the tickets we bought last a year, so we'll be popping back over.
It's very large and we have walked round in the past but this time we used the buses and trams they provide, which made it easier on my mum and D, who we took with us.


Then just a few pictures from the cottage we stayed in 

Living room


Kitchen


Main bedroom ( it was 3 bedroomed)


Small private court yard area. 



Steam train
If anyone has seen the old TV series called 'Heartbeat', this was the local train station they used 'Aidensfield Station but actually a place called Goathland.


Bernie's garage.



This is the pub they use as the 'Aidensfield Arms.

Anyhow, best I ease up on the holiday pictures now, don't want to overload you.
 Must show you though, this is the yarn my mum bought me. It's lovely and soft.


I bought this pattern to use it on. Can't wait to start it now, lol




Oh, and I pulled out my cushions last night and actually made the effort to finish them off at last, so only one left to make.
I'll update you on them in my next post now though.

Take care everyone!!

:-)

Thursday, 9 October 2014

Horrible, horrible

I couldn't update while I was away even though I had bought mobile internet for my iPad because the signal was SO bad.
Since returning home, I've had things going on which put everything else on hold.

My diet, which I came off for my holiday, I haven't been able to set my mind to either, so I still have to get myself back on track there, so that I don't end up back where I started. 

While we were away, Joe, my youngest picked up the cold D, who we took with us, had. So he felt pretty rubbish towards the end of the holiday, with a streaming cold.
The thing with him is, that anything he gets, because he has health issues, you need to be careful and he seemed to start to get over the cold once we were home but then suddenly, when a horrible cough came out on him, went down with a smack. High temps, bad chest, coughing, headaches, being sick. It's been quite worrying. 
He's still unwell but I'm hopeful he's starting to improve a bit.

Something else really horrible happened as well.
My eldest son and myself, along with others in our village, have had our cars keyed. 

My son's car

My car





The police came but made it clear they can't do much about it. So annoying and so mindless. 
I really don't get what people get from doing stuff like this.

With my sons car we have just tried to t.cut and paint over it. 
Mine is going through the insurance but it counts against me as a claim. Grrr!!! 

So with that and Joe, it hasn't been a great time. 

That said, it was lovely over in Yorkshire and it was our 27th wedding anniversary while we were away. Steve bought me a sweet little aquamarine ring in the local flea market


And a set of items based around Yorkshire tea which I love.


Of course that meant I couldn't resist making a cute tea cosy complete with pom poms.





So that was something I enjoyed making and it was quick too.

I made a start on the TEAL neck and sleeves. The neck I decided to make like a little roll over as this is too big for me so I have decided I'm going to give it to my mum once I'm done.



I'm working on the sleeves. I've had to take them out once already as they didn't look right so I'm on attempt 2 now


When we went away I took this stylecraft cotton to make a shrug. I started it but I didn't do much on it and now, I'm looking back at it and can't remember what I was doing with it. Oops!! 
Might need to frog it and start again.

Note to self: make notes!!!! 

So I wanted to show you some pictures of my holiday, just a few, but I think I'll have to make another post with them. 

I was so good while I was away and despite visiting lots of yarn, I resisted every urge I had to buy any, telling myself I need to use some of what I already have.
However, my mum insisted on treating me to some plus a pattern as well, for a nice chunky cardigan, so that too will appear on my next post. 

Hope things are good for you all

I'm hoping to catch up with my blog reading now.

Take care!! 

:-)

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

I think I'm going to brave it

Whenever I've knit a tee or sweater in the past, my mum always picks up the neck stitches for me and then I just knit them.
I've never been able to do it myself, it just doesn't work out well.
It seems to look lopsided almost, I can't get it to sit or look nice.

Well, I have just cast off the front of the teal coloured tee I am knitting and all that's left, apart from the sewing up is to do the neck and arm bands.
So I'm sat here staring at it and thinking to myself that really, I should just try and do it for myself.
I mean, how hard can it be?

I've got to get over this mental block of thinking I'm just going to mess it up and just try!!

(This is TEAL, why can't I ever get the colour to come out as teal???)

I'll be so pleased if I manage it.

So I've decided I'm going to brave it and give it a go. I'll let you know whether I was successful or not.

Take care!!

:)

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

New page and some bargains!!

So I'm starting to really get more into blogging again and I was thinking I might start to share more on here and not only crafts. I'm not sure yet. At any rate, I made another page on this blog which you'll be able to access from the tab at the top of this post.
My scribbles

It won't be updated regularly, it's more just something I'm just dabbling in and having a bit of fun with at the moment but you're all welcome to have a peek at anytime as long as you remember, I'm no artist, just someone having fun.
I'm not sure how this second page lark works, whether it appears to you as an update, just because you follow this blog or whether it's just there and you'll only ever know if you look. 
We'll just have to see what happens I guess. 

So today I had to take my youngest son to the orthodontist to have his braces tightened and me being me, I took the opportunity to drag him into some of the charity shops as well. 
Well I wanted to get him a little something because it's no fun is it, having them tightened.
That's my story anyhow and I'm sticking with it!! 
Haha

All went well, we got him a set of 4 books for 50p each and I was happy to get 2 books I wanted as well for £2.00



In one of the shops was a basket full of yarns!!! 
Of course, I was diving in that with no thoughts of ever coming up for air, lol
I was very restrained though as I'm saving my money really for our holiday coming up but I couldn't resist these two bargains.





Both bags have 8 x 50g balls in and were £4.00 a bag. For the UK, that's a good price!!


Just as we were making our way back to the car I happened to spy a tiny kitchen shop was having a closing down sale, so I dragged poor Joe in with me because for ages now I have wanted to get some little dessert forks for cake or pastries but the ones I was seeing weren't cheap and seeing as it was only a 'want' not something I really needed, I couldn't justify the prices.

So picture my joy as I found exactly what I'd been wanting, sat there, price slashed to £1.25 for 6!!!
I got 12 of them and 12 ice cream/ dessert spoons.




The irony of all this is that seeing as I'm on my diet right now I'm not really eating cake and ice creams so I won't get the pleasure of using these just yet, lol!! 
Typical!! 
Lol

:)


Monday, 8 September 2014

Going with the flow

So I'm still plodding on with these cushions covers. No clear idea of what I'm doing, no pattern, nothing, just going with the flow.
It's a good job I quite like mismatched things because apart from the colours, they don't look anything like each other at all!!! Lol

So this is the one I'm making at the moment. I'll be putting a matching stripe on the other side of course but I haven't planned ahead any further than that yet.


I made this sort of granny triangle as I was thinking of using this somehow as the flap fastening. Not sure yet.



So onto other things.
I've had to put a word verification on my comment box, which I apologise for but unfortunately I'm getting lots of spam emails, so I'm hoping to prevent them from now on.
It's so annoying.
It's all on one of my older posts and I can't see how to block them. I seem to have blocked the actual comments on my blog but the emails are still arriving thick and fast. I've blocked the sender and the senders domain so it must be changing all the time and it looks like it's one of those computer generated things with links to sites they want you to visit.
Anyhow, I'm hoping this might sort things as it will hopefully stop them being able to access the comments.

Talking of spam, I'm off for a weeks holiday in a couple of weeks time, so I bought some internet allowance for my ipad so that I can spam up my blog with pictures galore, lol

We're taking our youngest son, my mum and an elderly friend of the family that we look after, with us.
So with 2 pensioners, one with heart problems and the other with dementia/ Alzhiemers, I think we will need to have relaxing evenings.
That being the case, I thought it would be good to take along some knitting or crochet or both!! Lol
Most people spend time debating which clothes to take away, me, I'm just like yeah whatever, they'll do. But when it comes to which project/s to take, it's a completely different ball game. Much careful thought and debating with myself is the order of the day. lol

Priorities and all that!!

:-)