preparations

Hello and welcome to my new members :o), I will pop over and see your space too, I love linking up with people!

We love getting ready for Christmas in our house. It is almost more fun than the day itself. The anticipation, the yearly family traditions, the school nativity, and of course Father Christmas himself, HO HO HO!
With only 5 1/2 weeks to go & one pay day to go, this is what we have been up to these last two weeks...

The munchkins have written their letters to Father Christmas...very important if we don't want them to change their minds on present ideas 3 days before the event. That did happen last year!! One wants pink peppa wellies, the other a pirate ship...can you guess which is which lol! This yr was the first year my son actually wrote his letter without any help, so cute,  one for the scrapbook! ...(watch this space!). We posted our letters to the North Pole and believe they will have arrived by now for the elves to start making their toy.

On a more crafty note, my son has finished his entry to the school "Christmas colouring competition"...no peeking! I will put up his marvellous pic (i'm not biased obviously) after the event.

We have had our Christmas photo shoot, courtesy of moi, ready to go on the front of our Christmas Cards (watch this space). Can you guess what she is yet?!

And ....I am also in the middle of knitting our Christmas decorations. Very thrifty of me I thought, coldteaandsmellynappies.co.uk  would be impressed don't you think?!

I'm not entirely sure how I am going to use them yet...for the puddings I wondered about an afternoon game, (we have 9 for Christmas day) of "hunt the pud". They are hollow underneath so I could stuff them with a chocolate truffle or a little cling film wrap of sweets. The stockings are either the start of a garland for the fireplace or for on the tree to put chocolate coins in...

Next week is the Great British pudding bake off with my friends, when we'll make our own Christmas puds, yum! Well, how have you been getting ready for Christmas?

x

101 Uses for innocent big knit hats

Well, not quite 101 uses, but there are a few I can think of off the top of my head! I am looking forward to purchasing some hats to help raise money; wouldn't it be so funny to see your knitted hats at your local supermarket...not much chance of that I suppose!

At Knit & Natter last night we knitted/crocheted some more to send away. We now have 13. Not bad for the first year of participating I think. Whether you've knitted or not, please do buy a hat, you will be raising valuable money for Age UK which is a fantastic charity  http://www.ageuk.org.uk/.

So, what can you do with them once you've bought one?

Here's a fun list of ideas!

1. Use them as egg cosys for boiled eggs or easter eggs

2. Stuff them with cotton wool and play skittles with them with the kids.

3. Use as mini dolls hats

4. Fill with chocolates or sweets and put in the children's stockings at Christmas.

5. Decorate the top of your mug tree with them

6. Place one on the top of your kitchen roll holder

7. Get matching ones for bathroom shampoo and conditioner bottles

8. Put on the top of kids classroom water bottles

9. Brighten up your washing up liquid bottles with a fruity melon one

10. Buy several and make into a garland for the kids bedrooms

11. Put an "I Love You" message on one and pop the hat on your partners desk.

Have fun with your hats
x

The Big Knit

Good morning! 

So have any of you heard of The Big Knit?  I hadn't until yesterday... I came across it whilst reading someone else's blog.

The Big Knit involves knitting little hats for "innocent smoothies" bottles. The deadline is the end of October. In November and December innocent will top all their bottles with these little hats and sell them :o) 25p from each bottle goes to Age Uk - http://www.ageuk.org.uk/

Age Uk use the money to help the elderly keep warm and active during the winter months.

Its a great cause. I just wish I had heard about it sooner. Next week at "knit and natter" I'm hoping some of us might knit a few to send off.

You can see above what I have managed to do so far!

There's the wooltermelon one and the doodles bobble hat. The bobble hat was pretty straight forward to knit...the pattern is on the Big Knit website. The wooltermelon one was not as easy as it looks! It was my first try at beading. I don't really think it worked...and I'm not sure why! The beads have fallen into the inside of the hat, so you can hardly see them. Maybe the beads were too big? Maybe I didn't thread them on correctly? A bit of You Tubing tonight I think, to see if I can rectify it :o)

Knit a few yourself or have a go at the knitting game on the website. 

http://thebigknit.co.uk/

Any beading advice gratefully received

x

getting ready for christmas

On my new weekly schedule, Tuesday is my day for blogging...can you tell?!!

I've just finished my handful of autumn that i wrote about last week, and here is the result.

The items are now hanging up along our fireplace giving us that warm and cosy autumn feel. My favourite is the pumpkin, the hardest was the conker, the least realistic is probably the filed mouse on the left...my mum thought it was a bat...oops, i think i needed to do lighter coloured ears!

I still haven't braved knitting some oak leaves yet to go with the rest of the items, not sure whether its a bit too ambitious.

I'm starting to think about my Christmas knits now. The kids want me to knit full size stockings for them...eek. I rather fancy knitting a Christmas garland and some snowmen for the fireplace. The latest copy of the knitting magazines have inspired me! I'm a sucker for buying knitting mags I'm afraid!
x

summer memories

Did you get up to anything crafty over the summer? hubby and i entered a craft show ! 

I entered 5 categories and actually won 3 prizes, i was so chuffed!

 I won 1st prize for my scrapbook page. it was a page about my sons first blackberrying adventure :o). i used lace, buttons, blackberry pins, die cut birds on my sizzix machine, inking, embossing on my sizzix, twine, die cut flowers, gems, journal tabs and patterned paper.

I won 3rd prize for my anniversary card. its a triple easel card. i used shrink plastic, gems, inking, embossing, acetate, die cut squares using papermania dies, metal words, sticker letters...

I also won 3rd prize for my beach photograph. i took it in Polzeath, Cornwall, on a lovely week away.

I didn't win anything for my knitted hat or finger puppet farm, but i had so much fun making them and looking at everyone else's handy work.


Hubby also entered. he put in 3 photographs and he won a prize for each of them! very proud moment!...it was so lovely to see (especially after I had "encouraged" him into it lol!). Next year the munchkins will be old enough to enter too, I cant wait to see them getting crafty x

what crafty things did you get up to this summer?

handful of autumn

This is my knitted garland so far...

A pumpkin, a conker and 3 acorns!

I was particularly chuffed with the conker as its knitted on the round with colour change and kfb/k2tog as well...i've not managed all that on 4 needles before so it was a bit of a challenge!

My next plans are to add a tiny harvest mouse and an apple :o)

Pattern tips gratefully received!
x

acorns

I love anything crafty...foraging and then jam making, scrapbooking, card making, cross stitch and knitting. I took up knitting at Easter, a friend taught me, and I have been addicted ever since!

I have tried everything from hats, scarf's, and bags to play fruit and veg for the kids! (i have two little munch kins)

At the moment i have been knitting an autumn garland for the fire place. I was most inspired by these blogs:


http://knotgarden.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/september.html

http://flutterbypatch.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/knitting-acorns.html

They have some great ideas, check them out!
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