Spring has sprung in the little garden

Well a little bit. A few teeeeny tiny glints of green have started to appear on my newly planted plum tree, my carrots are definitely bigger and the little tomato seeds have started to grow ( ok thats not in the garden but everythings growing, you get the picture! )

I am finding it quite weird though that we have a MUCH smaller garden now. It is lovely and I am slowly filling it with various planters and baskets, i've planted trees and fruit bushes and got my seeds and trowel at the ready- but it still feels a bit odd. There are some definite bonuses, like the fact that cutting the grass doesn't take up half the day and that when you call the children in for their tea they can actually hear you and you don't have to go exploring to find them, but sssshhhhh....I do miss it a bit. Its quite a neat garden too in comparison with the old house, which was wild and overgrown in places so I'm  hoping when things really get going on the growing front it will start to feel a bit more like MY garden.

Hmmn you can't actually see the garden at all really in any of those pics can you, I shall try and take some better ones ( Maybe when its not looking so bare) 

Notebooks and Yarn.

These are a few of my favourite things.........

I've really got into journalling lately. I've always been a list maker, although my lists have never been in such lovely  journals before. They usually were to be found on the backs of napkins, receipts, screwed up pieces of paper in my bag. Until my birthday when I decide to treat myself to one of my friend Sara's lovely journals.

A bit of an obsession has begun....

I've always enjoyed drawing/sketching/doodling ( call it what you will) but after I finished my art degree ( a loooong time ago) I had really had ENOUGH of anything arty and avoided it for a long time. Until last month. It has *almost* replaced yarny activities in term of my evenings entertainment. I'm particularly liking the doodling just for the sake of it, because it looks nice, not because it means something or is a metaphor for anything else!

In more yarn related news i've been working on this ....

And I've finally bloody finished it! A new design for a little shawlette. I kind of made it up as I went along so ( glutton for punishment) I've written it out and i'm knitting it again , sort of, i'm trying some different increases this time

Absolutely love this grey yellow wool. It was an experimental skein ( so i totally had to keep it right ;)  ) that I dyed whilst trying things out for the Stationery lovers yarn box that Sara and I collaborated on. A Journal, some yarn, stitch markers, buttons and chocolate ( whats not to love?!) 

I'm hoping to finish it marginally quicker than the first that seemed to take forever, and then I'll be releasing it as a free download - provided it happens this side of the millenium. 

In the meantime I'm busy creating some plant based yarn boxes ( plants vs zombies) and tinkering around with some rather awesome  vintage fabrics. Until next peeps xx

New year new house!

We have finally moved house! It was as traumatic a day as I was expecting but not really for the reasons I was expecting. Anyhoo without having to relive the whole exhaustive experience WE HAVE A LOVELY NEW HOUSE. And it feels great. Like a weight has been lifted. We got rid of a lot of clutter and unwanted 'stuff' and so it feels like now we just have things we really want or need. It feels fab... So lets have a little glimpse of things shall we....

One ( thats right there are 3!!) of the fabulous 'new to us' lights that are in the house.
'yes they did leave them' 'yes i like that one best too' 'yes they are very me aren't they!'

Look organised shelves! How long will that last? This room is rather grandly being referred to as the 'study'

 Ok so there not actually veeery good shots for actually showing the whole of a room, but its quite tricky to get whole rooms into a pic and its the little details that make it anyway.

So not long after we'd moved in, and after we'd discovered a gas leak and had that repaired, and after we'd had the car radiator leak and also had that repaired, we went here.....

Mum ( that's me) really did go to Iceland! Sorry I felt the whole Iceland joke really needed a mention. We stayed in an apartment in Reykjavik for a week. It was spectacular! When we arrived the weather was cold and a bit rainy, rather like England, and in the course of a week we experience pretty much every weather condition you can think of ( ok not a heatwave, and no tornados, typhoons etc ) ranging for blazing sun to a blizzardy whiteout, from 5 degrees to -14 in the space of a couple of days. 

We visited the Blue lagoon, and outside thermal spas, we explored the Golden circle and saw waterfalls and geysers that took my breath away. We saw sunrises and sunsets, we sketched, we wrote, we played card games, we crocheted ( well that was just me ;)  ) and had a bloody marvellous time!  

Apologies for the large number of showy off pics, but it really was brilliant and we might never go again, so I fully intend to make the most of the experience! A rather nice start to 2015. 

Is it Christmas yet?

I've been thinking about Christmas stuff since...oooh at least August. And have been gleefully mentioning Christmassy items since the beginning of October. It seems however that lots of people would rather not be reminded about it until at least Halloween is over- Well it is now!!!
I'm really looking forward to Christmas, we will hopefully be in the new house by then and i have Plans, plans, PLANS!

So this is what i'm aiming for - although i shall also be making a lot of it myself ( can't get much more local than me ;)  ) I'd love to do another advent tree - and make the decs to go on it with the kids again ( Although that really was the end of our Rosemary tree /bush the year i decided to bring it indoors and hang stuff from it for the rest of the month.) 

Remember this?

We've made Christmas cards for the past few years now ( although latterly they have been somewhat of a rushed affair) so this year i'd like to do some more lino prints and see how those turn out. Wrapping paper takes some planning as well- Its all well and good doing the odd sheet but with 4 children we require slightly more. Although i know of few of my friends who use playsilks hmmmm, we only have 2 of those. 

In other exciting news someone has had a birthday!

Millie is now 4!!!!

She had such a lovely day and was so happy and smiley to be 4. Her cousins came up to see her and we had a lovely afternoon in the park, feeding ducks

I can't believe how quickly time is going. Millie is 4 Maya is 14 my little lovelies are turning into massive lovelies. 

As usual a few catch up pics are probably in order ( and who doesn't love a good nose through pics right?! ) 

We all went out for a meal for my Mum's birthday to a restaurant. It was really nice, the kids all enjoyed it too- especially ordering their own food.

I finished my little scalloped shrug - it is so soft and fluid, its really comfy to wear. 

This ridiculous pair decided on a few selfies to while away the time whilst waiting for food in Ikea. Love Sonny's face here it cracks me up!

Here i am!! Or rather here are Millie's toes featured in the gift guide of this months Inside Crochet. Exciting stuff.

Halloween and what was probably our last ever party at this house - Its a bit sad, we've been here for 11 years now, but we're not moving far and i'm rather looking forward to the next chapter .