Resolutions

I fear I may have been neglecting my little blogspot of late. So a new year's resolution is called for to try and visit a little more regularly. However the good news is I haven't been posting recently because I have been busy doing! I have completed a quirky button and crochet brooch and I am halfway through a very girly pair of hand warmers (pictures in the next post - promise!).

But my latest, most favourite, absolutely consuming passion, stems from a complete surprise gift from my hubbie. Bless him! Before Xmas I saw this lovely necklace at a craft market.

I saw it, fell in love with its soft felt beads in tones of purple and aqua, but refused to spend money on myself before Xmas. However, my husband wanted to look in a men's clothes shop and arranged to meet me later in town. The sneaky little thing went back and bought it, to my delight on Xmas day!

So, on receiving my gift my first thought was 'what shall I wear this with?'. And my second thought was 'how did they do that?'. Like any good crafts person I am inspired by other's talents and of course love to have a go with something new. So after a little online research I had ordered myself some dyed wool roving and some felting needles.

                                

Oooooh. I was itching to get my fingers busy with the soft wooly twists of loveliness. And so...

                                   

I picked three colours and..

                               

made some squashy ball shapes and got my hands wet and soapy!

The result? ........

                                    

Oh my goodness! It was unbelievably easy and quick. Not happy to stop there I felt they needed a little extra something and so...

                                    

Out came the needle and some spotty madness occurred. It really was very satisfying, despite being a little fiddly. But so worth the effort!

                       

So now I have to decide what to make from these little wooly marbles. A necklace? A bracelet? A brooch? I think I need to make more!

I found a great video tutorial on youtube for making these. I'll put a link on in my next post along with a picture of something finished I hope!

Christmas Eve Already?!

Can anyone tell me where the last month has gone? I blinked and it was Christmas eve! Well, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care and the children should soon have thoughts of sugar plums dancing through their heads, hopefully! My husband and I have developed a tradition of watching 'Love Actually' each Christmas Eve, it's a real feel good film and we haven't got bored of it yet! So I'm off now for dinner and then a glass of Baileys. A very Merry Christmas to you all. X

Oh, our snowman was made last February (the day we were supposed to have OFSTED in school but had to close as no-one could get there!). The snow hasn't really reached Cornwall yet this winter.

Never Off Duty

It's not just policeman, it's teachers too. Wherever we go it's "I could use that for...in the classroom" or "We could make our own version of that" or "That would look great on display when we do..." Today the inspiration was provided by Tesco and the saying was "We could make our own version of those!"

Made from felt and decorated with buttons, these are very simple but effective. The children in my class are only 8 or 9 so this is perfect for them and a decoration their parents could treasure for years to come.

I think I may have to make some myself!

Days Like These!

Last week St. Ives, this week the chill out room! No lovely days out for me today, no posh nosh over a harbour view! Instead we have been digging through the clutter stacked 6 foot high in our garden room. It is supposed to be this tranquil place where you can sit, drink latte, listen to music, read a book, knit... but a leaky roof meant we had to strip out the loft and all the boxes had to go somewhere. But there was a glimmer of hope for my lovely room when my husband decided it would be nice to have our christmas dinner in there.
So the day has been spent putting some of the clutter back up in the loft, taking some of the reusable items to the charity shop and binning the real junk. The result? A clearer room which you can at least sit in. I have had to give in and agree to a television in there which was never the plan. I should explain that this part of the house is an extension which I designed before I met my husband and so I always knew how I wanted it, a sort of little retreat, a doorway to my beautiful garden. But I guess we all have to evolve and grow and change is often a good thing. I certainly hadn't imagined my lovely room home to a full size rocking horse, but I hadn't imagined children in the picture at the time! I wouldn't be without my husband, children or the rocking horse! I could live without the second tv however! Will post some pictures when we have cleaned and added those finishing touches!

Family Day Out

A lovely day out with the family to St. Ives. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful county. We sat in a lovely restaurant overlooking the harbour from the 1st floor and watched as the tide rushed it's way in.

Then I went to a fab wool and craft shop called The House of Bartlett where I increased my stash by four balls. It was very hard to limit mysef to this as the shop has a wonderful range.

What am I planning to knit with them? No idea! I have a terrible habit of buying yarn because I like the colour, texture, feel... but not really knowing what I'm going to do with it. Does anyone else do this?  I tend to knit small projects so I don't buy in large quantities and so far haven't run out in the middle of something. I think I might use the King Cole Inspire to make myself some fingerless gloves. I saw some very funky ones in a Joules shop recently but they were quite expensive and thought 'I could do that'. We will see!

There was also a bargain find in another shop. My dear hubby has put up with my piles of wool, half finished projects, needles, patterns and knitting magazines cluttering our lounge for some time now, but no more! This basket is the perfect solution. It will hold all my current projects and look quite stylish in the room. I might have to change the fabric though for something a bit more colourful.

Rain, rain go away!

I hate the rain when I'm teaching. The children come in before the bell goes and like to chat to me, which is lovely but stops me preparing things. By breaktime the children are ready for a good run around, but on wet days it's 'wet play games from the cupboard'. If lunchtime is a wet one too, then you can kiss goodbye to any kind of focus or concentrated effort in the afternoon and the volume level will be set on max no matter what you do! I am fortunate enough to teach a lovely class of children, but like all children they need to let off some steam during the day and nothing beats a good run around the playground! Unfortunately, I have just seen the weather forecast for the next few days and it looks like it's going to be wet, wet, wet. Oh great!

Knitted Gifts

As a child my Gran used to knit toys for me which I never really appreciated, probably because she used scratchy old acrylic and it was usually pants for my Barbie dolls to make them 'decent'! Now I'm a mum I enjoy knitting things for my daughter, but (hopefully) things which she will enjoy playing with. I knitted these cupcakes for her teddy tea parties. My favourite is the one with the cherry.

The pattern for these is from Julie at little cotton rabbits.