Sneak peek – working on a scarf

This, when started at the end of December, was meant to be a late Christmas present but well, it’s for Christmas 2019 now. I only have a square and a half to go but it’s a bit late for a scarf! Pattern is my own and I’m using Paintbox Chunky, which is very soft and…

Sneak peek – almost there

(Early morning knitting in my pyjamas) I’m almost there with blanket 3, I’m knitting the last stripe and I should get it done in time to wrap up, Christmas Eve. I set myself a target at the beginning of the week of half a stripe a day (each stripe is around 40 rows, with 120…

Dragon Hot Water Bottle Tutorial and Free Pattern

A hot water bottle cover I made for my dad years ago, is finally wearing thin, so he asked for a new one for Christmas. Whenever I think of crafts for my dad, I think of dragons, as he lives in Wales and well dragons breath fire – hot water bottles, kinda loosely connected. I…

Last Minute Cowl

That’s the first of my handmade Christmas presents done. The pattern is the Last Minute Cowl from Churchmouse Yarns and it was pretty quick to do, I started it on Tuesday and it’s Friday today and obviously life happened in between. (In a Twitter convo recently I said that I wasn’t going grey yet, the…

Sneak peek – Good Times Blanket

I now have two blankets on the go, the Intarsia Mountain blanket is currently on a back burner, I’m still loving doing it but it’s quite limiting about where and when I can work on it, basically it has to be on my bed, with the multiple balls of wool spread out, the only distraction,…

5 things I liked this week – 29.12.17

1. Getting seats on trains. 2. Getting one of Z’s amazing hand drawn Christmas cards (they’re always very personalised). 3. Some nice walks somewhere different. 4. Watching old walking programmes about the Lake District with my dad (I would love to walk there one day). 5. Watching The Miniaturist on TV.

On the menu – Mug Bread

Monday I like nice bread to go with the cold meats and beer for Christmas tea. I would probably, to be honest, normally go and buy some but we were away this Christmas and not in easy reach of nice, fresh bread (particularly with the shops shut the day before). So I made sure I…

Photos from a Christmas away

(North Wales)

On the menu – Mince Pie Cookies and Creamy Tomato Pasta

Tuesday I made Nigella’s Cranberry mince pies on Friday (not blogged, as not a new recipe for me, I make them pretty much every year, they have the perfect mincemeat for people who don’t like mincemeat) and as I had some mincemeat left, I made Mince Pie Cookies from a recipe by Jamie Oliver. I…

On the menu – The Magic Fridge plus some Nigella and Lorraine Pascale

Friday This is the Sorrento Pizza from The Magic Fridge, a lovely book that has a collection of recipes that you can make in bulk, stick in the fridge or freezer and then use as a base for other recipes in the book. There’s a pizza chapter, with various recipes you can use your very…