You've got to love a Bank Holiday weekend ♥

♥

After a busy, busy week at work the Bank Holiday

weekend arrived just when it was most needed.

 

There really is a lot to be said for a three day weekend in my book.

All dull and boring chores have been done,

 shopping has been bought and packed away in the kitchen

cupboards for the week ahead,

the laundry pile is pretty much non-existent,

my wardrobe has had a very long overdue tidy up and sort out

( I managed to resist the urge to photograph this and show you ! )

and there's still been heaps of time for plenty of yarny activity

and general pootling around the house.

 

 

My Spring Garland had been carefully packed away,

 

 

and replaced with the Daisy Chain Garland I made last year.

 

 

♥

My much loved Caravan blankets have made the short journey from

 the caravan to our Spare Room following another little sort out and the

 need to get our Caravan up and ready to go on sale.

After much thought we have decided that two large Weimeraners,

one of those still being a puppy,

a smallish caravan and the realities of the British climate

all mixed up together probably don't make

 the best ingredients for the most relaxing of holidays right now

 so time for a change. 

 



 

The up side of this though is that the blankets look just as good in my Spare room

as they did in the caravan ! Hooray !

 

There has even been time for a bit of garden love this weekend

 - not too much mind because its still been bloomin' chilly -

but enough time to have a wander and see how everything is just about ready to burst.



 

The apple blossom is having a proper little festival all

of its own out there and it's quite impossible to walk past it without

sighing happily and admiring its beauty.

 

 

And the Wisteria on the Pergola just needs a tiny bit of sun and warmth and

 it too will be showing off in all its glory.

 

Great progress has been made on the Goldilocks Wrap 

which is coming on in leaps and bounds,

 

 

and now that I have finally made up my mind on how I want it to be

 I am itching to get on and start the border,

 as I know this will be the bit that brings it all together.

So, all in all, a very pleasing weekend has been had

and just for the record, if any of the Political Parties are offering one Bank Holiday

weekend every month as part of their manifesto's they're definitely going to be

getting an X in their box from me this coming Thursday.



 

♥

Ooh, just one last thing before I go,

I even had time to fit in a little trial of Megs wedding garland yesterday morning ...

would you like a little sneaky peek ?

 

 

I hope your weekends were all just as good,

have a great week everyone.

 ♥

 

A quick glance over my shoulder ...

 ♥ 

It's that time again ... that time for a little reminisce ...

that time of the year where lots of bloggers put together a

look back through their last years makes.

I so enjoy looking at these posts

and there's something very pleasing about putting one together isn't there ?

 

Maybe its that sense of achievement, possibly even a little surprise,

 that in amongst the busyness of daily life there has still been time for lots of crafting.

For me, looking back at my 2014 makes has shown me that maybe I'm

not just a boring one colour blanket person after all, and that,

infact, you could almost say that I have dipped my toe into 'colourful' in this past year.

 Ok, so not exactly rainbow bright colours, but colours nevertheless !

 

And also that having convinced myself that I'm not a lover of small crochet projects

 I have kind of proved myself wrong on this too,

as I have loved working on projects that are small and quick.

For this I have to totally thank all of you other lovely bloggers

who have opened my eyes to the endless yarny possibilities that are out there

with all the wonderful inspiration and encouragement your blogs give.

 

Aaaanyway .... enough of the words, we need pictures !

So, here we go.

 

 

The year started with the chance to finish off long overdue things, one of

which was my stripy perpetual blanket.

I love everything about this blanket, from the pleasure I had making it and watching it grow,

to the cosiness and colour it brings to our caravan now that it is finished.

♥

 

 

 My love affair with grey has continued right through the year,

 but way back at the end of January it seems I was verging on the obsessive with my

 love for this colour as I dedicated a whole post to it !

♥

 

 

Spring brought with it a good splash of pastel brights and also a renewed love of knitting.

In my passion for crochet I had forgotten how much I love the look of

 simple garter and stocking stitch.

♥

 

 

With Easter fast approaching it was green, green, green all the way.

I had a little go at Mandala making, but stuck with a simple treble stitch,

not being a great lover of crochet that is too lacy or holey,

and of course it had to have bobbles around the edge !

♥

 

 

With a flurry of shawls and wraps hitting blogland I tried my hand at a couple

of knitted versions and really, really enjoyed making these.

One of the best bits for me was the magic of blocking -

how brilliant is it when you can get all the little pointy bits to stay as little pointy bits !

♥

 

 

 I had a lot of fun putting together my entry for the Deramores Blog Awards 2014
and was more than a little chuffed to receive a Highly Commended from the judges.
♥
 

 

Summer warmth and the chance for a little alfresco hooking prompted me to
 smarten up the little sitting area outside my back door -
and it goes without saying that of course I needed crochet cushions to finish it off !
♥
 

 

 
One of my funnest makes this year has to have been all the little 3D hearts that
 have whizzed off my crochet hook
- so quick, so simple and so many possibilities !
♥

 

The one constant throughout all my different makes of the year has been that there

 has always been a blanket on the go - a trusty piece of work that doesn't require any

thought but just offers hours of repetitive backwards and forwards crochet therapy

 - perfect at the end of a long day at work.

There have been blankets for daughters to take off to Uni,

blankets as presents for friends,

blankets for new arrivals and blankets for sofa snuggling.

♥

 

And then I discovered garlands !

Sooooo much fun.

The perfect way to keep my fireplace looking suitably seasonal throughout the year.

Plans are already ticking over in my head for a spring version ...

♥



 





 

 

I loved my Autumn garland so much it almost ended up staying right through Christmas -

there was just something about those little acorns !

♥

 

 

The year ended with a mad frenzy of activity to make sure all the Christmas presents

were finished in time -and lots of resolutions being made to start earlier next year -

 but I just about got everything done by the skin of my teeth.

♥

And that's it - that was my 2014 !



 Its been fun, I've loved every therapeutic minute and the opportunity to share it all in the big wide blogging world has been the cherry on top of the cake.

I am very nearly at 100,000 views on my little bloggy space,

which quite blows my mind and the addition this year of

my Just Pootling Facebook page has allowed me to post even the smallest

 of Pootles that don't quite justify a whole blog post of their own.

 

I have lots and lots of yarny projects planned for 2015,

least of all approximately 40 hearts needs to be crocheted for my

daughters wedding in the summer...

so, I'm off to get started.

 

Happy New Year everyone

and I hope you'll all be able to drop by for lots more Pootling in 2015.

 

♥

 

 

Home and away ..

♥

Its been a very normal kind of Sunday to end this week with

nothing of any great importance taking place ...

  a sunny dog walk in the fields,

discovering a little patch of my favourite flowers buried in the

overgrown hedgerows,

which now shine out happily from my kitchen table,

a little bit of ironing this afternoon,

followed by a bit of washing and tidying and generally getting sorted

for the week ahead.

Having taken this last week off work for a short break away

 they were all good tasks for getting my head back into work mode.

We didn't go far, just to Dorset in our caravan for a few days.

It was lovely.

The sun shone,

  

we went to the beach,

 

 

 I sat, 

 

he fished,

 

and a hot dog enjoyed special iced doggy treats.

♥

There was time for a bit of caravan love,

a bit of lazing about in the sun,

afternoon snoozes

and lots and lots of lovely crochet time.

Nothing complicated, simple calming rows of double crochets

to make Immi's blanket grow.

We were only away for two nights and three days but it was just what the doctor ordered.

♥

When we got home a lovely parcel of the squidgy variety was waiting for me ...

... time to start a little something that has been on my 'to do' list for a while,

two Little Woollie cushion covers for the seats in my outdoor shady crochet corner.

The pattern was featured in Simply Crochet magazine, Issue 18, a couple of months ago and once

 I'd seen it it was only a matter of time before they had to be made.

The wool that I have used is Sublime Egyptian Cotton, and it is working up beautifully. 
It is a gorgeously soft yarn that almost seems to have a bit of a sheen to it ,
and best of all it was hugely reduced at Deramores.

I have made a blanket similar to this pattern before and I remember then that it 
was such fun to do because it's so addictive.
 As each row is a different stitch you keep thinking I'll just try the next row to see 
what it looks like and before you know it it's finished !

 The cushion cover seemed to take no time at all 

and I am so pleased with how it's turned out.

 I'm just working on the back at the moment which I decided to do as one 

plain colour as I had some Stylecraft DK in a neutral shade that needed finishing off.

 

 So far I have worked two back sections that will slightly overlap to make

 an envelope style cover.

The next step is to add a burgundy edging to match the front and then I think

 I shall be pretty much be there.

Exciting stuff huh ?

Obviously more pictures will be taken and this little story will be continued .....

Have a great week everyone.

♥

Pootling away from home ....

♥

 

Having just read the title for this post back it sounds as though I've been up to all sorts

of shenanigans doesn't it ?

 But at the risk of disappointing anyone, sorry I actually haven't...

I've just been away for a few days with the other half and the dog in our caravan.

See, told you, nothing that scandalous really.

 

Its our first proper get away this year and we headed to an absolute favourite

campsite of ours in The Gower, called Nicholaston Farm.

We first went there about 5 years ago with my brother and his family, who said we absolutely had to come and see this completely magical place they had discovered.

The campsite is situated at the top of a hill overlooking the sea.

The walk down to the beach from there is through the most beautiful natural

woodland and as you walk along the path you suddenly realise you are no

longer walking on soil and bark but sand. 

 

 

 

And suddenly you break through the trees and look...

 

 this is what you see !

I always think of it as like walking through the wardrobe door in The Lion, The Witch

 and The Wardrobe.

Its completely breathtaking.

( I should probably point out here that my photo's really do not do it justice at all - I am no photographer and all pics are snapped in the moment on my iphone. )

The beach stretches for miles and more often than not you can not see one other single person.

I think its safe to say that this is pretty much Lilou's most absolute favourite place - she loves it and charges about doing Zoomies as fast as she can, tail turning a full 360degrees as she runs.

 

 

The walks you can do are amazing, full circle coming back up the sand dunes, all along the beach to stop at the pub or back along the woodland trail above the dunes.

 

Its quite a hike back up the hill but so worth it for the view from the top, and then its just a little meander along the woodland path back to the campsite.

I think we caught the bluebells at their peak, they looked and smelt heavenly.

 

 

We even managed to persuade Lilou to sit still for two seconds to have her portrait

 taken in amongst them.

 

 

♥

 

 

This was the view from our Caravan door ... unbeatable.

 

 

Also unbeatable ... one pooped pooch !

And so to the big question, did I take any yarny bits and bobs with me ?

Most certainly !

Three different projects infact.

 

 

But the one that took my fancy was the latest patchwork blanket I am making.

So crochet sorted for the evening it was time to snuggle down, put the Beach Hut fairy lights on

 

 

and stick the DVD in.
 

 

 

 

If you haven't seen it already this is a definite must see movie.

 Classic Richard Curtis from start to finish. I loved every minute.

♥

 

Despite the forecast having predicted rain, rain and more rain we were so lucky with the weather and so decided to walk along the coastal path to Three Cliffs Bay.

 

 

This looked like the perfect place to stop for a cuppa ...

 

so out came our faithful Kelly Kettle

 

and within a few minutes steam was up and



tea was served.

 

 

Yup, that'll be a pooped pooch again, well till the next morning at least ...

 



 

 

We had time for one last early morning walk on the beach before heading home

 

and a much needed wash down for the dog.

 

 

We shall be back.

♥

 

Back home the squares have been finished off, I am loving these little blankets, they are so quick to do and they use up all those odd left over balls of wool.

And yet more sun.

 

 

All sewn up, and with the second part of the border now complete

 

 

I would now like to very proudly reveal

 

one completely random blanket !

 



 

  Look , no particular patterns, no particular placing of squares

AND two different types of squares, some knitted, some crocheted.

 

I know !

Would you get me with my randomness !

♥

 

Have a lovely week everyone.