Toastie ears.com !

♥ 

Round our way its certainly been more than a little chilly lately -

so I thought I'd just pop by with a couple of very quick makes for keeping

 all those sticky out exposed bits as warm as toast.

 

Both projects are sooo easy -

 if you can knit, you can make these !

♥

The first one is a super cute little headband for keeping your ears snuggly bug and

not being a lover of hats this is right up my street.

( Infact, I'm even wondering if I could get away with something like this at Megs wedding

 ... mmmmm .... probs a bit warm for August ! )

I found the pattern for this on Ravelry

( http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bowtastic-earwarmer )

and its all worked in a simple Moss stitch.

I think this might be called Seed stitch in America and it is so simple,

 just a purl stitch, followed by a plain stitch all the way along the row,

 with the next row working the same stitches but with

  purls over the plains and plains over 

the purls in the previous row.

Easy peasy.

 

I made mine in some chunky yarn that I had left over from a blanket,

and it knitted up so quickly that I had it finished in a couple of evenings.

 

It's basically just a rectangle for the band,

 a smaller rectangle for the bow 

and an even smaller rectangle for the band that goes around the ribbon.

( For those who are not bow lovers some crochet flowers would look just as cute I reckon. )

As you can see from this hastily snapped photo yesterday

I am one very happy dog walker 

with very toastie ears.

♥

So, ears sorted it was on to tackling that gap between where your 

coat ends and your headwarmer begins.

It has to be said that there is definitely not a shortage of either knitted or crocheted

 scarves in our house but I saw this wool on Friday and into my bag it went .

( I hasten to add that no shoplifting was involved and I did pay in full before leaving the shop ! )

It's a lovely soft super chunky weight called weekender from Stylecraft.

Grey, of course, was the colour of choice and I bought two balls.

There is no pattern for this as it couldn't be more simple.

Cast on 30 stitches and work in garter stitch until you have used both balls of wool,

 leaving a small amount to join the two ends together.

And there you have it ...
one snood/cowl/wrap around scarf.
I haven't actually taken this off today as whilst my office at Nursery is lovely 
and bright with lots of windows and a stable door, its also a tad chilly at times.
I'm still not quite sure I've finished it though 
as I'm very tempted to add some kind of a border ...
watch this space, I may be back with further additions.
♥
Stay warm everyone.
♥

A little R and R ...

 

 

 ♥

Last week, rather sneakily, we took off for two nights for a quick get away before

the madness that is the run up to Christmas descends upon Nursery and home.

Not in the caravan this time but to a Castle - as you do !!

A castle perched right on the edge of the cliffs in Tintagel, Cornwall.

 



 

 

We haven't been there before but the location looked amazing and as

we had heard that it was a very dog friendly hotel Otto came along for the ride too.

And yes, to say the location was amazing was probably a bit of an understatement,

it was quite breath taking, and as we were there during one of the wettest and windiest days of November I can tell you it literally did take our breath away.

It was all we could do to stand up straight when we were outside.

Otto was not sure he liked it at all and just stood there forlornly with his ears

 blowing in all directions.

 

 

 

Starting the day with breakfast looking out at this view was quite something,

 

 

with the view from our room being just as spectacular.

 

 

The weather didn't stop one mad Englishman and his dog from enjoying the beach

 

 

and a drive across a very wet and windy Bodmin Moor delivered everything you would expect in terms of atmospheric bleakness and true Cornish beauty.

We certainly weren't going to mess with this chap who didn't look that impressed with us passing by

( in the car I hasten to add ! )

 

 

But after the rain came the sun, a double rainbow and a

bright late afternoon.

 

 



 

It was a really lovely little break and I still believe that Cornwall is just as beautiful

in the Winter as in the Summer, if not better.

And did the hotel live up to our expectations .... um, tricky one.

It was different, very different.

Perfect for the dog in that our room was very basic and fixtures and fittings were,

lets say, adequate but the two words that would sum it up would be quirky and peculiar.

I couldn't help but lie in bed imagining all the things I would do to it if it were my hotel.

Rather foolishly we also delved a little deeper in to Trip Advisor reviews on our first night there,

on hindsight probably not the best of ideas.

But we had lots of fun,

rest and relaxation was achieved

and the sea air certainly blew the cobwebs away.

  

♥ 

Most importantly there was time for some serious crocheting

and I'm pretty much there with this one now.

 

 

 

I have one more handful of bobbles to make

 

 

 

and hopefully this big old blanket will be on the sofa just in time for the arrival

of the colder evenings.

 

 

Oh and yes, I just may have the next little project all lined up and ready to go.

Always best to be prepared, don't you think ?

 

♥ 

A bit of a hoedown ...

♥

There were lots of preparation afoot this weekend for a Fund Raising Barn Dance

 we were holding in our village. 

Over the past few months we have been raising money for a War Memorial that will be 

placed next to the Church to commemorate the 11 village men who lost their lives in 

both Wars and the Barn Dance was our final push to reach our target.

One of my jobs was to sort out some table arrangements and jam jars filled with a 

handful of flowers seemed to be just right for the occasion.

A little bit of spotty ribbon was all that was needed to adorn the jars and then it was 

off to the fields to see what the hedgerows could offer.

 I found Hawthorn sprigs covered in beautiful red berries, several different types of grasses

 and some other greenery that I am unable to name !

Obviously I didn't have a lucky find with the Carnations, they were purchased as a 

cheap and cheerful back up.

Flowers done and armed with bunting and tablecloths I was ready to go.

Fortunately barns aren't too hard to find round our way, and our neighbour 

kindly offered his up for the evening.

 After a couple of hours and with lots

 of willing hands tables were put up, 

 flags, bunting and fairy lights were hung

and the bar was stocked.

A few evening photo's were taken before it all got a little messy

but safe to say a grand time was had by all !

There was an awful lot of promenading and dosey do-ing of partners,

lots of clapping and cheering

and the hog roast and apple sauce in homemade rolls went down an absolute treat.

Much fun was had by all.

And then Sunday was quiet, 

veeerrryyyy, veeerrrryyy quiet.

After a bit of a clear up all that remained of the night before were a few jars of flowers

 on various kitchen window sills around the village and a few sore heads.

The sum total of my activities for the rest of the day was to put together 

a basket of Autumny loveliness for a little idea that is buzzing around in my head

and to make an acorn - as you do. 

 By 8:30pm Lilou looked exactly how I felt ...

 pretty much in need of another weekend to get over this weekend.

♥

I hope you all had just as much fun 

doing whatever you were doing.

♥

It's done !

♥

It's done !

Immi's Uni blanket is completely finished and ready just in time for the

 big off in a couple of weeks.

 

It's been a slow burner this one - quite possibly because getting it finished meant Immi

was nearer to leaving home, but as I absolutely wanted her to have

 it in time for the

start of term the deadline had to be met.

 



 

Immi chose the colour with the only other

specifications being that it needed

to be big enough for snuggling and

very, very soft.

I used Sylecraft Alpaca DK

in the colour Storm.

 

 

There's been a few minor obstacles along the way with Itsy loving how soft

 it was and then the arrival of Otto with all his mischievous puppiness.

 

 

It's even been on holiday in the caravan with us a couple of times.

 

 

But slowly, slowly it grew and soon came the fun bit of adding the border.

For this I chose Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo in a white / cream.

This gave the blanket a lovely little lift of brightness.

 

 

Once I had finished the main body of the blanket I worked all the way around the

edge in DC for 2 rows.

For the third row I worked 2 DC into one stitch, skipped a stitch, worked 2 DC

into one stitch and so on all the way round.

The fourth row was worked in the same pattern but in cream and the fifth row

was worked in the same pattern again but back in the grey.

( I have written up the pattern for this blanket in full and added it to my sidebar. )

 

 

I was so pleased with the effect it gave as it almost looks like I have threaded

cream ribbon around the edge of the blanket.

♥

As I wanted a bit more of an impact with the cream colour I worked a final row of a bobble edging, so easy to do, and I absolutely love the feeling of fun it has brought to the finished blanket.

 

 

There was just one last thing needed ...

 

 

... a little 3D cream heart.

 

 

And there it is ...

I love it and Immi loves it.



 



 

 

 

Let the snuggling begin.

♥

 

Its been lovely to see a few other Uni blankets hot off the hook in Blogland this week,

if you get a minute pop over to Flowerhouse to see the beautiful patchwork blanket that Jane has made, and to Lazy Days to see Mitzi's wonderfully colourful creation.

 

♥

 

Blanket done and with a head full of thoughts of how time passes so swiftly

and how quickly we seem to have come to this stage of all our little chicks flying the nest

a late Summer walk was the perfect therapy.



 

 

The gate at the bottom of our garden is looking quite hidden in the hedge these days,

 



 the field beyond has had its final cut of the year,

 I can't describe how sweet the hay smelt that morning,

 there's really no smell quite like it,

 



 

and the hedgerows are a foragers paradise.

 

The season is changing,

life moves on and change is always there around the corner.

As much as I want my girls to stay at home for ever

the world is out there waiting for them.

 

And one thing they all know,

without a shadow of a doubt,

is that home is where the heart is..

 

♥