My baby is (very nearly all) gone :'(

Yep, my baby will tomorrow no longer be a baby, he will be a toddler, a two-year-old, strapping, cute but often stroppy toddler, sob.

Where has the time gone?! It seems like only yesterday he looked like this...

and now he looks like this...

Awwwwwwww. Love that little man. Both my little men. And the big one too. Lol!

That toy he's clutching so lovingly is George, from Peppa Pig. He is obsessed. And so his birthday card, presents and wrapping paper are all Peppa Pig, even his cake, which my friend baked and I spent all last night decorating...

I hope he likes it, it was so hard to do (I think he will though!)

I've also been busy with these, of which I have finished one so far - I really need the pair finished though, it has turned so cold...

And did I show you my slippers, which I knitted and felted in the washing machine? If not, here goes...

That's me caught up... oh, no it's not, I still have a baby blanket and all my layouts from my weekend with the girlies to show you. Hmmmm, I will blog those across a few posts and post in the next few days - so please do check back.

And for now, a big happy 2nd birthday to my gorgeous little man Alex, love you baby!

xXx

Finishing what I started (for once)

Ok, admission time. I keep casting on projects and never finish them. There, I said it. I'm a horrible person, wail!

So I even surprised myself when yesterday, instead of stealing the interchangeable needles from one hibernating project to start another, I actually vowed to finish first then move on to something new. And so far so good.




This was meant to be a runner for the bottom of my bed, but I've now decided to stick to the actual pattern plan of making a baby blanket. And who better to become the lucky recipient of all my hard work (and not to mention lovely, now discontinued yarn!) than my sister, who is expecting my first nephew, yay!

And once the blanket is long enough to fit the bedside crib I have for her, cast off and perfectly blocked, I will be able to cast on the luscious Bella's Mittens pattern on Ravelry. Yeah, I know I should be knitting Christmas presents fast and furiously to be in with any hope of finishing them all on time, but I think a quick 'me' project as a little reward for all my hard work is ok, don't you agree? :)

xXx

November already!

I cant believe it's November - that means my baby will no longer be a baby in a matter of days, sob! Yes, Alex is nearly two, can you believe it?! No, neither can I!

Anyway, just wanted to pop on with some photos from my awesome weekend scrapping with some fabulous girls in a cute little cabin in the beautiful autumnal woods. These were taken on my iPhone 4, as my Nikon D80 battery died half way through our group photo session, doh.

Not to worry though, as SJ and Laura completely put me to shame with their amazing photography/camera collection. These are courtesy of SJ.

And then we had some fun staging some interesting group shots (again, kindly shared by SJ)...

Yes, we all had iPhones/an iPhone on order!

And then this...

turned into this...

(Shimelle, Laura, Sally, Rachel, Natalie, SJ, Katy, Katherine, Leanne.)

SJ, you are a clever lady!

So, apart from a few bugs and a stonking cold, and an awful lot of scrapping, and driving, that was my weekend!

Day off work tomorrow, so I shall be back to show photos of the 11 layouts I completed over the course of the weekend (11, yes, I know, that's more than I've done all year!)

xxx

Bye bye October

Another month gone, oh yikes.

Had a fab weekend scrapping in a cute little cabin in the woods with some fabulous girlies - but for now I'm so tired, so more on that later.


Oh, and Happy Halloween!

xXx

Wow-factor wedding weekend!

My best friend is married, hurrah!

It was a long time coming, but Samantha and Adam finally did it and got hitched... and what a wonderful weekend it was.

Did you notice my knitted capelettes? They looked so cute and were really nice and warm to wear.

We were extremely lucky to be staying in this gorgeous windmill in Cley, near Norfolk (well, actually our room was what's known as the boat house outside, but still awesome and really cosy!)

We had a fantastic weekend of wedding celebrations in Wells-next-the-Sea and Cley, amazing food (mussels, smoked salmon, risotto, yum yum!) and great company. If only it hadn't have been so cold and rainy, we might have actually made it down to the sea front for more than a quick fish and chip pit stop lol (but the wedding day was clear and sunny, so that's all that matters).

And on the plus side, I found a store that sold Cygnet Seriously Chunky for only £1.75 each, which meant I could get started on knitting another Shroom on the drive home - and best of all, it was called Nobby's For Value, lol!

I also got to take home this gorgeous bouquet of red roses, which I just love (I just hope me having the heating on high to warm up doesn't kill them off too fast).

Be back soon, hopefully with lots of scrapbook layouts to show you (I know, I know, rare!) as I'll be away scrapping away with the girlies next weekend - can't wait!

xxx

Time for a beret

I started this lovely Ravelry beret pattern almost a week ago and finished it on Tuesday. It was easy enough - until I got to the shaping that is. Trying to knit in the yarn over swirl pattern while making sure the rest is in perfect seed stitch was near impossible. It was knitting up a right mess, and got so tight and tricky towards the end, although it looks ok now it is finished and blocked. I would knit another, but it would definitely be in stockinette stitch!

Although we've been having some warm weather these first couple of days of September, the mornings have been quite cool and no doubt it will be really cold soon, so this should be just the ticket. Plus the nice bright purpley pink colour isn't too wintery, which is handy as it's only very early autumn! I do like it though. It seemed to be knitting up very small and I thought I'd have to give it away to one of my nieces, but after blocking it fits beautifully. And I finally used this lovely Rowan wool that I bought earlier this year in a closing down sale - hurrah!

I will try and get some better photos and maybe even a couple of me wearing it if I can find ten minutes and convince hubby to become temporary photographer lol!

Next up is a hat for Harry, at his request, and then a cute little one for Alex (not that he will keep it on, you understand!)

So, what else is new, hmmmmm. Well you may have noticed I've changed my blog background! I just fancied a change, so I Googled for free backgrounds and found some fantastic sites with lots of beautiful designs. This one matches the theme for my new bedroom (nearly there now, it's just finding time with work being so hectic right now!). And if you're reading this through Google Reader/RSS and/or on your mobile device you won't have a clue what I'm talking about lol!

Back soon!

xXx

Six years married

Today is mine and Gareth's six-year anniversary. Yikes. Where have those six years gone?! Never mind the eleven we have been together.

So I just wanted to reminisce and share a few wedding photos and memories of our special day, a Saturday just like today.

Me and my late granddad, who gave me away

My favourite photo of the day

Our beautiful cake

Awkward first dance!

And I have also managed to dig out a few pictures of some of the things I made for our wedding, which included the stationery, table plan, favours and even confetti cones.

Rose petal confetti

Table plan, in our colour scheme

My lovely bridal bouquet

It's funny, but looking at these photos now, if I were to be getting married any time soon, I would have a completely different wedding! I mean, I loved our wedding, it was lovely and I wouldn't change a thing about it, but styles and tastes have really changed in six years, particularly mine! That's the problem with my job, every day I see a gorgeous new bridal dress and finishing touches to die for and I get wedding envy (is that even allowed when you have already had your wedding?! Lol!) I would have a different colour scheme completely, a more fitted dress, probably with lace, and I would spend more time being choosy about our venue, things like that. But then aged just 22 (far too young!), paying for most of it ourselves (ambitious!) and me being a little bit pregnant (ok, 14 weeks - but we had been planning the wedding for 18 months before I hear shouts of "shotgun wedding" in my direction!) I should probably be grateful for what we had lol! Maybe I could have another mini wedding blessing when we get to ten years married, and have our two handsome boys as best men, hmmmmm. I'd certainly like some more photos of just the two of us in our wedding attire as we hardly have any, and none really stunning or romantic ones that I would enlarge and frame and hang on the wall. Sigh.

Guess I'll have to make do with this one for now, taken at my brother-in-law's wedding three weeks ago.

Happy anniversary babe, love you.

xXx

Oh! What a week!

Sorry for not been around so much this week, it has been a crazy week that started last Saturday like this...

Sam, the lovely bride-to-be

Shakey shakey!

Fellow bridesmaid Tracey with her winning creation

Moi

Sam & Johnny Depp (she wishes!)

Book of memories & wishes

It was my bestest friend's hen day, organised by yours truly, and thank goodness it went down a storm! We spent a few hours at a lovely hotel spa, chatting in the pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room, then we had a fabulous cocktail making class at the London Cocktail Club, which I would recommend to anyone, it was absolutely awesome! Then we had a gorgeous meal and more cocktails at Roadhouse and to top it all off we went to see Grease the Musical, which was brilliant.

The next day I presented my bridal shrug, plus the one I made for the other bridesmaid Tracey in a colour to match our dresses, and I'm pleased to report that they went down well too. We also lunched out and went to Rigby and Peller for a special fitting, followed by a whizz round Harrods and the coach journey from hell back home. Ah well, it was worth it!

Then Monday was my birthday, and this led to all sorts of silliness at work...

Birthday goggles, made by my sister

Chocolate birthday cake, from my dad

And the rest of the week was spent dining out with different friends to celebrate my birthday, and last night I managed knit night at Baa Ram Ewe where Louisa Harding was giving a talk and showcasing her new yarns and patterns, as well as the new shop season launch. Followed by a yummy meal at Wok On next door. Needles and noodles! Heaven!

New Rosetti yarn - scrummy!

Rachel wearing a lovely chunky pattern from the new book

Dinner, nom nom!

I didn't spend too much, thank goodness, but I may have bought this lovely purple yarn to start this gorgeous capelette for autumn and winter, which seems to be coming round a little too quickly for my liking.

(yarn on the left - the brightly coloured yarn is for my monster toy, more on that later)

Pattern here.

So, as you can see, busy busy busy! And now it's the bank holiday weekend, we have out and about plans, hubby has overtime and it's our 6th wedding anniversary tomorrow. Yikes, where has the time gone?!

xXx

Pretty things

It has been such a busy week craft-wise - and it's only Tuesday! Yikes!

Last night I was lucky to attend a special Amy Butler night at LYS (local yarn shop) Baa Ram Ewe, with a special guest appearance from the fabulously talented lady herself. It was a busy but really enjoyable evening spent peeking behind the scenes at her beautiful offices and home and drooling over her new fabric, wool and wallpaper ranges. If only my budget was so unlimited. Sigh.




I didn't actually buy any Amy Butler products (that is quite disgraceful!) as I wanted fabric for my new bedroom (no, still not quite there - I don't think it ever will be lol!) and her fabrics are just too bright for the pastels in there, but I did buy these lovely fabrics in various different sizes. Love love love!




They will become cushions and possibly recover my dressing table stool shortly - but not this week at least. Because I am crazy busy organising the mother of all hen events for my best friend Sam, consisting of four different but equally fabulous parts - and she doesnt have a clue about any of it! Organising it has been fun but not too easy seeing as I don't know the city (London) or most of the hen's friends. But I think we are nearly there now, which is good as it all kicks off this Saturday! I can't wait!

I have also been busy knitting up Sam's bridal capelette, plus two more for me and the other bridesmaid Tracey, ready for Sunday when I will be having my dress fitting and Sam will be buying her undies at the gorgeous Rigby and Peller. I'm going to cry seeing her in her stunning dress again! And here is her matching capelette - I really hope it matches and fits.




Sorry for the poor quality photo, I haven't seen daylight at home for three days because of Amy Butler night yesterday and knit night tonight. I will try get some better ones before it goes off to it's recipient, and maybe even some from this weekend if you're lucky! :)

xXx