Finished project

Well, I have finally finished by baby set and not before time!  I'm seeing the expecting parents tonight, so I just made the deadline.

The set ended up consisting of a cardigan, a hat, booties and scratch mitts:

I have a confession and that is that I'm a relatively new knitter - probably only started about 2 years ago.  My Mum did try teaching me when I was young, but I found it too fiddly and got impatient too quickly to be any good.  The same goes for many of my crafts actually - never had the interest or patience as a child and am now learning and finding that the second time around, I'm loving all these crafty hobbies.  So this is the first hat I have ever made and the first baby cardigan.

I hope my projects will get more daring over the next year.

Cooking and decs

The weather has really turned in the last couple of weeks, so I'm having to eat lots of nice comfort food to keep warm.....that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! 

Thanks to a mild November, HP's vegetable garden was still producing, so the fridge has been crammed full of fresh veg that we can't get through quickly enough.  There are so many tomatoes that we'll probably freeze a big batch and make some chutney in the new year.

I made a lovely stir-fry the other night with a lot of the ingredients....

I also made a big batch of my favourite cupcakes for the girls at work and for my beloved and his colleagues....

These cupcakes are chocolate with a brandy buttercream topping and then sprinkled with choccy.  Well, it is the time to indulge!  They went down very well with everyone.

We also finally got around to putting up the Xmas decorations in our new home and it looks very special and Christmassy!

Nearly all the Christmas presents have been bought and all the cards have been written and sent.  Time for a glass of mulled wine, me thinks.......

Christmas prep

Well, I thought I was getting quite organised with Christmas.  I made a list of what I want to get for people about 6 weeks ago, but then suddenly realised that I haven't bought anything yet!  Still, I managed to rectify that a bit this weekend and I think I'm nearly there.

I got round to making some jewellery items for pressies.  I love making crochet and knitted jewellery so I made these for my Mum at the weekend.  Firstly, a silver necklace with green crystals:

and a multi-coloured crochet necklace with a matching knitted bracelet:

I'm really pleased with how they turned out, so I hope Mum will like them.

I've also made a few beaded rings for friends which I think are so cute - they 're so easy to make too, so I can make lots very quickly!

Me and HP put up our Christmas decs at the weekend.  This is the first house we have owned and we only bought it in March, so this Christmas is very special to us.  I'll try to get some pics of the all the lovely lights in the lounge to post later this week.

Hope you're all getting prepared for the big day - less than 3 weeks to go!

Baby stuff

Well, I'm getting there with the baby stuff.  Haven't managed to get as much done as I wanted due to various other jobs getting in the way!

I've just got to knit the edges of the cardigan, add the button and sew up the sides and sleeve seams.

I think it's looking rather pretty, although I must confess I am not a lover of pink.  Always refused to wear it as a little girl and only have 1 top and 1 skirt in bright pink as an adult (and they don't often get an airing!)

I managed to knock together some scratch mitts while watching 'Merlin' on Saturday.  Still got to sort out the weaving though.  I always put that off!

Have started a hat now, although I'm a bit worried that it's looking rather small.  I don't want to give the poor child a headache the minute she's born!  I'll keep working on it and see what happens - it may be all right when I've done a few more rows.

Babies

I now have 3 followers - yay!  I don't feel so sad and lonely in Blogland now.  Thanks for joining me, ladies!  This now gives me extra incentive to ensure I keep my blog updated.

I'm currently working on a baby cardigan for one of HP's colleagues.  B & E's baby is due in the spring and I'll be seeing the future parents in about a month, so wanted to have this ready for them by then. I've only just started this project, but I'm hoping to get most of this finished over the weekend.  They're definitely having a girl, which is why I'm knitting this in pink!

Being so small, baby clothes are very quick to knit.  If I have time, I may even try to knit matching scratch mitts and a hat.  Quite a few people I know are having babies, so it looks as though I may be knitting a few more of these cardigans!

Let them eat cake!

It was my birthday on Friday and it is tradition at work to bring in cake. I didn't have time to do any baking before the weekend, so I ended up in the kitchen for most of Sunday baking.

I made a huge coffee cake for the girls at work, which went down very well at this morning's coffee break!

I then got a bit carried away and ended up making a huge batch of cupcakes for my hubby, HP.  I made another round of coffee cupcakes..............

 .......... and some rasberry cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing and topped with a strawberry. 

There are probably about 40 cupcakes in total so we may have to invite the neighbours round!

All the world's a stage

Well, I've finally got around to setting up my own blog after being inspired by many of the craftsters that I follow!  Although my first post isn't about crafting, it's about acting.

I'm helping with a production of "Woman In Mind", a fantastic play by Alan Ayckbourn, performed by the local drama group. The actors are all absolutely amazing and those working backstage do a marvellous job to help make the production run smoothly.

If you live in the Cambridgeshire area and fancy coming to see this, you can find further details on their website: 

http://www.wcponline.org.uk/

There will also be a panto in January of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, which will be incredibly funny!