White February

Most of the country seems to have had snow, even here in Cambridgeshire and we often escape it.  My folks didn't get any in the West Country though and my Mum was most disappointed.  Not much fun getting into work on Monday, but it sure was pretty on Sunday when the snow was all fresh and unspoilt.  Managed to get out and take a few piccies around our village.

 The church looked so pretty but sadly my camera just didn't do it justice.

  

This weather is the perfect time to wear two of my Christmas break knits - a glitzy and a loopy scarf.  I got the yarn as a pressie and it was good fun seeing how they developed on the needles; very simple to do but very effective end result:

As the weather was so bad on Sunday, I decided to stay in and get on with some crafty bits.  I made HP a lemon drizzle loaf (a bit of comfort food in winter is always a must!) seen here before and after drizzle has been added:

I also decided to crack on with a friend's birthday present.  Her birthday is at the end of this month and the time is just creeping up on me.  She really wants a black cuff bracelet and I must confess this is the first time I've made one.  I made the 'frame' out of 20-gauge wire:

and then started the knit section of the bracelet with 28-gauge wire which wraps around the frame.  She wanted something quite simple, so I've added just a few black seed beads to give the bracelet some texture:

I'm a bit worried that the knit section is too long for the frame.  Wire always ends up so much longer than you think it will when you knit with it.  I'm hoping I can wrap it enough to look okay - we'll see.
I'm hoping to get it finished this weekend but attaching it is the fiddly bit so that may take some time and if it is too long then I may have to start afresh!

I also made another pair of stud earrings (sorry the photo quality isn't very good)

I may have to put some of my crafting on hold for a while as I'm in a play in May and I have a lot of lines to learn.  Very exciting but very nerve-wracking as it's my first big part!

Hope you're all keeping safe and warm in this cold weather. 

Bits and bobs

We're nearly out of January - yay!  I must admit it's my least favourite month.  Everyone's depressed after the Christmas break and it's cold, wet and dark.  Still, it's February tomorrow and that means a step closer to spring!

My friend, Char, and me went for a walk yesterday with our cameras as we have quite pretty surroundings where we work.  We managed to get some pics of snowdrops and there are even some daffs about.

I haven't got too far with any crafts recently.  I made a bracelet for a friend's neice at the weekend:

I had a go at making my first pair of stud earrings.  I found a great YouTube video for this and they were amazingly easy to make, so do check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4rmsU5ARhY

Sadly, my photo hasn't come out too well.  Basically you thread some 20 gauge wire through a pearl or bead of your choice and wrap the wire round to create this great effect.  When you have about 3/4 inch of wire left, use your pliers to make a right-angle.  Then all you need is a butterfly back and they're ready to wear.  They only took me about 10 minutes to make, so these are perfect for quick and easy gifts!  I only had some black wire so I need to purchase some other colours.

I've also been making some more cupcakes as it's been nearly a month since I donned the apron and got out the electric whisk and I was getting baking withdrawal symptoms:

As I didn't have much time, these are just very basic vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream icing.  I made these for a special occasion at work.

I'm also trying to make some time to read some books I got for Christmas.

I'm currently dipping in and out of "Queen of Crafts" by Jazz Domino Holly
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Queen-Crafts-Knitting-Preserving-Gardening/dp/1905490755/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327997811&sr=8-1

I love her style of writing and her ideas for inspiration.  I've already tried one of her chutney recipes and it was delicious!

I've also been wanting to write a book for as long as I can remember and haven't got very far with it, so I'm also reading "How to Write Your First Novel" by Sophie King in the hope that will kick me up the butt a bit and get me motivated and give me some good tips.  I really have to learn to plan my time better.  That should be my resolution for 2012.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Enjoy the last day of January!

Panto season is over :(

The panto finished on Saturday 21 January and we all think it went rather well.  A great time was had by all, audience and cast alike and things were rounded off nicely with an after show party.

More pictures can be found on the Waterbeach Community Players website:
http://www.wcponline.org.uk/index.htm

If you came to see the panto, we hope you enjoyed it and if you didn't, there's always next year!

The only downside is that I haven't had much time for any of my other creative outlets, so I'm trying to frantically get some knitting done.  I have so many projects that are not quite finished, so I'm trying to force myself to complete projects before starting anything new.  I'll let you know how that one pans out.........

Back to reality!

Happy New Year to you all!  It seems like only yesterday I was packing up work for the Christmas break and now it's all over :(

Well, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.  HP and me certainly did.  We went to Devon to stay with my folks.  Thanks very much Mum and Dad for a lovely time - you're the best!  We were totally spoilt with wonderful days out, amazing food (I so miss my Mum's cooking, she's a great cook!), wonderful hosting, great company - no wonder they have so many friends wanting to visit them all the time!

We visited lots of places........

23 December: Sidmouth

It was very windy, rainy and cold, but one avid surfer still braved the elements:

Found a lovely shop there too and bought some yarn for a jumper project that was on special offer.

Then on to the Donkey Sanctuary.  They are all so cute!

24 December: Bicton Park

It was much brighter and sunnier that day.  If you're ever in this neck of the woods, I can really recommend Bicton Park.  It's beautiful and relaxing.  I love taking photos in that place.  Must have a piccie of every single tree by now!  Here's a little taster:

Christmas Day!!!

We went to see the big swim on Exmouth beach.  These people are much braver than me!

Then back home for some bubbly and present opening.  I got lots of lovely gifts: lots of jewellery making bits, some fab Can Can Glitz yarn which makes a lovely scarf, some more cake recipe books (you can never have enough!):

a cute little hot water bottle and bookmark from my sister:

Mum cooked an amazing Christmas dinner (as always!) and Dad provided the after dinner games (as always!).  My Dad is an incredible artist and since his retirement has got into origami in a big way.  Each year he does a little treasure trail for each of us - you get a clue in a little box of chocs (the boxes are Dad's creation too):

and then you have to find your next clue from that.  This year's clues were hidden in Christmas characters:

Once you reach the last clue, it leads you to a little present.  My gift this year was a cute pair of earrings.  Incase you're wondering, these characters were made out of empty Benecol bottles - clever, huh?

He also made a great centrepiece for the table: an origami Father Christmas, complete with sleigh and reindeers:

 

All Dad's hard work was rewarded as he got the ukulele that he's wanted for a while and entertained us all with George Fornby impressions. 


Post Christmas Day:

We had some lovely days out in Dawlish and Exeter and then sadly we had to leave the holiday behind and come home in preparation for going back to work.

However, I managed to find the time to make some bread with the breadmaker that HP got me for Christmas:

and some yummy cupcakes:

and I made some knitted legwarmers with the yarn and pattern from the December edition of 'Let's Get Crafting'.  These will come in very handy during this cold blustery weather:

Hope the New Year brings you everything you wish for!

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!