52 weeks of happy

{12/52}

far too many things keeping me happy this week, most of which has been beyond me to get photos of, but you will have heard & seen it all before, lovely time spent with my family & friends, being grateful to have them all close, cooking & enjoying lovely food together, the littlest one & i are taking today out to be quiet and make the most of having the house to ourselves, while the boys are out at a football match, i'm really looking forward to seeing the new year in with good friends {& plenty more good food & wine!} hope you've all found some quiet time over these busy weeks - i dont plan to be back untill the new year - have fun!

52 weeks of happy

{11/52}

1. making the most of todays peace, i found time in the middle of all the washing, wrapping, decorating, last minute knitting, to take a breather & put my feet up - it was lovely!

2. i finished of the last of the knitted gifts, phew! 

3. teachers gifts have been gifted, school has broken up - hoorah, no packed lunches or school run for two weeks

3. we're tucked up safe at home, candles are lit, dinner is in the oven, i can take a deep breath & enjoy it all

christmas puds

i made a whole batch of knitted christmas puds to gift to the little folks school teachers, here they are before i added some silver thread so they could be hung on the tree, they are so so very cute, i really wanted to keep them all, i can't face making another one right now, especially as i'm busy finishing off the other last minute gifts i decided to make, these were made from a pattern i found on ravelry here, i was also lucky to have plenty of odds & ends in the right colours in my stash

52 weeks of happy

{10/52}

1. another food related happy, grannys bread, made with the help of little O today, still warm from the oven, just perfect spread with butter

2. school evening carol service at our village church, my little angel, it really was lovely

3. made a start on writing some cards, feeling far more organised now!

4. the children decorated the tree & i actually didn't feel the need to move it all around again once they'd gone to bed! 

52 weeks of happy

{9/52}

1. homemade mince pies - you can't beat them {although i do cheat a little & buy a jar of mincemeat} i could make a batch of these every couple of days as they never last long,

2. being poorly is the perfect excuse to stay at home keeping warm & snug, the littlest one was off school a couple of days {seeing her in her new xmas nightie makes me very happy}

3. i had a go at making some sweet sugar & cinnamon almonds, they worked a treat first time & didn't last long either! i plan to make another batch to gift as presents, this was the recipe i followed, i halved it this time but won't be next!

4. more knitting on the go {knitting always makes me happy} another quick knit - will share when it's finished

hoot hoot

i stopped my subscription to mollie makes a few months back, not because i didn't like the magazine, mostly because i was just amassing a huge collection & not getting round to ever making anything from them {i also wanted to give 'the simple things' a go & cost wise just couldn't justify having a subscription to the two} but when doing the weekly shop the christmas edition of mollie makes {21} found it's way into my trolley,  mostly due to the really cute pattern for the owl wrist warmers on the cover, i wasted no time in knitting up a pair of these, as i was knitting i was worried the pattern was running a little small {& i had gone up half a needle size} but once finished they fit just fine, these will make great christmas presents, i've already ordered some bargain yarn from kemps to knit up another pair!

these were knit up in some twilleys freedom purity chunky, shade :chalk, ravely details over here

For Folk's Sake It's Christmas...

todays soundtrack to my pottering & it's just perfect, check out 'for folks sake' christamas albums here, this little teaser is from this years album

the seagulls scarf

now he's all set for the match, {well was! this was finished in time for the end of november} everyone's happy  {i am mostly as i don't have to knit with that acrylic yarn anymore} the pattern was based on this one, i just changed how many i cast on & used the two colours {& smaller needles for a tight & neat knit!} the yarn was his choice {send a man into a wool shop & this is what he came out with} i can't even tell you what it was! but trust me it was a cheap 'value' acrylic, you can see my rather limited notes over here

the little one has been rather poorly with a tummy bug over the weekend, so we are home today getting better {pretty much there but it's nice to have another quiet home day} so i'm getting to do a fair bit of pottering which i always love

52 weeks of happy

{8/52}

1. december is upon us - we're all rather excited

2. our latest film arrived - i've been wanting to watch this for ages, so looking forward to snuggling down later with it this evening  {or maybe tomorrow as we need to catch up with the killing III first} 

3. happy post! i was really lucky to win a little give-away from lilymoon, over on her facebook page, these beautiful postcards arrived this morning, just so lovely

4. i had my first gingerbread latte of the season this week - mmmm sure it won't be the last

you can visit lilymoons etsy shop over here or pop over to facebook as i think she has got another give-away going at the moment

52 weeks of happy

{7/52}

friday sure did come round fast again, the weeks are slipping by too fast, still i've got a lovely three day weekend thanks to a school inset day on monday - hurrah

1. i'll get the boring bit out the way first, a new washing machine, rather strange, but this is making me soooo happy, our old inherited one had been on the way out for quite a while, as always things go wrong when you could do with the money to spend on other things, but ho hum, i really can't live without one of these & its rather lovely to have properly clean clothes again

2. i couldn't resist these at the supermarket - the young girl on the checkout politely remarked that i had started my christmas shopping, i couldn't keep in a little chuckle as i replied i didn't expect them to last that long!

3. a little baking with the kids {we of course had to split the dough three ways, i got a little carried away with mine}

4. getting together the bits for my next project - i love new yarn & this lot was another bargain from kemps 

plodding on

still here - just busy still working! plodding on slowly with the scarf for my hubs, nearly there {good job to as it will be needed for the game this weekend} thankfully tomorrow is a 'free day' {full of catching up with the hoovering & washing i've neglected to do} so i hope to be back with some happy too

52 weeks of happy

{6/52}

what a week - rather unplanned but i've spent a lot of time at work this week, so i'm a little late with my happy!

1. so to turn a negative into a positive i am thankful that i do infact have a job, especially one which fits in so well around my family & i can't deny that the extra shifts will be a very welcome addition come payday

2. as it's children in need in the uk today, i {along with a whole school full of children} got to wear my pj's to work, which was rather lovely considering what a grey & miserable day it is here today

3. coming home for a warm bowl of soup & hot buttered toast at lunch time {this really did make me ever so happy}

4. i'm so glad that Barney & i got out for a very long walk on tuesday, as it's been his only long walk of the week - sorry boy, we'll make up for it this weekend

52 weeks of happy

{5/52}

1. a new dress, i'm in love - a little treat to myself for working so many extra shifts last month

2. ignoring the chaos & enjoying a cuppa with an eccles cake

3. catching a glimpse of the colours in the new baktus {when it's not keeping me warm that is}

4. making lists & planning my christmas makes

baktus

whilst snuggling up in front of the wood burner last night i finished off my new scarf {& i've been wearing it since} it is just so warm & snug - really much warmer than the other scarfs & shawls i've knitted, i think this is down to a combination of the soft chunky yarn & the garter stitch, which makes it's extra thick, it was a treat to knit, as i love the mindless ease of garter stitch, this was a super easy pattern - which can be found here {if you're interested} i knitted it up in the noro kochoran {which if you follow this blog you'll know had been knitted up three times previously!} i'm happy with this knit though, so it can stay

52 weeks of happy

{4/52}

1. think i may just have found the perfect pattern for my noro yarn, i'm loving how this is knitting up

2. school holidays = visit to my folks, the kids get very excited about visiting & its lovely for me to get to spend some time with my mum {& little O becomes ever so helpful around her nana} this visit we also helped my {not so} little sister to move into her very first house {& see her new baby bump for the first time too!}

3. in between the rain showers, getting out for blustery walks with my boys

4. then being able to snuggle up with them both {maybe with a movie} to keep warm & snug

thirty first

happy halloween

twenty seven

half term baking with a halloween twist - my most favourite brownies, which i'm sure will all be long gone before the 31st!

twenty five - 52 weeks of happy

{3/52}

1. the little people & myself are getting a little excited about halloween!

2. last walk to school today for 10 days peoples - a much needed break from the routine for all three of us!

3. autumn, goodbye rain - hello cold {please}

4. tea, i'd be a really miserable person without it

twenty four

not my normal knitting but knitting none the less, my man needs a scarf to wear to the footie, bless him

twenty one

weekends go by far to quickly in my book, i've not achieved half of what i had hoped {but there is always next weekend} i've been feeling a rather frustrated knitter these past weeks, being lucky enough to receive a few skeins of beautiful noro kochoran for my birthday, i'd been keen to get knitting with it, it is such a beautiful soft yarn to work with, i had a plan & set about knitting it up into a waistcoat, striped in with another yarn, i'd about 95% finished this, but i wasn't 100% happy with it as it was, so ripped it back to start again, 

i then set about crocheting a floppy beret with it, again striping it with another yarn, this was just laughable, the hubs walked by as i was trying it on & informed me i looked like rastamouse, which i had to admit was not too far from the truth! {it was even too bad to take a photo of the finished hat}

so i picked another project & got knitting, it started off looking good, but then as i got further along i started having second thoughts, but i kept going to give it a chance, however as i feared it just wasn't right, a little too slouchy for me, so it's ripped back again, i'm at a loss where to go with it next, i love the yarn so i really can't blame that, i just need to find the right pattern, so i'm going to take a break from it & get on with some other things, but it's still there, lingering in the cupboard, playing on my mind, will keep you posted when i find the right pattern - unfortunately this just wasn't the right one

seventeen -52 weeks of happy

{2/52}

1. a small 'background' project i'm working on, when one of my {many} other projects is not keeping my attention or i don't know what to start first, it's great to have a little slow stitching to work on, to keep my mind & hands busy

2. my slow cooker, i would truly be lost without this

3. my little O seems to have settled beautifully at big school

4. getting strict on limiting the amount of tv the kids watch, seems to have gone down far better than expected {although i may have to invest in a paper & felt tip company the amount of drawing they are now doing!}

fifteen

almost finished, three sets of coasters, just need their ends sewing in, although not sure i'll get round to that tonight due to the sleepy monday haze hanging over me, they do look ever so lovely together too, seems a shame to split them up, what a lovely weekend though, so good to see the sun again  

twelve

happy it's friday & we've got a relatively quiet weekend planned, i've been working on a little favour for a friend & i'm planning to finish it off this weekend, crocheted coasters again - pattern can be found via here

happy weekend to all!

ten

since my littlest started at school, Barney has been getting longer weekday walks the days i'm not at work, it's just the two of us & it's great, i love where we live, as in less than five minutes from our front door i can be lost {quite literally sometimes} in the middle of some of the finest countryside i know, even when it's a little drizzly we head out, it's so so quiet, we often barely meet anyone else {aside from a few sheep, cows or pheasants - which are way too tempting to chase for our little terrier!} these pictures were from a week or two ago, as i often want to be carrying as little as possible i usually only have my phone to take some photos {but i did get some great ones onto instagram from today's walk - tall trees, fairy toadstools & the briefest glimpse of a young deer - click over on the instagram link up on the right hand side to see}