Warning contains cute photo's

We were asked to look out for a parcel in the post from hubbies brother and SIL, it has arrived, they are a lovely couple and will often send things just because.

These are beautiful, the Welsh Griffin to celebrate hubbies heritage,  and the bee and flower to show my love of nature and gardening. These hand painted colourful works of art, reflect both of us beautifully, I will think very carefully about what frame to use, they are going to bring us joy every time we see them. 

It was Halloween dress up in Nursey this week, Will loves these bones costumes, he has had one most years. Nursery allowed the children to dress up all week to ensure they had a fun time as trick and treating was off the list of things to do for many children. 

There is something very special in seeing George wear this costume, it seams only yesterday Will had it as his 1st every dressing up costume. Both mummy and daddy had a childhood full of fun, so it's important to them for their boys to enjoy making their own memories. 

I have finished my 4 squares, and was prepared for them all to be different, having the colours in different places, so how come 3 of the squares almost match, I'm not sure what to do now, I think I might knit another square or 2 and see how they look, the 2 spare ones I can use for dish clothes, as so many of you say home made ones are brilliant. It's not big enough for anything, so I still need to decide how to do the edges. 

Another good book, I have read 70 books this year so far, and the quality is amazing, we are so lucky to be able to lose ourselves in a good read. 

No thoughts on our situation, we all know what is happening in our part of the world and elsewhere, I control what I can, and try to keep anxiety levels low. It is hard, I want so much for us, our children and grandsons, this really is the strangest of years and the next couple of months won't improve, fingers crossed rules will be obeyed and we can keep the best life we can. 

Just how much rain is there still to come.....

Stash check-in

These are 2 shelves at the back of my wardrobe, I don't have so many clothes, so I have sorted space for my fabric stash, it's great because I can see what I have, top shelf is Christmas fabric, felt squares and tea towels,  plus a beautiful white baby blanket, knitted for me by an elderly neighbour, I cherish it as she passed away as few years ago, bottom shelf has loads of cotton fabrics and my finished Christmas socks.

 Bottom shelf has 2 baskets with bits in, plus 2 plastic baskets with material in, in these I have loads of fabric for recycling. My bag next to the baskets have a store of fine yarn for weaving, my loom is behind. 

 In the spare bedroom, I had these shoe storage boxes, it's a handy hideaway between the wardrobe and the window wall, the curtains fall here and hides everything. I have now turned this into a yarn store, Lots of different types of yarns all together. Here bottom section.

 Top section, my yarn stash is not as big as my fabric stash. 

 Inside wardrobe I have 3 hanging bags, 2 for sock projects, which are ongoing this year, and the 3rd is a jumper I knitted, I have unpicked the sleeves to re-knit, they were to baggy. Under neath is the poppy yarn and my camera bag. 

 Top shelf in wardrobe is my hexagons, all tidy in 3 boxes, the bottom 2 boxes are handmade hexagons, I have used fat quarters, you can get a good number of hexagons from each fat quarter. Top box is my working box with templates and uncut fabrics in. 

 In my office on top of my sewing work box, (a man's big plastic tool box) I keep my knitting bag, bottom right, the yellow and black bag has all my sign class paperwork. Back left with the bag covering all my cross stitch projects, I have a few here to finish. 

 Lots of squares for my knitted blanket,
stored perfectly in this old candle box. 

 Yarn ready to start my Tunisian crochet blanket, 

I hope to start this next week. 

My last space is by my chair, this lovely basket (charity shop find) holds all the projects I am working on, so at the moment there are socks and my cardigan 'in' there. The basket is far too small, but I love it so it stays. 

I do have 2 under the bed plastic storage boxes in the attic, these have some larger amounts of fabrics, I have fabrics for 2 big projects, which who knows one day might be made. I also have old pairs of jeans.
I think I have too much time on my hands, we have been taking stock of things in the house. My stash is now around the house, rather than stuffed in bed drawers, I can see most of what I have, and hopefully use some of it.
I have glass fusion and card making, but these are all in drawers in our office space, we have a tall file storage unit, which we have had for years, the deep drawers are perfect for card craft.
I do love crafting, and it's good to have so much choice, but  I do need to use more of my stash.

Dare to show your stash.....

Crafting in a dull month.

I have unpicked this shawl I finished back in early November, I have not worn it at all, I prefer to wear another shawl finished at the same time, shown on this post. The yarn is from Burrow & Soar, and is stunning to look at, I don't want to leave it in my wardrobe.

 I purchased this merino yarn last year, it's the best sheep's wool for use if like me you have an allergic reaction to lanolin, it goes well with the Burrow & Soar yarn, I have 400 grams of the plain yarn and 100 grms of the hand dyed. Will have a think what to knit with it. 

My knitted squares so far, I have not laid them in any order, I just wanted to see if the design in my head worked, I'm pleased I think it does.

 I am mixing some of the shorter leftover yarns, to make as many squares as possible, and having very little waste.  

I also purchased some more yarn, Burrow & Soar had a 30% off sale, I was looking for some bright yarns to go with the above paler mixtures. These are 20 grms each skein and therefore twice as big as the above ones.

Yesterday was another restful day, we did pop to Asda for a few things to help our diet along, I had a low carbs/calorie day, missing my lunch after a late breakfast, I did not feel too hungry, and plan to do this twice a week whilst losing weight. I woke up not feeling too hungry, it's a brighter day so I hope to go for a walk with hubby later.

In my hands

I have loved my advent calender, these tiny yarns are beautiful, I have a couple of days left, it has been fun discovering what shades I have each day. 

 I can't wait to knit with these,

so beautiful, I only need a simple garter stitch. 

The big square is 4 times the size of the original ones I made, so I plan to have a mixture of these 2 sizes. Thank you for your comments on my last post, I did consider picking up stitches to save sewing, but I prefer to use one colour at a time, and once all the squares are done, then sew together, I'm not good at random, and would spend too much time deciding which yarn to use next. 

 I am enjoying this book, she does have a potty mouth and swears alot, in a funny context, but makes really good points about modern living. 

 I have been given some gardening magazines, I've not had these before, but I am enjoying them. 

I have finished knitting the socks, I just have to finish the toes off, which will only take a few minutes, I plan to do them later. If I feel crafty over the next few days, I will knit squares, the pattern is in my head, which means a quick simple knit.
Friday and Saturday I gave the house a good clean, in truth it was not that dirty, I even did the top of the kitchen cabinets, in an attempt to stay ahead, so now I'm feeling good,
Today we have a sunny morning, it's not as cold as the breeze has dropped,  we will pop out later for a few things, going to our local Co-op using the vouchers hubby received, we have not spent much cash on food shopping. My brother Martin is driving to us, he is a day later than expected, he had a night out with friends on Friday and decided not to drive on Saturday morning, it's a 3 hours drive if the traffic is kind.

New start

Knitted Patchwork Recipe by Martine Ellis

 A couple of bloggers have started knitting these squares, 

I have wanted to knit something different

 These are much smaller than I expected,

5cm is about 2 inches.

 I do like the finished look, 

but it's going to be loads of sewing up.

 These are not a for a gift, 

but I'm glad they will be finished before Christmas day

 Not too much left to do.

I am also doing a granny square crochet blanket, which is packed away for a couple of weeks, so I can't take a photo, but I started in this post. I have noticed yarn from different suppliers, whilst all 4 ply ( I don't knit with any other type), should be the same, but some are woven tighter or the different types of yarns and therefore thinner, normally not a problem, because I don't mix yarns. With the crochet squares I find they can come out different sizes, so I make one test square to ensure it's the same size.
I intend only to use the yarn from my advent calender for my knitting, so these should be no issues, I will have to purchase more, I'm not sure what size I want. The squares are much smaller then I expected, I can make 5 squares out of my 10grm ball, I have double checked the instructions and I'm making them correct. I have 29 balls, ( I got extra in the summer), so 29 x 5 is 145, if I stiched them in rows of 12, for 12 rows, it will make a square blanket sized 60cm or 24 inches, I of course could make an oblong. I am also thinking of making a few bigger squares ( same size as 4 stitched together) to give a bit more interest to the blanket.
I was not going to start anything new until Christmas eve, but opened these wnderful yarns each morning is just pure joy, Hedgerow yarns you have captured my heart.