A Cottage by the Sea.

 I'm back! 

Ooo we had a lovely, lovely week away, just Wonderful Man and I to celebrate his big birthday. It felt so special to relax and just enjoy being together.

This is Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland. Just a 30 minute stroll from our front door.   Bliss! Every morning we watched the National Trust lady park her car and start her long walk to work. Lovely in fine weather but I'm not sure I'd want to do it in the wind and rain! 

 And about 3 minutes in the opposite direction the pretty little harbour of Craster.

 Our little cottage was the last one on the far right of the picture. Yes for the hawk eyed among you, Lucy of Attic24 stayed in the very same place a week or two before us. 

 We were sooo lucky with the weather and every morning we were greeted by the most breathtaking view from the bedroom window, although I must admit, we didn't see the sun rise every day!

And there on our doorstep...

rock pools...everywhere.

Mind you, as beautiful as they were, I was glad we didn't have a young family with us as I wouldn't  have relaxed for a moment, I'd have been constantly watching to make sure they didn't fall on the rocks!

We enjoyed big skies...

and beautiful beaches.

And visited a different castle almost every day. 

This one is Bamburgh Castle.

Where we enjoyed a delicious lunch of dressed crab, yummy!

There was a little something for him (Barter Books at Alnwick)... 

 and a little itty bitty...

something for me. Mrs Pins Habedashery.

Aaaah good times. I must admit I didn't want to leave.

And just in case you were wondering...

I did manage a little knitting. I finished the fronts and the back of a long cardigan!

Till next time when we will be celebrating my 300th post with a little giveaway.

Fi x

Gilly K.   If you would like to email me, I'd do my best to point you in the right direction.

Virginia.  The gift box is the only box I know how to make and I copied it from a little box the children brought home from school many years ago. Next time I make one I'll try and make a tutorial for everyone.
Toothbrush Rug Instructions. These can be found on Youtube, have fun.

Catchy-uppy!

Hello my lovelies. 

This is getting to be a bit of a bad habit, not blogging regularly enough and then having to have a catchy-uppy post and squish too many things in! Ah well, never mind, one day I'll find the culprit who keeps stealing days from me. 

Above is my beautiful crochet scarf that I finished a long time ago, but never blogged about. It is now being turned into a kind of shawly-tabbardy-thingy to wear when I'm chilly and just need that extra bit of warmth around my back. All will be explained when I actually get it completed and photograph it properly.

Next is something completely new! This is my version of a 'toothbrush rug'. So called because years ago toothbrushes had a hole in the handle which meant you could snap off the brush head, round off the end and use it as a large needle to make the rug, hey-ho a toothbrush rug! Unfortunately toothbrush manufacturers seem to have overlooked this important aspect of toothbrush design and now only make bulky, rubbery, ergonomically designed brushes, absolutely no good for rug making. What were they thinking! 

 So, much head scratching, and wearing of thinking caps ensued and after a quick rummage through THE DRAWER. You know the one! The one in the kitchen with all the odd keys, broken knobs, lifeless batteries and general crap. I came across a little plastic craft knife. Doing my best impression of Fagin finding a bulging wallet, I checked over my shoulder and around the kitchen door to make sure I'd not been seen, then as quick as a flash I snaffled the little knife up and whisked it away! Ha! It was mine! I snapped the blade off, rounded off the end with my emery board and heated the end of a metal meat skewer in a candle to melt an 'eye' in my new 'needle'. Voila!

And I must say rather smugly, it works a treat.

So one, 'past-it' single duvet cover, a small curtain and a piece of sheeting later I have a rug the size of a small bath mat. Reversible and washable and really quite addictive. It may grow a bit larger...I need to have another look in the linen cupboard ;)  

 Aaaaw... so cute! This is my 3rd pair of baby booties, can't resist em. These are a commission for a lovely friend.

 But they just needed something to make the gift extra special, so out came the paper and the scissors...

snip, snip and a beautiful gift box was made. Just a perfect size!

 Lastly and just in case I don't have enough to keep me occupied next week when I'm away on holiday, my lovely dad, arrived not only with this scrummy basket of granny squares he has made...for me to crochet together! But he has also made me a Swift for winding hanks of wool. What a total superstar he is. Thank you Dad. x

Argh, I need all those stolen days back and more. lol.

I'm away next week with Wonderful Man celebrating his special birthday in a pretty little cottage over looking the sea. Just him and me. Bliss! I think I've packed more craft projects than clothes! 

till next time

love Fi x

'Woolly Doings'

Hello all. 

Lovely to be back from my little break away from blogging. Today I thought we could catch up with some of my recent 'woolly doings'. I've had a complete break from sewing over the last 2 or 3 weeks but I've not been idle.

We've had lots of lovely days out here in the stunning Yorkshire Dales National Park. We didn't have far to travel from home, a few miles down the road (and over a hill) and we found this delicious spot down by the river.

Wonderful Man dashed off to explore the opposite side of the riverbank (thats him in the distance, the grass is always greener, lol) and I settled down to a spot of knitting.

Another day and over another couple of hills to...

another beautiful spot, Malham Cove.

 More picnicing and more knitting! Gosh it's exhausting being on holiday.

 And more woolly stuff still...

 this is my local knit and natter group 

 This is my lovely friend Anne showing my mum how to spin.

 She was far better than me at it. I have no co-ordination at all.

 But one thing I can do is crochet!

In fact we've all been knitting and crocheting bits and bobs to yarnbomb Jenny's little wool shop ready for the school holidays.

 All the ladies were keen to help stitch the 2 meter long woolly creation on to the bar across Past and Presents window.

 What do you think? We have designs on that rather bare drainpipe too, lol.

 Lots of dangly stuff to put smiles on little peoples faces.

 Lots of flowers and a duckling or two...

 crochet birdies, wiggly worms and a smiley sunshine. Lets hope that birdy is not of the 'early' type!

 a goldfish, pansy and a ladybird too.

 Well it gave all of us a giggle anyway, we're a happy little bunch. Sylvie, Louise, me, Janet,  Jenny and Patricia is taking the photo.

 There has also been a bit of blanket making and ...

 who could resist knitting these teeny tiny booties! Certainly not me.

 I've just finished crocheting together these yummy granny squares made by my dad, he's not a fan of the putting-together part, mind you... neither am I, lol. It took me all evening to join the granny squares and edge them and I've calculated there must have been 320 tail ends to weave in. 

 But the thing I'm most proud of at the moment is this bit of knitting.

 My first pair of socks! WHOOHOO! I love em! Don't want to take them off. They're not perfect but I'm thrilled with them especially as I'm not really a knitter! 

Ah well that's just about it from me today. I have more tales to come including a lost homing pigeon that seems to have adopted us and some pictures of the worlds smallest art gallery. See excitement is us, lol. next time

love Fi x

1940's Weekend.

 Just a quickie to get me back into bloggy mode after my summer holiday away from you all.

 Pin up hair for the 1940's weekend in Leyburn last month.

 I couldn't wait to take all the pins out! Ouch!

 Next time I'll make do with this snood I crocheted from an original 1940's pattern.

Back to normal bloggy service soon, lots to show you.

love Fi x