happy new year

wishing

you

a

very

happy

new

year

may it be happy, healthy, and filled with friendships xxxxx

Merry Christmas

wishing you a very happy Christmas

I hope it is truly special

filled with loved ones,

and special moments

and a truly magical day. xxxx

visiting

we are about to set off on the pre Christmas visiting trip. parents, in-laws, siblings, siblings in-law, nephews, nieces, aunties, uncles, a cat, the nice people at the motorway services, they are all on the list.....

there was a small delay in departure as we dealt with the water that poured through the ceiling whilst Miss K was in the shower, which shorted out the boiler so the heating wouldn't come on. this has now been resolved.

back Wednesday, please please please - NO snow xxxxxx

the advent calendar

every morning when the advent calendars are opened the children tell me what they have inside.


Miss K: "I've got a bell"

E: "I've got a flux capacitor"

me: "are you sure it's not a Christmas pudding?"

the evidence has been eaten so now we'll never know.

spiral crochet scarf tutorial

This spiral crochet scarf is so easy I am relying on it to solve all my last minute gift dramas.



so far I have made three - purple, red and lilac. it works in any yarn, just use a crochet hook that suits. I've used lacy/ribbon yarn, cotton and oh so soft cashmere, and one of the my friends at knitting this morning was making one in Aran wool that looked amazing, and grew super fast!



make a LONG chain. you'll need about 200 - 230 chains, depending on how long you want it. remember that as it curls it will shorten a bit.



count in 3 stitches from the hook (these will form the turning chain) and treble crochet into the next chain. now do TWO treble crochets into each chain until you reach the end.



make a turning chain of 3 stitches and repeat row one, doing TWO trebles into each stitch until you reach the end.



you can do a third row if you like, repeating the same pattern as above.



or just sit and admire the spirally delights the pattern creates.
beware this is a very addictive pattern. let me know if you make one, I'd love to see. xxx

PS. this is in English crochet - an English treble (tr) is an American double (dc)

the birthday weekend

cake 1. sponge with cream and jam filling and icing sugar dusting. requested by Miss K - now 12.



cake 2. a chocolate tray bake cake with white icing and a LOT of hundreds and thousands. joint cake for a combined trip to the pool to play on the inflatables. no photo. all eaten......



cake 3. chocolate cake with jam filling. and puffles. requested by E - now 10.
he originally wanted this cake,
there are times when I wish we didn't live 30 miles from either of these stores, but then again.......

cake 4 really needs to be the Christmas cake. but I'm just having a lie down in a dark room.

splash of colour December

looking out of my kitchen window at the only green thing in the garden that isn't buried in snow I was inspired to create some splashes of colour to adorn it.



one muffin tin, some scraps of wool, cranberries, raisins and orange peel and a few minutes later into the freezer they went. once frozen out they went, and in a tiny moment of sun they glistened, and the birds have already started feasting.
they seemed the perfect start to Emma's splash of colour week,



as did this sky.

as you can see we still have plenty of snow, but the roads are clearer now. thank you for all your kind words on my last post, the child is fine now, a one off scare we hope.