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}

nine

there was no eight - sorry, monday just wiped me out again! the slower pace of the weekend a long & distant memory, it feels that the weeks are racing past {i'm vaguely aware of how many weeks left till xmas but kind of wish i wasn't} the thought of going into hibernation seems rather appealing, i'm doing my best to stay cosy, snug & layered up, so thought i'd share some of the knitting i've been up to lately, this is a little waist coat / extra layer type top, it's not quite finished yet, there are ends to sew in & a few edges to pick up & knit, but it's ever so soft & cosy as it is, i'm rather tempted to wear it round the house now, i'll share some more pictures & details when it's all done 

it's a pattern from a noro book, knitted up in some noro kochoran & some freedom purity chunky,  i'm a little concious of the fact i look slightly like i should be presenting a children's television show but i do so love how the colours change & it's ever so soft & cosy  { but i am tempted to knit the pattern again in a solid colour as i would probably get more wear out of it then}

six & seven - 52 weeks of happy

 {1/52}

1 .a weekend with very little planned, quality time as a family, the small people being able to get out front & play with friends, being able to slow down & take it all in

2. nutella madeleines, recipe from over here, so tasty

3. the last of the home-grown veggies - not very many but they tasted good too!

4. the sunshine, i don't mind the cold {in fact i rather prefer it sometimes} but i do love to see the sunshine

five

home baked plums = very yum, halved, stone taken out, drizzled with a little hunny, then topped off with crushed shortbread biscuits, popped in a hot oven for about 20/30 mins, super easy & so tasty, i just have to nab myself some before the kids eat them all!

four

feeling a little wiped out today - still, one morning left of work then my weekend starts, hooray - it's also half day for little O, so we get to snuggle on the sofa a little before the bigger brother gets home {counting down the weeks to half term} also loving listening to this album - it's been a real grower 

three

now some of may not have been aware but it was 'national wear a tea cosy on your head' day last week! i'll admit i was only aware as white stuff were doing a competition for it {& selling rather lovely tea cosys too!} so anyways, little O & i got into the spirit of the day {& being the owner of the the only head our tea cosy would actually fit} she did the done the thing & happily posed for a few pictures too!

as i mentioned this was for a competition we entered, which has now gone to public voting, so if you fancy popping over here & giving us your vote that would be just dandy, thank you! {we're on page four - you just need to scroll down a bit!}

i also need to appeal to you all for some more help, due to the lack of sloes round these parts this year i'm going to give blackberry vodka a go this year, i don't have a recipe to follow but was wondering if any of you had any tips? do i use a similar amount of blackberries as i would have done for the sloe gin? more or less sugar? any tips much appreciated! 

two

i've been obsessing over wooly goodness of late - can't get enough of it, i've a couple of things on the go, a couple of things i want to get started on & i'm trying to stop myself from buying more yarn

jen over at little birdie has started doing a '52 weeks of happy project', i thought seeing as i'm planning to be blogging a lot this month that setting myself another goal was a small drop in the ocean, it's also something we do as a family from time to time, over our sunday lunch, join in if you fancy it!

also the first three commenter's from the last post squiggling about, south of peru & a load of old tat, please email your details & hopefully i'll be sharing a little happy with you guys too!

one - getting back in the habit

i've really got out the habit of blogging lately, which has kind of been bothering me, i think about stuff i could / would blog quite a lot but then just never seem to get round to it, i'm busy with life, which is all good {& i certainly try to grab some time to myself when i can}  it just seems i've been off doing other things in these times, so in short i've decided to try & do a blog post a day for october, to kick of the month i thought it's as good a time as any to offer up a 'pay it forward' to you all, a {very} long time ago i took part in a pif & was sent some lovely goodies from Rachel over at 'contented', part of the deal was that i too would then offer to pay this kindness forward, so i'm opening it up to my first three commenter's on this post,  i will send you some goodies in the post, i won't make any promises on time scales but will set myself the goal of it being before christmas, the only thing i ask in return is that you pay it forward & share a little happiness around

these are the lovely goodies Rachel sent me!

just to add i'm happy to send anywhere but may just have to send something smaller if you're overseas,  sorry but just to keep my costs down