Princess Charlotte's Bonnet

I have just knitted this sweet little bonnet the new little Princess Charlotte wore the day she was born.

The pattern(s) can be found here
I chose this one.
It was very easy to knit even the cable pattern was simple you didn't need a cable needle, you just knitted two stitches and slip a stitch across.  It was knitted in one piece, the only stitching was to stitch in the ends and stitch up the hem for the casing for the ties

Summer is on its way..........

1930's Swimsuit anyone?

Flock of Seagulls!

Of the knitted kind!  

I thought I would knit some Seagulls which are now for sale in my shop (see the side bar).  The pattern was devised by myself which is also for sale if you fancy trying your hand at knitting your own.  

Amaryllis, chapter 4 -Week 11 - its been a funny week..........

I will miss it when it isn't there anymore.  This Amaryllis seems to have gone on forever and a day!

........but as you see it is coming to the end now...........  The leaves are starting to grow now too.  If anyone knows how to keep this bulb till next year please tell me...........

My flowers from mothers day last week are still going strong.  These photos were taken this morning.

This week I made and sent off two more seagulls to a new home in Essex.

I made a cheesecake, the recipe can be found on Frugal Queen's blog here 

I topped mine with blackberries we picked last autumn and froze, and used Morrison's Lime Marmalade because that is all I had.

Which watched the eclipse through the pinhole in a piece of card

and made pretty patterns with a colander 

Purchased another shrub for the garden.

Just a reminder that any of my Daffodils sold during March I will be making a £3 donation to Marie Curie Cancer Care Fund

That was the things that went right, the things that went wrong!  One husband lost his tooth, a crown he has had for years, normally if it comes out whilst eating he retrieves it makes an appointment with the dentist and it get put back, not this time..........no........... this time is got swallowed.  I did say he could look for it but would he want it back in his mouth........ and probably about time he had a new one.......... he is going to have a new one but at a cost!  Two, The fuel pump in the car has gone so another repair, car trapped in town, last time this happened he was across the road reversing into the drive, next thing I see the neighbours pushing the car onto our drive,

so we thought it was just a flooded engine because the car started straight away the next day and that was before we took the trip to Okehampton and thought nothing of it,we could have easily been stuck in Tavistock on a very wet day!  Three, The man was suppose to come and check the rampaging woodworm but never turned up at the allotted time, rang us past the time he should have arrived and said he wasn't coming our way because another appointment has been cancelled.  Husband rang them back and said he was going to take his business elsewhere, they are suppose to be coming next week now!  As they say watch this space!

Amaryllis, chapter 2 - Week 9

Well as you see its still flowering.  

But this stalk only has three heads................ and the other stalk is doing well too.

More flowers, Morrison's white tulips 75p

two pots of mini daffodils 5p per pot!

Just lately I just cannot get motivated.  So many many ideas are spinning in my head, so I have been knitting!

I have quite a few balls of King Cole Splash yarn from when I used to work in a craft shop.  The yarn is lovely to work with and as you see I have taken some balls and separated the colours,

and knitted it up as fair isle.

The garden is coming on a treat

we've gone from this

this!

The plan is to perhaps plant roses and other flowering shrubs.  There was a lot of brambles and once we got to near the fence lots of dead wood.  Its a lane which once ran along the bottom of the garden, it was once probably a bier trail we think because beyond the oak tree always in the back-ground of the amaryllis is the graveyard.

Fair Isle Knitting

I have just finished knitting a cardigan for my eldest grand-daughter.  I started it a few months back but didn't like the way it looked, so I unpicked it, and re-knitted it.  I made it up as I went along.  I wanted it to look authentic vintage, with set-in sleeves so with various patterns to hand here is the result.  Every row is different.

It is based on this vintage knitting pattern, copies of which can be puchased here

This one took me three months now I am going to try and knit her brother a similar jumper in six weeks its a good job I wrote the pattern down as I went.

If any body is interested in my pattern please email me.

C is for..................

Crafting

Recently I have been

Knitting

Embroidering

and making felt flowers

What have you been crafting...............?

Linking with Alphabet Blogging

I managed to knit the baby cardigan

Do you remember this pattern............

Well with lots of help from everyone, and especially Lynne who helped me to sort out why I kept gaining stitches I managed to knit this for my new grand-daughter - keep watching my blog, I will blog about her on her birth-day very soon.

I wonder if Lynne finished hers.......?

First post............on new computer.............

...............well actually NO!  Don't ask, but I do comment from new computer  I am hoping I can eventually post from new computer.  At the moment I haven't worked out how to take photos from camera, cannot write letters or copy and paste onto a plain page because it doesn't come with microsoft works word processor.  Anyway enough complaining we will get there eventually, one of the comments was that I needed a teenager..........haven't got one of those, but we do have a thrity-two year old son who writes apps for a living so he'll have to do...........

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now my blog post.  I consider myself an experienced knitter and can tackle most patterns and the more difficult the better, but this pattern has defeated me.  I probably am reading it wrong, and it is actually quite straightforward and very easy but do any of you lovely knitters understand this pattern.  I hope I have enlarged it enough for you to read.  

Please, please can anyone help me as I would love to knit it for my new grand-daughter due at the end of January.  It is only the cardigan I am doing not the hat or bootees.  Many thanks in anticipation.  

You can either email me or leave a comment - or both!

(click on pictures to get closer look)

Seagulls again!

These are of the knitted variety!

I have just this afternoon, put the legs on three seagulls!  

Two are an order not sure what I shall do with the third, I will probably keep him!

The pattern for you to knit your own can be found here!

Just a quick post..........

.............I'm still here!  I just don't know why I haven't been blogging or leaving comments.........well I do and I'm ashamed to say and I apologise for neglecting everyone.  I  promise to do better in the future, and I promise to try and stop this addiction - I hope it is just a phase I am going through!   I have become addicted to Pinterest, I haven't quite got into Instagram (which is probably just as well), but Pinterest is so addictive and I must stop or I will not get anything done for the Christmas Fair at Trull Nr. Taunton on 14th December.
But.......I have finished this

which  can be found here and here.......

and I have created this little Ladybird (ladybug) 

which also can be found in the same place.

Little bit of self promotion........

The sun is shining, the vintage fairs have started, would you like to wear a jumper made from the original 1942 knitting pattern?

 This jumper knitted by my own fair hands is for sale here

Please.........

Could anybody help.....................

I have searched online for this brand of double knitting yarn in the colour 

TERRACOTTA

but since purchasing a couple of balls of this colour sometime ago for another project which never materialised, I have since found them and started making a jumper, but alas I do not have enough yarn to finish as the colour has now been discontinued.

Please dear kind bloggers could you help?   I need about 50grms to finish otherwise I am going to have to undo two backs of my jumper which is knitted in cable stitch.

Please email me ~ thank you

Never too young for vintage!

A few months ago I purchased this wartime magazine from Milly & Dottie

As soon as I opened the magazine I just knew this had to be knitted for a certain little person!

It was knitted in King Cole - Haze - Shade Apple 458. 

Apples and Tea Cosies!

About three weeks ago my friend Jackie and a her sister popped over for lunch.  We chatted and mooched around the charity shops.  She bought with her a carrier bag of apples.  I wasn't sure if they were cookers or eating apples, I forgot to ask so I treated them as cookers.  So far I have made..........  I now suspect they are eating apples!

 Apple Upside Down Cake

(I'm sure everybody has heard of Pineapple Upside Down Cake)

I used my usual sponge cake recipe but using two eggs.

Put the apples in the bottom of the dish and cover with sugar, then put the cake mix on the top.

About 40 minutes.

Apple Cake

Weigh three Eggs,

weigh the weight of eggs in Butter and Demerera Sugar,

weigh Self Raising Flour to the same weight as eggs and add another 3ozs

half teaspoon of Cinnamon

1 teaspoon of Mixed Spice

2lbs Apples - peeled and chopped (not too large and not too small)

80ml (eighty) Apple Juice

Cream butter and Sugar till pale. 

Beat in the Eggs one at a time (if it looks like this don't worry!)

Sift the Flour, Cinnamon and Mixed Spice and carefully fold into mixture.

Fold in the chopped Apples and Apple Juice

Cook on 160 degrees for about an hour,

put in a skewer or knife and if it comes out clean it is cooked

(I don't have a large cake tin so I divided the mixture between two 8" loose bottom tins)

Eat warm with cream or custard or just have cold with a cuppa!

Which brings us nicely to these Tea Cosies which I have made!

They can be found here!