Fill In The Blank Friday

Happy Friday everybody! Boy, am I glad to see the weekend. It's so cold here at the moment that it's a real struggle to motivate myself to get out and do stuff, so Beau and I have mostly just been snuggled up at home, getting in the Christmas spirit. At least James will be home over the weekend so we can all snuggle together, and hopefully I can get some knitting done at long last! I have three projects on the go at the moment and I really want to get them all finished by Christmas...fat chance of that happening!

Lauren, who usually does the Fill In The Blank Friday feature, has a poorly baby and hasn't been able to do the blanks this week, so, since I have a little time on my hands, I thought I would give it a go myself. Since I'm here in the UK, and Lauren is in the US, I thought I'd go with a Europe vs. US theme...here goes!

Here is my son Beau in his I heart NY t-shirt that a friend bought him when I was pregnant

1. My favourite place I have visited (or would like to visit) in the US is New York City. What I love most about it is that electricity that only New York makes me feel. Like everything you do there is special, whether it's getting a cupcake from Magnolia bakery on Bleecker Street or ice skating under the big tree at The Rockefeller Centre. I just can't get enough of that city.

2. My favourite place I have visited (or would like to visit) in Europe is The Greek Islands. What I love most about it is the quaint charm of these beautiful islands, and the crystal clear waters which look more like the Caribbean than Europe. I have actually never visited, despite the fact that they're only a 4 hour flight from home, but it's been on my "to do" list for a number of years. Just look at this beautiful beach on the  island of Paxos

Thanelli Beach, Paxos

3. My favourite movie (location wise) set in the US is The Twilight Saga (and I stress this is for the location only!!) because I think that the pacific north west just looks breathtakingly beautiful and I would love to visit there someday. Seattle has always appealed to me since watching Frasier when I was a kid, and since reading Lauren's blog (The little things we do) I am also desperate to visit Portland. It sounds like such a cool, cultured city.

4. My favourite movie (location wise) set in Europe is Only You, starring Robert Downey Junior, Marisa Tomei and Bonnie Hunt. Because it is set in Italy, specifically Rome, Venice and Positano. All three are cities which I would just love to visit. In the movie, they drive from Venice to Rome, through the Italian countryside, and you can't help but fall in love with the romantic, rustic beauty of the place.

5. My favourite band/musician from the US is currently Darwin Deez. They're from New York City and yet I don't think they're nearly as well know over there as they are here. They are a total hipster band, but I think they're pretty cool. I've seen them live four times so far, and I've just booked tickets to two more shows when they tour here again next February! You might say I'm turning into a bit of a groupie!

6. My favourite band/musician from Europe is currently Amy Winehouse. I think she produced some of the most beautiful music of our time in her short life, and I was so saddened when she died. If you haven't heard her Lioness album which was released after her death, then you should Go and download it right now, it's wonderful.

7. I love where I live in Kent, UK because we are an hour's car/train journey from London, or the coast, and being a lover of both the city, the beach and the countryside, this is perfect for me. London is my second favourite place on earth (after NYC) and I can hop on a train there, enjoy the sights and sounds of it for a while then I can be back in the beautiful countryside of Kent in under and hour. If you haven't been here before, I thoroughly recommend a visit, I love where I live!

I hope you liked my blanks, and please join in over at The Little Things We Do each Friday for the original and the best version from Lauren!

Hope you have a great weekend

x

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No Internet means no proper posts :o(

Hello you,

Well, we've moved house and we have no Internet for another three weeks, booo! Which means its pretty hard for me to blog and show you what I've been up to :o(

I'm doing this from the mobile app, so apologies for the poor format and misplaced photos. I couldn't not do a post though because I have been knitting some seriously cute things! An old school buddy is going to be a Daddy around Christmas time and he happens to make the coolest sun glasses ever (coming soon to www.bam-boostore.com) so we're doing a little trade off; I knit some cool stuff for baby Emilia and in return I get a pair of his rad shades. Sounds little a pretty toot sweet deal to me!



So to start with I wanted to make a little hat for her. I scoured through all my patterns but I just couldn't find the right one, so I made it up as I went along! To get the right size, I google searched the average circumference of a newborn baby's head (14 inches apparently) and did my gauge swatch so I knew how many stitches to cast on (I used size 3 and a quarter mm needles and cast on 91 stitches). I used Debbie Bliss cashmerino DK in apricot for the main body of the hat. I did a K1P1 rib for 6 rows, then switched to 4mm needles for the rest.

I wanted to personalise the hat and decided to do a little E on it, in a contrasting colour using fair isle. For this I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK in cream. I usually work out my fair isle patterns on my computer using a good old excel spreadsheet, but I happened to be at my sisters house when the idea struck me, so I took to good old pen and paper (and a few yellow stickers to act as corrector pen, that's improvisation for you) to lay out the design. I wanted to do the curly swirly kind of E so that it wasn't too harsh, and I came up with this little pattern. It actually didn't translate very well to the final product, partly because it was only a single line (row, stitch, whatever you want to call it) and partly because I'm still not great at fair isle and the contrasting stitches were not very even or uniform in size.

Anyhoo, I finished the hat and wasn't quite happy with it, so I decided that a little bow fixes everything. I knitted up a little seed stitch bow and sewed it onto the bottom of that hat and it instantly looked better. The E still really doesn't look like an E (I've been asked if its a smiley face three times) but oh well, baby Emilia will never know :o) Hopefully Ashley and Ali will like it!

Next I'm making her some little socks out of the same apricot cashmerino. I got the pattern from the Debbie Bliss baby knits book, and they are frickin cute. I'll do a proper post when they're all done, but here's how I've done so far...

Knit on knitters

x

Fill In The Blanks Friday

Yay it's Friday!! That means that we get the keys to our new house tomorrow, and I could not be more excited. On the other hand, I have the worst cold I've had in ages and hardly slept last night so I don't have much energy to put into decorating tomorrow, but hey ho. 

Anyway, here are this week's blanks, from Lauren. Go take part yourself if you fancy...

1.  One thing I plan on doing to relax this weekend is sleep, that's the only time I'll have for relaxing this weekend because the rest of the weekend will be spent decorating our new house!! Did I mention that I'm excited about this?! We're painting the living room, dining room and Beau's bedroom, all in a light silvery grey colour, similar to this

2.  A big pet peeve of mine is when people criticise the choices I make as a mother, or try and tell me how I should do things when it comes to Beau. My mum has made this mistake a few times and I'm always quick to tell her that I don't need to do everything her way, and if I'm wrong then that's my decision too. There are so many books out there which tell you how to raise your children, and I wish I could just burn them all. You should bring up your children the way you think is best, all the while you're doing them no harm. If I let Beau stay up until 8:30 because he isn't tired, instead of sending him to bed at 7:30 because that's "bed time" then so be it. Live and let live.

3.  I am really loving chevron print at the moment. I want to do all the soft furnishings in my house with it, but it's so hard to come by in the UK. The only place I can get it is from US sellers on Etsy, and by the time I've paid the shipping, it's just too expensive to justify. Hopefully the UK will catch on to the chevron trend soon and we'll be inundated with beautiful things here too

These beauties are from Designer Pillow Shop on Etsy

4. The rain is not bothering me too much. I kind of like being tucked up indoors in the dry and watching the rain outside. There's something very cosy and comforting about it.

5. My favourite girly indulgence is nail polish. Like Lauren, I don't have time to wear it very often these days but when I do, I feel so much prettier and more presentable. 

6. A song I always get stuck in my head is Gangam Style. If you haven't heard it, then lucky you. It is the most irritating pop song, from Korea, and the babies are obsessed with it. Every time they hear it they get so excited and start dancing, which is super cute but god that song is annoying!!

7.  The best cure for stress is a jolly good cry. I think that us humans are too afraid to cry sometimes and try to just bottle things up, but crying is such a release. Next time you're feeling stressed, just let go and have a good sob. You might have a little head ache but you'll feel much less stressed.

I hope you all have a great weekend. Sorry for the lack of knitting related posts but what with moving I just haven't had time to knit too much lately. Once we're in a and settled, I'll be right back on it.

Knit on, knitters

x

Fill In The Blanks Friday

Happy Friday one and all! This has been a pretty exciting week for me because we're moving house in a couple of weeks time so I've been buying pretty things for our new home, and making lists of all the pretty things I will buy when I can afford them. Check out my Pinterest board Edward Street for a glimpse at my mood board of the way I would like our new home to look .

Anyhoo, here are this week's blanks from Lauren over at The Little Things We Do. As always please take part if you fancy and leave me your comments if you have the time, I love hearing from my readers, all two of you :o)

1.  My favourite flower is  ooh I'm not really a very flowery person. Flowers die on me, and I never ever buy them for myself. If I really had to choose I suppose it would be a hibiscus flower. I love tropical plants, to the point where I had this little tropical scene tattooed on my back a few years ago

2.  You should never talk about  people's mistakes, if you have forgiven them. I believe that if you say you forgive somebody for something then you also have to forget about it, and if you can't forgive them then you need to re-assess that person's place in your life. I am still working on this myself, and I have been known to dig up old dirt in an argument, and I kick myself for doing it, as it ends up hurting everyone all over again. 

3.  My favourite discovery as of late is muller light Greek style yoghurts. They are only half a "syn" per pot on slimming world but they totally don't taste like a low fat yoghurt. They are really creamy, and great with fruit or on cereal. Yum.

4. This fall (autumn for us Brits) you will probably find me wearing   my new size 8 (US size 4 I think) jeans (yep, I just got back into size 8 jeans after 5 years!!), my tan leather knee high flat boots, and a cosy jumper or cardigan. I love knitwear, and if it's chunky, boyish, or leopard print then all the better :o)

5. I wish I were  in New York. It is my favourite place in the whole world, especially at this time of year when it's all decorated with pumpkins for fall, and the ice rinks are going up. I was there in November two years ago and we were staying just down the street from Bryant Park, so most days we would wander up there and have a mooch around the pop up market and watch the skaters for a while over a hot chocolate. If I had the money and could work there, I would move there tomorrow.

I took this picture of the ice rink at the Rockefeller Centre the day before they started putting up the big tree

6. My favourite TV show currently is  Hart of Dixie. I've only just started watching them after recording them all, and I love it.

7.  This weekend I want to knit. I am currently working on a couple of cable knit cushions for my brothers. I'm contemplating adding in a little fair isle stag motif on the back, what do you think??

What are you knitting at the moment? Please let me know your thoughts via the comments section, I really do love getting feedback. Hope you have a great weekend,

Knit on, Knitters

x

Dad and Pat's 7 Year Anniversary Cloth

This week I've been working on a little anniversary gift for Dad to give to his wife Pat, for their 7 year anniversary, which is apparently the year of wool. He asked me to come up with a design which is personal to them and includes the date of their anniversary, and this is what I designed:

I used a really cheap, basic chunky wool from my local Hobby Craft. It was Highfields Chunky, in navy and cream, then some grey chunky which I had left over from another project. I used size 5.5mm needles, and really they were too small. I should have used 7mm but seeing as the cloth will probably get framed, it's kind of good that the fabric is nice and stiff. This is how is turned out in the end:

What do you think? If you would like me to design a personalised cloth for you then please get in touch via the comment section.

Knit on, knitters

X

Weekend Knitting

Hey Knitters,

I am so glad it's Friday! I am going out for a few drinks with my girls tonight, to celebrate two of my friends getting fantastic new jobs this week! Charlotte has secured a new job in a GREAT hairdressing salon in Tunbridge Wells, and Toni has landed her dream job of community nurse, something she has wanted to do since we were at school. So we're hitting up Hotel Du Vin tonight for some sophisticated celebrations.

Tomorrow night will be totally different but I'm also really excited about it. I'm going to be babysitting which isn't unusual for me of a weekend, but the parents aren't going to be home until after 2:30am (!!) which gives me around 7 hours of uninterrupted knitting time!! My Dad has asked me to make him and Pat a little piece to symbolise their seven year wedding anniversary, which apparently is the year of wool. This is the design I've come up with and will be making for them tomorrow:

They darker grey border will just be a purl border around the stocking stitch, and will be the same colour as the background. If I get this finished and still have some time to spare, I need to design a couple of cushion covers for my brother's flat. He has asked me to make him a couple of cable knit cushions which is perfect because I LOVE CABLE KNIT!

I'll be sure to post a photo of Dad & Pat's gift once it's finished, and if anyone would like me to design something similar for them please let me know.

What will you be knitting this weekend? Do you have a good excuse to just sit there and knit, without feeling guilty about it?

Have a great weekend,

Knit on, Knitters
x

Fill In The Blanks Friday

Happy Friday people! Isn't Friday just the best day of the week? Here are some blanks...as usual please play along for yourself over at Lauren's Blog, The Little Things We Do

1.  The last thing I ate was  oven baked salmon with Uncle Ben's Mexican style rice, for lunch. I'm dieting with Slimming World at the moment and that meal is only 2 and a half "syns" and filling which makes it a double winner. Most things I eat are pretty healthy and boring at the moment, but I've lost 16 and a half pounds so far and have 11 to go until my target weight, so it won't be forever.

This me at 37 weeks pregnant at my baby shower, then exactly a year later, wearing the same dress but  49 pounds lighter!

2.  The last time I went to the beach was  about a month ago I think. Dad and I went down to Seaford one evening to try and get some nice sunset shots, but it took us a little too long to get there and we pretty much missed it, doh! I got this one though which I quite like, and below is Dad running down the beach trying to capture it!

3.  My last vacation was  in September 2010, James and I went down to Dorset with his family. I am longing to go on holiday abroad but I just don't see the point until Beau is a little older, and isn't so reliant on his routine.

The beautiful Lulworth Cove in Dorset

James and I on the cliff at Lulworth Cove

Me, Bridie and Sarah

The cottage we rented was an old mill, super nice

This was on our walk through a cow field to the local pub!

Pretty beach huts

4. The last place I drove was  to work yesterday then home via running club with Sarah's Runners. I ran the 3 mile route, and clocked 3.18 miles in 36:46, though I hadn't run for 2 weeks prior to that so was a bit out of practise

5. The last song I listened to was Pound the Alarm, by Nicki Minaj, but not by choice I hasten to add. Beau and Ivy LOVE dance music and so we have MTV Dance on in the background for most of the day, and Nicki Minaj is their absolute favourite! The last song I listened to by choice, was Moondance by Michael Buble, on my way home from running club. I do love a bit of Michael Buble

6. The last thing I watched on TV was  New Girl. It's a crowd pleaser in our house, we all love it. I want to be buddies with Zooey Deschanel, I love her

7.  The last time I said "I love you" was  when I just put Ivy down for her nap. I am continuously telling the babies how much I love them, they are so darned cute and lovable.

Knit on, Knitters
x