March Hare Madness

Whilst tidying today, 

I came across

a bag filled with snipperty bits of felt

and fabrics

I could feel a welling up of making-itis

and reached for a piece of paper,

scissors, pen and threads.

Snipping snipping,

soon two little hares

appeared,

one gold coated and his chocolaty shadow.

Tiny blanket stitches,

tiny bits of floofy stuffing ...

soon my hare

looked a little less flat.

Little Hare had to choose his tail...

would it be a greeny grey one with spotty dots?

Would it be a pale yellow one with a little heart?

Or would a shade of blue look better with his coat of gold?

Whilst deciding the perfect tail,

who should I spot but two little fellows

made many years ago

by a very much younger

and smaller son.

I'd forgotten I'd stashed these precious little folk in my button box,

now - at least ten years later,

I am making my own little felty creature.

It made my heart squeeze with both love and nostalgia.

Meanwhile, Little Hare continued researching

the perfect tail

and decided on the one he wanted.

With tail firmly added,

Little Hare met his 'cousins'

and wondered if they would like to become broaches too. 

Then he hopped up on to my jersey,

settled down

and kept me company for the rest of the day. 

I might be looking for more snipperty bits of felt

to be inspired by.

I feel another bout of making-itis coming on.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

10 - counting again and a bit of a Ta da!

In between heavy showers  and dramatic seascapes, we found a field full of pigs.  Large whites. Truffling and snuffling in the mud and grunting contentedly. We stopped to take pictures then having satisfied myself with my photos, I turned to jump back into the car when I spotted the curved mirror.  And beneath that mirror? A metal tag number 10. Excellent!

HHHHHHHHHHHH 

Some time ago, whilst fettling around in a charity shop, I came across a lovely wool jumper and for the grand sum of £1 I bought it. It had been darned on one elbow in a lighter grey wool and the other elbow was completely threadbare but there was potential. It was stashed to be repaired at a later date........fast forward probably a year or two! 

Himself found the jumper on Sunday. 

We looked at it - it seemed too small for him and I wondered if it would fit one of my boys. Youngest looked at it and proclaimed that with patches on the elbows (like a geography teacher he said) he would love to wear it. Youngest was very specific what colour patches he wanted - they had to be brown and round. I wondered if I had the correct sort of material to do the repairs but Youngest stated that he wanted the patches to be knitted! Woo hoo! I could manage that, then I had a brainwave - my knitting is still slow and to be honest I thought that knitted patches would not be 'tough' enough for a lively 13 year old - so I crocheted them using Ronaldsay wool and BAM! One happy youngster and one happy ME! 

 

HHHHHHHHHHHH

Snow day

Despite the weather reports and the news items - I was still surprised at the amount of snow that had fallen over night. We checked the school website and much to the boys delight it was declared closed due to the weather conditions.

I was very hesitant about driving to work - it is a 40 minute drive over some gorgeous (wild) moorland and in places the road is very high and exposed. So I resorted to a less icy occupation for the day - knitting!

The original hat I was doing for Eldest was just...not...working......grrrr

I was frogging after every few rows. The yarn was splitting, twisting and felt too 'cotton' like despite it being a wool cashmere blend. I was not happy and I was wasting time on attempting this wip, so I frogged it for the last time and started another.

Eldest came and rifled through my stash and chose a dark grey in Merino DK by 'Knit by Numbers' for himself, we then went to Ravelry and he chose a design called 'Graham' and now I am happily knitting (well, I am knitting, but not necessarily happy as my beloved camera seems to be on the blink.......b****r)

So Eldest has been taking photos of the wool and pattern but....bless him..... it is not the same!!

Gratuitous catling photo

It's growing! Soon will be time to change the pattern.

So - how was your Fri(snow)day?

Did you get any crafting done?

Is YOUR camera working???

Right, nuff now, off to get a few more rows done. Stay warm and keep knitting !

Being busy

Yarnival is not that far off now - We are stepping up a gear with our preparations. It has been harder this year as we all so so busy with our lives and jobs.

This last weekend I thought I better get on and make the stall holder tags and some signs for the event.

One of the knit and natter girls has a very handy husband and with a bit of discussion during our last knit n natter evenings, she set off home with a task for him. 

So - using some plyboard, stash wool and yarn that have had various guises and even more froggings and some white glue - between us we have made a HUGE ball of yarn!

Friend's handy husband cut a huge 'ball of yarn' shape and I wound and wound and wound (and wound and wound and wound) the stash wool around the plyboard shape. Then having covered the wood I pasted it in dilute white glue and water to seal it's exterior. 

It took aaaaaages to dry!

Then, to finish it off - A 'paper' band was made and attached to the 'waist-line' of the yarn and then...........

ta da!!

Another knit and natter girl has a very handy mini-laminating machine which she kindly lent to me and so on Sunday evening I set about making badges for all our stall holders to wear - 

So, with much cutting and pasting and printing and laminating and twisting of cords and tying off of knots I have a second ........

ta da!!

Do you have any ta da-s this week?

Have you been busy making things?

What have you been up to or has the working week got in the way of your crafting flow?

Thank you so much for popping in and seeing what I've got up to - it means a lot to me 

with love

hawthorn xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Zombie Nation

Be scared.....be very scared.

Meet the zombie my son......off to a horror disco. Complete with fake blood, stitched body parts and bullet hole in his head. While he was out, Eldest and I attempted to put the chrimbly decs away.

 Apparently Zombie-boy had a good time apart from finding the music too loud!
As each guest left they were handed a rather yummy cupcake complete with the birthday girl's age, small ghost and black star.

The sweaty mini-zom was sent upstairs for a shower forthwith and came back down restored to his former more human self. I think he had a good time :)

PS shhhhhh - bought some more yarn. Think this is becoming a serious issue.......actually if I'm honest I was taken to buy the yarn by Himself (bless him) so I could finish my hat, pictures later.

Night all - time to go to bed, already sent the zombies boys upstairs, putting the chrimbly tree away can wait another day.
zzzzzzzzzzzz

Guess what I have?!

I have my own *LYS!!

Oh the envy I have felt over the years of reading other bloggers bragging about their lys.

Lys this and lys that....yadda yadda yadda.

Now - I have one.... less than 100 yards from where I work. 

Bliss.

Only thing is - I have had such a dreadful lurgy that I've not had the energy to lift my knitting needles, however I did manage to buy some yarn (for medicinal purposes you understand).....

*lys - Local Yarn Store