Woo-hoo! Return swappage.

So this morning I received my end of the "Make Friends Swap" from my new mate, Mary. One of the options we had to choose was a fabric basket and I thought one for my knitting might be very handy. So we decided on a style and whittled down some fabric choices and this is what she made me. Isn't it brill?

Jones, he approves. *g*

And she sent me extras, too! The dearest little stitch markers with the pattern instructions on them (genius!) and a dpn keeper to tuck my double ended needles in when I'm not knitting. Clever, eh? 

Here's my basket by my spot with some knitting bits in. It is perfect, no? 

Thanks so much, Mary, it has been great getting to know you and a pleasure to swap with you. I hope the feeling is mutual! 

I sewed!

It's not all been decorating and knitting around here. But mostly. *g* I have done a wee bit of sewing for the Instagram "Make Friends Swap." This wasn't a secret swap, we were divided into pairs and given contact details and told to make friends! The swapping items were divided into 3 things we could discuss and choose - we settled on something from the zippy pouch category for my new pal, Mary, and I suggested a Sew Together bag since she had mentioned one. I had the pattern and had made myself one already so I was confident I could sew one I was happy to give away. She likes (amongst other things) sewing themed fabrics and I fell in love with these retro ladies. And hoped the measuring tape fabric might make cool binding.

I think it worked pretty well, yeah?

Inside is more thread reels and safety pins. 

And more measuring tapes inside the pockets.

Here they are close up. I was chuffed how these worked out.

And the reverse with a different part of the main fabric.

I admit, I am very pleased with how it has turned out!

Of course, Chookie has decided one will be perfect for her new pencil case for school. *sighs* They take a lot of work! But at least I have a use for that long hoarded Melody Miller Mustang fabric, eh? And I'm kinda thrilled that she's still asking me to make her stuff...

my new bedroom

So I've finally gotten the last little bits done in my bedroom and taken some photos. The light here hasn't been great for it but I'm impatient so here we go.

This is what some of you will be familiar with - my dark wood, dark purple affair. This is an old photo (the picture had been replaced with a wall decal) but you get the idea.

And here's where we are this morning. A bit different, eh? I love my steampunky ceiling fan. The room has a whole feel of what I am calling "plantation chic" - sort of olde worlde hot country English.

Weirdly, despite having a new absolutely masssive chest of drawers, we have lots more floorspace and the room feels much bigger. That could be the lighter wall colour (B&Q's "Alfie" for nosey folks) but also the bed is about 10 inches off to the left so there's a definite bit of space here when you first enter the room. And I am loving having a rug on the hardwood floors for my cold tootsies!! We've been looking at ridiculous old candlestick phones, too. Think "All Creatures Great and Small" style. Darrowby 385 - showing my age now, eh?

Here's my window in context. You can see what a weeny room it is! The lighting really wasn't co-operating either - there's a better photo of it here. I finally got my radiator cover!

And my girly corner. Jewellery and make up and stuff is stored over here. I still need hooks somewhere for my long necklaces but I'm not sure whether to put my mirrored butterfly ones back up or go more unobtrusive. Just a wee thing, though.

My pretty bed! I was so pleased to finally have a home for my Earl Bob dresden quilt. The bolster pillows I had kept from the purple days and just made simple slipcovers for with left over curtain fabric and a little yellow quilter's cotton. The painted bed frame looks no bad, I reckon.

And my groovy prints! Yes, they are Game of Thrones vintage tourist posters. Heh heh. I bought them from Teacup Piranha on Etsy - they are lovely quality gloss prints. And they are in the UK! The frames are the always-brilliant Ikea Ribba and are a lovely dark glossy grey. Not as stark as black but still a strong visual frame.

So that's my whole house been done in the last 3 years. Including a new kitchen, bathroom and wee loo and all new windows and doors. Time for a break? The front garden is now getting a look in and Spouse has been making noises about re-doing the living room - which was the first room to be done this rotation. So probably not!! Keeps me young, eh?

five years in the saddle

Yup, yesterday was my Chookie's fifth anniversary of her first horse riding lesson. Here she is way back then on the very chubby half Shetland, Angus! (there's a blog post here) She had a wee introductory go the week before but this is her first full lesson. And her "go away, mum" face.

And here she is now on her favourite snowflake Appaloosa, Freckles. He's a horse, not a pony - she's getting tall!

In the interests of total disclosure that above photo wasn't taken yesterday. It was 3 weeks ago but the horse and outfit is the same. This is yesterday. In the pouring rain. Yuk.

I did get a tiny bit of video, though.



Heh heh. I've said it before but it bears repeating, I'm so pleased that she has found something that she loves that is greater than friends and school. The fact that it teaches her responsibility, discipline and gives her exercise is a lovely side effect. Hopefully I'll be here in another 5 years looking back again and celebrating 10 years in the saddle - she'll be 17 by then!!

lovely things

I've had some proper nice things come into my possession lately. When we were up north at John O'Groats and visited Sarah she had this amazeballs grocery shopper for me. Dontcha just love those green scooters? 

Temple was especially fond of the Dashwood Mini print inside.  Heh heh. Thanks Wee Dude! It's been so handy already, I lubs it.

I bought myself a Karen Lewis Textiles charm pack. Her handprinted fabrics are amazing!! And when I saw them IRL I also got myself some Moda Grunge and a wee bit of black crosshatch - I have a loose plan for something Mondrian-esque. We shall see.

And then I bought these chaps from Leanne at the Little Housemartin. More hand prints with a birdie theme. I have a loose plan for these, too!

And my monthly bundle from the Village Haberdashery arrived. I do love myself some greens!!

And I didn't tell you I won a V.Habdash draw, did I? They were having a thing on Instagram and if you tagged a purchase from their shop you were entered into a draw. I won a fifty quid voucher!! SO exciting. My next project means free shopping, yay! Not a bad few weeks, eh?

socks the seventh

Yeah! Seven pairs of socks isn't a bad number, eh? That's one for every day of the week! Here's my first six pairs. If only I hadn't given all but one pair away. Doofus. 

These latest ones were for my pregnant work colleague who dropped many hints before Christmas. Hints like "I hope you're my Secret Santa so you can make me something." Heh heh. Subtle. She wasn't my giftee at Christmas but her birthday is in January so she got 2 balls of yarn and an IOU last month and this is them all finished! 

Her favourite colour is red and this "Warhol" colourway is the red-est Knitcol I could find. 

They are more magenta than red but are slightly more red than these photos show. It's a pretty colourway, all the same, and I do love that 4 and 4 rib all the way to the top.

So I'm on to a pair for ME! Same yarn, same pattern, different colourway. It's quite nice knowing I'll be keeping a pair! 

Caroline's socks yarny deets

Yarn - 2 x 50g Knitcol trends in 53, Warhol

Needles - 3.5mm dpns

Pattern - KnitFreedom beginners toe up for magic loop. Adapted for dpns and a 4 and 4 rib.

Stitches - 48 cast on and a Fleegle heel. Knit 36 rows from toe til instep increases for size 6. No top cuff.

the World Tour of Scotland (part 1)

Late last year we were discussing what we fancied for holidays in 2015. We think we might do our sunny week in the school hols in October this year instead of July. And a return to either Iceland or Disneyland Paris (both of which we loved) has been talked about for the summer. Which just left us with a few long weekends to fill. We often just do days-out but don't always get very far with one day's journey. And there's a LOT of Scotland we haven't seen. So we booked hotels in Aberdeen and Inverness and embarked upon our World Tour of Scotland (part 1 - with other parts to follow if it went well!) 

The idea was to get from one base to another however we saw fit. So in a straight line if the weather sucked or Chook's travel sickness reared it's unpredictable head. Or in a lazy meander with stops where we fancied if we weren't in a hurry. These photos are all phone pics since my tower is still in bits since the bedroom painting (nearly done - photos soon!!) so I can't get my stuff off my big camera. And Instagrammers will have seen a few of these already. But I'm gonna show you anyway. 

Day 1 - home to Aberdeen. No pics! An unscheduled post-sick stop at Falkland was a lovely diversion. Sun was out, gift shops open and everyone absolutely lovely. We spent so long here that the scheduled look round RRS Discovery in Dundee was culled - we passed by and waved though. Followed by a pitstop at Forfar for a bridie! Best I've tasted - deserving of the reputation!

Day 2 - Aberdeen to Inverness. Me an' Chook getting sandblasted in Fraserburgh. Absolutely beautiful wee beach and Scotland's first lighthouse! (not in pic!) We moseyed along the coast and stopped at Portsoy and Buckie (where my paternal Grandmother hails from) and ate at the KFC in Elgin. Coz we're classy like that and all the hunners of pretty tea rooms seemed to be behind us!

This is as we're coming into Inverness. It was a stunning sunset badly captured by me from the car.  *g*

Day 3 - Inverness to John O'Groats and back. We stopped halfway up this mental road to get photos (in a layby, we're not completely mad) and I have totally forgotten the name. Sarah? Gonnie remind me?

Nicely segueing into a stop at the Wee Dude and Moo's house!! When Sarah found out we were going to John O'Groats she told us we literally pass the end of her road. We literally did!! Well we didn't, obvs, we went for a visit instead! Moo was the most charming baby you could wish to meet.  Honestly, she is a total poppet, Spouse was quite smitten. And Mum and Dad In-a-Cupboard were proper lovely although I'd met Mum before. Twice! She made the most incredible chocolate cake (Chook hasn't stopped going on about it!) and pancakes!! My favourite. Ooh, and I got something handmade but I'm going to show it proper another day. My only regret is we couldn't stay longer but thank you so much for having us and feeding us and letting us use the facilities. *g*

John O'Groats! It was misty and cold but at least dry! There was actually more there than I expected. Chook managed to buy some tat for her keyring collection and a pony which I christened John O'Oats. Snarfle.

The only pic of the 3 of us we got the whole 4 days. Better than nowt though, right?

And the mist descended in a slightly alarming fashion on the way back. Maybe 20m visibility? But at least it wasn't dark and the car was working, right? Wrong.

About 5 miles after this the car lurched, the engine management light came on and the engine started juddering most uncomfortably. We were 60 miles north of Inverness in the middle of nowhere with a misfiring car. Long story short, after consulting the t'Interwebs we tootled down the road anxiously watching every passing mile and safely got to Inverness. And then debated what to do about getting home today. Leave the car and get the train home? Trailer the car? Take it to a garage? Try and get home the 140 miles in "limp mode."

Day 4 - Inverness to home. We eventually plumped for the last option - largely because it was Sunday and our other options were super limited! And you know, the roads and traffic were kind and we made it! We obviously took the absolute quickest and easiest route so our planned trip over the Cairngorms was kiboshed but, y'know, big picture an'all that! There's a barrage of phonecalls in our future to get it fixed but we have another car at least in the meantime so we're not stuck. Could have been a lot worse. I'm such a hopeless optimist.*g*

So, will there be a Tour part 2? I think so. Chook was only sick once (20 minutes from home on the way out!) and was a wee darling with all the car miles. We all enjoyed the stops we made but maybe not all the travelling - we spread ourselves a bit thin, I think. But yeah, I'd definitely go way north again and I've never been to any Western Isles. And I'd love to take Chook to Whithorn where I holidayed as a child. But maybe not at Easter, a few days holiday at home sounds lovely and relaxing right now!