Monkey madness

Hello hello! And how are you enjoying all this delicious rain, hmm?  Just right for me, warm and rainy...perfect. 

Things here in the Snipsnaphappy household are Busy (note the capital B).  But fear not, I have still found the time to get some lovely things hooked up!  When I made this little fellow for Mr Snipsnaphappy's birthday earlier this year I knew that more would inevitably follow, the pattern is, after all, so simple and fun and I'm a simple kind of gal.

This time around I had a little help beside me as I hooked away, Phoebe is by my side chilling out with her fat little legs kicking away...

With her help I finally managed to finish the latest pair of monkeys, resplendent in girly pink this time...

These two girls are currently in a box (with airholes of course) on their way to their new owners, who I hope will love them.  I very nearly kept them, it was hard to let go!  If you are looking for a first arigurumi pattern this one really is worth a go, it's really easy to follow and good fun to do.  It was my first one and I really enjoyed it.

In non-making news I have been unbelieveably absorbed in daily family life.  Plus I have been into hopsital for my drug treatment to bring my ulcerative colitis under control.  I did take a picture of the IV line into my arm to share with you but then I had a moment of clarity and suddenly realised that it would be a bit..well..a bit eeew.  So far so good on that front, getting slowly better :)

And in making news I have more to share!  I am back on my Happy Hooker Backwards mission, oh yes!  I am very excited to share with you my next project as I actually had to modify the pattern so much I ended up writing my own!  My very own crochet pattern!  Tune in here tomorrow for more...

Rocks and flowers

I just wanted to share with you some lovely sunny pictures taken over the weekend.  With Mr Snipsnaphappy away on a stag weekend (axe throwing and whisky drinking) the girls and I decamped to my mum's house with it's large sunny back garden, and of course the extra pair of hands offered by Granny!

There is something about bright flowers on a backdrop of stones on a hot day, I just can't resist taking photos of them...

I even got a chance (ok about five minutes) to put my tootsies up and browse through the latest Ideal Home magazine.  I like to play my own personal game of "When I Have My Forever House I Will...." when browsing through interiors magazines.  In this case When I Have My Forever House I Will have a guest room that looks very much like this...

*sigh* How lovely :)

Not so sunny the last couple of days of course, but that's fine with me, I do love a bit of rain. Half term is now over, Lillia is back at school & we are on the last leg of the school year...lots of change and transition afoot this year...

R.I.P My Favourite Jeans

It was inevitable.  My most favourite jeans ever have finally given up the ghost.  The denim had worn so thin it had become impossible to continue to sew the holes that kept appearing.

*sigh*

There was no way they were to be consigned to the bin, that would have been far too environmentally unsound and those jeans and me have been through far too much together to part company forever. No. The only option was to find a new purpose for them.  Thank goodness for Very Purple Person and her Reversible Bag pattern...

My favourite jeans ever and I are now enjoying a whole new lease of life together!

The contrast fabric is a wonderfully sturdy organic and fairtrade cotton from this fabulous UK company.  I added my little wooden tags too...

My new bag is my new favourite and, rather like my old most favourite jeans (ever), we are having lots of adventures together :)

The Matryoshka returns

Quite some time ago I wrote a tutorial to make one of my matryoshka dolls.  I created a rather rough-round-the-edges template and used Scribd.com to share it.  However many readers have had troubles downloading the file :( I have been happily emailing out copies when requested but then I discovered Google docs...so I have now updated the link in my original tutorial.  If you would like to download the lovely but scribbly hand-drawn template you can now do so here.

Strangely this all coincides with the discovery of an unfinished matryoshka doll...

Whilst having a clear out I discovered this doll still waiting to be brought to life - completed and pinned and ready to sew, but somehow found hiding in the bottom of my "To Do" basket.  I had no idea what she looked like as I have no recollection of making her. 

This made the sewing process rather exciting! Two minutes on the sewing machine and I turned out this beautiful lady...

A bit of stuffing and a quick application of make-up and the latest Matryoshka was ready to face the world!  Please meet...Thomasina!

She may look like a Lady but Thomasina has a past.  Yes indeed.  When I asked Mr Snipsnaphappy his opinion on the following photo (I wanted to know if it showed Thomasina's best side) he felt it looked as though she was "standing in the light of a street lamp waiting for trade"...

Thomasina is a bad girl made good, working her way up and out of the streets and onto a better life in the leafy Kentish suberbs.  She spreads the word of the Matryoshka Doll Tutorial and encourages people to make their own beautiful friends for themselves and for others!  You should listen to her - go try the tutorial! And do stop by to let me know how you got on :)

x

Big Happy Blanket - April/May update

Caution: This post contains highly colourful scenes of a crocheted nature.

During my unexpected blogging break during April I became a whole year older.  I am now at an age where I keep forgetting how old I am, I find myself counting back to 1977 to work it out.  I'll let you do the maths! My birthday was a rather understated affair as I was rather sickly with sinusitis (never had it before and never want it again, yuck).  Hubby still owes me a White Company wild mint scented candle too as we never made it to the shops to get it... *COUGHITYCOUGH*

Also during April the Big Happy blanket became ever so slightly bigger.

I took all these pictures on Easter Sunday, which was a few weeks ago now, so as I type it is bigger still.

So far the blanket is earning its name.  It is very hard not to get happy when you look at it :)  The colours are completely random and usually based on whatever colour Lillia pulls out of the bag to use next. I am loving how it is coming together.  I am looking forward to the chilly winter days already....only 7 months until Christmas you know, I'd best speed up.

Trying to be clever I went upstairs to get an "aerial" photo of it...

...I wonder if you can see it from space yet?

Hello.

Major apologies for my sudden extended absence.  Our 5-year-old had one day short of three weeks off for the Easter holidays, and with the extended bank holiday weekend for Kate and Wills everything turned into a kind of long and lazy holiday.

The weather has been...well...pretty spectacular. We've had many long,warm,sunny days here in the south of England so there's been lots of yummy eating and drinking in the outdoors...

Pimms o'clock gets earlier and earlier ;)

The Royal Wedding weekend was a patriotic fest of fun and champagne :)  Seriously, there's nothing like a bit of good old British pomp and ceremony to cheer you up and give you the excuse to drink before midday.

And during this little hiatus from blogging I have also been doing a small amount of naval-gazing.  To be or not to be?  To blog or not to blog?  Well....

I have been blogging since before blogs existed - anyone remember Diaryland? ;)  When I was very sick I blogged through it and never thought about stopping because it was essential to me.  If I'm completely honest I edit myself a lot more on Snipsnaphappy.  So do I stay or do I go?  Well I will always blog that's for sure, so now it's to decide what kind of change I need to make.

In the meantime though there has been a lot of creating going on and I have plenty to share with you.  So please bare with me whilst I am indecisive, there's plenty to keep you distracted whilst I muse.

I need to share with you the progress on the Big Happy blanket...

..and a few other things besides...

And finally...I am feeling MUCH better these days.  More on this in a future post but I am almost feeling kind of normal again.  More from me in a day or two, but for now I have a glass of wine and Eurovision.  Until next time dear readers...

xx

I'm still alive...

...do not fear dear readers I am still alive!  But I have been pulled in the very busy direction of easter holidays and school events.  I'll be back, very soon I promise, very very soon!

xx