Strawberries and cream ripple scarf

The second day of 2010 and we have just discovered mice in the kitchen.  They have apparently been getting in through a disused water pipe and enjoying the life of riley in the back of the food cupboard munching on monster-munch and dried pasta. 

So tomorrow there will be some small renovations taking place to block their entrances, and while we're at it we thought we might start making the finishing touches to the kitchen too. It has been two years since the major renovations to our little Victorian cottage were made and there are still many bits to complete.  2010 is the year to complete them!  No doubt there will be plenty of before and after shots to come this year!

But for now back to the more serious business of yarn and hooks.  As promised yesterday, today I have more on the progress of my ripple scarf...

Having discovered Attic24's tutorial on how to make a ripple pattern I grabbed some random yarn and set out to practice...

But I loved the strawberries and cream colours and the enjoyed the easy pattern so much I just kept going...

And going...

And, er, going...

I am really enjoying the pattern and it is nice to have something nice and simple to do in front of the telly, or in bed, or in the car, or on the train.  I want it to be reeeeeally long, the kind of scarf that you can wrap your neck twice and still have it trailing past your waist, cosy, warm and scrumptious looking.  And for scrumptiousness one needs flowers as embellishment I think?!  Well that's what I will be teaching myself to do tonight - flowers, more on those tomorrow!

Today there was no time for crochet flowers as we made the most of one of the last family days we all have before work and real life resumes.  We took another trip down to Knowle Park...

It was a glorious sunny freezing day and the deers were enjoying the sunshine.  Lillia was ultra grumpy but then as we joined a number of others watching the herd a small deer just wandered straight up to her and nuzzled her tummy...

Then she brushed her face against Lillia's before letting her stroke her...

We have no idea why the deer singled her out but it was absolutely magical.  Hubby thinks she was attracted to Lillia's bright coat, I prefer to think she wanted to cheer Lillia up :)

A good start to the year xx

January

Happy New Year!

Boy am I glad to see the back of 2009, for all its joys and good bits there was a lot of difficulty and heartache and overall it was a very difficult year.  But hey, it is now behind us and here we are in January, the gateway to a new year, with lots to plan for and look forward to.

But first let me take a moment to look back slightly to Christmas!  What a lovely one we had, the perfect finish to the year.  We spent a ridiculous amount of time on motorways visiting family...

I had plenty of time to get on with some crochet.  I looked to one of my favourite blogs of this year, Attic24, for her instructions for the ripple pattern and started a small practice piece. After a couple of inches though I decided to just keep going and make a scarf.  I started it on my journey home from work on Christmas Eve, then continued in the wee small hours of Christmas morning at my mum's house before everyone else was awake (one of my most very favourite moments of the year)...

I kept going in the car on the way to my Dad's on Boxing Day...

More on the progress of this tomorrow!

I got some excellent books this year. 

First up, and a strong contender for the Worlds Best Book title, is Toilet Roll Covers, by Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer...

Full of crochet and knitting patterns to make a variety of lovely toilet roll covers, this book was from my sister who requested the Coming Up Roses design for her birthday at the end of this month, so I will start this in the next few days...

I am acutely aware that this will no doubt be the first of many and that a love affair with toilet roll covers is about to blossom!  Myself, I fancy a bit of bling in my bathroom...

Next up, from my dear mummy, Crops in Pots, by Bob Purnell...

Last year, fed up with waiting for our tiny garden to be sorted out and a vegetable patch established, I grew some carrots rather successfully in a relatively small pot.  Having gone on at length about this success my mum decided perhaps it was time to branch out from carrots to other things.  This book is utterly brilliant and I am now itching to track down the seeds and pots I need to get started when planting season begins in the next couple of months.  Top of my list is pea pods with sweet peas in a hanging basket...

And sunflowers and runner beans...

I can't wait!  Three-year-old Lillia is especially excited about this one as she really wants to grow sunflowers.

Hubby bought me a book and kit on Stenciling in the Style of the Edwardian Lady...

It has a book and instructions and the various tools and paints needed.  I am not sure how well I do with this, painting has never been my strong point, but I am looking forward to trying it out.  I like the orange and pink flowers on the cover, I just love those colours together. And I also love the idea of stencilling like a ladeee.

My sister bought me a copy of the December Ideal Home magazine, which I spent a happy hour reading in the bath on Christmas day along with a lovely Lush Pud bath bomb...

What a fabulous magazine this is!  I made notes on nearly every page, which I realise is a bit nerdy, but I am now full of ideas.

And finally, from my Dad, not a book but a new toy....

Say cheese!

So with a wonderful Christmas behind us I am looking forward to tackling 2010, to crocheting toilet roll holders, finding old pots to put to new use, planting lots of vegetables, stencilling, crafting, sewing and being with my family.  I am looking forward to days out and days in.  I want to make a return to mosaics, if the arthiritis allows me. Above all I want to appreciate everything I have and will have, be kind to my friends and to myself, and look after my family in the best way I can every single day.

The scarf is calling, so I am taking a blanket and my crochet bag to bed along with a cup of tea, and just maybe a biscuit or two :)

One Year today

One year ago today - on the winter solstice 2008 - I started this blog.

Happy Blogiversary to me!

I started out just wanting to document an attempt to build creativity into daily life - around family, motherhood, work and illness.  The idea was to reconnect with the creative person I was before I had all the responsibility and all the worries I have now.  One year on I can say hand on heart without a shadow of a doubt that this little adventure in blogging has worked for me more than I ever imagined it could.

Creativity is a huge part of my daily life and the person I am once more, and I am better for it.  I am not afraid of what I do, or what others might think of it anymore. I am not afraid to let the housework slide once in a while in favour of a night of mosaicing, crocheting, stitching or drawing.  This is thanks largely to the online community of crafters and creative types who share their ideas, knowledge and conviction. Over the past year I have been inspired by so many wonderful crafting bloggers who have quite literally changed my outlook on art, craft and..well...life.  I truly mean that.

If I get an idea in my head I grab a biro and a scrap of paper and sketch it down.  I wouldn't have done that before, I would have just dismissed it and moved on.  I might not always get around to bringing the idea to fruition very quickly but I now have a notebook crammed full of ideas and inspiring pictures, sketches and notes.  The ideas therefore are out there in the world, just waiting to be, not locked away in the dark (slightly scary) recesses of my mind!

I played around to make some lovely little mosaics of the past year of creativity.  Of things I made...

And of things I loved, things that inspired me, and things I found....

Of course there are a zillion half-finished works in progress still to be finished, mainly mosaics put to one side since summer, which I gaze at everyday not with disappointment but with excitement for what these will become.

So, at the end of my year do I say a fond farewell and close the doors to snipsnaphappy's world? 

I am not sure very many people read this little corner of blogville, the ones that do though have left such encouraging comments.  But it was never about people reading really, it was just about sharing the adventure, making a commitment, and learning.   I hope, of course, that some people might have stumbled through here and found some inspiration.

Me?  Well I have benefited in more ways than I could ever have hoped for in starting this blog.  The fact is I can't imagine not documenting what I am doing, and taking the pictures is almost as fun as making the creations. 

So yes snipsnaphappy will go on another year.  Not with the purpose of building creativity into daily life, that has already been achieved, but as a commitment to doing what I enjoy and as a record for my children, and for my family, maybe one day even my customers!  Well...you never know ;)

So merry yuletide everyone, enjoy the winter solstice and of course...

...merry Christmas :)

xx

Day 365: Hang on...

Day 365?  Doesn't that make a year?

Yes - looking back I see I started this blog on 21st december last year, which means tomorrow is my One Year Blogiversary!  Well well.

Less of me today then, I need time to prepare a good anniversary entry tomorrow!  In the meantime I will leave you with a couple of pics of the snow here in our little corner of Kent, this has been causing untold excitement in the snipsnaphappy household let me tell you!

One year?!  Where did the time go...

Day 358: Little gifts

"I need neither future nor past, but to learn to take today not too fast. "
                                                                                       Jeb Dickerson

Christmas is a mad time for us, we spend a most of our weekends during December on motorways travelling up and down the country visiting our various parents and step-parents.  Creation continues though; car travel affords a bit of time to crochet or plan the next exciting crafty adventure in my head. 

Visiting friends and family means gifts are needed too, and what is more personal then a few little homemade treats?

For various friends and family around the country (and one international friend too) some radiator smellies were posted out this week...

I have to say I made rather a lot of them.

These are just a teeny sample.

They are extremely easy to make and the smell of the crushed cinnamon and cloves is just pure christmas indulgence.

 

                    

Here they are all wrapped up and ready to be posted out.  Excuse the office paraphenalia, I took these pictures at work as it's always too dark when I get home to get any pictures.  I expect they made the post office sorting room smell delightful!

I do love wrapping things up...

With lots of sparkle and festive touches...

Little fimo hearts and string made from recycled paper...

I also have a weakness for stickers, yum!

I hope the recipients are enjoying their little gifts as I write :)

For a much younger family member some more of the felt post I first made back in September...

Little Gracie is only 2 years old so she is just the right age for a bit of postal make believe!  I made sure nobody was left out of the fun of course...

The little letters to go inside have cardboard inside to make them a bit sturdier and easier to get in and out of the envelopes...

I love creating things as gifts, it is such a pleasure, I just wish I had more free time to do it!

xx

Day 349: Moving on...

Thanks very much for the comments on yesterday's post, I am glad I mentioned it rather than glossing it over, life is not all leisurely crochet days and Cath Kidston bags after all!  Sometimes the crappy stuff gets in the way.

Blog-wise I am shaking it off *shake shake* and moving on...

Say hello to Janome...

An early Christmas present from my Dad, and it arrived just at the right time.  That little union jack there in front of it is the last part of my anniversary pressie from my hubby - a super cute little Cath K pin cushion! 

My plan for today was to spend the entire day playing with my new toy.  But then the Movies24 channel did something incredible.  It has changed for the month of December to...

Christmas24.  Christmas films 24 hours a day.  And not just any Christmas films...but really really bad, drastically awful, smulchy dreadful Christmas films. FANTASTIC!!  So now today has been spent playing with my new sewing machine and watching endless festive films of the worst possible quality.  It has been just what I needed.  Perfect.

What have I been making with my new machine?  Well I have run out of light to photograph the finished articles but here are some pictures of the componant parts...

I will get photos of the results for you tomorrow, lets just say that right now my house smells like Santa's grotto with all the cinnamon and clove scents wafting around!  Divine.

Ali

xx

A little blip...

It's hard to know how much of real life should spill into a blog such as this. 

The main topic of this blog is building crafts and arts and lovely such stuff into my busy every day life as a working mum.  I want the feel to be happy and cosy, the tone to be that of a conversation with an old friend about I've been up to lately.  I want it to be the kind of blog that leaves people, including me, feeling nice inside.  Which is why it's difficult to let reality, the hard side of life, seep in.  But seep in it does.

I had a miscarriage yesterday.  I was six weeks pregnant, it was early days, it was all very straight forward, not much pain involved other than heartache.  This news has nothing to do with crochet, or crafts, or baking, or making dolls or mosaics or happy things so it really should have no place here.

Normal crafting cosy happiness will resume in the next post, life does after all go on.  But if I were catching up with an old friend then that is what I would tell them.  Off topic or not. We lost our baby yesterday, and that hurts.