My new addiction

Please forgive the horrendous quality of this photo, someone has misplaced the cord to upload my camera photos to my computer!!!

This time of the year invariably finds me dragging out the knitting needles and spending far too much time lurking around Ravelry, but this year there is an added source of yarny inspiration for me. It's called YouTube. You may have heard of it...perhaps....unless you live under a rock...like apparently I do...

So yes, obviously we have all heard of YouTube, but did you know about knitting podcasts???????? Oh my wordy Lordy, there are podcasts on knitting!!!!!!! And not only that, there are some amazing podcasts on knitting!!!!!

Which are my favourites I hear you ask? Here are a few I'm binge watching:

Legacy Knitz; yes, I'm a knerdz. Mother and daughter, Sue and Chelsea, who between them rack up an astonishing amount of knitted goodness. Every week.

Knitting Expat; Mina is a machine, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. She has only been knitting for a couple of years but has more finished objects than most knitters could amass in a lifetime. In January she completed an astonishing 35 pairs of socks. 35 pairs. In one month. She has a quick video on YouTube showing her knitting technique and it's no wonder she can fly through them all so quickly.

Cherry Heart: I blame my addiction to these podcasts on Sandra because hers was the first one I watched and she mentioned other podcasts that also led me to other podcasts that led me..... Sandra is not only a knitter though, she is also a crocheter and does a bit of sewing, just like me.

So all my spare time (of which I have very little) is spent with these goddesses of the yarny world, so much so that I have had to administer a new life rule, I must knit whilst watching podcasts. Otherwise I would not get anything done, ever.

Have you watched any good knitting podcast? Care to share your favourites?

Cheers

Is it really March already?

The little bit of renovating I've been working on

Hello again. I haven't been around for a while but I haven't really had much to say. I can't believe that March is here already!

I've been working on a little bit of renovating, and that combined with work and the Etsy shop hasn't left me with much time to spend on anything else. I did become a Great Aunt again a few weeks ago to the most divine baby boy so that was very exciting!

Right now though I am just looking forward to real Autumn weather to hit us, at the moment we are still experiencing 30 degree temperatures every day and it hasn't rained in over six weeks, I am looking forward to some serious gardening when the cool weather finally arrives.

I'll be back soon.
R

Free crochet dishcloth pattern

I absolutely loathe plastic cloths and sponges in the kitchen, the stinky, smelly things. Although I have been using cloth dishcloths for more years than I can count (OK, slight exaggeration there) I have only been making my own for a couple of years. This has become more important since moving to our little smallholding as we are on a septic system for our waste water. The last thing we want is little bits of plastic sponge floating in the septic tank. Ugh, like those things aren't disgusting enough (although not as disgusting as you might think, but that's a story for another day).

I love everything about these dishcloths. I love that I make them with a natural fibre. I love that the bobbley, popcorny surface makes them great for a really good scrub. I love that they last for ages. And most importantly I love that because I make mine from cotton when they eventually wear out I can just throw the worn cloth on the compost heap. Freaking awesome.

I have no idea where I found this pattern, I'm sure there a gazillion other patterns similar to this, but here it is:

Crochet Dishcloth Pattern

US terms used.

Using whatever yarn you like, and a hook size that is suitable, chain in multiples of 2 + 1. I use a worsted (10ply) weight cotton with a 5mm hook and start with 29 or 31 chains.

Row 1: Treble crochet into 2nd chain from the hook, single into next. Continue TR, SC until the end of the chain. Ch1, turn.

Row 2: SC across row. Ch1, turn.

Repeat rows 1&2 until the cloth reaches a size you are happy with. I generally do 11 or 12 repeats. Do not turn when you reach the end of row 2 on your final repeat. Simply continue to SC around the remaining 3 sides of the cloth. End with a slip stitch into the first SC. Cut yarn and weave in ends.

Cheers

In the garden

 The artichoke patch

 The garlic is going so well you can almost see it growing!

 The seed potatoes are now in

 Yummy loquats straight from the tree

The lilypads are starting to flower

All these photos were taken with my phone so please forgive the poor quality.

xx

A white cottage

What the?

Did I mention this blog is my first step towards world domination? Mwahahaha.

Not really. To be honest some days I'd be happy with just conquering the housework. But don't worry, I'm sure we'll be back to regular programming shortly.

Have I ever mentioned my love of white? No? Well the secret's out, I love white. All shades of white. Everywhere. In fact, this little cottage dreams of being a white cottage when it grows up (although last month's Country Style magazine cover did cause some angst over whether to be a charcoal cottage with a sunny yellow front door!). When we moved in it was all colours of beige, with blue, aubergine and chocolate feature walls, definite no-nos in a house this small and dim. The perfect place to indulge my love of white.

I have been leaving any major work on our house until we decide what to do with it. Will we extend or won't we? If I win the lottery this week then that question becomes substantially easier, but just in case I don't, I have decided it's time to get started regardless. I can live with the status quo no longer!

I have already done a little painting but as soon as the weather warms up I will attack it with a renewed sense of purpose. And to the carpet, your days are numbered.

Here's a little inspiration

 

An all white cottage - Source


An all white kitchen, although I am considering timber worktops -  Source


Perhaps a little black in the bathroom? Source

A little pop of colour in the bedroom? Source 

Ahh white, you make my heart go all pitty-pat!'

And in case you have never seen it (and unless you know me well, you haven't because I have refused to show it before now), here is the cottage when we moved in...

Argh, the purple! The not quite matching posts! The stick on house numbers! The crappy looking and totally not matching anything aluminium windows! But at least it has a white roof to get me started,  I told you there's a little white cottage in there just trying to get out.

xx

The Etsy shop is back in business

What's this?

Two posts in two days. The sky must be falling in!

This one is shameless self promotion, but who cares? It's my blog so why not?

After taking a bit of a break to complete a baby blanket for a friend in Canada I have re opened my Etsy shop.

This is the blanket, I adore the finished product but as it was made with very small stitches (all 17,113 of them) it seemed to take forever. Details Ravelled here.

Anyway, back to the shop. I have replaced almost all my hats with a new pattern featuring a stretchy ribbed edge for a perfectly snug fit. There are plenty of patterns out there for hats similar to this but this was my own pattern.

I've added a lovely wooden button to the unisex/boy's hat and the usual flower to the girl's. Available in lots of colours, with more being added.

And lastly, this is one of my old ones but the customer wanted a scarf to match and I was tickled pink with the outcome!

Somewhere in France there is a little girl wandering about in a hat and scarf made by me looking tres cute, mais oiu?

My Etsy shop is here.

xx

Our front fence, well half of it anyway...

Although have yet to really make our mark on our little 5 acres one thing we have done is build a few new fences, particularly part of the front fence. This is what the old fence looked like:

Complete with dead shrubs. And don't get me started on the fake grass.

This is what it looks like now:

Not a great photo as it was taken on my phone (but as a bonus I have included the girls, having just gotten off the bus), but a gorgeous fence nonetheless! And I'm sure it will look even better when the hedge has grown.

We are still only about half way along the front boundary, but this certainly gives us some incentive.

Cheers