52 Weeks of happy

An easy post this week:

1. Spring has definitely arrived. Admittedly we have very strong winds - enough to simultaneously blow my skirt over my head and blow my scarf off (an Ishbel since you ask) whilst on the school run yesterday. This caused my children and the workmen opposite to fall about in equal amounts of hysterical laughter.

2. In honour of Spring I made a scrummy Tomato and Basil salad - no photos sadly as it didn't last long enough.

3.Listening to myself being featured on a podcast. The lovely ladies over at Twinset Designs Podcast, jan and Ellen, mentioned me in their 'Featured Designer' slot which I was hugely thrilled and excited about. I explained to the boys that mummy needed some quiet time to listen to a podcast because I was in it - so now they think I am famous :)

4.Getting my new sock pattern into testing after a bit of a hiatus.

5. Celebrating No.4 with a gratifying garter stitch project for me:

The Stripe Study Shawl.

I can't think why I haven't knit this before as I have admired it from afar for ages. I think I dithered over colour choices so much that eventually I got bored and wandered off to something brighter and shinier. But this time two skeins of yarn jumped out at me (almost literally as I am having a big stash reorganisation here) and I decided to combine some Trekking XXL in a rather sombre grey with some beautiful vibrant, sparkly teal yarn from the very talented dyer Sparkleduck.

I am about 9 repeats in now and am really loving the combination of yarn and pattern - a match made in heaven.

52 weeks of Happy (sort of)

Missed a few weeks what with one thing another, but hey ho... I'll carry on regardless.

So here I am with my cup of tea and raining lashing the windows - Spring must surely be coming soon!

Things that have made me happy this week:

1. Seeing the daffodils poking their heads out in the garden. never mind the fact that the poor things have probably been flattened by now. They were nice while they lasted.

2. The Great British Sewing Bee on TV has been much admired and written about elsewhere but suffice to say that I am really enjoying it. Gone are the horrors of school domestic science and the nightmare of the 'work apron' we were required to make by our brogue-wearing teacher. I bought the book and devoured it. This leads directly to point No. 3:

3. My new curtain:



My bathroom has been in dire need of a little prettifying for a while and inspired by the book, I dug out my old sewing machine and went for it. The seams are wobbly enough to give The Sewing Bee judges the vapours but it does the job and I'm now on the look out for my next project.

4. Lingering memories of being in the Lakes and the joy of looking through all our photos deciding which ones to print and frame.

5. Hysterics which greated DHs attempts to fit DS2 with a climbing harness ready for our next trip. This time he improvised with ropes to make a basic harness and top-roped them on some small boulders near Wastwater. Next time he would like them to be a little more adventurous and for that they need a proper 'sit' harness. The only problem is that DS2 is tall, skinny and has absolutely no bum, hips or anything to affix a harness too.

Oh how I wish I had that problem :)...

Happy Thoughts - Week 2

1. DS1 offering me the remains of his Christmas selection box to cheer me up after a bad (read: very bad) day at work.

2. DH's birthday tea with a homemade and hand decorated cake. Think: 2 small boys, handfuls of chocolate decorations and edible glitter. Put it this way - Mary Berry has nothing to worry about, but they were very proud of it. (It made the kitchen clean-up worthwhile)

3. Changing the bed sheets yesterday and after a hard day, sliding into clean, fresh, warm (finally remembered to plug the electric blanket in) sheets - bliss

4. A new sock pattern heading off to my lovely band of testers:



Now, hopefully to head off for a lovely relaxing family weekend (fingers crossed)...

Happy thoughts - late start

As ever, I am a little late to the party with this one, but I have been inspired by several other blogs namely: Notes from the Slow Lane and Little Tin Bird.

It is the 52 weeks of Happy; to blog each week about 4 things which have made you happy. In my attempt to focus on the positive in 2013 (rather than getting hung up about things I should have done) this seemed like the perfect idea. I'm going to try and do this every Friday to remind me of the good things about the week and to remind me that even though it has been a typical week in the Madmum household (sick child, knackered car, too much rushing around) there are lots of Good Things to celebrate too:


So, for this week's installment:

1. A new finished sock pattern (name to be decided) but the pattern is fun and quick to work.

2. A fabulous winter wonderland walk in -8 degrees. Bracing and good for killing germs!



3. An exceedingly tasty chilli which I made, after the previously mentioned walk (to warm us up again)

4. Watching DS1 and DH snuggle on the sofa in front of a fire, DS1 reading to his daddy before bedtime - a rare treat.