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 :)...

The same... but different

It is truly amazing what a week away from the routine can do. We rent a cottage in the Lake District every Eastern and even though we are the same people and the basics of meals, laundry, tidying are the same somehow it is more relaxing, more serene and happier when we are there.
It could be the fact that genetically we respond better to a good dose of northern air, the fact that we are out of doors almost all day (how long can two small boys spend throwing stones into rivers - lots) and we all sleep better - and as we all know - a happy well-rested mummy makes for a happy household.
Either way, now we are home and I face the laundry mountain and the amount of Knitting that didn't get done on holiday, I have lots of happy memories.







In case you are wondering - the last one is of DS2 who is flying a kite on Middle Fell, Wasdale (approx 1800 feet of ascent). Poor mummy was recovering with a cup of coffee - DS1 and DS2 were capering about flying kites - oh to have 6-year old legs again :)

Anti-Winter Hat

For some weeks (months) now I have been wanting to knit myself a good warm chunky hat but didn't as I foolishly thought Spring would be just around the corner. In the end I snapped, and in the manner of always carrying an umbrella on a hot summer day (to ward off rain) I decided to go ahead and knit the chunky hat - thus neatly provoking the weather gods into giving us our Spring back.

I found this cute pattern on Ravelry - Chunky Dean Street Hat and I used some Sublime organic merino dk yarn (held double to give an approximate chunky weight)



Of course, I didn't stop to swatch or measure my head - being too busy beating those weather gods at their own game - so I made the M size which turned out to be too small for my larger-than-I-thought head.

Still, never mind. DS2 loves it and it might fit him for a few winters to come.

Quick update

In true British fashion we will kick off the update meeting with 'Apologies for absence' and move swiftly on...

Suffice to say that my life is a lot like that variety act you used to see on TV where one poor soul tries to keep a succession of spinning plates in the air at once. No sooner do you get most of them spinning around nicely, than another poor forgotten plate at the end crashes to the ground. These days it seems that I can find time to knit, publish patterns, mother small boys, go to work, run a home, be a good wife and blog but not all at the same time (and not in that order I hasten to add).

Anyway, as spring seems to have forgotten about us in my little corner of Essex I have been ignoring all my WIPs and cheering myself up with some nice new projects:

First up is Olinda in some lovely Jarol Heritage dk yarn (Teal) for my delightful four year old red-headed niece. This is just her colour and I'm hoping she will get a lot of wear out of it when the warmer weather finally arrives.



Next up we have my Rowan Moon socks which knit up really quickly but seemed to take me forever to publish. The yarn is in the delicious 'Chocolate' colourway from the Knitting Goddess. I've tried many (many) sock yarns but I always come back to her fabulous superwash BFL sock yarn.





And finally, because I am an eternal optimist and in spite of all the evidence to the contrary I do firmly believe that Spring will soon be here, a sneak peak of my latest sock design:

Revelation

In my ongoing destash attempts I unearthed 4 100g skeins of Trekking XXL in a muted heather/brown colourway - originally bought for this tunic dress. Until I came to my senses and realised that I was never going to knit 12 inches of K1, P1 ribbing in sock weight yarn - what was I thinking?

So, back into the stash it went, largely forgotten until I heard a chance mention of the use of sock weight yarn held double to give a worsted weight - revelation!

So, out came the Trekking XXL and the 4.5mm needles and in just two days I had a cute baby sweater to fit a 1 year old - fabulous result. Pattern: here



The yarn felt a little scratchy whilst I was working with it but I am happy to report that it softened up very well on washing and looks like it will be a perfect jumper for a rough-and-tumble little boy.

So this leads on perfectly to my 52 weeks of happy post for this this week:
1. The joys of using sock yarn doubled - surveying my stash with new eyes.
2. Having a working boiler, heat, warmth and a roof over our heads (had some boiler problems which got me to thinking about people who have to live on the streets on the cold nights we have been having)
3. Planning our next trip to the Lake District - cottage is booked - yay
4.  Loving the soothing green tea which I am constantly sipping (the sinus infection which is currently requiring the green tea, is not on the list of favourite things - lol)

Winter Footstep Socks

Just dashing through to let you know that my new pattern: Winter Footstep Socks is now available to buy through Ravelry. It is a toe-up sock with a simple, easy to memorise zig-zag lace pattern which practically knits itself - well, not quite - but you know what I mean :)



And for the early birds among you, there is a 50% discount running until 10th February 2013 (23:59 GMT) - just use the coupon code EARLYBIRD at the checkout.

52 Weeks of Happy #3

Much hard work in the Madmum household this week, with an early spring clean and a bedroom move for my two boys - moving them into the bigger spare bedroom (along with all - yes all- of their toys). No more Lego mountains in the living room - well, that's my grand plan anyway.

So my happy things this week:

1. An afternoon off work, hot coffee, knitting and Downton Abbey re-runs
2. Decluttering my stash and reducing two big, unruly shelves of yarn to 4 orderly plastic crates
3. Digging out some of the aforementioned stash and ... horrors... actually casting on with it - The Infinitude Scarf pattern since you ask.

1. Bright blue sunny skies today, and small snowdrops peeping up in the garden.