Here comes the sun...

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted.

In the past month or so, Beau and I have been to Amsterdam, I've traveled for a week to Brussels with work and we've got a date to talk little acorns with the professionals. Wish us luck. Of course I'm needing to lose weight before the appointment, and I've been relatively successful, with the exception of the half of easter egg I've just scoffed!

Amsterdam was beautiful and just the pick me up I needed. I didn't realise I'd been in a fog since we had been stuck in dark and dreary winter with not even the joy of snow to get excited about. The sun is just the best anti-depressant for me.

Crochet is going marvelously. I follow the lovely Coco Rose Diaries and she had completed the most gorgeous shawl. I am now in the process of copying it. The rows and rows of grey were soul destroying but now I'm on colour rows it's nothing but joy. I can't wait to finish this part and then get on to the lace rows. I frankly can't wait to finish it and then get to wear it. It might be a little warm for summer as it's aran weight (I had some gorgeous natural blue faced Leicester that I wanted a special project for), but it won't stop me carting it around I'm sure! I'll post pictures when done.

and that was February

Oh time seems to be flying by. February seemed to be so much busier than planned! What did we achieve in February? A weekend away, a decision to buy a house (and we put in bids, but no joy as yet), Beau's birthday, a decision on producing our own little acorns, and a bit of a crochet block - but this comes and goes.

So first I'll start on our weekend away, such loveliness.

On Valentines day, we travelled to the lake district. Beau had bought us a weekend away for my birthday. Lowthwaite B&B where we like to stay is just lovely and Tine who runs the b&b makes the most amazing food. I was so excited to visit. Our drive was relatively uneventful but foggy and I spent a lot of the journey with my eyes shut. Needless to say, I wasn't driving!

On that first evening, Tine made us delicious venison stew, and followed it up with something that I can only say was divine. Almond meringue with blueberries and blackberries. (I attempted to make a version for Beau's birthday but I think we can safely say it was a disaster) Tine bought out the entire meringue, plate sized, and beau and I proceeded to polish it off while chatting over the space of an hour. We rolled to bed that night.

Saturday was a bit of a wash out, and although we went out to Ambleside for a gorgeous meal that night (and mistakingly parked by phone for 180 hours), not much else of interest happened - just a lot of relaxing, chocolate eating (courtesy of Valentine's day) and watching of the Olympics.

On Sunday, we travelled back to Ambleside, and after a small amount of shopping - to top up Beau's wardrobe after he's lost so much weight recently - we proceeded to walk from Ambleside to Grassmere. The weather was lovely and some of the views were breathtaking.

You forget how wonderful the lakes can be. In Grasmere, we had a while to wait a for the bus back to Ambleside and hence a found a yarn shop (oh it just appeared out of nowhere!) called Herdy. Beautiful bright colours in chunky wool. Have no idea what to do with the yarn as yet but I'm sure I'll come up with something!

The journey home on Monday was bittersweet. It was such a lovely time, I can't wait for us to go back. 

Beau's birthday was last week. For his birthday I took him to a new restaurant in Newcastle. Kenny Atkinson who I first saw on TV in Great British Menu has opened House of Tides and I was so excited to go. The meal was truly outstanding, expensive, but gorgeous. I've also organised for us to have a weekend away in September in a yurt in Northumberland. Oh joyousness!

As for crochet, oh I'm so behind with crochetmoodblanket2014! I should have made notes but I think I'll get back on it this week as long as mad march doesn't turn out like February! 

This week - a visit with my mother, a meal out with friends, and another visit from the financial advisor!

back to happy

Oh don't you just hate being ill? It was only a cold but having spent numerous nights coughing and not much sleeping, this weekend could not have come soon enough for me! At least during the weekend I get to see the sun! Oh please come back summer all is forgiven.
So, last week was my birthday (woo hoo!). I am now the grand old age of 36. I have to be honest, my birthday didn't start the best. I know I'm 36, but I still take my birthdays seriously! I want joy, I want fun! Not everyone feels the same way, and I felt quite woeful towards the end of the day. Bless Beau, he was amazing as usual. He's bought me a weekend away to my favourite B&B in the Lake District next weekend. This place is beautiful and probably just what I need for some respite (plus the owner makes the best cakes!). And on top of that joy awaiting me, he also organised a gorgeous meal at Vallum Farm in Northumberland. Upon arrival I notice our best friends waiting for us at the table. Oh bless I had such a good night (too good, by the distinct lack of alcohol left in bottles by the end of the night!). And my love was able to restore my faith in life again.

And without further ado, here are my latest squares for the crochet mood blanket. I think I may have finished one row!

love

I'm starting to love my very home made crochet mood blanket. My latest offering (below) just leapt out at me as an idea and though I pretty much made up the entire pattern, I think it still looks pretty good!

And so here we have week 4 - a little dark blue melancholy, a splash of pale green/blue for patience and a sparkling white tea cup for my current favorite tea room.

And one new mitten might be a while before I finish the next one!

our day out

For Christmas, I bought beau a day's wine tasting in our beautiful city. Yesterday was that day. Of course, I couldn't expect him to go alone, so I took one for the team and tagged along! We had decided earlier in the week that we would make a proper day of it and go out for breakfast (Quilliam Brothers, where else?!), and then following our day of wine and fine food, we took a trip to our local independent cinema called the Tyneside Cinema. This place is absolutely lovely. If you get seats upstairs which are a bit more pricy, you actually get a sofa and can get wine and snacks delivered to you. Bliss. 

I started the day wandering around the city, in a bit of disbelief. I'm not a morning person, and seeing the city so early in the morning (OK, 9am) was a bit of a revelation. OK so it's January, and any city in the UK will look dull and grey, but it was so much quieter than I expected. I was practically skipping along the streets. For the first hour of the day, I took a number of photos, and then of course wine got involved and I forgot all about my camera!

This is the Quilliam Brothers. Such a gorgeous place to have good tea and lovely food. We grabbed ourselves a window seat and watched the world go by for an hour or so.

And so the day was lovely. Wine tasting was great fun, and the food at Blackfriars was divine.

Slightly worse for wear, we then head over to the cinema for 12 Years a Slave. For the record, I hated about the first half of this film, and then it started to grow on me. The arrival of Brad Pitt just made me roll my eyes. He was completely miss cast, and frankly irritating. Regardless by the end, I did enjoy the film. Quite emotional. A realistic portrayal of life at that point in time, I'm sure.

I'm back on the love of crochet again. I'm just about finishing a gorgeous cowl for a friend using stash from my cardigan that I recently finished. I've just started a cable cardigan in crochet too. I can already see this pattern is going to be challenging as I've never attempted anything like this in crochet. This is the pattern, though I'm using beautiful aran bluefaced leicester yarn which I purchased last year from Yarndale 2013. This lovely natural yarn has been calling for a special project and so something as delicate and divine below seemed to be a match made in heaven!

Very exciting. And after spending the day in the cold yesterday, I've decided I need some mittens. Found a lovely free pattern so that's another work that needs to start! 

As for #crochertmoodblanket2014, I'm on track still! I'm not sure if I like the square for week 3 and I haven't really thought about week 4! But I have started joining (something else I haven't really done in the past). It's slowly getting there. 

show me the money

The last few days have been very good. Got a pay rise from work which becomes effective next month. I read somewhere that men believe they are worth what they earn, women believe they are lucky. I always feel I'm lucky! Beau and I are still living in rented accommodation. I'd really like to buy our own house at some point (this year or next), but money is something we need to sort out, so a pay rise is very welcome at this point!

Tonight, the girls and I are out for a meal. I'm uber excited as it means I get to dress up, have drinks and good times with the girls. Beau is off to watch the football in the rain. More fool him! I've been shopping during the week, to try and find something nice to wear for this evening. It's frivolous as I'm trying to lose weight at the moment and I'd like to think anything I bought wouldn't fit me in a few weeks anyway! As it is I haven't been able to find anything I like. I do have a back up dress which is lovely in itself. So all good really. So yes, good days.

On a different note, I think I've become obsessed with weight loss programs. Frankly, anything with Jessie Pavelka  in. I find it all very  inspirational. As mentioned, I am trying to lose weight. I'm not huge (13s12 @5ft5), but I'm aware this may be having an impact on my ability to conceive. So the immediate plan is to lose a stone and a half. Watching a bit of fit Jessie is hardly difficult, especially when he talks so much sense!

On crochet. I visited my best friend last weekend and I wore the lovely crochet cardigan that I finally finished. She loved it, and more specifically loved the colour. Hence, I'm now in the process of making a cowl for her using stashed yarn from the cardigan. It's taking a lot longer than I expected. But how can you not enjoy lovely Saturday mornings with crochet on your lap?

Ahhh tea's ready... Speaking of which. Found a lovely new tea shop in town during the week. Treated myself to a white tea cocktail. Delicious. I'll be going back here again!

perhaps I have my mojo back!

So I finally have a photo of my gorgeous cardigan/shrug. I haven't actually worn it outside the house yet as I only sorted out all the yarn ends this morning. I think I may venture outside in it today as I go for lunch at a friends. The main colour is 'Haystack' from the Sirdar Supersoft Aran range. The other colours (navy, grey and burgundy) are from the same range. I followed the pattern from Issue 11 of the Simply Crochet magazine. It's called a Checkmate Shrug and is also on Ravelry I believe. The design is by Kyoko Nakayoshi, and although may look difficult, I would say someone who had been crocheting for just a few months could do it (like me!).

Still with crochet in mind, I have also finished this weeks #crochetmoodblanket2014 granny square. I struggled this week. I guess if you do a daily square is likely easy to sum up how you feel in one day, but over the course of a week? Hmmm. As it is, I've been feeling the love from beau this week and I've really loved the bright blue skies with glittering frost, and I like feeding that into the blanket somehow too. But overall, I've been feeling a little apathetic this week. I'm sure it's just the January blues, but that is symbolised by the grey. I haven't started joining as yet, I'm thinking I may make the join look very obvious and rustic. Likely any join I do won't look perfect anyway! So anyway, without further ado, here is week two!

I just love the heart in the middle. It's makes smile. The pattern is not mine, but can be found here.

And now? I have a Darth Vader hat I need to finish, and a bobble scarf I'm going to do with left over haystack. And here I was thinking my crochet block was in full force!

red, orange and purply-pink with crochet block

I've struggled a little this week. Officially week 2 on #crochetmoodblanket2014 and I think I have crochet block. My first granny square focused on the African flower pattern, now here is a decision, do I stick to this or do I divert? I think I've decided on colours, so that's one decision down! I love the idea of a koru pattern at some point, and perhaps snow flakes, and flowers - oh the choice! I do love seeing everyone's squares on Facebook, and the stories behind the patterns and the colours make me smile.

Life this week has returned to some kind of wonderful crazy. I moved roles in my job in October. I really wasn't happy in my previous role. I only realised how much when I left. Now I'm infinitely busier but there's a schedule and needs and deadlines, and I've realized I need that sort of structure in my life. I actually look forward to work!

So beside the craziness, beau and I have had a lovely week being all cosy and full of laughing. There's not a lot going on socially for us in January, and I specifically struggle with that as I like having something to look forward to. But we have a holiday to France in summer and a weekend in Amsterdam and oh I'm very lucky really. It's just January can be so dull after the anticipation of Christmas! And also (whispers) my 36th birthday is at the end of the month. Gah I'm old! Truly, truly where does time fly!

Christmas is over, and springtime blooms

Today has been very gentle. Beau has been working most of the day, and interspersed between cleaning and cooking, I've been putting some more time into crochet! Like that's new!

After the initial flurry of excitement of #crochetmoodblanket2014, I've turned my creative juices elsewhere. Specifically towards making a spring time crochet wreath. I've been reading Lucy from Attic24 for a long time now. Pretty much as soon as I started crocheting. She has made many wreaths, mostly seasonal and I love the colourful, intricate, retro-ness (is that a word?!) of them. I'm usually quite contemporary when it comes to house decor but crochet is making me crave a more homely, cosy abode.

Lucy has some lovely tutorials on her website. This one on daffodils has especially caught my eye:

My attempts at daffodils and even leaves (courtesy of issue 8 in Simply Crochet), has been slow but I'm hopeful it will look just a smidgeon as good as Lucy's!

Oh additionally, I finished my cardigan today! Photos soon.

crochet mood blanket week 1

Voila! I'm in love...

a new year

New Year was a wondrous affair. We travelled to Guisborough in North Yorkshire to visit with friends. Just two days with these special people and I feel relaxed and full (of food as much add anything else!). We brought the new year in with bucks fizz and Jools Hollands Hootanany which was especially good this year with The Lumineers and The Proclaimers live! Pyjamas were on, relaxation in progress. Very sedate. But nothing beats good food and good company to bring in what I believe will be a fabulous new year.

The beau and I minutes before 2014. 

And here we are inside 2014... So far I've made plans with our wonderful friends to hit the Good Food Show in Harrogate in April, taught a friend to crochet and joined the Crochet Mood Project 2014. The project is something I'm especially excited about. If you don't know about this and you're here due to your love of crochet (and not my ramblings - understandable) then you should really try this out.

Thanks to mummy_Stacey on instagram an idea was born. Either crochet a granny square or a row etc everyday or every week for a year. I've gone for the 52 squares as I know I won't be able to stick to the 365! There's now a group on Facebook, on Ravelry etc that is full of like minded people, all of which hope to have their life immortalised in yarn for one year. Having joined on New Years Day, I've found all groups to be so welcoming and helpful but most of all, excited. Everyone is so happy to start this! I'm also hoping to make some new friends whose passion for crochet rivals mine! What wonderfulness to start a new year.

The colours I'm starting with for my first square of the year will be muted. Rustic, earthy tones to symbolise serenity and peace. I was inspired by the colours of the countryside while traveling back from our friends yesterday. Each time a square is done, I'll put it in a short and sweet blog post! My current favorite pattern is that of the African flower, but I'm sure that may change over time.

Happy New Year everyone.

small miracles

Whether I realised it or not, I've probably been quite stressed thinking about spending Christmas with my parents (yes, both mother and father) for the first time since I was 6. My parents are not fans of each other. Well, my dad is very apathetic about my mum, but I'm sure there's active hate on the side of my mother. It's been constant drama in my life for years. 

Regardless, Christmas was very civil. My beau has organised tickets to see my favorite band (elbow) and a trip to Amsterdam to see Jools Holland band. He is so thoughtful and just generally gorgeous. Christmas with warring parents is worth it when I have him in my life.

In general, my family fed my love of crochet as presents this year. Dad bought me Tunisian crochet hooks. I'm looking forward to learning on that one as I like the idea of making fair isle clothing. Mum bought me a wool basket and some very lovely and practical house stuff like duvet sets and pillows.

I still didn't really get any Christmas spirit. Perhaps a sign that I need babies! It didn't help working right until the end of Christmas Eve. Won't be making that mistake again. Still, I'm grateful for the love in my life, my health, my friends, my family. And the small miracles that I see everyday.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas spirit

I'm really struggling with Christmas spirit this year. I think it may have something to do with the exceptionally good summer we have had. Plus it's still very mild, I'm not really even dusting off my winter coat yet. I'm hopeful as time passes, the excitement will build and I'll be back to feeling like a kid again by Christmas Eve!

We decorated the house last Monday. The tree especially looks very... interesting. We have a large amount of psychedelic colours on our tree. There is no theme, just gifts. I do love it, but I will admit sometimes I do think it looks like a 5 year old decorated it! I'm especially proud of the stocking hanging up this year. I made it a few weeks ago, during a sewing workshop. I love it.

As I'm almost done with the ridiculous about of wrapping of presents, I've started crocheting for me again. I've done a huge about of crochet recently but all of it has been for someone else. Presents etc. This one in really looking forward to seeing it coming to life. I've chosen the Shetland Shrug pattern out of the Simply Crochet magazine issue 11. I love both Simply Crochet and Inside Crochet magazines and have subscriptions to both.
The pattern is lovely and modern. I've chosen aran yarn also to make sure the gauge shouldn't be too far off, but instead I've chosen a lovely mustard colour (otherwise known as haystack), it's by Sirdar and I think I'll match it to a pale grey.

It's obviously very early days, but I'm looking forward to wearing such a great colour.

The hat for beau is complete but I'm very behind on the scarf. Beau is always around! I'll have to send him shopping or something equally suspicious to him!

belated thanks

Finally completed work last Thursday with a huge smile on my face. I had a delightful long weekend ahead of me and no idea what was going to happen. 

Beau and I had a shaky start to our long weekend on Friday, when I had to deal with yet more estate agents to try and rent my flat out. I would love to sell my old place but it's just financially not viable yet. Regardless, once we were done we headed to one of our favorite cafes for breakfast while beau teased me regarding my surprise weekend away.

At about midday, we pack up the car and head out. It takes me all of 10 mins to realise we're heading north and my first thought shouts 'Kielder!'. I'm blatantly wrong. An hour and a half later and we drive over the Scottish border. We arrive at our destination late, in pitch black and apparently in the middle of a field. In the light this is what our gorgeous accommodation looked like. 

Surprisingly spacious, Indian themed, a Romany caravan. With a view of this:

Our weekend was so relaxing. I managed lots of crocheting and finally finished my black hole cowl for a friend's Christmas gift. I ended up using very reasonably priced yarn, it has given a lovely texture and I'm absolutely in love with it. Shame it's a gift! 

With the weekend coming to a close, I started to reflect where we are at this point in our lives. We're so lucky but we forget it sometimes. Here's hoping the new year means our greatest desire are realised. 

anticipation

So following on from the last blog update, mum had the all clear from the lump in her breast but unfortunately has had not so positive news regarding her smear. It looks increasingly likely she may have to have a hysterectomy. She seems to be taking it reasonably well though. She'll hear more within the next week or so. Still keeping fingers crossed.

On a more positive note. Today I left work and will not return until Tuesday. Why? My lovely beau has planned an early Christmas surprise. A long weekend somewhere. I have no idea where. I'm so excited. He has plans for us all day tomorrow; little trips before we'd get to our final destination and I'm such a child sometimes I think I love the anticipation more than the actual! I'm looking forward to taking a little time out this weekend as I feel like beau and I have sometimes passed like ships in the night recently. I'm also really lacking Christmas spirit. Apart from presents for beau I've bought next to no presents for anyone else. Part of me I think is still in a little shock that summer has passed! It seems to have lasted so long this year.

So yes, excitement builds.

Last night, the university girls and I went to a local tea room which holds wonderful craft workshops in the evenings. I do declare I made a lined Christmas stocking! Oh we were rubbish. But it was such good fun. We were chatting too much to pay proper attention to the instructions, hence a need to unpick numerous seams and a few slaps of the hand. We were supposed to be done by 9pm but finally left at 10pm. Thankfully our course teacher didn't seem to mind too much. I keep looking at the stocking. It might, in the new year, encourage me to get my own sewing machine out again (it's the threading of the cotton that puts me off), then again it might not - bloody crochet it's still the craft for me I think!

full of vintage happy

Today has been a good day. A few weeks ago there was an offer for afternoon tea on Living Social. The offer was at a local, newly opened, vintage tea shop. I bought one of the vouchers and decided to invite my best friend J as it has been a while since we've caught up, and cake is as good as an excuse as any other!

                           

Afternoon tea at The Vintage Powder Room was delicious and it was so nice to catch up. We talked about everything and it was lovely to just relax and chat. It made me even feel slightly festive!

What with it getting colder and few shops being open it was so quiet and relaxing walking up and down the streets after we'd stuffed our faces. I ended up in a charity shop and bought some old CDs for the car, for when I get sick of the radio (Norah Jones, Coldplay and a folksong compilation specifically). It was pennies. I also bought a lovely serving dish which is in the shape of a Koru (Maori fern), which is significant for the beau and I as we got engaged in New Zealand and we have Koru's on our wedding rings.

Finally, J and I discover this old fashioned sweet shop. They have these gorgeous boxes inside which have different sweets from the different decades. I ended up splashing out buying my brother sweets from the 80's and my university friends sweets from the 70's (I guess this gives some indication of my age!). J was very excited as this means one is for her.

I should be putting up the Christmas tree tonight but I don't know if I have the inclination. Instead I fancy a bit more crochet, candles and cosying with the beau!

quiet worries

Approx 5 years ago, my mother found out she had secondary breast cancer. Thankfully after months of chemotherapy and radio therapy she was given the all clear and life could continue, though perhaps with an ounce more thankfulness.

About 3 weeks ago my mother informs me she has found another lump. I'm slightly frustrated as it transpires that she found it in September. She was awaiting her yearly mammogram what was due the same mouth, but the NHS had decided to move her to 18 monthly without actually informing her. Hence the delay in going to the doctors. Following her latest smear, they have also found cancerous cells there.

In the next two days, mum is having appointments for both. I'm nervous of the outcome. I'm not mentioning this to mum of course. Mum and I have a difficult relationship. I love her as she's my mum but she has a tenancy to be a bit of a drama queen and I don't have a lot of patience with that. Regardless, in my logical, scientific brain I'm adding up the symptoms and assuming, rightly or wrongly, that things could clearly go very badly over the next few days. I have everything crossed that things go well and that my quiet worries are unfounded. Here goes everything.

relaxation is here

From a work point of view this week has been insane. I find relaxation is becoming more difficult to achieve. All my thoughts last night, even after leaving work at a reasonable time, were mostly on things that still need doing. Only now, at almost 9 in the morning on a Saturday, am I starting to feel calm. Candles are burning, Christmas spirit starting to twinkle, the thought of new crochet projects and lovely soft yarn filling my thoughts. I love this time of year.

Last night, the beau and I took his parents food shopping. It's a strange dynamic as my parents in law had him late in life and so they remind me more of grandparents. My father in law (who is 80) had a stroke about 3 weeks ago. He finally got out of hospital on Tuesday. The difference in those three weeks is quite startling. He's talking fine now, walking fine. In fact if you didn't know he'd had a stroke, you would never know. There are no remaining physical manifestations. It's lovely to see him doing so well so soon.

Crochet update

In my crochet world, I am working on two special projects. All for Christmas of course. The first is a scarf for my mother in law. Using a vibrantly coloured autumnal yarn with a hint of sparkle running through it. The yarn is Moonlight Sonata It's not the easiest of yarns to crochet, pulling out mistakes trends to break the fine tinsle running through it. However it's very reasonably priced and is looking especially lovely as I work it up into a "Maureen's Scarf" pattern. I'll post pictures when it is completed. Hopefully only a couple of days!

The second project as a secret one for my beau. I'm using the most wonderfully coloured yarn. Very wintery and manly! I will post pictures of the final item but for now I'm keeping it under wraps in case he reads this!

Catching a fire

The first time a heard about The Hunger Games was by reading a blog about books imminently being turned into films. I have a huge soft spot for dystopian novels, and so this trilogy felt oh so appealing.

The beau and I were on a long weekend staying in a yurt in the Lake District when we nipped to a local town to visit the shops. There was a deal to buy all three books and so I greedily bought the lot and proceeded to spend the majority of the weekend tucked up in the yurt, with a wood burner firing and losing myself in the world of Katniss and Peeta.

Oh how I loved this series. Yes some of it is far fetched, but also for a young adult series, it felt very real and raw. I was engrossed.

Fast forward to the films. It's been awhile since I got so caught up in a film, i thought Jennifer Lawrence was a brilliant cast for Katniss. Less so for Gale and Peeta. But I stand corrected. I love the characters. I love how the story had been told. Who would think that a story about child torture and governmental oppression of the people would be so appealing.

In honesty the appeal in these books is the central love story and the belief in love conquering all.

What do I think of when I think back to these books? Low light, warm blankets and kisses with my beau in front of a fire. Perhaps these books are just personal nostalgia of my own private love story.

Blogging life

I had the insane notion that putting together a blog would be a cinch. Insane, because I've spent more time looking at images, colours and fonts than really coming to grasp with what beauty I plan on putting on these pages.

Today has been a tale of two extremes. My gorgeous husband didn't have to go into work today. I had the lovely experience of cuddles in bed this morning before going to work, and I come home to a clean house and tea being cooked for me. I am truly blessed.

Having moved roles in my 'real job' just a couple of months ago, I find myself so much happier if not a little overwhelmed. I find myself laughing throughout most of the day, likely through delirium vs anything else. I can see how this role could become stressful but I plan on appreciating all the good things and surrounding myself with  positivity. I spent a lot of time prior to my move deciding how I could decorate my cubicle. It sounds very superfluous but I wanted to feel differently about this role. Let's face it we all spend so much time at our place of work, I think sometimes it's important to find and pursue your own happiness. Anyway, I found these lovely images by Katie Daisy. I bought next year's calendar to have something pretty and new to look forward to every month.

Aren't they just divine? Oh such prettiness.