Lost and found

I've been feeling a little bit lost lately. First there's the thought of the impending house move, then my views on Etsy dried up completely. I had no idea what I was doing wrong, so I went to the experts by posting in the Etsy forums - amazing advice! Now at least I have something (ok, a LOT of somethings!) to work on.

So, I'm feeling found now!

Do you remember my plans for a shawl on my last post? Well, I haven't managed to get very far with it... It's been too hot! Here's a picture of the progress so far:

I am so happy with the way the colours are working together :-).

So, I guess you all want to know what I've been up to since my last post? Well, not very much! I'm very slightly appallingly sun-burnt from spending hours out in the sun talking to my next door neighbour. It's such a shame to finally have really good neighbours and then have to move...

I've also been rescuing pheasant chicks from the lane along from the house. Mother pheasant had decided to move them from one side to the other, but unfortunately 2 of them decided that the grassy bit in the middle of the lane was quite nice! Here's one hiding:

Yes, that is my finger in the picture! I had to hold the grass down to be able to get a good shot!

After carefully picking them up in my overshirt (I read somewhere that you should never handle wild birds because their mothers will reject them), I let them loose on the other side of the lane... It was so sweet to hear the Peep Peeping, as they scuttled off to find their mother and siblings!

I haven't really taken many photos lately either, so I'll leave you with this one that I took a while back... Can you see the sheep??

Lessons learned: Stay out of the really hot sun, if you need help then ask for it, and enjoy the things that are here right now!

Hope everyone is happy and healthy :-)

Hugs,
Dawn.

It's not so bad...

Honestly... It's not! There are some good things... It just takes some time to find them when you are a little bit low...
Like these:

A bargain at £1 a box... And here they are "set free":

Ok, so that picture won't be used in their advertising anytime soon, but you get the idea!

Then there's the joy of having a new project to start:

This shawl is from "The Art of Crochet" issue 124. Obviously, these colours weren't going to work for me, so I chose these:

Can you see the mini cupcakes sneaking into the shot??

We mustn't forget the pleasure of having a good book to read. I just started this last night:

After dithering for an hour or so about which book to choose:

Hard to believe, but this is only about a 3rd of my book collection!

Then there's the relief of actually having something finished to put on Etsy this weekend - the rather colourful iPod socks:

Lesson learned today: I can, and I will.

Have a great weekend!

Hugs,

Dawn.

-X-

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Today's good news is that I have a new camera. Cue cute pic of Miss D:

The bad news, is that we have to leave our home in October. We sub-let from a farmer who is retiring, and the cottage is going back to the Estate - meaning we have to leave.

The ugly news comes in several parts:
If we want to stay in the area, we have to down-size - one less bedroom, one less reception room, and a much smaller kitchen.
We lose the plants we have nurtured over the past 7 and a half years.

So no crafting today... Maybe not tomorrow either.

Lesson learned today: "Home" doesn't mean the same thing to everyone as it does to me and my family.

Hugs,
Dawn.
-X-

Let's go back a few months...

Nothing has really been happening here today... I caught up with the laundry, crocheted pieces for another iPod cover, ate a lovely stew made by J (my husband), read a magazine... And all this while wearing my pyjamas! You have to love a good Sunday!

So, I thought I'd take you back a few months, and show you some things that I'm really proud of.

First up is my first ever ripple afghan. I'd never crocheted anything so big before, and I hadn't intended to... But a local supermarket had started selling this really BRIGHT, BRIGHT, BRIGHT yarn, and I couldn't resist.
With my colouring, there's no way this could have been (for me) all the things it had the potential to be: cardigan, sweater, shawl. There was nothing else I could do but go to the yarn shop and buy some contrasting yarn to  calm down enhance the colours. With some help from K (my son), I chose a nice rich brown.
Here it is, complete with matching cushion covers:

I had originally planned to crochet one stripe multi-coloured and one stripe brown, but I thought it might look better with the larger bands.
Here's a close up of the multi-coloured ripples:

Before I started my ripple adventure, I decided I probably should finish off another project... What better than the sweater I had started for J? I felt like this sweater had been preying on my mind for most of my life, but in actual fact, I only started it about 6 years ago!
I will never be forgiven for this, but here's a photo of J modelling his sweater:

Unfortunately, having been washed and tumble dried several times (always following the instructions given on the ball band), this sweater now reaches somewhere around J's knees, and you could probably fit two of him in there... If I was a lot slightly braver, I could buy a nice chunky belt and wear it as a dress...

There's not much else for this time. After a lovely weekend, it's back to work tomorrow. Thankfully, I only work very short hours, but it's still enough to make sure my day is disrupted. Oh, well!

I'll leave you with a picture of my haul from the local car boot sale that happened early last month:

Enjoy your week!

Dawn.
-X-

A little sneaky and a lot busy!

I snuck and sneaked and sneaked and snuck... A quick click and I was done!
Here's the no-longer-quite-so-missing iPod sock:

I actually managed to get the pincushion from my last post added to Etsy. I couldn't think of a photo that was totally different, so I just stuck pins it it - that's what it's meant for after all!

For my second Etsy addition this week, a lovely mid blue mini-bag. I like these bags a lot. Especially in summer when very few clothes seem to have pockets. These bags are like having a removable pocket! Here is is:

So, you've seen the sneaking and some busy... I haven't taken photos of the rest of my "busy", as it's just a pile of iPod socks in various colours waiting to be stitched up... and I don't really like taking photos of my "work-in-progress"!

And as Mum from "Mum's Simply Living Blog" requested -
Here is the adorable Miss E:

And Mr (thinks he is a dog) P:

We actually saw Mr P playing with a stick this morning... Strange, but very lovable cat!

Lesson learned today: Enjoy the sunshine and watching your cat act like a dog!

Until next time,

Dawn.
-X-

The missing iPod sock!

Hi everyone!
I guess this is usually where people introduce themselves, but I'm going to let you all learn about me as we go along - I don't want you all getting bored at the first post and not coming back!
So straight to what is on my mind now:

I opened an Etsy shop quite a while ago, but have only been adding items for 2 weeks or so. Currently for sale are 3 mini handbags (2 knitted and 1 crocheted), 2 sets of crocheted coasters, a crocheted baby blanket, a crocheted afghan, and 3 sets of flowers that you can button (the sets include a button) on to almost anything at all.
I decided to try something different (for me!). I borrowed my son's iPod, and carefully ("don't get pen on it, mum"!) drew around the edges (I don't know if you're like me, but inches and centimeters seem to dislike me, and nothing ever comes out quite right from measurements alone!). That piece of paper sat on my desk for a few days while I worked on some other projects...
Finally, I began to crochet the sock/case/cover.
When it was all done, I got my son to test the fit. I haven't seen the sock since, so no chance of a photo appearing!

Lesson learned: When making a "test piece" use pink yarn - not blue - as a 13 year old boy will be far less likely to run off with your work!

So... here's a little picture of a finished project I will be adding to Etsy in a day or so:

It is a 2.5 inch (6.5cm) square cross stitched pin cushion...