Little happy things

Little things that have made me happy this week:

1. Finishing my Squeezebox socks. They are really cushy with the rounds of garter stitch. I haven't written up the pattern but will do so if you'd like it.

2. Sorting through Christmas fabric in preparation for more bunting sewing.

3. Lots of lap time and cuddles with Flo. 

4. A beautiful but freezing cold morning at Parkrun on Saturday.

5. Finishing one half of my Advent calendar Granny square cushion. I still have the ends to sew in. :(

6. Keeping the traditions going by making Christmas puddings, lamb and Guinness soup and soda bread on Stir up Sunday.

7. Making a couple of notions cases as presents. 

8. Casting on a pair of pink stripy socks (I know I'm not supposed to be starting anything new...)

9. Spending a lovely evening with my friend Jules teaching her how to sew some bunting. Christmas music was played and we wore festive hats to be completely daft! But it was so much fun!

What's made you happy this week? 

And then there was some knitting (and sewing!)

Evening! Thanks for calling in. I wouldn't get too close if I were you though as I have a filthy cough and cold and I'd hate to pass on my lurgy to you. So please retreat to a safe distance and I'll chat with you from here. I hope you don't mind the faint aroma of Vicks Vapour Rub too! It was only a matter of time before I succumbed to the germs circulating around school, but I'm hoping that this means I won't get another cold this side of Christmas (which is scarily only 5 weeks away! How did that happen?!)

Since I've mentioned Christmas, let me share with you the bunting that I've made so far. It's from a printed panel and is a lovely Scandinavian design. Here's the whole panel - there are 33 flags in total and I chose to pick out all the grey ones and some red to make two strings for some friends. 

I'm really pleased with how it looks. I have backed each flag with red sheeting to get maximum use from the printed flags. I'll be making more over the coming weeks, both for myself and as presents. 

And even more excitement, I have finished a pair of socks and am not too far off finishing another pair. Woohoo! My 'Running for Rowley' socks, begun when I travelled up to Tyneside for the Great North Run, and also knit on in Yorkshire and Amsterdam, are done and dusted! The yarn was a ball that Mr JK bought for me in Delft and I love the marled rainbow effect. These socks are going to get lots of love...

My Squeezebox socks will soon be done - they'll be my knitting project after dinner this evening. The yarn is a Debbie Bliss sock yarn and I'm a little worried that it might felt.The colours are lovely so I will have to be careful about how I wash them. They look like they're matching up pretty well - I'm sure that was completely by chance as I usually don't bother with that kind of thing!

I received a rather lovely squishy parcel from Stylecraft this week. They have just added some new yarns to their Batik range - Batik Swirl. I was actually at the mill last Easter when they were putting together various colour possibilities so it's exciting to see the end product. Each yarn cake is 200g and contains a number of colours from the Batik range. 

I have three cakes of Foxglove and I really like how the colours blend so well together. Batik is a great yarn to work with, the 20% wool gives it a very cosy and cushy feel. I'm pondering what my yarn might become and also whether I might add in some extra colours if I decide on a blanket. What do you think?

I will love you and leave you now as I'm actually feeling pretty ropy and ready to crash out on the sofa for the evening. Don't forget to enter my November giveaway here to be in with a chance of winning some festive stitch markers! xxx

Distractions

I have tried to concentrate on my WIPs, honestly, but I may have been distracted just the teensiest bit by a shiny new project! I'm sticking the blame firmly in your court as you clearly haven't been nagging me enough! I have almost finished a pair of socks - just the toe shaping to go - so I will have at least one finished project to share with you very soon, I promise!

So what's caught my attention? Nothing yarny, so at least I can hold my head up and say that I haven't started any new woolly projects! This involves fabric, so is entirely ok! When I was in Norwich with Snoopydog last weekend, we popped into John Lewis as Snoops wanted to get some felt to make a Christmas stocking for her grandson. I was browsing the fabrics when I spotted some rather gorgeous Scandinavian style bunting - each flag separate on a panel of fabric. And even better, each panel was half price at only £7. There were an amazing 33 flags in one pattern panel and the assistant recommended backing each flag in a red sheeting fabric to maximise the number of flags. So far, I've cut out all the flags and hope to sew them together during the week. I'm thinking that they will bring a festive air to my hallway this December. 

It's been getting colder this week and I had to scrape my windscreen one morning. The pattern of ice was beautiful though - there's probably a lace knitting pattern out there somewhere which mimics it!

Today I had a very invigorating walk along Wells beach with my friend Jules and her dog. Benny absolutely loved it on the sand, even though the wind was whipping it up and sandblasting everything in sight. It was the perfect way to blow away some rather gloomy cobwebs that have been hanging around this week.

The sky was very threatening and we were lucky to escape most of the rain! But the wind was strong as you can see from the way it whipped up the sand on the beach. Great fun to be out in and we laughed so much at Benny's antics that it didn't spoil things one little bit! I hope you've done something this weekend that's brought a smile to your face too. xxx

PS Don't forget that there's still time to enter my November giveaway here. 

Winners and another giveaway to get you jingling your way into December!

In an attempt to be organised, I've actually managed to pick the winners from last month's giveaway and sort out another prize for November's Pay it Forward giveaway. I know, get me! I wrote down all the names of everyone who entered via my blog, Facebook and Instagram on separate pieces of paper and then mixed them up in a bowl! All very scientific! Two names were selected at random and I'm very pleased to announce the two winners of the Stylecraft Candy Swirl yarn cakes.

Winner of the gorgeous purple 'Sugar Plum' is Gill Moore from her Facebook entry...

and the winner of the cake of 'Blueberry Gum' is Ourtimenow84 from her Instagram entry.

Congratulations to both winners. I'll be getting in touch with you to get your details. Thank you everyone for entering and if you didn't win, perhaps you'll be luckier with this month's prize. I have a set of festive jingly bell stitch markers from the fabulous Fripperies and Bibelots. 

They are guaranteed to get you feeling all Christmassy as you finish up your gift knits next month. If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning, all you need to do is to leave me a comment on my blog, telling me what your favourite part of Christmas is. The giveaway will stay open until midnight on November 30th and after that time I'll use a random number generator to pick a winner. Please make sure that it's easy for me to get in touch with you by leaving your Ravelry or Instagram name or some other way for me to contact you should you be the winner. If I haven't heard from the winner after a week, I'll pick another winner. The giveaway is open to you wherever you live, so please do enter! Good luck! xxx