Things that made me smile last week…...

…… finishing a patch work play mat for my niece's new baby. I made one for her sister when she was born which has been very well loved - see here

…… waking up to see the first snow of winter on the hills - it was such a lovely clear cold day - this is my favourite view from our house.

…… more snow later in the week - I ventured out with the dog in the late afternoon. One of my first dog walks since being ill - I'm now feeling so much better.

…… trying out a new pattern. My first attempt at fingerless gloves - with a thumb. The pattern sounded so complicated that I thought I needed to make one up using some odd yarn …...

…. before making another with some beautiful soft alpaca yarn.  Once I got going the pattern wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, it seems to make more sense once you actually start knitting!  ….I just need to make the other one now and get some little buttons to stitch to the cuffs.

…… making leek and potato soup for lunch with home made bread - yum!

….. using my lino cut to stamp out more Christmas cards - I need to add some green olive branches yet.

The girls will soon be home for the holidays so we need to tidy the house and get the Christmas decorations up - the celebrations will soon be upon us! 

At last, I'm able to finish a couple of 'work in progress' projects

A little more creative energy this week - thank goodness! I am beginning to feel a little better now and have taken an interest in doing things again as I get stronger.

I bought this fabric last year, it is a furnishing fabric called Rooster. (not sure who the designer is) I intended to make my friend a tote bag with it as she has chickens and has lots of 'chickeny' things around her home. I ran out of time….

…… but have come across the fabric again, so matched it up with some red gingham, and some fabric I had which looks like little eggs.

I have now made her a tote bag with a gingham lining and internal pocket, with a red trim around the  inside and on the over the shoulder handles. Work in progress 1 completed!

Next, I started knitting these socks way back in February. They have been sitting in my knitting bag for ages just waiting for me to graft the toes using the Kitchener stitch. I always need to concentrate when doing this stitch, so tend to wait till I have have finished both socks and can sit quietly, with my crib sheet next to me, and work through the last stitches.

I bought this yarn at Woolfest 2013, I can't find the yarn band now so have no idea where the yarn came from - but I love the way the colours fade into each other.

Cosy socks for Christmas - work in progress 2 completed!

However, I still have a few more WIP's  to finish - hope the energy keeps coming…..