January offerings

January....it's seemed quite a long month; the build up to Christmas and over indigence of rich foods now a distant memory.

I've not posted on here recently. Life has just meandered along at a rather relaxed pace, it's been so lovely that I haven't wanted to 'pop' my little bubble.

Small Boy and the Little Lady thought they'd embrace fitness for the New Year in pursuit of a six-pack. One sessions was enough!

Look closely. Can you spot him??

Rather sad really. Two beautiful big beech trees blown over in the wind. Great for climbing on though :-)

I haven't had any particularly wild adventures of late but what I  have been able to do is have time to think and do my own things - it's been lovely, truly it has. I've slept in when I've wanted, pottered about at home and enjoyed my immediate surroundings. The children and I have had time to sit and read and play games, plus I've actually had the opportunity to finish a few creative projects.

I'm most proud of this one...

When it comes to following patterns, I'm not great - it's the same with recipes, I just like to find my own way and put my signature on my work. So when Lucy at attic 24 inspired the crochet nation with her harmony blanket, I decided it might be a rather 'jolly Winter project'.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed creating this blanket. It's made up of a total of 126 squares all in rather scrumptiously harmonising colours. The pack arrived from the Wool Warehouse in one large  see-through bag - how exciting to have a bag filled with beautiful colours and a new project to start.

I started way back in October when the children and I took off for a few days in Yorkshire. What was handy about this project was how easy it was to transport around. I worked just one colour at a time so at most I had to carry around nine little squares, a ball of yarn and my crochet hook.  I completed each square one teeny section at a time - so all the centres, all the second row and so forth. That way I didn't have to keep track of too many different stitch combinations and could literally whip my little squares out and hook them together at speed. When you're working on the larger stripy blankets, you have to carry the whole darn thing around. It's not too much of a problem in the early stages but later on, it does become pretty heavy!
So here it is, my finished blanket and mostly all completed according to the pattern. I did re-arrange the squares just a tad when I sewed them together :-) and I omitted the final row of the border - the final colour brings the blanket together and I rather fell for the sage green.
Unlike the ripple blanket I made last year, this one has turned out well and is symmetrical! :-)

We've spent quite a considerable amount of time messing around outdoors. Hasn't the weather been mild! The snowdrops are already in full bloom in the garden and a few daffodils are dancing in the wind too!

These guys were thrilled to have their remote controlled speed boat returned after dad had taken it off to 'check it out' some four years ago. Poor dad was rather fed up with the constant pestering in the finish so gave in and returned it. Small Boy was convinced he had taken it to play with it himself! (he probably had!)...anyway, despite being told he was too young for such a super powerful toy, Small Boy made it his mission to prove everyone wrong and like a duck to water sailed and controlled that boat perfectly both on the flood on the field and in the stream :-)

Early in January Miss P had to attend a workshop at the Science Museum in London. It's hard working going to London with three children in tow and it I'm being honest I didn't really look forwards to the journey. However, in true positive spirit I made it my mission to prepare for the event and enjoy it at all costs. We took the Oxford Tube up and leisurely strolled across Hyde park instead of using the city transport system. What a pleasant decision that was.

The Princess Diana memorial fountain

The mild temperatures have also seen us venture outside for some Spring garden clearing. Firstly the wood shed needed a little re-organising in order to get to the dry wood that was stacked at the back. Then it was all change and the wet stuff (that remains wet) was stacked at the back for next Winter. You have to think ahead when you live a simple life :-)

Small boy took it upon himself to chop up some kindling. He's quite capable in his use of axes and saws and happily told be (when I reminded him to be careful when using the bill hook), that he's fine and has been using one since his was in my belly! That explains a lot!

The water meadow in Wootton

Loving the light for taking photos.

Hope your January has been filled with love and laughter too XXX