Hats off to the Lads

Some of these hats date back to the beginning of the year though the last one was finished as recently as a few weeks ago. There is another one completed but was a gift and forgot to take a photo before I gifted it.
 They are all stash busters from part used balls in my leftovers basket, but the pattern I used for the two in the picture below is this . I'm fairly sure the yarn used for Luke's charcoal one is Robin Aran with wool, some leftovers of a huge 400grm ball that I've had knocking about in the basket forever. Hubby's version in claret and blue in honour of his football team Aston Villa. It is knitted in some Rowan that I think is Cashsoft that came out of the bargain bin without a label in House Of Fraser some time ago . A fantastic pattern, well written and easy to read as well as a great looking hat to boot. The hat in the photo above that Luke is wearing whilst trying to disappear at breakneck speed cos I welding a camera, is a DK version I cobbled together. I think it is knitted in Sirdar country Style in a silvery grey colour.

Sneaky

My husband turned 40 last week (so congratulations to him) and although it wasn't the original plan honestly, I managed to pull off a corker and gave him yarn for his birthday he he!!
He casually asked several weeks ago for a Union Jack cushion for the back of the car, and I did indeed  give a not too committable answer that when I got chance I would make him one. Probably his not too subtle hint for a birthday present but it was noted and I decided that I wanted to do it in secret and surprise him with it for his birthday.

Unfortunately I had a few other things on the needles at the time, with plans for a jacket for me (that I really should be getting on with, that I want to wear for a wedding we have been invited to in 10 days time!!) Then the boys breaking up for the Easter holidays together with the fact that I knew I had all the yarn I needed in my stash but could not find the single ball of bright red that I KNOW is in there somewhere, it got to the point where it wasn't even worth starting it as I knew I would not be finished on time. I ended up buying shiny new yarn and wrapping it up with an IOU. I was impressed that he ended up with yarn for his birthday... but he wasn't. He is looking forward to having his cushion for the back of the car though!

Mothers Day Spoils

I had some lovely presents.and I was in deed spoiled rotten. I am a very lucky mummy indeed.

My favourite is a framed photo of all 4 of my children together in the same room at the same time!! It was taken at Christmas when all 4 children had a Nerf blaster each from Santa. Christmas 2010  will forever be known in this house as the Nerf Wars year! I also had this very cute teapot/cup set. Not sure if you can read what is on it but it says "Mothers are like Flowers, they brighten your day" Isn't that sweet.

It was also Max's idea and on his insistence apparently that I also had 10 Snickers bars. Yum Yum but bang goes the diet.

I also had some very comfy slippers. I've already gone to go "out" in them several times because I forget I've got them on. If you meet me in the corner shop grabbing some milk and bread whilst wearing them please excuse me, I probably haven't noticed that I'm wearing them still.

I also received some Mothers day tokens... that's yarn money to you and me. So on Tuesday I went somewhere I've been just itching to go since last November but have been resisting as a yarn shop with empty pockets is for me a form of Chinese water torture.

  Stitch Perfect is a new shop just outside Birmingham City center and I was very excited when I was invited to join the group on Ravelry. They sell lots of the lovely posh yarn until now for me only available on the t'internet, I was in for a lovely treat when I stepped through the door. In fact I was pretty overwhelmed by all the colour and fiber contrast available, so much so I forgot to ask the very friendly and extremely helpful assistant/owner her name in spite of the fact that I spent a long time in the shop chatting.

As you can see my 4 month yarn diet is well and truly broken (though in all honesty I had a blip a few weeks ago in Hobbycraft with some Wendy Mode in Chunky on offer, it was criminal to leave it there, and it was an allowed purchase ie, one I didn't have to sneak into the house and hide).

I'm very excited to have somewhere that sells Garnstudio Drops, beautifully soft yarn and brilliant quality for the price. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but for now I just wanted to own some.

I bought a new cable for my Knitpro interchangeable needles, I struggled with a project a few weeks ago when I needed to knit 2 sleeves simultaneously  and had to use a much longer cable for the one than needed. Magic loop is not my forte.

This very special Briganta (isn't the colour lovely), is to make myself a very (hopefully) special item to wear to the 4 weddings we have so far this year been invited too.
Right now I'm trying to finish a few little projects I have on the go so I can get started, I also desperately hope I have enough yarn to finish it as although I am planning another trip quite soon to Stitch Perfect, they only carry small amounts of each yarn and so trying to match dye lots could be a problem.


Thank you very much to Leigh-Ann, Luke, Zakk and Max and of course hubby for a fantastic day and my presents.