A Ripple Update

What diet?

The last week has been spent trying to keep warm. The kettle has been on constantly, making hot chocolate and tea, filling hot water bottles and then refilling. I've been piling blankets on to the kids beds and falling ever so slightly out of love with my skylight which not only lets out lots of heat, it drips condensation when it's cold.

Being splatted with big fat cold drips on the way to the loo in the morning and all blurry eyed is not fun.

However the 'Deep Freeze' as they call it, will not last forever and it does feel very homely being wrapped up and making that extra effort to make sure everyone is warm.

I am slightly peeved that we have to endure the cold without being rewarded with the snow though!

Snuggling up also means I have had plenty of time to ripple. I've just run out of the navy blue and I'm coming close with quite a few of the other colours so I thought it was time for an update.

This is my favourite blanket yet. It reminds me of the sea and it's very soothing to work on....... up mountains, down valley's all in soothing shades of blue and green. I likey very much. 

I hope you are all staying snug and warm if you're in the UK (or anywhere else cold!) and if you're not, enjoy! xxx

Ripple Inspiration

1. Rainbow ripple finished 05.12.11, 2. Ripple, 3. Ripple ♥, 4. Chevron Baby blanket, 5. Sweet Melody Ripple Blanket Completed 2, 6. Sofia's blanket, 7. Ripple in action, 8. Rainbow ripple blanket, 9. Bølgetæppe nr 2

As you are well aware, I do have a slight problem with startitus. The stash busting hex was the first crochet blanket I have actually finished - although I have started many others! I get inspired, I dig out the yarn, I concentrate furiously for a little while and then....something else inspires me and off I go.

However one thing that did keep me motivated through 5 months of hexing was Flickr and Pinterest. The more hex blankets I saw, the more I just wanted to have mine finished. And so I stayed at it. So now I am rippling ( I can't say that word without thinking of Chunk from the Goonies!) here are a few of my ripple favourites, taken from my pinterest board.

Enjoy! x

Lazy Saturday

Sitting in striped pyjamas, the smell of stew wafting in from the kitchen and rip-rippling away.  

Perfect.

The yarn is Stylecraft Special Dk in colours 

Midnight

Meadow

Aspen

Aster

Teal 

(shown) 

and I have silver and cloud blue to go in as well. 

The recipient will be my son - hence the no pink or purple! 

The pattern is Lucy's Neat Ripple Pattern and I've obviously gone with the 'interlocking' ripple thing that has been showing up recently. 

The best thing about rippling? No Dreaded Joining! After the Hex I am all.joined.out for now.

How's your Saturday been?

xxxxx


(Let me know what you think of the new layout. Too boring? Better? A pain in the backside? Easier to view? I'm in two minds.)

Finally Finished! :: Stash Busting Hex

 I finally have a FO to show you! The Stash Busting Hex is finally finally finished!

Started in Coventry and finished in Bournemouth. It took 5 months to complete, what seemed like a gazillion balls of white yarn and the need for me to drop my perfectionism and just go with it. (Ssssh I got the pattern completely wrong!)

However it's done and I love it. I wanted the colours to kind of radiate out from the yellow in the middle. I'm not sure I really got that effect because of the multi coloured centres. But it did use up all of my little pesky balls of stash though - which was the whole object of the stash buster! 

I must admit it's huge. Waaay bigger than I ever intended it to be. But with winter in full force here, it's coming in handy. Along with this....

I know! Another FO?! What's gotten into me! This is a garter knit scarf. Yes I've gone back to basics with the old knitting. I may have been a little over confident jumping straight in with DPN's and Noro. But this yarn is gorgeous - I believe it's called Twisted by King Cole (although I've lost the label) and it's kind of rainbow jewel tones twisted with brown. Which made the old garter stitch a little more interesting. Lovely.

Anyway I hope your January has been lovely so far - I can't believe we're almost into Feb already! I don't feel like I've recovered from Christmas yet!

xxxxxx

A week of smiles...

• Only 30 hex's to make and join before the border on the stash buster. 30 sounds a lot but I've been making these for months. 30 now seems like a doddle believe me.

• Discovering Just Me. This girl is crafty and witty. A winning combination in my book.

• Free kindle books. Now that it's dark before 5pm I'm stocking up on my reading material. The fact that I can get whole books for free never ceases to amaze me. And it makes my purse smile. 

• Shreddies and warm milk. I know. Not sophisticated at all. But I live off this stuff when it's cold and love it. 

• Brocantehome and Positively Present. Reminding me that life is too short to live in the past or save up happiness for the future. 

• Pinterest. How can something so simple be so addictive? 

• Coming to terms with the fact that there simply isn't enough money to have the kind of Christmas that we are used to here and being fine with it. Because Christmas isn't about the mountains of plastic tat that my children have become accustomed to is it?

• Taking a break from both Facebook and the news and feeling better for it. I'm starting to wonder if I really need to be constantly updated on what the world is doing.

• Stumbling upon PeonyAndParakeet on Etsy. I LOVE the texture and colour in her art. After Christmas I shall be treating myself to a wee postcard =]

Wishing you a cosy and festive week m'dears because it really isn't long until the big day now is it!

xxxxxxxxx

Goodbye 20's!

Yes I'm recycling last years photo!

It's that time of year again. I'm now no longer a 20-something, which is plain weird. As I've said before, I don't mind getting older and I do plan to grow old gracefully (well as graceful as I can be anyway!)....but I certainly don't feel older. I'm always waiting for that moment when I think 'Ah I'm an adult!' but it never comes and I guess I should be thankful for that in a way. Or horrified - depends which way you look at it.

Last year I posted about setting goals on my birthday for the following year...normally I set them, forget them and move on. This year I had written proof (via blog) of my goals a year ago. Shall we see how I did?

1. The annual lose weight/make an effort to become healthier   


 I have actually lost 2 stone (although I put on a lot of weight first!) I still have some more to lose though.

2. Graduate from uni


'nuff said.


3. Tackle my disorganisation/stick to a routine


Things are getting better regarding the routine. I'm still very disorganised though!

4. Finish a Crochet project (!)


Well I've yet to finish a blanket (although close with the stash buster!) but I have finished.....

5. Teach myself embroidery

Nope. Didn't do it - still hooked on crochet.

6. Give my mum her completed blanket!

Again the mumzy's birthday blanket is not finished.

7. Make an item of clothing.

I made some mittens last year. Yup I'm counting it.

8. Get better at photography

A working camera would help! I also feel that this is kind of a subjective goal. I do like to quantify things. I should have worded it better.

9. Make something to give to charity/a good cause.

Noooo I can't believe I haven't done this yet!

10. Give blood.


Just in time - last Monday

11. Finish my daughters patchwork quilt.


The fabric I need to finish it is winging it's way tome as we speak (now that I've remembered it!)  - I can't believe another year has past without me finishing this for her! *smacked hand* 


I also didn't stick to the 365 photo challenge (which I still want to do!) soooo I make that 6/11. Gah! Do I class that as a fail?! Let's move on.......


So this years resolutions are going to have a sparkly new page all of their own, so they don't get lost waaaay down my posts list and I'll remember them before my birthday next year! I intended to update them as I went but due to intermittent blogging I must admit I forgot I had them down on here. Anyway I'll roll over some of the ones I didn't complete last year and add some new ones. Some of them I really need to do but most of them are little things to make me happy. So here we go.....


1. Find a new job (A necessity!)
2. Complete a walk in Worth Matravers (without feeling like I should be air-lifted home.)
3. Tackle my disorganisation (again.) 
4. Read at least 10 of my to-reads (List on the way) 
5. Embroider one thing.
6.Make something to give to a good cause.
7. Finish Patchwork quilt. 
8. Finish the Stash Buster
9. Walk more.
10. Knit ....something.


I do have a couple more private goals down on the list but I think ten fairly light hearted goals are enough for blogdom (especially as I forgot about them last year!)  


Right I am off to eat cake and be merry! Have a great weekend! xxx




ETA I just had the fright of my life when I posted this and the date came up as 10th November! I swear it is the 11th....I've checked! Naughty Blogger! x

It Grows...

In hooky news....it grows! I can not get decent lighting on the floor in this flat and there's no way I can fit it all in the picture without balancing precariously on the sofa arm....but it grows. I'm still whipping up hex's at every opportunity, I'm thinking I'll do another 4 or 5 rounds before a border and then ta-da! I am going to have to buy some more white which kind of defeats the object of stash busting but I can use the white for snowflakes closer to Christmas.

In other news....I must admit I'm not a big Halloween fan (Not exactly news!). I know I must sound all Bar Humbug but it just doesn't float my boat for a number of reasons. Guy Fawkes night is another story though! As I'm sure you know the 5th November is the night when us British don our hats and gloves and partake in a little blowing fireworks up and setting huge bonfires. I love this tradition and have very fond memories of 'bonfire night' as a child. The smell of burning wood, the sound of fireworks exploding, people laughing and chattering along and of course the sights. When I was a child the fair was always in town to coincide with bonfire night. We would wander into town to watch the fireworks display and would be greeted with the lights and music of the fair...all very exciting when you are a child. We would watch the display and then wander home where my dad would have lit a bonfire in the garden. There we would bake jacket potatoes in the fire and drink hot chocolate before retiring to bed - me and my brother would then peek out my bedroom window and watch what seemed like the world alight in the sky. Like I said the whole night brings fond memories.

After eating my ahem, burnt stew (why is it the first time I cook for my mum I burn it!?) we all donned hats and gloves and went to Poole Harbour to watch their firework display which was a lovely experience. Apart from in Disney World I have never seen  fireworks over water and it was really very pretty. The atmosphere there was brilliant, with street entertainers and the bubbling anticipation of the display. I must admit my pictures are rubbish - I've never got to grips with taking pictures in the dark! But you get the idea. After the fireworks we came back to mine and had hot chocolate with cream and marshmellows....a perfect ending to perfect evening. I really love living near my mum again and being able to do these things with her.

Right, washing to do, Asda to visit and dinner to cook......I best get on! xxx

ETA There's a linkfest going on at.....



                                                    

Daily Delights

Crunchy leaves on the school run - Autumn is here! <3

You may remember me telling you about the Lion hunt we participated in when we were staying down here during the holidays. There were 50 and I think we found about 13. Most of them have been removed now, but I have spotted a few still around in local shops and restaurants. During a trip to the library yesterday I found possibly my favourite yet.

Look at the cute little butterfly!

And finally having enough floor room to lay out the scrap buster to see it in all its glory. Only I wish I'd cleared a space with decent lighting!

xxxxxxx 

We did it!

I am coming to you from my rather cosy little flat in Bournemouth! It's been a monster few weeks, full of change, unpacking and a little (ahem) beach time. Everything seemed to move supersonic quick in the end and it was stressful.Very, very stressful. But we are here now and I must admit I like it. My first impressions of 'every day' Bournemouth is that it's rather arty and creative, everyone seems to have a positive attitude (that I've met!) and it all feels more relaxed compared to busy buzzy Coventry.

So even though the move was stressful, every day life since has taken on a more relaxed pace. The week we moved down here, England's late summer heat wave began! So as you can imagine, we've made good use of the beach. After living in the middle of the country for 10 years, the beach is quite a novelty to us! And what a gorgeous beach it is.

Our move also coincided with Bournemouth's art festival. Although we have by no means attended it all, we did pop in to bits and pieces.

 This 'electronic rain forest' for want of a better word, was amazing. To my children's amusment, I was sooooo impressed! They had neon flashing lights at the top and sensor activated rain forset sounds. Okay so my description does not do them justice! We had lots of fun with these.

Neon Caravan - Westbeach

The neon caravan. I have to admit ....I was expecting a caravan covered, top to bottom, in neon lights. It wasn't. However the ladies from the art's college down there were lovely!

  We also went Vampire hunting and sewing ghouls on Boscombe beach. I have no photo's from actually down on the beach as my phone died. However I was given a pretty little business card during our visit yesterday....so I can tell you exactly who the lovely lady organising it was - Jill Adams from Nursey Bang Bang . The kids really enjoyed being let loose with googly eyes and luminous paint and I would happily take them down to her workshop again.

 Finally, this is what I've been up to in between unpacking and hopping around Bournemouth. When I was packing I realised just how bad my little stash had become. Not only have I a bad case of WIPitous, I also have a million little balls of yarn that NEED to be used up. Yes they need to be used up otherwise they turn into a big tangled mess. I AM NOT starting anything else or buying any more yarn until this is finished! I have promised myself. So this is my one and only project at the minute and I am determined to finish it. There I've said it, now I just need to stick to it!

Anyway I hope you are all well....Now I am back online I have some serious blog hopping to do!

xxxxx

African Flowers..

African flowers are popular little things aren't they!? I have to admit I haven't made any for quite a while and my African Flower blanket above has been relegated to the UFO pile. I really do have a short attention span. Anyway, I still - months after even mentioning them here - get the odd message asking how you make them. So I thought I'd post some links.

First Heidi Bears (where I learned how to make them) has a picture and worded tutorial HERE in English and Spanish (I think!)

Secondly, there is a Flickr group HERE that not only has lots of completed African Flower inspiration, they have the tutorial right at the bottom of the page I have just linked to. Scroll down. They also have a number of discussions with translations of the tutorial.

Hope this helps! x

Perseverance

Now let's get one thing straight. As much as I want to be, I am not green fingered in the slightest. With all the best will in the world I seem to terrorise every plant that crosses my threshold into an early death.

That is apart from my trusty spider plant. This poor soul has been on the brink of death so many times I'm ashamed to count. But it always springs back to life with a drop of water and a lot of pleading on my part. So when a friend of mine bought me an orchid last year I cringed. I can't kill a plant that is a gift - that would just reveal what a neglectful plant owner I am. I lavished love on my dainty orchid for the whole summer. But when it's last petal dropped and it looked like a sorry excuse for a twig, I worried and hid it on a windowsill where said friend wouldn't see it.

My family laughed at Christmas 'Terrie, it's dead. Chuck it.'

But oh no, I persevered and hoped.

And look.

 The wonders of nature have rewarded my perseverance. Now I should go and read up on how not to kill my feisty orchid and it is on my to-do list. But for now I am just feeling smug that my twig is turning into something beautiful.

The blanket project is also making progress. I have a long way to go but I'm loving joining this circles up. I realised that I haven't told you the pattern yet - It's Flowers in the snow from here. Isn't it just a m a z i n g ? The whole reason I started this project was because I loved the way the white made a pattern as it joined up - but as I can't work out how to do the corners I have settled for a normal granny sqaure round. It still makes the colours pop. And I still love it.

Have a gorgeous Monday!

Inspiration Board #2

All credit given here

With Spring in full force the world seems more colourful. People stash away their winter neutrals in favour for a splash of colour against their skin and nature parades itself in full blooming glory.The grass looks greener, the sky looks bluer, the trees are a mixture of pink/white blossom and tiny baby green leaves. The flowers stretch out their little petals to join in the carnival which is the turning of the year.. I LOVE it. Even after a fierce rain shower (which we were caught out in!) yesterday everything looked luscious and alive.

This rainbow inspiration works its way into my craft box too - I feel more comfortable using the  'all colours in' approach when they don't look so garish against the winter grey outside. Although some of them are still very garish......Macdonalds anyone?

I'm not sure that one will be making it into the final cut....or join. I am enjoying using up all those little pesky balls of stash that keep getting tangled.

I really want to use up what I already have for this project and not have to buy anymore yarn just yet (yes, I know that concept is like torture!) but I do seem to have a hell of a lot of blues/bluey greens. These are my favourite colours but I would like this project (see I refuse to call it a blanket!) to be a rainbow of colours and not an underwater oasis. So we shall see.

I do have to say a huge Thank You to Hazel at Quietly Stitching for emailing me a link for the continuous join as you go method. She saved my sanity!I just couldn't work it out how you would get all the way round without breaking off and joining again and it was driving me bonkers!

Right, I have children to entertain, housework to do and exams to (still!) study for.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

The sun is glorious here at the moment. It seems that we have been blessed with weeks of good weather and the freezing winter is a far and distant memory. Today is the last day of term before the Easter holidays and I do hope the beautiful weather sticks around. I feel less guilty about studying for exams with the kids at home if they can go and play in the garden! Not that I have been fantastic at staying on track with my studies lately, I have been madly distracted by this ....

Now I am trying to join as I go, but I keep ending up in the wrong corner of the square to continue the row.
 Do you see what I mean? If I continued around the green edged circle, I would end up in the far corner instead of the corner closest to us....Oh dear I'm not sure that makes any sense! This is driving me C R A Z Y! I know it is probably so simple but I just can't work it out. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I am so loving making this though - not sure what it'll be yet - I'm wary of calling it a blanket because I already have two which I haven't finished. I don't want to jinx it! So yes, we shall just see how I go.

Right, as these are the last peaceful hours before the holidays I am going to hit the books.

Have a fabulous Friday!

Mother's Day

It was Mother's Day yesterday here in the UK. Being a mummy, I like Mother's Day. My own Mum came to stay for the weekend and my brother popped in too. So it was a family affair. Although we love each other fiercely, my family is scattered across the country so I don't see them as much as I would like. I do have a vague idea of moving down to the coast to be closer to my mum after I have finished university but as that's just a wispy little dream at the moment, day's like yesterday are special. We laughed, we ate, we caught up.

I woke up to three little munchkins sitting on the end of my bed waiting to give me my pressies (homemade flowers made from toilet roll (resourcefulness at its best!) from my eldest daughter, a contract stating that I now have my very own little butler (or slave as he put it!) from my son, and a little box full of beads from my youngest daughter. All homemade with love and dreamt up by their own imaginations. How perfect is that? My mum used to buy them cards and a present and just get them to sign it - but this year my gifts meant so much more. I am a lucky mummy.

My own present to my mum involved being creative too. I decided to make use of some Rico Creative Poems aran that I had planned to make a scarf with. The colours suit my mum down to the ground so there was a change of plan and I made this...

I'm not really sure what this pattern is called - some sort of granny? But it is easy peasy! I was hoping the colour changes in the yarn would coincide with the rounds. They didn't exactly but I still love it. I attached it to a square of purple fabric that I had for the backing and (ahem) attacked an old cardie  for some buttons! Unfortunately I only finished sewing the buttons on early Sunday morning so I had no time to take any decent photo's before wrapping it and giving it to my mum!

Perhaps I should have had my butler do it.

Anyway Mother's Day was good. I love the crazy ride that is motherhood.

On a side note- Thank you for the comments on my last post. I would like my blog to become a little more personal but I always cringe before hitting the publish button! Your words mean so so much to me though - Thank You x

ETA: You may have noticed that Creative Haven has gone social! I have put a nifty little twitter link up in the 'come and say hello to me' box. This is currently linked to my personal Twitter account - however -  I am likely to change it to a brand spanking new twitter account just for the purposes of craftiness and social networking (because quite frankly my boss follows my personal account so I very rarely update it!) I will let you know when it is live and you can come and join me! Please come and join me! I LOVE hearing from you all! 

Mandala Madness.

Well that break wasn't as long as I anticipated! Luckily I have a lovely mumzy who took pity on my too-ing and fro-ing trying to get some uni work done between my own mummy duties. So we are back online and if I am honest, I am relieved! It's amazing that so much of my life is online these days. My bills - emailed to me. Chatting to friends - various online sites. Finding out information on random stuff - google. Watching TV - Iplayer. Reading for uni...yes you get the point. I hadn't realised how much I rely on the Internet - something that I just didn't have 10 years ago! 

As I mentioned my Internet break wasn't really a bad thing.  Alice often talks about her  pot holder adorned kitchen wall and I have always wondered what it looks like. I have to admit that it is something which I have pined over for  a while. A wall adorned with potholders a la Emma Lamb. Yes. That will cheer up my cracked yucky yellow kitchen walls. Hey Landlord - I can't fill the cracks and perk up the paint? No worries I have a heap of home made goodness to cover the madness inducing pale yellow. 

 So I am on the hunt for decorative potholder patterns. Of course I started with Alice's Granny mandala because it is simple and effective.  I did go a  little mandala mad and made a big one to funk up my dining room table. I sooooooooooo love this pattern.

Spot my early mother's day flowers from my little princess? They are the best mothers day flowers because they last all year long. In the background you can also see my half finished cushion - a pressie for my own mumzy. More on that another day.

Ooooo it's so good to share! I do love blogging - I love other people stopping by and leaving me lovely comments and I love going blog hopping via new commenter's comments .....which is where I am off to now!

ETA: I just logged on to my pc and those photo's look shockingly bright! Have my lovelies been messing around with the monitor or are they blindingly bright to everyone?!