One-a-Day.........Tuesday's Tallies.

Hi Guys, I'm back with an update on my Wonder Blanket, I've managed to do another 8 rows this week. It is very random, I'm using all different colours and weights of yarn but so far I'm loving how it's turning out.
If you've noticed I always show you the wrong side of my blanket but that's the side I like the best so it's actually going to be the front !!! Check out Gingerbread Girl's blog and find out how everybody else as got on this week.

When I went away with the girls last week, all I took was a bag of yarn instead of papercrafting  as I can never decide what to take and always end up taking too much.
The plan was to knit some thing from The Ultimate Book of Baby Knits by Debbie Bliss that I received for my birthday, it is full of adorable little knits.

Binda, my friend has rekindled my love of knitting after seeing some of her gorgeous baby knits. I gave all my needles away years ago so my girls bought me a set of Knit-Pro Interchangeable Circular Needles for my birthday and with some of my birthday money I bought a set of Cath Kidston needles in a case.

So off I went to Wales with a bag of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino all ready to knit something from the book but when we arrived we went straight into Porthmadog town centre and we came across a lovely little haberdashery shop called Siop Anna
It was an Aladdin's cave of wool, fabric, buttons and ribbon, I spotted some Sirdar Snuggly Smiley a soft, self striping, bamboo/merino mix, it is sooooo soft
I fell in love with all the pretty colours so I bought a cute ballerina cardigan pattern 1221 and three balls of wool. My niece is going to have so many cardigans !!!!!
When we got back to the house I started on the cardi and by the end of the three days I only had the  one sleeve and the border edge to finish.
Here's the finished project.

I also bought a Jenny Watson Baby Boutique Book 2 which is full of crochet patterns and the Jenny Watson Pure Merino Book 2 Accessories , they are both great books.
I picked up a few balls of Jenny Watson Baby Soft DK for a couple of projects in the crochet book, I've never used acrylic wool before but it feels as soft as the Debbie Bliss so thought I'd give it a try at £2.00 a ball.

I'll let you know how I get on with it, if anyone has used it I'd love to know how you found it, also has anyone used the JW Pure Merino ?

Thanks for taking the time to look, have a good week.

xxxxDebxxxx

My Birthday Week..........

Hello my lovely friends, I haven't been around much these last two weeks as I've had  a really busy couple of  weeks and then my wifi broke down on Monday and my 3G kept dropping so haven't been able to get on the net but my new hub was delivered yesterday, a few of you thought I was getting a new husband, hehe, unfortunately I'm not, I'm stuck with the old one, only joking I wouldn't really swap him. Anyway  I'm back now and will catch up with everybody over the next few days.
This maybe the longest post I've wrote with lots of photo's so you may want to get a cup of coffee and some biccies before you settle down, lol.
It was my birthday on the 18th and I had the most wonderful week but a very busy week on Saturday 14th I became a great aunt to a gorgeous little baby boy, he is so tiny !!!!

On the Monday we celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary, the time has flown and sometimes I forget I'm not the 20 year old I was when I got married, I must GROW up a bit !!!!! Hubby took the day off, which doesn't happen very often, and we went to the Toft Alpaca shop where I got some gorgeous silver Suri alpaca wool then we went onto Bicester for some retail therapy.
Tuesday, I went to Brockencote Hall for afternoon tea with some friends which was very civilised and grown up !!!!

Then like my Mom always says, you can't take me anywhere twice, I decided to try and take a photo of the 5 of us on self timer but this is how the photo's kept turning out.

I just couldn't get back in time, we were laughing so much the manager came out and asked in a very posh voice, if he could help so he took this photo but by this time I was in bits.

Wednesday was my birthday and I had the most wonderful day and was spoilt rotten, my girls got me some gorgeous gifts all placed in a fab Union Jack suitcase.

Look at all these beautiful cards I received, some handmade and some bought but all of them were very special, my friends and family know me so well.

I received a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from my lovely friend Binda, some beautiful roses off my daughter's boyfriend's Nan and Grandad and lots of other lovely gifts too, I had a few things for my new found love of knitting too which I will show you on Tuesday.

Then  Hubby came home and gave me a present I really wasn't expecting.................

It was the new IPad 3 with 3G, I had the very first IPad but had ran out of memory and it didn't have 3G so I was absolutely thrilled to get this. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful, kind family, I believe in Paying it Forward so I will make sure I pass on something good to somebody else..
On the Saturday it was Paige's 17th birthday so Friday as a joint celebration we went to Birmingham for lunch and to watch the stage production of Dirty Dancing.
We did a bit of shopping first then went to Marco Pierre White's in The Cube for lunch, it was amazing, it is 25 floors up overlooking the city and the food was gorgeous.

It was then time to go to the  Hippodrome to see Dirty Dancing, we were so excited..................

This was in the foyer and we couldn't not take a photo, don't my girls look angelic.

We went to our seats, waiting with anticipation and WOW, the show was fabulous and didn't disappoint, when we first saw Johnny we were a bit he's no Patrick Swayze  but as the show went on he really grew on you and was such a fabulous dancer, it was a big role to fill and he did a great job.
I love the theatre and get very emotional watching especially the finale, this show was no different and I got goose bumps watching. The finale was so much fun and once Johnny said " nobody puts Baby in the corner" and they started their dance, all the audience were up dancing, the cast got a standing ovation for at least 10 minutes, such a great atmosphere.
The following day, Paige turned 17 and was very excited to have her first driving lesson, sometimes I can't believe my two little girls have grown up so quick and are now  lovely young women.

As you can see I had a busy but wonderful week, and it just seems to continue. Yesterday I got back from a fun few days in North Wales with my lovely crafty friends. We rent a big old house and the idea is to get together and do some crafting but the weather was so lovely we didn't get a lot done.
We did have plenty of laughs though, good food and a few cheeky Pimms and Bellini's. I did get some knitting time in though, I even took it the beach, this was the first time I've knitted in public !!!!

Yesterday we visited Portmerion, what an amazing place, it is so pretty, you could be in the Mediterranean not Wales, the sun was shining and I really didn't want to leave.
First we had lunch at Deudraeth Castle, what a fabulous outlook over the Welsh countryside, the food was yummy and the staff were very pleasant. .

After lunch we went to Portmerion village, such a beautiful place to visit, I would love to stay at the hotel, it is very Art Deco and you expect Poirot to be sat there using "he's little grey cells", the views over the estuary are breathtaking.

Here are the the last few photo's of the village.

Thank you for letting me share these last two weeks with you, I appreciate the time you take in looking and all your lovely comments.


Enjoy the weekend.
xxxxDebxxxx