Stitch Crazy

Here is a little bundle all packed up and ready to go. Do you remember the little blue baby jacket from my last post? Here is the parcel before I wrapped it up in brown paper and sent it to the little fella who has been promised this gift for some months now.



I liked the look of it so much I was almost tempted to unwrap it myself (even though I knew what was inside it!) :)

I have been stitching like crazy recently...

Here is the finished crocheted hot water bottle cover (with help from Lucy's granny stripe tutorial):



It didn't turn out quite how I had planned but I like it all the same. I 'treble clustered' around the edge to secure the two pieces together and then followed Cassie's tutorial on scalloped edging! I'm loving the crochet and can't wait to start a new project I have in mind... more on that one another time :)

This hot water bottle cover was going to be the first yarny thing that I've ever made for myself... but I just can't help myself... it will be going to a very good friend of mine when she comes to visit this weekend. Life has thrown her some challenges of late and I think she needs a little pink and green hot water bottle right now :)

What else have I been up to? I have finished the first premature baby jacket! :) Do you remember the one that looked a little strange on the needles? Well here it is:



I have contacted PreemiesUK and also local hospitals to find out where I should send donations. It turns out the demand is huge for this sort of charity knitting. If any of you are interested but don't know where to start, please leave me a comment and I'll do my best to help. I just think it is such a great cause. I end up helping others by doing something I enjoy - everyone's a winner, surely?! :)

Signing off for now as it's a 'school night' and I've just spent two and a half hours online sorting out my car insurance renewal! :O Just as well I have blogging and yarn to keep me sane (oh yes, and a lovely fella who was actually the one who suggested I did some blogging tonight to cheer myself up!) :)

Until next time,

Toodlepip!

Crafty Goodness

Before I show you what I have been crafting I have a few home pics for you. Firstly, my favourite little birds that visit the bird feeders are long-tailed tits. Seriously, how cute are these little fellas? :)



They hang around in gangs, we often have eight of them at once. It is known that they will all help to look after the young of the gang so not only are they cute but they are caring little fellas too. Bless!

Valentine's day saw the addition of a new friend to The Wittering Knitter's abode. My lovely man bought her for me :) Just check out her wellies:


Wouldn't you love a pair?? I think they're fab :)

These wellies belong to Deidre the duck who was a little shy to begin with during the photo shoot:


Deidre peering over the tulips and daffs

She still wanted to be in the photos but she didn't like the close-ups. Here are some flowers in a teapot (with Deidre). I ran out of vases and never use this teapot so I thought it would look great when these daffs come out:



I did promise you some crafty goodness so here we go... do you remember my post about the blue knitted baby jacket...? Well, it is finished! The buttons have been bought and sewn on and it is all ready to be sent off in the post tomorrow to a young man who is eagerly waiting its arrival (it has been promised for a while now!). I wasn't sure how to photograph the hood so I've included a few variations :)



I fell in love with these buttons, I really wanted wooden ones and I love Snoopy. I am sure the little guy who is to receive this jacket won't be too bothered but I think his parents will approve:



During my search for buttons I came across some that I made a year or so ago:



The colours haven't come out very well as the light here hasn't been very good lately but the gingham ones are fuchsia pink!

As I have been on a bit of a knitting frenzy trying to finish baby jackets and jumpers I decided to try my hand at a bit of crochet. I haven't done very much crochet at all so I wanted to start on a small scale. I decided on a hot water bottle cover and I've been amazed at how quickly the fabric grows compared to knitting. I have to credit Lucy from Attic24 for her tutorial on granny stripes. Without that I would have made a jumbled mess I can assure you! Here is one half of the hot water bottle cover:



Again, the colours haven't come out terribly well but I think you probably get the jist :)

I hope to have some more crafty delights for you soon, especially as it is half term for the schools around here so I am looking forward to a few days off relaxing in front of the fire.

Have a great week.

Until next time,

Toodlepip!

Regal Spring Valentine

Sorry for the prolonged absence. I've been pondering what to write for weeks now. Do you ever get 'blogger's block'? I'm going to let my pictures do most of the talking today.

Here are some pictures that I took from a recent weekend away to Stratford-upon-Avon. For those of you who might not know this, Stratford is where William Shakespeare was born, it is a delightful English town full of character and beautiful old timber fronted buildings:


Check out this timber work!


A beautiful old house




The bank! How cool?!


A closeup of some of the bank's stonework - nice!


Just beautiful!


There was actually a street called Sheep Street!! :)


The street lights were amazing, they reminded me of something from 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'! :)

While we were in the area we visited a National Trust property called Baddesley Clinton. It was exquisite - a definite must if you are ever in the area:





We also visited Warwick Castle which is a fantastic place (if a little expensive). There really is so much there. I did joke as we went around asking if there would be anything to do with knitting, crochet or sewing... funnily enough, we came across a reinactment room where the ladies were sewing!! Brilliant!! There actually was something for everyone :)






A boat house that I was fascinated by.


A beautiful conservatory with peacock topiary trees! :) I was several hundred metres away, I was just taking advantage of my whizzy 12x optical zoom :)

There were some beautiful peacocks and peahens there too:







In these last few weeks we've noticed a definite change in the weather and the plants around us, I think spring is officially on its way! :) I LOVE spring! It is my favourite season by far. I love Easter time and my birthday is in spring too. I love the colours, the new growth in all of the plants and the brighter and warmer days. I am really looking forward to spring in our new house. When we came back from work today we were talking about where the garden furniture is going to go in the garden and where we're going to hang the washing line - I am in domestic bliss! :)


A beautiful blue sky! Yipee! It was 16 degrees celcius here last weekend - I hope this is a sign of spring on its way :)


Our faithful little Coal Tit (that I keep mistyping as a Cola Tit!!)


Stunning snowdrops


Colourful crocuses (croci?) ;)

I drew my partner a Valentine's picture :) We're both into birds and we're going to put up a bird box this weekend and we already have a dovecote so this seemed perfect:



I have been busy knitting and crocheting so I hope to have some yarny pictures for you soon. Thank you for dropping by, please leave a comment to let me know you've been :)

Until next time,

Toodlepip!