Santa Sunday & Home Renovations

Another Sunday rolled around and as I'd finished the three little Lizzie Kate Tiny Tidings designs the previous week, it was time for a new start for #SantaSundayxs.

This cute Pineberry Lane design has been on my to stitch list for ages.  It's from the Winter 2016 edition of the Punch Needle and Primitive Stitchery magazine, to which I have a digital subscription.

Regular readers here will know that we are in the middle of some home renovations and over the last few weeks it's been all go!

We had a plasterer in for a week working on our ceilings and walls, oh the dust!

Don't you just love our industrial looking lighting? lol.

We then had a break for a week or two from renovations and then it was time for the painting to begin - kitchen, lounge and dining room ceiling.

Lucky for us my Dad is a professional painter/decorator, so while Glenn and I painted all the scotias and did the cutting in, he rolled all the ceilings. They now look fantastic. Next up will be the wall papering and we have ordered some new blinds for several of the windows in the front of our house.

Thank goodness I have my stitching and knitting to keep me sane, you should see the state of our spare room with all our belongings from the kitchen, lounge (asides from the couches and Tv) and dining room all boxed up in there. I can not wait to get in there and unpack and sort through everything!

See you soon x

Santa Sunday

The last few Sundays I have been stitching on the 2017 Tiny Tidings chart by Lizzie Kate. One of my favourite charts to buy each year, these little designs are just too cute not to stitch!

If you are on Instagram and would like to join in, there is a Santa Sunday stitch along each week, the tag is #santasundayxs.

See you soon x

LK Jingles & a new start

My Lizzie Kate Jingles project was finished earlier in the year and was just waiting for me to sew on a few buttons and beads. I'd already decided to sew it into a wall hanging, using a piece of gold spotty and red fabric.

A piece of jute for the hanging and a bright red button and it's done, all set for Christmas 2017.

                      

(It looks a bit wonky in this photo but it was hard to get a good shot of it as it's so long)

Last week I made a small start on the third chart from Blackbird Designs For the Birds series.

The fourth chart, fabric and threads also arrived last week. I just love the thread colours used in this series.

Now I'm "patiently" waiting for the first part of this year's Lizzie Kate Christmas mystery sampler to arrive from the Silver Needle.

Thank you for all the recent comments on my little blog - have a wonderful weekend!
See you soon xxx

Knit August Nights

On Sunday morning, with my friends Janet and Elsie, we headed up to Napier for the annual Knit August Nights, a retreat weekend for knitters. We didn't register for any classes but instead checked out the market, which is open to the public.

I've been so looking forward to going along to this market, and once again, I was in absolute knitters heaven I can tell you! It was actually quite overwhelming, people everywhere and so much gorgeous, gorgeous yarn and other accessories.

The weekend was held at East Pier, at Ahuriri, one of my favourite spots in Napier.

And my acquisitions? Well, I was quite restrained this time ha ha.  I was really excited to get a ball of Straycat sock yarn and one of the little bags, as apparently the stock had sold like hotcakes and there wasn't much left on the table.

I also picked up a gorgeous skein from Bleating Art Yarns. Based in Napier, Alice and her Mum's yarns are just divine. I'd remembered to take along the socks I'd knitted from the limited colour way available at last year's market, Inky's Empty Tank, to show Alice and she was so pleased to see how they had turned out.

                  

I couldn't resist the set of cool knitting markers. They will come in very handy when I attempt my first shawl! I just loved this New Jeans colour way from Catrien at Yarn Floozy from Auckland, and then I had a lovely chat with Libby from Truly Myrtle. She recommended her Settler pattern so I can't wait to get this underway sometime soon.

We could have spent hours browsing, and spending more of course, so it will be a definite visit there again next year. I'd better start a Knit August Nights fund!!

After picking up a coffee from Starbucks, we had a quick look at some of shops in the Napier CBD before heading to our next destination, the Silky Oak Chocolate Company, which is just on the outskirts of Taradale.

Lots of delicious looking food to be tempted by, in the end I went with a hash brown, kumara mash and bacon stack, yummo!

After lunch we had a lookie in the gift shop and the chocolate shop, and as I had a voucher to spend, I couldn't leave without picking up a few treats to take home.

The passion fruit vinaigrette is so tasty, it will become a favourite for our salads over the summer I think.

See you soon x

Latest Redwork

I so enjoy doing a little bit of stitchery each work, lately it's been my Friday project and this is the latest piece I've finished.

This design is from Gail Pan's latest Christmas book and many thanks to Kath, who tracked down the Earl Grey Cottage Garden thread for us. The sheep design on the front cover is next on my to stitch list, so cute!

Have a good weekend xxx

Apple Blossom Socks

This weekend we celebrated my lovely Mum's 65th birthday with a family dinner Friday evening.

Delicious food, great company and lots of laughs, it was a fun evening at one of our favourite local restaurants. 

When I spotted this gorgeous lime green yarn on Circus Tonic Handmade's Etsy site a few months ago I thought it would be just perfect to knit some socks for Mum, as it's her favourite colour. 

Details: Apple Blossom Socks by Helen Stewart, Curious Handmade
Yarn: Vista - Circus Tonic Handmade,
Needle size: 2.5mm
Size: Medium

These socks were a pleasure to knit, the merino yarn is so soft and just slides over the needles so well.

See you soon xx

Head Over Heels Socks

Finished a few weeks ago, these pretty socks are for my SIL. 

Details: Sugar Frost Socks by Vanillawool
Yarn: Head over Heels by Stylecraft, Eiger
Needle Size: 2.25mm
Size: Medium with some extra rows in the foot for length.

The Head over Heels yarn was lovely to knit with. I have another ball of a different colour in my stash and recently some new colours have been recently added to the range.

Have a lovely weekend xxx

Christmas Bird

One of my most favourite little projects to stitch this year has been With Thy Needle's Christmas Bird. I used the recommended Chestnut linen, but in 32 count I think, and all the recommended threads too. I used some Lady Dot Creations chenille trim for the edging and made into a little pillow. All ready for Christmas 2017!

A little bit of finishing

It's been quite awhile since I made any time to sit down and do some "finishing" of any of my stitched projects. I think I've been a bit caught up with my sock knitting addiction, ha ha.

Well, I'm going to try and remedy that over the next few weeks.

These two sweet finishes were the first on my To Finish list:

Lizzie Kate Celebrate with Charm Basket Flip It

Natalie Bird, Birdhouse Designs, Deck the Halls stitchery

See you soon xx

All Sorts of Things #3

Time for a catch up post this morning:

my latest stitching project - The Light Upon the Lawn, which is No.2 in the latest Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers series.

Some new charts, fabric and threads arrived recently - can't wait to start the little mice!

More socks underway, these are for my SIL Jude. The pattern is the Sugar Frost Socks by Marianne Heikkinen (vanillawool on Instagram). This is the first time I've used the Head over Heels yarn by Stylecraft and it's lovely to knit with.

This winter so far has been so cold, cold, cold, wet and frosty - many a morning I arrive at work and its only 0-1 c degrees.This was the view just down street one day last week. 

I've found a new favourite biscuit recipe - Oatmeal, raisin and orange cookies by Jenny from Elefantz. Do try them, they are absolutely delicious! The recipe can be found on this post.

Last Sunday afternoon Hannah and I went out with Jude and my nieces Alice and Sally to see a local production of the Sound of Music. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and what a nice treat for the school holidays.

Over the past few weeks, Glenn and I have been carrying out some DIY around home. We have stripped the old hallway wallpaper and dining room too, and my Dad has been in to do some painting for us. Glenn is also giving all the hallway doors a fresh coat of paint and we're going to upgrade the handles. New wallpaper has *almost* been decided on ha ha, and we'll also get some new lighting fixtures.

I've been meaning to share some news from our sock knitting afternoons - both Kath and Janet finished their first socks recently - yay, I was so pleased for them.

This group has been so much fun over the past few months - lots of laughs and giggles that's for sure!

See you soon xx