Work In Progress....

Autumn has now officially arrived in the Highlands.
Time to wrap up warm!
  This time of year always feels like a new beginning

to me much more then New Year ever has.

Mornings are filled with a lovely crisp chill, drizzly rain during
the day (not so nice) and howling winds at night.
 Our days also feel so much shorter now, living in the north
you really get to appreciate the stark difference
from summer to winter daylight hours.
All snuggled up under a blanket,
sipping fruit tea (my Autumn & Winter drink)
candles glowing and listening to the wind
swishing up the leaves outside, what is not to like,
just thinking about it makes me all happy and cosy!

Whilst I'm on the subject of snugly, I have managed to
fit in some crocheting time to working on my hexagon blanket.

I had a bit of a struggle finding wool to put my hexagons
together with, I always have to see & feel yarn before I buy it for
the first time, living in the Scottish Highlands limits my choice with
only a few wool shops around which are mainly offering synthetic yarns.
Last weekend I finally found what I had been looking for,
a perfectly beautiful medium denim blue in merino wool.

This colour compliments all the others and the crochet hook size needed
is the same as the rest of my hexagon yarns, making it a win win for me. 

Only snag....  there where only two balls left of this wool and
four or five is what I really need to finish this blanket nicely.

I have taken a little bit of a gamble buying those two but the shop assistant
assured me there will be more of this wool arriving in late October.

Fingers crossed!

Pondering over which way looks best for putting the hexagons together....
I played around with a few ideas

....settling on crocheting a single stitch border around each hexagon

in the new wool and then sewing them together.

I LoVe how the boarder makes every hexagon stand out on there own 

whilst still making them look great together.   

If that makes sense?

As I had thought.... two balls of wool aren't enough,
I have run out of wool before I even put all the hexagons together,

so my blanket construction is on hold for now until the resupply arrives.  

In the meantime....
there is plenty of things that will keep me busy

sewing in all the loose ends, for one.  

My head is also bustling with new woolly ideas after I stumbled across
& bought this beautiful alpaca wool whilst searching for that other wool.

LoVe at first sight!

One of those buying just because I LoVe the colour & texture moments,

something I have been trying to stop.
Old habits die hard ....and some clearly take longer then others, I guess!

I have an idea but no firm pattern for this beautiful yarn.
I'm thinking ....a little shawl maybe?

Watch this space!  

There is also a another basket full of wool very patiently
waiting to be worked into a throw for my bed.
The pattern ideas for this are coming together!
 So there is no shortage of cosy woolly projects to keep me going,
all I need now is

TIME
....any ideas where I can find that?



XOXO

A Basket Case....

This past week and a half has whizzed by,

my head is spinning and I'm feeling a little drained.

Work.... work.... more work!

Do you ever get that feeling ....you run around all day

trying to be everything to everyone but by the evening

you just slump into a chair feeling like an epic failure at it all? 

That is me at the moment!

For days I have been meaning to share 

with you these photos, from a little pretty project,

 I finished at the beginning of September, only to get sidetracked 

every time with more "important" stuff.

Tonight I'm finally trying to taking back SOME control

over my time again, starting with this post.... 

♡♡ I LoVe baskets ♡♡

Big baskets.... small baskets.... tall baskets.... short baskets...  

round, oval, square baskets....

I like them all!

 Pretty & practical at the same time,

there is always room & use for another basket in my house.

And when this vintage one caught my eye recently in the 

window of a charity shop, at just £1.99 a steal for it's

perfect condition, it just had to come home with me. 

 Natural wicker is very beautiful but I have to confess

I LoVe a bit of colour on my wicker.
A few years back I started playing around with paint
on old wicker baskets & I have continue ever since.

The combination of light blue, white and
natural wicker is a firm favorite of mine!
 It works for me every time.
Surely I'm not the only one that loves this colour combination?

This case has so many beautiful little details,

I tried to highlight each & every one.

Little things make me so happy.

If you have been following me on here for a while

you know we are a family of old fashioned boardgame lovers.

Yahtzee, Draughts, Memory, Monopoly the list goes on & on,

but without a games box they have been scattered

all around the house and I much rather them all in one place.
Enter this basket....

It has become the perfect new home for some
of our games collection.
A vintage case for oldie games.
I told you there was always room & use
for one more basket in my house

I'm so pleasantly surprised by how many
of our games I have managed to fit nice & neatly into it.

I liked this case when I first saw it.... now I LoVe it!
A little paint mixed with some imaginary vision has created
a practically perfect case, filled to the brim with hours of vintage fun.

Looking at this beautiful case lying under my sideboard I'm reminded that

whilst sometimes how my time is spend is beyond my control
....that is life as a mum, wife & employee....
it is important for me & my happiness
to retake control whenever & wherever I can!

xoxo

Ahhhhhhh....
feeling much better already!