True LoVe....

As September draws to a close unmistakably Autumn is here!
Our days are getting shorter & shorter with the light fading
earlier each day.  The temperature has dropped just another couple
of degrees the leaves have started to change colour
 and the air is still damp but I'm not complaining!
I'm HaPpY!
If you have been following me on here for a while you know by now
I LoVe Autumn and next to Spring this is my favorite season!
There are so many things I LoVe about this time of year.

I LoVe Autumn days cozily lit up by the flicker of candles,
as the soft steam from a hot cuppa of goodness is floating
into a room where the air is filled with that comforting smell
of something yummy in the oven and we are all snuggled under
a warming blanket watching a film!

 I know I'm not the only one in my family enjoying those days.
Even Guinness is always up for snuggles.

I LoVe this little fella he is so full of personality.
At the ripe old age of 12 equaling 108 in human years he has become
a really cuddle bunny especially if the cuddles include a blanket!
His favorite blanket at the moment is my hexagon creation....
REMEMBER this one?   

I shared the beginning of it with you last July.
(If you fancy a little time travel ....this is the way back to July '16)

This gorgeous blanket was finished last November but I never quite
got round to sharing pictures of the finished piece with you....

something I have noticed happens far to often with me.



In my defense from the moment I had finished sewing in
the last loose end, it has been loved & used nonstop!
So it hasn't been easy to grab it for a little photo shoot.

I have to confess I had very little expectations for this
blanket at the beginning.
After all it is the result of a wild mix of odds & ends
with no real plan & idea of how it all would come together!
The overall blanket size and number of hexagons I would get
out of my leftovers remained a mystery until the end.

Working on something where nothing is a given,
everything is made up as I go along has been great fun.
Even when there were a few times
during my crocheting as the yarn colours started running out
I worried a little that I would not be able to achieve

that wonderful colour mix I have now ended up with.

As this blanket was always about busting my existing yarn stash,

the only new yarn purchase I made was the beautiful denim blue

Merino wool to join & border all 84 hexagons.

I have ended up with a large size lap blanket which is

very soft and super warm. 

I guess it is that soft warmth Guinness is so fond of.

 

I LoVe its beautiful colorfulness.

The colours melt into one another & then again pop all at the same time.

Looking at this heavenly blanket all spread out like this....

the mesmerizing magical happy memories of gazing

into a kaleidoscope as a child come flooding back.

This may be my first hexagon blanket but most definitely not my last!

Well there you have it ....even if a little belated....
my very happy hexagon Ta-Dah
I'm truly in LoVe!

Now I say goodbye for today so I can stake my claim
on this blanket and get snuggled into it for the evening....
enjoying a bit of Cold Feet.

A Higgledy-Piggledy Summer....

Scrolling through my Pinterest the other morning looking at an 

endless feed of beautiful Autumn pictures,

it dawned on me Summer has faded away and Autumn is now in the air.

When.... where.... how.... did this happen?

 

Maybe I didn't notice it as for me the Summer of '17

was the Summer that never was.

I was DISTINCTLY lacking that bright, happy Summer feeling,

instead I found myself more often then not feeling

lackluster, tired & washed out.

 

Please don't get me wrong I have laughed & loved a lot this summer,

....it was good....

 it just hasn't felt quite the same as in summers gone by.

 

Pondering over why I have been feeling like this....

a higgledy-piggledy mix of reasons & events comes to mind,

some very personal.... others much more global.... 

their are those I can influence....

others that are completely beyond my control....

nevertheless impacting my every day.

Completely out of my control but having a big impact

on my cheeriness is the weather.... it has been most utterly PANTS!

Grey, damp & very wet best described as a giant wash out!!!

Not what I call summer!

I need warming sunshine in summer, I'm a season's kinda girl

Summer has sun & flowers blossoming,  Autumn has wind & leaves falling

I'm sure you get where I'm going with this....

Watching weather forecasts for elsewhere with their promises of

warm temperatures & glorious sunshine created something

in me I have never known I had before....  big fat weather envy!!

The odd glorious moments of sunshine we were blessed with, never quite lasted
long enough to lift my spirits & sufficiently replenish my vitamin D needs!

  Another out of my control event with big impact was being

notified in mid May that I was to be made redundant at the end of June.
 I very much enjoyed my little job and working for this company
altogether nearly nine years made this news a sad blow!
I needed a few days to wrap my head round it all!

I was lucky to find myself a new job within days of my notification but
this has meant I was unable to have anytime off with my Paperdolls
during the school summer holidays.

Something I soOo very much cherish, it is our easy, go with the flow,
 pottering at our pace time normally. Very much needed by me to
recharge my batteries, not having this time is probably the main reason
for my lackluster summer mood and why I completely lost
track of where we are in the year!
 

   I have had my first experience of been head hunted: the job kind.

(scary & exciting all at the same time)

A phone call out of the blue only days after I started my new job,

has left me pondering all summer what I really want verses what fits in

with my family life as well as trying to be everything to everyone.
An event where the outcome very much lies within my
control but it doesn't make the decision any easier for me
....because let's be honest here, when you are a Mum

it's more about the family then the want part in all this!
Hence why I'm still flip-flopping with my decision.

 

Much within my influence and then again completely out of my control

has been the building stuff in & around our house

that needed & still needs my attention, not the pretty fluffy finishing
bits & pieces I love getting stuck into but lots of that technical stuff,
very important but OH so flipping boring & therefore ÜBER exhausting!

My creative head most definitely hasn't been much help either,
working overtime with a million ideas whilst I'm lacking any time
to turn just one of them into reality.
This is one of teen Paperdoll's cake creations.... a super yummy mood booster!

 
 Topping all this, is the daily dose of crazy politics from
home & abroad on the evening news.

Am I the only one....?!?....
Silently screaming "stop all that crazy s**t". 
Desperately longing for someone intelligent to take control,
as I'm watching with utter disbelieving bewilderment, often cringing
with sheer embarrassment at the ignorant stupidity on display
by far to many of today's politicians.

For journalists on the other hand this Summer must have
been a dream, politicians were a gift that kept on giving.


Oh Summer '17 
you have been a strangely weird one....
not bad by any means....
but just not quite great either!

Okay moaning over!
Here is now hoping for the Autumn of all Autumns 

A little catch up....

How are you?
I hope you all had a lovely fun filled Christmas & a great start to 2017! 
Sorry I haven't been around much lately.
2016 was a year I had so much hope for but in the end
it turned into the strangest year I can remember!
So much has happened recently in this little world of ours,

and if I'm perfectly honest most of which I'd much rather
like to forget about quickly!  Unfortunately I think we won't be able to, as for
years to come the consequences of recent events will come back to haunt us!

Confronted with so much unfathomable ....crazy....stupidity....
hatred & right out lies, I seem to have lost my voice a little!
 I just felt the need to hibernate from the online & news world.

It is so soothing being a little childish occasionally putting my
fingers into my ears saying ....LALALALA.... I cant hear you!
I did start wondering though.... is my silence not a form of acceptance?
And accepting this unhinged crazy I will NEVER!!!

So I have come out of hibernation reminding myself
to focus on the positive, happy, creative & good
in social media and ignore the rest!!!
With that in mind here is a little catch up of some of my
happy, creative & every day pretties from the past few months....

I have been loosing myself

 in books, fluffy lattes, sweet treats & CrEaTiViTy!
These truffles were the tastiest escapism I have ever had.



Playing around with ideas is
a lovely way to block out a world gone barmy
and dull down that feeling of uncertainty
and I have been doing a fair bit of that!

 

Remember this?
My first explorations into crochet hexagons!
I finally finished it in November, making me now
the very proud owner of a beautiful hexagon blanket!!!

I LoVe this blanket so much it really deserves it's very own post
....so watch this space!

Old frames....

 

 ....make wonderful chalkboards.

Me myself & I is a chalkboard addict
....what can I say!?!

 

Chalkboards are so much fun
can you really ever have too many of them!?!



....My Winter mantel.... 

A little tweed & tartan
found it's way into my Christmas creativeness.... 



cards & gift boxes had a very Scottish feel.

Continuing on that very Scottish theme,
I have treated myself to this most beautiful
Fair Isle cardigan in the prettiest shade of yellow!

I'm soOo not a yellow clothing girl but I couldn't resist this one.
It reminds me of sunshine on a frosty day.... can't help but LoVe it!

On my house front....

most exiting news, our bathroom renovation is in full swing!

 I have been playing around with ideas, planning & designing

for the past ten months....

....finally now it's all starting to come together,

I'll keep you posted!

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!!! 



XOXO

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

Hexagon is My New Stripe....

After the "rough seas" week we just had here in the UK post Brexit vote 

it's no surprise I'm longing for a bit of cosy comfort.

A fluffy.... warm.... reassuring.... comfort,

the kind you get from snuggling into a blanket,

a soft woolly one, like my Babushka Rose blanket.

Unfortunately I don't get to snuggle into it very often these days,

as baby Paperdoll has taken semi permanent possession of it.

It's not like we only have one snuggle blanket.

Oh no.... I have made a few large patchwork quilts over the years but I have only

ever gotten round to crocheting one blanket and that very one seems to be 

the one everyone is fighting over.

So I have concluded.... 

another woolly blanket is needed!!!

And since my yarn stash is in urgent need of some streamlining,

this realisation couldn't have come at the better time for me.

 

I have a tendency to over buy yarns for my projects

mainly due to a lack of proper planning,

throw in a bit of buying yarn just because

I love it's colour & texture and 

there you have my rather sizeable stash of odds & ends. 

So with a snuggle blanket in mind I had a good look

through my yarn, putting together a nice mix of colours 

all with fairly similar thickness. 

The yarns are a lovely mix of soft cotton & Merino wool 

which I think will make this blanket, perfect for snuggling!

I have a feeling though there may not be quite enough wool for

a medium to large blanket ....I guess I just make it up as I go along.

Like most of my creative projects if I'm perfectly honest.

Originally I did have a design idea for this blanket....
STRIPES I thought
thick stripes.... thin stripes.... chevron stripes.... wavy stripes....
mmm....
wasn't quite sure which one is best, so I spent a few days searching online for
inspiration but I couldn't really see anything that sparked my imagination.
I also have to confess I did get a little sidetracked from

my original search after I come across these pretty crocheting hooks.

LoVe 

at first site ....no question about that!

I have read crocheters rave about these Etimo hooks from Tulip before

but as I see myself more as a part time crocheter spending

any "big" money on hooks just seemed a bit overindulgent.

But somehow last weeks events have given me a bit more of a

"what the heck" attitude.

As nothing is certain living in the moment and giving in to my lust

for those most loveliest of hooks doesn't seem all that wrong anymore.  

And I have to say those raving reviews are justified the hooks are

a real joy to work with especially when crocheting non-stop for a few hours!

Yes I did mention stripes earlier you read correctly 
and yes what you are looking at looks nothing remotely like stripes.

Don't worry your vision hasn't gone all blurry.

Hexagon is my new stripe!
If Orange can be the new Black why can't Hexagon be my new Stripe?

  

 
I Love stripes & I still like the idea
of making a stripey blanket one-day but with my left over yarns
it just wasn't going to work for this blanket.

Inspired by a few different hexagon designs I seen during my stripe
search and keeping in-mind the vastly variant amounts of yarn 

in different colours I have available to me 

I drew a pattern that lets me make the most of each last scrap of colour.

And just like UK politics today....

I have no idea where I'm going with this,

neither about size 

nor have I given the edging any real thought. 

But unlike UK politics today....

I know when I'm finished with this blanket it will make me feel 

cosy.... comfy.... reassured.... warm....

but above all it will make me happy & smile! 

xoxo

Wishing all my US readers a 

VERY HAPPY

4th of July