TAKING CARE OF ONESELF

a cosy cuppa…

Handicrafts and gardening are both good ways of looking after your mental health especially when the sun is out 🌝

I had a little knitting kit for Christmas to make a mug cosy. It was aimed at beginners but you know me…

The kit contained full instructions, some divine wool and these super cute chunky knitting needles, they are just so dinky 😉 The cosy is just done in garter stitch and because it’s a chunky yarn grows really quickly.

Now after my mindful bit of knitting, I really enjoyed the feel of the wool and handling those dinky chunky needles I put my cosy on a mug and made myself a cuppa. I took my cuppa outside and potted a few primulas to make my garden pretty.

And my cuppa stayed nice and warm in its little coat 😚

Woolly wishes,

Jane ♡♡♡

MORE RIVER NEWS…

What a difference a couple of weeks make!!!

I shared a picture of this view last month with the flood defences holding the river back but now look at it 😊

However, look what the river has left behind…

It’s nice to be able to use the bridge again 😉

Woolly wishes,

Jane ♡♡♡

DABBLING ON THE DARK SIDE. ..

Hooking and me 🤔

I am still in a storeage frame of mind so thought I would have a go at crocheting a basket.

Now this basket made in the round is a bit of a jumble, I lost track of the join and ended up with too many increases. So I finished it off added a little loop to use as a work basket.

I do like the little neat stitches and the firm fabric it has made but need to pay more attention to marking the join.

I have made a larger crochet basket.

I just worked this backwards and forwards which was easier to keep track of the increases and then I sewed up the seam at the end. I do like the ridges created by working this way.

Both baskets were made using aran weight yarn and I chose a size 4 hook which has made a nice firm basket.

Not a natural hooked! !!

Woolly wishes,

Jane ♡♡♡

Happy 14th February

Saint Valentine was a Roman priest in the 3rd or 4th century (depending which source you go to) who liked to marry couples even if he wasn’t supposed to. He was martyred for his cause.

And below is my first photograph

Woolly wishes,

Jane ❤️

STASH-BUSTING IN 2021 #3

Started in 2020 but finished in 2021…

I finished the knotty cowl the week before last and got it posted.

I have given it to my sister but I do think it will be rather warm but it was an interesting set of stitches.

Can’t get round to sticking to a big project so still keeping my hands busy making animals and storeage ideas.

Woolly wishes,

Jane ♡♡♡

WINDING UP JANUARY!

A new year, same old challenges. ..

January has been a month full of challenges. We have had floods and heavy snowfall as well as being locked down.

COVID-19 has been rampant so other than work and a bit of walking life has been spent indoors. A great excuse to attack the stash some might say? But my time has been spent finishing off Christmas presents and doing bits and pieces.

*Not the first place you’d look for a fox!*

I have been making little woodland creatures from a kit supplied by Let’s Knit.

And I have been dabbling in storeage:

*Cabled cosies covering jam and pickle jars*

Pattern taken from Let’s Knit issue 166.

The larger basket is made with double moss stitch and the small one is made in moss stitch. They are both made from one cake of Aldi yarn originally bought to make a cowl.

New month looking for new inspiration with the stash 🤔

Woolly wishes,

Jane ♡♡♡

THE SCHOOLS CAN’T OPEN SOON ENOUGH?

Instagram lessons? ??

Not really in the mood to get stuck into anything major at the moment so I made this little hedgehog from one of the many kits littering my house🐗

And I feel I have to let people know that as it was Burns Night on Monday we had haggis for tea on Tuesday (I was at work on Monday). Now I am sure most of you know it was Burn’s night and no one is really interested in what we had for tea but here comes the point of the story.

As we were finishing the haggis B announced he hadn’t realised that the haggis was actually an animal! N and I looked at him aghast! When we had recovered the power of speech we explained that it was made from offal and barley and that in the past it was wrapped up in a sheep’s stomach etc. But apparently B had read on instagram that it was an animal 😲

*My hedgehog pretending to be a haggis running around in the heather! !!*

Since then I can’t get ideas of what a haggis might look like in the wild?

Exasperated woolly wishes,

Jane ♡♡♡

MOSTLY ABOUT OWLS🐲

Idle musings…

On one of my walks around Jubilee Gardens last week I found this:

I don’t know how many times I have walked past this without noticing the owl. Time for a close up:

What a handsome chap. I think he may be a barn owl?

Meanwhile at home I have made this little owl from one of the kits in my stash.

I wouldn’t like to hazard a guess as to what type of owl he is? Kamikaze Owl !!! I am going to give him to my mum who used to be a Brown Owl, not the feathered kind that hunts small rodents but a Brownie Guide pack leader.

Woolly wishes,

Jane ♡♡♡

A SNOWMAN FOR OUR TIMES

Hands, face and space ☃

I passed this snowman on my walk this afternoon.

Snowy wishes,

Jane ♡♡♡

AND LOOK WHAT WE WOKE UP TO…

Tackling floods and snow ☃☔

We brought everything up from the bottom of the garden because of the flooding.

Pictures taken from my lounge window. I have walked to the petrol station this morning to get a loaf of bread, not what we would normally eat but Bewdley bridge is currently closed to traffic and pedestrians. Beggars can’t be choosers!!!

Frosty wishes,

Jane ♡♡♡