Knitting Traditions............

My mam was a brilliant knitter, there was nothing she liked better to do when relaxing than work her woolly magic.

She made all her grandchildren umpteen cardigans, jumpers, hats and blankets.... She made presents for people and she also made little hats to put into boxes for the ' Shoebox' appeal at Christmastime.

She couldn't understand why I preferred to knit small things like toys, she always thought they were 'too fiddly'.

One item that I really loved which she made was this little hooded cardigan modelled by baby Gabe. It always looked so warm and snuggly on and I've got them all wrapped away in a box upstairs.

My friend is due to have a baby in 10 days time and I thought it might be nice if I carried on the knitting tradition and made one of these cardigans for the new baby.

It's a bit out of my comfort zone and might take me a while but so far so good.

Watery ??

Gabe asked me if I would make him a blue elephant .......... so I did.

The pattern said that the finished size would be approximately 24cm in height . I think it turned out just slightly bigger.

Oh, and if you're wondering why this post is titled ' Watery' well that's because that is the name that the elephant has been given!!

Durham........

Last week we decided to have a trip to Durham. We being myself and the boys, Dad and my nephew Callum.

Dad had said that he wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens as he and mam used to like to go and see the daffodils in bloom.

 

Instead of going straight there up the main road we decided to go the long way around and have a walk along the river, which was much more picturesque.

It didn't take us long to get to the gardens and our first stop was the Hothouse where the cacti grow. I wouldn't like to fall on the spikes on this one .... OUCH !!

Gabe took a liking to the Millenium Bug and baby bug . They are only on loan to the gardens at the minute but hopefully they will become a permanent feature.

He didn't want to be in the 'boys' photo as he preferred  to hide in the bamboo with the Japanese Samurai warrior. He's a strange child sometimes that one!

Unfortunately the daffodils were nowhere near in flower probably due to all the bad weather we've had , but there were some lovely Hellebores.

It just means that in a couple of weeks we'll have to go back to see the daffodils .... it's not such a bad thing though as the boys and I have never been here before and it will be nice to explore a bit more.

A Few More............

Another little bunny egg cosy,

Olwyn Bunny

and Hazel Mouse are all now listed in my Etsy shop. 

A percentage of the proceeds will be donated to the  MacMillan Nurses.

Olga Kitty has already sold and will soon be sunning herself in Australia, lucky thing.

Hope you are all having a lovely Easter weekend..

Bitterly Cold..........

On Thursday we braved the bitterly cold weather, which is supposed to be Spring, for a walk along the deserted beach.

I think we are going to be spending a lot more time across here in the coming months.

The school holidays started a week ago and we've barely been across the doors what with the weather being so cold and the fact that my heart just hasn't been into anything lately. I do know I have to make more of an effort though as it's not fair on the boys and my mam wouldn't have wanted it this way.

We stopped for what is becoming our usual sandwich and hot drink before continuing on our stroll. With the weather being so bad the sea has thrown up more treasures than usual so we all had a good time looking for them.

Dad found quite a few big lumps of coal and he told us stories about how when he was just a little boy he would go to a part of the beach a bit further along from here with his bike and find coal to take home for his mams fire. He explained to the boys how when he was their age there wasn't any central heating and the coal fire was the main source of heating for the whole house.

There weren't any fisherman on the Pier today it was all shut off because of the high waves.

When we got home we sorted out or finds. The treasures above are Milo's , minus a crab claw which stank the house out and also resulted in his coat being washed as the smell was so bad!!.

Below are mine and Gabe's . We had been on a sea glass hunt and were very pleased to find 2 bits with letters on and some quite big bits too. I've put a penny on one piece so you can judge the size. Not a bad haul don't you think?

Awwwwww............

Back on the 14th March , when the sky was blue and there was a little bit of sun, Dad and I went for a walk along the beach.   We sat and had a hot drink and a bacon sandwich at a place called the ' Cat and Dog Steps'  ( I must remember to do a post on that) and we heard a man talking about a baby seal which had been stranded by the tide.

So of course we had to go and see for ourselves, the pup wasn't hard to find lying not far from the pier wall. It was perfectly well and quite relaxed. The coastguards were aware of it and had put up a sign saying so and advising people not to go to close, those seals have very sharp teeth you know.

We watched  for quite a while as it lay there having a nap , the occasional scratch and opening its eyes to survey its surroundings . It really was beautiful and you could just sink into those big eyes. Fingers crossed it got back home alright when the tide came back in .


For those who enquired the word 'pump' also means 'fart' ha ha 

Done..........

My longest outstanding WIP is finally finished...... it's not perfect , the sewing is all over the place and the wadding was far too thick but it's done.

Started September 2008 finished 30th January 2013.

Now I just have to dig out my others and see if I can get them finished too.


Oh, and the bananas from my previous post were noticed. Gabe really liked them but Milo got a bit embarrassed so on his next one I wrote the word 'pump'. That one went down well with his friends and raised a smile.