Christmas, Crochet and Colour....

I am now officially on HOLIDAY! Pheweeee....I am mentally exhausted. My work phone has been switched off and I have no intention of switching it back on until next year. It is cold outside; torrential rain at times with the occasional onslaught of hail... lets face it, perfect weather for crochet by the fire. I'm at a bit of a loss though, because I can't decide what to make... I am surrounded by people who do not share my crochet love and I was contemplating whether our home really needed another blanket, until I saw this image from Sarah Applebaum:

Image from Sarah Applebaum

I got to thinking.... I live in a white house with a nice big white wall in the dining room and I have a penchant for crochet blankets.... hmmmmmmmmmm. This image has made me come to the conclusion that you can never have too many crochet blankets. Once every chair has one draped over it, there is always a crochet wall to consider!

So I will no doubt start another blanket over the holidays. Hot off the crochet hook is the cushion cover in the above photographs...

I couldn't decide if I wanted it to be the beginnings of a blanket, but the colours were not singing to me. The pattern is from The gentle art of knitting by Jane Brocket and can also be found in issue two of Mollie Makes magazine.

I would like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas, full of peace, love and joy. May your Christmas wishes come true and thank you so very much for visiting my blog over the past year xxx

Darling Dahlia Scarf....

the plastic fawn is a new addition called Lula-Belle... she is not loved by my husband, but I think she looks just wonderful on the window sill surrounded by
her owl and russian doll friends in the feather boa snow!



I've grown up with this fairy and she looks very
1930s to me... I just love her



I almost want to say I have just been working a lot this week, but somewhere inbetween work I have made vanilla fudge, cinnamon shortbread and chocolate and cranberry muffins (all devoured might I add!) and fluffed up our nest with decorations here and there.... oh, and made another swishy scarf in Rowan pure wool double knit, dahlia colour...

Thank you very much for your swishy scarf love you sent my way last week... your kind words have brightened up a rather wet and wild week of weather...

   

I must add a note about the scarf for any beginners to crochet reading... once the scarf is complete, I placed it on a large towel and sprayed it with warm water and gentley pulled it into shape. This helps flatten the scallops; otherwise because the scarf is pure wool it curls up. Once the scarf has been sprayed and shaped, I leave it on the towel to dry overnight. This is my version of blocking and worked for this particular design.

So here are a few pictures of the latest scarf... apologies for the rushed photographs, the sun shone through the clouds for a nano-second so I had to move quickly!



I'm now on the search for a crochet beanie hat to go with the scarves, but haven't found one I like on Ravelry... if you know of a book with a beanie hat pattern I'd love to hear about it...

Sending warm wishes your way x





It's beginning to smell alot like Christmas...

I don't normally feature recipes on my blog and I am not a wizard in the kitchen, but I thought I would share this recipe with you, as it tastes delicious, is super easy to make and perfect for a winters day.... After a long wet walk on Sunday, I came home to make easy peasy cinnamon shortbread... I don't know where the recipe came from as it is a hand written recipe on a scrap of paper, but it is one of my Christmas staples. This year I have been making it up into little parcels to hand out to visitors. The cinnamon adds a Christmassy aroma, but it can be left out...

Easy peasy cinnamon shortbread

225g (8oz) butter at room temperature, roughly chopped

75g (3oz) golden caster sugar, plus extra to dust

225g (8oz) plain flour

50g (2oz) cornflour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Put the butter into a large bowl and briefly beat in the sugar – the mixture shouldn’t be too pale or fluffy

2. In a separate large bowl mix together the flour, cornflour and ground cinnamon, then beat into the butter and sugar mixture.

3. Press the mixture into a 23cm (9 in) shallow square cake tin and smooth the surface flat with the back of a wet spoon. Prick the shortbread all over with a fork then chill for 20 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C (150 degrees C fan) mark 3. Bake for 55 minutes or until pale golden. Remove from oven and cut into fingers, then sprinkle liberally with golden caster sugar. Leave to cool for 15 minutes in the tin, then finish cooling on a wire rack.

The shortbread will keep for up to one week in an airtight container.

This shortbread is delicious, but be warned.... it will go straight to your bum and tum, so eating a piece should be preceded by a lovely brisk winter walk! Hope you enjoy this recipe x

I'm loving the colours in the sky at this time of year, with the palest of yellows, mauves, greys and a dash of blue...

OOooooooooooo lovely...

make-handmade

I found this picture today via Alice on Pinterest... and it instantly made my heart skip a beat!

I just love the styling of the image; the white dress and ethereal feel and the delicate nature of the shawl. The colours of the shawl are just perfect with the turquoise and bright colour punches of the flower motifs.... heavenly indeed.

Vivienne's modelling a new scarf!

I've made myself the "swishy scarf" from Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench using Rowan pure wool dk in Cypress colour... very straightforward to make and it took me three days in total and cost about £12 for the wool. The scarf  used about 125 grams of wool and I'm really looking foward to wearing it. The timing couldn't be better as it is very chilly in this neck of the woods with snow forcast by the weekend.

Details for the scarf can be found on Ravelry...