Verb: pootle
poo-t(u)l To move in a leisurely unhurried way,
with no real purpose


Wednesday 31 December 2014

Happy New Year !


 
And it seems that just as quickly as it came round Christmas has been and gone !
It was lots of fun,
 there was lots of food,
and lots and lots of family time.
I hope that you too all had a lovely Christmassy time,
with everything going according to plan.
 
Our tree is beginning to look a little sad
and packing all the decorations away for another year is on Saturdays to do list.
Every year I promise myself that I will give the decoration boxes a good clear
out before they go back in the loft but somehow it never seems to happen
and I'm pretty sure it won't again this year !
I think we're up to three large cardboard boxes now, oops
 - so there will almost certainly be words as the boxes are passed
up the ladder to my other half,
but as I keep telling him, there's plenty of room in the loft, right ?
 
One thing that I really must learn from this year is to make sure I start all
Christmassy yarny makes in plenty of time next year.
It has to be said that I was cutting it a little fine this year with some presents
 literally being finished off , wrapped straight up and given.
 
Little red hearts were made in to table decorations for a dinner with friends,


two pairs of mittens were whizzed off my crochet hook,

 
and hastily wrapped up,


and the hot water bottle covers I made for my three daughters were
finished in that lovely hour of quiet before everyone gets
 up on Christmas day.


All made in the correct colours to match bedrooms of course.

 
My sisters blanket was being adorned with ribbon just minutes before we were
leaving the house for a family get together ...
 
 
but everything got done,
and ended up where it was supposed to be.
 
 
And to make up for the frantic activity before Christmas there have been some lovely quieter days this week where nothing other than lounging about has taken place ...
and it has been truly lovely.
 
Before I go I want to say the biggest thank you to everyone for joining me
 in my Pootling this last year ...
 I have had the best fun,
and I LOVE being a part of this great big world of blogging.
 
So, without further ado I want to wish you all the happiest of New Years
 
 
and here's to lots more fun
and lots more Pootling in 2015.
 

 
  Happy New Year Everyone  

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Christmas


The Christmas decorations are all up,


the Christmas pixies in my kitchen are still making me smile,


 

and there is a very definite busy, busy buzz all over the place.


Little Christmas hearts have been quickly hooked,


and I'm sure my knitting needles are positively glowing
from all the super speedy secret knitting that is taking place.


I've actually now lost count of all the different things that are being made, 
but my trusty bag of wool, needles and hooks is never far from my side
 - the words 'bag lady' have even been very unkindly bandied about !


So, in my last post before Christmas I am just dropping by to wish you all
a truly wonderful and very 

♥ Merry Christmas 

( Pinterest )

Have lots and lots of fun,
eat lots, 
drink lots 
and be very, very merry.
And once I've done my food shop and shut the front door 
behind me
please Santa,
Let it Snow !

( Pinterest )

♥ Happy Christmas Everyone 

See you next year.

xxxx

Monday 8 December 2014

A little bit festive ...

Things are beginning to look a little festive round here,
 no tree just yet,
 but the Christmas Pixies are back.
 
 
The collection grows a little each year with another Pixie joining the family
and I love it when they come out of hiding just before Christmas to
bring their festive cheer to my kitchen.

 
The tree will hopefully follow this week and having decided to spread the decorating out a bit this year I am really enjoying the slower pace of getting the house ready for Christmas.
 
The Christmas present list is getting a little smaller as things get finished and ticked off one by one
- but of course it goes without saying that I wish I'd started a little earlier !
Two needles have taken the place of one hook lately as I have enjoyed getting to grips with one of the patterns in the gorgeous book of Christmas makes that arrived on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago.
 
Hayfields Knit Christmas, The big book of little Knits has some really beautiful patterns in it and the hot water bottle covers were the first thing that jumped out at me.
 
 
The patterns are really clear to understand and it didn't take long to cast on the few stitches needed and get started.

 
I wanted to slightly alter my pattern to enable the cover to be kept on when filling the bottle so I went a little 'off piste' when it got to the shaping at the top.

 
 
I particularly like this pattern because it has the little opening at the back
 - perfect for slipping chilly hands into on those winter nights.
I used a DK wool that I had won in Mitzi's Giveaway way back in the summer
as it's lovely and soft and was exactly the colour that I had in mind.
It all knitted up very quickly but a little extra something was needed.

 
So some little cream spots were hastily crocheted ...

 
... a little ruffle was added around the top ...

 
... and ...
Ta- dah !
Back
 
 
and front.


A quick search on Ebay discovered hot water bottles for sale for less than £2.00,
and that was it I was off ....


Still can't decide which one I like the best,
 

 
spots or hearts, hearts or spots...
think I'm probably veering more to the spots at the moment !
 
Anyway, enough chit chat there's lot to be done..

 
as the little Advent Pixy very helpfully reminds me..

 
... it's not long now !

 
 


Monday 1 December 2014

Autumn Pompom Blanket

 
Just as November bids us farewell for another year and disappears in a flurry of leaves
 I have managed to finish off my Autumn Pompom blanket -
only just mind ,
but finished it is...


 and here it is in all its pompom glory.
 ♥
It all started when I spotted this photo in a magazine and in an instant I knew
what my next crochet project needed to be.


I decided to go with Stylecraft Special Chunky in the colour camel as I want the blanket
 to be for our lounge where there are lots of warm natural colours.


The best thing about working with this wool is how quickly it works up.
I used a size 6mm hook to keep me speeding along and the stitch is just DC all the way.


There has been a little basket of wool on my kitchen windowsill for the last couple of weeks and whenever a spare five minutes has come along there's been a little flurry of pompom making.
I made the pompoms from the same colour wool but in Stylecraft Special DK.


And so the blanket grew...


... pompoms kept multiplying


and before you could say ' Autumn's nearly gone ... ' I was onto the border.


As the pompoms are to take pride of place on this blanket I wanted a very simple border,
 something that would add a little weight to the edges.

 

Just three rows did the job :
one row of DC all the way around,
another row of DC all the way round but this time with two strands of the wool
and then the final row was a simple rope stitch all the way round.


Sixty pompoms were sewn on in total and they totally make the blanket.

 

And there you have it, one Autumn Pompom blanket,


It brings a smile to my face every time I look at it,
there's something very cheery about a pompom, don't you think ?



And for total snugglyness -
it gets a ten out of ten.
 ♥