Trying a little something

hellooo
I have been a little quiet I know-could be so quiet around here that I'm the only one reading this anyway...which is fine.
Been having a bit of a rubbish time of late, family stuff, ill relatives, failings out and me feeling very low just some of the issues. I do really try not to feel down or low but it's not always that simple is it? I'm finding I am sleeping a huge amount at the moment, always a 'sign' I find. I kind of think if at least I am able to be aware of my moods then that must be a positive thing surely?
Anyway, enough of that. Since we have moved we have pretty much lived a quiet life but in the last five weeks we have three sets of weekend visitors which has been great, we eased ourselves in with just two people, a friend of D's from school and his partner. We had a nice sociable afternoon and evening which led into a very late night and a huge amount of washing up the next day after a yummy cooked breakfast but to be honest I even enjoyed that part too! Two weekends later we had a crowd descend on us, three of D's cousins, their partners and a teenage child...again a hugely late night including cocktails and lots of chat. Next morning, even more washing up but not a cooked breakfast. Two days later we got a dishwashers-the one that is integral to the kitchen has never worked-unlike the oven that managed to work for three days after the move! Did you know that if someone sells you integral appliances in a house you buy there's no pressure on them to either make sure the items work or that they tell you if they don't...very annoying...
Anyway, onto the last visitors we had some friends stay this weekend and again a good time had by all (I hope) as were cocktails again, sadly we are now out of tequila :0(


So, that leads to the little something I have been trying out. I have been looking for a crochet pattern for a heart for quite a while, a 3D one not a flat one and last night I found one here:

http://justpootling.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/i-hearts.html#comment-form

I went to bed last night thinking of these very sweet hearts and as soon as D went to work I got going. Mine is obviously nowhere near as good as the lovely ones on the blog but then it is my first! I'm planning to make many more though I have to say! Yet again I am having trouble posting photos but if D can help when he gets in I'll pop it on later

Be well all x

Swapping christmas

Helloooo
I know I have mentioned the 'C' word again but I have just signed up for a crafty swap here:


http://creativechaosnz.blogspot.co.nz/2014/10/send-us-christmas-swap.html?showComment=1413186692838#c5751965465079624918


I have put my name down for swaps in the UK, there seem to be a few people over here with the majority being in the UK, I really like the idea of fitting as much as you can into a tub....I like the challenge!

Anyone fancy joining me?

Starting Christmas

I'm probably a little late starting christmas presents in October but I think I'll be fine, we hve such a small family and an even smaller number who will appreciate handmade gifts.

I have made a quite plain granny shawl for an aunt of D's-she is very unwell and I am planning on giving it her soon. She is in hospital at the moment, as she was 2 weeks ago (she has been home in between but was readmitted yesterday). The last time she was in she was struggling with being cold and as she had a 'drip' in her arm it was very awkward to get a dressing gown on without dislodging it. Another relative said to her while I was there that what she needed was a shawl. I thought I may have had some wool at home that I could use but it turned out I didn't have enough of any one wool. So I bought a couple of balls of James C Bretts 'Marble' chunky-I love this wool it's so cozy and is also sold in 200g balls which makes it a very good buy at under £5 a ball. I haven't taken any pictures of it but this is the colour I chose-D asked me to try and get a wool with blues and purples if possible so I went for this one, it's actually a bit darker than it looks on the pic and is kind of peacock shades. It didn't take very long at all and I am really hoping she will like it.



The other Christmas gift I have now finished is for D's mum. She collects blue and white pottery and has a huge collection on a beautiful dresser. I was looking on Pinterest recently and found a lovely picture of a crochet cushion cover in blue and white. When I showed it to D he straight away said how it's 'Just like my mums pottery!' So, I tried and tried to find a pattern that exactly matched the one we had seen but I struck out. So I went to an old favourite and made some squares using Patricia Hewitt's 'Sunburst' pattern. I used three shades of cotton 'wool' and made the border to each square in a white yarn.

 I am really pleased with it but just hope his mum is too..only time will tell!

Please don't be silent..

A few hours ago I found out that someone I knew-not a good friend or family member has died. It was a terrible shock, she was a mum of young children, she herself was young and as far as I knew she had not shown signs of being unwell. The thing is she wasnt unwell it seems she became a victim of domestic abuse. I will not go into details-they do not count. What does count is the number of (mainly-but not solely) women who are assaulted-or worse by the person who professes to love them.  Yet again, I am breaking the promise to myself to keep this blog 'light & positive'. I am going to admit hear that I have been a victim of domestic abuse-not D, never D. In the years before D, the father of my children told me he loved me, he would cuddle me in bed, kiss me goodnight. He would also tell me how I should 'get rid of' our 6 day old son because I was feeling weepy & down. He would tell me how I wasn't 'quite right in the head' because I saw a counsellor for a while. He would call me fat & tell me how sexy other women were. All things that are probably quite minor. He also made me have sex with him in return for money or for clothes. If I refused he would be angry and have terrible moods. One day, he took it further and told me that night he was going to assault me or 'batter me up & down the house'. And all this time I did nothing. He didnt do anything that night but about a year or so later he did and still I didn't leave. It took years for me to leave. It isn't easy and if you haven't been through it I don't think you can fully understand it.
Eventually I left, it's years now and there have been many flashbacks and scary times. I upset D because he knows that after all this time deep down I still think that one day he will show his true self, I love him more that I could have ever imagined and trust him as much as I could trust anyone.
If you are suffering, please get help, start here:
www.womensaid.org.uk/

can you tell what it is?

This is a kind of halfway house of a post. I am partway through making something and although the crochet part is finished there is still another day (hopefully thats all) to be done on it.

I have been through my stash and decided I have quite a large one (oo-eer) and that really I cant justify buying anymore until I use up at least some.
I very rarely use aran wool but I bought quite a bit-6 balls for a throw-that I have never completed and that I'm not overly enamoured with. So I decided maybe it would be good to use all that up and then I know I have only two (more special) balls of aran in all of my stash. 
I decided to give a ripple a go-I have done it before-twice-once with a cowl/scarf which again, is ok, but not something I cant live without-I know I'm abit flighty with my makes. The only time I tried it I made a baby blanket- a rainbow one and I loved it, the end product...making it was a nightmare. However, after making this itam I cant see why, this was a drem and as I was using aran yarn I was able to use a 5mm so it grew at a reasonable rate.
So here we have it...on my knee as I hook away. 

And here it is laid out on the table...it runs almost exactly from one end to the other conveniently, any guesses? thats it pretty much in its entirity-Since the photos I have added a thin border-of doubles down each side and there is some slip stitches needed...any ideas?

I'm hoping to finish it tonight or tomorrow morning and I will post a picture of the finished item-unless Ive made a pigs ear or it, then I'll deny this ever happened!
Juliet x

In my handbag

ok...so I did cheat here just a little. There were some bits of paper, receipts and bus tickets that I didn't include, but to be fair they weren't exactly exciting-not that the other stuff is!

The picture is a little bit dark, unusually this is not because my camera on my phone is rubbish, it's simply because I was in a dark place-literally. I was in a pub-having breakfast with my daughter. She lives in a town that doesn't really have much in the way of nice coffee shops-the nearest they had was a McDonalds, but then that was closed down through a lack of business (!!) so we cant even go there for a chat and a coffee.

So, we went to a Weatherspoons for breakfast, which although fine, is not as good as a nice coffee and cake emporium!

While she was busy, filling in a job application, I decided to follow others and show you what I lug around with me on a daily basis. Now I'm not sure if it gives a picture of the 'true' me but here goes:

Ok, from left to right:
-Black sunglasses 'bag' no sunglasses-not sure where they are, bag worked well!
-Keys including Disney Magic Kingdom keyring (from visit to Disney Paris when kids were 3 and 6)
-Tags on keyring-Tescos clubcard, Pets at Home and a Mexican I cant remember the name of.
-Green tree perfume spray, present from daughters holiday in spain last year. Love this fragrance and have a few different products with this fragrance, so fresh and summery.
-Soap and Glory lipgloss, claims to plump up your lips...hmm. I like the sensation though!
-Number 7 Mascara, I keep this in my bag so I know where it is-I use make up very irregularly it's a handy way of knowing where it is, otherwise it would be gathering dust elsewhere, somewhere 'safe'.
-Really comfy pen, I find I write such a little now that having a comfy pen helps!
-Bright red lipstick- an experiment, an experiment best not mentioned again.
-Purses, two. Purple one underneath is my everyday purse, it's quite large and has places for cards etc and two sides for coins. Sadly the fabric side of the coin part is coming away. Hopefully it will last until Christmas-January sales are my usual purse hunting ground. Second, spotty purse. Cath Kidson treat. I use this for vouchers and similar stuff relationg to shopping but that are not used every time I shop.
-Cold and flu tablets, just a handy addition I find, not so much not that I am not working with children though!
-Packet of tissues, the ones with the extra soft addition for delicate noses-ha!
-Some tomato ketchup, just because you never know when you will need it!

Whats in yours?

Recently read

As a child I had always read lots, it wasnt at all unusual for me to spend all day reading and I would love to get transported to the wonderful places in these books, where the sun always shined and where there was (usually) a large loving family. I am in reality an only child of only children who werent particularly family orientated. I loved Secret Seven and The Famous Five. Another huge favourite of mine was Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield (hope I got that right!).

As I grew older and the time came where I shared a bedroom with my (ex) husband he would hate me to have a light on in bed so reading into the night because something I used to do and not something I 'did'. With D, who is a heavy reader-for work and for pleasure it is not a problem but it is only in the last few weeks that my mind has felt settled enough to properly concentrate and I am now reading every night before I go to sleep and I am loving it again!
I am though limited to either charity shop finds or free books on my kindle as I am under a tight budget-and its always good to have money put to one side for wool :0)

Recent reads I have enjoyed have been:
Room byEmma Donoghue.
 
This took me a little while to get into but it was well worth sticking with. I dont want to give too much away but it's the story of a young boy and his mum and for the majority of the book they are the only characters. The book was funny in places but also so very sad. The ending didnt seem entirely satisfying to me somehow but I dont know how I would have changed it. Really good read.

A perfect home by Kate Granville.
 

I loved this, I enjoyed going to bed at night to be able to get my little fix. I have already downloaded another of her books and am looking forward to getting going on it soon. The characters were very believable and so well drawn. In what could have been an unsympathetic storyline I felt the characters held out well. Nice beach read



Itsy Bitsy Spider by Willow Rose.
 
Sometimes I like books that are abit scary-I really like Karin Slaughter type thrillers and I thought thats what I was getting here. It kind of was but more supernatural in places. If you are scared of spiders dont even go there!

Tickled Pink by Christina Jones.
 
This is another one from my 'chick lit' folder. It was ok, but it didnt pull me in. Having said that I did 'have' to read it to the end to see what happened. I got it as a free read and as such have no complaints.

Darling Girls by Emma Burstall.
 
I read this about 18 months ago and loved it. The only one I have read in years that I HAD to get out at breakfast time and read before work. Cant recommend enough and I keep my eyes out for any other freebies by the same author!