Hello winter

A weekend away; pizza nights; knitting socks and hats; pottery; painting in my sketchbook and winter growing – mushrooms and micro greens… 
Even though it’s dark and more than a little cold, I’ve been busy! What about you, what are you up to? Enjoy your weekend, Ill be busy… making! J xoxo

Early winter snaps and new socks

It was the Queen’s birthday weekend holiday today, and this afternoon we took a beautiful walk through the Hamilton gardens…

The air has a cold chill to it, but  the sun is still lovely and warm. A holiday on a Monday is a perfect start to the week, if only every Monday could be spent this way 🙂

And, in other news, I finished Carter’s new socks. He’s rather pleased with them… but convincing him to sit still for long enough to take a photo – that took about a week!

I’ve cast on another pair already!

Thank you for the lovely reassuring comments in the last post. Maia arrived home from camp on Friday, safe and sound. She had a lovely time! But oh was I glad to have her home 🙂

How did your week start? Jxx

Purrrfect

Our cat, Billy, has decided that he loves this wool. He actually loves most wool, and crocheted blankets especially… but this wool must be special! Never mind that I want to use it, to you know, crochet with…

He says, ‘Its so warm, and comfy and purrrrfect for resting my chin on when I sleep. Go away with your annoying camera and wanting to move it around, Im trying to sleep here!’Later that night, when I was trying to use the wool he was determinedly perched on my knee letting me know how much he loved it … you’ll need your volume on to make sense of this video (and heaven only knows why it turned out so big) 🙂

If you are on a mobile device you might have to view it here.

Blooming in my winter garden and new crochet mitts

There’s not a lot blooming in my garden to be honest… but if you search carefully there are a few spots of color, and even the very first bulbs starting to appear – all without any help from me (as the poor slug eaten polyanthus will profess):

This white tipped cyclamen is gorgeous and it has a nice scent too…

Calendulas bloom all through my (sad looking) vege garden…

Early cheer, braving the chill…Poor polyanthus are slugs’ favourite feast…There is going to be a huge haul of tangelos this year…Pretty pelargoniums from Great Nana Williams and a few red rhubarb stalks that should be brought in and cooked up: Paler pink cyclamens…Unassuming hellebores; their downward facing blooms required all kinds of trick photography to share their beauty with you! Got it!And finally, delightful Daphne…Daphne is quite possibly my favourite winter flower. I don’t seem to have much luck growing it; the leaves turn yellow and once that happens they invariably curl up and die within a couple of years. I have to enjoy this bush while I can. The smell is all lemony and quite delicious – makes me want to eat it (or at least a lemon delicious pudding)!This week I made these new fingerless gloves, like shawls they are a regular make for me – especially at this time of year. I love that my hands and wrists are warm, but my fingers are free to do all the important stuff they need to! These ones are a little heavier than I would usually make, but they are super warm and cosy. You can’t quite see it in the photos but there is a gold thread through the yarn which is very pretty. This is a free pattern, you can find it here. Would I recommend it? Yes definitely, the instructions are good and the cable surprisingly easy 🙂

What’s blooming  in your garden, and what are you working on? – J xox

 

Things to love about winter…

As you’ve probably already guessed, winter is not my favorite season. We seem to be having more than our share of bugs this winter, but then there are some bright spots…
Today for instance, lying in the afternoon sun cosied in crochet blankets and cuddling my hot water bottle (and various small children) while reading a good book… Bliss!

This got me thinking about what I love about winter and without any trouble at all I settled on a few favorites:

So now I’m wondering, what would you add to the list – what do you love about the cold winter months? I know some of you (in fact if the stats are correct, most of you) are currently enjoying the midst of the northern hemisphere summer. But no matter where you are in the world, mid summer or mid winter, I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday full of happiness and many small pleasures!  – xo J

Slowly…

Like this tiny snail, I’m taking things more slowly this week. We’re still recovering from the bugs, but there’s only one more week left of the school term so looking forward to the break like a light at the end of the (winter) tunnel. Unlike this snail, I’m not cruising around outside much so you’re more likely to find me snuggled up in front of the fire 🙂