The Last Leaves

In the last week temperatures have suddenly dropped here and winter has truly arrived at last. As we pulled into our drive the other day I noticed that this beautiful tree, whose leaves I had been admiring, was nearly completely naked. It made me sad that all those glowing fiery leaves were destined to become just more of the brown mulch that gets pushed to the sides of the street. 

Impulsively I dashed inside the house to grab a bag and announced to the boys that we were going treasure hunting (at the end of our street). It took a while to get them on board; Little H seemed to enjoy watching me gather up the leaves rather than helping. In the end he was very enthusiastic in encouraging me whilst he held the bag open! I didn’t mind, I actually really enjoyed it! Little A watched a man mowing the grass across the street, only adding one token leaf to the lot.

We followed up with a little walk around our block before bundling back into the house with our booty. Little A went straight for his nap which left Little H and I to enjoy a hot chocolate whilst we emptied our leaves onto the dining table. We sorted them into colour order, T-Rex helped enormously, although he enjoyed eating the leaves which was strange for a carnivore.

It was very pleasing to look at but at this point I kind of began to regret bringing so much potential dirt into the house and had to think quick about what to do with them that would limit the amount of mess they could make. It seemed most natural to me to cut a length of yarn and thread them onto it.

 Little H took great pride in this task and declined my assistance at any approach I made to help. About half way he gave up, and asked me to take over whilst he and T-Rex played in the leaves before the pile got used up.

Ta Dah! Isn’t it beautiful? We hung it from the curtain rail in the hope that the sun would come out and its colours would shine through but, alas, the sun didn’t shine and the leaves dried very quickly. It’s still there, helping me hang onto autumn as long as I can! I feel Christmas fast approaching and I am having to work very hard not to put Frank Sinatra’s Christmas songs on, because as soon as I do then the season will be in full swing in no time. I know it’s worth waiting for :)

One plus side to winter arriving is that there are more reasons to stay inside, and one very cold afternoon this week I had my first student come and learn to crochet! YAY! It was great to pass on a skill that someone has passed onto me. We spent 5 hours at my dining table working very hard (with a paper bag of sweet to keep us going) and I attempted to explain crochet in the most straight forward and simple manner; how different stitches were of differing heights, and how many chains you laid for your ‘foundation’ would then require X amount more to stand in as the first stitch etc. 

I was very strict on how to hold your yarn, and although my friend didn’t exactly appreciate it at the time I know how important it is not to form bad habits. We learned double crochet, half trebles and trebles, all neatly hooked into the beginnings of an enormous cowl!

She’s still hooking (the addiction has truly taken hold) and has sent me a picture of a flower and a hat that she’s made already! As well as her fancy new set of multicoloured hooks. Hmmmmm….crochet really is that addictive, I can already imagine what discussions are happening at home with her husband about the purchase of yarn :)

So, saying goodbye to autumn isn’t really all that sad, infact, it’s rather exciting! December 1^st promises exciting things and winter holds the key to them all EVERY year!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you’re easing into winter well and finding time to appreciate the changing seasons as it happens,

Stay happy!

Hayley

xx

D.I.Y. Family Advent Calendar

Part of my focus this Christmas is to make sure that we spend some good quality time together as a family. As a way of doing this I have put together a really simple advent calendar that should help reinforce all that is good about the festive season.

To make your calendar you will need; some festive papers, glue, pens, a ruler, a pencil, some string and some pegs or paperclips.

Using an old envelope as a guide, or the picture of mine above, create a template for the envelopes. They don’t have to be a traditional shape, they could be long and skinny or simply a square folded in on itself.

Then, using the ruler as a guide, fold over all of the flaps and place a small amount of glue where I have indicated on the template.

Once all of your envelopes are made you may want to sit back and admire them a bit. Be proud, they do look cute! Then, think about adding numbers. How you do this is up to you, I chose to write mine on little squares of blank paper and glue them on, but I did consider stamping them first which would have given a really uniform look (I happen to like wonky :) )

They looked a little plain so I added some holly doodles. 

That's better :)

Now here’s the fun bit; using scraps of paper from your stash write an activity for every day that you will share as a family. Fold them up and pop them in your envelopes. 

If you are stuck for ideas here are some of ours;

-       Get out the Nativity set

-       Go for a woodland walk

-       Put up the tree

-       Decorate the tree

-       Bake mince pies

-       Watch a Christmas film

-       Play a new game

-       Dance to some Christmas music

-       Read a Christmas story

-       Make some decorations

-       Cut paper snowflakes

-       Go to a Carol service

-       Clear out toys and take them to the charity shop

-       Make Christmas cards

-       Gather treasure from nature to decorate the house

-       Bake gingerbread decorations for the tree

-       Make pompoms

-       Take some fun family photos, nothing fancy, just real life!

-       Get fish and chips for tea and have an indoor picnic

-       Clear out old toys and donate them to charity

You may be thinking that there are a lot of very time consuming activities on this list, and you’d be right, but that doesn’t need to be the case for you. I am lucky enough to stay at home with my children and so have more time than most to spend doing things like this. I have worked hard to make sure many of the more necessary things (like Christmas shopping) are nearly done so that we can focus on spending quality time together. Having said this, I am by no means going to let the calendar completely dictate what we do, I am leaving all of the envelopes unsealed so that I can swap around activities depending on our plans and how things pan out. Remember, just making time to eat together, or involving the kids in something that you would otherwise be doing, like writing cards and listening to Christmas music is probably more important than gathering sticks to make decorations! Also, there is no need to keep trying to think of new things, if every Saturday before Christmas you went on a family walk together wouldn’t that be awesome? I bet the little ones would begin to look forward to it!

So, once you have filled your envelopes, all that’s left to do is peg them up and admire your handiwork. Well done :) I can’t wait for December 1^st!

I was lucky enough to find an old stack of Christmas papers hidden away in my craft cupboard, but after I made these I instantly regretted not making them from glittery paper. This led me to thinking; wouldn’t it be great it they were all make from scraps of Christmas wrapping paper?; Or old Christmas cards?; Or even old newspaper? If you’re not the crafty type (?!) or you just don’t have time, then why not buy some plain envelopes and decorate them? Even better, get the kids to do it! Whatever you do, have fun and may the merry Christmas times begin!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope to see you soon to share some more Christmassy goodness,

Hayley

xx

Daisy Cowl

I just can’t help myself; I’m drawn to the cute simplicity of daisies, they’re so innocent and remind me of being a little girl. If they were people I imagine they would always be wearing summer dresses, happy to just be in your company even if it’s in complete silence. When you visited their house they would have the perfect knack for making you feel completely at home but at the same time a much treasured guest. They would be the friendliest people possible, and the best kind of friend, genuine.

So, when I found this pattern I knew I had to make something with it. A blanket was far too ambitious and even a cushion intimidated me as I knew that the impact of the finished article relied on each square being exactly the same size, so I settled on a scarf. A cowl to be precise, though not for any other reason than the fact that I had a very limited amount of yarn to use, and I didn’t think it’d stretch to a whole scarf. You see a little while ago I set off on a mission to find the PERFCT yarn (I’ll tell you more about it when I have actually finished my very geeky testing process) and inevitably I have been left with odd balls of this and that to try and use up. Granny squares seem to have been invented for this very purpose.

The background yarn is Rico Essentials Merino DK, and the daisy centre is Drops Merino Extra Fine. The intention was to try not to buy anything, just to try and use stuff up, but I had no white yarn, so I got to try out another type in the process; I purchased a Wendy Merino DK.

The pattern is really very simple but deceptively greedy. It is made of two rounds of popcorn stitch which adds beautiful depth and texture but gobbles up balls of yarn like no-bodies business. I had to buy a second ball of the background colour, and I don’t know whether it was my fault, but the tension of the resulting squares was very different. See, I knew I couldn’t trust myself!

I originally made 14 squares, but only needed 12 of them, which turned out kind of handy as I ended up having to unravel most of one of them in order to get enough yarn to finish stitching them together…not the most enjoyable way to finish up a project. Anyway, I eventually got it done and used the yellow to do a simple picot edging.

It’s far from perfect but I’m actually pretty happy with the way it turned out. The true test will be when I get to wear it; I’m hoping that Merino wool is toasty warm!

For those of you who want to know, here’s a mini-review on the yarn;

Rico Essentials I found really easy to work with, it didn’t split or snag and although a teeny bit stretchy it was lovely to use if you paid attention.

Sadly, Drops Merino Extra Fine was not so easy to use. It was terribly splitty and despite having what I would consider a smooth hook, it constantly snagged and pulled. The centres of the daisies were therefore very difficult to get right. I think if you were using it for very simple things, like stripes on a blanket, it might be okay but working a tiny circle was NOT fun. Perhaps a bigger hook (I used a 4.5) and deliberately working loosely would help? I have most of the ball left to use up so we’ll see.

Wendy Merino DK was beautiful to use, it ran along the hook really smoothly and worked up just yummy. I would definitely use this again if I wanted to make something out of wool.

So there you have it, my daisy cowl all squishy and new! Maybe you will make something out of this granny square yourself? Do show and tell if you do :)

See you soon,

Hayley

xx

Autumn Appreciation

It really felt like winter had arrived yesterday as I watched the boys (all three) club together to light the first fire of the season. Little A was fascinated by the wood basket whilst Little H talked about how the fire ‘on the wood’ was just like the fire ‘in a dragon.’ A good link I thought :)

 I figured that the beginning of winter would suit me just fine; that I would happily waste hours away sitting in my armchair crocheting to my hearts content; that I would race through my to-make-list with time to spare and be left at a loss as to what to hook next. I was wrong. There really hasn’t been much making going on here at all of late, just LOTS of appreciation for the glorious colours of autumn and all the change that it brings.

As winter threatens to steal away all sunshine and warmth, we have been venturing outside as often as we can, mainly to enjoy a good woodland walk. For each of us it seems the perfect activity, but for very different reasons; Little H because he can run (and keep on running) forever; Myself because it wears him out, but mainly it gives me peace to soak up my surrounding, looking closely for woodland treasures; and Little A likes it because he can sit in piles of damp leaves, or mud, and get all messy without being told off. (I tell you, waterproof trousers are the BEST thing I have ever bought for my kids!)

When we haven’t been outside, we’ve been inside making a few preparations for (dare I say it?) Christmas!! I LOVE Christmas, and the preparation is really where most of the fun is for me. This year, in line with my new years resolution to be more creative with my kids, I am building our family time around doing things together. As time runs out before the 25^th I find that the first thing to be squeezed out is our family time together, and I am determined not to let this happen this year. So far we have made our mincemeat, planned our gifts and budget, and have been planning a few crafty episodes that we hope to share with you soon.

Have you started preparing for Christmas yet? What is it that you begin with?  Hope you are enjoying the change of season as much as we are,

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

Hayley

xx