A Brand New Love Affair!

Hello and a happy Saturday to you all. Just watched the England game, so not feeling quite as happy as I should be. I didn't think it was a bad game, just a shame about the dodgy goal keeping incident, feeling a tad sorry for Green, lets face it he's not going to be getting man of the match. Right that's the the world cup talk out of the way.

We've had a rather lazy Saturday. Had a bit of a lie in before Alex started demanding pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast Daisy and I decided to head off to the little antiques fair in Beaconsfield. We picked up my friend Julia on the way who had decided to come along for a mooch. We arrived to find that the fair was not being held as the church hall was being used for a first holy communion celebration. We decided to have a look in the charity shops but we didn't find much to buy, a couple of vintage ladybird books and a few books for Daisy. We managed to squeeze in a coffee and danish pastry before heading home.


Mr P was given time out for good behaviour and headed off to play golf this afternoon. We decided a day at home was just the ticket. Alex played on his new Wii game for far too long, Daisy finally managed to do her project on the Vikings and I caught up with some jobs and made some yummy hummingbird chocolate cup cakes.


Do you like my new mixing bowl, yes the Jamie Oliver one (see previous post)? It's a great size for cake mixing.

Here they are finished, I love the hummingbird book, they never seem to fail and they taste so good. Alex always scores these cakes 100 out of 100, they are his favourite.

This is what my two little darlings were doing whilst I baked, both flaked out watching Alice in Wonderland. They could have been playing out in the sunshine or helping me bake but no, they both seemed to need a lot of lounging time today.

The plus side of two tired lounging little ones is that I had a really quiet afternoon!

I did make a little purchase today, do you like my toadstools? I have had my eye on these for some time. They weren't expensive and I probably won't even fill them with salt and pepper, I just liked them and thought they would look nice in the kitchen.

Now for news of my brand new love affair. On Tuesday Julia and I headed off to our monthly knitting group. We arrived and sat there practising a crochet stitch that Julia had found on an on-line tutorial. It was good practice stitch but it still felt like a million miles away from ever being able to crochet a granny square blanket. In walked Marie, she wasn't there last month, so we had no idea that she was the crochet queen. I plucked up the courage, swapped seats and asked her to show us how to crochet a granny square. Well, she was like flipping grease lightning. I felt my heart sink as my much coveted granny square blanket seemed even further from my grasps.

She then slowed right down and helped me start my first ever granny square. It was slow going, there was lots of unpicking but eventually I did it! I made my first ever granny square and I was so happy.

The following evening I sat in bed, crochet hook in hand and decided to try and follow the tutorial on Attic 24's blog. I took my time and eventually I managed to make a summer garden granny square. That was it, Thursday morning, Julia and I made a trip to the sewing shop and both stocked up on lovely yarns. We both have one single goal in mind - our first ever granny square blankets.

It has been a total love affair with the hook and yarn. I just didn't get why people got so excited about hooking, but it is so addictive and so very satisfying and the best bit for me has been watching the colours unfold.

So this afternoon, after cake baking, whilst the little ones were engrossed in Alice in Wonderland, I took these ( a crocheters must have)




and headed outside to here, my current favourite hooky spot



and made lots of these (currently completed 9)




I never ever thought I would post a stack shot of granny squares crocheted with my own fair hands.




The start of my very first granny square blanket. I can not tell you how excited this is making me. Lucy at Attic24 is always saying how heart skippy it makes her feel and do you know I really get what she means now. It has made me very heart skippy today just to sit and hook these little squares. I keep imagining Alex or Daisy snuggled up on the sofa under these little heart warming squares.

The only down side is that I have been suffering crocheters finger (as I like to call it), a rather sore finger from the pressure of holding the hook.

Right, a bit more hooking before bedtime me thinks.

Have a lovely weekend.


Alison x