all done!

I've finished the round blankie. It's now about 40" across which is just right for going over my legs or around my shoulders if I feel the need.



I'm really pleased with how it's turned out - especially since I had to alter the pattern to stop it going all wavy. Instead of increasing on every row, after about the 12th round, I only increased every second row and that was much better. In fact, if I ever make another round blankie, I might start the alternate row increasing even earlier as the inside circles are still wavy.

Oh well, since it's not for anything more special than keeping me cosy in these yucky winter days, I'm not going to worry about wavy insides! :o)

not my fault! :oD

Douglas asked me to go and buy him some trainers today. What I think he forgot was that one of my favourite money-wasting shops was right next door. Well, not really money-wasting - more like money-sucking! :oD

I got the trainers for him and, naturally, wandered into said shop. What did I buy? Some fabric remnants - a black with white spots and a navy gingham - and some more wool.



Okay, I know I didn't really need the fabric or the wool but, since I was there anyway, I just thought I should get some! Not my fault! I mean, I wouldn't have gone there at all if I hadn't had to buy his trainers! So, Douglas is getting the blame! :oD

Anyway, now that I've unblamed myself for that, here's why I wanted some more colours of wool. I'm in the process of making a round blankie. This is just a quick photo of it - I didn't take any time to make sure it was lying flat!



I don't know how big this will become. It's only about 30" across at the moment and I think it needs to be bigger than that. I'll just keep going until I get bored with it.

And then I'll need to think of something else to use up all this yarn I keep buying! :oD

nighties, buttons and ripples

I needed to make myself some new nighties as the ones I was wearing were really getting past their best. My problem is, I need the nighties to be made of cotton - no polycotton will do. Night sweats are a pest and cotton helps a wee bit.

Anyway, my local fabric shop only had a few cottons and they were £6.99 per metre. 2.3 metres x £7 didn't make for a cheap nightie so I had almost given up on the idea of making them. I was sure I'd be able to buy them for less than that. Well, I could - but not in cotton.

Last week, Joanna wanted to go to Ikea to get some shelves and other stuff for her kitchen. As I had no Singers that night, I decided to tag along with her - Douglas was delegated to drive us. Well, there in Ikea's curtain fabric department there was pure cotton curtain fabric at £1.99 per metre. Of course I bought some - enough to make 3 nighties! And I spent less than it would have cost to by enough for one nightie at my local fabric shop.

Okay, it's curtain fabric but it's like a kitchen or bathroom weight - not a heavy curtain fabric at all. I washed it and tumble-dried it and then made 3 nighties. I LOVE them!



Next subject - buttons.

I was reading Joanna's explanation of why she'd wanted buttons on her blog and I remembered as a child being allowed to play in my mum's button box. I could spend ages just finding matching buttons or stacking all the red ones or deciding on a favourite button etc etc.

Now my buttons were all separated into glass jars in their separate colours. Not exactly exciting to play in or even look at. So I decided to put them into one box. I might regret it one day if I'm looking for a specific colour but, oh my goodness, I LOVE this box. I bet Joanna does too!



And, finally - the ripples. I finished the ripple blankie this afternoon. I LOVE it!



So does Rosie! :oD

Beanie's buttons

When I showed off my new blog the other day, Jo asked me if I'd make her one. I asked her what she'd like and she said "buttons".

So today I played around and made her a background, header and divider. Even if I say so myself, I think it's really cool!

Check it out! - Beanie's Blog.

Molly and me

I was i-chatting with Debbie yesterday when Molly, her puppy, wanted to go outside to do - well, I'm sure you know what she wanted to do. Debbie let her out on to the fenced in part of the porch and a few minutes later, she - Debbie - started giggling.

This is why. Molly had climbed on to one of the chairs out there to stare through the window.



I've said it before and I'll say it again - Molly is a nutter! LOL

been diddling again!

I've been diddling about with my blog again. This time I made everything myself which pleases me no end! :o)

Luckily, each time I do some diddling, I save the codes and where to put them so I don't have to figure it out every time. Just as well really because, although I do understand some HTML, all that stuff in the codes is eye-crossingly confusing! :oD

happy Valentine's day!

the dolly dilemma

My brother was here yesterday and brought his grand-daughter, Lianna (3), with him. She loves to play with Rosie's toys and was wrapping them up in the hexagon blankie I'd made.

I thought it would be much better if she played with "real" toys so took her up to the spare room and dug out my old dolly.

Oh dear, poor dolly. She really could do with an eye op!



She really could do with a new 'do!



Her dress was beautiful - I made it years ago!!



She still had her nail varnish on - (sorry about the fuzziness!)



But the embarrassment came when Lianna discovered this -



Oh my goodness! Dolly looked like a princess until you discovered she had no underwear on! Dearie, dearie me.

So, today, I raked through the bag that's destined for the charity shop and dug out a pink polo neck. I cut off the bottom of one of the sleeves, sewed a few seams to tighten things up, sewed along the crutch and yippee - no more embarrassing moments.

Dolly looks delighted!



As for the eye op - well, there's a dolls' hospital over in Edinburgh so I checked out how much it would be to get her done. £25 plus special delivery postage each way - a total of approximately £40! Mmmm. Sorry, dolly, I just don't see that happening any time soon.

New Lanark - the photos

As promised, here are some of the photos of New Lanark.

The view of New Lanark from way up at the car park.


The view of the river - the Clyde - from the way down the hill from the car park.


A closer view of the river.


The roof top garden with views over to the hotel.


The building with the tree in front of it is the church. The house at the left is Robert Owen's house.


The mill workers' houses.


The hotel.


Douglas taking a photo of a wooden owl in the rooftop garden. It looks like the owl is posing for him!


There were quite a few statues of animals and birds in the roof top garden. This frog was my favourite.



By the way - no, I didn't buy any wool. I know - amazing, isn't it! LOL

And, Anna, Robert Owen, who was the main man at New Lanark in the early nineteenth century went on to try the same sort of thing in New Harmony, Indiana. Small world!

happy birthday, Douglas!

Today is Douglas's birthday. He's 55. *gasp*

For the next 3 months I'll be sleeping with an older man! After my own birthday I won't go on about how old he is until next year at this time! tee hee

For his birthday we went to New Lanark. It was fascinating. I learnt a lot! I took lots of photos but haven't taken them off my camera yet - will do that soon and post them if they look half decent.

In the meantime - Happy birthday, Douglas. I love you … old man! :oD