Socks for my Sons Pal . . . and other stuff.

My eldest son came home from a weekend with friends a couple of weeks ago.  He happened to be wearing a pair of my handknitted socks which I'd foisted on him prior to a camping trip earlier in the Summer - "it get's VERY cold at night in a tent you know" I told him as I stuffed his rucksack with a couple of my knitted boot socks.  Now he loves wearing them inside his Doc Martin boots - perfect student attire!

Anyway, one of his pals spotted his colourful knitted socks and hinted that he'd like a pair like them - any chance of getting some??  He's quite a fun, quirky boy so I rose to the challenge of knitting him some socks with glee!  I decided to make a chunky pair though that would be quick to knit up and went for my '4 stitches to the inch' pattern in Ann Budd's sock knitting book . . . 

They turned out quite fun and funky - the kind of socks you might wear for warmth at night during a camping trip or for slouching about - I think they might be too thick for wearing inside boots but he hasn't received them yet so I'm not sure.  Now my son wants a pair like these so I'll have to go and get some more yarn - what a shame LOL :) :)

A little lace knitting started a couple of weeks ago . . .

It was going great until I was stupid enough to try and carry on with the pattern in the living room with the TV on and my Other Half started ranting about the European election/result - well, you can guess what happened!  The European referendum results have a lot to answer for and not just for messing up my lace knitting - but let's not go there!!!! NOT a happy bunny here though :( :(

Well, we're in the full swing of the Summer school and uni holidays so everything goes a bit belly up as far as crafting, housework, routine, etc. but it's also great just to be a bit out of routine and take a slower pace.  The chooks are laying eggs full out and seem really settled in their new home - I'm delighted!  We're having great fun with them and looking forward to a few antics over the holidays :)

Here's one eating oatmeal out of my youngest son's hand - they love this treat!

Hope to be popping by through the Summer holidays - but maybe a bit sporadically!  Who knows - holidays usually mean a bit of chaos, so we'll see how it all goes!

Bye for now
Alison x

Life in the fast lane . . . . but not really!

Life in the fast lane . . . . but not really, just extra working hours at the office job and learning the intricacies of hen husbandry.  I've absolutely loved learning how to care for our new little flock of three hens - they are brilliant creatures, thoroughly absorbing and waste far too much of my time, hehe!

This weekend I was browsing through some lovely books I borrowed from the local library and took some inspiration or rather a direct pattern to make a little hen embroidery (you can tell I'm smitten LOL) . . . 

I used a lovely idea from one of the books below . . .

They're all great books - now I want to buy them all - ooops!  The hen embroidery came from the middle book Decorative Embroidery by Mary Norden which I've just flipped through briefly, it was the hen template that caught my eye in the library though!

I didn't actually copy or trace the template, just winged it freehand - hence some of the features area bit out of proportion but it's just for my own pleasure so no matter :)  I used stem stitch for the outline, a bit of back-stitch here and there and simple satin stitch for the beak and wattles (as suggested in the book instructions).  Not sure what I'll use it for yet - maybe the cover of a hen journal??  That would be fun to do.

Here are two of our lovely girls at the back patio door . . .

It was a big decision to take on actual livestock and a little scary for me - but I'm really pleased I did, even if I do have to get up at 7 am every morning to let them out of their coop - they're deifinitely worth it :)

Last weekend I embroidered a little zipper purse after going out to take some photos of wild flowers around my home.  I really love cuckoo flowers (or lady's smock) . . .

I used some crewel wool to do some free hand embroidery . . . .

Here's the finished purse . . .

This was made to go into my Etsy shop :)

Well, it's been a busy time but now work hours are back to normal and hen care is becoming second nature so I hope to be here more often.

If you're thinking of keeping hens, here's a little incentive but there's so much more to them than eggs - they're lovely pets and very entertaining :)

Back soon now things are a little more 'normal' if there is such a thing!

Alison x