A fresh new blog

I have decided to start a new blog and will be posting in it from now on.Hope you will pop over there and visit from time to time. please go tp www.rowenberrystitches.blogspot.com ...X

knitting

Have been a busy bunny since getting back from our trip to Amsterdam, where the weather was great. I have knitted a bag from old plastic supermarket bags, a large mohair wrap, mohair scarf, blanket for Kate xmas, pics coming after santa has been,and am doing a shoulder cover up fo my mum, ist just started. So long way to go there. Rosie has been poorly, on my birthday i found lump on her leg, so we were very worried. Had it removed and she has now had the stitches out, non cancerous thank goodness. Taking a bit of time to heal, so at night or if we leave her she has to wear the lampshade round her neck!!! Hopefully if will be better fully next week so we can go back to walking at the beach. We have had to stick to short walk in the woods as shes wearing a rather fetching plastic bootie that i made from a strong carrier bag and duct tape and garden twine. She has been such a good girl through all this, unlike Penny who chewed at her paws when we were out this week, blood all over the spare bed, bad girl! Had to put her paws in salt water then spray on Tea tree oil, had to put the lampshade on her next time we went out. This has not been a great time and im going to celebrate my birthday another day since i had such a rotten one. Lewis and Lisa have been painting at their house, chose a lovely teal colour for one wall in their bedroom, its beautiful! Next week will have seen me 1yr at my job, gosh thats gone past quickly. Well, cant sit at the computer all day, knitting to be done xxxxxxxx

Hello again. I havent been a very good blogger, but the above pic shows that I have been a busy bunny.I have made these two bags, one is for a christmas gift, so if you are looking Becky, look away now!! The dark one is a larger version of my first bag but the second one i made myself. I have yet to line it but thats easy enough. What I really wanted is to make an adjustable leather strap that can swop between various bags but I cannot come accross the mateials needed, so if anyone knows where I can get these, please jump in and let me know. I also would worry of the the bag not being strong enough to take any weight where i would attatch the d-rings at the side. so if anyone has any ideas please pass it along.The wool came from Kingcraig Fabrics of Brora, Sutherland. They have a lovely selection of coned wool.The toggle buttons on the dark bag are from Bellandbellissimo on e-bay uk. I am addicted to felting now.I have started another bag already. I also have knitted a shawl for my friend, Lindas xmas, pic comming later.looking forward to Amsterdam and Delft, hope the weather will be good.We have a cat comming to the garden, it seems someone has put it out, I dont understand how someone can throw out an animal, if they can no longer afford to keep them there are chariteis that will take in unwanted pets, so throwing them out is unacceptable. she/he is very timid but knows now that i put the food under the garden bench for it and now is waiting each night for me and getting a bit braver, comes for the food before i close the garage door! The hedgehogs are also comming and having their food too.Thats all for now...xxxx

The joy of Felting

As you can see I have discovered Felting...and I am a big fan. It only took one project to get me hooked..if only the wool werent so expensive!!!As you can see i made this cute little bag and now have my eyes firmly set on a larger bag. I also got new wool to make up those little neck warmers i made last week, this time the wool is softer and not as bulky, but just as cosy.
Back to work today after having last weekend off. Boy was it warm in there today.Must go now, my knitting awaits XX

Id like to share my new found pattern for this beautiful neck warmer. Its fast to knit up and uses about 100gms , so its cheaper than making a scarf. Firstly, its not my pattern it belongs to this lovely guy in one of the above pics, who you can visit to see the original, go to www.yarnballboogie.co/?=124 He used a different yarn from me, must have been thicker as he only cast on 14 sts. His fulll pattern, plus others that he has go to www.ravelry.com I have used a yarn from Twilleys which was 100% wool, its gauge is 10sts over 14 rows so iguess its chunky,but that doesnt matter for this scarf.I have used size 10mm needles casting on 20 sts and its knitted in a brioche rib, which have various ideas on how to do them, this is what I used, sl 1,*yf, (ie, bring the yarn to the front of the work)sl 1,k2tog follow from*to the end, then purl 1 the last stitch. at the right length for you, mine was 25ins, knit two rows, then put in 3 buttonholes and then knit 3 rows. All done!! These can be made in an afternoon, the buttons are from "belloandbellissimo" at ebay.co.uk, who have a nice range of buttons from Italy.
Good news too, we are going to Amsterdam next month yippee!! I love Amsterdam ,its a city i never tire of, plus we are going to take the train to Delft, havent been there before so I am really looking forward to our little holiday.

it's been ages!

Here I am again after such a long time. Dont really have any excuse not to have writtenI have been watching all your blogs though.
The first photo is of my sons new decking area it looks great!
Then here we are on holiday, we had a lovely time, the photos are of horses on the shore at sunset on De Haan beach, the giant turtle is on Neiwport beach and the lovely tram we used every day to get about which runs the whole length of the Belgain coast from De Panne to Knocke. All of this is in Belgium by the way. It was vey hot there, sunny every day too, we also took the train up to Antwerp , one of my favorite cities. Luckily they had a market on the day we went. Discovered something called Wasabi peanuts, they knock your socks off when you bite them, they arent going to last long, i wish id bought more of them at the time. They taste like you have taken a bite of really hot mustard !

Have any of you been watching the tennis? Had the roof on centre court last night for a really long match in which the Scot, Andy Murray won!


Have booked to go away in Novenmber in time fir the christmas market in Lille We are going to stay in St Omer France, been there before its a lovely little town with two market squares and cafe/bars dotted round them, very continental, even in winter people sit outside at tables, we arent quite that mad!

Soory to hear of Merries little dog passing away, its not a nice feeling coming home and theyre not there to greet you, chin up Merrie another one will come to you in time

Thats me for now, hugs ....XX

Well, ive not been on here much, been in facebook instead!. Here is a very old pic of me and a friend of mine taken in Ballater in 1999, cant believe it was so long ago, but it was. Not that either of us look any older, just wiser. I caught up with her on facebook this week, hence the digging through the photo albums searching for this pic.
I have been in my garden and are pleased to announce that we have a little visitor, a hedgehog, in fact i think there is more than one of them , so out i go each night with th edog food for them, anything they dont eat gets taken by the crows or magpies in the morning.
There was new beading mag out and i have got some good ideas from it, made a matching set of, latriat necklace, bracelet,, watch and earrings, will have to remember to take a pic.
Have no sound on my computer, turned out i need a new driver, many thanks to all that helped me out on www.freepchelp.co.uk otherwise i would have been at a loss.
Mum and Billy are off to climb more munroes this week, especially on May the 1st as he will be,.... wait for it....70!! Thanks to him for redoing the wall at the front of our house.
I fell over in the supermarket and have a bruise on my behind and on my elbow which is very sore. In to much of a hurry as usual.



This is a bit of fun, weve been in this station, is a work of art itsself.

All for now....Diane