Birthday Blog!

:: Good Morning!::

(early warning......this post contains LOTS of exclamation marks!)

(I am ever so slightly excited.)

It has been a special week for us in the Tickety-boo house. It was my babies Birthday on Tuesday and he was 8 years old?! Can't believe it! He is still a little bod really and is no hurry to grow up, which suits me just grand. I was able to buy my first shop bought Birthday cake for him and take some stress off myself from the many weird and wonderful shapes I have been asked for in the past. It was also my Birthday yesterday and I was........... well I'll settle for thirty something! I was chuffed to bits with the lovely messages from you lovely people on Ravelry and lots of lovely cards from my friends and family( oh and a cake at crochet club). I must say I have been a very lucky girl. I have had the most beautiful gifts. The time and thought that went into them means the world to me I am honestly touched and emotional to think that I am cared about that much. That may sound like a self indulgent thing to say but I mean it sincerely. I am truely blessed.

So shall I share some pics of my lucky girl gifts?





And of course the treat Mr TB brought back from London

I am no longer a Krispy Kreme virgin. The lemon meringue aaaaawwwwwwww yum-yum (I had already eaten the pink heart one Mr TB had bought especially for me when I got my camera)

Told you I have been a lucky girl!! I got other things too but you get the idea. I got some money too from parents so I fed my Amazon habit with that and ordered some books with it

 and

Soooo excited I just can't wait for them to arrive!!!

Which leads me to the slow but sure sock progress. Now known in our house as

 "The Sockgate Incident" on account of my language turning in to that of a Squaddie when I had to do the heel flap (those effing socks)! Oh man it was tricky. How can you end up with cicular needles the wrong way round???? You don't know?????No nor do I! I had to take all the stitches off onto another needle the put them back on the right way round.

 I know I've done it wrong too BUT my self created method has given quite a cool effect with the stripes.

My socks now have heels Yay! I could only laugh when I asked Lucy my LYS owner for advice on why I couldn't find a good online tutorial for a heel flap-toe up-cicular needle socks and she told me "because most people find it easier to do a short row heel on toe up socks."

I now know why. But the heels are done and I am so hoping by next weeks post I can do a

Ta-Dah moment and be wearing the finished article ( a bit ambitious but what the hell). If you were wondering I have now decided these babies are MINE! I am not going through all this to give them to anyone, not even my niece. I will leave them to her in my will but these are MINE!

Have a looky at these lovely storage jars I treated myself to in M&S

Aren't they gorgeous? There is a whole new range which is lovely but Mr TB just laughed at me when I showed him a beautiful duvet cover and he saw the price. £69.00?! For a duvet cover?!

I wouldn't pay that but I may go back in and lie in the mock up bed and take photos and pretend it's mine! ;o) So if you read in the papers that somone was removed by security in M&S it probably will be me!

So off out now to take the littlies bowling for smallest littlies birthday treat.

Have a great week all of you.

Bye Bye xxxxxxxx

Frogging and Heaven in Muffin Form

Welcome to Saturday at the TB house. How's your week been?I have had a positive week. Mr TB and I have been sticking to our New Year Resoloution of spending more quality time together when the chance comes along and I am already feeling much more positive about life because of it. It has helped because he hasn't been away so much this week.

Now for the wooly bit!

Do you remember the beautiful yarn I got in my Ravelry swap?

It's so beautiful and I was impatient and had to make something immediately with it, so I tried a scarf ...................................

However I ran out of yarn and it has been sat in my WIP bag ever since. So I frogged it this week and decided to rework it and make another Queen Anne Scarf with it

And I am sooooo happy with it!!!!! I love the colour change through the motifs and it will go with anything now.

I have been on the socks again!

 

They are coming on a treat but I am now at a grinding halt!

It's heel time and I haven't got a scooby. I did my last pair cuff down and a short row heel but these are toe up and I need to do a heel flap which I have never done before and can't work it out. I have told you before I am a bear of very little brain. I have looked at patterns online but they confuse me with some kind of code that I am not privy to.

Put the left flange over the right dubryferkin and wiggle the waggle til it decreases the subplumb sort of thing! Crochet Club on Wednesday can't come quick enough, to speak to Lucy the wonder brain that owns the LYS. She has far too much wooly knowlege than is good for one person who is also a lovely lady. I bet when she shows me it will all fall into place and not be such a big deal but the frustration until I can get on with then is shocking. I keep leaving them at night with the instructions I downloaded in the hope the teach themselves how it works over. Maybe I liked The Elves and The Shoemaker story a little too much as a child ;o) ??

My other major discovery of the week was bananas in the bottom of the fruit bowl that the kids were avoiding as if they were poisonous! I hate waste and can't stand to throw out perfectly good food. I went to the Nigella Lawson website and searched banana and found

 happiness in muffin form!

Banana Muffins.

• 3 very ripe bananas
• 125ml vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 250g flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 150g butterscotch (or chocolate) morsels

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6 and line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers.
2. Mash the bananas and set aside for a moment.
3. Pour the oil into a jug and beat in the eggs.
4. Put the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl and mix in the beaten-egg-and-oil mixture, followed by the mashed bananas.
5. Fold in the butterscotch morsels, then place equal quantities in the prepared muffin tin - I use an ice cream scoop and a spatula - and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

This recipe is lovely but I am not in the habit of having butterscotch to hand so I went for white chocolate cut in to chunks and they were DELISH! Oh and if you sprinkle a little demerara sugar on the top before you pop them in the oven they have a gorgeous caramel crispy top.

I will never throw away old bananas again!
I am so going to make these to take to Crochet Club on Wednesday. It's my Birthday next Friday and one of the other lovely ladies Birthday soon after so we deserve a treat me thinks.

Have a great week all of you!Hope the sun shines on you all. Bye for now. xxxxxxxxx

The Morning After The Night Before!

::Happy Saturday friends in blogland. ::

Wow 15th January already! This month is charging by which means it will soon be mine and smallest littlies birthdays. I will run the gauntlet later today and ask him what kind of birthday cake he wants. The last time I did that I had been out to buy Mario figures for his cake then he said "I want one shaped like a whale, with air coming out the blow hole and a diver swimming beside him. Oh and can it be an Orca and not a flat one!"

That'll teach me to ask. But I did make a 3d Orca and he was really pleased and I sounded like I had tourrettes syndrome!! I so hope it's something easier this year. At least this year I can put eggs in the cake mix . Middle littlie had a big day on Tuesday and went to the hospital to be food challenged for cake and if she passed that the challenge would move on to egg. She has many food allergies and carries Epi-pens where ever she goes so anything that can be added to her diet is a bonus. So after a successful cake challenge (YAY!!!!) they moved on to egg. She had a smallest ammount put on her lips (it was egg powder mixed in yoghurt) but her tongue and throat began to swell so the test had to be stopped. It's fantastic that she can have a cakes though so I must'nt grummble!

So what else have I been up to? Well Mr TB and I went out last night!

 I know, I know, I know It's 15th Jan and we've had a night out already. That'll be half our annual quota gone then ;o) My friend who has the glass studio invited us and some other friends for dinner.

 Which sent me into the " OMG What will I wear!" trauma. We have no shops nearby and I am on a typical January budget. I happened to pass the charity shop when I was on my way home from work and I popped in. Look what I got!!!

A gorgeous vintagey 1940's esq tea dress! So me and in my size and for the bargain price of £3.50. Oh what a happy TB I was. It is the perfect thing to go with my vintage shoes. Do you remember THE shoes from way back in my post

 Problem Solved 

With seemed stockings, red lipstick and black eyeliner I felt fab. I haven't felt like that in a long time.

We had such a lovely evening. Good conversation, great food and LOTS of wine. My head is a little fuzzy this morning but I don't mind. It was worth it!

As for all things yarny the TB hook has been very busy this week. It was fantastic to get back to crochet club this week and see the lovely ladies there. It got me back in the mood to make make make make.

    Making these ..................

How cute are these???????

They are for the twins that I made the prem baby hats so long ago for.

I got the pattern from Ravelry and this is the link to it Owl earflap beanie. I hope they like them. They were so much quicker to make than I expected. Nothing more satisfying than starting and finishing a project on the same evening.

There has been a bit of a baby boom over the last six weeks and they are all girls! So I made these fantastic little hats ..........

I used this pattern from Dainty Daisy I challenge you not to go "aaaahhhhhh!"

at the most gorgeous baby you have ever seen when you look at the photo that goes with the pattern. They are soooo quick and easy to make.

I have also been working on the socks. Remember THE socks? I never got round to finishing them so now all the present making is out the way it's time to be selfish and knit and crochet somethings just for ME!!!!  I started a hat for me but I ran out of yarn with 4 rows to go. Grrrrrrrrr. So I am off to my LYS today to pick up some more and I will pop it on next weeks post.

Have a great weekend you lovely people. xxxxx

Lazy Bones!

Hello my friends out there in blogland! How has the first week of January been treating you? I hope you feel all renewed, refreshed and positive about the year ahead.

Well it's Saturday and I intend to be a lazy bones today!

I know the jam says Wednesday and it's Saturday but hey is there a wrong day to eat Blackcurrant and Sloe Gin Jam?

I am sat here in my p.j.'s drinking tea while biggest littlie is out riding and the two other littlies are watching t.v. in the other room. I will have to get dressed at some point because I have to pick up smallest littlies birthday pressies today which are waiting for me in Stroud. Conveniently not far from my LYS!!!! What a coincidence! (NOT)

I have been a very busy Mrs TB this week. Mr TB has been away all week and the littlies are back to school. They soooooo needed the routine back (so did I)! Although I did try to send Biggest littlie back a bit prematurely. Ooops! The smaller littlies went back Tuesday so I just assumed (incorrectly) that the secondary school would be the same. Thank goodness we checked her homework diary on Monday because she went to school on Wednesday.

I have had my hook working overtime this week to finish off Christmas pressies that I should have done before Christmas but life was a bit overwhelming and thank goodness I have such amazingly understanding friends. So what have I been making????? Take a look.........

The lovely Sara over at Tangled Happy Blog posted a link (link posted below)



I am soooo in love with this I will have to make some for myself!



The pattern and tutorial can be found Carina's Craft Blog for the Granny Triangles and I believe she does a bunting one too which I didn't read. If you haven't visited

 Tangled Happy's Blog I would urge you to she has links to fantastic patterns especially for making gifts.

Then I turned my hook to this...............

How sweet are these????? I used the pattern from

The Royal Sisters Grandma Hearts and also the The Royal Sisters Grandma Twinkle

I am going to string them together to make bunting but I haven't decided what to join then with. I think I may try to get some pom-poms ala Clever Lucy at Attic 24

 I am not sure about blogging etiquette so I haven't posted a photo of her lovely snowflake and pom-pom garland. I wouldn't want to do the wrong thing.

So last night my TB tootsies were cold! So I tucked them under a blanket and started these ........

The pattern for these was another Post of a link from Sara Tangled Happy. The pattern itself comes from Goodknits but I had to change yarn several times and hooks and they were still coming out MASSIVE!  I know I have a size 3 feet but seriously I think even Mr TB would have looked like he was wearing clown shoes if he was wearing them. I tried for the fourth time with Stylecraft Aran on a 5mm but I stopped at round 12

 (which is photographed on the pattern as the halfway point???!!!) and they fit perfectly. They do look VERY odd when they aren't on my feet though. It is a really enjoyable make and works up so very quickly. I will have another go today and try and tweek the pattern to suit myself but a I would love to hear from anyone who has made them how they get on, even if it is to reassure myself I am not a tiny footed freak!

So hope you all have a fantastic weekend and a lovely week ahead I may post again today and share any purchases I make at my LYS!

Toodles for now. xxxxxxxx