Long time no see!

Lovely followers, I'm back but on tickety-boo . Would be lovely to see you over there! xxxxxxxxxxxx

Bad Case of Startitis

:: Morning!::

Thank you all for your lovely comments and the warm welcome back to blogland I can't tell you how much that means to me.

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What is that ball of yellow light in the sky?? I do believe it is called "The Sun" does this mean we may be at the start of summer? We have been battered by wind and rain for so long it's down right depressing. I cannot believe we have been lighting the wood burner and having the heating on in June!

I think this may be what has led to my serious dose of Satrtitis.

I know this is something we all suffer from at times, but I have been quite disciplined up until now. I now have 3 WIP's. I swore I would never do this! I have the  Hitch Hiker  which I featured in my last post. A pair of Artichoke-Socks which are a gift from my Mother to her friend?! Can't quite work that one out (as it's my yarn and work but her friend) but she is my Mummy and I love her so I'll shut up and make all the same and just be pleased she thinks my work is a worthy gift. Both of these projects are 3/4 done but I could resist the lure of the Daffodil no longer. I got some bargain yarn at my LYS sale. I know it's acrylic but I am not rich enough to be a picky ( I would love to do this in alpaca) at £1.60 per 100g ball I am a happy bunny.

  I know this isn't a good photo I took it last night and the light was bad (blasted British Summer)

It feels quite nice although it squeeks a little on my Knit-Pro acrylic (I think it would be ok on metal or bamboo) interchangeables but I am not letting that deter me. Bargain sweater here I come!!!!

 

I am loving the colour combo so far and I must just add this is my first time using more than one colour at a time and also my first ever Cable Cast On .  

Where would I be without YouTube??

I love learning new skills.

Righto must go do some work then home to wash Middle Littlies disgusting clothes! She has just returned from a residential adventure holiday with the school to celebrate the fact she is about to leave to go to secondary school. I think most of them are just fit for the bin, but she has had an amazing time.

I can't quite believe we have got to the point in life that she is moving up to secondary school but I think all us Mum's feel like this at major milestones in our babies lives.

Bye for now!

Love 

Tickety-boo

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Whistle stop update.

::Whistle Stop Update::

Hello everyone who is still out there! I have missed you all very much and I just thought it was about time I updated a little. Let me start by thanking you all very much for your kind words and comments they really do mean an enormous amount to me. 

I can't believe it has been so long, that was not my intention but I do believe it has been good for me to take the break and come back when things were more positive. My blogging may have taken a back seat but my needles and hooks have still been put to good use! 

So what have I made since January?

Two of these:

A pair of these:

One of these for DD1:

And one for me:

My first ever adult sized garment:

One of these for my friend C:

I have one of the above cast on for me now:

For pattern details or yarn info you can find the bits and bobs on my project page on Ravelry.

I am looking forward to catching up on all your knitting, crocheting and crafting adventures.

Love 

Tickety-boo

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Is There Anybody There?

Helloooooooooooo!

Are you all still there? I do hope so. 

I have felt so detached from you all and the rest of the world not having a phone line or internet for such a long time.

So apart from the festivities being all over I have kept my fingers and brain busy with my first project of the year.

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What to knit as my first knit or crochet of 2012?

A rummage through  the stash revealed some lovely sock yarns I had forgotten about. My two Wendy Johnson sock knitting books have been missing for months so a Ravelry search brought me to the lovely stunning Watercress socks. I should have realised that when it came in 4 pdf's that it may be too complicated for my noggin!!  And too complicated it was for a bear of very little brain like me.

Hey-ho in for a penny in for a pound and always keen to learn new skills I began. I say I began but the truth is I didn't look any further into the pattern than the row that was coming next......Yes I was one of those pupils at school who when the teachers told you to read through your exam paper before beginning rushed on in then realised at the end I had already used the answer to the last question in question 2 !!!!!!!! Everything was ok until I came to the gusset (such a rude sounding "gusset" isn't it?) 

I knitted.....I frogged.....I knitted....I frogged. Nope I just kept getting holes where there weren't supposed to be holes :( I won't be so dull as to explain any more to you non sock knitters but the construction of this sock was totally topsy turvy to me so I decided to butcher the pattern.........I kept the lace pattern and went with what I new, then tweaked the bits that I had to do and this is what I came up with

Taaaaaa Daaaaahhhhhhhhh

The original pattern has a frilly top to the sock but I wear boots a lot and don't really want the bulk round my leg so I did a plain 2 by 2 rib. 

Even with all that frogging they are still the quickest pair of socks to date and I am very fond of them indeed.

 Now they are done next on the needles is a tank top for my baby nephew Archie. I am 3/4 of the way done but I will save the pictures and details for next post

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Lastly for today...........

I had some news this week which has flipped my world upside down and 2012 is going to be a hard, emotional year so if I disappear again for a little while every now and again, please forgive me but I will be posting when I can.

Love 

Tickety-boo

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Happy New Year! Normal Service Will Resume Soon (I hope)

Happy New Year to all you lovely Bloglanders! 

Welcome new Followers and thank you for the two blog awards.

I am unable to post as normal at the moment because I have no home phone line and no internet so I am writing this VERY quickly from work and hoping I don't get caught. I will do a proper post as soon as AOL sort themselves out and get me back in the land of the living. Ggggrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

Until then lovelies hope you are all well and I look forward to catching up with all your posts and comments!

Love to you all

Tickety-boo

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Bits n Bobs n Catch Up

Hello lovelies. 
Is anyone feeling festive yet?
The Littlies are desperate to get the Christmas tree up and I have to say I am quite keen but the de-clutter and clean up has to take place first and traditionally we get our tree the weekend before eldest's birthday, which would make it tree time next weekend. 
I tried to keep the Festive spirit alive in them by giving them a brilliant pack of gummed paper strips to make paper chains from Wilkinsons which cost a fantastic £1.00!!! I haven't seen the three of them so quite and engrossed in anything for such a long time.
4hours!!! A whole 4 hours of quiet.
They had a ball. Now I don't have a clue where I am going to put them as they would reach from here to the moon and back :)

£1.00 well spent me thinks.


My needles have been busy too. I started to make these little socks
 or Elf stockings as the kids have called them.

I started out on this as an advent calender but there is no hope of finishing everything I have to do and knit 24 of them so some are going on the tree and some are going to have a miniature of booze (probably Baileys) in them and a choccy and sent home to Scotland as little pressies.

I have knitted so many hats of late but biggest Littlie pinches them all so I knitted this one for me, me, me I tell you!!! I am determined to keep this one because I had a terrible time knitting it. The yarn had a lot of lanolin left in it and made my hands break out and bleed. Was I deterred?  Not chuffing likely! I am made of sterner stuff than that. I ended up knitting it wearing cotton gloves. Once it was washed it was much better and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

The pattern is Star Crossed Slouchy Beret one Ravelry it's a fantastic pattern and a quick and enjoyable knit. 

I have also been making Christmas decorations at Glass Class to give as Christmas gifts but I think I'm going to have to keep the little Robin for myself!

Righto I am off to do a bit more de-cluttering while Middlie is asleep. She has a tummy bug and isn't feeling well at all. I hope she's better for school next week because she has a school disco, Nativity Play and Ballet performance but also Eldest has friends sleeping over next weekend for her 13 Birthday and Middlie has a bedroom to tidy before that can happen!

Thanks for popping by. Have a great week.

Love

Tickety-boo

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Hermione! Hermione! Hermione Granger!

Hello Lovelies!

How are you all? I hope you're well.

Thank you all for the warm anniversary wishes and lovely comments on Mr TB's pressie.

The title of this post comes from a video my Littlies love an recreate frequently.

It's bizarre but they find it funny.

Linky

I am not a huge Potter fan but they are and now every time the mention a name from the films all I can hear is this little clip!

Biggest Littlie loved the hat that Hermione wears in The Deathly Hallows film (or Deathly Heeeelllooooo's! As me and Mr TB call it to irritate our children, as is our duty as partents.)  

I had a search on Ravelry and as usual it came up with the goods! A free pattern available form this clever ladies blog Linky.

It has been in my project list for a while and I wanted to clear the decks for some projects for myself and for Christmas projects 

(sorry for that mention of the "C" word") 

 So once I finished Middle Littlies socks on Sunday I cast it on!

It was a really simple and quick pattern and oh the deep joy of knitting with something thicker than sock yarn on needles bigger than 2.25mm!!! It was done before I knew it and all for the bargain price of under £2.

The yarn is Serenity by Wendy, colourway is Boysenberry bought from fantastic Kemps.

So here it is the Hermione! Hermione!Hermione Granger hat :)

Biggest Littlie loves it and there is enough yarm left over for some fingerless mitts I think but ONLY when I find the time 

(maybe as a gift for "C" word or her Birthday which is in 4 weeks)

So far be it from me to let the grass grow and all that I cast another hat on last night :)

I will save that for my next post.

Before I go I wanted to give my friends blog a quick shout out. If you are fans of Downtown Abbey or indeed Playmobile (you'll understand when you visit) pop  over and say hello and discover The Adventures of Lady Grantham.

Have a great week everyone.

Love 

Tickety-boo

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