I have been a bit quiet this week.
Ok, correction
I have been a bit quiet on HERE this week.
My friends will attest that I have NOT been quiet. Other than the evening I was falling asleep whilst we chatted... and then I was probably snoring.
Yes, I have had a few days holiday. We went to rainy Somerset. Very rainy. Very wet. Very flooded as we drove along. Every day it rained. Every day we went out anyway, as brave Brits do.
We had a lot of fun, especially the children. One day we went for a walk in the woods, where there were endless little streams for the children to jump about in. Great fun! They also got their annual horse riding, with a little ride around the "block". Enjoyed by all of them!
It was the perfect excuse to stay in and enjoy the wood burner, really. That, and eat nice food.
So, the "diet" starts on Monday. I am doing Whole30, which I did about 15 months ago. It's a system that eliminates food groups for 30 days, which have a tendency to cause health problems with people. No sugars, dairy, grains, white potatoes, legumes and other odds and ends. Those are the main things to cut out. Plus, every meal has healthy fat and protein as well as plenty of veg. A little fruit is allowed, too. I enjoyed it the last time, and it changed how I eat all the time. However, sneaky sweet things have sneaked back in, so this is my bid to get back on track again. When I did it last time, I lost 19 lbs in 30 days. That would be good, if I managed that again. I noticed even more the inches lost - most obvious with the fit of clothes. So, we'll see how it goes. I have all the right food in the house, so I should be set to begin.
If I can't have cake to eat, I have certainly found a new kind of cake, which I am loving.
We are talking yarn, here.
My new found love of the hand-dyed yarn.
I got some this week, which I had bought with my birthday vouchers and money. It is a thing of beauty. However, I discovered that if you want to buy hand-dyed yarn, it comes in skeins. Like this...
You put the yarn around it, and it holds it whilst you wind it into a cake.
The best bit about the cakes, is that the yarn pulls from the centre. It saves you looking like an eejit, waving your arms around, unwinding it from a ball whilst you crochet. Only if you work with yarn, will you know what I mean. I may, in fact, rewind all my shop bought balls so they are like this. Hmmmm, having the time for that may not be realistic!
My latest crochet creation was made after I had wound the beautiful hand-dyed yarn into a cake.
I made this basic beanie hat, and these mittens, for my friend Lydia's birthday. She had asked for new mittens, and I figured making them myself, with some of that scrummy yarn, would be perfect! It was a pattern taht took a little getting my head around, but once I got the hang of it, it was simple. I love how they came out. I had yarn left over, so I started to make a hat. Until I realised I would not have enough... and I was already on the way to holiday, where I would be GIVING it to her. Hmmmm. THANKFULLY, I had bought a few "projects" with me, including some yarn that tied in PERFECTLY!!! SO, I finished it off with that. I think it turned out quite nicely, with just enough of the rainbow yarn left to make a flower for the hat! Happy days!
This particular yarn came from Devon Sun Yarns. The best place to see what Daisy has in stock is to like her Facebook page.
Ok, correction
I have been a bit quiet on HERE this week.
My friends will attest that I have NOT been quiet. Other than the evening I was falling asleep whilst we chatted... and then I was probably snoring.
Yes, I have had a few days holiday. We went to rainy Somerset. Very rainy. Very wet. Very flooded as we drove along. Every day it rained. Every day we went out anyway, as brave Brits do.
We had a lot of fun, especially the children. One day we went for a walk in the woods, where there were endless little streams for the children to jump about in. Great fun! They also got their annual horse riding, with a little ride around the "block". Enjoyed by all of them!
(see how wet her trousers are - their wellies got VERY wet!!)
(Elijah REALLY loved being on the horse!)
(Virtually impossible to get a group of children all looking "normal" at the same time! lol )
(NOT impressed that he was stuck in his pram! *grin* )
So, the "diet" starts on Monday. I am doing Whole30, which I did about 15 months ago. It's a system that eliminates food groups for 30 days, which have a tendency to cause health problems with people. No sugars, dairy, grains, white potatoes, legumes and other odds and ends. Those are the main things to cut out. Plus, every meal has healthy fat and protein as well as plenty of veg. A little fruit is allowed, too. I enjoyed it the last time, and it changed how I eat all the time. However, sneaky sweet things have sneaked back in, so this is my bid to get back on track again. When I did it last time, I lost 19 lbs in 30 days. That would be good, if I managed that again. I noticed even more the inches lost - most obvious with the fit of clothes. So, we'll see how it goes. I have all the right food in the house, so I should be set to begin.
If I can't have cake to eat, I have certainly found a new kind of cake, which I am loving.
We are talking yarn, here.
My new found love of the hand-dyed yarn.
I got some this week, which I had bought with my birthday vouchers and money. It is a thing of beauty. However, I discovered that if you want to buy hand-dyed yarn, it comes in skeins. Like this...
The thing is, you can't use the yarn as it is. You need to wind it into a ball first. When you untwist it, it is just all in one big loop. Once you unsnip the threads that tie it together, it would just get in a tangle if you used it as it was. You can, of course, hand wind it, and try and get it neat. I realised, before I even started with hand-dyed yarn, THAT woul dbe me. Make a mess of it. SO, I researched, and found out I needed a yarn winder.
It makes the skeins turn out like this....
Piles of prettiness!!! They are called "cakes". YUM!
What do I have planned for these beauties?!? Time will tell....
This is a yarn winder. It's a fairly simple piece of kit, really. At the moment, I use a child to hold the yarn. However, I really need a swift.
The best bit about the cakes, is that the yarn pulls from the centre. It saves you looking like an eejit, waving your arms around, unwinding it from a ball whilst you crochet. Only if you work with yarn, will you know what I mean. I may, in fact, rewind all my shop bought balls so they are like this. Hmmmm, having the time for that may not be realistic!
My latest crochet creation was made after I had wound the beautiful hand-dyed yarn into a cake.
I made this basic beanie hat, and these mittens, for my friend Lydia's birthday. She had asked for new mittens, and I figured making them myself, with some of that scrummy yarn, would be perfect! It was a pattern taht took a little getting my head around, but once I got the hang of it, it was simple. I love how they came out. I had yarn left over, so I started to make a hat. Until I realised I would not have enough... and I was already on the way to holiday, where I would be GIVING it to her. Hmmmm. THANKFULLY, I had bought a few "projects" with me, including some yarn that tied in PERFECTLY!!! SO, I finished it off with that. I think it turned out quite nicely, with just enough of the rainbow yarn left to make a flower for the hat! Happy days!
This particular yarn came from Devon Sun Yarns. The best place to see what Daisy has in stock is to like her Facebook page.
This is the Birthday Girl modelling her pressie. She was pretty pleased, I think! Nice to have someone like their pressie as much as you liked making it.
I will add the patterns for the hat and mittens to the crochet page.
So, there we have it. A quick catch up of my week. Back to "normal" next week.
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above"
James 1:17
The wool looks soooo lovely. Love the mitts and hat too - lovely to give a hand made pressie.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing all the kids out in the rain and splashing in the puddles. Nothing more a child wants really ... wellies and puddles. Perfection!