Lullaby Lodge

Need a last minute Christmas gift for someone?  Then this is the perfect project.  This knitted mini hot water bottle can be finished in just a few of hours...  Would also make a great birthday or Mothers day gift.   The pattern is suitable for beginners who know the basic stitches and are familiar with working in the round.  The hottie is worked in stocking stitch, with simple decreases and ribbing at the neck.  Cute pom pom ties may be added.  The cover is very stretchy and can be easily removed for washing with no need for any fastenings.  Please read the pattern in its entirety before beginning your project.  You will need the whole 50g ball, please consider this when substituting yarns… Mini Hottie You will need... 8mm dpn's or circular needles (using magic loop method). 7mm dpn's or circular needles 1, 50g ball Drops Eskimo or any other yarn with similar gauge (10 x 10 cm = 11sts x 15 rows in stocking stitch Darning needle Clover pom pom

Black Park Country Park in Wexham boasts over 10 miles of wood and heath land, tracks and trails.  Best of all, at this time of year is the delightful reindeer trail, situated along the lake path.  The lake was partially frozen from the cold spell we have had and little T enjoyed watching the birds skating across the ice. He made a great game of trying to break through it with pebbles... As we walked around the lake we came upon all of Santa's 8 reindeer one by one.  Reminding me of Clement C Moore's poem... "More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled and shouted and called them by name: Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen. On Comet! On Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen!" But where is Santa's favourite reindeer?  We hadn't seen him yet...  We stopped for a while at the adventure playground until little T had played to his hearts content and then popped into the cafe for a well deserved bacon sandwich and cup

Well haven't the last few weeks been super busy.  There has been lots of crochet, school Christmas Fairs, School discos, The annual Reindeer Parade and of course the Christmas craft Market.  I have also been doing a little pattern testing on Ravelry, hence the neglect of any bloggy pursuits.  I'm hoping the next couple of weeks will calm down a little but who am I kidding... I have just enough time to share a few photos with you. The Reindeer Parade.   We love to go to this every year.  It begins outside Windsor Castle with a marching band,  followed by Santa's Elves and finally the big man himself with his reindeer... We like to follow the parade as it winds its way around Windsor.  The band playing a jolly rendition of "Santa clause is Coming to Town" and little T madly waving his flag... Having children certainly brings back the magic of Christmas. I am fondly reminded of the traditions we kept when I was a child and now

Inspired by all the lovely Granny Stripe blankets out there I wanted to create something similar in a Christmas Stocking.  I searched the Internet and didn't quite find what I was looking for so decided to design a pattern myself.    This pattern is written in American terminology and is suitable for a beginner.  You may use as many colours as you like, making this project perfect for stash busting. You will need... Main part of the stocking approximately 100g of DK Contrast colour (heal, toe and cuff) approximately 30g of DK Size 4 mm crochet hook (G) Wool needle Optional - ribbon for hanging, pom poms, buttons, bells etc. to decorate your stocking Stitches used... dc - double crochet Granny cluster - 3 dc in one stitch or space slip stitch dc2tog - double crochet 2 together When starting a new colour I always use a standing dc for my first stitch and a no chain dc when starting a new round with the same colour.  There are some great videos

Hello everyone, I would just like to share with you how I made the sock yarn baubles from my   previous post .  This is my first time writing a pattern and some lovely people over on Ravelry have been testing it for me.  You can find the test page here.    I use US terminology (I know I'm from the UK but American terminology just makes more sense!).   You will need   sock yarn (small ammounts)  3.5mm hook sewing needle 60mm plastic bauble ribbon for hanging stitch marker Stitches used sc  single crochet sc2tog  single crochet 2 together Round 1 Starting with a  magic loop  work 6 sc into the loop, place marker in the last stitch pull tight Do not join we will be working in a spiral Round 2 starting in the first sc from previous round work 2 sc into each stitch around (12 stitches) Remember to move your stitch marker up at the end of each round Round 3  [2 sc into the first stitch, sc into the next stitch] repeat around (18 sti

Hello everyone, I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  I have been busy using up the left over sock yarn that I used to make my crochet coin purses.  You can read about them in my blog post  here . So I thought my left over wool would be great to crochet over some Christmas baubles.   What! Christmas decorations already?  I know some of you may be thinking this, but in our house it's never too early for Christmas.  We love everything about Christmas and this time of year is always spent getting ready making home made decorations, baking, shopping and countless other Christmasy things... Every year I make some new decorations for the tree and every year little T makes some for his tree too.  Here's what I made. The yarn is Drops Fabel and has lots of lovely colour combinations to choose from.  Drops yarn is always a pleasure to work with and is extremely reasonable.  To be honest it's the only real wool yarn I can afford to use, being on a tight bud