I’ve just had one of my very favourite sorts of weekends: family, kids, cake and crochet!!  Caveman and I went to Scotland for my new(ish) niece’s christening so it was a busy and tiring weekend.  However, in between the travelling and the cake I managed to get come crochet done in the sunshine which was a joy, as I am normally just hooking away indoors in the corner of my sofa, in front of the telly and / or laptop.

Anyway, after the church bit of the christening, which I guess IS the actual christening!) we went to the Strathaven Hotel, (Strathaven is where I grew up and some of my folks still live there) for high tea.  I spent a good hour thinking, out loud much of the time, ‘now, why have I never had high tea before’.  My sister insists that I have but I really can’t remember.  High tea consisted of a main course (gammon steak in my case, other options included fish and chips), served with a cake stand full of little slices of tray bake cakes, scones, pancakes and bread and butter all washed down with lots of tea or coffee. 

Then came the pièce de résistance!  A plate groaning with homemade meringues sandwiched with fluffy soft whipped cream!  My sister and I managed not to resist several of these (each!!).  Be honest, could you?

I am ever curious about traditions and etiquette (particularly of ‘polite’ society) and had to look up the origins of high tea and found that the UK Tea Council describes it thus:

For the working and farming communities, afternoon tea became high tea. As the main meal of the day, high tea was a cross between the delicate afternoon meal enjoyed in the ladies’ drawing rooms and the dinner enjoyed in houses of the gentry at seven or eight in the evening. With the meats, bread and cakes served at high tea, hot tea was taken.

After all that food we crashed out in the lounge of the hotel where thankfully there were no other customers as 20 of us, including 4 excited children, would have soon scared them away.  We spent the rest of the day catching up, playing with the kids and taking lots of pictures of Erin in her christening gown with various family members.  I still can’t work out why she vomited on me 3 times over the weekend though!  I’m not that scary!

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with my folks, watching some football (yes, really, I watched some of the World Cup) and getting some of my hook-a-long blanket done.  In the process I competled my first full cycle of all the colours!  Yee ha!!!

I read a lot of crochet and craft blogs and often people refer to it being too dark to take pictures of their works and waiting for an opportune time.  I am no expert in photography so wasn’t too sure what this was all about, thinking hte flash made up for it - until I was able to take the pictures below in my sisters garden.  Don’t the colours look great?  Don’t I wish I had a garden and didn’t live in a flat?  Yes to both!!

I have now started on the second round of each colour now and I am jolly well delighted with it; the neatness, colour order (despite all the pondering).  Can you spot the little mistake?  I am going to handsew two little imitation crochet stitches in to put it right.

Now I’m back in Manchester to the same old wondering, as I sometimes do, why I live so far away from the people who are most improtant to me!!  Ah well, such is life!

I’m not the only one who was mad scrupulous enough to do all the research before spending an age and a fortune knitting infamous Tom Baker Dr Who scarf. 

Tara Wheeler has set up a whole website dedicated to her Dr Who projects. Check out wittylittleknitter.

The question is… do I show Tara’s site to Caveman, who will no doubt expect me to make him all the scarves from every Tom Baker season that she has patterns for!

‘They couldn’t be more YOU if they tried’ said Caveman as I found these earrings in Accessorize!  They just had to be mine!

I had such a good day at the Horse and Jockey Arts and Crafts Fair last Saturday.  It wasn’t mad busy, I didn’t make my fortune and I didn’t sell all my things.  However, none of that matterred.  I had lots of fun, met some lovely people, got a feel for what people were interested in so got lots of ideas and I was joined by a few friends at various times throughout the day.

Here are a couple of pictures of version 1 of my display.  After I set up I had the opportunity to move to the ‘pitch’ of someone who cancelled at the last minute so I had more space.  Unfortunately by then Caveman had left with the camera, but it was just a more spread out version of this.

The Horse and Jockey Fair is a regular event, on the last Saturday of every month.  I am not able to do February but I have booked for March.  I have lots of ideas and plans for new stock, so keep reading over the next couple of months for an idea of what is coming up, and put 27th March in your diary!

I know several people who mark the start of a new year with a new project.  Some learn a new skill, others aim to do something creative ever day, Caveman and others we know are are doing a self portrait photograph each week, for example on Flickr in 52 Weeks. 

So, what am I doing?  Well, nothing!  Then I found something that made me stop and think ‘I could do that’, kind of!

I’ve heard of Meet Me At Mikes many times but never looked at it.  When I did look at it for the first time yesterday I found A Granny A Day! Genius!

Pip is making a granny square every day of  the year.  Wow, I thought, that’s some commitment.  They are quick to make but one every single day?  One a week would be a bit more realistic for me, so that’s my plan.  Not just an ickle granny square though, I’m going to try to make a 6inch square every week to learn a new pattern or skill. 

I don’t have a grandmother myself, having lost one nearly 6 years ago and one before I was born, but by the end of this year I plan to have 52 of them.

It is now week 4 of 2010 so I have a little bit of catching up to do, but its early enough in the year to get it done, I’m sure.

Look out for weekly posts called ‘Granny No #’ from now until the end of the year and if you think I’m slipping, give me a nudge!

Happy New Year to you!  I hope 2010 brings you good times, good health and lots and lots of craftiness.  Those are the things I dream of for the year ahead anyway!

I’ve had a busy couple of weeks with my birthday, Christmas, New Year, visiting family  and lots and lots of snow! I spent Christmas at home with Caveman then we went off to Scotland to visit our respective families and most importantly see my nephews and niece.  If there was one thing would make me move back to Scotland it would be them.

The weather was a real challenge, with near knee deep snow in places, frozen roads and sub zero temperatures at all times. The coldest I was out in was -9°c at 9pm one evening, so I can only guess how cold it got in the middle of the night.  Brrrrrrrrrrrr…

And now that the gifts I have made have been given I can share what I’ve been working on for the past few month or so:

A teal / green curly wurly scarf for Rhona:

 A flowery scarf for Jemma (a fellow crocheter):

 Button heart for Rhona:

Spiral brooches for a few people, in different colours:

A ‘made it up as I went along’ bag for Lucy (age 5 ¾):

with a sherbet scarf to match:

A butterfly hair clip holder for Lucy:

The sherbet and flower scarves are variations of patterns from my favourite crochet book The Happy Hooker, about which I have lots to write at a later date.

I hope all your crafted gifts were well received, and maybe you even received some yourself too.