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.

I’m embarrassed to say this post should have been written about a month ago!  But its been nonstop round here; craft fair, Christmas shopping, weekend in London and busy busy in the day job and I’m now stuck at home with a cold! 

So I thought what better time to write about the goodies I got in Yorkshire (all those weeks ago) while I’m sitting under a blanket with a cuppa.

I have two sets of loveliness to report.  I think I’ll start with tea.  I had been really excited about visiting Harrogate, not least because it is the home of Betty’s Cafe Tea Rooms!  Purely by coincidence (honest) we ended up parking just near Betty’s so headed there first.  As expected there was a long queue and everyone was saying there was up to a 45 minute wait.  It’s no secret that I love tea, but balanced with my hatred of queueing, I was not going to wait. We decided to have a look around Harrogate and return. 

After a good look around Harrogate, including trips to Duttons for Buttons and Cath Kidston (see below) we returned to find the queue just as long.  There was only one thing for it… pop into the bakery and take some goodies home.  Here are the things I got:

A lovely lemon cake, tomato and herb loaf, Betty’s Tea Room Blend tea and a cotton Betty’s bag to carry it all in.  Yum!

And then there was the Cath Kidstonshop.  I have never been in one of her dedicated shops before, only the section in Selfridges nearby at the Trafford Centre (which is virtually my local shops!).  I have never particularly thought of myself of a fan of Cath Kidston, but my heart did skip a happy beat when I saw all the colourful and flowery loveliness in the shop.  I just couldn’t resist.  I am ashamed to say I have yet to do anything with the lovely things I bought (back the the aforementioned busyness I guess).

So what did I get, well, a pretty little selection!

I got 2 pieces of gorgeous cotton print fabric (I had a really hard job choosing which ones as cotton print fabric is my favourite of favourites, especially little repeat prints), a set of matching tins, a little butterfly brooch and a little green glass salt and pepper pinch pot.

I plan to use the fabrics just for myself.  How selfish is that??!  I think I might crochet some cushion fronts and back them with these fabrics.

I must be getting into the Cath Kidston thing as I have since bought her Sew book too!  Not had the chance to make anything yet, but it comes with the pattern and fabric for the bag on the cover, so that seems like as good a place as any…

So here’s the problem…  I’m making lovely and intresting and pretty things as Christmas pressies but I can’t write about them here for fear of spoiling the surprise for their recipients. 

I’ll just need to wait until the new year and let it all out then, or a little sooner if you’re on my Christmas list!

And tomorrow is my first ever craft fair!  I’m so excited I can hardly think about anything else, despite having lots going on in the day job and Christmas itself, and all the associated craziness, looming large.

I think I’m all ready to go.  Tonight I’ve been packing things up and decided to use the gorgeous paper bags I have bought for the occasion.  If you want to know what’s inside them you’ll just need to come along!  OK, so I guess you’re not all local, so I’ll post some pics after tomorrow night.

Here are some of my little parcels containing the goodies I have been working hard on in the past few weeks, as well as those I’ve had stashed away awaiting their first public appearance!

I’ve also been working on my display.  I have a pink torso display, pink and white spotty cake stand, red flat metal Christmas tree, glass sweetie jars and pretty glass dishes. I also have some pink battery operated fairy lights.  Colours are largely red, pink and white.   Sounds ghastly doesn’t it?!!  However, I am sure it will be just the right balance of Christmasy, girly pink and and pretty, sweetie yumminess!