Cables, Concentration and Chaos

I am SO distracted by packing and such - that my craft and blogging life has rather taken a back seat - much to my frustration. The movers come on Monday :-( And although I am totally in control (I'm so boring and organized) and calm about it all - but doing anything other than sorting and packing is just not happening at the moment.

I have found that unless I feel 'productive' in the craft department I get very annoyed at myself - so I have managed to find a couple of moments start some new Christmas Tree Skirts and in the evenings I have been knitting another cable blanket.
This blanket will be also be a wedding gift - and unlike the Lover's Knot Pattern - I have designed this one myself (this could lead to tears or a knitting award!) It took about 4 or 5 false starts before I got the number of stitches right (my own fault - apparently I can't count - but casting on 260+ stitches looses its appeal pretty quickly) and I found (after much experimentation) that Excel was my best friend in helping me work out this design. Who would have thought that Excel would be such a good friend to me when designing my patchwork and knitting bits!

I am calling my new blanket 'Hugs, Kisses & Cables' - due to the Hugs & Kisses (OXOXO) cable that runs throughout the blanket.
Back to packing then and I am so sorry if I have not yet responded and say thank you for your lovely comments - they really mean a lot to me. Hopefully I will be back in full crafting and blogging mode very soon!!

The Princess and the Pea

I was asked to make a wall hanging / play mat based on the tale by Hans Christian Andersen The Princess and the Pea. Can you spot the naughty green pea that made the Princess so uncomfortable all night? There is one particular line in the tale that I love 'So the prince took her to be his wife, for now he was sure that he had found a real princess' which I embroidered up the side of of the bed.
I had lots of fun making it - and I thought the perfect accompaniment would be the actual story book of The Princess and the Pea. And this is when I discovered that I'm a bit of a traditionalist at heart. I could not find a traditional copy of The Princess and the Pea anywhere - the picture books have all been 'modernized' - the text is not the same ... it makes me sad that we have to modernize everything. But as I reread the original text - I realized I too had taken lots of naughty liberties with the interpretation of the tale for my quilt!

I only made 12 mattresses and not the full 20 ... ... my Princess looks rather neat and tidy and is not in 'a terrible state' ... ... and I assumed the Princess would have had a ladder to get up to the top of the mattress pile ...... my Princess also has a very friendly orange cat ... ... and every Princess knows she should take off her crown before going to sleep!Perhaps we don't have to be 100% accurate all of the time?

Why Do Bunnies Have Hoppy Birthdays?

I was sitting very quietly in the garden - observing the wonderful nature sanctuary my lack of gardening skills have created - when I heard a little voice ...

"Hello there little bunny what do you want?"


"Well I fear I am a little lost. I am looking for Matthew's 1st birthday party ... I have a special jumper on just for him AND I made him a birthday card with my own little bunny paws."


"Well I've heard that Matthew's birthday party is actually England - which means you still have a very long way to go - but it was very sweet of you to make him a handmade card."

"Thank you - I drew a picture of my favorite thing on the front - a big juicy orange carrot."


"Shouldn't the card say 'Happy Birthday' instead of 'Hoppy Birthday?'"

"Oh no ... we bunnies are very happy creatures so we always like to give Hoppy Birthday wishes instead! Bunnies just love to hop you see, especially on exciting days like birthdays."


So I hope here today I have shed yet more light on the secret lives of bunnies!