Order Finished

I was asked to knit a little outfit for a baby boy's christening day to go over his suit.....and here it is all finished.

His mum couldn't decide on which style of hat she preferred so I made a helmet style and also a baker boy style.

I have sent the pictures to 'mum' for approval and she is very pleased...just hope the set will fit him on his special day

Thursday..

Can't believe I am coming down with another cold...this is the third time since November and I'm feeling pretty fed up!!

After my second bout I started to take echinacea and vitamin C tablets in the hope that they would go some way to keeping further colds away but alas they don't seem to have made much difference.  Perhaps I need to take them a while longer to build up some immunity.

I never knew the echinacea flower was so pretty!

Today has been spent at home working on bootie orders and catching up with my recorded tv programmes.

I made some good old comfort food for tea...stew and dumplings....and very tasty it was too.  I made plenty so there is enough stew left over to turn into a pie which I will freeze. It will be great for a quick, trouble free  meal some other time.

Bread..

Well I'm afraid my bread maker has decided it no longer wants to bake bread for me.  After churning out gorgeous well risen loaves for the past couple of years all I've been left with after my last four attempts are unrisen lumps of baked dough.

I have tried changing the flour, swapping the yeast, adding slightly more water, changing cold water for warm all to no avail.  I can't afford to splash out on a new bread maker so I'm going to try the traditional hand baking method using this recipe from the BBC Good Food Website

Bread in four easy steps recipe - Recipes - BBC Good Food

I'm using half wholemeal and half white flour.  The mixture blended very well and here it is having been left to rise for about 45 minutes

I'm really impressed with how well risen it is.  I popped it into the oven for 35 mins and here is the finished result.

I'll definitely use this recipe again, it was so easy and the bread tastes yummy!

A Busy Weekend..

Yesterday was  quite a busy day for us.....we drove to Leeds over the snowy moors to watch the match.  It was bitterly cold and I had so many layers on I must have looked like a Telly-Tubby.  We welcomed Bristol City to Elland Road and I have to say the match wasn't the most exciting to watch.  Thankfully Ross McCormack managed to head the ball into the goal and we won the match 1-0.

Hubby drove home and after a quick wash and change we were back in the car and on our way to Warrington to celebrate my step-mum's 73rd birthday.  It was a surprise party which my dad had organised for her.  She is still a very glamourous lady and it was lovely to see her enjoying the night surrounded by her family and friends.


Almost all of our snow has melted away and the snow that has been forecast for today has yet to put in an appearance.  I'm hoping it will bypass us altogether!

Today has been spent catching up with orders from my ebay shop.  I am now up to date and all parcels are packaged ready to post in the morning.

One thing about sitting working on orders means I get to catch up on any tv programmes that I have recorded during the week.  I am currently enjoying a series called 'Borgen' which is a Danish programme on BBC4.  It is a a political drama which has me quite captivated with it's main focus on the first woman Prime Minister of Denmark Birgitte.

Tonight I am going to have a lovely soak in the bath and enjoy a game of scrabble with my hubby.

Frosty Wednesday

I don't think the temperature has been above freezing all day...the roofs are white and the pavements icy.  I believe snow is forecast again on Friday.

Thankfully I have been able to stay in and work on my orders this week.  I have been asked to make a little jacket, hat and shoes for a baby boy that is going to be christened in March.  I ordered the wool last week and it arrived this morning so I was able to make a start on it this afternoon.

His mum has chosen a coffee and cream colour scheme and the jacket is a lovely double breasted style.  She couldn't decide on the style of hat so I am going to make a peaked cap and also a traditional style hat with ear flaps that fastens under the chin.  I'm quite looking forward to seeing the outfit completed.

I spent the morning finishing up a crochet cocoon I've been working on.  I even got the camera out and did the photographs (not a task I enjoy) and listed it in my  ebay shop.

For tea I cooked some warming mushroom soup with home baked rolls and as a little treat I did a sponge pudding with lashings of custard...real comfort food!

This evening I am going to go for a lovely soak in a hot bubble bath before settling down to more knitting.

Brrrr...it's chilly

Brrrr it's chilly out there...we've just returned from our evening stroll and it is certainly very cold tonight. We had snow yesterday which settled but awoke this morning to rain which proceeded to wash it all away. 

Monday is housework day here so I've spent the day cleaning, dusting, tidying and hoovering.  I don't mind my household chores and get a feeling of satisfaction seeing everywhere clean and tidy.  

Hubby has finally gone back to work today and is almost back to normal after suffering with this virus for the past three weeks.  I think he found it a bit hard going after being off for so long and was glad to be home at tea time even though I'd cooked fish for tea....not his favourite unless it's wrapped in batter from the chip shop!!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the cinema watching Les Miserables...what a brilliant film it is.  I can highly recommend it to all.  Hubby came with me and said he enjoyed it even though musicals are not really his thing.  I would certainly watch it again and can't wait until it's out on dvd.

Here's the trailer for the film: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/lesmiserables/

Saturday

It has certainly turned chilly the last couple of days. Snow is forecast over the weekend and as much as I love the 'picture postcard' image of snow the reality is somewhat different!

Grocery shopping was done this morning so if we do get snow at least we don't have to venture out for bread and milk. We normally shop at Asda as we have a small store about 10 mins walk away but I wanted to try Lidl as they had offers on their fruit and veg today.

I managed to get 5kg of onions for £1.99 and a box of tangerines for £2.59 so I am a happy bunny this afternoon. The onions will keep us going for quite a while and if they start to turn I will chop and freeze them.

Tangerines I love, so they won't last long!

This afternoon has been spent working on some bootie orders which are now ready for posting out on Monday morning. I now feel like knitting socks so I will cast on a babies pair later to feed my 'sock addiction'

Sweet and Sour Chicken is what I am planning on cooking for tea and after our evening stroll hubby and I are planning on either a night of Scrabble or a movie. We have a couple of DVD's from Christmas which we have yet to watch.

Happy times x