lucy locket recycled her pocket

Knitting and reading

2012-01-16T16:44:00.001Z

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2012 will be fantastic for you all!

I love knitting............. and I love reading.......... but often find myself frustrated when doing one because I want to be doing the other too. So I had a lovely time in November and December sitting at the kitchen table with my Gentle Art of Domesticity open in front of me while I happily knitted away. Here was a book that would kindly stay open for me releasing both hands to knit. But normal books aren't so co-operative. Then my mum bought my dad a Kindle for his birthday so I tested it for knitting and reading ability and found it to be very user-friendly.

So with my Christmas bonus from work I bought my own Kindle earlier this month and have been knitting and reading quite contentedly - until I get so absorbed in the book that the knitting falls by the wayside - or find I'm not all that hooked on the book and would rather knit.

So far I have re-read Twilight which was ok - less good than the first time I read it, read The Island (finally!) which I loved and I'm currently reading One Day - which I'm just not getting into as quickly as I thought I would. In an attempt to educate myself I have also downloaded A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations as I have never actually read any Dickens.

And so far I have knitted more of my Christmas socks (ok, so they are late), a cover for my Kindle, some mittens for a friend's 50th birthday present (that I forgot to photograph before I gave them her to her on our walk this morning), a mitten for me - that I have frogged and started again because it was too big, and part of a Hitchhiker in dk wool.

I still prefer real books and could never imagine my house ever not looking like this

(Dot's wall)

(the sitting room "wall" that is actually a bookshelf built into the space between two rooms)

but I do love the multi-tasking made possible by my Kindle.

I have also been playing with paper after finding this fabulous book

Just look at the pages inside:

It has 32 cut out models to make and the paper is really good quality. I saw it in my local Dunelm Mill for £15 but found it on Amazon for £10 instead and I'm really pleased with it.

I need to invest in a proper cutting knife rather than scissors but had fun last week making a toaster - that actually moves up and down (albeit rather stiffly)

and this tortoise.

If I hurry up and get the washing up* done quickly I should have time to do some more tonight with Fred before I cook the childrens' supper :o)

*whoops! I've just revealed that I still have last night's washing up to do - so why am I blogging??!

Books and Beer

2011-12-01T15:05:00.000Z

My sock knitting has slowed down lately - for no good reason really - but I have finished one each of my autumn leaves and embossed leaves and I'm looking forward to buying some red sock wool to knit some Christmassy footwear.

I've picked up my Hitchhiker scarf again and I've nearly finished the ball of wool - but the rows are so, so long!

But the good thing about knitting with 4ply sock yarn is that it makes knitting something with chunky really, really quick

like this hat for Dot for her weekend away with Explorer Scouts to train for her bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition. She is VERY excited to be going - I do hope she has a good time and doesn't get too cold and wet.

I've rediscovered one of my craft books recently

and I've been really enjoying reading it - far more than I remember when I first got it. I think I was disappointed at the time that it wasn't a how-to book - but now I am absolutely loving it as a this-is-why book. And Fred and I made the most delicious rock buns the other day based on her recipe

Do any of you have her knitting book? I'm thinking of getting it for Christmas and wondered what you thought of it? I'm not too bothered about the actual patterns and am more interested in "talk" about knitting and why it is such a good thing to do!

Finally, in this rather disjointed post, I have been inspired by Ali to get my act together and make Mr Locket a beer advent calendar which I thought about doing last year but never actually achieved. We always have far too many advent calendars - I think there are 6 this year - but Mr Locket has never had one of his own so I think he will be pleasantly surprised when he comes home tonight to find this box of delights waiting for him!

Quilting

2011-11-23T17:07:00.000Z

I don't have anything profound to say today and I don't have any marvellous photos to share but I thought I would let you know that I have finished my fox quilt and it is now hanging on the wall in the kitchen looking deliciously wintery.

Hand quilting the stars on it has inspired me to layer up my long-abandoned zig-zag quilt top that I made with the gorgeous fat quarter bundle of Christmas fabrics that Thimbleanna so kindly gave me when we met up in Edinburgh a few years ago.

This time I'm just following the zig-zags with fairly large and not very even running stitch but I'm enjoying sitting under it in the evenings while I work and I fully intend for it to be finished by Christmas even if it is a few years late!

Lucy xx

Starting to make winter

2011-11-03T15:11:00.002Z

I've been really enjoying reading Emma's posts about making winter and following her links.

I'm not sure how I feel about the winter. I like the idea of cosy time in front of the fire with my knitting or sewing and obviously Christmas is always something to look forward to, but I don't like the cold, dark evenings and being on a diet puts paid to enjoying lovely wintery comfort foods.

But as my contribution to making winter this week I thought I would show you some of my wintery "doings".

I can't really claim that knitting socks is a winter activity as it is something I seem to be addicted to doing throughout the year - but actually WEARING those hand knit socks is definitely an autumn/winter pleasure. I finished my second pair of Tadpoles using the gorgeous hand-dyed yarn that Quinn sent me in the new year and I really love them.

I also cast on two pairs of socks last month as part of Socktoberfest - my favourites are my autumn leaves socks made using this pattern.

I have to admit that the gorgeous yarn was initially intended for this beautiful scarf - but I did a few inches and realised that there was no way I was going to actually be able to face knitting a whole scarf - the pattern just wasn't interesting enough. Then I cast on a different pair of leaf socks and did the first few rows of the pattern before deciding I didn't like it either. Moogsmum and I have discussed this and I have come to the conclusion that I am an extremely fussy knitter - I have to absolutely LOVE the process of knitting the pattern to be able to do it and if I don't love it it's just not going to happen.

I've also cast on some embossed leaves to sort-of-knit-along with Lesley - except that I have done one pattern repeat and Lesley has nearly finished her first sock! She is a demon-knitter!!

But back to making winter........... Dot persuaded me back into the sewing room the other weekend after far too long a break from it and one of the projects I resurrected was my fox quilt from Syko's lovely book. This was a quilt that I started at the beginning of the year when I was still deeply depressed and struggling to get through each day and once I had pieced the front it just lay neglected because I didn't have any bondaweb left for the trees and it was just too much effort to go and get some.

But I love how it looks now and I'm enjoying hand-quilting very naive stars all over it - I have a horrible feeling it is going to pucker as I didn't have much spray baste to fix the layers but so far it seems to be going ok.

I'm a real humbug about Halloween and never really get into the spirit of it and wouldn't have even carved pumpkins this year if a neighbour hadn't donated two pumpkins to me on Monday because her grown up daughters no longer wanted them for their parties. So one got carved for Fred and put out on the front wall to welcome the trick-or-treaters.

Daisy went to a party straight from school and came back dressed like this - fortunately that's a spare school shirt that doesn't really fit! And Fred got dressed up in Gina's dare-devil outfit to open the door to give out sweets.

I am quietly promising myself that next year I will get myself organised to take Fred out trick-or-treating too as it is something I have never really done with him and the girls are now old enough to be organising their own activities or not doing anything at all if that's what they want.

And today I used the other pumpkin to make myself some delicious pumpkin and cumin soup for lunch and it was so tasty I ate the lot.

I have been struggling with my diet since our holiday but I've lost 2 stone 5lbs over the last 6-7 months and need to get focussed again to lose the next 3 stone to get to my dream weight. It's getting harder as the novelty has worn off and the children keep baking gorgeous cakes and biscuits and delicious apple crumbles. But my Slimming World leader gave me a pile of magazines to hold the other night that weighed 2 stone to remind me that I really didn't want to put it back on so I won't be comfort eating - much as I'd like to!

Finally I thought I'd show you the beautiful cushion that Dot made for me using a tapestry pattern from the Cath Kidston Stitch book

- she's done it beautifully!

Decision made

2011-10-10T12:51:00.000+01:00

Thanks for all your advice regarding the crochet blanket. In the end I pestered the rest of the Lockets who unanimously agreed that they liked the non-bordered squares best so I have been busily crocheting along and I'm now running out of wool so I'll have to have a shopping trip later in the week. Shame.

I've never quite got the hang of joining the squares as you go so I am chaining them together and it looks ok. Not professional and smart but ok enough for me. I would have liked to have joined more but I have run out of the turquoise wool that I am using.

What is really interesting is how very different it now looks compared to Julie's blanket that inspired it. The colours started out similar but the growing blankets are so far apart! I love the calm, serene nature of Julie's blanket but I also love the rather more chaotic and loud blanket that I am now making and I'm still incredibly grateful to Julie for inspiring me and helping with the colour choice.

In knitting news I have finally finished my Candlepower socks

This is a gorgeous pattern - definitely my favourite sock pattern so far and I'll be knitting some more before too long.

The only problem now is that I have been spoilt for other sock patterns. I have cast on three times with this gorgeous "heather and thistle" yarn

and have finally decided to knit this pattern but I'm not loving it as much as the candlepowers.

I'm hoping to get quite a bit done as part of Socktoberfest so I'd better get off here and get knitting!

Taking inspiration

2011-09-28T11:14:00.000+01:00

Sometimes you see a colour combination or idea that looks so lovely that you are simply inspired to make something similar - straightaway - and this is what happened when I saw Julie's "Me Old China Blankie". The colours were just delightful together and it kept calling to me.

So on Saturday I HAD to go to the wool shop - despite the fact that there were plenty of other things I should have been doing and I had plenty of empty days this week when I could go. I just couldn't wait any longer - I NEEDED new wool. My candlepower sock could wait. The Granny Stripe blanket that I had started a few months ago was forgotten. I was going to make something new and woolly.

But I didn't want to COPY Julie exactly. I wanted to see if I could pull together some colours using her basic selection of 10 as a guide. I also wanted to use slightly less luxurious wool because I know any blanket in the Locket house will get a very rough life and we have a problem with moths so using super-gorgeous yarn would be soul-destroying if the pesky moths got to it.

So I went for King Cole's Merino DK which had a lovely palette of colours and Dot and I had a happy half hour selecting, rejecting, re-selecting and finally agreeing on 9 shades with one Sirdar Country Style in deep pink. Jacqui and Louise in the shop were really helpful and patient and gave lots of good advice without which I would have definitely ended up with the wrong colours.

I started hooking as soon as I got home and have managed to do some each day and now have 15 squares.

But I have a dilemma which I hope you can help with..............

Should I do the squares as they are here with all the different colours on the final round?

Or should I add a cream border to each one which will make the joining much neater?

I'm not sure because adding the cream completely changes the look of the blanket making it more like this one which I love..........but is it too cream?

Decisions, decisions!

Lucy x

P.S. sorry about the terrible photos - I really hate my new camera - colours just don't work on it and it is very frustrating.

The big Four-O

2011-09-25T18:45:00.000+01:00

The consolation for turning 40 was obviously the fabulous presents I received which included beautiful scarves, perfume, notebooks, a bucket-barbecue and picnic rug, earrings, a Cath Kidston wallet........

............Colonsay inspired goodies and a handmade clay tile from Daisy............

..............my beautiful Cath Kidston tapestry from Dot and some dinosaur decorations with Colonsay pebbles from Fred...............

..........some lovely "home" decorations.........

...............a beautiful cushion, purse, bracelet and corsage from the fabulous Mrs Moogs........

..........and my very own wool-winder and swift!

But one very special birthday present went on a very special journey to reach me in time for my birthday..........

....you may recognise the little bird drawn on the envelope..........

....Yes! It's a parcel from the one and only Silverpebble containing a super-special commission from Mr Locket and the Little Lockets.

Emma had contacted Mr L to say that the present would be posted in time for my birthday but when she realised that we were actually going on holiday before it could arrive she did the necessary detective work to contact the lady in charge of the post office on the island to arrange for it to be posted to me at Kiloran Bay Cottage, Colonsay!

So I expect you are interested to see what was inside???

A special Emma Pebble box of course!

And inside that?

My very own, specially-designed-for-me, Silverpebble necklace with a seagull, bucket and spade, sandcastle, shells and sea-glass - and I LOVE it! I wear it all the time and always get complimented on what a unique piece of jewellery I have. I don't have Emma's skill in photography but I think you can still see how stunning it is!

So turning 40 wasn't all that bad really! ;o)

Colonsay

2011-09-15T10:22:00.001+01:00

We finally got to go on our long awaited holiday to the Scottish island of Colonsay. To say I was a little bit excited about this holiday is definitely an understatement. I can't remember having been as excited about a holiday for a very long time. Unfortunately this made it very hard for the actual holiday to live up to my excessively high expectations but we did have a lovely time.

Our cottage was quite small and very cold, but lovely - and we spent a lot of time playing cards (albeit sometimes wrapped in blankets), reading, knitting and eating lots of naughty things. Oh yes! I ate LOTS of naughty things - bread, jam, cheese, salami, pizza, crisps, sausages, burgers, and lots and lots of cake! (more about cake later........) The diet really took a very welcome holiday but even after having a curry once we'd come home I managed to only put 3 1/2 lbs on over a week and a half of being very bad indeed!

The beach next to the cottage was beautiful - known as the best beach on the island and there were two ways down from the cottage.

The first was along the little road

and the second was more "cross-country" and involved a steep climb up the rocks - but the route had been signposted by some previous visitors..........

There was a little stream to cross to get onto the beach itself and sometimes we used the stepping stones but other times we just waded through.

We took the children on as many walks as we could get them to go on (not many!). I think they were rather put off by the epic walk we did at the beginning of the week to visit an isolated beach - along with half the other holiday makers it seemed!

But by far their favourite activity was visiting "our" beach

- especially if they could run and jump in the sea in all their clothes...........

next year I'm going to look into getting wetsuits!

The cows enjoyed the beach too.

Another top activity was visiting "the cake house"......... Daisy was very excited to be nearly there..........

Okay, she was actually jokingly running to meet Fred but the cake house was at the end of this bit of road.

There were a couple of signs saying "Cakes for Sale" and when you approached the cottage there was this sign gaffer-taped to the door.........

..........so we opened the door and found this HUGE box FULL of the most delicious cake along with a box nearly as full of money!

We had a barbecue one evening with the children wrapped up against the cold and the midges (although fortunately we weren't really bothered by midges actually biting us - I don't think it was warm enough for them)

I also celebrated my 40th birthday while we were away and had a lovely day with lovely presents - including a very special one that was posted to me on the island.............

...but you'll have to wait until another day to see what was inside (as I haven't taken a good enough picture of it yet and it really deserves to be photographed well)

...........and I even had homemade cake and a card from the family staying in the cottage next to ours - such a kind thought.

So we had a lovely holiday - I just wish we had been there longer - and after all my weeks of searching for the perfect sock knitting pattern to take with me I wish I'd taken a different one as ended up ripping it out on the ferry home!

Summer Holidays

2011-08-08T14:09:00.002+01:00

I can't believe we are already into the third week of the summer holidays. We haven't done much yet but the highlight so far has been a day spent at Saltburn beach with the Pebble Family.

Once again a superb sandcastle complex was designed and built....

....mostly by Mr P and Fred

.....while the girls got busy burying their feet and sploshing in little paddling pools dug in the sand.

The castle came complete with underground tunnels, steps, pyramids and a moat all the way down to the sea

This picture with Fred gives you an idea of the scale of construction!!

Everyone agreed that we had to stay on the beach until the sea had come up to the castle so there was a lot of patient waiting........

until all that was left was a tiny hillock of sand with a happy collection of Pebbles decorating the top!

Eldest Miss Pebble was once again very taken with Eldest Miss Locket -and if you look closely at this photo you can see that Miss P is actually bouncing high in the air!

There have been some crafty goings-on in Locketland...........

Dot is in the middle of making this Union Jack purse for me for my birthday :o)

and I've been buying more sock wool

the bottom one is a specially dyed-for-me "heather and thistle" skein for our holiday - although I am still hunting for the perfect pattern as I'm not sure about the ones I had previously selected.

I absolutely LOVE the pattern for the Candlepower socks and have finished the first one although I haven't been doing that much knitting lately.

This morning we all got crafty with paper and scissors (and biscuits of course!)

using our new Kid's Crafternoon book

to make these owls.

Fred made this lizard from this tutorial by the designer of the owls

and Daisy came up with her own design

And now we are off to Granny and Grandpa Biscuits' to collect a parcel that Daisy has been very, VERY eagerly awaiting............

Golly, another month has passed

2011-07-16T16:48:00.001+01:00

So it's a month to the day since my last post which wasn't intentional. I've been pootling along, getting back into my knitting, working some days, not doing much useful on the others and absolutely longing to go on our holiday in another month and a bit.

I don't think I have EVER been as excited about a holiday before - even as a child - and it's not as if we are going anywhere amazingly exotic, but our week spent in a cottage by the beach on a remote Scottish island promises to be fabulous - I just hope I won't get over-excited, like I did as a child, and end up disappointed by the reality.

I've been going through phases of thinking about it about 15 times a day for a week, and then letting it subside so it's not the main thing on my mind - which is a good ploy when I'm at work obviously!

I've even been searching for the perfect socks to knit while we're away and because I am a sad individual I want the patterns to have some relevance to where we are going so I have searched on Ravelry for Scottish socks, island socks, seaside socks, beach socks, wave socks etc and have even enlisted friends from knit group in the search too.

I've finally come up with 2 possible candidates - these resized to fit me in this gorgeous skein of wool (dyed by Barbara at Ring-a-Rosie)

and these to be knit in some maybe-being-dyed-at-this-very-moment-heather-colour-sock-yarn (again by Barbara) if I can find out how to buy the pattern (the webpages aren't working and the company haven't replied to my email)

One of the reasons I'm so excited about this holiday is because I am planning a holiday from my diet too. I've lost 1 1/2 stones in the last 13 weeks but it has been hard work and I am missing eating naughty things. I'm unreasonably excited about the fact that I plan to eat bread and homemade jam (see above) for breakfast and bread and cheese for lunch - it makes me feel quite giddy!

I think I'll be making a potato-hedgehog-calendar with the children to help count down the days once they have broken up from school - I need to get them as hyped up as me!

But here are some calming knitting pictures to show you what I have been doing

A PAIR of No-purl Monkeys

and my current love,

Candlepower socks - a totally gorgeous pattern (that could have been a contender for my holiday knit as I plan to have plenty of candle-lit evenings in our little cottage - although I'm not sure I could knit this pattern by candle-light)

And Dot kindly unravelled my nearly finished Cherry Swirl sock this afternoon, so I can knit the partner to this Tadpole in Quinn's lovely hand-dyed wool.

But now I must dash as we are going to deliver Granny Biscuit's birthday presents - a necklace made by me, cheese scones made by Daisy, a strawberry and cream filled Victoria sponge made by Dot, marmalade just made this afternoon (from a cheat tin of Mamade), and cards by the children. Then Dot and I are going to go and see Harry Potter - woohooo!

Being quiet

2011-06-16T18:12:00.002+01:00

Sorry I've been so quiet for so long - I just don't seem to have my blogging voice at the moment and I feel like I haven't really done anything blog-worthy lately.

I even stopped knitting for a while but I do have a few photos of some finishes and half finishes to show you like this dragonfly sock that I finished this afternoon

this no-purl monkey that I finished ages ago but haven't got round to photographing

my finished PAIR of tadpoles - that I've even worn - and they're lovely!

(I make a point about the fact that I've worn them as they are the only pair of socks that I have finished this year that have actually made it anywhere near a pair of feet - I think I just enjoy the knitting process and don't actually need to wear any of my finished items - bizarre)

and a Hitchhiker scarf that was going so well until I realised I was going to get some really long rows to knit.........

I cast on another mystery sock with this lovely hand-dye and gorgeous beads

but unlike Mrs Moogs, I got totally sick of it part way through the second clue and frogged it with glee! Lesley's finished socks are lovely but mine were never going to work out.

I've also bought some more, specially dyed for me, Ring-a-Rosie handpainted sock yarn in a lovely turquoise that I'm planning on keeping until our holiday in Scotland.

We've had two little Lockets' birthdays in the last couple of weeks which have been fun

Daisy is now 11 and Fred 9 - they are growing up fast and Daisy can't wait to go up to senior school in September - she's even decided to go to summer school there for 4 days at the beginning of the holiday although her initial reaction was "why would I want to go to school in the holidays???"

And my other main focus of attention over the last couple of months has been good old Slimming World so I am now food obsessed but successfully so as I have lost 1 stone 3lbs in 9 weeks - shame there's another 4 stone to go ;o)

Now the reason for this post is to ask your opinion

Should I frog this sock???

I absolutely love the hand-dyed yarn that Quinn sent me, and I like the look of the sock, and I've nearly finished the first one, but I hate the actual knitting of the pattern - it just doesn't work for me at all and I really want to put Quinn's beautiful yarn to the best possible use.

I think I have pretty much decided to rip it out - partly because I have already cast on a Tadpole with the other half of the yarn! Now that's a much nicer pattern to knit.

I could always have odd socks though, couldn't I, matching wool but different patterns?

Owls, tadpoles, dragonflies and Pebbles

2011-04-23T22:21:00.001+01:00

It has become a tradition that I make Dottie a new school bag when it's her birthday so 8 months later here's a photo of part of last year's bag with its rather confused owl - inspired by Walter Pigeon (the owl heatpad/cushion I made her a year ago). The last three bags I made for her can be seen here, here and here.

I haven't photographed all of the bag because I always find it difficult to get decent photographs - basically it is a very large messenger bag with the owl on the front flap. It is lined in a selection of the fabrics used on the owl and has several zipped and poppered pockets.

I think I was more pleased with the folder that I made her out of a couple of Paperchase tea towels.

It's my own design and I keep finding new ways to improve it - like the in-built pencil case which isn't actually as wonky as it looks in this photo!

Dot uses it every day and it has taken some pretty hard wear and tear as it is usually stuffed with notebooks, planners, reading books, papers, pens and pencils and a million other things - so I'm relieved it's still in one piece. I just wish there was a better way of photographing it to show you.

In knitting news I have been busy with my Tadpoles ..............

.........and I'm now on to the foot of the second sock but I have also cast on some Dragonflies in this gorgeous wool specially dyed brightest of bright oranges by Barbara at Ring-a-Rosie.

She named the colour Juicy Lucy!

But my most interesting piece of news is that yesterday the Lockets had another fabulous day out at the seaside with the Pebbles - the only thing missing was the sun! In fact it was absolutely freezing with thick fog and we could barely see the sea! But another brilliant sandcastle complex was built and we all had a lovely time - unfortunately there are no photos because I remembered the camera..........but forgot the memory card!

Hopefully NEXT time we meet up the sun will be shining and the camera will be in action!

Missing in knitting action

2011-04-02T20:00:00.000+01:00

Sorry I've been gone so long.........I've been busy knitting socks and haunting Ravelry forums and my blog has been neglected. I haven't been reading blogs either so I'm sorry I'm so far behind on commenting. I think I'm going to have to start afresh from today rather than trying to catch up.

Because I've only been knitting socks I didn't think it would make for a very interesting blog read but I'm going to show you what I've been doing anyway:

First of all, how's this for a PAIR of lovely socks?

Knit as part of Sock Knitters Anonymous' March Mystery sock Knit Along and designed by Stephanie of VeryBusyMonkey. (Moogsmum managed to knit TWO pairs before I had even finished my first sock!)

I really enjoyed knitting these and waiting for each clue to be published - I even knit both socks at the same time - something I've never done before! And I love the colour - it was christened "Primrose" but I have renamed it Sherbert Lemon.

And I found a better pattern for the lovely wool from Quinn

It's called Cherry Swirls and is a really easy knit - but it's not a "flowing" knit - by which I mean it doesn't flow easily from the needles like some patterns - so it has been stuck at this stage for quite a while because I have been distracted by other more interesting patterns. But the wool is lovely and the colour is gorgeous. (Moogsmum managed to cast on and knit a pair of these in about 5 seconds flat so it's probably just me that has a problem with the pattern! We've come to the conclusion that she is a Knitting-Robot so I no longer need to worry about not being able to keep up!!)

Yesterday I cast on a new sock with some lovely handpainted yarn by Barbara at Ring-a-Rosie - my lovely local wool shop (I've spent a lot of time there lately too!).

I did the ribbing yesterday evening and then spent a lovely afternoon today knitting 5 repeats of the pattern - I'm nearly onto the heel already. The pattern is called Tadpoles which is nicely-Springly-appropriate - even if I don't have any tadpoles or frogspawn in my allotment pond (I've been spending time up there too!)

And in the evenings I have joined the hoards crocheting an Attic24 Granny Stripe blanket with a gazillion different colours

So I have been immersing myself in woolly goodness and spending more time smiling and a lot less time crying. All good.

Lucy xxx

Casting off..............casting on..............

2011-02-26T21:01:00.001Z

Last Saturday really was quite an amazing day.............

...........because not only did I finish Mr Locket's Gorgeous DK socks............

.........AND my beautiful pink Spring Forward socks..............

.........but I also finished my Monkeys that have been hanging around on the needles for ages!

Three pairs of socks finished in one day.

Yup three PAIRS of MATCHING socks.

In the Locket household!

Matching socks.

Now there's a rare thing indeed!

So to balance things out I clearly needed to cast on three more pairs of socks.........

......especially as the lovely Quinn had sent me the most unexpected parcel of goodies including this gorgeous hand-dyed sock wool

I didn't get chance to photograph it in the skein because I leapt so quickly at Dottie's suggestion that she help me wind it. I wasn't going to turn down an offer like that in a hurry.

So I cast on a pair of No Purl Monkeys in some Regia Sock Monster wool that I bought at Barbara's the other week (this is the wool that I liked but didn't LOVE as much as the gorgeous dk wool I simply HAD to buy)

Then I cast on a Summer Lovin sock with Quinn's gorgeous wool............

and I actually knitted two repeats of the pattern until today.......

............when I decided that it really was too loose and baggy and didn't do the gorgeous wool justice.

So, very rarely for me, I frogged it and have been busily searching Ravelry for a new pattern to show off this lovely wool - any suggestions would be very gratefully received.

I've also cast on another pair of mindless-telly-watching-dk-socks - but I haven't photographed them yet.

So I must go, there's knitting to be done...........

New wool, new dishes, new techniques and a new friend

2011-02-09T19:05:00.001Z

More wool accidentally jumped into my hands the other day when I was at Ring-a-Rosie's. In my defence, I was minding my own business, buying totally different wool, when I spotted Barbara's latest sock knitting lying there in full view on the counter! What was I supposed to do? Ignore it? Or fall head over heels in love with a ball of wool. Yup, that's what I did. Totally irrational - but it is lovely. I just wish I had a decent photograph of it but here goes - this is my Regia World College Color sock that I started this morning -

it's dk so it knits up super fast.

And look! I've got sock blockers! I'm SOOOOOOOOOO excited about these (maybe I need to talk to the doctor about my medicine levels?!?!)

I've blocked my first Spring Forward sock so you have to endure two new photos of it in all its glory

The distance shot......................and the close up

and to prove that I haven't been completely lead astray by my new sock wool here is Spring Forward #2

As you can see, the way the wool works means that it is going to be an upside down version of the first sock, but that's fine.

Another new purchase was a beautiful set of blue pressed glass Sundae dishes from the local auction rooms which have been put to use for sweeties and jelly and ice cream.

In fact I seem to have a camera full of photos the children have taken of their latest jelly creations - I even have videos of them turning the jelly out of the mould but I'll spare you those. ;o)

Daisy made me laugh the other day when she came through to the kitchen like this...........

her Heath Robinson-esque solution to the need to finger-knit on-the-go! (her ball of wool is carefully stored inside the basket)

And finally, my new friend...............

.................likes to hang out in front of the computer checking out his antipodean cousins

Here's Baxter's cousin Spike. Not an original name I know, but it's what Dottie was called when I was pregnant so it seemed a good name to choose.

He looks like he's striding out purposefully here!

Another fantastic pattern Jodie - and I might be able to squeeze a second hedgehoggy friend out of the fabrics you sent. Once I've properly finished poor Spike - who doesn't have his arms and legs sewn on tightly! Only blog-finished, the poor chap.

Right, I'm off to knit some more of my sock..............

Poor photos but lovely presents

2011-02-03T15:02:00.002Z

Once again I need to apologise for the state of my photos - my camera doesn't seem to have a flash (it's second hand so I can't really complain) so all my photos at the moment have a horrible soupy yellow quality.

But I have had some lovely things to photograph including some fabby presents from very kind bloggy friends.

The first from Jodie who sent me the very arduous task of pattern testing the lovely Baxter (woohoo! can't wait to get started!) along with this gorgeous make-your-own-bunting panel

(I can see all the printed instructions being included like selvedge in my spiderweb quilt and quilt as you go panels once the bunting is made)

and this adorable tape measure and badge - I'm definitely happy with a world where craft is the new black!

Then this week I received a parcel from the lovely Michelle who had made me this beautiful sewing kit to cheer me up

all I can say is that it worked a treat! I love it!

And I also loved the chocolate and sweeties that came with it!

Thank you both very much xxx

I made a concious effort last week to knit instead of crying and by the end of the week I had a very beautiful sock instead of a manky pile of soggy tissues.

I can't claim that it worked ALL the time but knitting certainly helped and I have now cast on the second sock (don't faint!) and have also cast on this cowl so I have plenty of distraction therapy to hand. So why didn't I knit today instead of feeling sorry for myself? Stupid girl! Off to find that knitting bag............

Lucy x

Knitting therapy

2011-01-24T16:34:00.002Z

I love this cheery jelly that Daisy and Fred made a couple of weeks ago.

It's how I'd like to be feeling.

I'm definitely feeling better than I was but I'm still a long way off normal and I find weekends and my days off work the hardest of all - because there's no structure or routine. And I'm just not good on my own. It's too easy to find myself sitting and crying, unable to do anything to pull myself out of despair - no matter how many times I remind myself how lucky I am to have a lovely family, home, friends, job, life etc. I've found I don't cry if I'm knitting but I find it hard to motivate myself to start knitting in the first place.

Hopefully a new ball of gorgeous pink sock wool bought this morning will inspire me.

Thanks for the lovely trip out Patti

(a bad photo of it unfortunately as my camera is rubbish - there's a better photo here)

Inspired to be creative

2011-01-12T09:23:00.000Z

Thank you all so much for your support - I have been overwhelmed! I have tried to reply to everyone but some of your comments had "no-reply" so if I haven't thanked you personally THANK YOU!

A late Christmas present arrived this weekend

One that I had ordered for myself ;o)

And it is absolutely lovely.

I read it on Sunday afternoon and was delighted to realise that I was getting itchy fingers again so on Monday morning Dot dragged me outside to help tidy up the sewing room and I got busy cutting out the fabrics for this fabulous winter quilt.

The only problem now is that I can't find the sewing machine leads anywhere! I had my machine in the house in November when we were having lots of renovations done and I think the leads have been tidied away somewhere.

I may just have to borrow Dot's machine!

Lucy x

Blogging myself better

2011-01-03T19:27:00.000Z

Well that was quite a long and unexpected bloggy break - sorry about that and thank you for the kind emails you have sent asking if things were ok.

Unfortunately things haven't been ok for quite a few months.

I've had problems with severe anxiety for over 15 years and have pretty much learnt how to live with it with the help of good old prozac but earlier this year, in my wisdom, I decided that I was "better" and didn't need the medicine anymore.

Oh how wrong I was.

And although I came off the tablets gradually the dramatic crash when I hit rock bottom wasn't gradual at all.

I quickly got myself back on my medicine and things started to improve but then I became severely depressed as well.

I'm used to dealing with anxiety and keeping busy to distract myself but the total nothingness of depression was something new and I haven't known how to deal with it.

From knitting 6 different projects at once I found myself unable to craft or read or do anything at all and that was hard.

I think I'm beginning to get better - although each day is difficult - and I have decided to try to "blog myself better". I've always found blogging to be the perfect way to celebrate the little things that make life lovely and now more than ever I need to notice and appreciate those little things.

Lucy xxx

Startitis and kind Mummies

2010-10-14T17:04:00.001+01:00

Oh dear.

It appears that I have completely succumbed to that terrible disease........

Woolly Startitis :o(

I think I keep buying more wool and starting new projects in a vain attempt to solve other more tricky problems but it's just not working and I have far too many things on the go.

So I thought I'd share them with you all.

Along with the new sock wool I bought yesterday - even though I have only 1 Polly Jean, 1 Rhodie Gus, 1 9-5, 1 Monkey and 1 Circle Sock and various other solitary plain socks plus a few halves on the needles. Oh, and the wool for a crocheted Queen Anne's Lace scarf that I frogged yesterday. And the teddy bear that I bought the wool for then passed over to Dot to knit instead...................

It seems I cannot be cured.

But here are some beautiful flowers from my wonderful Mummy

and my lovely Mother-in-Law

to distract you from all that wool......................

P.S. The projects are:
1. Flowers in the snow blanket
2. Some chunky alpaca wristwarmers
3. My first attempt at my own design for long 4ply wristwarmers (which are taking ages hence the speedy ones at no. 2)
4. Ishbel

Pretty Happy Things................... Again!

2010-09-26T16:07:00.000+01:00

It's funny because I was wondering what to call this post and thought to myself, well I've got pretty things to show and they make me happy so I'll call it "pretty happy things" but as I started typing the title it popped up so I've obviously written another post fairly recently with the same title! Never mind. It still fits!

Now I've clearly developed a passion for all things Cath Kidston (probably because her things are pretty and they make me happy!!) So I spent some of my birthday money from my lovely in-laws on some more mugs and a teapot to go with the cherry mug that my mum and dad bought me a couple of months ago.

I love how nice tea is from these mugs and although the teapot is a pretty bad pourer the tea tastes absolutely perfect.

When we were on holiday we regularly made pots of tea and it reminded me of how much I love the ritual of sitting down together and pouring out mugs of tea rather than just sticking teabags in a cup. It's got something to do with the "being together doing the same thing at the same time, sharing, family type of thing". Uh-oh! That makes me sound really mushy! ;o)

Anyway, moving swiftly on, when we were on holiday I bought a plain brown teapot so Dot said she would make me a teacosy with some of her lovely birthday fabrics as her first project on her new sewing machine.

I love it - although the children seem to think it is a hat! Dot has blogged about it over here.

I went to my lovely local wool shop Ring-a-Rosie a couple of weeks ago and bought some lovely new goodies - including a fabulous "Nadel Box" - now every knitter needs a nadel box you know!

So I have been busily multi-tasking with various different knitting and crochet projects and have just finished off another bright cushion for the new sofas using these lovely cotton glaces from Rowan.

I managed to find the perfect charity shop jumper for the back and have just finished it all off this afternoon.

And now I'm not sure whether I like the front or the back best!

I've also finished my first "Monkey" sock using the lovely wool I bought in Hay on Wye - and I've even cast on the second although I make no promises about actually finishing it any time soon!

The lovely blue Rialto 4 ply is for an Ishbel which has unfortunately been pushed out of the way by crochet plans. Sometimes I want to knit and other times I just have to crochet - especially when these beautiful stripes start appearing...................

But now I have to go and make an Egyptian costume for Daisy.

For a school play?

Nope.

For a history day at school?

Nope.

For a 10 second photo shoot for the PTA calendar!

Pah!

Do they not realise how much time and hassle parents have to go through to produce costumes for a Roman soldier and an Egyptian just for a calendar photo?

Fortunately a friend has all the Roman gear we need for Fred but I've had to spend a fortune on braid and gold ribbon to make Daisy's dress. Can you tell I'm not exactly delighted?

Sorry - shouldn't have ended the post on a non-pretty-happy subject! So here's a picture of three very pretty and happy things back in June!

'Til next time, Lucy x

P.S. the quilt in the previous post fetched £95 at auction last week - I'm so pleased somebody else appreciated it!

The Skill Scale

2010-09-19T13:11:00.003+01:00

I have just made my first cushion for our new (very smart, and not like us at all) sofas.

I used my gorgeous Cath Kidston fabrics from my birthday and did a very simple 3½" square patchwork which has worked really well and I love it.

I've backed it with a Greengate tea towel that I bought at a Country Living show a couple of years ago so I could use the fabric for something - I never had any intention of drying dishes with it! ;o)

Daisy has been really funny because when we first got our very grown up, brown leather sofas she was totally horrified that I was planning on making bright and happy CK cushions for them. "NORMAL" people don't have cushions like that on their sofas. Normal people have cushions that blend in. Did you know that? Now when have I every tried to be normal??? I had to explain to Daisy that banning bright patchy cushions from the sitting room and making it "grown up" would be like banning ME from the room. I'm afraid I'm never going to be subtle and stylish!

Anyway, when I brought the cushion in from the sewing room last night she agreed that it was lovely.

I hope she agrees when she sees the Granny square cushion I'm also making..................

Because I know she isn't going to approve of our plans to build a whole wall of bookshelves in the sitting room like these above Dot's bed in their new shared bedroom.

Especially (according to her) as they will be opposite the window of all things! NORMAL people don't have walls of books. And passers-by are going to be able to SEE them! How horrific! ;o) She does make me laugh and I totally love her for her sense of style even if it is the opposite of mine (and secretly I think she is probably right some of the time).

Anyway, I'm digressing......

The title of this post is "the skill scale" because I wanted to contrast my lovely but very simple patchwork cushion above with this amazing tumbling blocks quilt top that is going up for auction next week at our local auction galleries.

It has been completely hand pieced using old clothing and still has all the paper templates in the back with lovely copper-plate handwriting from letters, lists, bills etc.

It's HUGE and really impressive so I hope it sells well as it deserves to be appreciated by someone who may even be able to finish it.

I know that whatever skills I have now or learn in the future, I will never hand-sew something of that size and technique because it really must have taken years to do and I know I'll never be that patient or dedicated!

Right! I'm off to make some more simple patchy cushions.........

Happy birthday to meeee!

2010-09-05T18:51:00.000+01:00

Not long after Dot's birthday it was my turn - although I didn't get a trip round Hay for my birthday treat!

I DID get lots of gorgeous presents though - partly because Mr Locket let me choose what I wanted so I stocked up on some new sewing books (obviously)

and had a very excitable spending spree in the Cath Kidston outlet shop in Bicester near Oxford on the last day of our holiday.

Because it was an outlet shop the fabric was reduced to £12 a metre and I was able to buy half metre selections

and I increased my choice by buying some tea towels and napkins as well as some odd scraps that they were selling off cheaply.

But to make things even more fabulous my lovely Mummy and Daddy gave me 3 metres of CK fabric that they had chosen for me in Edinburgh!

So now I have enough to make all the lovely patchwork cushions and curtain borders that I had planned and also some bags! Fab!

I also bought some lovely fabric in a gorgeous shop in Cirencester that I will tell you all about in a later post.

And then there were all the wonderful presents from my friends

as well as this gorgeous Janet Clare mini-quilt from the lovely Trashy! :o)

And guess what? I've still got some birthday money to spend!!!!

But in case you were worried that all books and no fabric would make Dot a dull girl - have a look over here!

Bookworm's Birthday

2010-09-03T21:04:00.005+01:00

So where do you take a complete Bookworm for her 13th birthday?

Does this sign give you a clue?

Or this?

Of course - we took Dot (and the rest of the Lockets) to the wonderful town of Hay on Wye just over the border into Wales.

Hay is internationally famous for being crammed full of second hand bookshops - I think there are at least 30 - and so it was the obvious place to take Dot to spend her birthday money.

Although our cottage in the Cotswolds was relatively close to Hay it still took us 2 hours in torrential rain and partially flooded roads to get there but fortunately the rain dried up as we arrived in the town so there was nothing to interrupt our shopping spree!

Mr Locket and the littlest Lockets went off on their own adventures leaving Dot and I to play in all the bookshops :o)

and we had fun! Dot bought 14 new books (to add to the 9 she had already been given for her birthday!) including classic children's literature like the Little Princess and Heidi, two different editions of Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales, some Georgette Heyer regency romances and Daphne Du Maurier's Jamaica Inn along with Jane Austen's Emma and a recent biography of the author - among others!!!

So, seeing as Dot has inherited her love of books from me and Mr Locket, the next question must surely be: did I buy lots of books?

Nope.

Did I buy one book?

Nope.

So what did I buy in this town full of bookshops????

Sock wool of course!

;o)

We're back!! Did you miss us???

2010-08-31T20:36:00.001+01:00

Hello everyone - sorry for the absence, but we've had a very rare thing in the Locket household.......... a proper week's holiday! We don't often get away but one place we really love is this little cottage in the corner of a field, at the end of a farm track in the Cotswolds.

Mr Locket and I first stayed at Westley Farm about 15 years ago when he had a job interview at a nearby Roman Villa and we loved it and always hoped that one day we would be able to stay in the hidden away cottage at the end of the track.

(this is the view from our front door)

Ten years later we managed it - this time with 3 Little Lockets - who also loved staying in this perfect little cottage in a field with badgers and foxes and freedom to run around and play.

Another five years on and the Little Lockets are not so little - but the fun was still there and we had a lovely time in this lovely little house with the tea table set for our arrival

- and we amused ourselves by recreating some of our earlier photographs:

(this one is actually a totally unintentional recreation of the earlier photo!)

We spent most of our days just messing about in the field (the rope swing was a favourite past-time) or reading or going for walks or knitting

or going for walks AND knitting!

And one of the surprising highlights of the week for the children were the regular visit from these fellows:

The children carefully named the cows:

there was Henry, Frankie, Archie, Goalie (see the muddy knees), as well as Pirate and Lonely (no photos of them sadly)

and then there was Fred..................

"this" is Fred

and so is "this"

in fact, all the black cows with white faces that didn't have any outstandingly different features, were called Fred - all 30 of them! ;o)

It was a really lovely holiday and we were very sad to leave - but hopefully we'll be able to go back again soon.

Next time I'll tell you about a very special birthday outing that we had while we were away!

A grand day out

2010-08-11T20:02:00.003+01:00

The Little Lockets and I had the MOST fantastic day out today with some surprise visitors to the North East (well, it was a surprise for me!)

One of my favourite Bloggy-friends who normally lives too far away to meet up for fun days out at the beach (although we've had a couple of very fun meet-ups in London)

So who was it?

None other than the wonderful Emma Pebble and her gorgeous family!

We met up at Saltburn on the Sea - which was about an hour's drive down the coast for the Lockets and cross country for the Pebbles. I've never been before and it was a lovely surprise. Although we practically live on the coast, I haven't been to such a sea-side-resort-type-beach since I was tiny.

There were donkeys to ride and deck-chairs and wind-breaks to hire, the most fantastic cable cars up and down the cliff, and without doubt, THE TASTIEST fish and chips I've ever eaten!

But the best thing of all was the company of course.

The Little Pebbles and rather-a-lot-bigger Little Lockets got on beautifully and the eldest little Pebble took a big shine to the eldest little Locket - so sweet.

And Emma did a great job of actually looking more mad than ME (despite the fact that I was sitting on my deck chair knitting socks on the beach) by doing cartwheels as soon as she arrived and by taking a little Pebble for a donkey ride while "wearing" 4 paper flags in her hair! What made it so funny is that she had no idea the flags were still there. And there were FOUR of them!

Mr Pebble and the children made the most amazing complex of sandcastles, courtyards, bridges and moats

and then, as the tide came in, dug a channel to the sea so that the waterways were flooded.

The only bad part of the day was saying goodbye!

So thank you, lovely Pebbles, for a really fab day! Can we do it again sometime soon???

An inspirational and very kind friend

2010-08-05T20:09:00.000+01:00

I love blogland because it is full of the most lovely people who constantly provide me with amazing crafty inspiration and who often send the most gorgeous packages through the post!

I have been very lucky this week to be both inspired by and be sent a parcel from the same person - the wonderful Gina!

The children and I have been trying to join along with Gina's sketchbook challenge - with limited success really, but we're getting better!

The first time we tried to draw fennel heads using spaghetti and ink (although Fred decided he wanted to draw his bouncy ball)

Then this afternoon Daisy, Fred and I had a go at drawing some of the flowers from the garden

but once again Fred objected to the subject matter and went and picked some leaves instead!

This time we used dried up sticks - from an old Japanese Anemone stem I think - instead of spaghetti and it was easier to keep control (without it snapping)

But the idea that really inspired me was Gina's suggestion of using a mini viewfinder to pick out the interesting bits of the sketches.

So we had fun doing that too and I'm surprisingly pleased with the results (I really can't draw and have never had any confidence with art)

But even more exciting things have happened this week as I was the lucky winner of Gina's first giveaway! I chose a blue/red mini pincushion pot as my prize and I'm absolutely delighted with what Gina made:

I'm going to keep it on the bookshelf next to the sofa where I always seem to accumulate random pins and needles that end up getting lost.

Gina also sent some chocolate

that she expects me to share!?!?!?!

some postcards of her fabulous dancing couple

and some stickers for the children

but the thing that excited and delighted me most of all was this

Thank you so much Gina - you really have cheered me up loads - I really am overwhelmed that you sent me your gorgeous crochet bunting - I absolutely LOVE IT!

Lots of love, Lucy xxx

Happy 1st Birthday Alfie!

2010-08-01T18:40:00.005+01:00

The youngest Locket is no longer a new baby Locket but is now a fully grown 1 year old and this auspicious occasion could not be ignored if presents could be bought and cards written by the other little Lockets!

Fred and Daisy Locket even announced that they couldn't possibly go out for the next adventure in their history project as we had to stay at home and play with Alfie ALL DAY!

(why that involved Fred spending most of the day on the new Super Mario Karts Wii game is something I haven't yet worked out!)

We did get some more of the history project written and cut and stuck in the scrap books

but unfortunately most of the Lockets are feeling a bit manky with some headachy virus so nothing is being done for very long at a time.

My lovely Round House Socks are making me very happy

and Daisy and Fred invented a fantastic new score-keeping system

for their game of cricket

at Granny and Grandpa Biscuit's house earlier in the week.

And this weekend, inspired by Ali's recent post, I have been teaching the children (and Mr Locket!) how to play Rummy - the card game that wiled away far too many hours when I was at university!

Hopefully the children will be updating their history blog too before long so do pop over if you have the time - they love having visitors!

A big hill and an even BIGGER project

2010-07-26T11:56:00.012+01:00

Yesterday we dragged the children up a GINORMOUS hill in Northumberland.

It took an hour and a half to drive there but when we arrived Daisy said "I'm NOT climbing THAT!!!"

"But it will be fun!" we replied...........................

And it was fun,

but it was also very steep (which is why 95% of my photos of the children are from lower down the hill!),

very exhausting,

very beautiful,

(with excellent mobile phone reception!!!)

very sheepy

(and very poopy!)

and very windy and wet at the top.

So why were we there?

Well, it was for the first installment of our mad summer holiday scheme:

The Little Lockets's Pocket History of Britain

The Little Lockets are going to try to study a potted history of Britain over the next 6 weeks, with site visits, timelines, artwork, posters, maps, historical cooking (maybe), and their very own blog!

And as this is still a craft blog I thought you'd appreciate the fact that when I got to the very top of the very steep mountain I sat down and cast on my next pair of socks.

Appropriately these are Circle Socks but as they were started on the top of an Iron Age hillfort I'm going to call them my "Round House Socks"

Not very golden Golden Wedding Quilt**

2010-07-20T07:54:00.007+01:00

My wonderful parents celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary this weekend - 50 years of the most fabulous marriage. They are completely devoted to each other and far more romantic than most couples ever manage to be!

Inspired by Michaela's Golden Wedding blanket I decided to make them a quilt. So back in April I went through all my books and 100s of Australian Homespun and Country Threads magazines until I'd narrowed down designs to about 15

I wanted something more traditional than my normal style but not old fashioned and I knew I wanted to use these fabrics by Timeless Treasures that I had bought very cheaply a couple of years ago from Hancocks - fortunately I was also able to find a couple more metres in this country so I would have enough.

This was the design that I chose - although I found it really hard to "see" how it would look in my fabrics!

And then I started sewing...................

And then I stopped because I was distracted by a million other things.................

So about 2 weeks ago there was a mad panic as I realised how much I still had to get done!

I decided straight away that there was no way that I could get it properly finished and quilted so I accepted that I would just be giving mum and dad a "flimsy" instead of a finished quilt.

Their party was on Sunday and I finished it on Saturday afternoon in time to take it round for a family meal in the evening.

And they love it.

And so do I!

It's definitely the most complicated thing I've ever made and I am very aware of all the wonky bits and mis-aligned seams and points - but hopefully no one will be inspecting it that closely!

And now for the quilting............................. Anyone got any good tips on what type of quilting I should do???

P.S. Sorry for the erratic quality of the photographs - my normal camera has been "sanded" again by the beach (oops) and the other one is meant to be good but is actually rather rubbish and I can't be bothered to read the instruction manual!

P.P.S ** not very "golden" because it's BLUE!!! ha ha ha - I crack myself up sometimes! ;o)

What happens when.............

2010-07-17T11:49:00.003+01:00

.............you post a photo of your rather tired looking fence on your blog?

Things like this start to appear in your garden.............

and wood starts being smashed up before your very eyes!

Then you spot the culprit...........

...........the very clever "Mr Powder" who lives next door.

And you need to pick sweet-peas to say thank you to Mrs Powder who told Mr P to rebuild the fence because it looked so shabby!

Because your new fence is EVER so smart!

Thank you Mr and Mrs Powder - I'll be round later!

Looking a bit empty

2010-07-13T18:23:00.008+01:00

Now this is a VERY strange view..................a corner of our garden that's actually looking tidy!

(The rest of it looks more like a scrap yard!)

But it's looking a bit empty too................

Aha! That's better!

A new and lovely treat for the Locket garden - so let's hope the sun keeps on shining for the summer holidays and that we find time to finish painting the fence and rapidly-deteriorating greenhouse!

And the other little Locket who's enjoying a newly tidied part of the garden is young Alfie bunny

who loves his new long run

and quite enjoys having his friends in to play with him too!

"oooh cheesy feet!"

Rather more successful kitchen escapades

2010-07-12T19:20:00.004+01:00

Dot and some of her friends are hoping to create a school magazine and unsurprisingly Dot will be writing the book review page and the cooking page so the other weekend she decided to test some recipes with her little helpers while I took the photos.

The starter was "Tomato and Mozarella Bruschetta"

And the main course, which I forgot to photograph "in process" as it wasn't going in the magazine was Tortellini bake with mediterranean vegetable sauce (including the first courgettes from the allotment!!)

And pudding had to be "Eton Mess" because of all the strawberries we are getting from the allotment and this is where the little helpers really came in to their own:

The mix may have been stirred a little too vigourously but it still tasted delicious! Next time we'll aim to have bigger pieces of meringue though!

And just to finish the children helped make the first batch of jam too!

We've made a further two batches in the last week and there is still more to be made - so it's a shame I've run out of jam jars.

At least there was no green pond slime this time!

How to lose your husband...........

2010-07-12T10:14:00.007+01:00

An alternative title could be "reasonable grounds for divorce"

Offer him this lovingly made drink......................

"More pond-slime Sir?"

(ok, so my attempt to recreate the delciously refreshing "fresh mint and limeade" drink that I had at Marks and Spencers a couple of weeks ago really didn't work! Poor Mr Locket did not enjoy it one bit - and he came up with both blog titles and said I had to show you all!)

Pretty Happy Things

2010-07-04T17:00:00.008+01:00

I thought I'd show you some photos of things that have been making me happy lately:

Beautiful flowers from the allotment...............

..........in a gorgeous new Dartmouth Pottery jug that I couldn't resist on Ebay the other day.

Beautiful cups and saucers from Helen's gorgeous shop.................

.......and a stunning and HUGE bowl that I also persuaded Helen to let me buy! I just wish you could have seen the wonderful flower arrangement she had in it when we arrived at her open day: the bowl was full of water with the flower heads of peonies, roses, honeysuckle etc floating in the top interspersed with fabulous bright yellow rubber ducks! It looked stunning - until poor Helen had to pour it all out into another lovely bowl so I could buy this one!

My new Polly Jeans (even though I previously vowed that I would NEVER touch such a complicated pattern!)

I love them so much I thought I'd show you two pictures but don't be tricked into thinking I'm in any danger of knitting both socks..............

............because here's my one and only Rhodie Gus! Cropped just enough so you can't see that I haven't actually grafted the toe yet - although maybe the knitting needle sticking out will have given that away already?!?

And finally, the surprise thing that's making me happy at the moment is this:

......our rather-scruffy-but-ever-so-much-tidier-and-better-than-a-few-weeks-ago allotment!

At the beginning of last month I was feeling so overwhelmed by the weeds and all there was to do (and life in general, if I'm honest) that I really thought I was going to have to give up the allotment.

I mentioned this to my lovely friend Alison who also has the plot next to me and a couple of days later she persuaded me to go back up to the allotment with her - where I discovered that she and another friend had spent hours digging and weeding and generally sorting a large section of the plot so that it was less awful and overwhelming for me!

I'm incredibly lucky to have such kind friends - especially as they both have their own allotments to work on - and it has really helped kick-start my gardening mojo. I have been working really hard up there over the last couple of weeks and it is all starting to look so much better - even if there are still thousands of weeds!

And to make it even more manageable I have "lent" a couple of beds at the back of the plot to a lady who is on the waiting list for an allotment but is only up to number 62. She is desperate to get some allotment experience and I am very happy to have someone take over a bit of the chaos!

And finally, for those of you who asked me AGES ago.......... the bricks in the bottom of the wigwam serve absolutely NO gardening purpose whatsoever but are merely there for the children to sit on as this is going to be a giant green teepee for them to hide in! Dot already spends most of her time at the allotment sitting in there reading.

Digging to Australia

2010-06-23T17:58:00.003+01:00

The recent lovely weather has prompted some evening visits to the beach

where Fred decided he was going to "Dig to Australia".

He was quite cross when we announced that we had to go home after our first visit because his hole wasn't big enough

so it really made us laugh when we found this hole

only 20 metres away from where he had been digging

this hole was MUCH closer to Australia!

So last night he started digging again whilst I found a new way to get sand in my socks...............

He then decided to sit down in the sea - in his school uniform - and then thought it was a good idea to ROLL his very wet self in the sand!

And finally he decided to stop digging his hole and start burying himself instead.

Honestly, he's worse than a puppy!

(and just as cute!)

Strange 'Bots and Odd socks

2010-06-15T19:27:00.005+01:00

While Daisy's birthday was all about Monkeys with a new sock monkey (made in collaboration with Dot) and big Magoo to match the girls' new bedroom, Fred's had a more "mechanical" feel................

First up was "Mechanobot" by Nelly Pailloux

(although I have to confess that I didn't really understand the pattern for the head so I just guesstimated it)

And then, albeit a few days later than Fred's actual birthday, "Buttons" the Disco-Bot designed by Jodie, danced his way over to join him.

He isn't quite finished as I appear to have lost the felt covered buttons for his "ears" and I have yet to find some good cord for his antennae - but Fred loves him and I love the fact that he stands up on his own!

And Little Mechanobot seems to like him too.

(sorry for the horribly blurry photo)

In the meantime I have also started crocheting a giant Granny blanket - inspired by Moogs of course!

But because I'm not loving the colours and because I'm not finding all those triple crochet repetitions distracting and challenging enough - my mind needs occupying at the moment - I've joined the Moogs/Michaela team and cast on Rhodie Gus. It's a lovely pattern and I'm really enjoying it - especially as it's the first time I've read a chart!

So it is yet another odd sock to add to my collection!

Although I don't think I've ever shown you my fabulous whole PAIR of Jaywalkers!!!

Got to love them!

To put the record straight...........

2010-06-09T19:01:00.005+01:00

Fred ACTUALLY had

FOUR CAKES!!!!!

(and banana muffins!)

The first baked by Dot at Granny and Grandpa's on the Friday before his birthday

along with Banana Choc Chip Muffins baked by Daisy!

The second at his Pottery Painting birthday party on Saturday

The third baked by Granny Biscuit (a birthday tradition)

And the fourth at their childminder's house this afternoon!!

Talk about spoilt!!!

:o)

Happy 8th Birthday Fred!

2010-06-08T11:50:00.004+01:00

Hope you had a great day!

We love you millions!!!

Happy 10th Birthday Daisy!!!!

2010-05-27T12:12:00.004+01:00

This smiley little squidge has grown

and grown

and grown

and is now an incredibly TALL and very beautiful 10 year old!

How did that happen?

Happy Birthday Daisy - have a really wonderful day - we love you to the moon and back!

xxxxxxxxx

The reason I haven't blogged for ages... .....

2010-05-19T20:16:00.006+01:00

..............isn't because I have been kidnapped or grounded or banned from using the computer for 3 weeks (although that could always happen) but is instead because we've been really busy "doing stuff" to the house.

Unfortunately the "stuff" isn't quite finished so I'm not going to show you yet - even though I'm SURE you are all DESPERATE to know what changes we've been making! ;o)

So I thought you could have some sneak peeks first
along with some other really interesting (!) and very BROWN photos of a new resident in Locketland.

Now isn't that a beautiful little cupboard-y thingummy?

No?

You don't think it's gorgeous?

Hmmm. Neither does Mr Locket.

But this isn't just any old little cupboard-y thingummy.........................

Oh no! If you look a bit closer you notice hinges in unusual places:

.......... so what happens if you lift the top piece?

Oooooooooooh! There's something in there!

And if you open the doors you notice some interesting clobber which would definitely get in the way if you opened up the doors to put your books or "stuff" inside.

Woohooo! What's inside?????

(ok, so I know you've all guessed already but humour me here please.......)

It's a BEAUTIFUL old treddle sewing machine!

And it works!

(well, I think it would, if only the belt hadn't snapped as soon as I tried it....)

and the top flappy thingy becomes the sewing table............

and the door has special swingy drawer thingys with exciting somethingorothers inside......

......like all these AMAZING foot attachments!

And what makes it even more FABULOUS is that it cost me the grand total of................

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!

In fact, I RESCUED IT!

It's true, this little beauty was on it's way to the TIP!

Can you believe it?

Wouldn't you have been compelled to rescue it too?

(Please say yes, Mr Locket needs convincing that this was an act of mercy rather than insanity!)

Lucy xxxx

P.S. Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE my new job?????

An intrepid adventurer

2010-04-26T16:12:00.007+01:00

I should have known that my little green friend would be a feisty fellow................
(I mean, look who designed him)

I just didn't expect him to be such an intrepid adventurer.

After out-staring the fiercest of animals

until he had him tamed

he then decided a spot of tree climbing was in order

although I think he began to wish he hadn't looked down at this point.

He then jumped into my bag and came up to the allotment where he found as many things to climb as possible

And when he'd run out of things to climb he decided to go and chat with the tadpoles (yay my very first tadpoles!!!!) and I had to grab his foot to stop him falling in.

But, on reflection, it's probably a VERY good thing that he is so brave and adventurous, considering where he's going now....................................

Oh yes, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ally!

Love you really!

And your present is only late because it is taking him so very long to crawl down south!
;o) xxxxx

P.S. Jodie - this pattern is FABULOUS! You are a complete star!

Rag Bag

2010-04-22T17:44:00.005+01:00

Today's is a rag bag post full of lots of pictures from the last couple of weeks (but hopefully not too much wittering!)

At the very beginning of the Easter holidays I read this post and swiftly organised the Lockets for a day trip to visit Katie's wonderful new shop

It is all looking fabulous and there is also a wonderful bakery/cafe on site where we had a delicious lunch. I just wish it was a little nearer - although it is probably better for Katie's sanity that it is too far away for me to move in on a daily basis! ;o)

We saw this fabulous rainbow on our way home - you can't really tell from the photo but the end of the rainbow was just near the wall - unfortunately there were no pots of gold or greedy leprecauns to be seen!

The children had a lovely holiday with trips to the beach, Easter Egg Hunts in Granny and Grandpa Dog's garden and pottery painting as well as trips to the cinema, visits to friends and far too many hours in front of the telly or on the Wii.
And here is Fred dreaming of ice-cream at the beach............iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice-creeeeeeeeeeeeeeam!

Lovely Diana sent me this gorgeous apron with apples on one side and sewing notions on the other and Daisy says I have to mention the gorgeous girl modelling it!

We've been to the allotment (a bit) and it is looking a little better (especially as my friend Bernie has taken over a couple of beds to help me out). Hopefully the childrens' new wigwam/den for beans will encourage them to help out a bit more as there will be plenty of room for them to hide in there once all the plants grow.

And I've managed to do some of my sewing, although not as much as I would have liked.

But I can't show you the main sewing project I achieved just yet...................!

However, the most important event of this week has been the start of my new job........... I know it's early days but I can honestly say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!!!

Sew many ideas

2010-04-08T09:05:00.006+01:00

My shiny new job (fewer hours, very local, and very interesting) doesn't start for another week (when the children go back to school after the Easter holidays) so for now I am
ON HOLIDAY!!!

And my head is fairly BURSTING with sewing plans and ideas!

I spent the winter cosily knitting - and knitting is fabulously portable so I was able to take it to work each day - but now I have the freedom to think big, sewing-y thoughts - Hurrah!

I have a very big secret project that I can't show you yet (or for quite a long time actually) which is a shame as it is rather clever (for me, anyway) and very beautiful.

But I also have a pin-wheel quilt in my head which I plan to make out of this charm pack of Urban Chiks' Sweet range.

I initially wanted to have a white background as I am currently in love with quilts that have lots of white in them - like my spidersweb blocks

selvedge blocks

and my Christmas ZigZag quilt

but the background of the Charm squares is more cream so white would look awful.

I then went for a bright yellow - trying to move out of my comfort zone - but when I started sewing the pinwheels I just didn't like it at all.

So I am going to play safe and use this beautiful Bella Solid called Blue Raspberry

that I used for the border in my very simple charm pack quilt made from the previous Urban Chiks range called Swell.

My other major sewing project is going to be a slip cover for my new, second-hand IKEA chair.

Even though it is second hand the cream cover is immaculate.

The problem is, I know it will never stay cream in LocketLand!

So I plan to make a heavily quilted cover inspired by SewTakeAHike's brilliant Quilt-As-You-Go-along using all my scraps.

The chair is fabulously comfortable.............

..............as long as you want to sit looking at the ceiling.

Unfortunately it is NOT a good chair to sit in to watch telly while knitting as you end up getting a very sore neck as you try to keep your head facing forwards (not ceiling-wards).

But never mind.

It will be a very beautiful day-dreaming chair!

Finally, a very exciting sewing project arrived on my doorstep this morning......................

pattern-testing the fabulous Ernst!

Oh, how I love that tortoise and his heart-rending love story !

Locket xx

All change

2010-04-07T19:36:00.009+01:00

I finished my job at Newcastle University yesterday - where I had been working as a secretary for the last 7 months to cover Maternity Leave - and while I will miss all the students and my colleagues, I won't actually miss the job itself - too many meetings and minutes and agendae for my liking! ;o)

I received some lovely presents including this HUGE box of chocolates

and flowers from my colleagues in the office

and this whizzy coffee machine from two of the lovely lecturers

who also took me out for lunch at this restaurant - really delicious oriental food - my favourite kind of meal with lots of different tastes to try.

But I was absolutely stunned when my lovely knitting friend/student, Maura, arrived with a present from all the students and I opened it to discover this box

Hmmm, that bird looks familiar, I thought

then I turned it over and saw a message saying "Lucy's Locket"

but even then I didn't guess that this beauty would be inside

My very own Lucy's Locket made by the lovely Emma Pebble!!

I have been wanting one of these ever since Emma first posted about them but didn't dream I would get one.

But clever Maura had remembered a conversation we had had back in February when she had asked me what I would most like for Valentine's Day from Mr Locket and I had replied that what I would MOST want was one of Emma's lockets but that I would probably get a CD instead. So when the students had a collection for me Maura decided to make my wishes come true! And I am so delighted that she did - and amazed that she and Emma managed to keep it secret for so long!

I also received this beautiful Chinese lipstick case as one of the students had wanted me to have something from her home country.

And lots of the students sent me really lovely emails saying how much they would miss me and how much they had appreciated my help which was really rewarding. Although I had only been in the post for 7 months I started at the same time as this batch of students so everything had been new for us all.

They were such a lovely group - from a really broad range of nationalities - and I will miss getting to know them all.

But for now I am on holiday until my new job starts so in the next post I will tell you what I plan to do with all this free time! ;o)

Sock wool, eggs and cats - hmm, interesting mixture

2010-04-01T17:05:00.012+01:00

I've had a lovely day today. After taking the children to school I popped into Sunderland to meet Lisa and little Gabriel at the museum for a cuppa. We then caught the bus to Lisa's VERY local wool shop which has the most amazing bargains! There is a branch of the same shop nearer to me but the one near Lisa is the main shop so they carry all the stock - and what a lot of stock there was!

They were selling Regia sock yarn for £1.20 a ball - normally it costs over £4. So naturally I had to buy a lot (even though I bought a lot last autumn when they had it in at this price)

And naturally I had to ring Moogsmum and see which colours she would like me to get for her (even though she bought a lot last autumn when they had it in at this price!)

But that's not all I got.

Not even slightly!

I bought some fabulous Rowan kits (that I can't show you yet unfortunately as they are a secret) - but the discount was truly INCREDIBLE! Lisa had originally bought 2 for me as I wasn't sure I would get to the shop in time but I also managed to buy another today!

I bought this Kaffe Fasset fat quarter for the grand sum of.............

...................50p!!!

This Kid-silk haze scarf kit, complete with needles came to the princely sum of...............

.........................£2!

And I also got these leather slipper sock bases, and special latex gel for the bottoms of socks

and these super, short metal needles which will be perfect for the Little Lockets.

So it was an incredibly successful shopping trip!

And guess what?

They have a website!!!

What makes the day even better is that both Fred and Daisy did really well in their Easter Egg competition at school!

Fred won with this version of The Stegg (The Stig)

and Daisy was a runner up with her Dippy Egg and Soldiers

And so that Dot isn't left out, here are the fantastically mad cat brooch and finger puppet that she made for one of her best friends' birthday presents last week

So, that's why this is a post of sock wool, eggs and cats!

Been up to London to visit....................

2010-03-28T15:40:00.008+01:00

..................well, not the Queen, but some MUCH more exciting and special people:

Lesley
Gina
Michaela
Val
and My Bossy Big Sister Ally!

(and there some very sadly missed friends who couldn't make it - but hopefully next time?)

Ally, Lesley and I met up at our hotel - The Hilton in Euston (MUCH more luxurious than our usual Travelodge) and Gina came to join us about half an hour later.

Instead of hitting the hot-spots of London we all decided to stay at the hotel and chat, knit, laugh and drink wine before having a lovely, extremely reasonably priced, if rather unusual meal in the hotel

(I'm sure the waiter didn't mean to call Gina a Tart and I'm sure Gina didn't really mean it when she said "No. Her!" whilst pointing at me. At least I think she didn't mean it?!)

We nearly managed to kidnap Gina and persuade her to stay the night in the hotel and come shopping with us on Saturday but unfortunately common sense prevailed and she decided that she really did need to go home.

On Saturday we met up with Michaela and Val at Loop and bought lots of gorgeous woolly goodies. This is my selection:

Then Val went back to meet up with her friends at the Country Living Show and the rest of us had some delicious cake

before spending ages trying to catch a taxi in the pouring rain to take us to Covent Garden.

We eventually got there and popped into Cath Kidston (but they didn't have the type of fabric I was after which was a shame - so I bought a hanky instead!)

followed by the Bead Shop

and then another cafe for a drink, chat and knitting session

before it was time to head back to various stations to catch our trains home.

In true Bloggy-Meet-Up fashion there was a lovely exchange of gifts:

a beautiful button brooch from Gina

my bloggy giveaway prize from Val

delicious, not-much-left-to-photograph fudge from Michaela, beautifully wrapped in cute fabric

UN-photographed but equally scrummy-delicious chocolate brownies from Ally

and beautiful stitch markers from Moogs!

Moogs had also bought me this brilliant coaster

and this fabric was wrapped around a lovely blue dotty mug

This is what I looked like when she gave me the mug on Friday evening:

But this is what I looked like on Saturday morning when the bag I was carrying it in flew off my shoulder as I was giving Val a hello-hug smashing my lovely mug into smithereens

Sorry Moogs!

On the way back I had a lovely time with my friends from home, showing them what I had bought and looking at all their goodies.

They had all been at the Country Living Show and I had commissioned them to buy me some Decopatch supplies:

and my lovely friend, Aunty Ann had also bought me this gorgeous birdie

So it was a really fantastic weekend made even more lovely as Locketland had been struck down by a really awful sick bug which left us all feeling very poorly and this was the first time in over a week that I had actually felt well enough to do much.

But the icing on the cake was the telephone call I received on my way to the train station on Friday telling me that I had got my lovely new job! Hoorah!

Owls

2010-02-28T18:35:00.005Z

There's no getting away from the fact that we like owls.

Well, Dot in particular LOVES them!

(this is a VERY small example of Dot's owl-y collection - not counting her green owl necklace from Dottery Pottery, or the Roman owl necklace that Daisy bought her on a recent museum trip - and various other owl-flavoured presents.
The Happy Birthday card and notelets were made by the wonderful Charlie P)

and then, of course, there's Walter Pigeon, her huge owl-heat-pad-cushion that I made for her birthday last year

so making cardboard owls for the top of the stairs was obviously the next step after all those horses

and Dot and I also collaborated on this appliqued owl which Dot is busy stitching

Finally, I was going to show you my new handbag (which has nothing to do with owls other than the feathery fabric) but it is still in the washing machine where it is being "softened up" to create that "lived-in" look!

Next time..................

More horses!

2010-02-25T11:51:00.007Z

When we Lockets start a new craft that we enjoy we just don't seem to know when to stop!

More horses started appearing on Sunday and I cut out so many cardboard bodies and legs that I had pains in my right hand and arm for the first half of the week!

The herd have now galloped to the top of the stairs - although we do have two who are slightly confused and seem to be wanting to ride off into the sunset................

The latest additions starting from the top row are:

1. as yet un-named by Fred, but documenting the fact that Roald Dahl's father lost his arm after being treated by a very drunk doctor!
2. Pelly (Dot - from the Giraffe, the Pelly and Me)
3. hasn't been given a name but I'm going to call him "Gipsy" because it says so on his head (made by Dot, I think)
4. Bunty (bunting - geddit?) made by Daisy
5. Sunshine (at least I think that's what Daisy said)
6. Chocolate (Dot)
7. Polar Bear (Fred)
and somewhere else there is one about liquorice bootlaces and Rat-itis.

You may therefore be able to tell that a lot of these new horses have been made from pages out of Dot's old Roald Dahl magazines - although the less decrepit magazines have been passed on to a very happy Fred who is so busy reading them that he has yet another reason for not getting dressed for school in the morning!

I also made my new Cath Kidston bag (from the free fabrics included in her Sew book) on Sunday so I could take it to work on Monday.

I'm happy with how it turned out because I customised the pattern and included a lining with pockets and a very clever zippy closer thingummy that Moogsmum showed us how to do ages ago.

I did feel clever when it worked!

And the lining is made out of the lovely paisley tablecloth I bought at the Country Living Fair in November 2008, when Trashy stood on the table to demonstrate the size of the tablecloths we had all purchased.

ok, so she was standing on the bench, NOT the table, but it sounds better my way!

The only criticism I would have of the bag is that it is FAR TOO SMALL to be much use - and the strap is too short to wear across the body.

As the pieces are pre-cut there is nothing you can do about this and it makes me wonder if the marketing team at Cath Kidston are being very crafty (and I don't mean that in a lets-cut-things-up-and-sew-them-back-together kind of way).

Maybe, by giving us the free material, they are thinking that if we get to see how lovely the fabric is and how nice the bag COULD be if only it were big enough, then we will be overcome with the need to go to the nearest CK shop and BUY MORE FABRIC!

At least that's what I'm wanting to do right now - so if that was their plan then it has worked!

But before I go and sew another bag (out of some gorgeous Vanessa Arbuthnott fabric I have been hoarding for about 5 years) - or wash up in the kitchen - hmmm, tough choice........... I thought I'd show you the rest of my lovely goodies from my very generous 7 Days of Specialness Swap partner Kristy

Fabulous rubber gloves and pretty cloths to make cleaning fun; a beautiful heart plate and heart muffin cases which have been put to good use by Dot with her recent "rocky road muffins"; a lovely toiletry roll and face cloth; and a beautiful vintage manicure set complete with its original box!

Thank you so much Kristy - all my presents are gorgeous and very gratefully received!

Lucy x

Can someone please...............

2010-02-20T19:04:00.004Z

..............pay me to stay at home and do crafty things with my children?

Pretty please?

Because I really enjoy it.

Even if it does get a bit stressy when everyone is asking me to help them at the same time!

We've really enjoyed making cardboard horses this afternoon using this wonderful tutorial from Ann Wood after seeing Katie's recent creations - we even had two little friends making them with us - and this is our first collection

and here is the current Locket ensemble galloping up the stairs

from the top:
William Wordsworth (Dot), Toffee (Fred),
Ninevah (Daisy - made with a page from a children's bible), Nameless (Me), Sea-shell (Daisy)
Biba (Dot), Babushka (Me), Frank Sonata (Dot)

Even though my hands are aching from cutting out all that cardboard, I can tell that there will be plenty more horses on the horizon - they are so effective!

Meanwhile, the cleaning-little-Lockets have turned into caterers and we have had Cafe Go-Go Food and Cafe Moonlight in operation today.

So far we have enjoyed chocolate milkshakes, ham and cheese croissants and rocky-road muffins and we have been promised more treats tomorrow - I could get used to letting the children do all the cooking - especially when the waitress is so charming

and brings such beautifully presented smiley-face food!

(apparently this is me!)

And there is real cause for celebration today as we finally have a proper mirror in the house!

And a very beautiful one too

With a very beautiful reflection!

What a lovely half-term!

2010-02-19T17:34:00.006Z

I've had a lovely week as I've been on holiday from work so that I could play at home with the children during half term - and to make it even MORE fun we put some Christmas money towards the best possible present in the children's opinion (and increasingly in mine) - a Nintendo Wii!

I have resisted it until now - but I am SO pleased that we have bought one - it's so much fun and we have all done far more exercise on the Wii Fit than we would normally do (even me! Although Daisy told her cousins that I had been weighed in as "obtuse"!) Wii Sports is great fun and Big Brain Academy is really popular too (although I confess that I haven't humiliated myself on that yet!)

The children have managed to play on it all week with only minor skirmishes and frustrations and they seem to find it relatively easy to take turns and share it fairly which is really good. And they've only put the telly on for the first time today - now that IS a miracle!

But the following is even MORE miraculous:

The adorable little Lockets VOLUNTEERING to clear out, clean, tidy and rearrange the kitchen cupboards! I was happily sewing when they started and had to stop so I could show willing and help them! What on earth is going on????

So, when I haven't been hula-hooping or stepping or mucking out manky kitchen cupboards, I've been busy knitting and sewing and enjoying every minute of being at home!

I have finished my lacy Baktus

(bad photos - sorry)

made a few more spidersweb blocks

(oh, how I LOVE all these colours and snippets of fabric offset by the white - it really makes me very happy!)

sewn loads of selvedge strips together

(although I am even more in awe of Jodie and her dressmaking skills as I seem unable to prevent the blocks from curving)

and lovely Mr Locket bought me this book for Valentine's Day - on my suggestion ;o)

so I am planning on sewing the free bag together this weekend - with an added lining and pocket - so that I have something pretty to take to work with me on Monday.

But I'd really much rather stay at home next week too :'o(

Feeling special

2010-02-07T18:44:00.005Z

Domesticali's idea to organise a "7 days of specialness swap" for the miserable month of February was truly inspired.

I was very lucky to be partnered with Kristy over at Vintage Pleasure and have been having a wonderful time opening my gorgeous parcels (while worrying at the same time that the goodies I sent to her weren't half as nice as the ones I have received)

My first present was this beautiful pin cushion and vintage button collection........

next I opened these wonderfully fragrant candles - wild rose and pink champagne.........

and today I opened this stunning collection of notebooks!

I can't wait to see what is in the next four parcels - but I am being very good. Although I have to confess that I did open day 1 and 2 on the first day as I knew the postie was a day later delivering my parcel than he should have been - naughty postie! (or should that be naughty me?)

Meanwhile I have been busily knitting away - some squares for Trashy's secret birthday present, a new Baktus in gorgeous purple Rowan silk and merino that I bought half price in John Lewis' sale,

and this new and very beautiful Lacy Baktus using the gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill sock-weight merino that I won in Michaela's diet-raffle (originally donated by Quinn).

I'm loving how it looks - and even though it is a REALLY simple pattern, those holes make me feel ever so clever - especially as they are in the right place!

More snow is forecast for next week - but sadly not enough to let us stay at home :o( But there's just one more week to go before I'm off for half-term with the little Lockets! Hooray!!!

P.S. I forgot to mention one important thing about February. It is the month when I have pledged not to spend any money on crafty items. Please keep an eye on me. I am as likely to succeed in this as Michaela is in her plan to finish all those projects this month! ;o)

Rubbish blogger

2010-01-31T11:40:00.006Z

Sorry everyone - I've been a rubbish blogger lately. There just doesn't seem to be enough time these days!

So once again this will be a blog with lots of different components.

First of all I thought I'd show you the birthday present we made for one of Fred's friends recently:

A personalised Monster Making Kit

full of felt, needles, thread, scissors, sew-on googly eyes and an invitation to come for tea one day after school for a monster making session!

So Fred's friend doodled some ideas

(really good drawing for an 8 year old, I thought)

and then came for tea with one of Daisy's friends too

and these were the monsters they designed and I helped them create.

Pretty fabby aren't they?

Unfortunately I had to do most of the sewing because the needles I had bought weren't quite sharp enough to go through the felt. Does anyone else struggle to get the right kind of sewing needle for children - i.e sharp enough without being too sharp?

I haven't done much sewing of my own lately - partly because I have been welded to the sofa knitting in every spare moment. I think I knit more in the winter because it is a cosy, in front of the fire, type of craft. It's also very portable and I can sneak a bit of knitting into my lunchbreak at work.

I finished the Simple Yet Effective Shawl in the gorgeous wool from Michaela's raffle,

but I'm not totally in love with the finished article. I'm just not sure how to wear it - and that mistake in the middle really bugs me too! Should I "frog" it? The wool says it should be handwashed but I don't know if that is just a precaution as it is a mixture of superwash sock wool and nylon. Do you think I could get away with knitting it into socks and machine washing them? (basically it is totally unrealistic to think that I will ever handwash my socks!)

I know I complain about work (I'm really struggling with working 30 hours a week - it's WAY too much for me) but the students on the programme that I am secretary for are absolutely wonderful. Look at this gorgeous piece of homemade cake that one lovely lady brought in for me:

It's such delicious cake - and there is a lovely story behind it. In the student's home country, when they have some good news, or something they want to celebrate, they make a cake and share it with their friends and family as a way of sharing their happiness or good fortune. Isn't that a wonderful tradition? I wish we did things like that over here.

On Friday night the students had a party and I was invited too so I went along with Dot and Daisy (after first meeting my lovely knitting-student-friend Maura and her husband for a meal at Nandos). It was a great party and many of the students had brought different foods and music from their home countries (it's a truly international programme). And what was particularly lovely for me and my girls was how pleased they all were that I had come along. I think it was good for Dot and Daisy to see another side of my life.

Meanwhile, Dot's book review blog has been flourishing and she has been receiving wonderful book recommendations and even actual books through the post (thank you so much Michaela and Diana)! And thank you all for taking the time to visit her - we all really appreciate it.

It was her "Tutor Review Day" at school on Thursday so we went to see her form tutor and heard what a wonderful "model pupil" she was - which was lovely as always - and then went on a trip to The Fat Quarters where we bought this gorgeous fabric for Dot to make her first quilt.

On the way there I decided to treat Dot to takeaway Scampi and Chips from Harry Ramsden's Drive Thru. Out of curiosity, how many sachets of salt and vinegar would you expect to be given with two portions of scampi and one of chips?

One?

Two?

Sixteen of each???????

The mind boggles really!

Lots of things

2010-01-15T17:25:00.010Z

Ok, so this post doesn't have much focus - but never mind, there are some pretty pictures!

But first of all, have you seen that Trashy is hosting
The Second Ever Trash Raffle
to help raise funds for Haiti
She already has some fabulous Amy Butler goodies to be won - so pop on over!

And talking of Amy Butler, look at the gorgeous wallet that my friend Jane made for me for Christmas

I love this Amy Butler lace fabric and Jane chose the bit I liked the best for the front piece (I know this because I showed her exactly which bit it was!!!)

Many of you will know about Michaela's clever idea to organise a bloggy-diet where we tried to lose as much weight as possible with the promise of super lovely raffle prizes at the end.

The following were my really super lovely, lovely prizes:

Beads!!!!!

Sock wool - to encourage me back into her Sock-Startitis-Club I reckon

Gorgeous 100% alpaca Ni-Mu
100% Merino 4ply
And the one I really nearly didn't get - this beautiful Thistleknits. Both Michaela and Lesley (who sent it in as a raffle prize in the first place) were planning on "knitting needles at dawn" for this one!

So I have been trying to do it justice and am knitting my first almost-lacy shawl using the SYES pattern.

It's already bigger than in this picture but there are an awful lot of stitches and do you know what? I have to do PURL! You know I don't like purl! Pah!

So I have some simple knitting in the round to redress the balance - no purl here, no siree! See, I didn't even rib the cuff!

All this means that I have been spending an awful lot of time on Ravelry messing about uploading photos of my wool and finding perfect patterns.

Even Dot has a Ravelry account now!
(She's getting to be quite a whizzy knitter in her spare time - and has already discovered how to knit and read at the same time! By the way, thank you all SO MUCH for your wonderful and supportive comments on her new blog - to say she is thrilled would be a massive understatement! But keep an eye on it - she practically reads a new book each day!)

Un-UN-things

2010-01-10T13:19:00.006Z

Thank you all so much for your lovely and thoughtful comments on yesterday's post. Just saying how I was feeling has made me feel a lot better and your kind comments helped even more.

When you look around you can often see lots of other things that help take the "uns" away.

Like going for an evening walk through the new deep snow with the rest of the Lockets and watching heart-in-mouth as they slide down a steep bank in the park that has been so well used during the day that it has become compacted ice - and brilliantly slippy

then treating everyone to fish and chips from the new Chippy in the village, spotting this amazing snowman on the way home

then coming in to a roaring coal fire and watching the original Dr Dolittle on DVD.

My knitting didn't work, nor did the necklace I made this afternoon and we're no longer predicted to get the heavy snowfall that was forecast so it looks like we'll be at work and school as normal tomorrow, but I did discover that a (very) few of you shared my happiness at neatly fitting tin contents so I thought I'd amuse myself by showing you my most satisfactory storage solution:

this tin -
which contains my gadgets and gizmos for putting in press-studs

can you see how well the handles of the gadget fit round the teeny tiny box that holds the gizmos that insert the doofahs?

And the flat tins (which used to contain charm squares and a CD pattern) now hold all the doofahs that you use with the gadget and gizmos.

And it all just fits perfectly.............................

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! How I love using this tin!

How I love knowing that everything I need is just there and easy to find.

How I must need therapy.

So moving swiftly on, why don't you have a look at a blog written by a much saner member of the family?

Go on! She'll be ever so pleased if you do..........

Feeling a bit "un"

2010-01-09T11:10:00.007Z

Sorry I haven't written a Happy New Year post before now - but I'm feeling a bit "un".

Do you know what I mean?

No? Didn't think you would really!

I'm just feeling a bit flat and all the un- words like

un-enthusiastic

un-motivated (or should that be "de-"?)

un-inspired

un-healthy

un-fit

un-economic (why do I keep spending money I haven't got?)

and then a few of my own inventions like

un-bouncy

un-sparky

(and I'm the kind of person that really NEEDS to feel bouncy and sparky)

un-thin - oh yes, very definitely un-thin

although I'm not necessarily completely un-happy

but it means that I'm wandering around blogland seeing all your lovely posts and inspiring New Year's Resolution type ideas and it's just making me more aware of how un-resolution-y, how nothing-y I feel. Which then makes me go all introspective.

But the problem with being introspective is that I don't much like the view.

So I haven't been blogging and now that I'm back at work I'm really struggling to keep up with reading and commenting - but I'll keep trying.

But enough of all that. Do you want to know what has been going on?

It's been snowing!

Had you noticed? ;o)

And last night is snowed and snowed and snowed so we have loads and loads of the white stuff - and very pretty it is too - unless you actually want to go somewhere!

Frustratingly, despite all the white stuff and the nasty-pasty icy roads the Little Lockets are blessed with practically the only schools in the region that have stayed at open which means they've had to go to school (not happy) and I've had to go to work (really not happy) and I've been late every day and had to leave early some days so my timesheet is looking really bad already this month which means I will be trying to catch up for ages :o(

Mr Locket and the Littles have gone for a walk and a bit of sledging but it has just started to snow REALLY heavily again so I'm not sure how long they will last. I've stayed at home to tidy - can you tell how hard I'm working?

I've done lots of knitting lately - but forgotten to take photos.

I made Mum a lovely Noro Blossom scarf like this one

Dad a pair of Cash-Soft mittens

Bossy-Big-Sister Ally a Mousie by Ysolda

My friend and childminder Janice a pair of silk and merino mittens a bit like these

and my friend Jane a Noro Blossom scarf and mittens just like

these:

(modelled by mad-dottie-locket)
I've also caught the lets-knit-hats-in-one-and-a-half-hours bug from Anna and Moogs but as Mr Locket and Fred are actually wearing theirs at the moment there's no photographic evidence.

And I bought lots of lovely bargain wool at John Lewis this week - the one perk of working in Newcastle centre being the ability to pop into the shops on the way home.

But my new obsession has been jewellery making so lots of family and friends received bracelets for Christmas made by the Little Lockets. Here are a few I've made for myself

and this is the gorgeous necklace and bracelet that my much cleverer jewellery-making friend Alison made for Mr Locket to give me for Christmas

But, being the sad kind of person that I am, what REALLY gets me excited about beads and jewellery making is playing around sorting them into these little boxes and arranging them "just so".

And I really love how the boxes fit perfectly inside this tin.

I have another tin that the contents "fit perfectly" in and it makes me happy every time I use it!

That says a lot about me really, doesn't it?! Hmm, perhaps I should have kept it to myself!!! ;o)

Ok then. For someone who isn't in the right kind of mood for blogging, I seem to have wittered on for rather a long time - but it's put me in a much better frame of mind so for those of you who have made it to the bitter end - thanks for reading!

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

WHITE CHRISTMAS

2009-12-28T19:24:00.009Z

Just a week before Christmas I was carefully explaining to the Little Lockets that, even though all the Christmas cards suggested otherwise, the chances of actually having a White Christmas were very slim indeed.

So you can imagine how delighted they were to see me proved totally and utterly wrong this year!

And once everyone had safely arrived at my parents' house (especially Mr Locket who was the last to arrive on Christmas Eve in the midst of further heavy snow)

we were able to relax and enjoy the lovely white stuff because..................

Snow + excited children + lovely big cousins

= LOTS OF FUN

And if you asked the Little Lockets what the best part of Christmas was it would definitely be the toboganning (with presents coming a very close second!)

And with my brand new, perfectly designed for me, even if I did have to chop the top 3 inches off to make them fit my fat legs, button wellies

even I was persuaded to go toboganning!

Totally mad fun - but I drew the line at going down THIS slope

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-23T10:12:00.002Z

Santa and Rudolph Locket would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas - and so would I!

Hope you receive lots of crafty Christmas presents and have a really wonderful time!!!

Lucy xxxx

Rainbows in the snow

2009-12-20T12:51:00.004Z

It may be snowing nearly everywhere in the country at the moment - and we certainly have a good amount here - but last week was ALL about
rainbows!

I was very excited when my parcel from Trashy's Rainbow Swap arrived - especially when I discovered it was from my wonderful friend Est of My Cuppa Charms!

I love, love, LOVE everything Est makes - her creations are always so cute and happy - and I'm lucky enough to already own quite a few gifts from my lovely, generous friend. My mini-quilt makes me smile every morning!

And look at all the new goodies I have received:

the most gorgeous mini rainbow pot, friendship bracelet and embroidered button

a beautiful rose-sachet inside the prettiest cover ever! I love those fabrics!

and the teeny-tiniest needlecase with rainbow pages!

(I've borrowed Est's photos because mine were really rubbish)

Est also sent cute stickers, a little clip and a lovely Christmas decoration!

I'm so delighted with all my presents - thank you so much Est - I'm so lucky to have you as one of my special friends!

An embarassment to my family

2009-12-05T20:15:00.006Z

Ok,

So I've always been a bit of an embarassment to my family......................

................but in Dot's eyes, at least, I managed to excel myself last weekend.

And the weird thing is that I didn't see anything odd in it at all.

In fact, even with retrospect, I would still do exactly the same thing.

Am I alone in this?

Would you have behaved differently?

Is it a "crafter" thing?

Or a "blogger" thing?

Or is it just a "Lucy Locket having no idea of how to behave" kind of thing?

So, what did I do?

Well, last Saturday, having received a tip-off (via Ravelry and Periwinkle) that one of our local wool shops were selling off Regia Galaxy sock yarn for £1.20 a ball, Dot, Daisy and I popped to said l-w-s to have a looksie.

And there it was.

Perfectly lovely sock wool

for only £1.20.

Bargain-Schmargin.

(Especially as I was one of the unlucky knitters who pounced on the "superwash" bargain sock wool from LIDL only to discover that it wasn't superwash at all)

Anyway.....................................................................

.......................as we were leaving the shop another lady entered.

A few steps down the pavement Dot suddenly said:

"Oh! You know that lady that just went into the shop? That's my English teacher Mrs M!"

So here is the point where normal mothers would have just said

"that's nice dear" and carried on walking to the car.

So why, oh why am I not one of those "normal mothers"?

Because my response was to say "Oh! Right! Let's go and say hello!"

Dot protested.

A lot.

But was duly dragged back into the shop.................................

............where I found said lady teacher (looking at the Regia wool no less) and promptly introduced myself (and made Dot say hello too).

Apparently this is NOT what mother's of 12 year old daughters are meant to do.

Even if it turns out that the teacher is a member of Ravelry and actually reads this blog

But it is TOTALLY what a Lucy Locket type mother does

so, I'm sorry Dot, but you are stuck with me!

And Mrs M - it was lovely to meet you - and fortunately I think Dot has forgiven me! And thank you for the tip off about the new Regia at Kemps! I hope we get to meet up again soon.

But I really am curious..................................

what would you have done in the same circumstances?

It was a wool shop after all.....................I probably wouldn't have done the same thing in the local supermarket..........................would I???????

Poorly knitting

2009-11-26T16:22:00.005Z

Being poorly and spending all my time in my cosy corner has definitely increased my woolly-productivity

During the recent London adventure we went to Loop - such a fabulous shop - and I bought some Malabrigo Silky Merino.....

I'm now totally in love with this wool and just want more and more - it is gorgeous!

And I really love the Baktus scarf and pretty-ified Toast mittens that it became.

It was extravagant - but not too bad when you think of what you could pay for a lovely soft scarf and mittens, and definitely not bad when you think about how much I enjoyed every minute of knitting it.

I've also managed to finish another sock (the orange one)

and had to photograph it very quickly, along with another I found in my knitting basket, because my feet were FREEZING and I was desperate to put them on! I have spent the last week ONLY wearing handknit socks - they are so cosy and lovely - I just need to knit lots more!

I even managed to dig out my ripple blanket, sew in all the ends (thousands) and add a couple of rows.

It's going to stay on the sofa now as it is big enough to be useful and now the ends are tidied up I can just add a row whenever I feel like it.

Finally, although I haven't been feeling well enough to play on the sewing machine, I have been looking at my Christmas quilt and need your advice.....

It is small enough to benefit from a border so

a) do you think it should have one or not?

and if so should it be

b) the red?

or

c) the turquoise?

What do you reckon?

Lucy x

Bleurgh

2009-11-24T11:01:00.002Z

Sorry for the lack of posts lately

but this is where I have been spending most of my time

my cozy, poorly corner of the sofa.

Hopefully normally blogging service will resume soon.

Locket xxx

Presents and a special day

2009-11-05T17:30:00.002Z

So I promised to show you the lovely goodies from Monda

My main present was this gorgeous Monda original stitched picture specially designed for my pink sewing room.

(but go here to see Monda's photo of it - my photo doesn't do it justice)

Monda also included some of her gorgeous cards that I have been coveting for ages

and one of her fabulous Christmas trees!

Thank you so much Monda - I love everything and you have really spoilt me!

And I was inspired by Monda to make this

for Mr Locket for our 15th Wedding Anniversary today!

I had planned to stitch on top too but I think the piece of card is too big to get under the machine - I still like it as it is, and most importantly, so does Mr Locket!

Happy Anniversary Jonathan - you are the best!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx