My Creative Space.

What could be better than a little dolly to match your blanket ?

Maybe a little dolphin to match your blanket.

I decided our baby corner needed something new and colourful. These little blankets are just the right size for tucking little toes in, all nice and cosy in the car seat. And since each one has it's own matching toy they make the perfect travel set.

For once I can honestly say that I didn't go out and buy any more yarn this week. The benefits of keeping even the tiniest bits of yarn have certainly paid off and my secret stash ( the one we don't admit to ) is looking a lot more respectable.

Now I will just have to put together some other colour combinations and make some more baby travel sets.

I'm off to visit some creative spaces now. Why not come along HERE

My Creative Space

I've been a busy little beaver in my creative space this week.

I love visiting 'Our Creative Spaces' on a Thursday to see what  other crafty people are doing around the world. Click HERE to join in.

It looks like I've made a bit of a woolly club sandwich here, when really I have made nine lovely knitted and crocheted scrarfs and shawls.

Okay.. so it's summer in Scotland and even though the weather has been terrible this week, it's not really the season to be buying new scarfs. I'm calling this 'forward planning' since last winter I spent November and December crocheting hats and scarfs like a mad woman just to keep up with demand.

Scottish Summer................

Does this look like summer to you ? Streams of rain water running down the road and the kind of puddles that van drivers just love to drive through at speed. There's nothing quite like an accidental splashing from a white van and a big puddle.

Strangely enough, some of my happiest childhood memories involve going out play in shorts, gagoule and Jesus sandals.

Maybe we were just easily pleased in the "olden days".  When it wasn't raining, and when the sun was shining, we used to spend hours sitting at the side of the road bursting tar bubbles. It was a quiet street with very few cars passing by which meant that in between splashing in puddles and bursting tar bubbles, we had plenty of time to make up words from the car number plates. Bonus points for the longest word of course.

Sadly, my children won't play anymore..

Meanwhile, across the road at the church hall the anuual Kirk Sale is taking place.

Just closed for the afternoon which is why there are no bargain hunters to be seen here. The people of Alyth are very generous, donating unwanted stuff every year. And the bargain hunters of Alyth just love it.

The sale is open all week from 10 till 4pm, then again from 6 till 8pm.

Who knows what the final total will be but I'm pretty sure that last years figures are going to be beaten.

I heard yesterday that the total on the first day was £2900. Pretty impressive for a small town with a population of around 2500, and that was just on the one day.

I wonder if they have any brollies...

My Creative Space

My Creative Space today was ever so slightly hi-jacked at lunch time when a text message reminded me of a deadline I had forgotten about.

The simple question "Is your bear ready for the Teddy Bear Trail ?" lead to the one word answer "oops"

I've mentioned a few times about our various window competitions here in Alyth.

The teady bear trail is slightly different in that there is no prize for any shop keepers. The idea is that by having a Teddy Bear theme in all our windows over the summer will encourage people to take a walk around town, looking in windows and answering the questions on an entry form along the way. The hope of course is that people will become more aware of what is available in local shops and will therefore be more supportive to local businesses.

This years teddies will all have different flowers which have to be identified.

The long answer to the question was that my flower was ready but Teddy ( who I had decided, perhaps a little rashly, to knit ) only had one arm, his head was in the bag with his ears and his body was only half stuffed. Poor Teddy.

So this afternoon, instead of making jewellery, I was knitting, stuffing and sewing him all together.

Before he got down to work, posing in the window with a fetching button-hole flower, he had a wee shot on the rocking horse.

To be honest, he is a wee bit chubby, and his head is a wee bit wobbly but he is quite a cutie.

I hope people will recognise what kind of flower he is wearing because for once in my life I actually followed a pattern for this one.

Feel free to answer that one but unless you are prepared to walk round Alyth on a rainy summer afternoon there's no prize for getting it right.

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Short attention span ??

One Pattern

Three crochet hooks

Three very different yarns

Three unfinished cowl / scarfy creations.

I don't think calling them 'scowls' would be a very good idea.

I like to think that I have been product testing, or working on design development, or simply multi-tasking.

Some husbands (who shall remain nameless) simply ask if maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to finish one project before starting another one ?

Maybe a special scowl of my own is the answer to that question.

Just a technicality.............

I'm feeling a wee bit peeved and a big bit annoyed.

Blogger won't let me post any comments on the blogs that I have been reading for the last week or so.

If anyone is feeling neglected by me then please don't be. I'm still reading and enjoying my favourite blogs and hopefully I will be able to get commenting again very soon.

Fiona x 

I wish I was an Aran Cardigan...

He really doesn't look very happy,does he, sitting in the corner with his arms folded.

Maybe I should go back to the start of the story and explain the title.

France '98, to many people was all about football. There was a World Cup or European Cup, or some kind of big football tournament in France that year. But that meant nothing to the Dorchester Family. For us, France '98 was going to be our first foreign holiday as a family and we were really looking forward to it.

To go back even further.. when I was a wee girl, my sister, mum and I always seemed to get a new Aran Cardigan for our holidays. Walks around our campsite after dinner were always preceded by the instruction "don't forget your aran cardigan, it'll be chilly later"

So I decided that for our first camping holiday in France I would be needing and aran cardigan. I started knitting in plenty of time, or so I thought, but it wasn't finished by the time we set off on our big adventure. Needless to say, I somehow survived a holiday without an aran cardigan.

France '98 was so much fun that we soon arranged France '99 and a couple of weeks before we set off I got my knitting out and managed another sleeve. Yet again time got the better of me and another holiday without an aran cardigan passed by. I could go on and on and on about the inch that was knitted in 2000 just before we moved house.. the time I thought about knitting the second sleeve but couldn't find the pattern... the time I found the pattern and finally, the time I admitted I had completely lost interest in the cardigan and didn't even like the pattern any more.

And now, this morning, the last of the aran wool was used to finish off this little chap.

He was allowed to climb on the back of my chair.

Had a wee shot on the rocking horse.

And yet he still looks a wee bit sad. Dreaming, perhaps, about what it would have been like to be an Aran Cardigan.

Was it all too much , do you think, for him to see me start work on a new cardigan this afternoon ?

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