Sunday 1 December 2013

It's been a long time!

In a fight between 2 of your children, who will come off the worse for wear do you think? I'll tell you who - the laptop! Which was unceremoniously dropped on its head. Consequently we have been without a computer for the last couple of weeks. The children have all gone without electrical entertainment of all kinds for the time it has taken to repair the laptop, which has been interesting to say the least, but finally, thanks to a very clever and helpful friend, we are back online! Most importantly, the children can do their homework again but equally important - I can blog again! And order the Tesco shopping to be delivered, but there's no need to talk about that.....

So now I need to catch up with myself. As it so happens, I have been suffering the perils of tonsillitis for almost the same amount of time as the computer has been broken so I'm ashamed to say that I feel I have done very little crafting. But it is such a hectic time of year, am I really surprised? What I may lack in crafting, I have made up for in Christmas planning so I can report that I have written all of my cards and wrapped all of the presents so that's something. I've also made it through son  number 1's 12th birthday, the celebrations for which included the most gorgeous chocolate cake I've ever tasted, courtesy of Auntie Sarah.



Since my last post, I've also finished the shawl I was making for a friends Granny. Apparently, when you reach the dizzy age of 99, you don't have to wait till Christmas to get your presents, so she is already in receipt of her gift and I'm assured that she loves the colour and is thoroughly warmed by it.



 I just knitted garter stitch, increasing 1 stitch at either end of the row until it was big enough. It was a beautiful colour yarn that has striped well. Since I am hopeless at crochet my mum very kindly crocheted around the edge to tidy it up a little.


What do you think? I realise it's not at all technical, but very effective none the less.

I'm sure I have much more to report but I think that will do for now! I will enjoy catching up with Handmade Monday - I have been reading blogs but I've been unable to comment - so join me there if you can.

Love Natalie

9 comments:

  1. I think that sometimes it's good to be without the things we are used to, hopefully it makes us appreciate those things more. Love the shawl, I agree in not waiting until the big day for getting the most out of a lovely warm shawl.

    Jan x

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  2. It's amazing how much we think our life will lose if we are without laptops, mobile phones, etc but we managed before and survived. Great though they are they do stop us doing lots of other things such as talking to each other. The shawl is lovely and just the right time of year for it. Hope you have a good week.

    Jill, Christmas Pie Crafts

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  3. I'd hate to be without my laptop- although I have only had it a couple of years the thought of going upstairs to the PC like I used to do is way too much effort! The shawl is beautiful and very useful now it's getting colder - lovely pressie!

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  4. Glad to hear you are back online and recovering from the dreaded lurgy! That cake looks scrummy! I'm sure its v good for sore throats too :)

    Your shawl is beautiful, the stripes in the yarn are so effective and it looks really inviting and cosy, i'm sure your friends Granny is very grateful for it in this cold weather! x

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  5. Wow, that shawl must have taken ages. I'm sure your friend's granny loves it. The shades if blue build up such a nice texture. X

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  6. The shawl looks lovely. Warm but not at all heavy. Well done, I'm sure she loves it.

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  7. I love the shawl. Sometime things don't have to be complicated to be great. That cakes does look rather splendid.

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  8. Writing all your cards and wrapping all your presents is much more than 'something'! I've done absolutely 'nothing'.
    Gorgeous shawl - something like that would be great for wrapping around my shoulders when I'm reading in bed.
    Teresa x

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  9. I hadn't realised you were back with us. Yeah !!!!! Hope the computer and the tonsils are feeling much better....

    The birthday boy's cake looks YUMMY. You'll have to post the recipe as I'm always on the look out for new chocolate cakes to try.

    'Granny's' shawl is gorgeous. My Nana was like 'Granny'. When it came to Christmas and birthdays she would always open her presents straight away, no matter how early she got them. Her reasoning was 'God may not spare me another day and I don't want to go to Heaven missing out on the presents....' xx

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