Simply Seasonal.....14th of January

Hello Lovelies,

Thank you so much for all your kind comments on my first "Simply Seasonal" post last week. I do hope you continue to enjoy these weekly updates as we go through the year. I'm feeling thankful to have this structure on my blog at the moment, it makes me really take notice of the simple things that are such a joy if you just give them your attention for a short while. Here are the things that have made me smile this second week of the new year.

1 ♥ A walk in the woods  It's such a gentle and uplifting way to soak in the seasonal atmosphere. 

The bare trees are truly beautiful, especially when we are blessed with a little winter sunshine.

And when it's frosty fallen leaves take on a whole new appearance.

The country lane was looking pretty here.

and a little further around my circuit I was delighted to see that the Which Hazel was already in blossom.

 Even in the depths of winter mother nature is busy isn't she.

2 ♥ Line dried washing. On Sunday I managed to dry our bedding outside. Woo Hoo. That doesn't happen very often in January.

3 ♥ A Thoughtful Delivery. On one of my work days my mum in law sent us a HUGE meat and potato pie for our evening meal. When you have been out of the house for 12 hours it's a real treat to come home to home made fare as delicious as this was. Thank you "Nanna"

4 ♥ Getting Out. The plus side of working long days is  getting time at home during the week. I get chance for short walks to put more food out for Robin.

And to notice the first tiny Snowdrops beginning to emerge.

More flowers...yay. Spring me be a way off but some brave blooms are showing their pretty faces.

 This was a rather grey walk and the countryside was looking very gloomy.

but the lack of foliage and sunshine makes you notice the silhouettes.

and what colour there is really stands out.

5 ♥ Home Comforts.  When it's cold outside it's so comforting to return to a warm house, a cup of tea and a simple treat.

I do try to eat my five a day too. Salads don't always appeal to me in winter, but roasted vegetables certainly do.

6♥ Indoor Flowers. Also appearing in my kitchen at this time of year is my windowsill garden. These inexpensive supermarket blooms are a simple thing that I really appreciate during the short winter days.

Is there any more cheerful a flower than the sunny daffodil. They are such a happy sight to come home to at the end of the day.

7 ♥ Remembering How to Knit. This was the first knitting I have attempted in about  20 years...oh, except for a couple of sessions helping Brownies learn, and that was still a decade ago now. I was amazed how well my latest foray into knitting went.

Well I did have help from lots of kind people in my computer who reminded me how to cast on, and what stocking stitch is. You Tube videos are great aren't they.

I have never been a confident knitter and I was tense. Childhood memories of dropping stitches, or ending up with more stitches nearly every row kept popping in my head. But somehow neither of those things happened. I'm sure my work is far from perfect but I was delighted with how neat it looked to my eyes.

 I'm ridiculously proud of this little baby hat. I love how smooth and soft it feels compared to my crochet hats. It actually came up really tiny so I will make more in a bigger size. I know it's not the right colour for the "traffic light system" I was so inspired by, but I just picked up the nearest colour to hand to experiment, then kept going.
It's so small I'm sure it would only be useful to really premature babies so I'm thinking the colour coding will not be needed in that situation.

I used THIS pattern. Gosh, that's 4 things I've made already this year. I wonder if this productive start is good sign :0)

I hope you lovelies have a good week 

Jacquie x

Nostalgic Knitting

Hello Lovelies,

Back in August we ( Mr BM ) had to empty the loft to allow some nice men to add more insulation.

Along with the Christmas decorations and camping gear we found lots of forgotten things like the poetry book mentioned in my previous post and some unfinished craft projects I had forgotten all about :0)

 We also came across a big box of clothing labelled "Newborn ". It must have been there for nearly ten years.

Along with lots of sleep suits and vests were some hand knits..........

These were not made by me ( I can't knit ). These sweet little cardigans were made by my Nanna ( Maternal Grandmother )..........

For my first two children I did not know if they were going to be boys or girls so there are quite a few neutral items.

 By the time I got to number three I decided to find out so this well worn blue cardigan will have been made for him.

Nanna was a very keen knitter for a lot of years and I've posted about her before here.

When  she made this cardigan she will have been Ninety Four years old and sadly was not able to see well enough to carry on knitting  for much longer after this........

 I remember liking the cardigans she made as they were much easier to get on and off a floppy newborn baby than a jumper.

This sweet jumper looks unworn , probably due to this fact..........

I've already kept some of Nanna's best baby knits in the boys memory boxes. So yesterday I finally got round to  donating  these , along with the rest of the box of clothes , to a local Hospice charity shop....

But I'm glad I decided to take a few pictures of them at the last minute.

Special memories of days with tiny babies and Nanna with her clicky needles .

Jacquie x