I truly cannot believe that it has been a year since our beautiful daughter Lucy was born. All day, I’ve been wondering what I was doing last year at that time – and I have to say that once we got out of the operating theatre (I had an emergency caesarian at 9 am) the rest of the day is quite a blur – mostly involving sleep, I think… Anyway, here she is:

Happy First Birthday, sweet girl. We love you so much!

(Oh, and yes, I know – fruit flies like a banana. And the post-cake sugar high?? Well, she’s never sounded like a monkey before!! )

For those of you who know our church, St James, Finchampstead, you may also know that we’ve been working on raising £500,000 for a conservation project for the last few years. And we’ve done it! As of the end of July, the church was closed and the conservation work that has badly needed to be done to our wonderful old building (which is almost 1000 years old, in parts) has been started. And one of the churchwardens has been taking pictures every day, which have now been uploaded to Flickr so you can see what’s been going on.

North Chapel - Ceiling Removal

Here’s view that hasn’t been seen since about the 17th century, when the north aisle  of the church was built! You can see photos of the work here, week by week.

‘Mummy, read me a story!’

Want Kitty….

Sheesh! I was going to do this yesterday, too! Not enough hours in the day once your baby starts crawling, I guess…

‘No, YOU’RE too cute!!’

Well, I’ve got quite a lot done this week. I decided to join a stash-busting group on Ravelry to encourage me to get rid of some (most) (all) my stashed yarn that was sitting about doing nothing. I know I don’t have a huge stash compared to some (*cough* Becky! *cough*) but it’s a space issue – smaller space, bigger problem!

And in order to get rid of some of the stuff that I’ve crocheted up already, I decided that whatever I make that isn’t for Christmas presents must go to charity. Combined with discovering a great pattern for a triangular scarf that can be as big as however much yarn you have, I got going. These two:

have gone to Seasalt for their Knit to Save the Bees charity drive. As my grandfather kept bees on our farm when I was growing up and the honey was AMAZING, I’m a big fan o’ the bee. Besides the whole if-they-die-out-so-will-we thing…

Another charity our church supports at Christmas is Operation Christmas Child. While I probably won’t be able to do full shoeboxes this year, some woolie additions might be welcome in others. This is the first of a few that will be going there:

Add to the fact that suddenly it’s a lot cooler outside, and I’ll probably be able to do more stash-busting by making a few things for myself. But so far, quite a productive few weeks!

Check out lots more fiber-y goodness on Alpaca Farm Girl’s blog – including a spider-silk tapestry! No, really!

Because I keep missing Wednesdays, people…

‘Hmmm, what shall I destroy next??’

Golden leaf quivers -

the frost-tipped breeze reaches

towards the coming snow

OK, this does have a lot to do with the fact that I had three balls of the same purple yarn. And that it’s very chunky and works up quickly. And with my current obsession with different Tunisian crochet stitches. But I’ve done another two scarflettes!

Tunisian Knit Stitch Scarflette

This one is made with Tunisian knit stitch, which looks like stockinette stitch but isn’t, trust me. (I love the buttons too!) And this one -

Purple Purled Scarflette

is done with Tunisian purl stitch. And with the lovely chunky yarn, both of them worked up quickly – such a satisfying afternoon! Best yet, all are available on Etsy!

I seem to be working with it a lot recently. And looking in my stash, I found some lovely soft chunky yarn perfect to make one of these!

What a quick project – big wool + big hook = satisfaction! Now available on Etsy!