Phew! Where to start, it's been a very busy few weeks. Well firstly, as promised in my last blog here is a picture of the rabbit I made for my friend's daughter's birthday.
If I'm being completely honest it's not my favourite thing I've made so far. I followed the pattern to the letter, but if I was to do it again I'd make the ears a bit bigger and more floppy and would use different eyes in an attempt to up the cuteness factor. I was up against a bit of a tight deadline on this one (as ever) so didn't have time to order any other eyes, but if I'd of thought about it more clearly at the time I could of embroidered some instead. Ah well, you live and learn.
Hot on the heels of the bunny was my top secret project! A lobster for my husband to be given as part of a gift for our 1 year wedding anniversary. Why a lobster you may ask? Well I figured nothing says love better than a woolen representation of a sea creature. Nah, ok, so there is a bit more of a back story to it than that. We've been together for many years now and although it took us quite a while to get round to getting married (what, come on, an 11 year engagement isn't that long is it!?) we've always said that we are each other lobsters, because we saw on a nature documentary once that lobsters mate for life and walk along the sea floor claw in claw - awww. I even included a reference to being John's lobster in my wedding vows, so it seemed somewhat appropriate.
Here is said lobster:
Knitting this was my first foray into 'knitting in the round' and it was by far my most complicated project to date. I was pretty daunted by the pattern at first, but a quick visit to the font of all knitting knowledge (my Mum) and some kind words of wisdom and encouragement later I gathered together some confidence, knuckled down and got knitting. It was really really fiddly and I made a quite a few mistakes along the way, pincers going in the wrong direction (which I then unpicked and corrected), one eye bigger than the other (which I chose the leave, feeling it added to the charm) but I learnt loads doing it and was really chuffed with the end result. His eyes are not only slightly different sizes, but also a bit wonky, but again I kind of liked that so left them wonky. John seemed to like him and dubbed him 'Larry'. There was some debate about where Larry was to live as John's initial thought was to take Larry to work to sit on his desk. It was an incredibly sweet thought, but working in an office full ofblokes I thought that may well lead to a great deal of mickey taking, so it was ultimately decided Larry could perch atop John's prized possession (his X-Box) instead.
The picture behind the lobster is the other part of the present. It's a vintage map of County Galway, showing Kinvara, the place we spent our wonderful honeymoon. The beautiful tree frame was made by my work colleague and good friend Ken, who is in his spare time a very talented carpenter. The theme of our wedding was trees (hence the tree) and the traditional present for a 1st wedding anniversary is apparently paper (hence the map). Ken was quite nervous embarking on this project, as he hadn't made anything like that before and was worried it might turn out a bit like a GCSE project, but I was blown away when he brought it in for me, it's a really stunning piece of craftsmanship.
This in turn led on to another project, a thank you card for Ken. This was made slightly tricky by the fact that I couldn't tell hubby what I was making a card for, without telling him why I needed to give Ken a thank you card, so I had to make a few cards and say I was just experimenting with ideas to try and cover my tracks. I think I got away with it, but he's wiley that husband of mine so there is a good chance he was a little suspicious. Anywhoo, trees seemed like a good place to take inspiration for the card and this is what I came up with.
Blimey, it was a busy few weeks craft wise, so busy in fact that I needed a holiday, which was lucky cos that was what we were about to get! Our long anticipated long weekend in Whitby was nearly upon us, just 5 tonnes of soil to be moved from the road where it was delivered to the back garden lay between us and a nice relaxing break. Poor John, with just a shovel and a trusty wheelbarrow, oh yeah and a very kind and hardworking dad and plenty of blood, sweat and toil (well mostly sweat and toil) that soil was moved and we were free to hit the road.
We managed to make it through the journey, despite several stops to clean up a vomit covered daughter and only an hour or two driving around the steepest and narrowest streets known to man (dodging the many scooters filling the roads as a mod convention descended on the quaint coastal town along the way) to find where we were staying. It turned out the be a great flat with views from the window up to Whitby Abbey (if you craned your neck through one corner of the kitchen window) and so a weekend of the tastiest fish and chips ever, eaten sat on a rock on the beach, walking up very steep hills, playing hide and seek, lovely anniversary gifts and meals (thanks to John for a gorgeous necklace and scrummy risotto), fantastic birthday presents (more about that at a later date) and visiting aquariums ensued. Intermingled with only a handful of horrific two year old tantrums, whoever thought a weekend away with a toddler was going to be restful.
I must say, Whitby was a really nice place and we even made it up the 199 steps (buggy and all) to the amazing gothic graveyard of the Church and then on into the Abbey.
We also did a trip to the nearby Robin Hood's Bay (wondering along the way how the name came about, it's nowhere near Sherwood Forest!) which is a pretty spectacular place. I managed to snag a few lovely stones from the beach as keepsakes, a bit of a habit of mine and on a brief shopping expedition in Whitby the next day I also picked up a nice ball of green and rust coloured wool. I found it in this amazing wool/antique shop situated in what appeared to be some kind of old banqueting hall or some such, it was pretty weird and wacky shop. I picked the wool up with a purpose in mind as it occured to John and I that Larry the Lobster really ought to have a mate, that being kind of the point about the whole lobster thing and so I think that will be my next project.
As I'm sure you can imagine I am now looking forward to some leisurely crafting, of course our first knitting group and also getting some veg planted in the newly soil filled raised beds in the garden (as it would be a shame to let the hubbies good work go to waste)!
So for now dear friends, I bid you adieu.
