Stripy project finished

My stripy project was this cushion.  I rather fancied this colour scheme for a little area where the chair normally sits.  I rippled in stripes until the piece was big enough to go around the cushion pad in one piece, then joined the seams and top to bottom edges.

Macawrongs or Macarights!

I WANT, WANT, WANT TO TRY THESE!!!

 Almond Macarons.

Truly inspiring inspiration for these beauties/works of art can be found here.  After being nosey and  searching the Web for them, I understand that they can become a little bit of an obsession once you embark on making them.  But there certainly lots and lots of glorious examples to live up to. 

I can hear my ground almonds calling me from the kitchen cupboard!

While I wait

for some extra yarn to arrive to complete the red, black and white project .....................I started this to get me through the weekend (even though there is a cupboard FULL of WIP's that need my attention!!)  The stitch although it may look difficult, is actually very, very easy to do.  A tutorial for Diagonal Box stitch can be found here.

New project

This is my new project I started yesterday.

Yarn purchased from PurpleLinda

I think I am in love

I came across this image whilst browsing the net and instantly fell in love, with the colours, ooh the colours, and the design.  It would so not match anything in my home but I think it is lush!  It is on a fab Japanese site with oodles of inspiration and free pattern downloads, once on there just click around the images and so what you can find!  There is also this Japanese yarn site that mails out yarn worldwide!

Check this out too.  Beautiful or what?

I feel another project coming on.

Crafting companion

My little Jess loves to come and have a snuggle when there is a bit of quiet crafting going on.  It's even cosier when it is so cold outside.

(*Notice Rottie dog - top right - also enjoying the delights of underfloor heating!!)

Lemon Drizzle Cake

I know there is always a fresh post about this ubiquitous cake popping up in blogs, so I thought I would add mine to the list

I use this recipe. You can't fault it, follow to the letter and results are perfect every time.  (You might want to add a few extra minutes to the baking depending on your own oven.)

This time I did something I have never tried before. I used my processor.  I am normally a 'chuck it in the bowl, beat it up' gal, but yesterday I decided to throw caution to the wind and see what results I got from this method...................

Well even if I do say so myself, I think it came our perfect (polishes nails on collar) There WAS an end piece but Mr Neet was circling like a hawk after it was baked and whipped it off for quality control purposes - of course!

Corners of my home

I am quite proud of my little home and the bits and pieces collected for it.  I have tried to change things now and again but always revert back to the original design and choices I first made.

Sock love #2

These socks can become very, verrrrry addictive.  There is some real nice pleasure in knitting them and being able to wear them with pride and very real satisfaction.

I don't know anything about the main yarn, it was a thrift shop find but it knits up as 4ply and has some mohair content.  They are beautifully soft and cosy to wear.  I knitted the cuff, heel and toes in some off white 4ply 100% wool yarn to make sure I had enough yarn for the main body.  I am using the Wise Hilda Basic Ribbed Sock pattern at present, it is so easy to follow and there is nothing complicated about it at all for a sock novice.

So now that pair is finished I am onto Sock Love #3

These are going to be for Mr Neet.  I am using Regia Design Line for these, a self-striping yarn.  Hopefully they will be finished for February 14th, just in time for Valentines Day, knitted with love as they say.

I have got one more pair that I have planned and they are going to be my 'scrappy socks', as in, knitted with any bits of 4ply yarn I have that work together.  Then...............................I may just indulge my growing love and splash out on some swishy sock yarn (read 'expensive') and tackle a more challenging pattern, after all there are a gazillion of them out there on t'internet.

On a more serious note........

See this spot?

It turns out it is a skin cancer!  I had the spot for a few months, at the top of my thigh, on the front.  When it first appeared I just thought it was a 'spot' and it would heal itself away.  Well, it didn't and so I got to thinking that maybe, just maybe, it might have been something more insidious and so I tackled it head on.  I made an appointment with my GP to take a look at it and perhaps give me a definitive yes or no or a reason for this 'spot'.  The GP couldn't say and so a hospital referral was made for me.

At the hospital, a dermatologist looked at it and again couldn't say definately what it was.  So a biopsy was booked.
This involves removing some, or, all of the spot.  For my appointment, the whole spot was removed under local anaesthetic and 6 stitches inserted into the cut.  The removed area was then taken for a check under the microscope to ascertain whether it was a skin cancer, and, if so, what type, and if all of it had been removed.


At my follow-up the consultant has advised me that it was a skin cancer, but one of the easiest to treat, if caught early.  They have removed all of the cancer cells associated with the spot and that is the end of that one....... BUT..........I asked him to check my shoulders for some 'sun-spots' I wanted looking at and whilst he did that he found ANOTHER spot/area that he was concerned about!! Eeek!  So whilst I was there a biopsy nurse took a tiny 'punch biopsy' from this area and it is being checked as I type this.  Depending on the result it might have to be removed completely or treated with a special cream.

So readers, please be careful out in that beautiful sun.  Wear a high factor suncream - 30 or above, stay in the shade during the hottest parts of the day and please, please, mummies and daddies - don't let your children get burnt by the sun.  Unfortunately my damage is done and I will have to live with it's effects but I can certainly preach about the dangers now,