Ice cream bunting pattern

I made this bunting for a recent summer swap, I liked it so much I made it for myself. 

This is my first time writing out a pattern so hopefully It will be right, if you try it and have any problems please let me know. But it's fairly straightforward. Just remember at the end of each row chain 1 and turn. 

Ice cream cone - beige yarn

Foundation chain 10 + 1, turn

Row 1: 1dc in each st (10) 

Row 2: 1dc in each st (10)

Row 3:dc2tog, 1dc in the next 6st, dc2tog (8)

Row 4: 1dc in each st (8)

Row 5:dc2tog, 1dc in the next 4st, dc2tog (6)

Rows 6-13: 1dc in each st (6)

Row 14: dc2tog, 1dc in the next 2st, dc2tog (4)

Row 15-16: 1dc in each st (4)

Row 17: dc2tog, dc2tog (2)

Row 18: dc2tog (1)r

Fasten off, change colour.

Ice cream -join on yellow, pink or mint green yarn

Row 1: 1dc in each of the 10 st on the top of the cone (as seen in the picture)

Row 2: 2dc in first st, 8dc, 2dc in last st (12)

Row 3: dc2tog, 8dc, dc2tog (10)

Row 4: dc2tog, 6dc, dc2tog (8)

Row 5: dc2tog, 4dc, dc2tog (6)

Row 6: dc2tog, 2dc, dc2tog (4)

Fasten off

 Make 2 more. 

Lollipop - in yellow, pink or green yarn.

This starts from the bottom to the top of the lolly

Foundation chain 10 +1 

Rows 1- 14: 1dc in each st.(10)

Row 15: dc2tog, 6dc, dc2tog (8)

Row 16: dc2tog, 4dc, dc2tog (6)

Row 17: dc2tog, 2dc, dc2tog (4)

Fasten off

Lollipop stick 

Join on the beige yarn to the 5th dc along the straight edge.

Row 1-7: dc 2

Row 8: dc2tog

Fasten off. 

Make one more.

Scalloped chain

Foundation chain 200 +1 

5 tr into 3rd chain from hook, miss 2 st then dc into the next st, * miss 2st , 5tr into the next st, miss 2st then dc into the next . Rep from * to end.

Fasten off.

Sew in all ends, space out the lollipops and ice creams as you wish, I left a gap of 5 of the shell shapes. Then sew the ice cream or lollipop into the middle of the shell as shown on the photo. 

I hope it's right I'll only know if someone else has a go. 

Thanks for reading and if you try it let me know how you get on. 

Abigail xxx

Busy, busy, busy!!

The last few weeks working in a school is always a busy time, but these last weeks have flown and I've been so busy.
I have had three more swaps to do

A family bbq,

Matthew's birthday,

A bouldering class at the climbing hanger, Liverpool

joined a knitting group,

celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary at the Oast House, Manchester

watched Andy Murray win wimbledon! 

Finished the school term in fantastic style with cocktails in Manchester and singing in a kareoke pod in Tiger Tiger.

Spent alot of time bragging about my youngest sister is one of the winners of BAFTA Rocliffe Comedy writers competition which will see part of her comedy script performed with real actors at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival and judged by a panel that includes John Bishop, and she could win a script commision with the BBC!!!
so naturally I've not had as much time to do my blog!

Now I'm off for weeks for the summer holidays so I'm hoping I'll have plenty of time to do more crafts especially some decorations for my home, I've been so busy making things for other people it'll be nice to make some things for myself.
But for now I'm off for a week to Cornwall!!
Bye for now!
Abigail x

St Ives 2013

This holiday to St Ives was going to be different than previous years, this year we were camping, we were only there for a week and we had our beloved Maxi with us!

Here are some of the highlights:

Pasties on the beach,

 

Blas burgers from the Halsetown Inn

 I spent my 33rd birthday at Crantock Bay, were Max had his first trip in a boat and I had a little trip down memory lane when we went to Newquay where I used to go for a holiday when I was little.

.

We spent some days on the dog beach in St.Ives and on the Island, we went on Porthkidney beach, max played lots of ball games, we had a paddle and a swim and Max did some digging!

We went on a walk from our campsite to the knill,

 on to Trencrom Hill

 then on to Mount's Bay, Marazion the walk was 12 miles in total

 

then we went on a open top bus back to st ives

We went to Godrevy point, where we saw a kestrel (I think)

 We saw a couple of seals in the harbour

 we went on a 5 mile coastal walk from Lamorna cove..

 ..to Mousehole and back again.

And after all that we were quite sleepy!

It went way too quickly!

Thanks for reading!

Abigail x

My Instagram life

I sometimes joke with my husband and friends that I'd quite like to live my Instagram life. Its a world were life is pretty, i go to lots of nice places, i craft, i make delicious meals and cakes! It's idyllic!

I am not saying I don't do these thing, I do go to lots of nice places and walks and take pictures of amazing views and pretty things I see, I do like making things and even though I do say so myself I do make delicious meals and cakes!!

But I do make a conscious effort not to put anything that on that would sully my lovely photo feed.

 If I take a picture of somewhere in my house, its sometimes staged, I keep out any clutter, only taking photos of the parts of the house (which is very few) that I am happy with.

When I post pictures of crafts that I do you don't see the constant turmoil of balancing the things I have to do e.g. housework and the things I want to do, how do people do it??  

 It looks to the Instagram follower looking at my photo feed that our house is nice, it seems we live in a lovely area because of the photos that I take of taking the dog for a walk to the country park that's just down at the bottom of our street...sounds beautiful doesn't it....looks beautiful from the photographs, meadows, woods, a stream running through, a wooden bridge, wildlife and birds aplenty.

In real life it is beautiful, but its right next to a council estate (on the other side of the river I might add!!) and the residents who think its a dumping ground and a place to come and enjoy the sun - by all means but then they leave cans and litter lying around and thrown into the stream. It annoys me obviously they like it there because as soon as the sun is out they are there in droves, but they leave their mess as if its not their responsibility to pick it up! It makes me sound like a snob I am a bit I suppose but only because I feel so strongly about it, its a beautiful place which should be enjoyed by all but there are people who just want to spoil that. Anyway rant over.. needless to say I don't have any photos of shopping trolleys or sofas that are dumped in the stream from time to time!

          Not a shopping trolley in sight!!

When I was joking with a friend about this she said " yeah but why would you take a picture of that??, you're not going to show the parts of your life that you hate".

And shes right when I post a picture on Instagram I want people to see me and my life in a good light I don't want them to see the messy, lazy, emotional side of me I want them to see the creative, happy, motivated side of me and that's OK, isn't it?

It is.

And here's why.

Sometimes life can be rubbish, I mean really, really crap, sometimes I  feel so sad and bitter if  I'm being honest of not being 'normal', not having that what others take for granted, the fact we can't have children, the fact that money is a big issue in not carrying on with IVF, the fact that in order to have the last IVF we had unfunded we had to do an egg share which meant that my half my eggs went to someone else and that was because we couldn't afford to pay more.The fact that bad, really horrible people (see Jeremy Kyle.. the show not him although thinking about it maybe him too!) can have not one but bucket loads of children but me and Matthew who would have been A-ma-zing parents can't. The fact that we don't socialise with other people because most people we know, our age, have kids and are busy with them.
 I don't talk about it because people don't talk about things like that and you try to be strong because whats the alternative? You let it consume your life and spoil the things that are good.
I have to remind myself daily to focus on the good in my life and things that I am thankful for Matthew, Max, my family, my house, my job, the time we spend together the things we do and see, so in some way  my  I suppose that's just what I do on Instagram - focus on the good because it makes me feel better.

And its cheaper than therapy.

Thank you for reading xxx

Late May Bank Holiday - Llanberis and Snowdon

It's a bit late but I thought I'd tell you about my bank holiday weekend just gone. We ventured back to Snowdonia but this time we were going to make it up Snowdon at long last! 

Matthew found us a campsite in Llanberis that we could walk to Snowdon from, it was called Mountain  Farm Campsite.

Upsides : big campsite ,it wasn't crowded, beautiful views of the mountains and lakes from the campsite, a few minutes walk from town, walks from campsite up to Snowdon and to Llanberis waterfall, you can look at the farm animals and ducks and chickens wander freely around the campsite.

Downsides: not many flat pitches and ground a bit rocky.

Saturday

We arrived at the campsite and set up camp, we then followed some quite hazy directions to the waterfall off the campsite's website. We eventually found it and it was very impressive.

This is the top of the waterfall

And this is the bottom of it! It was beautiful and we visited late afternoon and the light was fantastic. 

We then walked on to Llanberis and straight to the nearest beer garden for a nice cold cider.

Then back to the campsite for a barbeque!

Sunday

Sunday was another beautiful sunny day for our walk up to Snowdon, this was my first proper hike up a mountain so we decided to go up the Llanberis path, which is longer than some routes but is the easiest path and the most popular. It is 9 miles from the summit and back and there are some quite steep sections, this bit was the hardest, the final push before seeing the summit on the other side. The train runs up alongside it and the views are amazing looking back the way we came and further towards the sea.

The summit is not surprisingly the busiest summit in the UK, down to the fact that you can reach it by train as well as hiking up. Throw into the mix that it was a bank holiday and a lovely day and what you get is a very busy summit! We had to queue up to get to the top, as Snowdon came into view you could see people gathering up at the summit looking like ants on an ant hill. I didn't like it very much up at the summit because it was too busy and the clouds came across for a little bit so you couldn't see the view very well. 

We moved down the mountain a little bit and sat and had a well deserved picnic.

Love this picture, I look like a proper adventurer, Snowdon summit is behind me. I was very pleased with my achievement my first mountain, the highest in England and Wales, 1085 metres above sea level!

Our picnic spot, Max was just checking we didn't drop anything! You may also notice Max's backpack, Max carried his own water and folding bowls the backpack has a handle so that he can be lifted safely over stiles. Max was quite the celebrity known as 'the rucksack dog' 

Walking back was quite hard especially the bit that was hard coming up because it was shingley underfoot and I slipped because it was loose, luckily I fell slowly and didn't hurt myself. 

Back in Llanberis we went to a lovely pub and had a nice big burger and chips in the pub garden and a few ciders. 

We had such a lovely day!

Bank holiday Monday 

Woke up to wind and torrential rain that showed no sign of stopping unfortunately so we had to just pack up in the rain. We looked like drowned rats by the end of it and it sort of put a dampener on things after such a lovely weekend. Oh well! such is life! 

Hope you enjoyed your bank holiday too!

Thank you for reading, 

Abigail x

Craft swap part 2

I could hardly contain my excitement on the swap day, the #colourmeprettyswap had me worried for a bit I had got to the swap day and I still hadn't received my parcel, but it came later on in the day so I was able to open it.

 It was from @_katiekookaburra and here it is :

I got a very large and pretty bag, a cute bird candle and another candle, some lovely nail polish and a nail file, cupcake cases and a very pretty card. I love everything especially the bag which I have filled with my wool stash. The only thing that I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't anything hand made in it. 

And this is what I made/bought for my swap recipient @donna_marie74 : 

I made a pin cushion jar filled with pink, yellow and green buttons and a crochet hook holder, I bought ribbons, fabric tape, 2 note pads and a little pad of stickers, a bag of rosy apples and a sewing kit. I really enjoyed doing it and I was so glad that Donna loved it too, part of the excitement was seeing what she thought of the gifts. 

Today was the birds and flowers swap and I was up at the crack of dawn to open my swap stuff! 

It was off a lovely lady called Beth @crossstitch_gal but she's just changed her Instagram name to @bethslc and here's what I got:

A really nice handmade card, a beautiful photo frame, 3x Cath kidston tissues and washi tape, some lovely pegs and a hanging bird and 2 fantastic cross stitches made by Beth herself, I think we are very alike because all the things that she's got for me are things that I would get for myself. I was so pleased I felt like it was Christmas! 

This is what I sent to my swap recipient Isobel  @isobelcupcakes79: 

I was quite worried about this because my handmade items don't look like much, I made a cross stitch and 4 granny square hearts, I bought a personalised notepad from funkypigeon.com, a little hanging heart and a lovely bird mug and Cadbury's bubble bar. 

Isobel posted the picture saying "what fabulous, thoughtful gifts!" So I was absolutely made up that she liked them.

I am definitely hooked on doing these swaps, its really nice to meet new people and make things with a focus, its such a brilliant atmosphere on the swap days seeing if your gifts have gone down well and seeing what everyone else got.

I have signed up to two more both summer related and hopefully I will get on another swap ran by @kellysmellysharpe who organised the birds and hearts swap when she posts details about it soon, I also maybe organising one with Kate @the_happy_hooker who lives in America so she will coordinate swaps for US swappers and I will do the UK swappers side which will be good if we can sort that out but a bit nerve wracking because neither of us have done it before! 

Thanks for reading! 

Abigail x