I’ve been gathering knitting projects like they’re sweets. And now there is now a huge pile of wool in the corner of the living room… sigh. Fortunately they’re pretty colours – so it’s not all bad. This is a cushion cover I’ve been working on – it’s very loosely based on a pattern from Simple Knitting by Erika Knight. This is probably one of the most inspiring books I own at the moment. It’s full of beautiful colours and simple/stylish projects. I had high hopes I would use some of the projects for this years Christmas presents but in truth I can’t seem to stop making things for myself :) OH well… still got a couple of months to go, right?

Colourful etsy finds I’m in love with at the moment. 1. Blue Coffee pot from Luncheonettevintage. 2. Feather Garland by kayeblegvad. 3. Striped messenger bag by ikabags. 4. Wooden necklace by Snugstudio.

I got some beautiful slippers from my Ma while I was adventuring up in Orkney. The patterns and bright colours are beautiful and I can feel some projects brewing as a result. Also I’ve dug out some inspirational etsy finds as a result…

5. Folk Peacock from GinghamLife 6. Table cloth from VintageKeepsakes 7. Cross Stitch throw from Lunaparkfoundry. (All pictures credits go to the sellers)

I’m back from a little adventuring! I went up to Orkney for a few days to visit mum. We had beautiful weather, which was pretty lucky as I hear the winds have set in over the last couple of days. I love that place, the colours there are beautiful and I’ve come away armed with some fresh colour schemes to play with. We arrived at the same time all of the tall ships came to visit. Every day there were events going on in the harbour – little sailing trips, meals and music on boats. Stromness was full of fellow adventurers lapping up the oddities accompanying the Stromness Shopping Week (click the link for answers). We went for a 2 hour trip on the dutch Tall ship called the Wylde Swan. There were musicians on the boat playing sea shanties – mainly about doom, gloom and seasickness. LOVED IT!

On the down side I was lumped with a wisdom tooth nightmare – just what you need on a mini holiday! And ended up being given loads of antibiotics to calm it all down (it looked like I’d been “thwacked” on the jaw by day 8). I’m completely dreading the day I have to have this tooth removed and I’m sorry if I get a bit repetitive on this subject up until that day. Anyway, I hope that explanation helps you to understand why I’ve not been blogging lately – I was a seriously grumpy Amy. I hope I make up for it with this cluster of holiday snaps. Have a lovely day!

Three NEW cotton spools are now in the shop!* Lovely little ornaments ready to hang, each priced at £8. Hope you like!

* They went so quickly! I’ll have some more available soon.

I finished this blanket yesterday. One of those jobs you think will only take a couple of hours to finish but it ends up swallowing the entire day in one gulp. It was worth it even though I did have a very numb bum by the time I stopped.

Also I’ve got some new cotton spools making their way into the shop very very soon. Cat related as requested. (Sorry for the grainy pictures – there’s a massive rain cloud sat on our hill) I’ll let you know as soon as they’ve landed in etsyville. Woop!

Another mini book rant (these are becoming a bit of a habit and I’m quite enjoying them). I’m reading this at the moment (The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber) – it’s really good. Some of you UK folks may have caught the recent TV series they made based on the book. Full respect for Ramola Garai, I think she plays the character Sugar incredibly well. It’s quite gritty, which is to be expected due to the subject matter. To my own embarrassment the day I picked up my copy I was quizzed by an old man on the bus ride home. It went something like this:

Old man: “Oooo you bought yourself a book?”

Me: “Yep” [nervous smile]

Old man: “What’s it about?”

Me: “Um” (it’s about Victorian London’s Ladies of the night, but I didn’t have the courage to admit this so I was as vague as vague can be and said…) “It’s about London-?”

Old man: “Oh, right. What happens then?”

Me: “Err…” (by this point I’m turning an apt shade of crimson and since I have a good 15 minute bus ride ahead of me with this chap I couldn’t help but tell a pork pie… hoping the fib might put him off asking me any more questions) “Shopping?”

Old man: “Riiiight…” (fortunately he went on to tell me all about his reading habits… and I felt far more comfortable discussing that, phew!)

Anyway,  so far I’m only a quarter of the way in but it’s a page turner (and I’m hoping it continues to be during all 894 pages… gulp) I’d love to hear what you think of it if you have read it already.