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It's time for me to talk about my January book that I chose for # theyearinbooks that I am taking part in. As you can see I chose Donna Tartt's second book that took her ten years to write, (she has written 3 books which have each taken her a decade each to write, amazing!)The Little Friend. I read her first book The Secret History about 15 years ago and found that a real page turner, but in all honesty I forgot about her until about a couple of months ago when I heard her being interviewed on the radio and then on the television about her latest novel The Goldfinch and my fascination with her grew. I love that she is a recluse and rarely allows interviews. I love her sense of dress and style and that she dares to take so long to write her novels. Quite frankly I am a little obsessed with finding out more about her, no I am not quite stalking her!!! So, back to this book, all 576 pages of it were real page turners once again for me. It begins as such: "For the rest o...

It's about time I did a giveaway on my blog, I've been meaning to for a while and bought these 2 small balls of Eric Knight yarn in November last year as I love the colours and and the fact that they are pure British Bluefaced Leicester wool makes them extra special. The book is a stunning homage to stylish ideas and handmade projects by Sarah Moore and I just felt like spoiling you lovelies who come and visit and say hi. If you'd like to enter please become a follower of my blog and leave a comment and your email if you don't have a blog. I will use the random number selector to see who the winner is on Saturday the 1st February. Good luck :o)   Posted with Blogsy

Hi there, how are you all? Thanks for your lovely comments on Frederick Barbosa II he has been enjoying being part of the menagerie of cuddly creatures and pillows on Alice's bed. I have been a rather busy bee this week, working and doing horrid home stuff like sorting out paperwork for the car and insurances etc. I really am not very good at that kind of "grown up stuff" and usually rely on Andy to steer me in the right direction. More like I stick my head in the sand and hope it will go away, but alas it never seems to! So in the spirit of cheering myself up, instead of comfort eating (which is a usual default for me) I have found my comfort in crocheting. Yes, crocheting very simple monotone granny squares from some Stylecraft Special DK I bought last week. My purse is sad this month and I bought this yarn because it's affordable and one of the better acrylic yarns in my opinion, oh and it's easy to wash without shrinkage! So it's been a week of evenings o...

Would you like to meet Frederick Barbosa II? He is our new bunny boy that had his arms, legs, ears and tail sewn on yesterday? He was christened yesterday evening by Alice who is determined that he is a boy and despite me pointing out why I thought he might be a bit more girly, she is determined he is a boy and promptly gave him his name. She has allowed me to call him "Freddy" as a compromise! I must say that he has turned out rather sweet and has already carved a space into our hearts. I crocheted him from some Aran beige wool I had left over from another project and some Aran Noro yarn from my stash. The pattern can be found in the September (2013)issue of Inside Crochet and despite being a bit fiddly to make and sew together, I think he has come together rather well. This fabric was given to me at a street market in Brighton last year from a kind man who saw me admiring it and wondering if it was a Liberty print. Not sure about where the fabric comes from? I stil...

I am so thankful for all your lovely messages about my funny old crochet hanger covers, I was grateful for the light relief they gave me after last weeks crazy busy time at work. It's such an odd time of year January where I feel such ambiguity. One day I am high as a kite thinking of Spring coming and the joys of new life emerging full of inspiration for what the year will bring and then I feel not so joyful, kind of blue and damp and dark where I gain solice in reading and hiding away from the world once I am home. I am also such an anti-social creature, I don't go out much in the winter and tend to hibernate on weekends, trying to recouperate from my working week. I wish I was a bit more energetic, but alas this is just what I am at the moment. I like my own company you see, I am the girl who is sitting on her own in the movies, in a pub reading, in a cafe knitting, in a live gig dancing on my own. It's what refuels me, being on my own. I like thinking. Despite all of ...

These past few days I have been a little grumpy, I think it's that January feeling and just always being tired. I haven't felt inspired to start knitting a new pattern and have been grateful for the smallness of crochet flowers and BBC iplayer catch up of The Bridge I have really enjoyed covering my wooden hangers with left over yarn in my stash, which is looking rather low on the stock front, may need to correct that sometime soon! I initially thought, happy, light, bright, beautiful Spring themed hangers full of the breathe of new life and waking up from the Winter, however my mood won in the end and my moody blues and greys were the first colours I gravitated to. I love blues and greys and despite maybe representing a darker side to me they make me feel very normal and if I say so rather happy and complete. I am pleased that I can accept that each day, depending on my mood my colour palette can change. I try not to think that I have a default colour, but if I was pushed...

I love reading, I never used to as a kid, but then I went to University and despite doing a science degree, I found all my friends in the Arts and English depts. Their influence on me was profound enough to start a little flame deep inside of me and I am eternally grateful to them for this beautiful relationship I have with books and literature. I go through phases when I don't feel inspired to read fiction and can only concentrate on a magazine or newspaper article and then I go through a gluttonous phase of never getting enough of reading fiction. This year I want to make a concerted effort to read more, both fiction and non fiction. I love poetry and children's books too, so there will of course be a place for them as I embark on Laura's great idea of "the year in book s". My first read is Donna Tartt's, The Little Friend which I am loving, it's a bit of a page turner and I am almost stalling on reading it as I don't want it to finish. Does th...

  Dearest friends Now, I know it's not fair for me to say this, but I was pleasantly horrified (can two such emotions exist simultaneously?) when I found these 3 wooden hangers with knitted covers in a local charity shop for �1 on the weekend. What were they thinking with their colour and quality control, was this a seventies attempt at modern-granny style? Whoever knitted them in the past did so in a little bit of a hurry I think and wasn't to concerned about attention to detail. Fair enough, but I have other ideas for these beauties. After cutting the covers off I found this label for 19p, that doesn't make them too old, but definitely old enough for a makeover. Ha ha, Let it begin! See you all soon Maybe with a hanger or two xox   Posted with Blogsy

This weekend we have been mostly an indoors given the blustery wind and high rainfall. We have watched a couple of movies, eaten comfort food and read our books. It was also the perfect time and opportunity for me to fill in important dates in my 2014 Mollie Makes calendar. Looking at all the pretty pictures from the 2013 calendar I was loathe to put it in the recycling bin so I started chopping up some of the little pictures from each month... I thought it might be good for me to set myself monthly rather and annual goals which feel too vague for me and also start to become a reason why I can ignore them until December! I used the little cutout pictures from each month of the year to paste in my lists book and left enough space to add my monthly goals at the beginning of each month. They may not be all my goals, but they are ones that I simply must achieve, some big and more challenging and others smaller and guaranteed to be attained. Andy and I both feel we haven't been making ...