We actually had some snow over the weekend, not enough to get excited about but enough to remind me that winter is fast approaching. This time of year I always end up crocheting hats for myself, friends and family so I thought I would share some of the patterns I have been enjoying...

Where are the days going? Sometimes it feels like a blur of work, cooking, homework, classes, washing etc and before I know it a whole week has passed again! I've been working on a few hat orders and any free moments I've had in the evenings have been spent very selfishly crocheting an item for myself.

I really wanted a bright snood and I was so inspired by all the granny square scarves I've been seeing online, especially those from the House of Holland Winter 2011 show, that I thought I'd have a go at making a granny square snood, just for me...

One of the items I've been making for our stall at the Christmas fair are some cute crochet granny square pincushions. They can be made in well under an hour, are simple but look great and would make perfect gift/stocking fillers for any craft lover...

Every summer I give myself a project to do something that I've wanted to do for a while but never seem to find the time for. This summer I was determined to finish off the Summer House by painting & decorating the inside...

I was very lucky to receive a copy of Rachael Oglesby's new book 'Crochet Boutique: 30 simple, stylish hats, bags and accessories' to have a look at. Rachael is a very talented crochet designer and her projects are very current so I was happy to learn that she also has a blog called Softspoken that I'm excited to go and explore. 

Anyway back to the book, although I knew I'd love this book from the cover I find the best way to review a crochet book is to dig straight in and try one of the projects...

We've just returned from our lovely week in Cornwall I'm in the process of sifting through all the photos - over 1000 of them! I didn't spend as much time as I thought I would crocheting, our days were busy and by the time we returned home in the evening we were all pretty shattered...

It's the summer holidays and I'm home with all the children, I don't think I'll get the time to work on my own patterns but I'm quite excited in a way as I have a long list of other peoples patterns that I've been wanting to make for ages now (not to mention two unfinished blankets)

So I started this weekend with a small project that has been at the top of my list since I clapped eyes on it.  A beautiful headscarf/kerchief by Kristen TenDyke...

I've been crocheting hats for the past week but I had time over the weekend to have a play with my yarn and hooks and the result was these sweet food covers.  They provided me with the instant crochet gratification I was after...

I was very happy to receive a copy of Everything Oz: The Wizard Book of Makes and Bakes by Hannah Read-Baldrey and Christine Leech to review. I love the idea of creating craft books around well loved tales and I have often referred to their last book Everything Alice for crafty inspiration so I knew I'd enjoy it.

I was keen to give one of the projects a go straight away and Monday being rainy and grey I set out to find something that Lulu and I could do together and as we happen to have an abundance of hay following Oli's cowboy party the 'No Brainer Scarecrow' seemed like the perfect project...

Hooray Oli has finally turned six - he has been counting down the days to his birthday for what seems like months now! We planned a Cowboy party at home for him and were hoping for sun so that we could play games and eat in the garden but it was not to be, so we cleared out the studio at the bottom of the garden and set to work making bits and pieces to make it feel like a saloon (well our interpretation of one anyway!)...