Make it Monday - Crochet Shawl

 

It's been a few weeks now since I finished this lovely shawl but I kept forgetting to get photos of it to share on here!

 

I'm so pleased with the way it turned out.

 

 

 

I love the way all those shell stitches look together.

 

The pattern is available here for free. I think you might need to register your email address with Lion Brand Yarns to see it properly but perhaps not. I was already registered with them anyway as they have a great resource of free crochet patterns.

 

The pattern was actually for a slightly shorter shawl that would have stopped about half way down the top half of your arms. I wanted to make it much more snuggly and cosy so kept on adding more rows until it seemed a length that I was happy with.

 

I'm glad a did now too. This is a much cosier length. Just right in fact for wrapping round your shoulders for sitting up nursing a baby on a chilly autumn/winter night, don't you think?

 

 

 

Speaking of said baby, I'm not really one for posting weekly bump shots, but since I've had quite a few people asking, I do plan to maybe have an update every few weeks. Up until I was 18 weeks there was no bump to speak of anyway and I was still in my normal jeans. Then, almost overnight it seemed to appear! More of that in my official post, but in my last photo of the lovely shawl there is no mistaking a 21 week baby bump!

 

Since I finished the shawl I've been crocheting granny squares and hexagons. I was trying to work on my giant granny square blanket that I've had on the go for a while now, but it's actually been a bit too hot to sit crocheting a big blanket that covers your legs so I need to get something smaller on the go!

Tweet

Things I'm loving...

 

This week I've been loving all the sunshine.

 

Finally, after a long winter and non existent spring, which really felt like the winter was just dragging on even longer, the last two weeks have been mostly sunny. Even when it hasn't been sunny it has at least been warm.

 

Everyone just seems that bit happier when the sun is shining.

 

Especially when sweet little boys keep bring them daisies and buttercups.

 

 

 

 

Calum and David decided they wanted to try a spot of cricket this week. They found a cricket bat in the shed but no wicket so they had to improvise. Look closely and you will see the wicket made out of three metal poles from a badminton net with a scrubbing brush across the top!

 

 

 

 

 

It's been so lovely to sit crocheting in the sunshine. I tried out a new pattern for some hexagonal granny 'squares' this week.

 

 

 

 

 

Loving watching the littlest man snuggling up with his big best buddy to watch a bit of 'monkey George'. That's Curious George to everyone else. Alasdair loves that cute little monkey. As do I actually! He especially loves it when the man in the yellow hat says, 'be a good little monkey!'

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, loving these handsome boys all dressed up for their end of year prize giving night at Boys' Brigade.

 

 

 

 

 

The lighting in this one isn't so good but I love the way Alasdair is hugging James' leg! And his silly face too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Tweet

This sweet little man.....

 

 

....turned four at the weekend.

 

 

It was a beautiful weekend and so we were able to enjoy his birthday lunch outside.

 

Birthday boys get to choose their favourite meal for their birthday dinner. Alasdair's request? Mashed tatties! He would have anything with mashed tatties every night for dinner if he could. This time we had them with slow cooked ham and veggies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James was keen to decorate the birthday cake and Calum wanted to bake it. I helped Calum a little with the baking and then left James to work his own creativity.

 

 

He had asked Alasdair want he wanted on his cake. The answer was a Captain America shield, just like James' had been. He also wanted Batman on there somewhere.

 

 

James' idea was to put the Captain America shield cake on top of the Batman cake...

 

 

 

...but when Alasdair came through and saw it he said he wanted the two cakes separate.

 

 

 

As you can see, Alasdair was quite happy with the end result!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below are the boys and their cousins, who came round in the evening to help enjoy the cake! Aren't they all a handsome bunch?!

 

 

 

Once the cake was sliced we could all enjoy Calum's creativity on the inside.

 

 

 

Again, here is a little clip to finish with tonight. I don't know why last night's one posted twice so here's hoping that this one behaves itself!

 

 

Tweet

Gala Day Success

On Saturday it was our local Gala Day.

 

Each year the Boys' Brigade takes part in the parade, and each year the Boys' Brigade leaders take their float building quite seriously, starting work on the floats back at Easter time. The hard work pays off as every year for the last 6 years they have won first prize for the best float. (You can see last year's Golden Jubilee themed float here)

 

This year the theme set by the Gala committee was 'Heroes' and so the Boys' Brigade chose to build models of emergency vehicles.

 

The parade is always led by one of the local pipe bands.

 

Second in the parade are the little Gala queens and their attendants, who were pulled along by a rather splendid, and rather clean looking tractor.

 

 

 

The group who win first prize are given the honour of marching next in the parade and so the Boys' Brigade and their emergency vehicles were next.

David was one of the firemen at the front. Their Brigade Captain was dressed as Florence Nightingale.

 

 

 

James and Calum were the two Lifeboatmen.

 

 

 

When the parade had stopped we were able to get some close ups.

 

The lifeboatmen and their authentic looking lifeboat.

 

 

 

The police car.

 

 

 

My fireman standing beside his fire engine, and behind him is the army tank.

 

 

Of course this little man had to have a wee shot inside the lifeboat too!

 

To finish off, here is a wee clip of the front half of the gala parade. You can see those emergency vehicles marching past in all their glory.

 

 

 

Tweet

Hebrides TV Series

The boys have started counting down the weeks until we go home to my parents' house in the Outer Hebrides for a few weeks in the summer holidays.

 

 

I know I've shared lots of photos on here of how beautiful our Hebridean islands are but here is one better.

We have just finished watching a series of documentaries about the wildlife on the Hebrides. The scenery is amazing and we all especially loved the third episode in the series as it was all about the Outer Hebrides. Lots of arial shots of those beautiful white beaches.

 

You can watch the third episode here. I hope it works for those not in the UK!

 

It might give you a glimpse of why we love going home to the island so much. That and seeing family as well, of course!

 

Tweet

Things I'm loving...

Is it just in the UK or do Coca Cola have their 'share a coke with a friend' campaign anywhere else just now?

 

They have 100 of the most popular names in the UK on their bottles and you can check on their website whether your name is there. Mine isn't, but I didn't really expect it to be!

 

It's quite a clever marketing ploy because we would never normally buy Coca Cola but when the boys found their names we bought the bottle!

 

 

There isn't a David but Dave is close enough!

 

 

 

And they have the wrong spelling of Calum too but I was actually surprised that they had it at all.

 

There is no Alasdair though. Or a Kirsteen. I guess we are just a bit more unique :0)

 

 

It has been a better week weather wise this week. Definitely more spring like, although still not as warm as we would like for this time in May.

 

Still, it was nice to get some sunshine.

 

I grabbed 10 minutes peace to eat one of my hidden supply of Magnum Ice Lollies, then after taking the photo noticed the tell tale signs of boys in the background. How many can you spot?!

 

 

Finally, last weekend we watched the newest of the Herbie movies. James and Calum had seen it before but David and Alasdair hadn't. After watching it, Calum dug out his old Herbie car that he had been given for his birthday around the time that film was released and gave it to Alasdair.

 

Alasdair absolutely loved the film and has been playing with Herbie all week. He loves him so much that he has even been taking him to bed with him!

 

Tonight we watched the original Herbie movie, 'The Love Bug', which everyone loved even more. David seemed surprised when I told him that it had been filmed before I was even born!

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

 

Tweet

Wildlife watchers

A few weeks ago the boys and daddy came home from a Sunday afternoon walk with a jam jar containing a little bit of frogspawn.

 

The sand pit was still waiting for some decent weather to let us give it it's annual spring clean, followed by some nice new sand for the summer, and so since it was sitting empty it was decided to fill it with water and turn it into a pond for the frogspawn, until they grow up anyway!

 

The boys kept an eager eye on the eggs and were very excited to see them hatch into tiny tadpoles after about 10 days.

 

The tiny tadpoles are now bigger tadpoles but still have no sign of the little legs growing on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alasdair (3) decided to put that boat in the top left of the 'pond' in for the tadpoles because he thought they might like it. Turns out that they do actually quite like it as we often find them gathering underneath it!

 

 

 

It's funny to see how mesmerised they can all be just watching the tadpoles swim around. James (13) had a friend round today and they both sat with the other boys watching for a while!

 

 

Calum (10) has always been our biggest wildlife/animal fan. Today he decided to start keeping a journal of wildlife he sees throughout the summer.

 

He has divided his journal into three sections: what he sees in our garden; what he sees when we go back to Lewis in the summer; and what he sees anywhere else.

 

He made a start on the garden section today. As well as writing about the tadpoles, he has been keeping an eye on some Blue Tits. In the photo above, if you look at the shed at the back of the photo you can just make out a nesting box on the top left corner. About 6 weeks ago we were in the kitchen when we saw some Blue Tits flying in and out of it. We also noticed one of the birds sitting on top of a tennis ball on the grass. We realised that the tennis ball was burst (thanks to Auntie Anna's dog!) and that the bird was taking bits of the stuffing out and then taking it into the nesting box.

 

The birds are still flying in and out of the box, and although we can't see inside it, Calum has been researching in some of his bird spotting books where he learned that Blue Tits usually lay their eggs in April and May.

 

 

Will keep you posted about whether we see any baby birds!

 

As for the tadpoles, well Alasdair keeps telling people they are going to hop into our house when they turn into frogs!

Tweet

Miscellaneous Monday

Well I can't quite believe a week has flown by since I last posted, but don't you just find that some weeks are like that?

We didn't have anything major on last week, just life really.

 

The boys were able to briefly see my dad as he passed through on his way home from a trip to Korea. I think that's his third time visiting there. My mum wasn't able to go with him this time as my youngest brother is still at school and has exams coming up but they have been quite the globe travellers the last few years with trips to Korea, South Africa and New Zealand to name just a few places!

 

Anyway, Calum collects bank notes and coins and so asked if Shen could bring him back some currency. His eyes lit up when my dad handed him a 3000 Won note. He was then informed that this is actually only equivalent to less than £1! As US dollars are also legal tender in Korea my dad also gave him a $1 note. Calum is quite chuffed with his growing wee collection of notes.

 

My dad has recently joined the blogging world too, so after plugging my husband's blog a few weeks back it's now time to plug my dad's. Especially this week as he has his trip to Korea on in with some video clips of lovely Korean singing on it. You can find his blog here.

 

 

There was more excitement for Calum this week. His (and ours) favourite band, Mànran, released their new album last week and the first 200 people who ordered would receive a signed copy.

 

Well look what was waiting for Calum in the post the other day!

 

Great tunes on it too. We love it!

You can listen to a wee sample of what they sound like on their website here. Go on, a bit of modern Gaelic folky type music. You won't regret it!

 

Ok, we'll that's two rather contrasting sites I've sent you off to tonight. I think that's enough miscellany for one night!

 

Tweet

Finally...

...our first barbecue of the season.

 

Last year we had our first barbecue of the season at the end of March, which to be fair is a little earlier than usual, but normally we kick start the barbecuing sometime in April.

 

Oh well, better late than never.

 

It still wasn't quite warm enough to eat outside, even though the boys (especially Alasdair) were very keen to do so, but for comforts sake we ate indoors. Barbecued food tastes just as good indoors or out!

 

Here is dad's eager helper keeping an eye on the onions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Incidentally, the eager helper was wearing a new football top. He has quite a few football tops but no goalie tops and so he was quite chuffed to get this one today.

 

 

 

Typical of this boy though, it didn't quite stay in its pristine new condition for long! An afternoon playing football soon saw to that.

 

 

Football tops aren't meant to be clean anyway are they, and that's why we have washing machines!

 

And boy did he enjoy his burgers and onions too!

Tweet