getting it on with Mr Hook...

it's hard to believe that just two weeks has passed since i caved and went running to my yarn stash. i think that's what happens when you spend most days in your pyjamas, time passes in a different way.

today however i am dressed and trying to find my way out from under the 'cloud of sadness' that has engulfed me since my folks left.

last night i stayed up late finishing my latest collaboration with Mr Hook, i'm so proud of my achievements with him. i know perhaps one shouldn't blow one's own trumpet but i can't help it. to have made such items... items that i never would have dreamed possible a few years back due to a crocheting inability, makes me stand here before you and 'boast a little'.

so please forgive my boasting ways, just for today...

the granny circle squares i showed you on monday

have now become a little cushion.

a friend for my other cushion

over christmas i took Yvonne's pattern for the granny circle squares and tweaked it, making a garland for the lounge...

a new year needs a new garland i feel

and then there is the matter of a stool, a very faithful stool that has been good to me over the years despite being flat packed on arrival.

well this little stool began to make noises to me as i passed by, little sobs of despair.

on closer inspection it became apparent that my little stool was feeling most left out in the cold. for my little stool had noted Ingrid's wood & wool stools beside her, clothed in their glorious crocheted coats.

i said to my little stool,

"little stool do not worry, for i have mastered skills of crocheting way beyond my wildest dreams and i know i can help you"

with that thought and a bottle of cider, i proceeded to crochet a circle.

in my reckless abandonment, being two sheets to the wind and remembering my 'risk taking ways' for 2010, i continued going round and around. when at last i felt my circle was as good as it was going to get i stopped.

did despair descend upon me when i noted it's flaring wavy corners, dearest readers?

why no it did not,

did i hang my head and weep into my dressing gown, dearest readers?

why no i did not,

i just reached for a length of yarn, weaved it through the edge of my dubious circle and gathered it up.

in short i produced a crocheted shower cap for my little stool.

my little stool tells me it is far happier and glorious

whilst

my little brain is telling me i need to crochet with cider in hand more often

and there she feels, ends her days of moping, tomorrow the sun will come out ~ Tif

18...

the day after christmas our #1 turned 18

and so the shed received a quick dressing down of 'gleeful festive' pretties.

my mum and i hung up bunting that i bought in from the yard and quickly put through Mrs W. Machine... we found a left over packet of paper lanterns from my 40th birthday (oh so long ago)

even the 'whatnot gleeful' tree became a 'whatnot' birthday tree complete with vintage wallpapered numbers

i was tres brave all day and was only caught once hugging her very very tightly with tears in my eyes, begging her never to leave. i think in the current circumstances, when your first born becomes an official adult it is allowable to have one moment of 'break down'.

i do believe she enjoyed her day and we even got a rare 'shot' of us together... she mentioned that it was not perhaps the best shot of her, saying her hair wasn't behaving and her 'stance' a little dubious. i said "not my problem dearie, i'm looking okay in this picture and you have youth on your side, we are going with this one"

she is busy painting the laundry room and fretting at the enormity of the task she has taken on whilst still in pyjamas ~ Tif

twenty ten...

my folks have come and gone,

my kids are back in school,

my man is away at his desk

and my mouse is playing up...

not the mousey that lived in my studio, for he hasn't been in touch since taking a long car journey last winter to new and exciting surroundings.

no, this would be the cyber mousey that lives on my desk.

the cyber mousey that kindly allows me to click on my screen daily with ease.

the cyber mousey i take for granted until he is feeling unwell, then i note there is nothing more frustrating then an unwell cyber mousey.

short of throwing sick cyber mousey across the room i am at a loss of what to do.

i've clicked umpteen times, cursed umpteen more and even tried a bit of 'dissecting' of the batteries but nothing seems to be aiding my cyber mouse.

i'm wondering if a band aid would help, perhaps one with a pretty unicorn on it, i know we have some lurking in my wholly inadequate 'emergency' cupboard...

perhaps my cyber mousey is purposefully protesting at it's lack of adornment, for most things in Mossy Shed are adorned in some way.

i'm thinking a pretty band aid may well do the trick...

in the meantime, to bring my blood down from boiling point let us focus on lovely things like New Year's Eve... i am hoping that for all of you it was a most splendid time of year.

for moi and my clan, New Year's Eve was most interesting indeed.

here's how it went...

i awoke, donned my dressing gown and went out to the back fridge to find the remains of the turkey and all it's bits, i placed the biggest pot i could find upon my stove top, made a mammoth amount of stock and proceeded to make turkey soup.

eight hours later of filling the shed with smells reminiscent of my childhood we sat down to dinner...

as you can imagine in the eight hours prior to dinner i was subjected to a stream of verbalness from my dear children that i cannot repeat for i fear you may be aghast at the horrors that came forth from the mouths of such young people. the only thing i can tell you is our #2 said never had she been so glad to be a vegetarian than this day, and then promptly shut herself in the furthest room from the kitchen claiming there was no escaping the retched smell of dead animal...

after our lovely meal, our #1 and #2 went out very quickly, leaving me alone with my man and our #3 and #4 to watch a movie.

by 9:30 i wanted to go to bed, but was told this was terribly 'unparty like' by all and so was forced to stay up to 12... to pass the time, Mr Hook and i whipped up a storm with my yarn stash of the utmost kind.

at 12 we watched the fireworks on tv and then endured another half hour of listening to the weather man tell us a warm front was in the picture for this winter and as if that wasn't exciting enough we had lots of bird's eye views of traffic jams around Seattle.

i remarked to my man that surely we could come up with something better to do on New Year's Eve next year.

he said, yes we should go to a party...

i replied i was thinking more like going to bed extra early with my yarn and Mr Hook.

he then told me i really should perhaps try to make 2010 the year i venture out a little more and take a few risks.

the next day i took note of what my man had said, and when our #2 needed a ride home from her friends, i made no hesitation in leaving the shed in the middle of the afternoon, dressed in my pyjamas with no undies on...

now if that is being risque then i don't know what is

she is wishing you some 'risk taking' of your own in twenty ten ~ Tif