Kitchen makeover started

The weather has been awful recently and the mood in our household, as we are counting down until my other half is made redundant, is pretty grim.  Constant job hunting, calculating finances etc is pretty urghhh.  So trying to stick with the attitude of "must go on/we won't be beaten" I started looking at my kitchen walls as you do.   Hhhhhm shall I decorate the kitchen hmmmmm.

We have lived in this house for 13 months now and the kitchen is RED not our choice.  And whilst we have got used to it it would never be our choice of colour.  The red is OK during the summer and on sunny days but when its dark and cold  (most of the time) you feel like you need the lights on in there all the time.

So yes I have started and it is going to take some time as I have a little helper.  Today I managed to sand the skirting boards.  Don't expect a finished post soon. 

  

More shabby than chic

A present from my sister arrived at our house last Saturday.  Described by sister J as a vintage/retro little table with stools to match.  Hhhhm yes it is a table and it has stools but I think maybe it needs a bit of tarting up first. 

 

Black formica drop leaf table with two matching stools

 

 

Love these little pegs that secure the seat in place so at least I can recover them easily

 

It is pretty sound for its age, it needs new hinges for the drop leaves and a bit of glue on some of the joints on the stools.

 

Not sure what to do with it. 

I am tempted to paint it all and recover the stool seats. 

Or I could just paint the formica top and leave the legs and the stool legs as varnished. 

Or I could take the top off and find a new top for it out of just plain wood. 

 

So many possibilities ............. the fire oh no sorry I won't burn it

 

My sister sent me a photo of a similar table (use your imagination) she had seen at a display at a garden centre.  Not sure mine could look like that!

 

Bye for now

Tiny squares crochet cushion

I've had this idea for a cushion cover in my head for ages and I just haven't gotten around to it (in fact this post was started in October).  What with all the house stuff and knitting etc the days just don't have enough hours in them but last week (in October) I started and just made a few test squares until I was happy with the size and off I went.  This is my inspiration

I used a 4mm hook as I think it works well when using DK yarn.  And I simply did chain 4 and join to form a loop and then working out of the centre do four half treble's down each side with chain 1 spaces for the corners.  I am joining in the corners as i go along which is a bit fiddly but saves a lot of time.  I started this in October and have put it on hold for a while whilst I do some knitting so I thought I would show progress so far in the vain hope that it spares me on to finish it.

 

Anyway must go as it is bedtime hour in our house.  Tonight I will be attempting to pull back half a sleeve on this cardy arghhh!!! wish me luck.  Bye for now x

Provence Baby Cardigan Finished

I started this cardigan last November and I got on with it really quickly and I was on course for it to be sent to Father Christmas for little L but then I started the front panels.  Urgh  .... it was a simple enough pattern but I just kept going wrong.  And I am rubbish at taking work back (I can never get the stitches back on and the right way round) so each time I just had to pull it all back and start again.  So as with many of my projects it got put to the side whilst I got on with other new projects.

I picked it up in January and having established that it would be huge on her there seemed no rush so again it sat on the shelf unloved.  Until last night, I finished it finally.

I haven't blocked it yet (not sure if I will bother) and I'm pretty happy.  I love the moss stitch ribbing and the simple garter stitch edging to the collar.  If I did it again I would probably do the button band in the same size needle as the body and just pick up stitches evenly rather than a set number because the button bands are too pinched.  Also it is pretty big for an 18 month size ??  It will fit her one day

I am currently knitting this cardigan for me but without the stripes!  Bye for now