Angel Jem's City Cottage

I had a whole afternoon in Manchester with my beautiful daughter. The Christmas Markets are on,  and Sarah's never been. We had a good time, not least because there was a goodly amount of stopping for refreshment. Sarah's happy as long as there's a bookshop on the itinerary, and I was warmed by gluhwein and a pint of Kronenberg. How tired were we? Sarah slept on the way home, just after saying she'd had a brilliant day, and could we go again next year! My new friend.... Yes, I have what it takes!!! My final Chase from the beginning of the year is in the new book!!! Prize fund was actually £60,000 between 3. I have had such a good year after being on TV and radio. Being named in a book is the icing on the cake! I had a mint tea and a portuguese custard tart as my afternoon treat. The French macarons caught our eyes... and several came home with us! I did promise I wouldn't post a picture.... but I expect I forgot. Hi Sarah! You are too bea...

Stylecraft's CAL this year, designed by Jane Crowfoot, is called Frida's Flowers. It's a lovely, colour-rich, flower-heavy throw based on the clothes and colours of Frida Kahlo, the mexican artist. Have you seen it?  I was lucky enough to touch and see the original at a crochet workshop at Black Sheep Wools in April. You can read about my day here . It is gorgeous, and so loaded with colour; saturated is the right word. And I did buy the yarn pack with the best of intentions, but life (or guinea pigs) got in the way and the yarn lies, alone and bereft, at the foot of my bed. Don't worry, I have plans. But, having been to one workshop and enjoyed it; like a one-day crochet retreat, almost, the times of silence interspersed with conversation and questions was so relaxing; I wanted to go again and booked as soon as I was home. Yesterday's workshop was called Frida's Flowers Motif Workshop , with the aim being to start and get guidance on a flow...

Yesterday we went for a rare family day out. We are buried deep in revision and pain at school at the moment, so grabbing a glorious sunny day and escaping seemed like a good idea. We decided (ok, I decided) that we would go and look at a city I have often gone past but never into. We went to Lancaster; if you travel north on the M6 you very often pass the University, but it's not a place I remember going to. We didn't see that much yesterday, either, as we had plans for the afternoon. We did go up to the castle, which was a prison for many years. I couldn't resist getting the lads to stand under the sign! And the guy at the gate in the photo above is a prison guard... really! The Pendle witch trials were held here, and other famous trials. There is a castle tour, but we were on a mission and didn't feel like it yesterday. Fortunately Peter's football team play in Lancaster during the season, so I am on a promise. WE'd gone specially to see the ...

On Saturday I went to Black Sheep Wools for a workshop. It was run by Jane Crowfoot, whose latest CAL started last week. I feel very lucky to live a bare half hour from BSW, and to be able to get up at 9 and still be there by 10 for a workshop. There were 12 of us, all gathered around the table and keen to start making a bag. The project was called the Lily Pond Bag and Jane designed it to use up all the bits and pieces left over from the Lily Pond blanket CAL last year. It looks divine; And the workshop was set up to allow for a degree of individuality. I love a degree of individuality. We got to choose colours and order, and everyone who attended got the pattern as devised by Jane. It was only 6 hours but you can get a lot done in 6 hours as well as eating a LOT of sandwiches and cakes. The furtherest participant had come from Northumberland, but there were mostly local people there. And there wasn't a lot of talking; the patterns are deceptively fiendish an...

No, neither do I. The last few weeks have been hectic. Good hectic, nice hectic, hectic for good reasons, but I don't do endless movement. I am a child of the current, a duck circling lazily, rather than a swooping eagle always on the go and hunting out the best. Hell, if I could get somebody else to throw my food at me from the edge of my life's lake I would do. Last week was Yarndale. Yes, I loved it, yes I took some photos but not as much as I thought I would. There was altogether too much to see to take the shots and, besides which, my daughter gets embarrassed at me always having a camera in hand. And even more importantly, it's harder to stroke the yarn with a camera in hand. Regardless, I had a good time, and a wonderful weekend away with Sarah. We slept over at Keighley Travelodge, and spent Sunday in Leeds. It is good shopping, and a fun place to be on a sunny, mostly warm Sunday afternoon. And this week I was patiently waiting for Tuesday ...

I really need to introduce you to my latest hooky love, before it gets finished and I end up not telling you the back story. Let me show you what I'm on about first; World, meet Autumn Ripple Blanket (Autumn for short). You see, I have a granny square with flowers and a black background blanket that I'm desperate to finish for my bedroom, and a list of decorative items I'd like to do for Autumn and Christmas, so I sat down last week to make an Autumn Inspirations board on Pinterest (like you do) and made this; https://www.pinterest.com/angeljem5/autumn-and-fall/ and I loved the colours and the feelings it aroused in me. Colour-wise I am a warm autumn, but very often misbehave and don't wear them (long reason; won't say now) but I do love them, and the whole Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness bit, so the board keeps filling up with pure autumnal inspiration. Until this one hits my eye. From The Glamorous Housewife's site . And the colours are be...

We lived in a different house. I had a 2 1/2 year old toddler. I had fish and chips for tea. I read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for pain relief. And at 10.30pm this little scrawny baby was born. He's a lot bigger and a lot hairier than he was then, but still cute. And today we celebrated his birthday. With a homemade card; A homemade cake; Plenty of presents (mostly computer based) And an hour locked in a game room in Liverpool. It was really good fun. I need to blog about it, but that will have to wait until I have time. And I could wax lyrical about how proud of him I am, because I am, or how loving he is when he still snuggles up for a kiss on the top of his head, although now he looms in and bends down for his kiss rather than stretching up for a hug, but I can imagine him  making vomiting noises, or rolling his eyes at me and saying things like "Mum, how could you let me down!" So I won't. I'll just repeat, quietly,...