Nanoo's Makery

Anyone care to guess the big news in my life right now...? Yep, I'm going to be a GRANDMOTHER later this year - I am over the moon and just so excited - not least because a whole new world of crafting has opened up before me!  As you can see I've jumped right on the grandchildren devotion train. By popular demand I shall be known as Nanoo, which I think is kinda cool as it reminds me of Mork and Mindy which I used to watch a very long time ago, when my firstborn was a only a few months old.  I'm so enjoying getting back to crafting, after a year that was All About The Dog. We got an Aussie Shepherd pup 9 months ago, she's a bit of a handful and ever so time consuming - but things are quietening down a bit now that she's a year old, and I did manage a few crafty moments along the way.

That's our pup, star of this year's homemade Christmas cards. She's getting the hang of snoozing outside my craft room door while I stitch and sew - it's really the only room of the house she's not allowed into, as I just can't trust myself not to drop pins! She's only stolen my knitting from the living room sofa once, and from my reaction I don't think she'll be doing that again anytime soon.  As she took up so much of my life last year, I'll include just a couple of pics below.  Quite a cutie really, isn't she?

And while I may grumble while pulling on my snow boots and layering up for yet ANOTHER dog walk, the sunshine / rain / snow / ice / wind and the gorgeous, soul stirring countryside all around us make me thankful to be alive, healthy, safe and loved. So I guess I have something to thank the little rascal for after all. 

I made a list

Oh summer, where did you go? Ah yes, that was those happy months filled with sunshine and friends and family visiting from the UK - busy, busy busy, and beautiful.  So much fun, many happy hours in the garden, another fabulous wedding and a few snatched hours in my craft room.  I was feeling like I had been slacking off on the creative side and hadn't really made very much, but now I've made a list: Mother of the Bride Hat No.2 for Daughter No.1's wedding (No.1 hat for Daughter No.2 was last February), cable knit gloves and stripey socks for me, curtains and blinds for the house, curtains for the Potting Shed, a bib for an absoloutely darling baby, and my personal favourite, a ScareCrow. Oh, and some dinky little seed packets, which won't win any design prizes but at least I finally found a good use for the butterfly stamp I bought in Amsterdam many moons ago.  So after making that list and digging out the photos, I'm feeling quite pleased with myself and don't feel quite so daunted by the long list of projects I have lined up for the winter. Looking forward to some cosy hours in my craft room, and in the kitchen too - we went vegan this summer (feeling SO good about that!) and I have a stack of new recipes to try.  In the meantime, I'll be making the most of every drop of Autumn sunshine that remains - I'm almost enjoying raking up the leaves this year, even though there are a gazillion of them every day, as I have the time to pace myself, and the view is just gorgeous.

Time really does fly when having (lots of) fun

Prompted today by a dear friend who said "are you going to carry on with your blog now that you really have something to write about?" (I'm hoping she didn't mean that I didn't have anything worth writing about before...), here I am marvelling at how 4 months can fly by and life change so much in such a short time.  To summarise: I turned 60 in November, retired from office life, and moved to Canada.  After a flurry of unpacking and our first ever childless Christmas (quiet and a bit strange, but helped by lovely friends on this side of the ocean) I quickly settled into my new and very relaxed routine, spending some considerable time wandering around with a vacant grin on my face, revelling in my good fortune - but also cooked, stripped paint and dug what felt like several tons of snow.  My new crafty corner is up and running, fabric (soooo much fabric) stashed away, and I've even managed a spot of knitting for Daughter No. 2: my first ever pair of gloves, first ever anything with 4 double pointed needles, first ever fair-isle type pattern.  I am hooked - quite a revelation to me that gloves, even fancy patterned ones, are so much quicker to complete than jumpers - who knew?!  Even better, as they don't use much yarn, I treated myself to some really nice wool.  I think this is definitely my kind of knitting - next up is a pair of socks and another pair of gloves, both for me.  Somewhere, I have a whole book of pretty sock patterns. And then there's that fabric stash... 2017 is gonna be a craft-fest around here.  Lots of visitors booked in for Nova Scotian holidays, 2 acres of land to whip into shape and our lovely house to beautify - very happy days ahead!

The Homestead

Crafty Corner

Foxy!

Knitting the weeks away

Seems the year has flown by in a flurry of knitting needles, everything else having taken a back seat to sorting, packing and downsizing our Cardiff home in readiness for the move to Nova Scotia - one way tickets booked for December 1st!  Ridiculously excited and can't wait to purchase a new sewing machine and get back to crafting.  Although I have a rather a lot of curtains to make first, not my favourite pastime but I have a stash of rather lovely fabric and no irritating necessity to spend 8+ hours a day in an office. Bliss!  Anyway, here's a cosy little jumper I knitted from this pattern for Daughter No. 1. Made a few mistakes as usual, but I quite like the finished article.  Currently trying to finish a cardigan for my Mum, which am desperate to get done before we move - not sure I'm going to make it but am sure gonna try.  See you on the other side (of the Atlantic) folks!

Le Voyageur

And here it is - Voyageur Hat version 1!  I think he wears it rather well, don't you?  Perfect for future canoe adventures through Keji. Or keeping his ears warm through those Nova Scotian winters. But I think he was expecting something a little more dramatic, so I'm now furiously knitting version 2 with an extra row between decreases to make a longer pointy bit (now finished - see 2nd pic!) There's not too many patterns out there for Voyageur hats, but this one did the job and was dead easy (once I had unravelled the mysteries of 'SSK' - thank heavens for the internet) and pretty quick to knit up.  I wonder if there's any other Nova Scotians out there who'd like one...  it's a family tradition now for everything I make now: 'You know what you could do with those?'  'What?'  'Sell 'em at the Farmers' Market!'

Quick knits

After several months of frantic activity to complete The Cardigan in time for Christmas, it's nice to chill out with a bit of chunky wool and big fat needles and whip up a cosy scarf - very satisfying. Also pictured are the knits I kicked off with back in the spring, one of which I tried to turn into a cushion with a velvet back; nice idea but due to my slapdash method it didn't turn out too well. It's now awaiting a big fat cushion to shove inside which I'm hoping will go some way towards hiding the wobbly stitching around the edge. Next on my list: a red woolly voyageur hat for my lovely husband - he promises me he'll wear it.

Finished!

Many moons ago when my eldest daughter was about 7 years old, I started making a cable knit cardigan for her. I made the fatal error of not getting anywhere near enough yarn when I started, and it took me so long to do that by the time I was half done the yarn was out of production and the cardigan was never completed. So I thought now that I am knitting again I would have another go, and after many happy hours of knitting, here is a brand new and rather cost cardi, albeit with several minor technical errors. And I have 2 balls of yarn left over! Happily for me, daughter (now in her 30s) decided it's not quite her thing now, so this one's mine and together we're planning another project for her.