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. 

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!'