hats, scarves, snakes,thanks, and a VERY scary doll!

Hello Everyone
I hope you have all had a great week, and are looking forward to the weekend as much as I am!
Above is a picture of the sunrise from this mornings walk. It was just beautiful!

One of the problems with having too much space in between blogging is that you have so much that you want to share all at once, and I fear that todays blog will be a wee bit higgledy piggledy, as I say "look what I made here....and here...and here"
So apologies in advance for me excitedly trying to fit everything in.
Speaking of excitement, and I do mean EXCITEMENT!!!!
I won a prize!!!

And not just any prize, but the most beautiful scarf I have seen in ages.
So thanks very much to Meredith at http://mereknits-mereknits.blogspot.com/2011/07/and-winner-is.html
I am so excited! It totally made my week!!

So this morning we are off to a 3 year olds birthday party, and I have made these to give her as part of her present.

Sorry about the shade, its a bit hard to see the scarf- I need to work on my photography skills!!

I was quite pleased with how they turned out- I wasn't too sure about the colours at first, but I think they are quite nice together. I hope she likes them.

This has been a week of making things. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but our washing machine died last week. With a family of five, that is a huuuugge pain. So whilst we have been waiting for firstly the repair man to come out and tell us it's totally knackered, then waiting for the new one to be delivered, our extremely kind and lovely neighbour Judy has let us use her washing machine.
I really wanted to make her something to say thanks, as apart from lending us her washing machine, she is just a great neighbour. She and her late husband were best friends with my grandparents,  from whom I bought this house, so we have known each other for a very long time.
I often see Judy when I am out walking in the morning, she leaves for her morning walk about the time  I come home from mine. And it has been crazy cold lately, so I thought I would make her a nice scarf to keep her warm, and brighten up her walks on these cold winter mornings.

 Here it is in progress

 And the finished product

       
I was inspired to make this from seeing a similar one on one of the lovely blogs I read, however have spent ages trying to find the original one which inspired me, and can't find it. If I do come across it again, I will post it back here.

She really liked it, which made me happy.

In other news, over at one of my favourite blogs Attic24, Lucy made an absolutely amazing adorable snake.
http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2011/06/ssssssssssssssss-ta-dah.html

Her snake is a thing of beauty, and in no way resembles the snake I made!!!
In no way at all!!!!
But daughter#2 just loves it, and the snake has now become best friends with Stinky Toby (sorry to Jamie's husband, who is also called Toby :) )

I think I will definitely try my hand with another snake, perhaps using thicker wool. And taking more time. And not using an old t shirt and a pair of pajama pants for the stuffing!!!

So.......speaking of things that don't turn out exactly the way you had planned or wanted them to.....................................
here is an absolutely terrifying doll I made...........

 She was not meant to be terrifying, oh no!!! She was meant to be sweet and cute. But this is how she turned out. I had wanted to try making a doll for ages, and thought I would try at first with all my odds and ends of wool.
Everyone in my house is scared of her!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and a great week next week!

Almost forgot to say, last Mondays day off to go shopping with daughter#1 was fantastic!! We both got some lovely things. I meant to mention that the shopping trip was because she had gotten so many A's on her report card!! I was very proud of her, especially as she is doing lots of very difficult subjects!!!