Happy Birthday Cameron!!!
Lots of Love from
Auntie Gwen, Uncle James
and Esmé
x x x
Esmé's birthday card for Cameron
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Happy Birthday Cameron!!!!
Happy Birthday Cameron!!!
Lots of Love from
Auntie Gwen, Uncle James
and Esmé
x x x
Esmé's birthday card for Cameron
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Labour of Love...
From when I first fell pregnant with Esmé, I have wanted to make something for her to keep. I couldn't knit, I have no obvious and useful skills, what could I make? I really couldn't think of anything, but it still bugged me I wanted to make her something. Over 6 months ago I started on her blanket...
...and I crocheted it!!! This time last year I could not crochet, I wouldn't even have known which end of a crochet hook was which! Around Christmas time last year, I saw lovely crocheted flower pins, for bags and jackets in DCA. They cost a small fortune and I was sure I could have a stab at making something similar. After all, the other women in the family seem to be able to use metal sticks to produce something wonderful out of yarn. And this was when I enlisted the Phyllis to help me.
Before Esmé was even born, Phyllis had made her a beautiful crocheted shawl, and we used it all the time. I loved it and marvelled at someone being able to produce something so lovely. It never crossed my mind that I could learn to crochet. However, after seeing the flowers I decided to ask Phyllis to help me and early this year, maybe 8 months ago, she started to teach me to crochet, may I add here that she is a wonderful tutor!
I diligently practised my squares and circles and at some point along the way, I decided that it would be a great idea to crochet Esmé a blanket. I eventually found the perfect wool, courtesy of Angels and Elephants, who have an Ebay online store. They buy in Shetland wool and dye it themselves. In fact they ended up dying a few batches especially for me, due to my complete inability to judge how much wool I would need! Thank you Kellie x
Of course, me being me, I couldn't find a pattern that was exactly what I wanted. In my wisdom I decided that, as a newbie hooker, the best thing to do would be to improvise on a pattern in one of Nicky's crocheting books and then make the rest up as I went along! As a result the blanket is the combination of five different patterns, with a little bit of Gwen for good measure!!!
Six months down the line and the blanket is finally finished. I am truly proud of my efforts and very grateful to James for his patience and support, to Kellie for keeping on dying more wool for me, to Phyllis for teaching me how to hook and for keeping me right, to those of you who have endured the blanket traumas and of course to Esmé for being so patient!
...and I crocheted it!!! This time last year I could not crochet, I wouldn't even have known which end of a crochet hook was which! Around Christmas time last year, I saw lovely crocheted flower pins, for bags and jackets in DCA. They cost a small fortune and I was sure I could have a stab at making something similar. After all, the other women in the family seem to be able to use metal sticks to produce something wonderful out of yarn. And this was when I enlisted the Phyllis to help me.
Before Esmé was even born, Phyllis had made her a beautiful crocheted shawl, and we used it all the time. I loved it and marvelled at someone being able to produce something so lovely. It never crossed my mind that I could learn to crochet. However, after seeing the flowers I decided to ask Phyllis to help me and early this year, maybe 8 months ago, she started to teach me to crochet, may I add here that she is a wonderful tutor!
I diligently practised my squares and circles and at some point along the way, I decided that it would be a great idea to crochet Esmé a blanket. I eventually found the perfect wool, courtesy of Angels and Elephants, who have an Ebay online store. They buy in Shetland wool and dye it themselves. In fact they ended up dying a few batches especially for me, due to my complete inability to judge how much wool I would need! Thank you Kellie x
Of course, me being me, I couldn't find a pattern that was exactly what I wanted. In my wisdom I decided that, as a newbie hooker, the best thing to do would be to improvise on a pattern in one of Nicky's crocheting books and then make the rest up as I went along! As a result the blanket is the combination of five different patterns, with a little bit of Gwen for good measure!!!
Six months down the line and the blanket is finally finished. I am truly proud of my efforts and very grateful to James for his patience and support, to Kellie for keeping on dying more wool for me, to Phyllis for teaching me how to hook and for keeping me right, to those of you who have endured the blanket traumas and of course to Esmé for being so patient!
...I truly am a happy hooker!
Saturday, 4 October 2008
Jambo Lizzy and Ruth
The holidays are here, the term has flown by. James is still in shock to find himself at the end of his first term at school. I don't think that James or I can quite believe that Esmé has completed her first term at school nursery. The fact that she will be going to school next summer really seems to becoming a reality! She has had a ball, Esmé's favourite things at nursery are gym and show and tell. She actually asked me this morning how many sleeps it was till nursery starts again!!!!
I do enjoy my job, but I have to say that the last weeks of a school term always seem a little stressful, as the kids start to get impatient for the end of term. This term has been entirely different. As most of you are aware Websters is linked with Litein High School, in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Earlier in the year one of the geographers, Richard came for a visit as part of the Global Reciprocal Visit Scheme. For the past 2 weeks we have had Lizzy, an English teacher and Ruth, a History and RME teacher visiting.
They are both fantastic ladies and it has been a wonderful experience having them in school. They
have been rushed off their feet visiting classes and groups both within the school and local community. The Home Economics dept. hosted a coffee morning in aid of the link. Which was very successful. Esmé was very excited about going and getting to meet Lizzy and Ruth. The three of them really seemed to hit it off!
I have been involved with the Kenyan link since the start, although mostly as an interested onloooker, Mike has been the driving force within the school. I always believed in the link and felt it would be an enriching experience. We have begun to amend our syllabus to include a study of Kenya, this is part of an enriched task and runs as part of a faculty wide project, working alongside History and RME. I know that Lizzy and Ruth have been working on curriculum development too. We also have a number of pupils who now have Kenyan penpals.
The link has however, bought so much with it, other than curriculum development and greater awareness and knowledge of another country. It is difficult to describe, but suddenly Kenya doesn't seem like a distant land. And I count myself lucky to have had the opportunity to meet some truly wonderful people and dedicated teachers to boot!
I hope that Lizzy and Ruth have lovely last few days in Scotland and have a little time to chill out before returning home.
Happy tattie holidays!
I do enjoy my job, but I have to say that the last weeks of a school term always seem a little stressful, as the kids start to get impatient for the end of term. This term has been entirely different. As most of you are aware Websters is linked with Litein High School, in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Earlier in the year one of the geographers, Richard came for a visit as part of the Global Reciprocal Visit Scheme. For the past 2 weeks we have had Lizzy, an English teacher and Ruth, a History and RME teacher visiting.
They are both fantastic ladies and it has been a wonderful experience having them in school. They
have been rushed off their feet visiting classes and groups both within the school and local community. The Home Economics dept. hosted a coffee morning in aid of the link. Which was very successful. Esmé was very excited about going and getting to meet Lizzy and Ruth. The three of them really seemed to hit it off!I have been involved with the Kenyan link since the start, although mostly as an interested onloooker, Mike has been the driving force within the school. I always believed in the link and felt it would be an enriching experience. We have begun to amend our syllabus to include a study of Kenya, this is part of an enriched task and runs as part of a faculty wide project, working alongside History and RME. I know that Lizzy and Ruth have been working on curriculum development too. We also have a number of pupils who now have Kenyan penpals.
The link has however, bought so much with it, other than curriculum development and greater awareness and knowledge of another country. It is difficult to describe, but suddenly Kenya doesn't seem like a distant land. And I count myself lucky to have had the opportunity to meet some truly wonderful people and dedicated teachers to boot!
I hope that Lizzy and Ruth have lovely last few days in Scotland and have a little time to chill out before returning home.
Happy tattie holidays!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
