Socks Giveaway Draw

You thought I'd forgotten about the socks, didn't you? We had the three draws on Saturday last but I am only getting round to letting you know about it now.

It goes without saying that we had to be sustained for three draws by coffee and scone. We headed to our favourite coffee shop in Banbridge; the Greenbean.

Just looking at the photo is making me hungry and wishing I was back there!

The first draw was for the small socks with the strawberry red toes and heels.

The names were put in a plastic cup - there weren't many for the small socks - and the husband picked out a piece of paper.

Oh look! Jackie of Button Tree Crafts has won the small socks.

Now for the medium socks with the mid brown heels and toes.

There were more names in this category, as you would expect. You can see the husband is taking this really seriously and hasn't even started his coffee.

And the winner of the medium socks is Suzy of Rustic Vintage Country.

That leaves the large socks; the ones with the lime green heels and toes.

The names were put in the plastic cup and one drawn out.

Amy of Love Made My Home has won the large socks.

Just in case you missed what socks I'm talking about then look here.

Congratulations to the three winners. I'll get contact details from you as soon as I can. I really hope you like your socks and enjoy wearing them.

Here are all the socks and all the names once again.

I have a confession to make. Once the draw had been made I felt so sorry that I couldn't let everyone who had entered have a pair!

All the best for now. I've finished a blanket and as soon as I can get photos I'll let you see it. The weather is so changeable here but we're still making our way into Spring. There are lots of lovely flowers appearing all over the garden and I really must get out there and take some photos.

As always, I've enjoyed all your comments so please keep leaving them.

Simply Crochet-ed Socks Giveaway

Hello again. How are you all keeping? I hope you are all well. Thank you for your great comments that I have really enjoyed reading. I'd also like to welcome a few more followers.

Remember I crocheted the socks from Simply Crochet issue 26? I loved making them and I have loved wearing them. I made a pair for my sister too but that still hadn't got the sock making bug out of my system. Who could I crochet socks for? Who else would want a pair? Ah! I could crochet some socks for a giveaway. And that is what I did. I had some yarn left over from my own socks but I needed more. Not a problem as I just needed to visit my lovely local yarn shop. The problem was resisting buying lots of other yarn too!

Anyway, I set to crocheting three pairs of socks, one in each of the sizes given in the pattern.They are all done using the same colours but in different combinations. I tried to work out a way of knowing the size by the colour of the heels and toes. This is what I came up with:

• Strawberry red - small
• Mid brown - medium
• Lime green - large

Do you see what I did? S for strawberry and S for small. M for mid and M for medium (I know - not great but couldn't think of anything else!). L for lime and L for large. The yarn is roughly 50% wool and 50% acrylic. Most of the colours are Jarol Heritage and the rest are Stylecarft Luxury.

Would you like to see all the socks? Well here you are.

Small

Medium

Large

And here they are all together. A triumvirate of Simply Crochet-ed pairs of socks.

Now I mentioned a giveaway, didn't I? If you would like to win a pair of the socks then please leave a comment stating the size you'd like to win. Make sure you also leave a way for me to contact you should you be a winner. The names will be put in a hat and a winner drawn. Actually there will be three hats; a small socks hat, a medium socks hat and a large socks hat. So that means there will be three winners.

Here they are again in all their colourfulness.

By the way, here are the approximate measurements in case you aren't sure what size you would need. This is the length of the foot from heel to toe though they are quite stretchy.

• Small              8.5" or 21cm
• Medium          9"    or 22.5cm
• Large             9.5" or 24cm

The draw will be on Saturday the 28th of February 2015 so get commenting.

The Wild Atlantic Way

Thank you all for the very lovely, encouraging comments you have been leaving. I'm really pleased that so many of you like the way my coat is looking so far. I can't wait to get it finished but it is definitely a project that requires my full attention and therefore doesn't get worked on as often as I would like. A big welcome to some more new followers too. I hope you will continue to enjoy this little blog.

Are you wondering about the title of this post? Well, the husband and I recently headed off for a two night (good deal) break in a hotel near Sligo. And Sligo is on the coast of Ireland known as The Wild Atlantic Way.

This was what greeted us on the morning we were to leave. We were worried that we wouldn't be able to go at all but were determined to give it a go. The husband was driving so that made it a lot easier for me! I worked away at my blanket to try and take my mind off the awful conditions. Thankfully, once we had reached the main roads, driving wasn't too bad. The closer we got to Sligo the less snow there was to contend with.

The hotel we were staying in is between Sligo and Rosses Point so, before checking in, we drove out towards Rosses Point to see what it is like. Wild Atlantic could not be a more apt description. The wind was howling, making the waves crash against the shore. We parked in a car park overlooking the beach (well, that's what it said on the sign!) and watched, mesmerised by the force of the wind; it was making the car rock so I didn't even get out to take any photos; they're all taken from inside the car.

There's something I don't understand. The waves look very feeble in these photos! Maybe I just missed the worst of them.

There wasn't much snow apart from the little there was on the higher ground.

We retraced our journey back to the hotel and checked in. This was our room.

The bed was huge! That's my Country Living magazines left out for me to read. I managed to finish December's issue. I'm really behind with my reading.

Our main objective for this wee break was to chill out. Relax. Unwind. Do as little as possible. So we made our way to the rather excellent leisure facilities and availed of the pool, sauna and steam room. These were probably the best I've ever used in any hotel.

The stormy weather was getting worse. The wind was blowing the rain horizontally. There was even lightning. We were so glad that our deal included free dinner in the hotel! For starters, the husband had Assiette of Claire Island Salmon and Crayfish Tails ... 

... and I had Spiced Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup. Both were delectable.

Usually when we eat out, the husband and I don't pick the same main course. On this occasion, though, we both chose the Smoked Rack & Shoulder of Ballinasloe Lamb.

We were both very impressed with this dish. Here's how it is described on the menu: Heather and turf smoked rack of lamb paired with polenta and herb crusted pressed lamb shoulder, smoked garlic and potato puree, minted lamb jus and a sheep dip whiskey jelly. The smoked rack of lamb really tasted of heather and turf. Totally amazing. The only bit neither of us liked was the sheep dip whiskey jelly!

The most important part of any meal is the dessert. Well, isn't it? My choice was calorie free* coconut panna cotta served with caramelised pineapple, lime syrup and spiced biscuit crumb. It was exquisite.

The husband had White Chocolate and Raspberry Mousse. As you can see, he couldn't even wait long enough for me to take a picture before tucking in.

We wrapped it all up with a coffee and then went to do a spot more relaxing. The husband loves the pool so he went for another swim. I was happy enough to sit in the viewing area and crochet. Still listening to the wind rattling anything it was possible to rattle. At one point the power went off, leaving us all in darkness for a short time until the generator kicked in. 

The next day wasn't quite as stormy but it was bitterly cold. We spent some time in Sligo town, finishing with coffee in a Costa Coffee shop. Then we went for a bit of a scenic drive round the coast, stopping to take a few photos. The scenery is spectacular.

Rather than driving about all afternoon we went back to the hotel for more relaxing at the hotel spa followed by another lovely meal (not free this time). Of course I brought way too much yarn with me to do some crocheting. I managed to make a pair of fingerless gloves and another pair of the Simply Crochet socks. No pictures to prove it as they've already been given away.

Bye for now. Hopefully I'll have some more crafty progress to show you next time. I must apologise for never seeming to be able to keep up with all your lovely blogs. There never is enough time to read and comment on all your posts. But I'm trying.

* you guessed it - wishful thinking on my part.

Snowy Days

Welcome back; it's lovely to have you visiting again. When I tried to do this post a few days ago, I couldn't load my photos because of a server error. I've no idea what caused it or how to fix it. Thankfully I have a new iMac, just set up today, and I'm able to load my photos without any problem.

On Friday last the husband was off for the day; I'm always off on Fridays. We were going to take the trailer and get loaded up with wood blocks but we woke to a white world. We decided that discretion was the better part of valour and didn't try taking the car out with the trailer attached.

We leave plenty of food for the wild birds and they really needed it. The feeders are next to our beehives.

 I couldn't resist taking some photos as it looked really lovely.

 All of a sudden the snow started falling again. It was beautiful to watch though it made everything look like the world was in black and white instead of colour.

The poor wee birds. They still had to come looking for food even though it was snowing.

These two daffodils are the only two in the garden that are blooming!

Now it just so happens that on Thursday last week (the day before it snowed), I saw a pattern for crocheted socks in the Simply Crochet magazine. And, I saw where Daisy had actually crocheted said socks. In fact, she has since crocheted another pair for her mother. Well, when I saw the snow I knew what I simply had to do; crochet a pair of cosy socks for myself. I couldn't start right away as we braved the elements and went out for coffee. It was actually Friday evening before I could finally get out some yarn, my hooks and the pattern and get started. I thought it would be a good idea to work the two socks together. So make the toe for the first sock, make the toe for the second sock, work the first stripe of the first sock, work the first stripe of the second sock and so on. Things went really well until I had done the number of rows stated in the pattern before I was supposed to turn the heel. I have long, narrow feet which necessitated me having to work an extra five rows before the foot section was long enough! That held me back!! I crocheted like someone possessed as I really wanted to get them finished before going to bed. Anyway, I turned the heel on both socks and crocheted the number of rows that were supposed to be completed before the rib top. Again this was too short for me and I needed an extra three rows. Too late though for Friday night and I had to leave them to finish on Saturday.

The snow was still about on Saturday as there were some more snow showers overnight. It was a beautiful day so, after being out in the morning, I spent the afternoon in the kitchen. I made more blackcurrant cordial and a batch of cranberry sauce. We had some with Sunday lunch and it was delicious.

Then I also baked apple and blackberry tart using fruit from our garden. This is the first tart ...

... and this is the second.

Side by side!

These were also delicious even though I say so myself!

What about my socks? I got them finished on Saturday evening and took some photos on Sunday morning.

The socks are very cosy and I just love looking at them. They make me laugh every time I see them. I'm hoping you'll let me know what you think of them.

I'm just so excited to be able to get back to my blogging with this new iMac. It's taking a bit of getting used to but I'm picking it up pretty quickly.

Something else exciting happened. I won a giveaway! And my prize arrived today. It is a beautiful pink rabbit that Suzy very kindly sent me. You can see the rabbit here but I will also be taking photos of it and letting you see how lovely it is.

That's all for now. Thank you for all your comments and a welcome to new followers. I hope you are managing to keep warm wherever you are and hopefully not too warm.