my sunday snapshot

My Sunday Snapshot, a Lovely Model for My Shawl

February 21, 2021 by Anne Sweet 7 Comments

This week I finished a shawl I’d been making. I’ve wanted to crochet a shawl for a long time but some of the patterns seemed incredibly complicated for something that was just basically a triangle of fabric. So I kind of followed a pattern and adjusted it to make it a little easier. In the end I think it was the wool that made the shawl stand out, I’m loving working with wool that changes colour at the moment, it’s so much easier than having to change it yourself and tie in all the loose ends. When finished I needed a model and Boo was more than willing to show it off.

She put it on at an angle and I was so tempted to straighten it up but I resisted.

Nothing to See Here

I was never very good at capturing moments on camera, maybe it’s because I grew up in a non digital age and every photo had to count because you had to wait to have them developed and pay for each one? I keep saying I will take more photos and I’ve bought so many digital cameras which are gathering dust. I know I’m not a photographer, I just don’t have the ‘eye’ to make a photo special. But, I really do need to take more photos. I look back on all the photos I took this week and, well, nothing apart from Boo modelling my shawl. I did take a photo of a pencil drawing I made but I put that directly on Instagram.

It was Graham’s birthday this week, I have no photos of his birthday cards or cake, presents, or even the lovely meal we had. I need to take more photos!!

Next week when I join up with the Sunday Snapshot linky I’m hoping to have tons of photos to choose from 🙂

My Sunday Snapshot

My Sunday Snapshot, Crochet Scarf Gift

January 17, 2021 by Anne Sweet 6 Comments

As you probably know I love to crochet and scarves and blankets are my favourite to make. I recently finished this crochet scarf to gift to my friend. It was for Christmas but as I was unable to see her and her birthday was in January, I sent her the scarf along with some chocolate for her birthday last week. I really hope she likes it as much as I liked making it. I used a lovely blue and green mixed wool and blue tassels.

Crochet Scarf

Blue/multi coloured scarf with blue tassells. — crochet scarf

I really want to make another now to go in my Etsy shop. So far I’m just featuring a few scarves that I have made and a baby blanket, but I will be crocheting like mad now to get some more items in the shop. I’m hoping to do some amigurumi too as that’s quick and easy to make and people love them. I have some pattern ideas too but it’s difficult writing patterns that others can follow. It will give me a purpose, a goal for this year.

Crochet

I mostly feature my crochet on my other blog At Home A Lot, but I have featured a few things I’ve made here too. Including my crochet mandala which I really enjoyed making and will definitely get around to making another soon. And there was my Axolotl which was featured in Simply Crochet magazine. I still have her she’s very cute.

Do you crochet or have any hobbies? Do you have an Etsy shop, let me know in the comments if you do as I feature shops over on At Home A Lot quite frequently, I’m a big Etsy fan and also an affiliate.

Linking up to Rachel for My Sunday Snapshot, click badge to see other photos linked up for this week.

drawn image of canon camera with flowers for My Sunday Snapshot

My Sunday Snapshot – Stars

December 27, 2020 by Anne Sweet 6 Comments

I have many stars in my life, Stars in the sky, Star my warrior child and my little Boo, who was the star on our Christmas Tree this year.

Young Carer Star

Boo was given this star because she is considered a young carer. It is difficult for a child who lives with another child with extra needs and Boo has two siblings who demand more attention. Not only that but she feels a duty in looking after me. I’ve noticed that as she has moved into the teenage years that she tends to ‘switch off’ a lot and just hide away doing her own thing. Like I would once hide away in a book, she watches videos on her tablet. She is a little star though.

Stars

Star, chose her blog name when she was five. I think it was because she liked looking at stars in the sky but it turned out to be really fitting when she had to endure a couple of years of operations and halo wearing.

I also like to think of those that have passed on become stars in the sky. When I was young I’d watch to see if I could see my Dad who left way too soon (to avoid the rush*) Then my nan passed away in 1996 just after her 86th birthday. Mum left us on Christmas Day 2008 and my younger brother a week later. We go to visit on Christmas Eve.

Photo shows a grave with lots of flowers and wreaths mostly in red and green.

*“DON’T THINK OF IT AS DYING, said Death. JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.”
Terry Pratchett – Good Omens

My Sunday Snapshot and Ordinary Moments, Mandala

November 22, 2020 by Anne Sweet 5 Comments

Yesterday I spent the afternoon making this mandala. I’ll be sure to be making some more of them.

My First Mandala

a ring with a crochet mandala in the colours of pink, cream, blue and green. — crochet mandala

Making the mandala has to be the most exciting thing I’ve done this week. Well, I did finish reading a rather good book, The New Girlfriend which I have reviewed here if you are interested. But it’s been a fairly quiet week.

The Bad Morning.

I had a bad morning. It started with a weird dream, but then I woke and I couldn’t move. The room was dark and I confused my son because I couldn’t speak when he came in. He did come back though and when he turned on the lamp he realised something was wrong. With his help I managed to get moving and eventually sitting on the edge of the bed where he gave me my medication. He gives me my medication every morning, today he had to put them in my mouth for me and pour the water in too so I could swallow them. I feel so sad. He’s 10 years old and these are the memories he will have of me when he grows up.

My oldest son realised something was wrong and came into help. He got me standing and helped me down the stairs. It’s days like this that I wish I’d had my lift installed. It’s so scary trying to go down the stairs when your body isn’t responding. I couldn’t even bend to go down on my bottom.

An hour on the settee with a nice cup of tea which was made for me, and couple of extra, different painkillers, and I was feeling much better. I got to watch my morning Christmas movie wrapped in a blanket. The Little Man played Roblox on his laptop next to me.

I dread the time when this becomes an every day occurrence. I may have to consider that lift, or maybe even a stair lift. It’s crazy, but the occupational health team are happy to pay for a lift installation but won’t approve a stair lift because they don’t think it would be safe enough for me. A lift sounds great, but I would have to lose a large chunk of my bedroom and living room to have it installed and I really don’t want that.

Ok, I’m rambling now. Today will be okay now I can move again and the pain is under control. I may even cook the kids favourite roast chicken for dinner.

my sunday snapshot badge from Rachel Swirl dot co dot uk

Check out my Etsy Christmas Gift Guide

My Sunday Snapshot – Somebody I used to Know

October 25, 2020 by Anne Sweet 6 Comments

Today’s Blogtober prompt is Somebody I Used to Know. I’ve chosen an old scanned photo of two very dear people who are no longer in my life, and my Little nephew who was such a gorgeous baby.

old scanned photograph showing a man and woman with a baby in a buggy walking down a concrete ramp with a cliff wall to one side and metal railing to the other. They were heading down to the beach at Tenby. — *Mum, Desmond and my nephew walking down the ramp to the beach at Tenby.*

The photo was taken in Tenby in 1977. We went on holiday with my brother and his wife and their two children. Little baby nephew was the youngest.

Desmond

Desmond was a neighbour, he moved back in with his Mum two doors away from my Mum when he became divorced. Mum was already a widow and it wasn’t long before they fell in love

Desmond wasn’t in our life very long, he had a massive heart attack and died at home when I was just 13. While he was around he brought my Mum a lot of happiness and we enjoyed some lovely holidays too. Like this one in Tenby.

So Desmond is Somebody I used to know, but he’s more than that. He was someone who brought a lot of happiness into our lives. It was sad he couldn’t stayed around for longer.

Synchronicities

My Mum met Desmond when he was her neighbour, as I did Graham who had also moved back in with his Mum who lived two doors away from me. Mum had two young children at home, as did I when I met Graham. And Desmond was 10 years younger than Mum just like Graham is with me.

Seven years ago we moved to a new home. This was some 34 years after Des had passed away. Straight away I felt a sort of familiarity with the area, although I was certain I’d not been here before. The more I drove around the more familiar it beccame. Then one day I took a detour from a route home and ended up in a little grove. At the end of the grove was a house I recognised. It was Desmond’s ex wife’s house and where his children lived. He had three children one slightly older than me, one my age and one younger. I got on really well with them and even stayed at their home…the house I was now looking at, a few times. It was then I realised why I recognised the area so well.

While I stayed with them we’d taken the bikes out and I’d been riding along the streets I was now driving on. Then I realised that my children where now going to the same school that they had gone to, although the school name had been changed. (I may have realised sooner had I known this.)

Desmond had a huge influence on my life. He wasn’t my Dad but he came along at the right time and made life better for a while. He was much more than Somebody I used to Know.

I love the little ways that my life has kept a part of him alive. I would love to get in touch with his children again, but so far my searches haven’t revealed anything. I was even tempted to knock on the door of their old house, but 34 years is a long time.

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