Well what a week...

DISCLAIMER: This is a very long post with a lot of pictures. I don't feel like I've stopped this week! I've been running around like a mad thing!

Thursday last week

Finished my preemie hats for Nerd Wars, and handed them in to the Student Volunteer Centre to be sent to the local NICU.

I made 8 of this Basic Baby Hat in different sizes and colours for both boys and girls

Then went for something a bit more complicated with this Hugs and Kisses Hat. I decided to only do 4 repeats of the pattern and separate out the cables a bit more, so the individual hugs and kisses were obvious

 Then finally I made a set of Ventilator bonnets, as apparently our local NICU is in desperate need of them. I was so surprised that this pattern wasn't on Ravelry! I wasn't keen on the self striping on the first 2 bonnets, so I cut the stripes on the second 2 so that they were either pink or blue. 

On my trip to John Lewis to get the (adorable) duck buttons for the bonnets, I found there was a sale on. I got 8 balls of Rowan fine milk cotton for about half price

This is destined to be made into Arielle by Kim Hargreaves

Friday

9-4 Cleaned, scrubbed, washed, polished and packed up my house from top to bottom 

I have never seen it so clean and empty. We had so much to do that one of our friends, H, ended up coming round to help out. I really enjoyed removing the mouldy bread that was dripping black goo from my housemates cupboard...

4-5:45 House inspection. We passed! Well my housemate didn't but if she doesn't clean her room she loses her money. At least we should get our deposit back

5:45 - 11:30 Travelling home. It took two taxis and a train, and involved me and the boy carrying 13 bags between 2 of us. I have no idea how we had so much stuff, see as we "emptied" the house earlier in the week, and sent the rest home with my Dad... Even with 13 bags, H had to take a pair of my boots back to her house.

Anyway, when I got home there was a very nice surprise waiting for me in the post! I had 2 parcels. The first I had ordered and expected.

The Joan Elliot Ultimate Cross Stitch Collection, which is an amazing book, and I can't wait to start stitching

The second was a surprise, but only because I'd forgotten about it

It was a prize I'd won from Lynda Grace's giveaway over at Lynda Grace an Hour Away. The magazine is from 1989, which is 2 years before I was born! It's a really interesting read though, and there are several things I'm looking forward to stitching. I'm very grateful to her for such a lovely gift.

Saturday to Tuesday
It was back up again at 6:30, to take a taxi and 2 trains to Whitby arriving at 12:15, to meet my parents for a couple of days for a short holiday in Sands End, which is a couple of miles down the coast

Whitby is a higgledy piggledy little town build around a harbour up the sides of two cliffs. All the buildings feel like they're built on top of each other and it's a bit of a maze. It is famous for two reasons, Dracula and Captain Cook, and it hosts a twice yearly goth weekend and has many gothic and alternative shops.

 This is the cottage we stayed in

And this is the view out of the front door

And the view just round the corner. It was such a beautiful little village and so relaxing. We spent our days walking

Playing on the beach

Seeing the sights. That is the boy standing in the middle of the famous whale bone arch on one side of the cliff, with the abbey in the background of the other.

And generally relaxing. I love the colour of this! We also went shopping round Whitby, and there is an amazing yarn market, which sells the patterns for the traditional fisherman's ganseys for all the fishing villages round the area, as well as a craft shop with a huge variety of cross stitch kits. I could have spent hundreds.

I did get a nice new handbag though, which matches a clutch and shoes that I already have.

I also took the boy to Whitby museum, which he's never been to. We saw the weather forecaster with the petrified leeches and the hand of glory (warning: slightly disgusting) as well as a huge collection of taxidermy. There were also some much nicer things though, like a jet chessboard with ammonites inside it, some old bone knitting needles and crochet hooks, and a fantastic collection of samplers. It is a very eclectic collection of stuff though! More like a junk shop than a museum.

This is the only crafting I got done though. It's the free kit from this month's World of Cross Stitching magazine, and I'm making it into thank you cards for my some of my aunts and uncles. It was so nice to get away for a bit though!

Wednesday
Not only did I have to unpack and find a place for the entire contents of mine and the boy's house, I also had to move everything away from the windows and cover anything I didn't want to get dusty, as we were having every window in the house replaced. I did FINALLY get the last package I was waiting for though

Now I can make my God-daughter's christening present. I am really unimpressed with this company, Togs and Toggles. I ordered this yarn well over a month ago, and paid for postage in 6-8 days, and it has only just turned up now. It was very cheap, but I won't be using them again.

Thursday to Saturday
Massive upheaval as ever window and outside door in the house was removed and replaced. 

Sunday (today)
I bought a car! But more on that when I actually get it...

So that was my very busy week. Well done if you got this far! Stay tuned tomorrow for not one but two ABC posts! And wish me luck for my job interview, which is also tomorrow?