The children have been home for the past two weeks for their half term holiday. I love the October half term as with Halloween and Bonfire Night there is always lots to look forward to, but as the nights draw in it's also a perfect time to cosy up and do very little...

Where are the days going? Sometimes it feels like a blur of work, cooking, homework, classes, washing etc and before I know it a whole week has passed again! I've been working on a few hat orders and any free moments I've had in the evenings have been spent very selfishly crocheting an item for myself.

I really wanted a bright snood and I was so inspired by all the granny square scarves I've been seeing online, especially those from the House of Holland Winter 2011 show, that I thought I'd have a go at making a granny square snood, just for me...

One of the items I've been making for our stall at the Christmas fair are some cute crochet granny square pincushions. They can be made in well under an hour, are simple but look great and would make perfect gift/stocking fillers for any craft lover...

I've had a bit of a blogcation recently, this is due to several reasons but one of the nicest reasons I have been absent was a, very much longed for, trip to Paris!

A few months back my friend Jo and I finally decided that after years of wanting to visit we would book a trip for us to spend some girlie time enjoying the museums and attractions...

Every summer I give myself a project to do something that I've wanted to do for a while but never seem to find the time for. This summer I was determined to finish off the Summer House by painting & decorating the inside...

I've not done a food post for a while now - not because I've stopped cooking & baking but because I often remember to take pictures of the making part then am so hungry/anxious to taste the finished item once its cooked that I completely forget to take any more pictures. But this Sunday I had the camera out a lot so I managed to get some photos of my first attempt at a Plum Cobbler... 

I was very lucky to receive a copy of Rachael Oglesby's new book 'Crochet Boutique: 30 simple, stylish hats, bags and accessories' to have a look at. Rachael is a very talented crochet designer and her projects are very current so I was happy to learn that she also has a blog called Softspoken that I'm excited to go and explore. 

Anyway back to the book, although I knew I'd love this book from the cover I find the best way to review a crochet book is to dig straight in and try one of the projects...

We had a lovely holiday this year along the North Coast of Cornwall at the very pretty Mother Ivy's Bay. We were lucky with the weather and managed 3 lovely days on the beach visiting: Constantine Bay, Polzeath and Mother Ivy's Bay. We spent a lot of time in Padstow which was the closest town for food (can't seem to go to Cornwall without having some of Rick Steins posh fish & chips) and the days that were grey or rainy we headed inland for some sight seeing...

We've just returned from our lovely week in Cornwall I'm in the process of sifting through all the photos - over 1000 of them! I didn't spend as much time as I thought I would crocheting, our days were busy and by the time we returned home in the evening we were all pretty shattered...

These are the books we've loved over the past month and here's why...