And the salad - picking daily now, delicious tossed in some of last season's olive oil from Gerbino. Cue lunch! And then off to pick up some cosmos seedlings from Mum..... Continue reading

Seeing their progress has been astonishing and I know they won't mind a bit if I share their beautiful work with you... Continue reading

Country (and coastal) living at it's best! Just time to have a quick cuppa, proof read my column and head off to collect the children - hope they like their tiny crab! Continue reading

My first ever 'boy' bunny - thought he'd appreciate a cotton bathing suit with which to make the most of this warm weather! Continue reading

I couldn't help but admire my washing line and think how perfect it would be for photographing some of my projects. Continue reading

Pipi's collection of feathers is filling out beautifully. Dante is more inclined to gather stones - mainly large, predominantly non-descript, but in a departure from the norm, he stumbled upon an interesting little bone (we suspect it's part of a duck's skull with what looks like a long bill) and a skeletal leaf... Continue reading

The kids and I have been blowing and painting our bantams' eggs to add to the beautiful blossom branches gathered from the garden. And the contents of the eggs made it into some delicious cinammon buns which have proved popular today! Continue reading

'Sara bunny', as she is now affectionately known, is still Abi's favourite bunny, and for her birthday I decided to add to her menagerie, so meet 'crochet cat'... Continue reading

I pulled out the original stencil (still available from the fantastic online Stencil Library) and having chosen her paint colour, she painted her own winged beauties onto some lining paper. Hanging in simple frames, she can now take her butterflies with her wherever she goes! Continue reading

I have so much to tell you, I'm not even sure where to start! My wonderful trip to London to meet the fabulous Mr Finch? The Red Nose Day Dolls' lunch 'chez' Ros Badger (knitwear designer extraordinaire)? Too much, too much!!! So, until I can do any of the above justice, maybe just a quick summary of what's making me smile right now... Continue reading

Here's my stack of samples - just a glimpse into my rather lengthy creative process! I think I worked out several patterns before deciding on the 'one', which is inspired by spring primulas.... Continue reading

And last, but by no means least, I've been selecting duck feathers (reclaimed from one of The Sicilian's game cookery courses) for my 'Inside Crochet' column. Continue reading

I only hope Blossom likes her new dress, and more to the point, I hope the Red Nose Day Dolls raise a smile and heap of cash for Comic Relief - keep an eye on the Comic Relief auction website (and the Red Nose Day Dolls Twitter and Facebook pages to see all of the other gorgeous handmade accessories being created). Continue reading

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing the 'Red Nose Day Dolls' project with you, and more specifically the dress I am contributing. The rather brilliant Ros Badger and Emma Mitchell hatched a plan to make some lolly for Comic Relief - handmade dolls kitted out in the best the craft world has to offer, silver tiaras and all. Continue reading

And for those of you with some odd bits of yarn crying out to be used up, here is the bookmark 'flower' pattern... Continue reading

Project 3: Surprise, surprise I've got lots of gorgeous summery linen and cotton yarn left over! Not to mention some really pretty ribbon. This project combines a bit of everything in a charming little bookmark. Continue reading

I've chained a length of pink yarn and using one of those 'magic' pens (that dissolves with water) I've written the name on the linen as a guide. Once pinned in place, I'll just machine over the top of it to hold it in place - looks a bit like crochet graffiti! Continue reading

I couldn't resist the Baby Elephant Amigurumi pattern by Lucy Collin in January's 'Inside Crochet'. Seen here in Debbie Bliss 'Baby Cashmerino' with Jeanette Sloan 'Baby Alpaca dk' ears! Ellie needed to be super soft, she's destined for baby Harriet - oh, it's lovely to have friends babies to crochet for! So with a trumpety trump from Ellie, I'm packing up my trunk of yarn and heading into the new year, I'll see you there ;-) xxx Continue reading

And with that thought, have a wonderful Christmas and I'll see you in the New Year, here's hoping it's a good one! Much love, Sara xxx Continue reading

Excited by the prospect of allowing my imagination to run wild, I plumped for the super chunky, super gorgeous Magnum Cascade yarn I blogged about last month. I didn't anticipate that my oversized plaited cowl would make it to the front cover! It makes me very proud to reveal it here... Continue reading

....I'm still hooking up snowflakes in all colours for my Christmas stocking and just in case you were planning some last minute Christmas crochet, here is the pattern. Continue reading

...one of my first ever crochet projects was a blanket (flower squares) from the brilliant Beata Basik who writes one of my favourite blogs, Rose Hip. It was a gift for my goddaughter Abigail in Switzerland. I've just noticed Beata has used her fabulous pattern and adapted it to create the most gorgeous lampshade... Continue reading

I've managed to squeeze on some of the crafts that I've learnt at the Wool Workshop over the years - the knitting I learnt as a child from my wonderful Nan Connie - but there are birds-eye buttons and needle felted hearts too. Even Pipi gave this one the thumbs up!!! Continue reading