Easter

Hoping you all have had a a lovely Easter, we have, enjoyed the lovely weather and spent most of the time either in the garden or up the allotment. We have a lovely display of wallflowers and perennial erysimum in the garden at the moment and they smell lovely, they have seeded themselves and I am planning on digging up a couple of these plants and moving them to the allotment .              

The children have enjoyed an Easter egg hunt in the garden, actually more than one! L has got us to hide the eggs several times over as she loves hunting for them. They spent time decorating some wooden egg decorations.

 We made some hot cross buns, didn't glaze them which actually even if they don't look so nice they were nice to eat as you didn't end up with horrible sticky fingers, think next time I will add some more dried fruit to them.

Joining As Kat Knits for unravelled Wednesday . Now I have been working through my list of unfinished craft projects and feeling rather good, as I now have 4 left to do from the list and other than the cardi they are all longer term projects, so successful weekend and I have completed my tax return too!

1. second panel of knitted throw.
2. finish sewing L's blouse (fabric from stash)
3. grey wrist warmers, not sure if I like the pattern in the wool I am using from my stash, so might unravel them and start again!
4. have just started a white cardi for L again wool I already have.
5. patchwork quilt
6. dolls pyjamas that I had cut out of scraps of fabric
7. cat cross stitch that I started a while ago
8. a skirt, needs the zip put in and waistband finished, I got tot his stage last year and hoped I might loose a bit of weight, tone up, so didn't finish it!

 Made some pyjamas for L's doll, she is really pleased with them and for 2 nights in a row, got herself and her doll dressed ready for bed and asking for stories 45 minutes earlier than her normal bedtime, so she had an extra story.

Gave up on my original pattern for fingerless mittens, it was lovely eyelet daisy pattern but I just wasn't happy with the way it looked as I knitted it, unravelled it twice, not sure if it was my knitting or what but went for this pattern called workhorse mitts really pleased with them. Have sorted out some dark teal wool to make a small pair for L, which shouldn't take long to make.

A little update on our reducing our waste, it is going ok but slowly, M and I love our shampoo bars, I tried a conditioner one but that isn't enough for my hair so at the moment still using a bottled one, need to research that more at some point. I do use coconut oil as an intense condition so often as my hair is very dry and frizzy, the boys are still working though their bottles of shampoo and then will see what they make of the shampoo bars. I am pleased with how the eco egg is washing but if clothes are heavily stained then I am using powder but for everyday washing it does fine and removes smells and normal stains, just not ingrained dirt! Now I am happy when I wash up using a dishcloth and have used lots of odd bits of cotton yarn to make some new ones, my husband prefers a brush, he has been trialling the eco force brush with a replaceable head and is very pleased with it, the bristles seem to have lasted a long time. So looks like a permanent replacement, we have toothbrushes that are very similar so instead of replacing the whole brush you just replace the bristle part.