'Balls of wool' by Me

Balls of wool, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

My blogging keeps taking second place to knitting at the moment. I find it really relaxing and I like seeing my pile of knitted squares growing. It gives me a great sense of achievement actually. I thought it was about time I did some knitting related photography though and here's a picture of the wool I am working with at the moment. Don't you just love these colours? And for the record this shot is straight from the camera with no editing. The colours really are that bright. Right, back to the needles. Hope you've all had a lovely weekend!

'Untitled' by shabon*

Untitled, a photo by shabon* on Flickr.

It's funny how Saturday mornings have taken on a new meaning since my daughter started school. Sadly I don't get to lie in bed for much later but it's so nice to be able to come downstairs and have a bit more a of a chilled out start to the day. We can have breakfast without constantly looking at the clock and worrying about getting everyone dressed, making lunch and generally getting ready to leave the house. That said, we can't relax for long this morning as we have a busy day ahead of us mainly in the form of birthday parties. It's the third week in a row of children's parties as another of my daughter's friends turns five. And tonight the hubby and I are out at a 40th birthday party. We've got a babysitter and everything!

I thought I'd start the day with this photo as it's so beautifully fresh looking and feels rather morning-like to me. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

'IMG_20130821_154719' by Samira Photography

IMG_20130821_154719, a photo by Samira Photography/facebook on Flickr.

I really wanted to show you a butterfly photo I had taken over the summer but then I saw this and it made me say 'Wow!'. I therefore thought I'd share this instead. I'm not sure what exactly impressed me so much,I think it's a mixture of a lot of things. The wonderful detail of the butterfly, the softness of the photo and the beautiful sunlight and shadows. Perhaps I'll show you my picture another time but it's not as nice as this.

'Pink summer flowers' by Me

Pink summer flowers, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

I've realised I still have some photos from the summer which I've not yet shared with you so I think I'd better do that soon before I forget when they were even taken. Here is one of a lovely pink flower taken just before summer ended. It was just a quick snapshot really but I love the colours. The pink, the blue and the green are so vibrant. I am just pleased that today was a lovely warm autumn day or I'd really be missing summer right now.

'Afternoon Tea' by iHeartDimSum

Afternoon Tea, a photo by iHeartDimSum on Flickr.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Mine has been full of birthday celebrations. Two of my daughter's friends had birthday parties yesterday which actually wore me out more than her. Today was a more grown affair as I went for a girly afternoon tea to celebrate a friend's 40th.

Here is a lovely photograph of afternoon tea. It's not my afternoon tea though sadly. I would have loved to have sat snapping away at the pretty cakes and sandwiches but I think I may have got some funny looks. All I managed was a sneaky Instagram picture!

'Autumn walk.' By cheska annelliese.

Autumn walk., a photo by cheska annelliese. on Flickr.

Autumn is well and truly here. There's no fighting it any longer. It's getting rather cold - especially first thing in the morning - and the rain has come. I am typing this whilst listening to the rain lashing against the window outside. I still trying to embrace the change of season though and so far all is good. My daughter is settled in at primary school and I am actually loving the new routine of a school run every day. I am back at school too as I have started an evening course at college which I am very excited about. I am taking my little boy out to lots of new groups and classes and we are having lots of fun together. I do miss my daughter when she's at school but I am cherishing all this one-on-one time I am having with my youngest child. I also have recently bought lots of new clothes for autumn. Nothing exciting but it does feel nice to have some fresh new clothes to start a fresh new season. And it really does seem like a fresh start, September always has done. It obviously dates back to being at school but I've never really shaken off the 'school year' timetable. And now I have children well it starts again. I will be thinking in school year now probably for the next seventeen or so years!

I love this autumn picture. The light is wonderful. It looks like a lovely sunny day. The kind of day I love in autumn. This also reminds me to dig out my (pretendy) Uggs. I didn't wear them at all last winter but I get this feeling this winter will be a snuggly Ugg boot kind of a winter.

'22nd October - stripy knitting' by *superhoop*

22nd October - stripy knitting, a photo by *superhoop* on Flickr.

Another knitting themed photo from me tonight just because I appear to be knitting mad at the moment. I've got two projects on the got at the moment - the big blanket and now a toy for my daughter - and am just sad there aren't more free hours in the day I can dedicate to them. I love this photo because it just sums up what I'm like. I love buying lots of different coloured yarns and can never wait to start on the next colour. Perhaps I should make something stripy like this with lots and lots of colours in it. The focus on this is great and I can almost feel what this wool feels like. The photographer has managed to capture so much detail in something I didn't realise was so detailed.

'Custard Slices' by BlackburnMike_1

Custard Slices, a photo by BlackburnMike_1 on Flickr.

I've not been feeling well this past week. Nothing serious, I think I was just a bit run down and my body was telling me to take it easy and have a few early nights. Anyway, one of the side effects of being ill this week was that I completely lost my appetite. I couldn't even finish a sandwich yesterday. But today my appetite came back. And it came back in full force with a sweet tooth leading the way. I found myself in two separate supermarkets today drooling over cream cakes. So in order to show you a photograph relevant to my day I went searching for desserts. A very foolish think to do though as now looking at this beautiful photo I find myself really, really needing a custard slice. Great photo, great baking!

'113/365' by Helen Rushbrook

113/365, a photo by Helen Rushbrook on Flickr.

It's been a while since I posted a photo just because it's pretty so here you go - a really very pretty photo. The softness of the image, the colour, the light - it's all just right.

And when you've finished admiring this lovely photo do pop on over to The Real Housewife of Suffolk County as I'm featured on there today. It's an article about what photography means to me. Probably something I should have actually done on my own blog before now but never mind. Hope you enjoy it.

'Summer don't go' by Me

Summer don't go, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

Well that's it. The summer holidays are finally coming to an end. And what a summer it's been. I can honestly say it's been the best summer I've ever had. The weather has been fantastic - hardly any rain and lots of sunshine - and we've been so busy seeing friends, visiting places and generally having a lot of fun.

And so now a new chapter is beginning. On Monday my beautiful little girl starts primary school. I am so excited for her and I know she's going to have a blast. She's friendly, popular, kind, helpful and bright so I haven't been worrying about her settling in. But inside a little piece of my heart is breaking. It feels almost like I am losing a piece of me. We are incredibly close and this is the the first step in letting her go and find her place in the big bad world. I know I will find myself feeling a bit lost next week but I am also excited about the next step of our mother and daughter adventure. I think we have many, many, many more happy memories just waiting to be made together.

'Big Knit' by namolio

Big Knit, a photo by namolio on Flickr.

As my crochet learning didn't really go to plan - I can crochet, I just can't read a pattern - I have found myself knitting again. I must admit I find it really relaxing. I have been doing my bit for charity by making little hats for Innocent Smoothie bottles (you can read more about it here) and now I have decided just to knit squares and perhaps rectangles. I am going to make a sampler blanket as a way of practicing lots of different stitches.

The picture above is an example of the little hats I've been making. I think these are lovely. I love all these earthy tones. Mine are a bit different as I've been using lots of bright colours. Oh and the actual photograph is rather fab too!

Happy weekend everyone!

'Little Brighton beach huts' by Me

Little Brighton beach huts, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

I took my children down to Brighton yesterday and what a wonderful day it was. We paddled in the big paddling pool, we played in the sandpit, we went on some rides (well my daughter did), we ate ice cream by the sea, we went on the pier and most importantly played on the beach. It was a perfect summer day. And there was me being all sad it was September. Looks like summer might hang around for a little while longer.

We also looked in a few shops, one of which had all these little wooden beach huts for sale. We couldn't help but spell a few things out and take pictures. Luckily the owners of the shop didn't seem to mind.

'Cocktails' by Nokes

Cocktails, a photo by Nokes on Flickr.

Reason #453 why I am not really a grown up yet - I can't help but giggle a little bit when ordering cocktails. Seriously, I really can't order a Slow Comfortable Screw, a Screaming Orgasm or even a Sex on the Beach without feeling a little bit silly. I know I could order something else but I do like cocktails and often the ruder the name the more delicious they are!

Here is a cocktail related photo that doesn't make me giggle, it just makes me say 'Wow'! That definitely looks like a wonderful place to be drinking cocktails. Apparently these were consumed after a successful bungee jump. I think I would be needing alcohol before, after and even possibly during if for some reason I found myself doing a bungee jump!