Jubilee



St. Albans - Verulamium

 Jubilee is not for me. I cannot get excited about it. Perhaps, if I was British, if something was happening where I live, if people I know got excited about it... perhaps... As it is, being Polish and surrounded but cynical anti-royalists I am getting mildly excited about the European Football Cup. An extra long weekend is not to be taken for granted, so thanks to HRH QE II, I have enjoyed cramming some lovely pursuits into what turned out to be a complete wash-out weather-wise. Queen or no queen, you can't fix the weather, can you?

A lovely card from mum&dad arrived on Friday and it's so lovely to know, that at the ripe old age of 39 I am still their little girl and I shall always stay one. Mum has also sent some legal English tender, which was exchanged for a rather large bottle of gorgeous perfume.

Saturday, me and a lovely friend, took a trip to my beloved St. Albans - I just can't stay away from that place in summer and I always find something new there every time I go. Apart from inspecting the market, a few shops, yummy lunch and a wonder to the Roman ruins, which my friend very keenly photographed, I made a wonderful discovery - a lovely coffee shop (the best kept secret in St. Albans the sign claimed) off one of the main roads, in a courtyard, with lots of tables outside, a marquee, a back patio with more tables, good coffee, nice owners - pure perfection. As if that wasn't enough within the courtyard, there was this quirky little yarn shop called Studio-Delirium. I do not ever just walk past a yarn shop and this was such a joy to visit. The owner, a knitter/crocheter Charlotte was fantastic to chat to. Apart from stocking some popular yarns she also spins her own. I could not resist that, and here is my purchase!

It will be turned into something fabulous and as soon as it is I will go back and proudly show the spinner the fruits of both our labours. The day ended, back home,with an exciting late evening walk in a huge park with another friend.

Sunday was spent sluttily procrastinating, putting off cleaning yet again for the sake of a new crochet project. I bought a lenght of rose print oil-cloth in St. Albans market with rather ambitious plans to trim it with a crochet-on shell edging to turn it into a pretty and practical kitchen table cloth. I must admit it is hard work, the oilcloth is tough and crochet hook just doesn't want to go through it, so I'm having to premake little holes first, then crochet into the holes. Undeterred I'm ploughing on - beats cleaning, right?

Monday was dedicated to some shopping in Muswell Hill - 2 necklaces and a pair of wedge sandals later me and a friend tucked into some yummy burgers at Giraffe.

The reward for the dreaded cleaning, which happened today eventually, were these chocolate eclairs - all in all a busy, satisfying, long weekend!

Where to find happiness...

I abandoned this blog for such a long time I'm not sure it's a good idea to revive it, but I'll give it a go anyway.
It's a bit like visiting an old school friend you haven't seen for 30 years. You're dying to meet them again and you assume you will get on famously, just because you did so at school. And then sometimes this works beautifully and all is just how you imagined it would be. And sometimes you sit and talk to them politely for 45 minutes and then make up an excuse and leave wondering who was that stranger you just had a coffee with, because it couldn't have been your dear, old school pal...
I will try and share with you things that make me happy. More often than not they will be quite simple little things, which make every day that little bit special. Many people miss little joys of life waiting for those big, ostentatious happy events that for most come two or three times in life. I will try to find joy and beauty in the everyday life of an average girl - me.


This weekend consisted of a few nice things. I went to St. Albans yesterday and bought two lovely little cheering things in Cath Kidston shop there. And here they are in all their colourful glory...

These gorgeous set of boxes will brighten up all picnics (when the sun comes out for longer than a couple of hours) and transform the most boring packed lunch for work too.

 And this little beauty has already become my favourite coffee cup of the moment!


Today I had a little wonder in the sunshine in the local area and picked up some lush strawberries, which were devoured with a little clotted cream and vanilla sugar - perfect end to a rather nice weekend, don't you think?

In fear to check the weather forecast and hoping all have a fabulous, sunny week...


Agnes xx

Happy Knitty New Year!

I haven't blogged for a good few months. I will try to blame tiredness, colds and flu and general burnout for it.

New Year always brings in resolutions and reminders of things we tend to neglect when life gets in the way. Although I'm not making it a purposeful resolution to blog regularly - that would just be doomed to fail - I will try and blog a bit more.

I hope that with the new year, the proverbial new beginning, I too will venture into new things, which will bring a lot of happiness, satisfaction and pleasure. Of course they will involve my favourite things in life, not forgetting knitting for one moment!

For now I'd like to leave you with the image of this year's Christmas tree at MrsG's and wish you all an exceptionally good, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Fabulous Giveaway Winners

It's my great pleasure to announce the lucky winners of the Fabulous Giveaway. All names went into the hat today and as promised MrG, blindfolded, selected the two names.

The first prize, the blue ponchette and earwarmer set goes to Little Daydreamers.

The second prize, the coppery earwarmer goes to Monkeyloulou.

I hope both of you will be pleased with what you've won and maybe send me a picture of you wearing it when the chill takes over...

Could the winners please contact me through Twitter, Facebook, Folksy or my website so I can get your addresses and arrange posting of your prizes.

Thank you very much to everybody who entered the giveaway and followed me here, there and everywhere.

I wish I could give something to each one of you. I'm sure there will be more great giveaways to mark little successes in the life of MrsGKnits.  In the meantime I invite you to keep popping in to my Folksy shop . Lovely new goodies from Autumn/Winter collection coming soon.

Fabulous Giveaway!

I know you've all been waiting for this! MrsG has by now over 50 followers, so as promised here is a Fabulous Giveaway to toast the occasion and to many many more.

What you can win?

1st prize is this suptuously soft ponchette with a matching earwarmer/headband designed and handmade by me. How you wear it is your choice - the lace stitch allows it to be buttoned up anywhere you like, so you can style it in various ways - as a poncho, big cowl, scarf, shoulder wrap... it's up to you! It's made with a light baby suri alpaca and merino wool mix yarn in a delicious shade of blue and it's very strokable.

2nd prize is an earwarmer/headband by itself  in another stunning shade of cinnamon coppery brown.

How to enter?

To enter you need to do these 3 simple things:

you need to follow this blog
you need to leave a comment to this post and

you need to become a fan of MrsGKnits facebook page

When will you know?

The giveaway will run from the moment this post is published and the winner will be drawn (by MrG to ensure fairness) from all the qualifying names and announced on Monday, 30th August bank holiday. The winners names will be published on this blog, on twitter and facebook and I will arrange the details of delivery with the lucky winners then.


And now for the legal bit...
By accepting a prize, all winners agree that the Host will have no liability whatsoever for, and will be held harmless by winner for any liability for any injury, loss or damages of any kind, to winner or other persons, including (without limitation) injuries, loss or damages arising out of or relating to death, and, injuries, damages or losses to property, due in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of the prize or participation in this promotion.


Can't wait to see the snuggly woolies lovers appear and Good Luck everyone!