With everything that's gone on over the last few months there are a few things in live that have had to slip. One of those has been the time I've had to spend crafting. In many ways crafting (along with running) is my therapy. It keeps my head in the right place when the rest of life is manic and it's certainly been manic of late. Over the years I have written many times on this blog about losing, and then re-finding, my crafting mojo, but this time it's different. I've wanted to craft. Desperately so at times. But there just aren't enough hours in the day and the kids, keeping a roof over our ... read more
Crafty Catch Up – Spice of Life and Christmas Cards
Do you know how satisfying it is to actually finish a project? I managed to go to my regular knitting group this morning and it was such a lovely feeling to proudly stand up and do my bit of show and tell with my Spice of Life blanket. This is probably one of the biggest projects that I've ever finished (yes the Attic 24 Ripple is still in progress - my latest aim is to get it done by Christmas!) and I'm really pleased with how it has turned out. The finished result is gorgeous and whilst the first set of shells are a bit pulled in at the edges (I'll call that my learning curve - I went ... read more
My week (or two!) in crafts
This week I've discovered that it's really hard to run a blog when you end up with splitting headaches due to being given a pair of contact lenses that are the wrong prescription! No wonder I was getting lots of pain every time I sat down at my laptop. Still - problem now solved thanks to the lovely lady in the local Boots Opticians and hopefully I can now go full steam ahead again. It's been a couple of weeks since my last crafty update here, and they've actually been a really busy couple of weeks of crafting. To start with I went off to the wonderful BritMums live - a huge blogging ... read more
My week in crafts
Once again it's been all about the crochet here, but a bit of other crafting has managed to sneak in too. For the first time in ages I've actually sat down and made something with Little Miss C and we actually had great fun doing so. Our paper plate Care Bear was a huge success, especially when she took him to school for show and tell. After never showing any interest in anything crafty Master C has also surprised me this week buy asking to join in when LMC was painting paper plates for her Care Bear and then when it was just me and him at home again asking to do some painting. ... read more
Making Flop
Yikes - it's been quite a couple of weeks here. The whole household has been more ill than I think I can remember, and inconveniently it's all happened at once. Master C's been off nursery, Little Miss C's been off school and even Mr C has been off work for a while. There have been trips to the Dr for all three of them (including one to the out of hours GP at Watford hospital) and antibiotics for two of them. And in the middle of all that we had a quick 36 hour trip up north to visit my mum and celebrate her birthday and late Mothers' Day with her, my sister and brother in law. I've been ... read more
Years of stitches
I'm trying so so hard in 2015 not to start new craft projects without finishing off ones that are already in progress. I have to admit to being one of those crafters who starts lots of things with great enthusiasm, but struggles to actually finish them. Hopefully this year will be different and I'm trying to start as I mean to go on. This blog provides a great record of projects that I've started over the years, but it can also be a bit scary when I then look back and realise just how long they have been going on for! LMC rocks the hoodie look! Back in March 2012 my ... read more
Arm knitting and organza flowers at the WI
There are many many reasons I love my local branch of the WI. I've met some lovely women and had a great laugh with them. But most of all I love that fact that one evening a month I get to leave the house and the responsibilities of being a mum behind for an evening and I go and do something for myself. Our particular WI branch is what many refer to as "one of those modern ones" in that it's about as far removed from the stereotypical Jam and Jerusalem image of the WI as you can get. With ages between 24 and 70-something (as far as I remember) they're a really refreshing bunch of women with ... read more
Knitting help required!
I'm going to try and use my blog here today for purely selfish reasons - to see if anyone can please help me with my current knitting project! Now, once a week I normally go to a lovely knitting group, with a talented bunch of women who I'm sure could help me. The only thing is that I couldn't make it last week as I was too busy trying to get a broken washing machine fixed (which still isn't fixed incidently - in a week in which both kids came home from school / nursery covered in mud of course!) and as it's half term this week I can't really try and juggle both kids ... read more
Return of the needles
Over the last 12 months my heart just hasn't been in knitting. No real idea why as I was still going along to my weekly knitting group, but I was finding that at home I often wouldn't pick up my needles from one week to the next. That all changed at the end of July when I was fortunate enough to have a child-free half day at Fibre East with some of the wonderful ladies from my group. As soon as I walked into the first hall I just knew that it's where my crafting mojo had been hiding for the last year. Surrounded by gorgeous things to look at and touch it was impossible ... read more
A birthday crown
On Monday a certain little lady turned three. Oh, how we partied. It's funny how two days of celebrations seems to have left me feeling as exhausted as I did when I gave birth to her. With two little people in the house my crafting has slowed right down, but seeing as I was a special event I was on the look out for a simple little project that I could make in time when someone at my knitting group passed me a copy of the May issue of Let's Knit magazine. Inside there was a lovely little trip of quick projects to celebrate May Day and this crown jumped out at me as perfect for the ... read more