Ponderings...

Today has been a pondering day. I have them occasionally with no provocation or explanation. I have wondered about the merits of my life as a full-time crafter, questioned my choices in life and thought about my place in the world. It's been a funny kind of day. I'm not sure that there are conclusions to be found. I try my best to be a good person, to know that I would be the kind of grown up that would make my beloved and dearly missed granny proud. I hope that my little space in the world makes a positive contribution to the world in general. 

I try to fill my little corner of things with craftiness, to make our little house a home. I am trying to fill my time with the people that count, the ones that I feel comfortable with, that make me feel at home. It's not easy, sometimes I get a bit lost, sometimes I forget to listen to the little voice that tells me that I'm in the wrong place with the wrong people, and I've found out from experience that the little voice is usually worth listening to. I guess the conclusion that I'm getting towards is that I need to remember who I am, and surround myself with like-minded people who also understand me. My little place in the world is small, and it needs to be filled carefully. 

I borrowed this image from Freya Ete on Etsy, since I bought the little card on Monday, and it makes me happy. Her shop is beautiful and I love her work. 

My Week...

This week has mostly been about hibernation and hiding from gales and stormy weather. We ventured out to Wolverhampton on Sunday for an evening of entertainment in the shape of Mr Robert Newman, who is always a delight. Other than that little trip to the outside world the week has been spent mostly at home and there has been an abundance of tea and craftiness - I made a string of bunting with vintage embroidered doilies, as well as my daily granny squares (the first 18 are done and joined!) and the start of a brand new pair of Frankensocks. I also gave a little bit of love to my latest fabulous thrifty-find - a pretty polka-dot Cath Kidston bag, which needed a jolly good wash and a wee bit of stitching before it had it's first outing! 

I am pleased (and admittedly a little bit shocked) to see that my dear little Windowsill Garden has produced more pretty flowers, some delicate and utterly delightful pink Delphiniums. Although I am sure to be tempting fate to say it, it would appear that I may have finally  broken my run of terrible plant-growing luck. I am also successfully growing succulents, after a bit of very helpful advice from my favourite gardening enthusiast. 

After a splendidly busy day in my little stall, the week was rounded off nicely this afternoon with tea and a generous slice of Cherry Bakewell at one of my favourite establishments, Fine&Dandy, with my lovely husband and dear friends. 

My Week

This has been a jolly week of nice quiet little moments, and opportunities for adventures. I had an extended visit from a bee in my stall on Saturday, which made me smile and filled me with happiness when I noticed that he only stopped to smell the yellows, as I am myself partial to a little bit of yellow. I supposed that maybe the yellow was the most likely colour for nectary-goodness, and felt a little sorry that the flowers have a button at their centre rather than a sweet little treat. Sunday started with cake for breakfast, a tradition that I feel should be installed with haste, and finished with sock knitting in front of the fire. A perfect end to a chilly day. 

My adventure on Tuesday was a real-life Hobbitty adventure, as I visited Mordor, which is temporarily in the Wolverhampton Art Gallery. I also took myself along to the Tuesday Matinee at the Lighthouse Independent cinema to watch the delightful "What we Did on our Holiday". There is something really rather splendid about going to the movies alone in the afternoon. Thursday was the second of my big adventure days, after spending an afternoon in a cafe knitting with a friend, I found myself in Liverpool enjoying Moroccan food and good company on date night in Kasbah, before popping along to see the lovely Lucy Rose singing her pretty songs as part of the Oxjam shenanigans. It has been a jolly lovely little week.

My Makings...

I am making splendid progress with my mood blanket and I have chosen to look upon my "late to the party-ness" as being fashionably late as opposed to a negative and rubbishy late and I am embracing the routine of making a square-a-day. October is most definitely a month for making blankets, not that the time of year ever limits my dedication to blanket-making. I am utterly and unashamedly addicted.

 October is also a month made for my other addiction - cosy hand-knit socks, and my delightful Frankensocks are certainly rather cosy. I kept to my super-strict palette of pinks and greens and cream, and I think they are more than just a little bit spiffing, if I do say so myself.  

The chilly winter weather is perfect for cups of tea, crafting and devouring books. I love the warm and cosy hibernation months.

My Week...

As the autumnal air seems to be here to stay I am choosing to embrace it wholeheartedly and make the very best of it. This week has been chilly but mostly sunshiny, and full of opportunities for tea and craftiness. 

I had a nice little surprise on Sunday, in the chiller cabinet of a supermarket where I found my very own little face looking back at me from the side of an Innocent Smoothie carton. I have been organising knit-alongs and Big Knit hat collections for the last couple of years, and in May a very nice lady came to visit to take my picture, and now I am gracing the packaging - these ones were Blackcurrent, Strawberry and Blackberry, but I am told that I also smile out from other flavours too. It's exciting and a little bit strange it has to be said. 

Monday was a "work in a cafe" day, a pleasant little day of sewing and drinking lots of tea and enjoying a rather lovely lunch. Being self employed has several pretty splendid perks, and this is most definitely one of them. 

I discovered on Tuesday that not only is my Gypsophelia growing nicely, but my Delphiniums are flowering! They are a beautiful and rather regal purple, and I am, as always, amazed to find that I made something grow. Their lovely colours inspired a new project, I am a wee bit late to the party for this one, but I am embarking on a crochet "mood blanket", as seen in the deligtful photographs of many and varied instagramers. I am four squares/days into the project and rather enjoying it. As well as my delphiniums, my squares have been inspired by a grey and rainy day, the colours that I loved most this summer and the new autumn colours outside. I am stitching them together as I go along and hope that I will eventually have a cosy and autobiographical blanket. My other crafty time has been taken up making pompoms for little hats, and my assistant was of my all-time favourite little chaps - my parent's little dog Jock, who kept me company and tried to help by attempting to dispose of the scraps of yarn.

My Week...

As the year continues to fly by, I am busier and busier with my little shop and filling my days with stock making and working on new ideas. The teeny-tiny bit of time I've been keeping for myself has been dedicated to yarny-exploits - I pottered around the car boot sale on Sunday in pursuit of yarny-goodness, and happily filled my little tote bag (covered in unicorns, most delightful) with pretty mustard and pink 4ply and some very splendid sheepy-wool. I also made space in my little bag for some other goodies - Ingrid Bergman's autobiography, a pastel-pink box for storing my cassette tapes (my dear sweet little car, Mavis, has a very retro and somewhat stylish tape player, given that she is a lady of 'a certain age'), and a handy-handbag for outings.  

I found more yarny-goodness on a little charity shop mooch on Tuesday in a rather fetching peachy-pink, and adopted a doily that looked lonely all on it's own in a basket. I came home to two little parcels - a book of poetry by Patti Smith, which I devoured over a cup of tea, and a light-up crochet hook, which was a lovely surprise from my lovely husband. I was gifted a bag of fabric and bits-and-bobs of half-done projects on Wednesday, and found the back of a jumper all knitted up, but sadly that was all there was of it, so with the help of a friend it was unravelled and made into a thoroughly useful ball of foxy-orange yarn.  

 

I have been busy working on a knitted blanket in lovely summery bright colours in the evenings this week, I am knitting strips that I will stitch together. It is a nice and easy project, garter stitch and not too stressful, unlike the little project that I started this evening, which involved the learning and understanding of the "Magic Loop" technique. It was necessary so that I could finally start one of the Knitted Monsters from Rebecca Danger's fabulous book, and I must confess that after getting past the scary learning-something-new bit, I rather like it and it isn't nearly as complicated as I had led myself to believe.

My Readings - September

September has seen me settling into the cosy Autumnal routines of reading under blankets in front of the fire. I have enjoyed the long and sunny summer, but the arrival of chilly weather and the need for woollens always brings a little smile to my face.





My readings for September were -

• "The Quantity Theory of Insanity" by Will Self
• "The Vet's Daughter" by Barbara Comyns
• "I am Number Four" by Pittacus Lore