Brooch Workshop

An evening of crafting is not really unusual for me, but last night I opened up my studio for a crafty brooch making evening. 

I was joined by two lovely ladies, and we had a jolly productive evening making fabric puff brooches. We had a lovely time picking fabrics, drinking tea and admiring our finished brooches - we each finished three! 

I'm so excited to be able to offer these evenings, I genuinely enjoy sharing skills and ideas and I am always so happy to know that my visitors enjoy it as much as I do. My next evening session is a second Crochet Christmas evening, I'm already looking forward to it!

My Week...

Last week was dominated by one thing - going to see Jack Off Jill. I have loved them since I was about fourteen years old and it was the most amazing experience to see them live on their final tour. I still just don't have the words to explain it properly.

The other highlight was my lovely dad's birthday, a splendid afternoon spent with my dear family, chatting and laughing and munching. It was just lovely. 

A Brooch a Day in May

Tomorrow is the first of May, and so I begin my "Brooch a Day in May" challenge.

I'll be sharing my choices over on Instagram and here, can't wait to get started! 

In My Tool Bag...

Every so often, in my many and varied wanderings around the internet, I come across blog posts and photos and facebook bits talking about "tools of the trade", or "have a look in my handbag" and I always rather enjoy them, so I thought I might take a moment to share what is in my essential carry-around crafty kit.

This is my little zippy bag, made some time ago in a "learning to put in zips" adventure. The fabric is from a Laura Ashley sample book, and it never fails to makes me smile.

On first look, it's rather a messy, bursting at the seams sort of affair. I must confess that I hadn't realised how much was crammed in until I emptied it out. 

I have a bit of a bad habit - hoarding crochet hooks. These are just my carry around ones, there are many many more at home... Anyway, my essentials are all here, and it would seem that four (!) 2.5mm hooks are essential. I might need to thin them out a bit...

I have a little selection of Bamboo and plastic hooks in there, although I'm not a regular user of either. I also have some of the tiniest hooks in existence, so small that they are hard to see, and I use them mostly for crocheting sewing cotton.

I have some knitting bits and bobs too, my most favourite being my Yummy stitch markers, they're supposed to be for zippers, but they're perfect for knitting.

These are my random carry-arounds - two pairs of scissors, tweezers, sewing needles, tape measure and pompom maker. I would be lost on a day to day basis without these things!

I have a little tiny zippy bag inside my main zippy bag, also made as part of the big zip adventure. I keep bodkin needles in there, and lots of stitch markers that I made with vintage buttons. 

So there we go, the contents of my crafty bag. 

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 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.

Makings...

As the Summer is drawing to a close and the Autumnal chill in the air seems to be a more regular visitor, I feel the need to spend as much time as possible cosy at home and crafting. Knitting socks is my comfort-craft of choice (along with making granny squares of course) and no matter how many other crafty projects are happening there is always at least one pair of socks on the needles. 

These ones are lovely Drops Fabel "Pink Dream" yarn, and I think they're pretty splendid if I do say so myself. The moment they were finished I immediately cast on a new pair, these ones are super-thrifty "Frankensocks". They are made from leftover bits of yarn from other pairs of socks, and since I have rather teeny feet there is always quite an abundance of leftover yarn. So these ones are going to be a fancy-pants pair with pinky/greeny stripes. 

 My other thrifty project is to make use of a big bag of vintage quilty hexagons that came to me as an appreciator of vintage floral goodness. I am having a delightful time picking out and putting together patterns and colours and making squishy little puffs. Progress will no doubt be slow on this project, I think it might be a labour of love but eventually it might become a quilt.