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. 

My Week

As weeks go, this one was pretty memorable - Wonderful Wool Day, meeting Nick Frost and the preview evening of the lovely Vintage Magpie shop, the neighbour to my little studio. 

I caught up with friends, walked in the autumn air as much as I could and taught lots of crochet lessons. Life is pretty sweet. 

My Week

Wowee, this week has passed in a blur! I've had lots of work things on - teaching crochet, visiting the Loudwater Studio in Ludlow, Make on Monday in a lovely cafe with fabulous cake, a day in my studio making everything pretty, and my usual days in my little stall. This time of year is always so busy, but I managed to have a little bit of time off too - we had a night out in Manchester, at an Anti-Austerity gig and saw Public Service Broadcasting, who were ace. Their new song "Go!" is just amazing. The highlight of the week was that we had a little visitor, a little hedgehog, he was so cute. 

My Week...

My week started somewhat sadly, with the sudden departure of my dear budgies. They were about a year old when we adopted them, they came as a pair, they used to smooch and cuddle up together, so it seems fitting that they they passed within hours of each other, Kate first in the morning, and William in the afternoon (we didn't name them, but they came to live with us at the height of Royal Wedding fever...)after he had apparently sat over her little body all day and refused to let my poor husband take her away. It was so sad, and although they were really rather vocal and loved to spread their feathers everywhere, we miss them. 

The rest of the week improved somewhat, we picked Plums and Apples from our garden, and my dad and I went Brambling and found a huge hoard of Blackberries, so there's been jam making, which is one of my favourite Autumn activities! I love the idea of squirrelling things away to last through the long winter months. We had a little city adventure last night, popping along to Home in Manchester to Robert Newman's book launch. He's one of our all-time favourite comedians, and it was lovely to hear him read bits from his book "The Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution" and to have a little chat with him afterwards, such a thoroughly nice man. He even signed our books. Such a splendid evening, can't wait to read the book.

(The puppy isn't ours by the way, his name is Ozzy and he belongs to my dear friends, he is the most gorgeous little chap)

My Week... mostly a studio update...

This week has been totally focussed on my lovely new studio. I've made it pretty and I have tried to find snazzy ways to display my work, and in turn been inspired to make new jewellery to display. It's wonderful to feel so creative, I think I've been distracted for a little while now, but I think I'm back on track now. I read something somewhere about staying creative, how you never run out of creativity and how being creative leads to more creativity (that's a lot of "creative" in one sentence, my apologies) and it's something that has stayed with me, and I'm trying to live by that idea. 

My next job in the studio is one that I'm very excited about - I will be putting up my peg board above my desk. It's so exciting because I've never really been able to put all of my bits of paper, postcards, jewellery experiments, fabric samples, knitting swatches etc in one place before. It will be a place for all of my inspiration, and I'm so excited - when I was at uni, the Fine Art students all had their own allotted wall space, but over in Applied Art we were much more nomadic, we couldn't really leave things around the place, and these days I have my stall, but it's not really private enough for me to feel comfortable with customers coming and going, so this will be a first for me. 

My Week...

Last week was quiet and spent mostly at home. I did visit the local Antiques Emporium, and enjoyed the magnificent hybrid-taxidermy and looking through bundles of random bits and bobs. I also went along for a meeting with my crafty co-conspirator, and we plotted yarny world-domination over tea in pretty china. 

Unfortunately the rest of the week involved getting over a rather unpleasant head cold, but I did manage to fancy-up a gingham tote bag with some pretty cross-stitch roses.

My Week...

This week has passed by in a blur. I've been busy making my studio pretty, but also trying to balance that with the other things that need to be done, like preparing for the festive season - picking out supplies for upcoming makings, and starting work on stock. I've also been trying to keep the Big Knit makings under control, and spent an evening sewing pompoms onto pompomless hats that had arrived. My life as a full-time-crafter is one that I enjoy so much, but I must confess that the last week has left me feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

My Week...

This week has been full of jolly adventures. We spent Sunday at a vintage fair, with rides on the Merry-Go-Round (my pony was called Tulip) and mermaid spotting, wandering around the shiny vintage cars and mooching around stalls full of curious things. We had a picnic and rubbed the noses of Shire Horses and chatted with a lovely lady spinning beautiful yarn. It was a splendid day. 

The other highlights of the week were pretty spotty cake (thanks to my lovely mother-in-law, it was delicious!), knitting a tiny gnome, making many, many badges for a fair I went along to, and cuddling up to a certain Norman who sneaked his fluffy way into bed to read some Harry Potter with me. The fair was lovely, there were lots of other stalls with pretty things, and lots of tasty vegetarian and vegan food which we've enjoyed all weekend, and there were owls. They were the best.

My Week...

Some of my favourite moments from the last week - tea and cake with my mum and husband in Shrewsbury, visiting the Yorkshire Sculpture park with my lovely friends, and making friends with a bee while we were there, and a business meeting over big red tea-cups. It's been a pretty good week. 

My Week

After the many and various shenanigans of the last two weeks, this week has been one for time at home. There has been the mass-pompom-production that comes with this particular time of year - I spent time sat in the garden with my family whilst making them, and binge-watching tv shows whilst making them, and dreaming about making them. We are edging ever closer to our target of five thousand tiny hats, we are just shy of three thousand at the moment with almost two months still to go, I am pretty proud of how we're doing, and hope it makes a difference to lots of people. 

The quiet-time at home has given me an opportunity to see all of the little creatures enjoying our garden, we've had beautiful butterflies and busy little bees. I hope they like the flowers we've chosen for them. Inspired by the summery florals, (and because the weather is disappointingly wintry) I have been making little tiny cross-stitch samples, using the lovely Cath Kidston "Stitch" book as my starting point. I made a tiny frame brooch that I'm sure I will thoroughly enjoy wearing. There are big changes happening in my little world at the moment, and the hope for the future has given me some inspiration to get making. I am trying to grab it with both hands. 

My Week...

I'm not entirely sure how July passed so quickly, but here we are in August, and the first week has flown by in a whirl of fabulous adventures! We started the week harvesting the lovely ripe summer fruits - yellow and red raspberries, giant rhubarb, gooseberries, blackcurrants and even a couple of juicy cherries. We made a crumble with the raspberries, and put most of the rhubarb in the freezer ready for treats in the winter. We ventured to Shrewsbury for charity shopping and lots of tea and cake, and I found myself the most beautiful carved Lucite brooch with pretty roses. My other fancy purchase this week was Marimo algae, little green pompom-plants that live on my shelf, they're settling in well. 

On Thursday we celebrated our Tenth Wedding Anniversary with a little trip to Oxford, and we had the most wonderful time. In preparation for our visit to the Oxford Natural History Museum I made myself some dinosaur jewellery - I chose to wear the Diplodocus on the day. I also made some goldfish jewellery which I am rather in love with. It has been a week to remember.

My Week...

The beginning of this week was perfect for hibernation at home, cosy with cups of tea and a Harry Potter movie-marathon and a big bundle of crochet while it rained outside. We snacked on homemade raspberry crumble and ice cream, and it was perfectly delightful. We had Christmas in July with friends - it was because of lateness rather than design, but next year we plan to do it deliberately as we all have birthdays in the months either side of Christmas. I made one-hundred and forty pompoms for Big Knit hats, and we counted the ones that have already arrived - there are 873 so far. 

I have had a couple of little adventures this week - I've been to Wolverhampton and Liverpool, and had a mooch around the shops and Galleries, searching for inspiration. I had a look around the Tate, FACT and the Liverpool World Museum, and bought lots of plastic from the comic book shops. I also went to my first ever Clothes Swap with my little sister, we had a splendid time and I found a very sweet little skirt to bring home. It's been a lovely week.

My Week

This week has reminded me of the things that are special, moments that are small but important - I have picked fresh raspberries from our garden, fingers stained with juice, and enjoyed the home-made crumble that my lovely husband baked with them. We joined my dear friend for a tea-party to celebrate her new home, her table covered with crochet and the beautiful ceramics that she made as her final degree project, and we ate sweet heart-shaped cakes in the garden, making plans for the summer. 

We had a quiet day visit to Ruthin, and went on to Llangollen and Ellesmere, just walking and chatting and looking around the little shops. A sweet friend came to visit and gave me a yellow toadstool, which has found a home on my fireplace, and my mum came to my stall to knit with me. We had a trip to the weird and wonderful antique place, and I had tea and crumpets, my favourite snack, and my mum told me that my Granny always had crumpets in the cupboard for me because they were always my favourite. I didn't know that. 
(Thanks to Amy H for the table photo from her Instagram...)

My Week...

Goodness, how the time flies and I am here sharing my week again. I had little taste if life as a nomadic-crafter at the weekend, selling my wares outdoors for the Oswestry Food and Drink Festival, where I chatted to lots of lovely folks and enjoyed breathing in some fresh air. 

My crafty week has involved talking my mum through Kitchener Stitch to finish a pair of cosy chunky socks, and a lot of crochet on my part, working on a blanket that will be made of very big squares. The plan was to use a white round between colours to help break them up and attempt to stifle my OCD about blending colours. So far it has worked well and helped my unsettled mood by giving me something to work on - I like that about craftiness, the duel purpose of distraction and productiveness. The highlights of my week were the purchase of a clear vinyl Kenickie 7" single, and going along to Manchester to see Korn, one of my teenage obsessions. They were pretty good I would say. 

The week ahead will be a long one, but the summer holidays bring the opportunity for adventure, and as always I will grab that opportunity with both hands. 

My Week...

This week has been a strange one. It's been complicated and I hope the coming week is a better one. There have been nice bits though - I got to spend some time with my lovely family, had a knitting session with my friend over a cup of tea, and went to see David Starkey with my husband.

My sister came home from her holidays in Whitstable with something very special for me - a SunJelly coral Dorothy bag (I love that it has a name) and my little cat was very interested in it. I also had a very kind present from my dear friend - a pretty plant and some gorgeous Rose chocolate. 

My crochet blanket is progressing nicely, I'm trying to find time here and there to add to it. I am trying to make the best of the days that are hard. 

My Week...

What a lovely week it has been! The sun has been shining and the long days have been glorious, we even made ice cream to help with overheating! We had a date-night at the movies, and I had a very jolly trip to Liverpool. 

I was a little bit under the weather on Sunday so I started making granny squares - I've made blankets with small squares, and large squares that just keep going, but never a whole blanket made of big squares, so that's my plan - I've done eleven rounds on each square now so I'm a happy camper. 

My Week...

My week started with a very exciting evening out in Liverpool watching the very scary-mindbending Derren Brown after a little visit to Hotel Chocolat for a pot of cocoa-shell tea. 

It has been a quiet and cosy week at home aside from our city adventure, with Thursday being spent building pretty triangular raised-beds with my dad, filling them with pretty succulents and alpines and pretty flowers. I have high hopes for them.

My Week!

Another week has flown by, and what a lovely week it has been. It started just right with my trip to London, mooching around the British Museum, then on to the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery, all so very full of people enjoying lovely cultural excursions. I also enjoyed rather a lot of cake, scones at the British Museum and Cannoli from a sweet little cafe around the corner. A day out is not a day out without cake.  

The rest of the week has been spent working and knitting, and getting over some kind of lurgy that left me dizzy and confined to the sofa. I can't complain, I binge watched old episodes of The Simpsons and started a snazzy pair of Frankensocks, as well as finishing my first ever toe-up pair. I spent my Friday evening making pompoms for Innocent Smoothie Big Knit hats with my mum, and squeezing her little dog Jock. He's a happy little ball of fluff. 

My Week...

What a wonderful week of adventures it has been! Every moment has been full, it's been a whirlwind! We've been to see two bands that were important to me as a teenager - Coal Chamber for sheer nostalgic value and the Manic Street Preachers because they will always have a place in my heart. 

There has been lots of making, I've been trying out itty-bitty crochet samples for something I have planned with a friend, and I've made lots of pretty button earrings for my shop (and for myself, I must admit that rather a lot of them came home with me...)as well as working on my toe-up socks which are very nearly done. There has been plenty of shopping, mostly summery clothes, although I did find myself a rather nice pink satchel, and I've spent lots of time with my lovely family. I also adopted a couple of woolly friends - two knitty gnomes and a little mouse. One of the gnomes will be going to live with my little sister, although she doesn't know it yet! 

My Week

What a jolly exciting week it has been! We had a trip to Ruthin, and a day out in Birmingham, and on Wednesday evening we ventured to Manchester to see Babes in Toyland, and I met lovely Kat Bjelland who was ever so sweet and stood chatting with the gathered fans despite the freezing late night air. The support band were amazing too, called Skating Polly, I think they will be one to keep an eye on. 

On Monday I found myself a lovely thrifty bargain - one to add to the list of all-time-favourite thrifty-finds - a dear sweet tapestry granny-purse. It was £2 and is perfect. It has been a really wonderful week.