My Pretty Studio

I've been busy working away on my pretty studio, and it is starting to feel like home. I've added some vintage embroidery in hoops, and a happy string of pompoms, I've filled my vintage cabinet with crochet cotton, and added some chintzy floral curtains. It is so cosy, I think I could happily be there every single day, making pretty things and enjoying the cosiness. 

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 Month in Makes - August

I seem to have re-located my making-inspiration this month, and have been ever-so busy with lots of different things. I've made a few new pieces of jewellery, as well as working on a couple of designs that aren't quite ready to go out into the world just yet. I also acquired a new toy that I had been coveting for some time - a badge maker. I am utterly smitten and have been making lots of tiny badges. 

My crochet blankets are coming along well - I am working on my fifth large square for my cosy big-square blanket, and I'm up to row fifteen of my 2015 blanket, although I'm falling behind a smidge with my joining. 

I've been making teeny three-round granny squares and pompoms which are for something new - I will be getting the keys to my very own studio soon! So it will need prettifying with yarny goodness. It's a little bit scary (terrifying) but very exciting too. I'm going to be painting the place soon, looking forward to moving in. 

My Week...

This week has just flown by! I got to spend lots of time with my lovely parents, making pompoms with my mum for our Big Knit hats and plotting a raised-bed rockery with my dad. I've been preparing for a collaborative project with a fellow crafter by winding yarn cakes, and we visited a lovely studio where we will run knitting and crochet courses, followed by a very productive little meeting over lunch. 

I had a very busy making day at home on Thursday, crocheting rosebud brooches for my stall in pretty summery colours. 

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...

The past week has been one of time spent at home - Enjoying our garden, chatting to our hens and our little bunny Clarence, sitting out in the sunshine knitting. We have baked, and tended our little patch, and taken things slowly. 

I went for a little drive to visit my parents, where there was more time spent in the garden and knitting, going for long walks with their little companion - a small terrier called Jock. He's rather cute and very excitable. It has been a splendid week, and although it looks like a change in the weather is upon us, I have made the effort to enjoy the glorious sunshine. 

My Happy Handmade Hallway

There are often little plans and schemes and plots in my brain, that tick and percolate and quite often drive me to distraction. There is usually some kind of crafty-making at the root of this, and the result is almost always the immediate need to make the thing that is causing such overtaking of my thought process.

 As it happens, the latest make to cause this started innocently enough with my plans for stash-busting good behaviour. As I made little squares and pompoms, without a real plan but as a way of using up the tiniest of bits-and-bobs, it occurred to me that this would be a way of adding extra fanciness to my lovely yellow hallway.

And so, with my super-tall husband playing the part of helper, we started to install some rather delightful (if I do say so myself..) strings of pompoms and mini granny squares. My hope is that they will bring some cheer and sunshine during the winter months, and they already bring a smile to my face every time I come through the front door!

Some Makings

My granny square blanket is growing slowly, it's at a stage where I barely see any progress because it's already so big, but it still has a long way to go! I am hoping to keep going until it is the size of a double bed, so there will be extra cosyness as the winter approaches, and I have decided that the combination of losing stamina and running out of the right colour and shades of yarn will not defeat me!

As usual, the plan is to run down my yarn stash (it's getting somewhat out of hand) but my blanket plan left me with a quandary over lengths that are too short for a round but still have usefulness. I've gathered together all of the odds-and-ends, and I'm making pompoms and mini granny squares. This however may end up becoming a project...

Last week I finished Groot. He's utterly splendid, and has a very fancy pot and bit of grass to sit in. He has his own shelf and seems to be settling in quite nicely.

Thanks to Twinkie Chan for the "Grootorial", it was really fun and easy to follow!