New things

...there have been a lot of new things for me lately.

S and I finally took the plunge and bought a place together... so a new home, a new area and a new person to live with...a new commute to work too!

In the mad rush of doing everything - getting used to travelling around a new area, unpacking, cleaning, buying furniture...well as you can imagine there just hasn't been time for much else, least of all blogging!

 We moved in mid-June so we are still very much in the settling in phase. We have a lot more space then either of us had before, which is lovely. We are very lucky. I have huge plans...well, too many plans really!

We've both spent months dreaming about this - we actually started the process in February, but it all got rather complicated and stressful, especially in the last few weeks. I've spent ages leafing through interior design books and home magazines, day dreaming - one of my favourite activities!

There are just too many things to buy and do, and we can't do them all at once! Never mind though, I love that we now have the time to plan at our leisure!

 

Zesty

I think I might be on a roll. Maybe I shouldn't speak to soon though. I'm working on another project, and I have a feeling I might finish it.

It's only a little cushion cover, nothing major. It has a slightly different palette than I would normally go for. It's kind of...zesty. I don't know why, I just wanted watermelon and primrose shades, together with a sort of greeny gold... some brown and cream to balance it out. I think I like it though.

The idea for this came from one of my favourite blogs, which I first discovered through Pinterest - IDA Interior Lifestyle. I love the things she makes - they are always simple, but so beautiful. Showing that you don't need to do anything complicated to create something effective. I think the colour palettes she uses are one of the things I like the most. I love the way she pairs bright colours with neutrals, and that the bright colours are always selectively chosen, and not just the whole rainbow thrown in (not that there's anything wrong with throwing in the whole rainbow - I've done it myself!).

It was the cushions shown in this post that really inspired me: http://www.idainteriorlifestyle.com/2013/04/thursday-pics.html. I have it pinned on my Pinterest board and whenever I see it, it lifts me. So simple, but so effective. I also love the colour blocking throw seen on the foot of the bed. Hmmm, maybe one will have to made at some point.

Blanket ta dah!

Lurking in the background (and in the foreground) of some of my pictures this week there have been some hexagons. Well, now you can see what they are part of! Yes, it's time for a proper, happy, happy crochet ta-dah! It feels long over due to me. I think I had felt a bit uninspired, craft-wise for a while - like nearly a year! Maybe that's one reason, as well as just being busy, why I haven't blogged much in the last 9 months or so.

I feel like my inspiration is slowly coming back now though. And finishing this blanket has felt so good - I'd forgotten how good it feels to finish a major project, and feel happy with it! Can't remember what my last ta-dah was and I'm not going to depress myself by looking back to find out.

All in all, I'm not only happy with the finished result of this blanket, but I also enjoyed the making process. The pattern was an Erika Knight hexagon design from the book Essential Crochet, which I've made before here, but I decided to change the colours so that each shape was all one colour instead of two, and then arrange the shapes into flowers.

It's also just about the biggest blanket I've ever made, which surprised me. I didn't get fed up and have to push on for a while being fed up in order to make it this size. I just sort of finished it naturally when I felt like I was ready to, and it's still big enough to cover a double bed quite well.

So now, feeling inspired, it's on to more projects. I have a few plans - crochet garlands, and two different cushion covers...and maybe a third in mind already. My big brother is moving house next week with his girlfriend (yay! happy for him), and I am thinking they might need a crochet cushion as a housewarming pressie!

Hope you all have a fab weekend!

Favourite books

I was the lucky recipient of a booky-present over the weekend. I love reading, and I always have a book on the go. Sometimes it takes me a long time to finish (I don't get much time for reading these days), but it doesn't matter to me.

I'm not a huge fan of e-readers either. I can see how handy they are, and in fact had one myself. However, when it recently broke, I decided I wouldn't bother to replace it. There's something about the feel of a real book in your hands, and seeing them on the shelf that I love.

S and I were browsing in a bookshop over the weekend (he is a massive bookworm too). I decided I would treat myself to a couple of paperbacks, and was all set to head up to the counter and pay, when S said he would get them for me! He'd had a National Booktoken card lurking in his wallet for about 18 months - a Christmas present from a couple of years ago. He was saving it and saving it to spend on something special (he tends to mainly buy second hand books), and on Sunday he decided that he was never going to find anything to spend it on, and decided to spend it on me instead!

So, lucky me, I not only walked away with the two paperbacks I'd picked up, but also a lovely hard back edition of one of my favourite classics - Sense and Sensibility. All courtesy of S and his book token! He is so great - I really did feel guilty about him spending his money on me, but after protesting for a while, I saw that I might hurt his feelings if I absolutely refused.

Anyway, it got me thinking about what my favourite books are, and I thought I would share a list of some of my top reads:

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
2. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
3. Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield
4. Dracula by Bram Stoker
5. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Do you have any favourites that you read over and over? 

May Day

Happy 1st May everyone!

So lately I have been.....

Admiring blossoms

Making hexagons

Making plans with S.

Life ispretty good just now.

Fickle

Maybe one day I will finish one of my many works in progress. For the moment, I am fickle. I keep swapping between projects - just working on whatever takes my fancy.

I have ideas, make a start, work on them for 1 or 2 weeks, and then....

Some other bright idea pops into my head, and I just have to try it, now.
 

It's all so undisciplined, and really not me. It's weird.

 To be honest it doesn't make me feel good. I don't achieve anything, and feel like I have the attention span of a mayfly. Must try harder!

I'm 'fessing up on here in a bid to try and shame myself. If I publicly admit my crafting shortcomings, maybe it will inspire me to overcome them!

I blame life at the moment. Big plans are afoot for S and I, but I can't say what yet here, as I don't want to jinx anything. It's all very distracting though, so I blame that for my short attention span!

Right, I'm to stare at pictures of other people's finished things online, in the hope of instilling some discipline back into myself!

Coming back

Hello everyone. Yes, I'm back after dropping off the face of the earth for a little while there. Things got hectic, overwhelming. I had to take a break from here in order to focus on other things for a while. It wasn't even a conscious decision, but time stretched on. Honestly, for most of November and December, I didn't even think about coming back here. I thought for a while that I never would.

It's funny how it didn't really take much to completely derail my time here - a bit of a PhD crisis, some people and things happening in life that I just needed to concentrate on for a while, to figure some things out. Nothing bad, just things. You know how it is.

Thanks to some great, understanding people that I have in my life, things improved by the end of December. I had a bit more head-space to think about some more self-indulgent things again, this blog and crafty-ness included.

Christmas was good, S and I have a fab time away with his family - much laughter and happiness occurred. Then I spent a day with my own folks, and that was great too.

There are big plans ahead for 2015 - exciting ones for me personally. Hopefully I can continue coming back here regularly - I think that is my personal ambition for 2015 - to get some balance in my life. It may not be easy - I need to stop procrastinating about the things I don't really want to do, in order to make sure I free up time for things I do want to do. I think it's that simple really, it's down to me.

Wish me luck! See you again soon!

Moss stitch cowl

Hello everyone. Whoa, this is my second post in just over a week! It's a long time since I've managed two posts in such quick succession - lets hope I don't strain myself (yup, being sarcastic there!).

Seriously though, it's nice to be able to be back here again so quickly - to have thought about it, and actually feel like it. To be honest I haven't done much of either of those two things for a while.

I've just felt tired, tired, tired. Not physically, or even mentally really... maybe more uninspired than tired. It's been a tough few months for various reasons. I think things are settling down for me again now, finally. Hopefully I will start to have more time, and to feel a little more inspired to get creative again.

I have some projects that I started in spring and early summer which have been sitting, waiting for something to happen to them. I'm still not sure what that will be - will they survive to be completed or be unraveled to turn into something else?

At least I have managed to finish the hat I mentioned in my last post, and also a moss stitch cowl. The cowl has another hat to match already actually, but I haven't had time to photograph it yet. Maybe I'll get S to take a snap of me wearing hat and cowl at the weekend!

The cowl was knitted in the round on a circular needles, using double moss stitch. It was very easy, and fantastic sofa-knitting in the evenings after work. Hmmm, maybe that it the secret to finding my crafty inspiration again - it's got to be something easy that won't require too much concentration!

Getting ready...

Hello everyone! After the weather we have had here in the last week or so, I'm sure you will all agree that Autumn is on the way!

I've been getting ready. I love Autumn. Love it. It's truly my favourite season. I love seeing the leaves decorating the ground, hearing them crunch under foot, seeing the misty sunrises and sunsets, the darkness slowly closing in. I love wrapping up in boots, woolly hats, scarf and gloves and going to rambles in the park or across the fields. Yes, all my likes about Autumn are very cliched, I know, but they're true all the same. I guess there's a reason why these things become cliches!

I always seem to churn out a series of scarves every Autumn/Winter. This year will be no exception! I've already finished one cowl (sadly have not had a chance to photograph and share it with you yet!). However, I thought I would try and mix it up a little this year by knitting some hats too!

I've already completed one in grey - this lovely design is called Pasha, and can be found  here.

The hat is finished, but sadly I only have 'in progress' pictures for you today - another thing I need to photograph in it's complete form!


**************************************************************

S and I made our quarterly pilgrimage to Bristol to see his folks last weekend. I've grown to love Bristol over the years, particularly the lovely area known as Clifton. It has an arty, crafty village-y vibe to it. I though I'd share some of the love with you by sharing some snaps. Yup, some of them are a bit random - my journey of learning how to take better photographs always seems to see me veering into still life territory by taking shots of things like vegetable stalls and flower shops! As evidenced by the pictures from Borough Market that I shared last month.

There are so many great independent retailers in Clifton - the one in the shot below is called Sky and sells a mix of gift items, cards and stationary and prints - I love browsing there.

If only I lived near enough I would make sure I was a regular customer for all these little shops to help make sure they survive. I think it's so important to support these smaller stores, and I really hate clone-town high streets that have only the same big name stores on them.

Before I go, I just want to say thanks to all of you who commented on my (nearly) finished throw in my last post - I don't think I've ever had a post receive so many lovely comments so quickly before!

Stay snug everyone!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx