Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We celebrated Halloween early this year and had our ghoulish fun at the weekend.

I got far too engrossed in carving my pumpkin and forgot to do important things like eat and entertain guests. I think it was worth it though:


Then I had lots of fun making myself even paler. Apparently the undead look becomes me!


I hope you have a spooky night whatever you get up to. :)

Brrrrr

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I am a seasonal crafter. This past week, the weather has settled into it's usual autumn crispness, and out have come the woolly jumpers, leg warmers and bulky hats. I love this time of year. Cold and crisp, I've switched from warm milky coffee to hot tea and the knitting sticks have been clicking away. I am a day away from completing my very first jumper - and it's a jumper for me! Imagine that. Of course the camera situation lingers still, but I shall have the all revealing "ta-dah" post for you later this week, when I've sewn it together. I can't wait to wear it!

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Now I have been known on occasion to bring my knitting to the beach, but on the whole I get disinterested with it during the summer months. Maybe it's the association between woolen garments and the cold winter months that make me neglect my needles in the summer, discarding them to grasp on to that little glimmer of sunshiny hope, but it seems silly really only to start making warm, lovely, wrap-me-up-and-keep-me-toasty things when the cold weather is already at your door. I could do with a new hat and scarf already, and I seem to have misplaced the hand warmers I made early this year. I guess my hands will have to move a little faster to keep up with my ever growing make list!

I have managed a fair old bit of people watching over the past few weeks and I can say with delight that fair isle is still very popular this year, so I'll have to get the squared paper out and come up with a few designs for my new makes. Anyone else had success at creating their own fair isle patterns? x

Great Aunty Nel

Yes it's true that I sit and knit in my rocking chair, that my sofa sports a purple granny square throw, and that my flat is kitted out with all manner of charity shop treasures. I have, on many an occasion, been called old before my time. But I'm not sure how I feel with the concept of becoming a great aunt. At the grand old age of 25. No that wasn't a typo. I did indeed say 25. Look I did it again!

For those of you baffled by this concept (believe me I am!) I should explain that my dad had his first batch of kids at 18, and was a graying 40yr old when I was born, so my oldest niece is subsequently only a couple of months younger than me. Keeping up? And it turns out that she has not one, but two buns in the oven! And would you believe that she has two identical buns in the oven?? Oh my! Two lovely, squidgy, can't tell them apart bundles of trouble expected to arrive early next year.

So, once all my Christmas makes are done, I'm in danger of going overboard making things to fit little teeny tiny people. Teeny tiny little boy people no less. I just can't decide what to make - there's so much adorable stuff out there!

Doodle Days

It is extremely frustrating not to be able to do something you love to do. Especially when it's been so hard to explain why I've found it so difficult to craft over the past few months. A few weeks ago I had a bit of an "aha moment" when I realised that I associate crafting with illness, with not being very mobile, and maybe even as a way of fending off the insanity of insomnia. In essence, I used to craft when I was at my lowest, and I think somewhere in the back of my mind I still associate the two. My life is so different since having surgery and moving back to Wales last winter - I am well, I'm healthy, I'm physically active, I sing, I'm sociable, I'm rarely at home, I'm happy - everything that I wasn't last year. And I think my avoidance of crafting is because I don't want to revert back to the way I was.

I'm being silly. Crafting is not going to make me ill again. And the sooner I break that association the better, because quite frankly (beware of the forthcoming blowing your own trumpet moment!) it's something that I'm good at. I shouldn't let my strange brain hold me back.

So, get to the point Nel. You're quite right I am rambling somewhat. I have been missing crafting. A lot. I've been craving that feeling of accomplishment when you see ideas plucked from your brain materialise into something real, touchable, beautiful. So to give myself a creative quick fix (and a little to save on funds, but mostly to satisfy a making itch), I doodled a couple of friends some Birthday cards:

My sister's fella now has an excuse to be grumpy and cantankerous!


Again, apologies for the crappy photography.

I think I'm really developing a liking for doodling. It's taming my symmetrical brain, things don't need to be even, seams don't need to match up, anything you imagine is fine and nothing is wrong. Happy days! And more importantly it's easing me into my old creative ways. I think all in all, it's gearing up to be a handmade Christmas after all!

Inspiration

It's October. October! Is it really October?? I decided that the best way to deal with my lack of sewing inspiration was to do nothing. Just let it come in it's own time. But that seems to have backfired somewhat because it's October. (Is it really October??)

But never fear my fellow craftsters, a recent addition to Jemima HQ has turned my uninspired-ness on it's head. Look!

I have been given, yes given, a 1947 fully functioning electric singer sewing machine. With detatchable hand crank no less. It is hands down the best present I've ever had.

Very annoyingly I've been having some camera trouble but I had to take this quick snap on my phone to show you the paintwork - it's pristine!!

Isn't it the most beatiful thing you've ever seen? I am officially in love. And I can't wait to give her a good workout. Watch this space for lots of crafty goings on! :)