Before I Unravel…

My mum’s funeral was a year ago today. It was an unbelievably difficult day, which I got through by drinking too much wine at the pub afterwards (and vomiting on their carpet, but we won’t go there!). That weekend was spent on the sofa at my Mum’s house nursing a mixture of hangover and grief. The previous few years, on this same weekend in February, I had visited a local yarn festival but, obviously, I didn’t make it last year.

I would call myself an intermediate knitter at best (and no more than and advanced beginner when it comes to crochet!), so I have attended a few workshops at Unravel which have improved my skills no end. The fact that I can do amigurumi is down to a workshop taught by Kerry Lord of Toft a few years ago

and the reason that colourwork doesn’t completely terrify me (though it does still scare me a bit) is down to a Fair Isle workshop with Judy Hardman in 2016.

I have dithered over going this year – “Do I really need more yarn” (yes – obviously!) “Is it worth going if I’m not doing a workshop?” “Will my joints be too sore for the drive to Farnham?” and I have deduced that I am trying to talk myself out of it because of the timing. Which is crazy. Mum would have been the first to give me a kick up the arse and tell me to pull myself together! She would have been appalled if she knew I was moping at home when I could have been doing something fun and, more rarely nowadays, just for me. I love spending time with MiniMe and the Husbot but everyone needs some me time now and again and tomorrow is going to me mine! I am going to “oooh” and “aaah” over yarn and stitch markers and WIP bags and buttons, all safe in the knowledge that everyone else is there to do the exact same thing. I am going to meet up with some of the lovely ladies that live in my phone and drink coffee and eat things I shouldn’t and just have the worry-free, fun day that I really need.

Jack of all trades, master of none.

One of my most charming qualities / most annoying traits is that I like to try out lots of different things.  This is only beginning to cause a problem for me now because I am accruing lots of stuff that I don’t really have room for. I’m lucky enough to have a craft room but it’s bursting at the seams so, this year, I am really going to try to get it organised by using up the countless craft kits I’ve collected over the last few years. I’ll try and do a blog post about each one but here’s a preview of some of the things I’m going to be having a go at :-

Yarn dyeing  – I bought a kit from Devon Sun Yarns ages ago  – the kit has actually changed since then – but I’m going to assume it’s still fine to use and try it out. There are holes in the lino in my kitchen so I’m hoping that if I make a mess, the husbot will agree to a new floor! 

Nuno felting  –  Nope  –  I’d never heard of it either. This kit is a demonstration of my addiction to buying craft supplies. I’m in a few online destash groups and one day, while I was out having coffee with a friend, she nipped to the loo and by the time she got back, I’d gone on the internet on my phone and bought this! Anyway, looks like fun and will make a lovely present for someone once it’s done.

Needle felting –  Needle felting kits are fairly ubiquitous and I have made a needle felted brooch before, so this well be going at the bottom of my to-do list, though stabbing something repeatedly can be very therapeutic, so I guess it will depend how stressed I get!

Spinning with a drop spindle –   My lovely husband bought me a drop spindle kit  for our anniversary ( the traditional gift for 5 years is wood, apparently) and I have had a play with it, but as I keep dislocating my shoulder, I have packed it away for now. I have some gorgeous fluff to spin with it though, so I’ll be getting back to it as soon as I can.

Jewellery making –   Always attracted to shiny things, I saw an ad for this starter kit from Beads Direct and immediately bought it! I have only used a few of the pieces so far (to make stitch markers for my knitting!)  but MiniMe is accumulating lots of beads and craft supplies herself,  so I can see us having a jewellery making session one day in the school holidays!

Weaving –   I have no idea what I’m going to do with this but I saw this loom and thought it was cool so I bought myself one for my birthday. I thought it might be a something I could use when my arm is sore but I really don’t know anything about weaving so I’m going to have to have a look at YouTube first, I think!

Loom knitting  – This is another thing that I thought might be good for when my arm is too sore to knit or crochet. For Christmas I got a set of  Rico knitting looms, which I have started to use, and a sock loom, which I can’t quite get my head around, but which, if the illustrations are to be believed, produces perfect socks, so I’m not going to give up!

I am doing a few shifts at work (one a week at the moment) and this week I start volunteering at MiniMe’s school on Thursday and Friday afternoons so I think this is enough to keep me busy for the time being but, if there are any amazing crafts I’m missing out on, please let me know!

 

Keeping up my Christmas crafting!

A couple of weeks ago I’d slept on my outstretched arm all night and felt like I had a (very sore) dead arm all the next day. This happens fairly frequently – probably at least once a month – so I didn’t worry about it to much. I have a shoulder support I bought from amazon so I usually just strap that on and get on with things. Not sure if that’s a mum thing, a woman thing, an NHS worker thing or I’m just an idiot! After resting over the weekend it was still really painful and, luckily, I had a GP appointment booked for something else on the Monday so I thought I’d get it checked out.  The poor women’s eyes were getting wider and and wider as I told her my symptoms and eventually she asked “Do you think you might have dislocated it?” . I had honestly never thought about it – I’ve seen loads of shoulder dislocations in my time and assumed it would be more painful but, as I’m waiting to see a rheumatologist about potential hypermobility syndrome or Ehlers Danlos syndrome, recurrent shoulder subluxation suddenly made a lot of sense!

 

Anyway, long story short, I am too sore to knit at the moment so I’ve been rummaging in my craft room to find other things to keep me occupied. I had some card making bits and bobs that I got free with a magazine many years ago and I bought a few packs of blank cards and some very cute, tiny knitted hats a few weeks ago, so christmas cards were definitely happening! I also had a few kits I’d bought from Aldi  – again, ages ago – that were for making soap and bath bombs so that’s teacher presents sorted!

My rheumatology appointment is next week so hopefully I’ll be back to my usual yarny pursuits soon (I hope so – I’ve got a long to-do list!) but, in the meantime, I have plenty of new crafts to keep me busy.

Decoupage Santa card

Rose scented soap

Decoupage snowman with pompom snowballs

Knit one, post one!

A few months ago Bletchley Park launched a campaign called Knit One, Post One , asking for knitters to knit items from original 1940’s patterns, to be used to set dress some areas of the park, including the famous codebreaking huts! It sounded like an incredible opportunity for a nerdy knitter like me to be involved in the work of this amazing heritage site, in a teeny, tiny way and I was so pleased to be selected from the many people who applied.

My first task was to find a pattern. I decided to make a hat as hats from that era have always seemed very glamorous and, also, I thought I had a reasonable chance of getting a hat finished by the deadline! There are lots of patterns available online so I started trawling the internet for an authentic 1940’s pattern and eventually settled on this one.

My original 1940’s lacy cap and scarf pattern

The pattern calls for 4-ply yarn, which I have never actually used before but a bit of research suggested that 1940’s 4-ply was similar in thickness to modern double knit yarn so I headed off to my local yarn shop to squish some DK and make my choice. The only stipulations were that the yarn was to be no thicker than DK and it should be in a colourway that would have been available at the time i.e, not neon, self-striping etc. I settled on a lovely light blue Peter Pan yarn in a nylon/acrylic mix and got to work!

I don’t usually bother with a tension square but I thought it might be a good idea for this project. Luckily, my gauge was fine, but I actually decided to start with the scarf,  just to be on the safe side. After a few false starts, and LOTS of frogging (this was my first remotely lacy project), I really got into the swing of the pattern and it flew off my needles

I was really happy with it and decide to attempt the hat. That worked up quite quickly too, but as I have a HUGE head I wasn’t sure that the size was right, so I ordered a mannequin head from ebay. Here is the set – I am so chuffed with it!

I love vintage clothes so I think I’m going to make a set for my self, once I can figure out how to adjust the hat pattern for my aforementioned massive head!
I filled in the relevant paperwork and sent it off to Bletchley Park and a few weeks later I received a free season ticket in the post and last week I received an email from them which featured my hat and scarf in the banner photo.

It doesn’t get much more exciting than that in a geeky house like ours. My husband works as a software developer so even he has taken an interest in this project! Now I just need to arrange my visit so I can see them in their new home – can’t wait!

That difficult second blog post…

Well, I was hoping this blog would be full of pictures of yarny goodies but my plans have been scuppered lately. I’ve been suffering with various joint aches and pains since I was pregnant with MiniMe (who’s now four and a half!) and have a back injury that has been causing me pain for about 2 years now. After being referred to the local back pain service, it was suggested that I might actually  be suffering from Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder. After reading up on hypermobility, everything started falling into place and, this week, I finally psyched myself up to go and see my GP. I needn’t have worried as he couldn’t have been more helpful and has referred me to a rheumatologist for further investigation but, for the meantime, I’m carrying on as before, trying not to overdo it and taking this little lot when I need to.

I have a very sore shoulder at the moment but I’m managing a few rows of my beautiful Rainbow Stripe shawl from PookGB  each day, helped massively by my new HiyaHiya Sharp needles – they are awesome!

Hopefully I’ll get it finished before we go on holiday in a couple of weeks as I really want to pack some charity projects to take with me. I have loads of chunky yarn in my stash so should be able to whip up a few quick hats and some more of these cowls in the car – watch this space!

Speaking of charity, my amazing husband is running the Clarendon Way Marathon in October to raise money for DiabetesUK – our talents lie in very different areas! Please consider sponsoring him  – thank you!

Why I Carry Yarn Regardless

I first started my Carry Yarn Regardless Facebook page after my best friend lost her dad to cancer and I wanted to do something to raise money for the hospice that looked after him. I auctioned a few things before Christmas 2016 and planned to start making some more things soon afterwards but in January my Dad had a severe stroke and then, a few days later, my Mum was admitted to hospital with a chest infection. She’d been admitted with similar symptoms about 18 months earlier so we all thought it was a case of getting her better and getting her home. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. Due to complications caused by her diabetes, she didn’t recover and she passed away at the beginning of February. Six months ago today in fact. My heart was broken and I lost interest in lots of things, though I tried to keep knitting and crocheting as it has been a useful distraction . I had been making a blanket for my mum for when she came home and though I’ll never get a chance to give it to her, I will keep working on it and give it to my stepdad when it’s finished. I have now started making plans for my next charity sale (i.e, I have bought lots of yarn!) and decided that it will be to raise money for diabetes and stroke charities, so look out for that!