Stationary!

Like most women I know I love stationary! In fact one of the things I miss most about school and university is getting to go out and buy tonnes of pretty stationary and have an excuse to organize it all.

The relaunch of this blog was a perfect excuse to do so.

I didn't actually buy much, I've mentioned it before but I've started a pretty strict savings plan because we need to make some big purchases in a few months, but it was enough to make me happy.

Unfortunately the ipad camera didn't quite capture the colours of the folder too well but I promise you it's super pretty and at only 3 euros it wasn't a bad price. The sticky notes were a total impulse buy... no idea what to use them for but looking at them makes me happy!

Now, that clipboard is one of my favorite things ever. It was actually a gift from some friends when I left the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth to go work at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Portsmouth. I miss that lot so much and they knew that my two favorite things are fish and clipboards!

As for organizing the blog stuff, I haven't actually started organizing anything, so far the folder is just full of scraps of paper with my random thoughts and post ideas and of course many, many to do lists!

By the way as a side note, have you noticed that the table cloth changed between the two pictures? Well I may have thrown an espresso onto the dining table and chairs while photographing my pretty things and it was a miracle it didn't end up all over the laptop... I'm surprised I'm allowed to pick up my own baby with these butter fingers!

Right so, back on topic. I was thinking about my love for stationary a few nights ago and then it hit me. I don't buy stationary because I love folders and the way they work or because I think clipboards are useful, I buy them because they are pretty and looking at them makes me feel happy. This is something my mother at Maria Tangled  talks about often, and it is so true. Surrounding yourself with things you find pretty really brightens up your day no matter how useless or useful they may be!

I will definitely keep updating you on my pretty stationary buys and will show you how I do my blog planning when my system is a bit prettier!

I hope you have a good weekend and don't forget to say hi in the comments!

New Blanket - month by month blanket

You are probably thinking that I am crazy for embarking on another blanket project when my last one was such a fail, but not to worry this is a colab blanket with Maria Tangled (my wonderful mother).

I don't know if you remember but on my re launch post, the one about Ema being a month old, there is a picture where she is next to a crochet 1. I had decided that every month for the first year I would take a picture of her next to a crochet number. My first issue was making the numbers but with a little enticing I convinced my mum to make them. Then I had to decide what to do with all these numbers that I would have at the end of 12 months.

That's when I came up with the idea of joining all the numbers into one big blanket. I've already made a few sketches of how to put it together. Please excuse the rubbishness, I just did them as a guide for myself.

So I'm going to be using green, pink and blue and will end up being 105cm x 147cm which is quite a good size. At the end of the day Ema will only be 1 when this is finished and won't outgrow the blanket so quickly!

I've already bought the green wool to make the solid squares where the numbers will be sewn on. This is what I've chosen:

The colour is super vibrant, just like I like it and it is nice and easy to work with!

Even though it'll take a year for the blanket to be finished I am really looking forward to seeing it grow! I will keep you updated on it's progress and let's hope it turns out better than my first blanket attempt!

That's it from me on this one! Don't forget to say hi in the comments!

Ideas and Inspiration

Have you ever been struck by an idea that you think is great but are slightly worried that others will think you have gone crazy? Sure you have, everyone has. A few months ago I had one of those ideas.

I noticed a trend on some of the crochet groups I follow on Facebook. People constantly complained that they had impulsed bought some yarn and now they no longer liked it. They were now in a situation where they had spent money on yarn and didn't know what to do with it. Which to be honest I can relate to. But then an idea struck.

Why not create a place where people could exchange yarn with other people? Just because one person doesn't like something it doesn't mean there isn't someone out there that does like it. This seemed like such an obvious idea that after some research I was astounded that no one had done it before!

At first I was a bit apprehensive about posting my idea on a really busy crochet group. I was terrified people would think I was crazy. But I did it anyway. I wrote a simple post asking if anyone would be interested in joining a group dedicated to swaps. I was overwhelmed by all the positive responses I received within the first few minutes. So much so that I got to creating the group straight away. By the end of that day it already had over 200 members and the first swaps were already taking place.

Over 1000 members at time of writing and growing!

The group has now been running for a few months with very few issues. I've certainly enjoyed my swaps as has everyone I have spoken to. The group seems to have developed a little community and the most frequent swappers know each other well.

Screenshot of the main page

Here are a few of the items made with yarn from swaps:

Emma Sweeney's Scarf

And this scarf by Sal Cousins

Finally Sarah Spurrier's blanket

The point of this post is to encourage you to put your ideas out there, no matter how ridiculous you think they are. You will have people that'll hate your idea and people who will be just as enthusiastic about it as you. But at the end of the day you may have a truly great idea and without putting it out there that is all it will ever be, just an idea. Ideas need people and criticism to grow. 

Next Monday I will share with you another innovative idea close to home that has been put out there for the internet to comment on. In the mean time tell us your great ideas in the comments!

Until the next time!

Scrap Blanket Update

Remember that blanket I spoke to you about last week? Well it's not going so great anymore...

You may remember that my aim was to just use up some wool I already had and not go out and specifically buy wool for it. I've stuck to that but because I'm so adamant on not spending money on it, it has gone a bit weird.

I've ended up making 33 squares before I ran out of the colours and instead of trying to find yet more wool and add even more random, uncoordinated colours I decided that to make up the rest of the size I would do a granny border around it.

So first I played around with the square alignment:

Tried this first but didn't quite work

Then I settled for this

After deciding the order I then had to weave in the ends and join the squares. That's when it started going all wrong! I have never had to join these many squares before and I made sooo many mistakes. Even though I fixed them the blanket is still lumpy!

See, lumpy!

Any normal person at this stage would have probably given up but I had already spent a tonne of time on it. I mean it takes me about 20mins to make each square, that times 33 is 660 minutes or 11 hours! 11 hours making squares! And this doens't even take into account the darning and joining! Anyway I am fully aware that lots of people often make blankets with 100+ squares but this is new to me! 

So because of all that effort I decided to continue and add the border.

As you can see I went for some Ice wool, purely because it has pink and grey in, two of the square colours and also because I've had it for ages and don't really know what to make with it. 

The blanket is still not done and I will finish it and I will update you but I'm 99% sure that once finished it's going in a cupboard to never be seen again!

Have you ever had a disastrous crochet project? Feel free to show it to me on the facebook page or twitter and don't forget to say hi in the comments!

  

Miss Sporty products

So this being a mom business really is tiring! And the lack of sleep shows pretty quickly. In the past month I've started getting spots again, I have gigantic bags under my eyes and there's a sneaky bald patch appearing.

I don't really pay much attention to my appearance and I'm not bothered by what people may think but the other day I felt like buying something to make me feel good about myself.

I am a total makeup noob. I have been wearing it in and off for a while but it has really been more off than on. I think the only time I seriously wore make up was when I invested in some Bare Minerals stuff and absolutely loved it. I just love the natural look, unfortunately for the time being that's abit out of my price range.

So with this in mind I popped into a chemist and went to the make up isle. I went straight for the one with the most attractive packaging, yes cheap marketing tricks like that do work! And I ended up by buying two things from Miss Sporty.

Because they weren't particularly expensive I thought I'd take a gamble on something I'd never used before and it paid off.

The BB cream is really light and easy to put on and blends quite well to a natural look. It obviously doesn't eliminate all imperfections because that's not what it's designed for but it does enough to make me feel less like a zombie. The powder just takes away that shine and has a slight glow to it which again keeps to the natural look.

I'm not writing this post to review beauty products because I am no expert but I am writing it to say how much little things really lift your spirits. Just the act of putting on the cream and powder make me feel a bit more human again and like I have time for myself. I am incredibly lucky to be raising my baby in a house with so many people, there is always someone there to pick her up and give me some time for myself so it's quite nice to have something to do with that time!

Anyway that is all I wanted to say! On Friday there is an update on my blanket project! Until then don't forget to say hi!

Sirdar Beachcomber DK yarn

Every now and then I indulge a bit. By indulge I mean buying some yarn that I know I shouldn't. The reasons why I shouldn't buy the yarn can vary greatly but it's normally because they are too expensive and/or I have no clue what to do with it.

For a few months now I have been eyeing up the Sirdar Beachcomber yarn in particular the collecting shells, catch the sun and windward. I just absolutely fell in love with the colours. They are so soft and delicate and they just feel quite special. So I went to my local wool shop and got them.

Sorry, the ipad camera does not do the yarn justice

This yarn is 100% cotton and has quite an uneven texture but it feels really soft. I haven't done anything with it yet. Well that's a bit of a lie, i made a chain and worked 2 rounds and I'm going to be honest, I found it quite difficult to work it because of the unevenness. But I still love looking at it!

I'm really not sure what to do with it and I won't be working with it for a while yet since I have a few projects lined up and whatever I do with it is going to be slow going.

You can buy it pretty much anywhere like Deramores and Woolwharehouse.

Have you done anything with this yarn? If so send me an email with pics and I will feature it in a few weeks time! 

That's it for now, don't forget to say hi in the comments!