Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Enjoy the little things

Things are getting back to normal round here, I still have a sore throat hanging around but slowly I'm getting reacquainted with my mojo. I'm finding my way back in to the routine of work, starting to get organised and make plans for the coming months. Starting to feel cautiously optimistic. Trying not to run before I can walk though, taking one day at a time.

I was gifted the wonderful mug in this picture via my work's secret Santa. I love it. For one it's enamel so reminds me of camping trips when I was a kid, and two it's an ever present reminder of something I've been trying to do for a while but not always with success.
Tea. Knitting. Reading. Simple things. Happy.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

What I'm working on

I'm still struggling to shake off the last of the illness that's had me knocked out since the middle of December. It's definitely a case of one step forward two steps back. One day I feel like the light is at the end of the tunnel the next I wake up feeling lacklustre and full of germs again. I'm looking forward to the day I wake up feeling well again and can get this year started.

In the meantime there's not much I can do but continue to get from one end of the day to the other and potter and create in the small windows each day when I have the energy for it.

As I haven't blogged regularly in an age I thought I'd catch you up with the things I'm actively working on right now.  Knitting and crochet seem to have taken over my crafting time for the last 6 months or so, largely due to the fact that most of my other crafting things are packed away in storage.  My poor old sewing machine hasn't seen the light of day for almost 2 years if you can believe it....I'm looking forward to a time when I have some room to have it set up again but until then......

I'm crocheting a large blanket which was started as part of Lucy's Cosy CAL over at Attic 24.  Thanks to this bug that I picked up I've fallen so far behind most others have finished. I decided to go with my own limited colour palette rather than following Lucy's colour scheme and I've made my blanket wider, it should hopefully cover a double bed more or less.  Take a look at my project page on Ravelry if you're interested in details about colours I'm using
We welcomed a new member of the family in to the world yesterday as my sister gave birth to a bouncing baby boy.  I'm working on a knitted garland to gift her for the baby just a couple more letters to knit up.
Finally I have this Celtic knot scarf bubbling away in the background.  I started this back in June last year when I picked up 4 balls of Aran in a sale at the bargain price of £1 each.  I was originally hoping to to finish this and gift it to someone for Christmas but that didn't pan out again due to feeling ill but I'm three quarters of the way through so I'll keep plugging away until it's done.
I have a million and one other projects tucked away in cupboards in various stages of completion but I need to get focused and finish a few things.   I've also got a tonne of new starts that I want to embark on but I'm trying to exercise some will power and not start anything until I have something finished.  My lovely man gifted me this gorgeous book for Christmas and the next thing to be started will be from here.....the thought of hooking up one of these lovelies is spurring me on to get something finished.

Monday, January 05, 2015

Hello 2015

It's been almost a year since I regularly posted here.....not sure how so much time disappeared since my last proper post.

2014 was a bit of a strange year.  I feel like I spent most of it in limbo.  I put my flat up for sale and quickly got an offer but after many months the buyer pulled out at the last minute.  Meanwhile I'd moved out and in with James and most of my belongings went in to storage.   We've lived in a kind limbo for almost 6 months not being able to do much of anything as we needed the funds from my flat sale to help us move on.

The flat finally sold at the beginning of December, but not after that I fell ill with a nasty flu bug, which turned in turn brought with it a cold, a persistent cough and most recently a bout of tonsillitis.....I pretty much missed all of the Christmas and end of year celebrations and have spent a good portion of the last 4 weeks in bed or collapsed on the sofa with no energy or enthusiasm for anything.

Hopefully I'm coming out of the other side now, I would go as far as to say I am almost feeling human again.

If I can just shake off the remaining few germs there is no question that I will feel a good amount of giddy excitement thinking about the things that this year could have in store. It's likely we will be on the move again to a bigger house that can accommodate all of our things (most of mine are still in storage) location to be confirmed.  We have several lovely trips and weekend getaways planned.  And of course as always I have a million and one craft projects on the go.

I'm not setting any goals or resolutions this year, I'm just going to see what happens and where things take me.  And of course I'll try and visit here more often that I managed last year. 

I have no idea if anyone is still out there reading this but if there is anyone there well....... happy new year, brightest blessings and warmest wishes to you.  I hope 2015 brings you many joys. XX


Sunday, January 04, 2015

Goodbye 2014

Am thinking about coming back to this space.  I miss it.  We'll see.

For now goodbye 2014.  Looking forward to seeing what 2015 brings

Things I made in 2014

Albie's Sea creature Mobile
Albie's Cobblestone vest
Micky's Windchief
Los muertos hat

Kitty Mobile

Giraffe Blanket

Kathleen Hat

Booties for Mav

Owl Hat for Mav

Hat in Bloom

After the Rain embroidery

Knitted Penguin Jumper x 2

Embroidered coasters x 2

Knitted face cloths x 9
Ochre hat

Books I read in 2014

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
A slip of the keyboard by Terri Pratchett

The Children of Dune by Frank Herbert

The Glamour Chase by Gary Russell

Dr Who 50th Anniversary collection

The King's Dragon by Una McCormack

A monster calls by Patrick Ness

The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly

Dune by Frank Herbert

Waking the Dead by Steve Niles

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

My Week with Marilyn by Colin Clark

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
The Clockwise Man by Justin Richards

Movies I watched at the cinema in 2014

Interstellar
Fury
The best of me
What we did on our holidays
Lucy
What If
Into the Storm
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Purge: Anarchy
Planet of the Apes

Begin Again
Maleficient
A million ways to die in the west
The two faces of January

Godzilla
Sabotage
The Amazing Spiderman 2
The Other Woman
Divergent
Captain America
Labor Day
300: Rise of an Empire
Robocop
The Monuments Men
Dallas Buyers Club
The Wolf of Wall Street
That awkward moment
12 years a slave
American Hustle
The Railway Man
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Places I visited in 2014

Barton on Sea, Hampshire
Exeter, Devon
Stonehenge, Wiltshire
Topsham, Devon
Whitby, Yorkshire
Zakynthos, Greece