It’s been a while since I last posted on here.
Happy New Year to you all!
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and managed to get a lot of crafting in. I haven’t managed to get much crafting done at all lately.
Christmas kind of takes over everything, but I’ve also started a new job in the last month and since that was in retail…well, you can imagine how manic that got over December!
Honestly, I simply haven’t had the inclination to sit down and knit and it’s been kind of nice to step back away from the crafty side of things for a little while.
I’ve been doing some reading lately. With all the books I’ve been buying people I racked up 10 stamps at Waterstones which means a free book! I chose The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix.
It’s set in the early 80’s (in an alternate 80’s) and is about the coexistence of the Old World and the New. Our heroine Susan is caught up in an adventure after witnessing Merlin, who is a Left-handed fighting bookseller, kill a crime boss with a silver hatpin…
I really can’t explain it anymore than that! I enjoyed the book as a fiction read that wasn’t a science fiction book by Isaac Asimov (which feels like all I’ve read over the past 3 years!) and it was an interesting concept.
The writing style was almost a little too simplistic. And the heroine was mostly swept up in things rather than participating in a lot of it. I guess it felt more reactive than active until the very end.
Some things could have been explained or detailed a bit more. And the relationship between Merlin and Susan could have been expanded upon.
But overall, a good read.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they turned this into a film…
I’m currently reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott...it’s about the art of writing. Some writing and life advice. It was going OK, until she started mentioning God every 3 pages and made a comment about France losing the war! I can’t get that throwaway comment out of my mind and it’s coloured the whole book now, haha!
So, we’ll see if I can finish it!
I thought I’d show you some of the crafty bits and bobs I got for Christmas…
I got some fabric. Denim in dark blue and yellow/ gold. I’m thinking a bag or a skirt. Not sure yet!
You can just see the yellow and blue denim in the background below…I couldn’t get the other pics to upload, internet just went funny at the crucial moment!
I also got a set of gorgeous dark red Christmas fat quarters. The colours are a lot darker in real life. I’m saving them for next year as the desire to make ANYTHING festive has completely left me.
My brother bought me a wool winder and since I’ve treated myself to 3 new balls of wool today and all of them are in hanks and not balls…well, that’s going to come in useful!
And the wool I bought?
Some 100% British Wool by West Yorkshire Spinners (Jacob in Aran weight) on the right of the pic below. I bought 2 balls of that, thinking it would be good for a hat or as part of a Fair Isle yoke for a jumper I have in mind to start soon.
And I also bought just the one ball of Washted Malabrigo (684 Chameleon colour).
You can get that one here from Wool Warehouse if you like the look of it(the one on the left). It’s really squishy and soft!
And for Christmas I got some more wool by West Yorkshire Spinners in brown and cream colours for the jumper I just mentioned above…so I’m all ready to start measuring and designing my first ever top down jumper!
And these are natural fleece colours…no nasty chemicals or fixatives, just pure wool as it came off the sheep! So…an eco-friendly option!
And finally…
The next post will be looking at my 2022 crafting goals. And then, hopefully back to blogging with a vengeance in January and beyond.
Last year in February I did a 30 day blogging challenge and I’m thinking of doing that again this year. Last year was about crafting, not sure what the topic/ theme could be for this year. Maybe a specific craft like knitting or crochet?
I was almost thinking of sharing a small business or a pattern I’ve enjoyed every day…something like that? Not sure! What do you think?!
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Woolly Orbit 
The hat I made (shut up already 🙄) was with the Washted wool. It’s lovely!
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Yes, it feels soft and snuggly! And your hat looks amazing by the way, will you make one for Reg?! And of course Toby needs a knitted dog coat too…x
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Your Christmas yarns look luscious. I finally bought myself a really nice ball winder, Fiber Artist Supply, after wasting 3 hours getting a fiddly skein of yarn to wind.
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They feel luscious too! 🙂 Yes, I’ve wasted too many hours winding wool into balls…
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