October Goals

On 5th Oct 2022 By woollymakerIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I’m going to stick to crafty/ life goals for this post as I have MILLIONS (yes millions) of side hustle/ work goals and this post would rapidly turn into a 10,000 word book if I included those too!

Now that I’m reading over what I’ve written, I realise these are also autumn goals in general…it’s a lot for October and it’s already the 5th with no progress made!

1. Finish what I have started!

I have several projects on the hooks/ needles/ in the queue that have been on the go since the start of this year. I’m fed up of them to be quite frank. I want them off my needles before I cast on anything new.

Here’s what I have on the go at the moment:

Grey chunky knitted sweater
Grey Fisherman’s Rib knitted sweater
Green knitted tunic
Crocheted top
Halloween granny square blanket
Knitted blue baby cardigan
Chunky knitted hat in the round
Top down knitted sweater in natural fibres
Knitted lace cowl

And in my sewing queue are bags mostly…a few patterns and a few zipper bags. As well as another Tilly and the Buttons cardigan in a plain fabric.

So. What to focus on?

Halloween Blanket – 2 more balls of black yarn to use up for the border. It’s chunky weight yarn so will crochet up quite quickly.
Knitted baby blue cardigan – got the right front, sleeves and collar to do. Won’t take too long once I get started but it’s a lace pattern so I have to concentrate which is what’s been putting me off!
Green knitted tunic – I’m working in the round now, bottom up. Once I fix my tension problems, I’ll be able to go quite fast on this one.
Chunky knitted hat – Did about 6cm of this in the round at work one day! Shouldn’t take too long to finish.

And then we’ll see what happens after that!

I want those 4 things done at least this month!

2. Christmas Socks

I have 3 balls of Christmas sock yarn and ideally, I’d like at least one pair of socks for Christmas this year. The yarn is thin and takes ages for me to knit a sock, so we’ll see. But I want to make a pair of socks and before I can do that, I have to finish at least ONE THING on the list above.

There’s just no room for loads of project bags otherwise!

So, I would like to be casting on a pair of Christmas socks near the end of October, if possible!

3. Use up other crafty things

I have a leather handbag to sew up.

Another cotton bag to ice dye (cannot get plastic ice cube bags for love nor money locally).

Lots of recipes to try. Flours and other dry ingredients in the cupboard to use up!

Finish the last book on my shelf to read – The Testaments by Margaret Atwood. At least I can read the book in my breaks at work!

I think a general goal could be to just do a bit of some of the above! Start the book, sew a little bit, bake some bread…

So, there you go. Just some things I want to do this month.

You’d think that by writing this all down and putting it out into the world, that I’d be more accountable to myself and would ‘get shit done’.

Nope!

What usually happens is that I write a blog post like this, life happens and I need to change my plans and do something else instead!!

I get sick, I’m too tired, I do more hours/ different shifts at work…

For example, last week I did a night shift, so the next day I had planned to write a bit was completely out because I was sleeping! The week before I had the Monday off for the Queen’s funeral…I was so tired from health complications I did nothing!

So, life can almost get in the way sometimes. Of both side hustle and crafty plans…but at least by writing this in the first place, I’m trying to prioritise what’s most important/ urgent and get a little something done.

Hope you’re having a good Wednesday and talk soon x

Try Dying Your Fabric With Ice For Cool Effects

On 28th Apr 202226th Apr 2022 By woollymakerIn crafts and hobbies, sewingLeave a comment

My friend Lizzie bought me an ice dying kit for Christmas (thank you!) and I’ve only just now found the time to have a go.

The results are pretty cool if I do say so myself!

I’d never heard of ice dying until she bought me the kit but basically you place ice cubes onto a piece of fabric, sprinkle over powdered fabric dye and as the ice melts it makes some really funky patterns depending on whether you scrunch up the fabric beforehand.

I think it’s supposed to give a kind of tie-dye effect.

I placed my fabric on a baking rack over a baking tray (I didn’t have a bowl or bucket wide enough for the fat quarter so I used a tray).

I also folded my fabric into 4 quarters and laid it flat.

Once the ice had melted I realised that on the bottom the baking rack had made a striped pattern which was quite interesting! All 4 quarters had different patterns, I’m just waiting for it all to dry before I decide what to do with it.

So, if you want to have a go at something different and easy to (you could do this with kids it’s so easy!) then this is definitely an option!

March Craft Goals Met?

On 9th Apr 20228th Apr 2022 By woollymakerIn crafts and hobbies, GoalsLeave a comment

A few weeks ago I posted a few crafty goals for March, let’s see what I’ve been able to get done shall we?

I think I may have been a little bit ambitious with the amount and the size of these goals, though!

I’ve been busy with work and I was ill the last week of March, so although last week I got lots of knitting done, I haven’t really been focussing on crafting.

I finished a book last night by Isaac Asimov called The Gods Themselves, so I’ve also been doing reading too. So little time to do all the things!

Crafting Goals

Sewing

Do something with denim fabric I got for Christmas – maybe a bag?
Find a skirt or top pattern for the dark denim I bought myself a few weeks ago.
Use up old wool fabric for a draught excluder (the front door is VERY chilly!).
Use up old fat quarters and zips and make some zipper bags.
Go through all my sewing patterns and get rid of the ones I am realistically never going to use!

NOPE! Haven’t done any sewing and in all honesty I probably won’t do any at all this month…they roll over to April Goals!

Knitting

Work more on my grey top in Fisherman’s Rib. I’ve done a few inches on the front but I’ve put it aside for a few weeks as I’ve been working so much!
Try and finish a sock that I cast on a while back, literally only a few cm done on the top cuff rib at the moment.
I cast on a green sweater a few weeks ago and haven’t touched it since, so, try and do the rib at the bottom as it’s on quite small needles so might take a while.
Sock yarn shawl – just do a few rows, it’s getting long to finish a row now.
Measure and design a top down sweater with aran natural fibre I got for Christmas. Or just find the right pattern!

I’ve done more on the 1st and 3rd points, even getting onto the main body pattern for my green sweater, yet I’ve hardly done any more on the others.

Crochet

~~Finish pink and purple granny square blanket. Not much yarn left, so just finish what I have for a few more rows and then see what size it is!~~ FINISHED!
Do some more on my bright pink and blue granny square blanket, not much done so far.
Finish top piece of my crochet top. I’m crocheting the front, which has the sleeves and yoke bit all in one if that makes sense? So, it’s taking a little while to do a single row, but it’s looking good so far!
Make a hat with scrap yarn.

I started another crochet blanket which sort of took over all of my crochet headspace. That’s about 2/3 done and I did manage to finish a baby blanket out of scrap yarn (1st point above) so that was good!

Miscellaneous

Ice dying kit to do with fabric.
Leather handbag to pick up and sew together with saddle stitch. All the pieces are dyed and ready to go.
Get back into baking bread again, haven’t done any in AGES!

NOPE to all of the miscellaneous items!

Conclusion

Too many projects mean not much progress with many.

Also, I started extra projects that weren’t on the list which takes away from the intended goals.

I cast on another granny blanket and a baby knitted hat with spare yarn and sent them to Knit For Peace. The pics below were all donated, as well as some I didn’t take photos of:

My main priorities now are my green and grey knitted tops. And a new chunky knitted top I recently cast on.

I want to get back to my crochet top too.

Everything else can wait!!!

Except…I did buy a pattern for a v-neck tank top (or sweater vest, whatever you want to call it) from Petite Knits and I REALLY want to cast that on too…

No, concentrate on finishing what I have on the go already before I cast on any more…but it’s hard!

March Goals

On 3rd Mar 2022 By woollymakerIn crafts and hobbies, crochet, knitting1 Comment

It’s funny that my last post was almost a month ago…so much for posting every day in February!

But, you know what? Life got busy and I had a lot of hours at work last month and when you get in late at night, you just don’t feel like blogging…or doing much else at all!

But, this week I’m off and I’m back to writing and blogging with a vengeance, so what better at the start of a new month to set some goals? I love reading other people’s goals posts, yes, I’m sad like that!

So, what do I want to achieve with my crafting first of all, and then what do I want to get done with life and everything else?

I’m saying goals for March, but let’s face it, some of these will probably roll over into April or even May!

Crafting Goals

Sewing

Do something with denim fabric I got for Christmas – maybe a bag?
Find a skirt or top pattern for the dark denim I bought myself a few weeks ago.
Use up old wool fabric for a draught excluder (the front door is VERY chilly!).
Use up old fat quarters and zips and make some zipper bags.
Go through all my sewing patterns and get rid of the ones I am realistically never going to use!

Knitting

Work more on my grey top in Fisherman’s Rib. I’ve done a few inches on the front but I’ve put it aside for a few weeks as I’ve been working so much!
Try and finish a sock that I cast on a while back, literally only a few cm done on the top cuff rib at the moment.
I cast on a green sweater a few weeks ago and haven’t touched it since, so, try and do the rib at the bottom as it’s on quite small needles so might take a while.
Sock yarn shawl – just do a few rows, it’s getting long to finish a row now.
Measure and design a top down sweater with aran natural fibre I got for Christmas. Or just find the right pattern!

Crochet

Finish pink and purple granny square blanket. Not much yarn left, so just finish what I have for a few more rows and then see what size it is!
Do some more on my bright pink and blue granny square blanket, not much done so far.
Finish top piece of my crochet top. I’m crocheting the front, which has the sleeves and yoke bit all in one if that makes sense? So, it’s taking a little while to do a single row, but it’s looking good so far!
Make a hat with scrap yarn.

Miscellaneous

Ice dying kit to do with fabric.
Leather handbag to pick up and sew together with saddle stitch. All the pieces are dyed and ready to go.
Get back into baking bread again, haven’t done any in AGES!

Work/ Life Goals

Schedule a week’s worth of posts in advance for this blog and on Medium. I’ve neglected both a little bit recently.
Get up to 500 designs on RedBubble by the end of March (I’m about halfway there already).
Get up to 50 designs on Society 6, oh what a pain it is to upload on that site!
Launch my 2 other blogs I have waiting in the wings…just how am I going to find the time to write so much content?!
Do more with Pinterest.
Publish my book which is about 2/3 done, most of the printables are done I just need to do the actual writing, like the introduction and conclusion etc.
Launch/ ope my Etsy store with printables to download and print yourself at home.

…

See more of my home county! I feel like there are lots of places in Yorkshire that I haven’t been to even though I’ve lived here for years!
Do more Yoga – either DVDs or from Youtube.
Do something physical, either cycling, or go to the gym. The ‘worry’ about going to the gym is starting to ease a bit now the pandemic is lessening (is that the word?).
Finish all the books on my shelf. Only 5 to read and I’m halfway through one.

What I really want to do this year is use stuff up.

Read all my books and either donate or sort out somehow those that I’m not likely to read again etc.

Use up my wool and fabric stashes before buying any more of either. There is literally NO ROOM for any more!

Just make some space and get rid of the old things that are taking up space and that I’m fed up of!

I’m making headway on that already. I’ve already made a bright neon cowl that I started to crochet on my lunch break at work and finished at home the next day. I just have a tiny bit of neon wool left now and I’m not sure what to do with that. I’d love to crochet a pair of wrist warmers but I don’t think there’s enough yarn left!

Anyway, that’s my rough goals for March. It’s a lot, but it’s all doable as long as I plan my time carefully and get motivated!

What are your plans for this month?

Aside from relaxing and taking time for yourself of course!

The grey fisherman’s rib sweater progress below as well as books I’m reading now, a crochet blanket I’m nearly finished and my sock yarn shawl progress!

*Ah, the colours look so good on this scrap yarn pink and purple crochet blanket!*

Happy 1 Year Blogiversary!

On 4th Feb 20222nd Feb 2022 By woollymakerIn blogging2 Comments

It’s been exactly a year since I started this little blog as an outlet for my writing and sharing my crafty exploits.

I’m still enjoying it, even though I haven’t been posting as much in the last few months or so. I started a new job a few weeks before Christmas, so things got a bit hectic for a while back there…but I think I’m finally getting back to normality with blogging, writing and publishing and all that.

I’ve been writing on Medium and uploading a lot recently to my print on demand shops recently too, which also takes time away from this blog.

The First Year

I published 159 posts in 2021.

Surprisingly January and February were my best months for views!

I mainly focussed on showing what I had knitted, crocheted or sewn last year. But there were a few posts about writing, life and other creative outlets such as designing for print on demand.

Last year was the year when I joined everything!

Medium, RedBubble, Society6, Spoonflower etc. As well as getting to grips with all the software you need to use them, like Photoshop and Canva.

RedBubble has the process sorted, but it takes me a little longer to upload to Society6! Nevertheless, I hope to carry on more with both of these print on demand sites and more this year.

Medium has gone brilliantly! It’s a different style of writing over there. More self-help and actual articles, along with some shortform pieces. You can write about different topics or niche down, it’s up to you. I tend to write about writing, print on demand, making money online and honestly, whatever other crap pops into my head. And it works…last month in January 2022 I meant to post more but just haven’t had the time with work. And it still made me money with literally NO POSTS PUBLISHED!

So, the other online things are going well as well as this little blog.

If you think about it, this little blog started it all! Small beginnings…

Below is a gallery of some of the crafty makes I completed last year in the first year of this blog.

And that isn’t even half of it!

I made my first 2 knitted jumpers, my first sewn skirt, my first backpack, my first wreath…a lot of firsts last year!

It’s been fun and full on!

Since I’ve been away for a few months from the blog, I thought I’d try and post something everyday in February. So far so good! No constraints or challenges, just a post every single day. To, you know, get back into the swing of things!

Hope you’re all having a lovely day! x

2022 Knitting/ Crafting Goals

On 18th Jan 2022 By woollymakerIn crafts and hobbies, knitting, sewing4 Comments

I thought I’d write my crafty goals for the year here.

To be honest, it’s mostly going to be knitting for now. Yes, there’ll be the odd crochet or sewing project too, but I have a little list of knitting projects to get out of the way first (or at the very least, started!).

Sock Yarn Shawl

This is an ongoing project with no particular urgency, but it’s the project I cast on before all of the others on this list, so it gets first place! It’s a 4ply yarn by West Yorkshire Spinners in a GORGEOUS colour way (you can get it here from The Knitting Network if you want it in your stash!).

It’s going to take a while to finish it, but there’s no rush!

Socks!

I have only ever knitted one sock. As in, ONE. Not a pair…but one!

I threw it away last year as it was all twisted and would never be worn!

Socks are my knitting nemesis. They take ages and they seem so slow to make any progress with at all. I’m a bit impatient!

So, this year, I’m going to focus on socks. I’ve cast on and knitted a couple of rows before Christmas, and then I put it aside. It’s time to pick it up again.

I just find DPNs so fiddly and no, I’m going to try any other methods like the magic loop anytime soon as I think it will be just the same amount of fiddliness!!

Fair Isle Top Down Sweater

I have the aran wool all ready for this. I have the book all ready to look at. I don’t have a pattern!

I’m going to have a go at designing one myself, which means I need to measure myself, design a Fair Isle Yoke motif (I’m thinking trees) and then write up the pattern itself for me to follow.

I’ve never designed a sweater before, I’ve only ever knitted 2 in my life in fact. Last year.

But, it’s a huge project I’m really looking forward to!

Miscellaneous Bits

I have wool for the following projects:

A soft grey hat
A neon cowl
A baby blanket from scraps
Aran wool for a tank top (sweater vest)
About 20 random single hanks/ balls of yarn that I have NO IDEA what to do with!

And I’m currently crocheting a scraps blanket which I’ll donate somewhere that accepts baby knitted items.

Sewing

Christmas fat quarters
Denim fabric – maybe a skirt or a bag?
Grey wool fabric into a draught excluder?
Fix a pair of shorts I made last year!

I also bought 3 metres of some striped fabric, with the intention of making either a dress or top. I’m thinking a t-shirt, which isn’t my first choice of garment for sewing…but it’s something I’ve never done before and will give me good practice with pattern matching. I could make it into a mix of t-shirt and dress by doing a long tunic type top.

We’ll see!

And finally, I’m going to finish a leather handbag I started last year…it’s all dyed red and green, it just needs to be sewn up. I’ll have to refresh saddle stitch, but it should be no problem once I get into it!

That just needs a big chunk of time to focus on it!

Well, that’s it. All my crafty projects for the year.

There is not a lot on here really, I feel like I finished a lot of the bigger projects last year so I’m almost starting with a clean slate this year. And that feels pretty good. 🙂

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Little Catch Up

On 14th Jan 2022 By woollymakerIn crafts and hobbies, knitting4 Comments

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?!

This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, I may get a small commission of that purchase with no extra cost to yourself.

Latest Posts

Knitting Updates

On 4th Dec 20213rd Dec 2021 By woollymakerIn crafts and hobbies, knittingLeave a comment

Last week I sent another box of knitted goodies to charity. It’s great for me as I have more room to make more stuff now!

Do you remember some of these below from previous posts this year? All gone now as well as more blankets that I forgot to take pictures of!

I loved the Christmas blankie so much…but there comes a point when you have to say to yourself “Actually, I have ENOUGH knitted blankets now!”.

I have a few projects on the go which are:

Knitted baby cardigan
Knitted sock yarn shawl
Knitted socks
Orange granny square blanket using up scraps from a jumper I made earlier in the year

That’s enough to be getting on with now. I have a few ideas for future projects which is basically, a top down sweater and more socks! Also a tank top and a neon fair isle cowl.

Since I got rid of a lot of scrap fabric the other day, I don’t have a lot of sewing projects planned. Although I did buy a couple of cute Christmas fat quarters from a local sewing shop a couple of days ago…I couldn’t help myself!

Just look at the traditional Christmas colours on the fat quarter on the right!

I never go for weird Christmas colours…I remember as a teenager in the early 2000’s when they bought out black Christmas trees for the first time, as well as purple and silver as a festive colour combo…I hated them! What was wrong with golds, red and greens?

Anyway…I have NO IDEA what I’m going to make with them…probably zipper bags as they are my absolute favourite sewing make!

Star Wars Fabric Gift Bag

On 22nd Oct 2021 By woollymakerIn sewing6 Comments

It’s my brother’s birthday today and I spent 20 minutes this morning making him a fabric zipper gift bag.

I was aiming for ‘eco-friendly’ as I didn’t want to use wrapping paper which would just get thrown away. At least he can reuse the bag.

And I haven’t sewn anything for a few months…I’m just chuffed I didn’t have to look up which way to place the fabric, I figured it out all by my little self!

My friend Lizzie bought me the fabric a few weeks ago (thank you!) and there is enough left to do something else with it.

The nerd in me loves the fact that Halloween Darth Vader is a skeleton…in Return of the Jedi you see him briefly as a skeleton when he gets electrocuted. That fabric was designed by a true believer…

I just did a basic bag and inside there is his card, a couple of books, a pack of posh cookies and some loose chocolates. He doesn’t read this blog so don’t panic!

It was good to get the sewing machine out again.

That was basically my only finished make of the week. I’ve also cast on a new knitted baby cardigan and made a pom pom for a baby hat I finished a few days ago. But it’s all been writing still…no time to craft anymore!

See you soon 🙂

Turning One Thing Into Another

On 5th Sep 20214th Sep 2021 By woollymakerIn crafts and hobbies, Shop3 Comments

I finished the stitching part of my latest cross stitch project last week (I just need to sew it all up).

And I thought I would have a go at adding it to my RedBubble store, just to see what it looked like. It looks pretty funky on the cushions I think!

The piece was stitched out of fabric and threads I already had and had no other use for. So, I turned things that were likely to be thrown away into a future piece of ‘art’. It’s going to be a placemat/ trivet type thing once I get around to sewing it up.

I then turned that into other products by taking a picture of it and uploading it onto RedBubble.

You could do this with knitting and crochet projects too. I’ve seen some funky designs with pictures of patchwork quilts that have been added to places like RedBubble.

So, you can make a little bit of extra pocket money from a project you’ve already sewn/ knitted/ stitched etc. I mean, even if you took pictures of things you made for other people, you could still make money!

Just a quick idea to turn your projects into cash without much extra work!

You can find my RedBubble store here if you’re interested. I’m in the process of sorting it out and updating collections and banners etc. for the autumn.

WoollyOrbit2000.redbubble.com

Other recent RedBubble designs below:

Follow me on Pinterest @woollyorbit

Finished Object – At Last!

On 25th Aug 2021 By woollymakerIn sewing2 Comments

I took a few days off because I wasn’t feeling great. I didn’t write much for Medium and didn’t publish much either over the weekend. Since I wasn’t feeling like sitting at a computer and writing, I took it easy and did some stitching.

And I managed to finish my cross-stitch project at last, yay!

I’ve used up what spare threads I had leftover from previous projects and that’s made some room in my craft drawer, not much but I need all the space I can get for new stuff!

I’m thinking a padded placemat or trivet type thing. And I need to do a few more rounds of black stitching on the edges to make it easier to sew up without any white edges showing.

But for now, it’s done!

The light looked better last night as I was taking the photo – it was 12:15am and I was just going to bed!

I’m glad it’s done, it kind of looks like there should be some code hidden in it like in The Matrix!

I enjoyed this mindless project but so many of the threads got tangled or knotted which doesn’t normally happen to me. I am careful not to cut the threads too long and to let them untangle, but it still was quite annoying to constantly untangle them!

Anyway it’s done.

Onto the next project, with is finishing a knitted baby cardigan and trying to get started again on my orange jumper!

Playing With WordPress

On 8th Aug 20216th Aug 2021 By woollymakerIn blogging, writing4 Comments

I’ve had this blog for over 6 months now and I haven’t really messed around with what you can do INSIDE the blog posts.

I’ve added links, main images and gallery images, am starting to use the separator line and that’s about it, really!

I tagged knitting, crochet and sewing in this post because I post blog posts about those topics a lot, but also because a lot of the example below would be relevant if you blog about those topics too!

Some things you have to pay subscriptions for or aren’t available on the free plan (like adding polls or uploading videos), but there is still a surprising amount you can add.

I wish there were some way to limit ads on posts, I don’t mind if there are a couple (this is a free platform after all) but for one of my recent posts I counted 9 ads! 9!

But anyway, I digress, here are a few options you could choose to add to your posts to mix them up a bit.

Click the plus button on a new block and click browse all to see all of the possibilities.

A Button

There is no link on the button above! It’s just for show, haha!

Media and Text (picture next to writing!)

I found some stickers I was going to throw away…so I stuck them in a journal instead. Totally random, but the colours look pretty!

A Table!

I don’t like how the column widths change as you type…need to do this a few more times to figure it out!

Current WIP’s	Progress Made
Knitted Orange Jumper	About 2/3 Done
Knitted Sock Yarn Shawl	About 30 Rows Done
Knitted Heirloom Entrelac Blanket	To Cast On

Crochet Baby Blanket	About 1/8 Done

Sewn Baby Dress	Fabric Cut Out, To Sew Up

Christmas Knitted Socks	To Cast On

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My Sewing Patterns – What’s In My Stash #1

On 4th Aug 20212nd Aug 2021 By woollymakerIn crafts and hobbies, sewing6 Comments

What’s In My Stash #1

I don’t actually have that many sewing patterns anymore!

A few weeks ago I had a period of manic sewing and went through a few patterns. If I like it I’ll keep it for another use. If not, then it goes straight in the paper recycling!

So, there’s a few less than about a month ago!!

All of the patterns below are free ones from sewing magazines. I think the bigger ones are from Simply Sewing. I can’t remember where I got the other two.

I’ve done the Anna Tote, that was a quick and easy pattern that I definitely want to do again. I’ll stick a picture below of the denim bag I did.

I like the long wrap skirt and the Fiona Dress (the blue one on the right of the pattern) as it has 3/4 length sleeves. I can’t honestly see myself doing the others anytime soon as I’m into knitting at the moment and I’m realising I go through phases of crafts!

But I want to keep them for the future. I have the satchel pattern all cut out and ready to go…just need to check what fabric I have left.

My first webbing (so ignore the wonky stitching!).

So there you go – a nosy into my sewing pattern stash! Just what you didn’t know you needed!!

Do you have more or less than 8 patterns?!

Cross-Stitch Progress

On 2nd Aug 20211st Aug 2021 By woollymakerIn crafts and hobbies, sewing3 Comments

I’m doing a random off the top of my head project to use up leftover embroidery threads (and Aida fabric).

It’s just a black outline which I’m filling with random colours. I’m trying to do lines rather than dots as it’s quicker.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it, but I’m thinking a trivet or a placemat with some wadding underneath and another piece of backing fabric on the back.

I like the fact that I had all the materials already for this project…I didn’t have to buy anything and I’m using up what would have been thrown away otherwise!

I’m about a third of the way done so far.

*I don’t know why the light is so bad in these pics, but they look much better in real life!!*

cross stitch — *I don’t know why the light is so bad in these pics, but they look much better in real life!!*

I did think about doing a shape in the middle, like an ‘S’ for Sarah…but in the end, I thought it would be easier to just do random lines! I would say if I do a bit every week, then it’ll be finished at the end of August/ early September.

But there really is no rush and it’s so nice not to be looking at a pattern all the time!

August Goals – Crafting and Work

On 1st Aug 202131st Jul 2021 By woollymakerIn Goals1 Comment

Did I make a July goals post? I can’t remember…but here’s the August one!

Craft goals:

Try and get the front of my orange jumper finished, or at the very least a lot of progress made.
Try and finish the sample baby cardigan I’m knitting. So far got the back and one side done.
Do a few more rows on my sock yarn shawl.
Do more on crochet baby blanket.
Cast on large heirloom knitted blanket, I think I’m going to go for entrelac! :O
Finish sewing together fabric baby dress.
Find a simple sock pattern for beginners and cast on.

I think that’ll do. Mainly knitting and crochet as I did a lot of sewing in July!

Work goals:

I am opening my Etsy shop this month regardless of how many listings there are.
I am publishing my book regardless of how finished it is!!!
I want to post an article on Medium every day. Make a push for it!
Join Fiverr.
Join Substack.
Spoonflower have 10 designs up.

That’s it. I have other things planned, but I’m not going to waste time writing every little thing down. These are the main points.

You know what, instead of waffling for ages about all of the above, I’m going to leave it there! I think they are all pretty much self explanatory really!

Wishing you a happy and productive day!! 🙂

[I’m going to try and write every day here in August. There isn’t a plan like in February…that got a little restrictive after a little while, even thought it was fun. Nope, just gonna post every day here this month! ]