Confessions of a Graveyard Gypsy

The weather here is terrible at the moment. Sorry, that should read TERRIBLE. Every time I think it might be clearing up and a bit of sunshine peeps through the clouds, there’s more rain. After getting soaked doing the shopping this morning, I decided to splash out a whole two pounds on a tiny bunch of tulips to cheer things up:

but it’s so grey indoors that the photo has come out all fuzzy. I was hoping to do a FO post today, but will leave them until the weather improves and I can get better pictures.

At least I have a House Full of Cake to lift the mood. Yesterday I became the mother of a 14 year old:

And there’s a quarter of a cake left for me to polish off while everyone is out.

It’s been far too long since I posted. I needed a good break from blogging for a while as I wasn’t feeling particularly bright and cheery and found it impossible to write anything at all at one point. I literally sat at the keyboard and there were no words. I actually found it hard to focus on anything for more than a short while and it was a little bit scary. So, I decided to take a step back and see what happened. I read a lot, finally finishing my Christmas books (!), and tried to find small things to whet my appetite for crafting. Which lead me to getting a bit obsessed with crochet.

Firstly, Flora is now available in Portuguese, after Valeria messaged me on Ravelry asking me if she could translate it. This makes me supremely happy, as it’s the first time one of my patterns has been translated into another language.

The startitis I’d been suffering with needs to be brought in to check. I tried listing all my WIPs to shame me into finishing them, but that was before the crochet mania. I’ve deleted a few and will regroup and restart again when I have a clean slate. The brilliance of knitting is that it can, in the main, be unravelled and reused and nothing is set in stone.

My new-found obsession with crochet started when I was looking for inspiration in small projects that I could finish quickly and make me feel as if I’d achieved something. I’ve toyed with making granny squares for a few years now, but nothing was ever finished and being able to do one stitch isn’t really very versatile. Ideally, my first ever finished crochet project should really get its own special post, but I’ll make up for it with future ones.

And voilà! A teeny little flower brooch which took about an hour to make and has taken pride of place on my jacket. And I’ve had more comments about it than for any of my knitted hats, shawls or scarves, as well.

I have started using Pinterest. I’ve had the “Pin It” option on here for a while but didn’t actually use it myself. But it’s time for Rose to move into her own room, which currently looks like this:

after being vacated by Henry. It’s lovely to have a blank canvas (other than the red curtains which are staying) and I’ve started a board to gather together ideas for the room. Hopefully, once Rose has moved in, I can then start on decorating my own bedroom, which has never been done in the eight years that we’ve been here! I suspect MrB would be less keen on having a very “pretty” bedroom, so I will just live vicariously through Rose’s room.

I think that’s me done for now. I have plenty of WIP photos to share, but they can wait for another post as this is extremely long. I hope to get back into blogging regularly now. so promise it won’t be too long before the next update.

It’s such a bad idea to spend any time browsing Etsy. I am now lusting after so many pretty things that I don’t need. So it’s only fair that I should share them.

River Spirit Indigo Lace so that I can knit this for me completely selfishly.

Woodland Walk Bracelet or in fact anything from the Goddess Jewels shop, like this or this. *covets*

Rainbow Mini Skeins because then I could join in the Hexipuff craze with a beeeyoootiful coordinated quilt. Seriously, I would go mad after knitting the first two or three puffs. But pretty yarn!

A Circular Knitting Needle Organiser because that will totally stop me from having all my needles all over the place and just leaving them in whatever bag I was using for my last WIP… Which leads me to:

because what I really need is more project bags to store even more WIPS and to lose more needles.

I feel better now.

Anna linked me on her blog to answer these questions she posted. It’s actually been interesting to think about the answers and type lots and lots all about ME! because I never do that on this blog anyway.

How do you pick your crafting projects?
Entirely Mostly on impulse. I pared down my Ravelry queue a while back because I had a habit of automatically queueing nearly every pattern that I liked and it ended up being just a ridiculous number of patterns. I try to stick to a list of planned projects, but I am always being caught off-guard by something pretty. The other night, for example, I was browsing Patternfish (which is never a good idea when you’re avoiding pattern buying!), saw this pattern and was hunting for yarn on eBay for the next hour before I came to my senses.

What’s your favourite craft?
Knitting! Knitting! Knitting! Other than the time I was going to jack it all in for matchstick modelling, knitting is the one craft that has stuck with me and will always be a part of my life in some form or other.

Choose: Spring or summer?
Spring, no contest. I hate really hot weather, it feels oppressive, I’m tired, and can’t knit because I just end up with sweaty hands. Summer is rubbish.

How did you decide what your blog should focused on?
I started this blog back in 2005 purely to have a record of my knitting, although I didn’t really get into the habit of regular blogging for a few months. I found as the years went on that other bits of my life crept in – mainly cakes and babies! – although I still consider this to be a mainly knitting blog. I like having a space that is purely mine where I can write about anything I want. Getting comments, feedback and helpful enabling suggestions from readers is one of the best parts of blogging for me.

What is your greatest craft accomplishment?
I’m going to say socks. I always say socks, but the truth is that my first pair of socks were really a defining moment in my knitting, when a whole world of possibilities was opened. Sure, I’ve steeked a vest and knitted complicated shawls, but I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing them if I hadn’t got a pair of socks to remind me that anything is possible.

How do you treat yourself?
I read. I used to read a lot more than I do now, because knitting has obviously taken over my life, so buying a book and getting to sit down and read without too many distractions is pure luxury.

What are your hopes for life?
In the short term, I hope to get a load of washing out of the machine, hang it up to dry and put another load on. In the long term, Rose will start nursery next year so I am beginning to plan what I’d like to do when I have a couple of hours a day free.

What are your dreams?
For the small people to grow into big people and achieve what they want to do. To do something creative and exciting with my brilliant knitting skills when I have the time.

Is there anything you would change in your life?
To accept that I can’t change the past but the future is full of possibilities. Also to learn how to spell “possibilities” because it keeps getting underlined by the spell-check.

What makes you happy?
The small people. Even Henry starting the monosyllabic teenager phase. Having a grumpy teen and a tantrum-ing toddler in the same house can be “fun”.

What’s your favourite food?
Mint chocolate chip ice cream. Though I haven’t had any for over a year now, because I couldn’t find a dairy free version. However, MrB bought me The Vegan Scoop for my birthday, so I’m now sorted (and probably doomed to never lose those final pounds ).

Any crafting tips for anyone starting out?
Don’t let anyone stop you trying something out because “it’s too hard for a beginner” – well-meaning friends, pattern “difficulty” ratings (which I loathe) or even that little voice inside you. I wasted a lot of time knitting stocking stitch sweaters because I considered myself a beginner. If in doubt, knit a plain sock and then you’ll never doubt your abilities again!

Now I have to ask another 12 bloggers another set of 12 questions. So:

Kai Yarn Mistrys
Josiekitten The Woolly Adventures of a Knitting Kitty
Rubbishknitter Born Knitty
Jennyff My Life in Flipflops
Roo Roo Knits
Jill doodlywhatsits
Marj Tangled String
Shannon A Life Flexible
Kat knitty-kat
Tina Peacefully Knitting
Christina Cpeezers at Home
Nicole Knit Nicole Knit

I’d like to know:

1. Of all the projects you’ve knitted for yourself, which is the one that you wear most often?
2. What item would you never knit, even if you were offered a million pounds/dollars/euros to make one?
3. Do you have a favourite place to knit in your home?
4. How long do you spend knitting per day?
5. Do you have a favourite knitting (or other craft) magazine?
6. Have you ever used knitting needles for something other than knitting?
7. Have you ever – successfully – taught another person to knit?
8. What is your favourite flavour of crisps?
9. Have you ever given up knitting for a long period of time (more than six months)?
10. What makes you laugh?
11. What is your favourite book?
12. Do you accurately know how much yarn you own?

Lauriel is still blocking, although I’m hoping (fingers crossed) that it’ll be dry by this evening. There are just a few damp patches along the back and armpits now. It’s currently living on the dining table as it was obviously not going to dry in time to stay on my bed. It’s a good spot, fairly warm and only needs to be moved at mealtimes.

But now I need to think about what I am going to knit next! I have already cast on a sock for Mr B because it’ll be a quick knit and I can’t just twiddle my thumbs while waiting for things to dry. But it’s not for ME and is only selfish in that I will feel insufferably smug if I manage to knit enough pairs for him to have a pair for every day of the week before the oldest ones get holes in them. So the contenders for Selfish Project #2 are:

Chickadee, but it is very similar in style to Lauriel, which means I will likely get bored knitting it once I’m past the yoke. It’s definitely on my to-do list, though.

I like the shape and neckline of Skelf very much:

although I’m not sure about the huge motif on the body and would probably omit it if I was to knit the sweater. Also, I don’t think I want a full-on sweater now that spring is on its way (ignoring the rain).

To be honest, I am mostly drawn to Laika:

because I need a hoodie (I have a lovely purple cotton zip-up one that I have had for years but is now ginormous on me and I really need to stop clinging on to it!) so it’ll probably be something I will get a lot of wear from. The idea of knitting something so big using 4ply/fingering yarn is slightly daunting, but at least it’ll be partly made up of holes.