Monogamous crafting, is it even a thing ?

 A few years ago I watched a short you-tube video about a lady who had no crafting stash whatsoever. She simply bought all she needed to make an item, made the item and disposed of any oddments that were left. 

Is this really a thing? do people do this? 

After all, life would be a lot simpler, no storage issues for multiple crafts, no storage issues for even one craft although having the right equipment would still be a thing.

I've been thinking about this since I bought another lace pillow from a local charity shop. The new pillow fills a gap in my collection as it has a wider roller than my other pillows, has a built in stand and looks like it will be easier to use when making sample strips which I spend most of my time working on.

If lace making was my only hobby, you would think that storage would be easy but looking round my room from where I am sitting I can see six lace pillow of various sizes and types !! plus two boxes of bobbins, and threads, two shelves of books and files of patterns. I'm already in the realms of needing a cupboard for just one hobby.

This is the same for every craft that I do, cross stitch materials fill a large box and I have several ongoing projects.

Spinning wheels , I have three at the moment but countless fleeces both raw and washed waiting to be spun all the equipment to prep the fleece and countless spindles etc.. Inkle looms numbered four at the last count along with small looms and a Kromski rigid heddle that has sat in a bag since before covid.

Yarn, knitting needles, tatting shuttles , you name it and I have it and not to forget the four or five sewing machines lurking in the next room.

Sketch books, paints, books on assorted crafts and techniques that survived last years cull now fill shelves and cupboards.

Back to the question, does anyone only do one craft, only have one project on the go or do we all flit from one thing to the other? My current ongoing projects are a bobbin lace strip, two knitting projects, narrow band on the inkle loom for bracelets and a couple of cross stitch and embroidery pieces. Ooh and two latch hook cushion on the go.

All this leads to another question, when do hobbies split into two, for example, is collecting cross stitch patterns almost a separate hobby to stitching them?

And, dare I say it, when does it switch from hobby stash to hoarding?

Any thoughts on this?

Ona lighter note, the robins are nesting just outside the kitchen window :-)

Long overdue crafty update

 I've just had a quick look back over my previous posts and realised that I haven't updated the craft side of this blog since I got back from Cornwall.

I have been busy but haven't recorded all of it. One of my different tasks was to design and make up a cross stitch kit for a friend based on her family tartan. I also stitched up a version of it to check for any errors. I gave her the stitched version just in case hers wasn't finished on time for Hogmanay. This is the project that I didn't take photos of ( I simply forgot)

I have been at my wheel from time to time, sometimes at home and sometimes in public. The staff at Starbucks obviously weren't too sure what spinning was when they said it was ok for my to sit in the corner. As when I looked up after settling into my rhythm I found all three of them staring back at me. I asked if they had any questions and I was bombarded with them !

Over the last couple of months I have been spinning, mainly Texel cross and the odd skein of  black Ryeland

knitting the usual selection of hats, mitts and headbands

spun and knitted a shawlette using some amazing shetland fleece from Ullapool. This needs a good wash and block, it also reminded me how bored I get when knitting a shawl hence its smaller size.

Last time I was in my local cafe, the owner threw a ball of yarn at me and asked if I could knit something for a fund raiser. It looks and feels like wool, a very softly spun commercial single that drifts apart if you don't keep an eye on it ( I suspect that I tend to untwist a bit as I knit) I knocked up a pair of mitts ( had to rewrite my pattern due to the thickness of the yarn) using 5mm needles which felt huge as I'm also working on a hat on 3mms.

Currently in progress I have a bag of prepped fleece and 3 bobbins holding around 50 gm each ( one looks bigger as there is another spin under it.

At this point my knitting and spinning may slow down as I've noticed that I'm tending to find my hands aching so I'm trying to pace myself a bit more.

I've been stitching though, our guild ask us to wear a name badge so I've designed and stitched one.

Looking ahead to next year, I may be stitching more and as I'm well aware that I rarely keep up with annual stitch alongs,  I've decided to do a sampler band and pick out small parts of the many designs I have in both cross stitch and other techniques with no time frame as such. This was I can add material as required and as my restriction in 79 stitches wide in cross stitch I shouldn't get too bored, It will also give me chance to include any of my own designs along with any historical ones that I come across when using the Internet Archive which has needlework books dating back to around the 1500's

Finally. my biggest ongoing challenge will be to reorganise the chaotic mess that is my work room !!!!

There is a rag rug on the floor in the last photo which hasn't seen the light of day for sometime,,,,, watch this space.

speak soon as usual xx

charity shop haul and a bit of crafting as promised

 Last post I made a comment about charity shops, well I was very successful over the east coast break :-) I collected some books, bobbins and even a lace making pillow.

As you can see, a few knitting needles were added to the mix at £1 per set. The bobbins and pillow were £3 and the lace related books just 50p each.

I've used the bobbins to make up a kit for a new beginner, I have so much stuff that I'm now in a position to pass things on as a complete kit to those who are interested.

I also snagged a couple of cross stitch kits to add to my rainy day collection.

Talking of cross stitch, I'm going to be doing a drop in workshop for anyone wanting to learn cross stitch and make a mothers day card at my local cafe. I've come up with a couple of easy designs, one for the total beginner on 11 count and one on 14 count that is a little more complicated.

As for my own cross stitch, I'm up to date with the tiles SAl and have just passed the halfway mark.

and like an idiot, I signed up for the Fox and Rabbit Royal Garden sal which has monthly parts. I signed up half way through Jan so I'm rather behind at the moment.

As usual I've been knitting and spinning, four pairs of mitts and 3 skeins of yarn but it was all washed and packed before I realised that I hadn't taken a photo ! still, I'm sure you know what it looks like :-)

I managed to attend a bobbin lace drop in day and introduced a friend to the local Guild of weavers, spinners and dyers.

That's about it for now, we are busy booking campsites and the odd festival ready for the warmer weather and I've also booked a small fibre festival next month.

Speak soon

xx

2022 Craftyness: update, stash, plans

 I've finally managed to sit down and think about fibre plans for 2022. I've not set any real goals although an American spinner has invited me to join the 365 spin challenge which is to spin 10 min a day. As the challenge started at the beginning of the year I'm about 3 hours behind haha. I may  join in , not sure yet but maybe 10 min a day on a drop spindle would be interesting ? easily portable, always ready and I have a rather nice fine Shetland fleece that would be perfect for this apart from the fact that it needs washing.

This fleece was gifted to me by a close friend and a note in the box revealed that it is from the Derwent flock so fingers crossed that it washes up well.

I'm thinking maybe 10 min a day on my lightest spindle, what do you think ?

Now on to knitting, since the beginning of the year I've knitted a couple of headbands and a couple of pairs of fingerless gloves.

The top pair of mitts are the same length, just need blocking as they curled inwards slightly, These are now in my coffee shop bag. When the bag is full I find a coffee shop and sit weaving the ends in whilst I watch the world go by.

My scraps stash is still a little on the large side and my full skein stash ( ones less than 100gm, have a knot in them or are finer spun than usual) is healthy but I think I need to dye some as its mostly white yarn.

Going forward, more hats, mitts over winter then spin up a couple of fleeces for a friend.

I have actually snatched a few mins to process fibre over the last couple of weeks so this bag is waiting for me to get one of the spinning wheels out.

Cross stitch, yep still stitching although I do seem to have mislaid a project. Hopefully I will find it later today as I sort out the workroom.

First, the big red thing. I have put in a few more stitches and hope to finish it sometime this year. I've popped a six inch ruler in the photo to give some idea of the scale of this project.

The Quaker sampler is coming along slowly, again a ruler to show the difference in scale.

This is really more colourful in real life and on white aida, the camera makes it look a little dull.

This is a quick project that I took to the coast with us, its about 75% complete and will be finished into a small pillow to go with two that I stitched last year. All by Sub Rosa and offered for free on the blog.

The missing project hasn't resurfaced yet, it may be in the van or just hiding well in the workroom !

Anyway, that's it for today, speak soon  xx

Its Just a Virus...

But it knocked me off my feet and I'm still exhausted !!

Anyway, I managed to start the January Lace Challenge, several days late and using photos pinched from this very blog.

here are the challenge words..

I suspect that I may have to skip some of them unless Inspiration strikes, yep, that is no 31.!

Its made me think about to spend my time once work no longer plays such a big part, although I love the spinning/knitting, I don't want to burn out on it.

So , the challenge so far is documented on my Instagram pages.https://www.instagram.com/guzzisue/

rather than repeat the photos that can already by found on the blog.

On the spinning front, I busy prepping the last of a brown Shetland and I have a couple of simple hats on the needles waiting to be finished.

I have a large amount of material scarps to be used up so I'll be looking at making some drop spindle project bags which will be handy if I'm ever asked about workshops. Also they can double as knitting bags :-)

Long term, I'm looking to use up/downsize a lot of my craft materials as they are taking up too much valuable space at the moment.

I hope you are all having a great week, watch this space xx

Crafting with young people

Just over a year ago I started working with young people who attend a youth group local to where I work, mainly I do some random craft work or play favourite games such as hedgehogs where you have balance wooden hedgehogs on top of each other until they fall down.

I though I'd share one or two of the items that have been made recently.

Felt pumpkins for Halloween 

Group jigsaw colouring, just get everyone to colour a piece with random colours. 

Scary monsters

Worry dolls

And puppets 

If anyone has any ideas to add to my list, I would appreciate it :-) we have touched on knitting, spinning,making felt brooches/key rings, bobbin lace, simple books over the last few months.