My crochet and knitting year

We seem to have reached the end of the year surprisingly quickly; December passed in a flash and I'd blinked and Christmas had gone. Naturally at this time of year attention turns to goal setting and plans for the coming year. Before I do that on the blog I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the year just-gone. Rather than gamboling through a list of completed knitting and crochet projects I thought I'd look at the year in a different way - in the hope I can share some of my insights and learning from the year.

Christmas at Number 14

I planned to make this Christmas the most handmade, crafty Christmas ever, but life seldom goes to plan. I am spending December and early January wrapping up and leaving an organisation I've worked at for over 10 years - this is a good thing - but it has required me to recalibrate my handmade Christmas plans. It's not all out of the window and today I'll share some lovely festive crafty fun I've had so far this year.

Crochet baubles

Instagram is awash with crochet baubles this year so I am feeling very on-trend with this week's planned post! In today's post I will share details of the pattern I've been using, my yarn choice and some tips for getting a good result.

Yarn Review | Aire Valley DK

 If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen that I have a new design out in this month's Crochet Now (Issue 22).

Back to School Sweater CAL celebration!

What an amazing few months Tamara, Crafty Escapism  and I have had planning and running our Back to School Sweater CAL (crochetalong) and blog hop. We'll be closing the FO (finished objects) thread on Ravelry shortly and running the random number generator for prizes. As we write there are 53 gorgeous finished objects in there and/or tagged with #BackToSchoolSweaterCAL on Instagram. Seven makers have made two garments and two speedy makers have made three in the eight week period of the CAL from September 16th to November 17th. Incredible!

We've loved hanging out in the Ravelry chatter thread, kindly hosted by the wonderful Fay of the Crochet Circle Podcast, and over 50 of us have shared our garment making experiences together. We even had a frogging party where a fair few of us, Tamara and myself included, had to frog our garments to get them to fit correctly!  There have been over 400 super photos posted on Instagram with the hashtag #BackToSchoolSweaterCAL

Many participants have been making sweaters for the first time. We've had comments on how they now see themselves as garment makers as a result of taking part. We've also received lots of feedback about how useful the blog hop posts have been (details here just in case you missed it (Back to School Sweater CAL 2017). This has made the whole crochetalong so worthwhile for us, SO much better than just making our own garments by ourselves.

We'd like to say a huge thank you to all the bloggers who wrote a blog article (or two!) for us; JoJoTwinkletoes, The Crochet Project, Sam of SingASimpleMelody, Fay of the Crochet Circle Podcast and Knit It Hook It Craft It and Marta or MrsDaftSpaniel and for all the folk who have donated prizes; Marta, The Crochet Project, Fay, Rosina from Zeens and Roger, Yael from Emyahandmade and Lisa too. A special extra thank you goes to Fay for letting us host our CAL and FO thread in her Crochet Circle Podcast group.

And a huge thank you and congratulations to all the people who have taken part and made a wonderful handmade garment of their own!!! Let us know if you'd like to do it all over again next year!!?

Helen and Tamara x

Wool and me

For many of us, November equals Wovember, a celebration of all things wool online during the month of November. The theme of this year's Wovember is 'woolness - where wool meets wellness' - a subject close to my heart.

I wanted to share some thoughts today about what wool means to me...

5 quick crochet Christmas makes

Can we talk about Christmas yet?! The calendar has turned over to November so I'm sure many crafters will be starting to think, if they aren't already, about Christmas makes. Today I thought I'd share 5 quick tried and tested Christmas crochet projects with you.

New pattern out in Crochet Now

Latest issue of Crochet Now was published on Thursday with two of my designs in. On the front cover you can see the ripple hot water bottle covers and then within the issue you can find a matching pyjama case. In today's post I give you the inside story...

The Ruschia hat and me

I am smitten with everything about my current project - the design, pattern and yarn are all a delight.

A mini 'yarn crawl'

Last weekend I ventured up to London for a day with yarn-loving friends.

Bretonbone top

My Bretonbone top is finished!

Crafting podcasts

Today I am going to talk about the crafting podcast phenomenon, I'll think about what I'm looking for in a podcast and recommended some of my favourites.

Top five favourite vendors at Yarndale

Possibly the biggest U.K yarn festival event of the year is happening in Skipton, North Yorkshire this weekend.

Autumn and Winter plans

If you are reading this on the day it is published - Saturday 16th September - today is the start of the Back to School Sweater CAL! The CAL runs from today until 17th November.

Back to school sweater CAL | Yarn substitution

Hello, thank you for visiting my blog today. It's my turn to host the Back to School Sweater CAL blog hop today and I will be looking at yarn substitution. I will be thinking about some of the reasons you might want to substitute the yarn recommended in the pattern, how you might go about doing it and sharing some example of when it's worked and when it hasn't.

Festival of Finishing and my first knitted sweater

Earlier in the Summer I shared with you details of the Festival of Finishing, a craft along organised by Fay from The Crochet Circle Podcast.

The day of the Back to School Sweater CAL blog hop has arrived

 Today marks the start of the Back to School Sweater CAL blog hop!

A postcard from the Isle of Wight

As you read this, we'll be packing up and making our way home after our break to the Isle of Wight.

I can crochet...what next?

My post today is inspired by a conversation with a friend who is learning to crochet. She had quickly mastered chain stitch and double crochet, whipped up two lovely pen pot holders and was wondering what else she could create with crochet stitches.

Nordic Stitches cowl

I had such a lovely surprise last Saturday when the post arrived and an advance copy of issue 18 of Crochet Now popped through the door.

Back to school sweater CAL

I am so excited to tell you a little bit about a CAL that I have been planning with my friend Tamara from the Craftyescapism blog. A couple of months ago Tamara and I were chatting about crochet garment making and we decided it might be fun to organise a blog hop and CAL to celebrate crochet garments and encourage others to have a go if they hadn't made a garment before.

Continental knitting - part one

A couple of months ago, my friend F and I decide to teach ourselves to knit continental-style and then over the Summer we planned to have a little sock KAL to put our new skills into practice. That was the plan...

Inside my project bag

I hope you've had a good week. If you've been to my blog before - thank you for coming back and if it's your first visit - thank you and welcome. In planning today's post I realised that it had been a little while since I shared a W.I.P round-up with you.

Book review | Three from the top

If you listen or watch the Crochet Circle podcast you may have already heard the news that my lovely friend Tamara and I are planning a crochet garment blog hop and CAL - the Back to School Sweater CAL. I'll be telling you ALL about it in a post at the end of July but in the meantime I thought it was a good time to share a review of a favourite crochet garment book.

The year so far...a mid-year review

I can't believe that we are half way through the year already, where has the time gone? It's been a bumpy first half of the year; sad, trying, painful and just exasperating at times. But I have found real solace my making. However, this isn't meant to be a maudlin post, I wanted today to share my progress in the first half of the year and look ahead to what's coming in the months ahead.

Love your local yarn store

 Like many other people out of necessity I buy a good proportion of my yarn online but where possible I like to buy it from a bricks and mortar yarn shop or direct from indie dyers if I can. It's so helpful to see and feel yarn before buying it and you can also learn so much from knowledgeable vendors. I often say that my local yarn store is four hours away in Shrewsbury where my parents live. Ewe and Ply is a fabulous yarn store in the centre of Shrewsbury offering a great range of yarns (for all budgets) and some really special Shropshire Ply from a local flock of sheep owned by one of the owners Teri.

How to make...crochet frames

I can't believe it, but we are rapidly approaching the end of our son's first year at school; the year has simply flown by. His attention is focused on the upcoming sports day, who his teacher will be next year and what creative gifts he wants the give his teacher and class room assistant to say thank you. The latter hasn't actually taken much consideration - he has commissioned me to made exactly the same as I did for his carers in Kindergarten when he left nursery this time last year - crochet frames.

 In today's post I thought I would give you a step-by-step guide to making crochet frames as they make perfect, quick end of term gifts for teachers.

Festival of finishing

Fay, the host of The Crochet Circle Podcast is currently hosting a Festival of Finishing to support and encourage crafters to tackle long-standing projects or W.I.Ps (works in progress). Between now and the end of August, Fay is hosting a CrAL (a craft-along) over in the Crochet Circle Podcast group on Ravelry. As an added motivation, for each project completed during the period, Fay's company, Knit-it Hook-it Craft-it will make a donation to the charity Knit for Peace which does great work in this country and overseas.

How to...knit mittens

In our corner of the UK we have been having a glorious spell of warm, sunny weather - the perfect weather to be knitting a pair of mittens! Today, I wanted to share with you my progress knitting mittens as part of a KAL (knit-along) but also share with you all of the things I've learnt along the way so that you can knit mittens too!

Ideas for crafting with kids during the school holidays

In the U.K. it is the start of a long Bank Holiday weekend and a week off school for many children. Our little one loves school but is very ready for a break, a rest and some time playing with Mummy and Daddy. We have some days planned together as a family, and some Daddy-days whilst I have to work and Mummy-days whilst Daddy works. I look forward to our Mummy-days so much; it's our chance to bake, make and catch up with friends at our schools. In today's post I want to share the projects we are planning and some tips for having the most crafty school holiday possible.

A beginner's guide to garment knitting

In the last of my accidental mini-series on hand-made garments, I thought I would share with you my current knitted garment journey. I have knitted a sleeveless tank-top before, but it was so easy that I really don't think it counts, so my current project is my first knitted garment!

Finished 'Luna' crochet sweater

In my crochet garments post last week I mentioned that I was working on a sweater from Dora Ohrenstein's Top-down crochet sweaters book. After a lot of work this week, I'm so delighted to be able to share it with you as a finished object.

Crochet garments

I have set myself the goal of focusing my making in May on two garments that I have underway; the Luna top by Dora Ohrenstein and Westbourne by Isabel Kraemer. Just under a year ago I made my first crochet garment and since then I have been slowly building up my handmade wardrobe.

Sock knitting with Magic Loop

My making this week has been dominated by sock knitting, in particular knitting socks for my little boy. I have resisted making him socks for so long that when he hit upon the idea of socks in the colours of his favourite NFL team I couldn't hold out much longer.

Knitting patterns for beginners

Starting off as a new knitter can be bewildering with so many different yarns, needles and patterns to choose from. This week I thought I would share three really great knitting projects for beginners or experienced knitters looking for some relaxing knitting producing beautiful and useful accessories.

Crochet memories blanket

As I have mentioned here before, I managed to resist scrap-yarn and mini-skein projects for a long-time and then I saw Louise Tilbrook making a gorgeous corner-to-corner crochet blanket. Louise's blanket - made from mini-skeins - was beautiful and I became interested in starting a long-term blanket project using left-over scraps of yarn.

Easter crafting

Our little boy's school broke up for the Easter holidays today which has meant that we've been starting to get excited about all the possible Easter crafting we can do over the next two weeks. We love crafting together throughout the year, but Christmas and Easter crafting always feels particularly special as we create memories and develop our own little family traditions.

Top ten tips for happy knitting and crochet

Knitting and crochet gives me a huge amount of pleasure and, many therapeutic benefits. Today I thought that I would share with you ten tips to make the process of knitting and crochet even more happy - and stress-free!

W.I.P round-up

It's been a month since I started writing this blog and I'm starting to get into a rhythm of preparing my blog post each Friday and posting on a Saturday morning. In my first blog post I introduced my current W.I.Ps or works in progress and I thought today I would update you with what's on my hook or on my needles...

The importance of making

In this post, I wanted to explore what creativity and making means to me and why I find it one of the best ways to bolster my resilience when life feels like hard work.

All about the (crochet) shawl

Top row L to R: Spun Gold, Missed Kingfisher, Acer - Middle row L to R: Fronds, Contour, Spun Gold - Bottom row L to R: Your Mileage May Vary, Transposition, Northmoor Lock

If you have followed me on Instagram for a little while you will know that I love making and wearing crochet shawls.

Sock knitting journey...

I started sock knitting almost a year ago, guided by expert online tutorials from Christine aka Winwick Mum and with my anniversary just around the corner, I thought that it was a good time to reflect and share some of the things that I have learnt along the way.

Unravel 2017

Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend a day at Unravel with two yarn-loving friends. If you don't know already, Unravel is a festival of yarn and fibre, curated and presented each year by the team at Farnham Maltings in Surrey. We had a really lovely day, but rather than giving a blow-by-blow account, I thought I would pick my top three Unravel highlights to share with you;

Blog post number one!!

Well, I can't quite believe it but this is my first blog post - how exciting! I'll be dropping back in here again towards the end of the week with a review of my trip to Unravel last weekend, but I thought I would start by capturing my current WIPs or 'works in progress' as of 21st February 2017.