Inappropriate Content

I have been spending the afternoon have a trawl through the One World - One Heart giveaways and every now and again a screen flashes up and block the page with "INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT" scrawled over it. I'm working away at the moment so am in a hotel/b&b in Gloucester and obviously the guy has it set that there is a filter on (which I don't have a problem with) but a thought struck me on this: some blogs must be just dripping with porn and perv and other "questionable" things. Although I have to say I have no problem with porn and perv in the right context I'm a little freaked with it on a set of crafting blogs?

Surely there can't be that many porn craft sites out there? Or are there whole nooks and crannies of the web filled with yarn laying provocatively, a come hither and fondle me look in their strands. Or fat quarters piled on each other having the time of their life. Or rolls of thread in all sizes and shapes being threaded through sewing machines, bending to the will of their master. Or vintage images bare and naked waiting to be transformed under someone elses bidding.

Oh come to think of it now . . .

BTW - remember to check out my own OWOH giveaway - I promise to get better photos up this weekend

Dangers of Crossing the Road

She had been wearing her headphones and not heard the car coming. Now it was too late

Don't forget to drop in on my One World - One Heart giveaway

On the Road Again

Well not exactly on the road, more on Kingsholm Road in Gloucester. Yep, I'm back to the delights of sunny Gloucester, probably for the next few weeks. It's a bit annoying as I am trying to get my house sorted and the garden will have to be dug over soon and I have a bunch of knitting things and spinning things and sewing things to be getting on with. Doesn't work realise that I actually HAVE a LIFE!!!

Anyway I have been remarkably lax with updating on my knitting recently so here is the tally at the moment:
I am in the final stages of getting a pinwheel cardigan finished, it just needs an arm and a half sorting out and then it's done.
I have most of a knitted dinosaur finished but it needs 3 more legs and then sewing and stuffing
There is my attempt to knt a vintage 1940s bra that is coming along very nicely but I have no real idea if it will fit me. So far I have almost a whole cup done.
Then there is the 1940s snood that I finished but kept fogetting to get elastic so that I could finish it properly and now it is probably somewhere in the depths of my bedroom
And finally (I had to get there at some point) I have just started another vintage garment - this time it's a sleeveless pullover that I am attempting to knit in the round but it's not co-operating and I was too tired to fight it. I only started that today so so far all I have is the ribbing and a few rows done but I thikn that i can work out the pattern for the round. The yarn is a fugly brown tweedy thing that has been cluttering up my stash for a while now and this project seems to scream utility wear and what better colour than brown for utility wear?

Oh and forgot about the mountain of hibernating WIPs that I am doing my best to ignore. I keep reasoning that they are either too big, or too close to finishing to bring with me to Gloucester. Yea, I know.

My One World - One Heart Giveaways

The giveaway is now closed but please still leave a comment if you like and please check out my other pages

Hurrah Hurrah - I have finally managed to get myself sorted out and created some lovely knit and felted hearts for One World - One Heart.

I am going to give to 7 lucky people one of these knitted and felted hearts


They are about 7" across and make fab pot holders or are just a decorative item. The main heart will always be red but I might include some blue stitching, or even yellow or something else entirely.

If you would like the chance to get one of these lovelies then please leave a comment on this post (please look through my other posts but and feel free to comment if you like). Make sure that there is a way that I can get back in touch with you to say if you have won.

I love this idea and am planning on visiting ever person who is taking part - not just for the giveaways but because I think that this is what the internet is for - finding new friends and discovering new ideas.

One World - One Heart goes live

Here's a swift update for those that might be reading. There is a blogging event called One World - One Heart that has started. Basically it is a way for us to read other blogs that we might not have read before and find new friends through the wonderful medium that is the world wide web.

The sites that are listed on the main One World One Heart site are giving away some freebies for those that comment on them (there's will be a particualr page that you should comment on). Hopefully it will introduce you to other sites and get people looking back onto yours (if you have one).

I will taking part once I am back home - I'm working away until later in the week and didn't manage to get things sorted before I left. But please check out the link and if you can add your own to the ever growing list of participants.

The BIG 4 OH

Yesterday, or today depending what time slot you are in, was my 40th birthday. I got thinking about what I wanted to change in my life and how I wanted things to be going forward. I have made the decision to move from my job. I am not happy there and haven't been for ages so it seems better to make plans to leave than be unhappy and dreading going into work every day.

I'm not going to jack in a perfectly good job, especailly in the present fiscal situtaion that the developed world is going through, but I am making plans to move on. My real plan is to become more crafty and offer a range of different products for sale, gradually concentrating more and more on the craft stuff. A few years ago I would never have thought about this as an avenue but my re-introduction to knitting has made me realise that I am creative, that I can sew, that I do finish things and that I do have some pretty good ideas about colour and design. I know that it's going to be hard work and because of that I need to get other things in my world sorted but I have also started on those too so it is a move in the right direction.

They say that life begins at 40, but I suppose that you can change your life at any point (I did when I went off to university at 27). But by 40 you have a pretty good idea of where you are, what and who you want to be, and hopefully the life confidence to get it underway.

I do not know what the next year will bring for me. I could be sitting in a year's time in the same job and still talking about moving on. Or I might have truly taken off and my craft products be doing well. Or it could be a bit of both but I shall continue to dream and plan and try and sort out things. Happiness in life is the most important thing, whether you get that from your family, your lover, your crafts, your friends or anything, but you have to be happy to thrive. and I plan to thrive.

Felted Purple Flowers

I was playing around with yarn, tinkering with the idea of a felted flowers type of thing. I had tried the one in One Skein Wonders but it just didn't look right so I tried again with an improvised pattern based on that. These were knitted using Rowan Lambswool DK (a discontinued yarn) and if you are wanting to felt them afterwards them make sure the yarn felts

And here they are


They came out okay and I might play a bit more once I have some time free.

Basically it’s a cast x number of stitches on needles a couple of sizes larger than you would need for the yarn. Knit front and back every other one. Then knit a few rows, or knit and purl a few rows, or even do some ribbing for a few rows. Then increase again whenever you fancy. Knit a few more rows and cast off in whatever weird and wonderful way you want. For one of them it was a cast of 1 cast one 2 cast off 3 type of affair and the other was a cast off one cast on 1 cast off 2. That’s how the bobbles are formed. Then roll it up and stitch it down into a flower shape. I then threw them into the washer on a sheets and towels cycle and they came out as they have.

One World - One Heart

I found this through the delights of linking from blog to blog. I always think of my web browsing as some sort of Tarzan (or Jane (or Cheeta if you prefer)) swinging from branch to branch and limb to limb as they navigate their way through a fascinating but sometime inpenetrable jungle of stuff.

Anyway, I digress, I came across the One World - One Heart blogging project and thought that it seemed like a good idea so will be joining up for it on the 19th January. Basically, as I understand it, all of the participating blogs are giving away things to those that comment on the blog post. I haven't yet decided what I shall be giving away (aren't I a little tease?) but it will be knitted and I think that I shall give 10 of whatever it is I shall be making.

The great thing is that I will be visiting the other blogs and see what is available to snaffle too.

The project runs until 11th February and on the 12th the winners will be notified.

Box of Fun

My lovely fella asked what I wanted for Christmas ages ago and since we had decided that we were not going to spend much over a tenner on each other I said that I'd really like to try and learn to spin. This came from us visiting the delight that is Wingham Wools at Wentworth during the summer and me getting far to carried away in the various sheds of stuff that they have there.

So I pointed him in the direction of the website and said the most basic sindle would do because it seemed folly to spend out on a 2 minute wonder.

So Christmas morning (just) arrives and he wants me to open my gift - he loves giving presents and I usually have to restrain him from going over the top so I was really pleased that he managed to contain himself and only get what I suggested. I was dreading that he had splashed out on a spinning wheel but my fears were unfounded.

So this is what he got for me


So far I have just been fiddling around as the last time I tried spinning was when I was a school over 20 years ago but it is a basic thing - just twist the spindle and draft out the fibre and a yarn type of thing will be produced.

This is my first attempt - I haven't finished it yet but I think that it's a good start and I am inspired to continue.


I said that I would knit him something from my first attempt but since he doesn't wear gloves, hats or scarves it might just have to be a pair of underpants - that way he won't blind anyone.

Cracked it - finally

I can hardly believe it but I have finally finished the dreaded "Smackdown Stole". I have been battling away at this since August and have finally finished it so hurrah hurrah.


The stole was almost finished a short while back but I noticed that something had been nibbling on it - not moths thankfully - so had to frog back almost half of the stole and start again. But now it is done and I am so pleased.



I have it now packed up and ready to post off the the US in the morning where my victim can finally have her soft and warm stoley death

The Stash

Why or rather how is it that I seem to have collected a huge amount of yarn but not enough to actually knit a single garment from?

Today I have been trying to sort out my stash as I am planning to not buy any until I have used at least half of what I have already - unless it's for a particular garment that someone else wants me to knit. So far I have amassed over 100 types and most of it sock yarn or 4 ply but there are a few other things in there too.

In my main cupboard I have a bookcase that I sawed the end off so that it fitted and it works really well as the case is divided into blocks. Each of the blocks has a number and that has been added to my ravelry stash page so that I can find it if needs be. Once I have it all recorded then I'll put all the different weights together so that even if I don't have enough for a complete garment I can at least mix and match to get it gone but I can see that I'm going to be knitting loads of socks, shawls and scarves this year.

To help bust the stash I am also going to try and knit a christmas present a month for the next 12 months. I have the January project already sorted as it's going to be a felted handbag, possibly for my niece but possibly not.

New Year - hurrah!

Not quite sure why it's a hurrah but I am going to try and be more postive this year and not let little things get me down. Obviously I will still wallow in the disappointment of the big things but not the wee things.

So that's it my only resolution but I am going to try and knit and craft more.

I am going to try and not buy any yarn, well not until I have halved my stash. I really hadn't realised what I have been collecting over the past year and it's a bit scary. There will be lots of small projects, only because I rarely bought more than a couple of balls of wool but I shall try my best to get half of it gone. To help me I have started a campaign to knit 1 christmas present a month for the nest 12 months so it won't be a last minute job in December.

The room clearing has kind of stopped but once I have finished here I am going to start again. At least I can now get into the back room and the floor has been swept and vacuumed for the first time in over a year so that's a good thing.

I have many, many things to record and talk about but for the moment it's just clearing more space and taking stock.

Have a happy, hearty and healthy New Year and I wish you all the best