'tis the season to be sparkly

For the first time in the history of my being I have started my Christmas shopping in November. I've even wrapped some of it!  I've never felt so organised (and smug).

I like shopping for presents, I genuinely get a buzz out of it. My gripe is this....at this time of year the shops are so full of delicious sparkly cute things THAT I WANT FOR ME!

Take these silver sparkle  hotpants by French Connection for example. Words can not express how much I would like these. This is not Christmas gift shopping... this is Christmas Wendy shopping.

A bit of an online browse for Christmas gifts this evening has also revealed that I am liable to dribble uncontrollably when confronted with leather bound notebooks, wool blankets and brushed cotton pyjamas.
Oh so pretty and so perfect for ME ME ME. Not for gifts, for me!

However I am pleased, and surprised, to say that temptation  - and my utter greed - has not got the better of me  and I have so far resisted any urges to self-gift this season.

Well almost.

I popped to John Lewis with every intention of buying some sock yarn to make Christmas socks. Instead I got five balls of  this...

Sirdar Firefly Metallic in a beautifully sparkly silver colour. It is possibly the most irritating yarn I have ever knit with, as it's forever catching on my fingers and getting caught in the points of my needles. Aaah but look at how pretty and textured  it is and how much it sparkles.

I'm knitting a simple little cowl neck top which is coming together pleasingly quickly. Can not wait to wear this at Christmas parties and to sparkle under the fairy lights.

Knitting and the pursuit of happiness

When I was young my mother taught me, amongst other things,  how to knit, how to sew and how to bake a mean jam roley poley.

She gave me an appreciation of the joy to be found in a box of buttons and the excitement to be had in discovering a new shade of wool.

What I didn't know then but I do now is that my mum has ongoing clinical depression. She always has had it and probably always will. Back when I was young and to this day, my mum uses craft as way of treating her depression.

She doesn't call it depression. To people of my mum's generation there is still a stigma associated with the condition.

To my lovely beyond words mum, what she has is 'trouble with her nerves'. When my mum feels like her 'nerves' are playing up she reaches for something, anything, craft. She will go from one craft to another until she finds whatever it takes to lift it.

I am very much my mother's daughter and like my mum, I too have depression. There are times when it is so bad that every day is a struggle to stay alive and times when it's just enough for me to feel down and angry with myself and the world. And some days, which are getting more and more frequent, when I feel happy and pleased with who I am.

Just like my mother I am finding that craft, and knitting in particular,  is helping to treat my depression.

This blog entry is for everyone with depression. When all else fails, get knitting!

My mum - crafter extraordinaire and the most wonderful woman in the world - will be 72 on Monday.
Happy Birthday Mummy and thank you for the craft gene :)  xxx

A little retro number

I got some lovely pieces of fabric off Ebay in a retro green and purple floral print and I've been wondering for a while what to do with them. Decided on making this floor cushion. It has a purple side and a green side - I'm not sure which I prefer yet. Green I think :) I also had a bit of the purple fabric left over so I made a sofa cushion. Nice to finally have a bit of colour in the Wendy House.

Creative slump and a little excitement

I haven't posted much  of late. Mainly because I've not really been making anything. I've been hit with  the winter blues and  found myself in a bit of a creative slump. Even though I love making stuff, and I know that getting stuck in a good craft project will cheer me right up, I just can't motivate myself to start. I feel like I'm through the worst of it now though. Gradually my brain and body are starting to adjust to the short days and my energy levels and creeping back up.

But while I have not been making anything, I thought I'd share what some of the children I teach have been making. This is a new project I have been developing this term - a simple felt pencil case with an applique design and an LED which turns on when the snap fastener is fastened.
Aren't they delicious!?

 It's a year 8 project and the first time any of them have done any electronics - and for some of them the first time they have done any hand sewing. It's a simple circuit using a battery, a cell holder, snap fasteners and *drum roll* CONDUCTIVE THREAD! It's the first time I've used conductive thread - you literally sew in the circuit - and it's getting me so excited about electronic textiles and what to do next.

Planning on doing some felt making with my year 9 class this week. Will let you know how it turns out.

Mittens for kittens and Autumn socks

Typing up this blog post in my just finished fingerless mittens!  mittens for kittens? Well, actually mittens for my friend Gayle for her birthday but mittens for Gayle doesn't rhyme so well. I'm really pleased with how they look. The ribbon stitched through looks really cute I think. They were not without their troubles though. I let myself get distracted and it wasn't until I was finishing off the loose ends that I noticed I had knit two right hand mittens. Arghhhhhhhh! Some swearing, unravelling and re-knitting later and I am happy to see them finished. Off to keep warm the hands of their lovely new owner. Happy Birthday Gayle, I hope you like them as much as I do xxx

I love this time of year. At the weekend I was in north London strolling through beautiful  Waterlow Park and admiring the amazing colours of the leaves on the trees. It's difficult to not be inspired during Autumn. For my next knitted project I'm thinking of making long socks to peak over the top of my boots, in the colours of the photo below. Autumn socks. Hmmm I suspect a visit to the wool shop might be on the cards :)