a new self-imposed rule

There has been absolutely no time for blogging  this week - all my internet time has been spent on a virtual tour of the world on the Bead Soup party! I'm about halfway through the blogs taking part, and there have been some really beautiful pieces of jewellery made, a lot of people meeting the challenge of using materials and supplies that are completely different from anything they usually use. I think it's going to tak me another couple of weeks to get through everyone though! I'm trying to leave a comment on everyone's blog - afterall, if they've gone to the trouble of taking part and posting beautiful pictures of what they've made, the least I can do is comment!

Apart from the blog hop, orders, preparing for college evening classes starting again next week and the usual family stuff I've been trying to have a bit of a declutter. I hate how easily the house gets messy with four of us now in the house. I sorted out my knitting and crochet projects and yarn stash yesterday and I've realised three things:

1. I have lots of lovely yarn but still need more (different) yarn to be able to knit all the projects I've got in mind. I've got enough DK, for example, for a couple of projects but not in the colours I need for a friend's Christmas gloves, and I haven't got enough 4ply for my niece's Christmas dress.
2. I have too many projects on the go and (this might just be my "baby's teething and I've got a cold"-brain speaking) I can't keep track at the moment. I know exactly why I have so many projects on the go - there's a simple baby blanket for in the car when T's driving us somewhere, a jumper for me that just needs the capped sleeves finishing and blocking, a chunky sleeve-less jumper pictured above for me that I realised that I didn't have enough yarn for despite having the correct gauge and the exact number of balls of recommended yarn, but that's not really a problem as I decided halfway through the second side that I didn't like the pattern in this colour anyway, and my Victorian wrap that I started when we were on holiday two years ago that only comes out to play when I'm not concentrating on anything else. The book was right when it said that this one's a challenge!
3. I really really want to start teaching myself Tunisian crochet NOW! The goodies below arrived from Purple Linda yesterday. I had thought that the book would have projects in them that I wouldn't really be interested in and it would be the lace stitch patterns and the DVD that would be useful for teaching myself, but I've actually added a couple of the projects to my project list.
4. I really need a better way of organising my needles, especially my lovely knitpro interchangables.

I know that's four things, but as I said, Jamie's teething, okay?!

So, my solutions then

1. Well, this one seems easy - go and buy some more yarn in the thicknesses and colours that I need. However, I also need to avoid spending money on yarn that looks lovely but for which I haven't got an immediate project in mind! I think I may have to take cash and leave the card at home.....
2. I'm going to try and stick to three projects at a time, as there are three pockets in the lovely bag that has become my knitting bag. Ummm....this one may be a bit harder! I'm cheating slightly on this one as I'm going to frog the chunky sleeveless top so that I can use the yarn for something else, so if I do that and finish the two projects that are nearly done I'll be okay.
3. Once I've finished the two projects that are nearly done I can start teaching myself Tunisian crochet (look, two solutions in one!)
4. I've been looking at the needle rolls on etsy for ages and thinking that I could make one myself but, I have to face it, sewing is not my strong point so I think it's time I added one to my Christmas list. My family will probably be relieved as my list usually says something like "an plug in clothes airer so I don't use the tumble dryer" and "some garden tools"!

Right, that's me organised then! How about you?!

Tutorial Tuesday - three needle bind off

 

I first learnt to knit when I was eight. Small groups of us were taken out of our class by a teaching assistant and taught how to cast on and knit simple squares. I think they were supposed to be dish cloths, but I seem to remember that mine was a bit too holey to be used for anything much! I've learnt a lot since then, mainly since getting the knitting bug again when Ben was born. I've made a few pairs of these booties recently, both for Jamie and for friends' babies. The pattern, Oh! Baby Baby Booties, is on Ravelry and also on a yarn shop website here. The original pattern has been adapted by a lovely helpful Raveller called babylee so it can be knit all in one piece - if you're on Ravelry either look her up for her modifications or have a look on my favourites as I've saved them in there. My Ravelry username is daisyjewellery (no surprises there!). And if you knit or crochet and you're not on Ravelry, why not?!

Anyway, when you've finished knitting a bootie it looks like the photo above. I use a circular needle instead of two straight needles just because I prefer it. The next step is to cast off the stitches and sew the seam. You could either cast off and then fold the cast off edge in half and sew it together, or you can do the casting off and sewing in one step  - quicker and a much neater seam - using three needle bind off.

If you haven't done this before it is really really easy. All you need is the two needles (or circular needle) you've been working on already and (surprise surprise) a third needle, slightly bigger than the ones you've already used. Have half the stitches on one needle and half on the other. Hold the needles together as shown.

Using the third needle, knit into the first stitch on each needle at the same time.

Knit the next pair of stitches as well.

Cast off the first stitch on your third needle by slipping it off the needle over the second stitch. Knit into the next pair of stitiches on your original needles and cast off the second stitch on your third needle.

Repeat until you've got to the end and cast off the last stitch by pulling the yarn through the loop. Easy!

I cast off the shoulders of jumpers and tops in the same way. Instead of casting off the shoulders of the back section I leave them on stitch holders and then cast them off with the shoulders of the front. I find if much quicker, especially as it leaves me fewer yarn ends to sew in - and I hate sewing in yarn ends!

Tutorial Tuesday - Sheep in the City scarf pattern

Picture from Sheep in the City blog

I have most definitely reached the stage when my bump is too big for coats to do up, and it's got pretty cold here in the mornings when I'm taking Ben to school, so I've decided to knit myself a new scarf. I've been getting organised and knitting lots of Christmas presents, so it seems like ages since I knitted myself anything! I think I've found the perfect pattern - great for showing off variegated colour yarns and an easy pattern to memorise for when I'm sitting in front of the television in the evening. I'm hoping to be able to wear it by the end of the week!

The pattern (and the photo of the scarf above) come from Sheep in the City. I'll let you know how I get on with it!

Tutorial Tuesday - Fibre Jewellery

Just a quick post to give you this week's Tutorial Tuesday - I'll be back later with news of where I've been and what we've been doing! As I may have mentioned just a few times, I have definitely renewed my addiction to knitting and crochet over the last couple of years or so, and there are two websites that have helped that addiction - www.ravelry.com and www.knitty.com. Today's tutorials combine my two addictions to bring you crocheted and knitted jewellery!

First up, Sun Necklace by Olivia Munroe of Un Jardin de Hilo. 

A beautiful mix of crochet and beads!

A

 And Olivia's flower earrings - she has more patterns on her blog, so do take a look!

Some knitted earrings this time.

Coralie is by Sarah Punderson, and the pattern is in the latest issue of Knitty

Enjoy!

Picture Weekend

T's mum and step-dad have been visiting us this weekend, much to B's excitement! They went home this lunch time for a rest after being run ragged around the park and along Southsea beach. I was teaching on Sunday morning so they and T went down to Southsea and I joined them after lunch - we hadn't taken them there before and I'd forgotten just how much there is to do down there, especially for children.

We went to Gunwharf Quays for tea and watched the ferries and boats sail in and out of Portsmouth Harbour. It reminded me of coming home on the ferry after childhood summer holidays camping in France.

Of course I had to take the obligatory photo of B sitting on one of the cannons!

We still haven't been up the Spinnaker Tower - something for next time we have visitors!

And look what I finished!!
I am really pleased with how my Petrie has turned out. The yarn (Rowan Purelife Organic wool) was lovely to knit with.
Now, I just need to meet my other knitting targets and then I can spend my birthday vouchers on new yarn and cast on a new project - or two!

Work in progress

While chatting with my friend Helen last week (on the phone unfortunately as she still lives miles away up North - how's the house hunting in Reading going Hellie?!) we started talking about the Tutorial Tuesday post I did the other week listing just a few of the projects that are on my 'must-do' list - and then we started talking about all the projects that we both have to finish! We are both as bad as each other - Hellie had a complicated cross-stitch project while we were at uni that she only finished last year (we graduated in 1996) and I've got more than one knitting project that I have now decided to frog (rip out for those non-knitters amongst you) that I started either whilst pregnant with B or while he was a baby. The only one that I'm not going to frog is a maternity cardigan that just needs sewing together in the hope that I may be able to wear it one day!

Ignoring the projects that need ripping out, these are the four that I still need to finish - I thought that if I posted them here then it might shame me into finishing them, especially as a couple are so close to being finished anyway!

1. is a lovely top from Knitty - if you haven't been to this online magazine yet, you really must. Knitty is responsible for speeding up my re-addiction to knitting last year. I was searching for a free pattern for fingerless gloves, found Knitty and the rest is history! This pattern is called Petrie. I started knitting it on the way up to T's Mum's on Good Friday and cast off the back literally as we pulled up outside our house on our return. Not bad going! I'm halfway up the arm holes on the front, so I'm hoping to have it completed by the end of this weekend as there's not much seing up to do.

2. is this crocheted wrap - if you go and have a look at that post and compare the photos you'll see that I haven't done any more to this since October! My excuse is that it's a pattern that I really have to concentrate on so I can't do it in front of the television or in the car, which are my usual opportunities for knitting and crochet.

3. is my Chevron Tunic. I've finished the back since showing it to you at the end of March, but I haven't cast on the front yet. It's a relatively easy pattern to knit, but it takes a while.

4. is my guiltiest secret! I started this a year ago and it's been in this state since last summer! All I need to do is to knit the rib cuffs on the arms holes and the edges of the front pocket - but I keep putting it off as it means picking up and knitting several hundred stitches!

The thing is that there are, as you know, other projects that I really want to knit, and also I've just been given vouchers for John Lewis and Knits in the City for my birthday, and there are so many gorgeous yarns I could spend them on!! So, I've promised myself that I must finish Petrie and the blue long tunic and restart (ie work out where on earth I got up to in the pattern) the crochet wrap before I can buy more yarn or cast on a new project! Hopefully telling you lot will make me keep my resolution - what so you think? Can I resist temptation?!

Picture weekend

Culinary experiments with B
melt 55g of butter with 400g of marshmallows
mix in 180g of rice crispies
melt 250g of chocolate (milk or dark)
spread rich crispie mix into tin lined with greaseproof paper (easier said than done!)
spoon chocolate over mix
cool in fridge
enjoy!

Lots of new lego cars
(still got to find wheels for two)

Potatoes waiting to sprout on the windowsill

A very useful book! I'm determined to improve my veggie growing this year!

Two hats - both for friends' husbands at their wives suggestion!
A great quick pattern that you can find here

My current main knitting project! I've nearly finished the front. The back is identical
and then the yoke will be knit across both in the round. It's an easy pattern but is taking a while as it's a bit repetitive - which is why I've got smaller projects on the go as well! You can see what it will turn out like here

New designs on the way and orders nearly complete!

Jewellery to be photographed tomorrow morning -
some new designs, some orders

And my slightly guilty secret -
the Twilight books arrived on Wednesday and I'm now halfway through Eclipse and loving it!

Happy February!

Well, apparently I've not been alone in the January blues! Thank you for the comments on Saturday's post - and if you haven't already paid Mel's blog a visit go and have a read of her blessings too. I think this is officially the first time that I've written a blog post that has inspired someone else to write one too. My funk more or less disappeared after writing my 'blessings' post, so if you're having the blues it's worth writing your blessing down too!

Something else that has helped get me out of my funk has been finishing a couple of projects, both knitted and jewellery. The jewellery ones need photographing properly, but the knitting ones I can show you now......


This is the November sweater that I showed you the start of here. I'm really pleased with it - fun to knit, very little sewing up to do, very comfy! Nicky took the photo for me while we were out having pudding and a drink this evening - thank you Nicky, having a evening out with you chased away the last of the funk! The colour is actually much bluer than you can see here - pub lighting is not the best for photos, no matter how much I play with the white balance on the camera!


And this is a cuddly top that I've knitted for my baby niece, Chloe. It's made using a chunky yarn (that I already had in my stash - bonus!) so it was quick to knit up. The original pattern used either buttons or ribbon at the sides, but I liked the idea of 4-ply cotton french knitted into a ribbon as a contrast to the texture of the brown yarn. If you like the pattern follow this link to Ravelry and look in my finished projects and you'll find the pattern there - my name on there is daisyjewellery. And if you knit or crochet and haven't joined Ravelry yet, why on earth not?!

A perfect marriage of yarn and lego!

How cool is this?! I wonder if B's lego skills are up to making one for me......

Tutorial Tuesday - November Sweater

This is my current knitting project - well, one of them, anyway, and I'm loving knitting it so much that I thought I'd share it with you.

This is Meghan's original - mine is below!

It's called November Sweater and is designed by Meghan and is available free on her blog Allergic to Wool. It's her first official written up pattern, and as far as I'm concerned it's a great success - lovely lace pattern, very little seaming to do afterwards and a quick knit, which is definitely what I need at this time of year! I started a couple of days before Christmas, and even though I haven't had a great deal of knitting time this holiday I'm already two-thirds through the second side. There are only two pieces as it's knitted side-to-side.

I'm using Patons Smoothie acrylic DK yarn that just called to me as the colour is gorgeous. I haven't bought an acrylic yarn for ages for anything apart for baby knits that I know will be machine washing alot, but I'm really pleased with this one. Meghan however used DK yarn that she recycled from a charity shop sweater - one of my aims this year is to see what yarn I can reclaim from charity shops!

Busy busy busy!

Just because the blog posts have been slow recently, don't think I've been slacking - it's Christmas, don't you know, the time of year when I spend a lot of time in my shed, thanking God that we (or rather Tony and Tim) insulated it well and I've got a good heater, making lots and lots of goodies to post all over the UK. There's been quite a few overseas parcels as well this year thanks to notonthehighstreet orders. More and more people have found my website too - thank you! I've done a fair bit of promoting this year, some of which, such as posting my tutorials on forums and writing magazine articles, didn't seem like advertising the jewellery sales side of my business, but it seems to have had an impact. Thankfully the bout of the flu I had last week seems to have been a fairly mild one. I started feeling ill a week ago Thursday, but I was fine, just very tired, by the weekend. I'm still tired, but I'm working through it!


Christmas also means that I'm busy making gifts for family and friends. I started earlier than usual this year, partly because I knew that I'd need to be ultra organised this year - I had been warned by a few of the other stall holders at the Winchester Handm@de fair that Christmas on noths is rather busy! - but partly because I really wanted to get started on knitting the patterns I'd found! Now, I can't show you all the things I've made as there are probably a few prying eyes looking for things they shouldn't be, but these are a few of the projects I've been knitting recently. They still need blocking, soI'll show them to you again in all their full glory and tell you about the patterns later on!

Today's tutorial is on it's way, but the way - I've got to polish the earrings I've made (well, there's a hint for you!) and finish some more photos for it first!

Finished projects

I'm feeling rather pleased with myself as I managed to finish two projects last weekend while we were driving up to Suffolk for Grandma's birthday. I finished knitting and crocheting them both a couple of weeks ago, but as usual it's taken me a while to sew them up!


I made the elephant for my friend's new baby girl. We called into see them for lunch and a lazy afternoon on Saturday before continuing onto my Aunt's for the birthday celebrations. I had lots of lovely cuddles with baby Emma and was rewarded with a little bit of sick and lots of smiles! The pattern for the elephant came from this blog, and B and Emma's big brother have put orders in for their own!


And this is the waistcoat I made for Grandma's birthday that I was keeping a secret. I'm really pleased with it - it's not my taste but it's definitely Grandma's, and her favourite colour too. I made it longer than the pattern suggests as Grandma likes her tops to cover her back well. I found the pattern listed on Ravelry (a site that I'm spending more and more time on). The cover of the book it's in nearly put me off as it looks so dated, but I think it turned out rather well.

When knitting becomes an obsession......

I found this clip on Ravelry - don't worry, my obsession hasn't got this far yet!

All done!

The last big project that has been keeping me busy over the last couple of months is my waistcoat - yes, it's finally finished! Well, actually I say finally but it's really only taken me since the middle of April and two months for a finished knitted adult garment is pretty good for me, but the last couple of bits have seemed to drag on. I've decided that I don't mind sewing up any more now that I use crochet to do that wherever possible, but I really, really don't like having to pick up and knit over 100 stitches. So why, do you ask, have I cast on this project?! It needs 260 stitches picked up for the neckband alone! The yarn is lovely, though. I bought it from Knits in the City, the website I found when I was looking for a picture of the finished waistcoat to show you last month. Christine, who owns the shop, was really helpful and got me in the yarn in the colours I wanted for the vest top and also the crochet wrap on the cover of this book. I was hoping to make the wrap in time for my cousin's wedding in September, but there are so many other projects I'd like to do too, including a shorter version of this waistcoat for my Grandma's birthday in October (don't worry, she doesn't go anywhere near computers, let alone read my blog!).


One thing that I didn't like about the pattern is that I'm certain that there's an error about where to make the button holes - if you follow the instructions to the letter the holes are far too low. I'm going to sew them up and just have one button at the top, but in the meantime I'm using a pin that I made using my daisy motive to hold it closed and it works rather well!

By the way, Christine has offers on some of the Rowan and Debbie Bliss yarns at the moment, so if you're after yarn for a project to take on holiday with you get in quickly as I'm not sure how long the offer lasts for!

And relax....

I meant to post last night about Handm@de Winchester, but I sat down after unpacking everything and you know how fatal that is!

Handm@de was a great event, and very well organised, much better than others I've been to, and I've been to lots - thank you to Raspberry for all her hard work! It was great meeting lots of people who up to now have been usernames and blog names, and just as great to catch up with people I hadn't seen for a while and meet some new people. It was also great to chat with visitors about what I do and about jewellery tuition. There are some photos of the fair (including a rare photo of me!) on flickr here.

I did do a bit shopping myself - well, with all that temptation, how could I resist?! I bought a pink sock bunny from Half an Acre for Gracie, something for my mum (not saying what that in case she reads this before I give it to her!) and something for me - my first skein of hand dyed yarn - isn't it gorgeous?


I bought it from nimu. She's got an etsy shop here, that she'll be stocking with lots of loveliness as soon as she comes off maternity leave! I've already decided what I'm going to use it for. I spent a lovely hour searching for scarf patterns on Ravelry, and I'm forcing myself to finish at least one of the projects that I'm knitting at the moment before casting on this one. What's the betting I give in to temptation (again!) and cast on before the end of the week?

A quick note before I go and sort my workshed out and put things from yesterday away properly - I've got some more new gold and silver designs to show you tomorrow, and they'll be on the website too soon!

Making progress

Just a quick post to show you that I am making progress with my knitting, despite having to undo nearly 8cm the other evening. I was not a happy bunny when I followed the instructions for the right hand side, completed the decreasing and the main part of the pattern and then read the next part about the button holes only to realise that maybe that part should have been printed a bit earlier. Oh well! B insisted that he had to be in the photo, and the funny face is because he was saying "cheeeeeese"!

I've been a bit naughty and ordered yarn for the next two projects I've got planned, the ones I talked about here. Don't worry, I've been busy making jewellery and sorting out the website too - the new look website will revealed very very soon.

And finally, just to prove that B isn't always a little angel, here's what you get when you add a three year old, muddy shoes from playing in the garden and a cream carpet! At least it hoovered out, and to do him justice he did try to help me with his toy hoover!

Definitely readdicted to knitting!

When Helen was visiting in March we went to Winchester for the day and had a browse that turned into a bit of a spree in C&H Fabrics. I'd been knitted quite a few fairly quick projects (including 4 pairs of Fetching gloves!) so far since Christmas, and thought it was about time I got my teeth into a bigger project. I'd been avoiding them as I tend to get bored it things don't knit up quickly or hold my attention by having an interesting pattern or colour change! This pattern book caught my eye and I ended up buying the yarn to knit the waistcoat on the front cover. The back was really quick to knit, but I've lost count of the number of times I had to unpick the first section of pattern on the first front panel, and I'm certainly not going to tell you how much swearing there was when I had to unpick it because I'd picked up an extra stitch yet again!! The pattern may look fairly simple and straight forward, but that is only to give you false hope - I mean, does P1, P2tog, yon, Cr2R, P1, K2tog, yfrn, P1, K1, P1, yon, sl 1, K1, psso, P1, Cr2L, yfrn, P2tog tbl, P1 look like a straight forward pattern to you?! Actually, it wasn't too bad after the first pattern repeat, and I'm quite proud of myself for having got this far!

I've finally finished the left front and started the first few rows of the right hand side, so hopefully I'll be able to wear it in the next few weeks - that's assuming that I make myself sew it up before moving on to the next project. Sewing projects up is not my favourite part, which is why the maternity cardigan that I knitted while pregnant with B has never been worn! Next up - I've got my eye on this pattern in the same book, and I've also been eyeing up the wrap on the front of this crochet book that I bought myself for my birthday. My cousin's getting married in September, and I'd love to get it finished to wear to the wedding. I might need you to nag me to get it finished though!

By the way, I do like this site - www.knitsinthecity.co.uk - I found it this evening while looking for a picture of the waistcoat to show you. I like the way that they list everything that you need to complete a project. There's nothing worse than buying a pattern book and then realising that you haven't got all the needles, stitch holders etc that you need to get started!

A bit carried away, do you think?

These are the fruits of my knitting so far - 2 and a half pairs of gloves! The plum coloured pair are mine, the other pairs are for friends. I expect I'll get the green pair finished in a couple of evenings. The blue line that you can just about see on the green glove is where I need to add in the thumb. I have made a change to the pattern for the green pair though, as the ruffled casting-off that the pattern suggested is pretty but I think I prefer the tops of the gloves held a bit tighter, so I've just cast-off normally. I've already bought the yarn for my next project - a hat this time with a lacy pattern. It'll be my first time knitting a pattern by following a chart - I must be mad! It's from the Knitty website again. I don't usually wear hats but this is my first winter with short hair and I've decided that I need one! Oh, and my other knitting project was a scarf for B's Baby Teddy, the teddy that he absolutely has to have at night. Apparently Baby Teddy (or BT to his friends) particularly requested a red scarf, and now wants a hat to match!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a relaxing/fun/busy/family/partying (please delete as appropriate!) New Year's Eve! Has anyone got used to writing 2009 yet? It usually takes me a while.

We had a lovely New Year's Eve at home. I usually find the whole night a bit of an anticlimax - you know, let's stay up really late, oh look it's another year, let's go to bed - and I have to admit I really don't like big New Year's eve parties - although if Jools Holland invited me to the Hootanny I wouldn't say no as that looks like a lot of fun. My ideal New Year's Eve is to invite a few friends round for some food and maybe games like 'who's in the bag', and that's exactly what we did this year. Nicky and her family and Katie and Tim and baby Gracie came round - Nicky's little ones slept upstairs (the youngest in B's room with him which worked amazingly well), Gracie was downstairs with us as at this age they sleep through everything, and we had a great relaxing evening. Well, I assume everyone else had a good time too - T cooked curry from the book Katie and Tim gave him for Christmas and we haven't had any phone calls complaining of dodgy tummies!

I haven't set any resolutions of the "I must eat less chocolate/go swimming once a week" sort as there's no point, I never ever keep them. In fact, I'm wound up until I break them and then relax as I can go back to normal again! I have, however, set myself some goals for this year. Some of them were written on the back of an envelope (in small print!) when Nicky and I went out for a business meeting (aka pudding and a drink at the local pub) before Christmas. Some are business, some are personal, some are family. One of the personal ones actually is to go swimming more as it's something that I enjoy and find relaxing, but never seem to find the time for. I've come to realise that unless I timetable things in, they won't happen. For example, T goes out for a drink late on Tuesday evenings with friends. I know that's his night, so I never book anything else in - and then I moan every now and then that I never go out unless it's to teach a workshop! There is absolutely nothing stopping me going out if I organise to properly and get into some kind of routine, so that is what I must do. Oh, and I suppose the exercise swimming will give me will be good too!

Another goal is to do more of other crafts. Don't get me wrong, there is no way I'm going to reduce the amount of silversmithing/jewellery making that I do. I'll be doing more when (do you like the positive thinking?!) my other goals are achieved. It's more that there are so many crafts that I can do (thanks to my Mum, my Grandma and a great textiles teacher at school) and I've hardly enjoyed them at all since B was born. And it is this goal I have been working on this evening! I decided that it was about time that I learnt how to knit gloves. I learnt to knit when I was 7, so it's daft that's it's taken me this long! I want to make myself a pair of fingerless mittens to wear in the workshop when it's cold in there, and found this pattern on a great site called Knitty. They've got a blog that I think I will be adding to my list of daily reads too. The thing is that not only have I never knitted gloves before, I haven't done any cable knitting since I was about 15 for a GCSE Textiles project, so I'm really hoping that I haven't over reached myself this time! The pattern does say that it's a quick project, though, so fingers crossed. I really like the fact that they only need one ball of yarn too. They seem to be coming along well - what do you think? It does get a bit tricky when I'm trying to control 5 needles at the cabling parts in the pattern! Nicky, if you still want me to teach you how to cast on and off, I've got a spare ball of wool, just get yourself a set of knitting needles!

I've joined Flickr at last, mainly as I thought that Lupin's Crafting 365 Flickr group challenge was what I needed to kick start me into the New Year. So, if you feel like seeing whether I meet the challenge of crafting every day this year and posting a photo of what I've done (remembering to take the photos will be by far the harder part!) then come and see me here!

What a week!

Finally after tonnes of searching on the web for help and trying different ideas out I seem to have solved the hyperlink problem! I decided this evening to start again using a different blog address but wanted the same look so chose the same template, colours etc. Imagine my dismay when the hyperlinks didn't work on that either! It finally clicked that maybe the template was at fault so I changed it and ........they work!! How could something so simple have caused me to swear so much at the computer?!

It's been a strange old week. Poor old B has been ill today, and he is hardly ever ill. There's a 24 hour tummy bug doing the rounds and I think he's got that. When he's not actually being sick he's fine, just a bit tired and not really wanting to eat anything. He and I had a quiet day at home as there was no way he could go to his childminders as he usually does on Thursdays.

On Tuesday I had a meeting in Hastings with my new website hosting company. Mum had agreed to look after B (she didn't need much persuasion!) so he and I drove over there in horrible rain. Mum and B then dropped me off at Barnham train station as I had decided to get the train rather than drive as
a) it was slightly quicker and cheaper
b) I hate driving long distances in the rain (and for anyone reading this who wasn't in the UK on Tuesday it was horrendous weather) and
c) I could read my book and do some knitting (okay, so that was actually the deciding factor!)

I got as far as Eastbourne and then had to turn round again as concrete sheds had apparently been washed/blown onto the line damaging the line. They were organising a bus but by the time I would have eventually got there I would have had to turn right round and come straight back again. In the end I stopped in Brighton for a quick lunch as I had to change trains there anyway. I had a nice wander round the Laines (in the rain!) and found a couple of shops that could be potential outlets for my jewellery, so the day wasn't wasted, but it definitely didn't go to plan!

I've got a couple of new pieces of jewellery to show you but they'll have to wait until tomorrow as I still need to photograph them. In the meantime, have a look at Nicky's blog - I made up a chainmaille kit for her birthday using my koil kutter, and it looks as though she's got the chainmaille bug!