The Craft of the Moment

I try my hand and many different crafts but usually only one at a time.  At the moment it is crochet.  In previous bouts of crochet I have played at amigurumi and made eggs for the cat and a giraffe for a friends baby.  I made a start on a this tooterphant but stopped only 10 rounds in in favour of something else.  Project Life I think.

As I said, it's the turn of crochet again but this time I'm trying something other than amigurumi.  I revived my Ravelry account and had a browse of patterns before settling on this Hook Monster Crochet Case.  I made two in the space of a week, mainly because they're easy and don't need me to keep count of stitches or rows, just carry on until it looks to be the right size for my hooks.

I think I started out with tensions issues as the pink case was my first and it should be an even rectangle shape, not narrower at the bottom.

Next I want to have a go at a Mobius pattern I found on Ravelry and yesterday I detoured to Texere Yarns after work to get something chunky to work with.  I came away with this:-

Two balls of something chunky, a ball of sparkly (I think I may have magpie tendencies) and a pair of 4.5mm knitting needles I don't need (I wanted an afghan crochet hook it seems, not knitting needles.  Oops).

A Google search for how to crochet with Sirdar Firefly turned up a pattern for this beautiful shawl which is now also on my to make list, I just need another couple of balls first.   Maybe another trip to Texere Yarns but more likely a browse at Purple Linda Crafts cause they do afghan hooks too.

As is usually the case with my crafts though, I seem to spend more time online reading about it, talking about it or shopping for it than I actually spend doing it.  This has been no exception and this week I have spent a good hour or more watching YouTube videos on making granny squares.  The instructions seem straightforward enough, as do the video but I've tried and frogged many attempts this week.  I'm just going to have to get a real live person to show me.#

That's enough rambling for one evening.  I might just go and pick up my hook now and start actual crafting.

Hello World

This blog had been lying dormant for a good long while. I think it might be time for a revival. I've downloaded the blogger app to my phone so updates should be nice and easy. Now all I need is to find something to write about...

DIY Diary

Since I've had no response at all from my two requests to the Woman's Success Planner people about possible shipping to the UK I have gone ahead and made my own.

So here is a very photo heavy post.

To start with I've used A5 paper.  White 160 gsm and yellow 120 gsm.  The covers are made from an old receipt wallet (hence the logo on the front) and they were all punched and bound by me using my trusty bind-it-all.  This version covers mid July - end Sept with monthly pages continuing to the end of 2011 and the whole thing is about 5/8" thick (well those are the bind-it-all coils I used)

Here goes:-

 Now to start filling it in and using it.

Diary / Planner Quandry

I don't normally write about diaries and such here (well let's face it, I don't normally write about anything here) but there have been a few planner posts recently that have raised a few questions for me.

At the moment I have a large plain Moleskine journal I use for everyday writing.  You know the type, from what I had to breakfast / lunch and what I did, to why I'm feeling particularly good / bad today etc etc.  It includes details of what we've done on holiday and tickets and prints from my beloved Pogo printer to support that (infact together with my day per page logbook this has completely replaced my scrapbooking and it's much more me than rearranging pretty papers that make me feel inadequate and bereft of an artistic gene).

So anyway, from front to back is my journal and from back to front is my planner.

My planner goes like this:-

- Weekly schedule / timetable
- Year to view (Oct 2011 - Sept 2012)
- April 2011 Month to view
- May 2011 Month to view
- June 2011 Month to view
- July 2011 Month to view
- August 2011 Month to view
- September 2011 Month to view
- Blank
- School Holidays - Easter 2011, week per page
- School Holidays - Spring Bank 2011, week per page
- School Holiday - Summer 2011, week per page

Generally my days are not overly planned, especially when I'm not working.  I tend to just potter about and do bits and bats here and there.  I HATE housework and do the bare minimum and I REALLY need to do more, plus I'm hoping to be working more hours once LJ starts school in September (Eeeek!  My baby starts school in Septemeber) so I need to get more organised.  I need to write everything down, not just the ununsual stuff but the everyday / week / month stuff.

I've been looking at new planners for the upcoming academic year but just cannot settle on one, then I read Laurie's post on The Woman's Success Planner (WSP), closely followed by Rori's posts on the same.  These have got me itching to try it out.  Unfortuately they don't appear to ship to the UK so now I'm tempted to dig out an unused Moleskine and create my own, using ideas from the Woman's Success Planner and adding a few of my own.

So here's where I'm hoping someone is actually reading this blog because I'm after some help / suggestions as to what to include.

So far I have:-
- 2pg Year to view with annual tasks and events listed (birthdays, pet vaccinatons, insurance etc)
- 1pg Monthly tasks and ongoing tasks (thank you WSP)
- 1pg Notes
- 2pg Month to view
- 1pg Weekly tasks and ongoing tasks (I don't think I'd use the meal planner and shopping list the WSP has, the family calendar and notepad on the fridge do this very well for me)
- 1pg Notes
- 2pg Week to view (columns) with the very useful daily tasks circles, tasks area & health tracker ala WSP
- 1pg Week in Review and expenses
- 1pg Notes
- 2pg (where required) School Holiday plans - Activity ideas separated according to free / paid / indoor / outdoor,

Rinse and repeat as required.  I estimate that I will fit about 6 months into 1 large squared Moleskine.  Together with my Quiver pen holder I think that it should be more than enough.

At the back of the journal I will have the next 12 months on a double page spread (or possibly 1 month per page) for forward planning.

I would like to note here that I'm not trying to 'rip off' WSP and would gladly buy their product if it was available to me.

All input feedback gladly received.  Thank you for reading this far.

Normal service will resume shortly, I have been sewing :-)

More Work In Progress

I got around to firing up the sewing machine at long last (it really does need a table top resting place, I'm much more likely to use it if I don't have to dig it out from under the kitchen table)

A couple of hours last Saturday were dedicated to piecing together the 2nd of the two quilt tops I'm making for the boys. I had originally intended the Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo fabric for LJ



And the Riley Blake Allstar fabric for TJ



But they've each independently decided that they want the other.

Both tops are now complete, as you can see, the next step is to piece the backs and get them layered. We are in the middle of sorting bedrooms and I'm hoping to have the quilts completed at the same time the bedrooms are ready. Better get off here and get sewing then.

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