Time Off

I'm still here really I am. The past month has been a bit of a 'personal journey of discovery' and I didn't want to bore people with self-indulgent rantings.

However since I've been away I've discovered that I'm not ready to give up on art. Which is comforting to know. I've also been making things! A new knitted hat for my Dad. The pattern is here but I just used a ball of blue King Cole Aran 30% wool 70% acrylic. And I've been collecting plastic shopping bags, cutting them up and stringing them together into yarn. Its for a laundry basket for Simon as he complains that the last laundry basket can't be carried around (well it was from the £1 Shop) It's really labour intensive getting bags as I don't really shop an awful lot, (If I could afford to shop a lot I would have enough money to buy a laundry basket) but its really satisfying that I'm recycling what would normally be thrown in the bin and its going to end up being free. Free is the best price.

Cheap is also good. I found some charity shop treasures recently including some awesome vintage red pink and Orange striped curtains (£2) and a 400g cone of buttercup yellow yarn (£1.99) I follows the knitorama method of working out what fibre it is by setting fire to some of it (very safely of course) and I think its a blend of mostly nylon or polyester with some animal hair in it. Its about 2ply weight so don't expect to see any projects with it in for a while.

I've been really enjoying buying Christmas presents this year. Mainly because I decided that instead of getting people one thing they want I would make a goody bag of things they like but don't normally buy. For example so far for my Mum I've bought a bun tray made of silicone. I recommended silicone to her ages ago but there is so much difference between the good higher priced ones and the cheap floppy crap ones. So I got her a good one. With that I bought yesterday a jar of lovely piccalilli from the farmers market.