What's New In April

Apologies for the absence this week. You might have to expect that over the next month or so although I will try my best to give some warning. There are a few things that are occurring that have caused me to stay away from my blog. First of all my over exertion in trying to get my blanket finished has finally taken it's toll. My right arm from my elbow to my thumb is a little painful. I've taken a short break from knitting and crafting but today when trying to work on this months socks I gave up after a time. It doesn't help that my job involves a lot of writing. So my crafting will have to take a back seat for now. The second reason is actually a happier one. I am in the process of finalising buying my own flat. It's all happened rather quickly although I feel that now the process has slowed right down. Waiting for the mortgage lender and lawyers feels painfully slow. Although I have been assured that this has been faster than normal. I'll just have to be patient.

In the meantime I leave you with some things that I have come across this month. First of all there is the Knitting & Show coming up in Edinburgh. It's similar to the Edinburgh Yarn festival differing only in that it also features fabric. There are some classes but all of these appear to be stitchy related. I was hoping to go as I am collecting fabric for a quilt I am planning for my new bedroom. Getting the colours I want is proving difficult and I had hoped to find some there. I am now working that weekend as I agreed to swap shifts for a friend. It's probably a good thing as I can spend that money on things I'll need for my new home. It's taking place at the Royal Highland Centre from 28th-1st May. If you head over to the Knitting & Stitching show website you should be able to get tickets and see the list of vendors.

If you are curious about how the Edinburgh Yarn Festival went then head over to Lisa's blog as she has written a fantastic post on her experiences.

Sophie's Universe is a year old now but I came across this very recently. I can't remember where but I have a hunch it was good old Instagram. This is a Crochet Along project designed by the author of the blog Look at What I Made. If you love crochet and colours definitely follow her blog. She has a lot of free tutorials and patterns on there and her work is lovely.

This is what the finished pattern looks like. It's absolutely stunning. You can even pick up yarn packs based on whether you want to do it in aron, DK or 4ply. I am planning on adding this to my rather large to do list but I am going to choose my own colours. I just haven't worked out what those colours will be. A fun project I think. If you want to have a look you can find it here.

In an effort to prepare for moving I have been having a ruthless gut out. Part of that has involved going through all of my magazines (of which there are a lot) and taking out what I like. While doing that I have come across a few articles that I don't remember reading the first time. One of those articles was about the blogger behind Sew Sweetness. She is a quilter but is famous for her stitched bags and patterns. I am sure there was a pattern with her article which was the reason I then jotted down her blog in my notebook. Go have a look.

This image comes from Mothy & Squid and represents my next topic, mini skeins. My friend Lisa posted on her instagram some mini skeins she planned to put on her etsy page. I had mentioned that I noticed their popularity of late and wondered what people used them for. A set of mini skeins quite often comes in a set of colours each one about 20g. It can be like the rainbow above or it can be a range of colours that go well together. Lisa said that many people use them for socks and I have seen people knit stripey socks with them. The thought of all those ends though would just put me off. Mothy & Squid actually uses them for the cuffs, heels and toes of socks to give them an extra pop. While this may seem new (as it was to me). I came across an advert for mini skeins within an early edition of Knitter (so about 6/7 years ago maybe more). Not that new then but I think it's only now that it's taken off. I am actually planning a larger post with some ideas on what you could do with your own set of mini skeins.

This time last year series 3 of the Great British Sewing Bee had ended. In fact it had ended the month before. I have been waiting impatiently for season 4 to start believing it would have happened long before now. A friend of mine posted me a link with news that it was due to start in early May. Sadly the BBC website for the programme has no information on this so for now I remain ever hopeful that come May this programme will return. And with it expect lots of sewing related posts.

I will try to post at least once or twice a week. With my poor wrist and the upheaval of organising my soon to be new flat I can't make promises of more than that.

If anyone would like the opportunity to guest post then feel free to get in touch. It can be any topic you like so long as it's craft related.