crochet - hearts, circles, squares...

Well this week has been all about 'crochet'. Knitting seems to have been put on hold for the moment, as crochet has become totally addictive!!

I've tried more shapes out of my book (see previous post). I've done a square, with a circular centre,

 and then adapted the pattern to make a smaller versions

I've also completed some circles again, as i want to make so more 'Bird' decorations... These are in a rich combination of reds, pinks and purples, as i want to make them into "love birds", and i will crochet some mini hearts for their wings, so watch this space for the finished outcome...

On a personal front, the sofa that we ordered on Boxing day arrived. It was a bit of an ordeal, the two of us trying to get the old one out and down the stairs to the garage. It was a major struggle to get it through the lounge door, which then had me worried whether the new one would fit in, but the experts made it look easy!!

So we now have a bright red, lovely squishy sofa to brighten up our room...

work in progress...

As mentioned in my previous post, not a whole lot of crafting has been accomplished in the past month!
I'm still continuing with my pastal skinny crochet scarf, which has grown substantially, and I've finally managed to purchase the last ball required to complete the purple/green scarf.

In recent days I have got into learning more crochet skills, especially with seeing some beautiful pictures of Granny squares that have been uploaded, it compelled me even more to have a go... Again, I've hit some issues along the way, but after some practice attempts I learnt from my mistakes and feel pleased when i've finally mastered it.

This leads me on to one of my recent purchases...
A book of both knitted and crocheted shapes, which includes not only squares, but circles, hexagons, snowflakes and hearts etc...

There are so many great shapes I couldn't wait to make a start. So with Valentines not far away I chose a heart shape to get me started, and now I've started, I don't want to stop!

My second purchase, were some sea-grass storage boxes which we found in the sale. We had been looking for a solution for containing all my yarn and makes, so they didn't completely take over the living room, and these are perfect, and so much more stylish!

last year catch up...

We are well into the New Year, and my poor Blog has been totally abandoned for over a month...
Do I have an excuse - well yes! Firstly, working in retail, you hardly have time to draw breath at Christmas, let alone have spare time, and secondly I was not well over the period, and am still stuck with the persistant cough!
So, for a quick re-cap. I won't spend too long, as it all seems quite out of date now!

Firstly, our Christmas cake was a resounding success, and was complemented by family members who actually got to try some. We are looking forward to trying out different styles in the future, and may even advance to decorating them.

I had some amazing presents. Hubby and I had the exact same idea and got each other mountain bikes, not exactly the easiest of things to hide from each other!

I got a great 'crafting' lap tray, which will hopefully limit the amount of bits I seem to lose down the sides of the sofa!!

Plus bits for the kitchen, dvd's and games - in all a great haul :)

Unfortunately we were lacking in any New Year celebrations, due to us both being ill !!!

The major downside has been the lack of energy to even get on with any type of crafting, so all projects have literally been on hold.

On a positive note, looking back over last year, and what I've learnt, I'm pretty proud of myself. Having been advised by Jess @tailor-made-dance, who suggested I use twitter and blogging as a way of promoting my folksy store. I was unaccustomed to either and being a bit of a technophobe, there have been some frustrations along the way, but it's been a great learning curve. I've surprised myself with how far I've come...
Also, another major achievement has been to teach myself the basics crochet. This is something I've wanted to learn for a long time, but didn't know anyone who could teach me - and patterns just looked like a different language! Again, thanks to technology and the videos posted on youtube I've got the hang of the basic stitches and I'm advancing all the time...

So, for the year ahead I'm sure there will be plenty more learning. My main aim is to achieve some sales, and I'm sure I'll feel very proud when that 1st sale happens. I will also continue to expand my crafting knowledge and become more adept at crochet, as I'm enjoying it so much...

And who knows what other skills I may pick up along the way !!