And the beat goes on

The Crafting 365 challenge continues. I hit a bit of a sticky patch there for a while around the new year, but things are picking up now. I'm finally getting round to tackling the huge pile of WIPs I have knocking around. It feels good to be finishing things for a change.

The end of an era

Ten months almost to the day.

1.8 kg (4 lbs) of yarn, equating to about 3.7 km (2 miles) in length.

16 colours with five repeats.

38,400 stitches in 160 rows.

And I'm done.

Mmmmm, coffee

I have a new coffee machine. It is spectacular, beautiful, and perfectly formed. It also makes incredibly good coffee. There is one small downside (well, two actually). Firstly, I have the shakes from drinking so much of the stuff. And, yes I know that I could drink decaff, and I HAVE BEEN, but I'm telling you now, without reservation, it makes. no. difference. It all gives me the shakes. Decaff is a conspiracy.

Oh, and secondly, I have lost a big old chunk of my social life. I can't go out for coffee with the other mums from school. I just can't bring myself to pay overinflated coffee shop prices for a drink that is crap in comparison to what I could make at home. OK, so I could get a peppermint tea or something, but then really, what's the point? In the days B.N. (before nespresso) I could quite happily sit in a cafe for hours, wittering away with my friends, (or at least until Golden Boy had thrown himself to the floor in desparation). Now I try to persuade them to come to my house. I don't even care about the extra washing up.

And, to make matters worse, I'm not even remotely concerned that there is no photo in this post. I might start getting worried about myself soon.

The heady scent of (temporary) freedom

Today I had a chance to get into town by myself for a few hours. I took it and ran. Off to Marylebone High Street, with a wander around here, here, and here; and a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon here. I did mean to take a photo before I had eaten it, but somehow my appetite got the better of me.


And who could fail to have their spirits lifted when eating next to a rooftop garden complete with daffodil-munching cow?

Perfect.

The promise of snow

I don't think that I can take my childrens' squealing excitement for much longer. The snow has been moving south down the country for the last 24 hours, getting closer and closer. The "when will it snow?" question has been getting more and more insistent.

I'm not ready to disappoint them with the knowledge that snow rarely comes to London. They are too young to have really noticed this for themselves, and televisiual representations of England in winter are all about the snow. And robins of course, always the robins. I might as well tell them that the tooth fairy doesn't really exist; it would shake them to the core.



I guess leaden skies and cold winds don't make such pretty images, although they are much more attractive when rendered in felt (if I ever get it finished).

Where have I been?

I know, I know, it's been ages. I'm sorry (kind of). As a small excuse, we were on the other side of the world for a while, here:

(pretty good, huh!)

And before that I was getting ready for craft fairs:


while simultaneously trying not to have a nervous breakdown from looking after three small children in the cold, dark and rainy English winter.

I'll try to do better in future, honest.

And a little bit more...

After my last post, I thought I would show you the progress on the mother of all ripple blankets. I have been working on this since May (admittedly on a slightly sporadic basis) and I am now 23 stripes from finishing. Each one takes about one and a half hours, so I make that a good 34 hours or so of solid crochet time. Then there is the sewing in of ends. Thanks to some
sage advice I received a while ago (on the no-end-in-sight ripple along) to crochet over the ends as I go, I only have about 50 loose bits of yarn to darn in. I wish I had asked sooner!


It is a lovely thing to work on - so satisfyingly heavy to sit under on winter evenings, and easy to pick up in the few unscheduled moments. It's not really portable any more though, so I can't work on it while out and about. Maybe I should get into sock knitting or something - that has to be the ultimate in take-it-with-you crafting.

Twice the fun, twice the work

I have finally finished these blankets as a present for a friend who is having boy/girl twins. OK, so she gave birth last week. I'm a little late. What you gonna do about it?

I wanted to make a gift that reflected the non identical, and yet twin, nature of the babies, and these blankets seemed the perfect thing. They are both worked in rainbow shades - one bright and one pastel. Now, I'm not one to suggest that there is anything in this gender stereotyping lark, but I do think the pastel one is especially pretty.

I have definitely got the rippling bug - these are numbers four and five, with another big bag of yarn waiting for number six. Of course, it would be nice to one day finish the monster of all crochet blankets. Preferably before next summer.

Drum roll please....

And the winner of the delurk and win contest is...


wait for it...


(yes, I used an actual HAT!)
wait for it...

(that says 'yump' by the way!)
email me at cnarunsky@aol.com with your address and I'll get something in the post to you!

Thanks for all your birthday wishes everyone!

No regrets?

It's my birthday this month, and I am turning 35, which is apparently the new 40 (or so I am told by women who don't want other people to notice their 40th birthday). As tends to happen around this time of year I have been taking stock, having a ponder, and generally feeling wistful. What better way to kick me up the backside than a birthday contest. A de-lurk and win contest. Leave a comment about anything you like, and I will put your name in a hat (ok, probably a bowl actually) and one of my lovely offspring will pick a random person to receive a parcel of some sort. Could be anything, but I can guarantee that at least something will have been handmade by me. The deadline for comments is the big day itself - the 13th of November.


And because I can't post without a picture (it's just wrong) I have to include this one of Golden Boy. Mama loves you!