A Just Because Giveaway!

If you are familiar with my blog, you'll know how much of a massive Katie Daisy fan I am.

I decided to treat myself to her 2014 calendar and, just as I was about to press 'checkout', I thought how nice it would be to treat one of you too.  So I added another.

May I therefore present my 'Just Because Giveaway'.

Each page features one of Katie's beautifully illustrated quotes, measuring 12"x12".  Perfect for framing when the month is done!

If you fancy the chance of winning a calendar, please become a follower of my blog if you're not already, and leave a comment below.

This giveaway is open to international followers too.

I'll use the random number generator thingy to pick a winner at 8:00pm next Sunday, 17th November 2013 (GMT).

Good luck and thank you for being you.

xxx

PLEASE NOTE : GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

The One In Which I Pose A Question

I've had a rotten week.  One that's been hanging over me for a while.  It's been full of appointments (including two very lengthy ones in the dentist's chair).  I always do that - engineer all my grotty things to fall within one week so that when the dreaded time comes, I hold my breath, put my head down and plough through it, knowing that it will soon be over.

And finally it is!

HOORAY!!!

Anyway, feeling just a touch lightheaded with relief, I thought it would be fun to put a scenario to you.

You're crocheting (or knitting) yourself a scarf.  You've got about fifty perfectly executed rows under your belt when you suddenly notice that you've dropped a stitch, (crocheted through one loop instead of two) near the very beginning.

(I know you can't see it very well from this picture but, trust me, it's there.)

Would you not give it a second thought?

Would it bug you so much that you'd just have to unravel?

Would you bury it in the depths of your 'WIP' basket, promising yourself that you will deal with it 'some other time'?

I would just love to know what your reaction would be and how you'd deal with it, if at all.

xxx

Edited to add : Bless you all, you're just too lovely for words!  I did a quick straw poll in my own household - two of us wouldn't bother at all with the mistake but the other two struggled!  I'm a perfectionist so, yes, it did bug me enormously but I didn't unravel it.  Nearly but not quite.  I had a strict word with myself and have decided to embrace the imperfection as a fitting reflection on a pants week.  If it had been any more noticeable then it would have been for the chop!!!

Coiled Rose Crochet Pattern

I wanted to make some crocheted flowers for a scarf I'm working on (yes, another) so was having a play and came up with the sweetest little coiled roses.

Aren't they pretty?  So easy peasy lemon squeezy too.

Want to see how I made them?

(Using English terminology.)

Leaving a tail of approximately 6 inches, chain 21 (20 and 1 for turning).

Row 1 : Starting in the second chain from the hook, work 2dc in each chain to the end of the row (40).

Turn.

Chain 3.

Row 2 : Work 2tr in each stitch to the end of the row (80).

Tease your work into the desired rose shape with the beginning at the centre (you'll find it should want to naturally coil because you're making it top heavy, so to speak).

Now poke your starting tail through the middle and tug quite firmly.

Secure your ends.

That, my dear friends, is it!

The smaller pink rose was made in a similar way but with a starting chain of 11 (10 and 1 for turning) and I worked 2htr in each stitch, rather than 2tr, in row 2.

You could have fun playing around with the size of your finished rose by beginning with more or less chains, or using a different sized hook, (I used 4mm for these).

I daresay there may be similar patterns out there in the ether but, as with all my tutorials to date, feel free to do with it what you will but please direct all credit and adulation my way! ;-)

By the way, I used the 'medium fat bottomed leaf pattern' from here for my leaves.

Why are you still here?  Go grab your hook and pimp some woollies ..!

xxx

For my US friends …

UK dc = US single crochet
UK htr = US half double crochet
UK tr = US double crochet

Embracing Autumn

Ok.  I admit it.  Summer is well and truly over and we are officially in the throes of autumn!  I've finally put my flip flops and summer dresses away and am favouring boots and layers.  It's still quite mild for the time of year but that breeze can be quite feisty.  Fortunately we avoided the worst of yesterday's storm-force winds here in the Midlands, but we did get a hefty dump of rain.

I forget how much I actually quite like this time of year.  Parts of it anyway.  There really is nothing quite so exhilarating as a crisp, clear autumnal day and a sky peppered with swirling leaves of rosy apricots and citrus yellows.

Do you remember drawing autumn pictures at school and rummaging through your pencil case for every shade of brown?  Perhaps a token dirty mustard and russet red too?

It was half term here last week and my Mum In Law stayed with us.  We had lazy, stretched-out mornings with countless cups of coffee and long restorative afternoon walks.  It was so nice; a real break.  I do feel a bit chatted-out though and am going about this week in an almost joyful silence!

A pair of apple green and cream striped wrist warmers is pretty much the sum total of my creativity since we last spoke.  I didn't want a seam so crocheted them in the round, carefully carrying the yarn up the wrong side of the work, rather than fastening off after each stripe.  It worked really well and I'm so pleased with them.

I'll leave you with a picture of my lunch of mashed avocado on toast with a squeeze of lemon and light dusting of salt and pepper because it suddenly struck me how much the colours echo those in my very first photograph.  Plus, of course, it's super yummy!

Hope you're having a wonderful week.

xxx

PS.  My lovely felt flower brooch was made by Jane Foster, before she became quite so well-known for her screen printed designs.  I think she used to sell them from a little shop on eBay some six or seven years ago.

Both Thankful And Inspired

I'll be perfectly honest with you, I wrote my last blog post quite late on Thursday evening, hit 'publish' and went to bed.  I then had a terrible night's sleep - I kept waking up with a thumping heart, wondering if I'd done the right thing by being quite so candid about something so personal.  I came extremely close to getting up and deleting it, I can tell you.

However, your responses moved me more than I can say.  I could bear hug each and every one of you who shared your own experiences and/or sent well wishes.

If by telling my own story, I've encouraged just one person to seek help, then I couldn't be more glad.

Between us, I hope we can fight the stigma that still surrounds mental illness.

Until then, from me to you, a heartfelt ...

xxx

It would seem that I have a bit of a 'thing' for crocheted scarves at the moment.  They're so rewarding to make.  They take a fraction of the time and yarn it takes to make a blanket, there's no limit to how creative you can be and you can proudly drape the end result cosily around your neck, biding your time until some generous soul compliments you on it, and proudly (and loudly) proclaim that you 'made it yourself'.  Frankly, I'm thinking along the lines of a scarf for every outfit!

My mind is buzzing with ideas and you creative lot don't help!  I have two of my own scarves on the go at present (a pretty pink and cream striped affair and a soft sage green scarf/shawl thingy which I'm not terribly sure about) but I thought I'd share just a few of my current colourful favourites floating around Blogland.  Some are knitted, some are crocheted.  All are just my cup of tea!

1. My World Of Wool  2. Coco Rose Diaries  3. Bubblegirl  4. Ladybird Diaries  5. Annie's Place  6. Ladybird Diaries  7. Clever Cheshire Cats  8. Little Woollie  9. The Sewing Mistress  10. Haken En Meer  11. Little Woollie  12. Tales From A Happy House  13. Charlene Van den Brande

Are you sharing my love affair with scarves?

Oh, that said, I wore my own Fruity Scarf on Saturday when we went into town for some lunch and a browse around the shops.  On the way back to the car, the heavens opened and we got drenched.  Have you ever smelt wool when it's wet?  Ugh!  It wasn't unlike having a smelly, soggy dog wrapped around my neck.

A gratuitous picture of my new bird necklace from said shopping trip ... 

xxx

World Mental Health Day

I've been thinking long and hard today as to whether I should acknowlege the fact that it is World Mental Health Day.

I like my pretty, happy blog but sometimes, just sometimes, I feel it absolutely necessary that a soupcon of cold, hard reality needs to creep in.  Because that's life and it's rich tapestry, isn't it?

I'm going to type this straight off and from the heart, so please bear with ...

I'm not going to give you chapter and verse but I've suffered from clinical depression since the age of eighteen.  That's, ahem, some twenty-something years or so.  Ironically, just a teensy bit longer than the 21 years that Mental Health Day has been 'celebrated'.

I could count on two hands the number of people who know I have a mental illness (really, really hate that phrase) so this 'coming out'  business is quite a big, brave step for me.

The reaction has nearly always been the same.

"OMG!  Really?  I don't believe you.  *A big pause*  But you're so self-confident.  And always seem so happy."

Yes, really.

It's hard and I've had some very dark times.  Times when I've felt so desperate and not known where to turn.  Times when I've felt so detached from the world, on the outside of everything and everyone; almost like I'm looking on but unable to take part.  Times when all rational thought has deserted me.  Times when I've felt nothing more than a burden.  Times when I've felt so absolutely, completely and utterly exhausted, I've wondered how it would feel to just close my eyes and sleep.  To feel some release.

Oh yes, it's really, REALLY the crappest of the crap.

There seem to be two types of depression - circumstantial (a result of loss, stress or trauma in your life) and non-circumstantial (almost like a mis-wiring in the brain).  I have the latter.

I've taken St John's Wort, had counselling and been on short courses of antidepressants on and off throughout the whole of my adult life.  Nothing has really worked for any length of time.

However, something happened a few years ago ...

I had a new doctor.  My firm-but-fair, very old-school, stiff-upper-lipped, bowtie-wearing doctor retired and a young, handsome, floppy-haired and extremely intelligent doctor took over.

"It's quite simple" he said.

"Antidepressants seem to correct the fault in your brain" he said.

"Don't come off them.  I wouldn't try and wean someone off corrective glasses, so why would I try and wean you off antidepressants?"

So, it's been four years (almost to the day) that I've been taking a daily dose of 20mg Citalopram and, you know what, I feel really, really good.  When you're on antidepressants, you still FEEL stuff, you just don't seem to take that extra step that sends you reeling into an abyss.  Your confidence grows with every passing month - I think it took me a good couple of years to be convinced that the horrible 'plummeting feeling' wasn't just lurking around the corner, whatever life threw at me.

So there you go.  My story in a nutshell.

I think I'd like to finish by saying that if you suspect you, or someone you care about, have depression, do please seek help.  More often than not, it doesn't go away by itself.  There is no more shame in having 'dodgy wiring' than there is being short or long-sighted.  There is a resolution.  I promise.  I have eventually found something that suits me; something that affords me the opportunity to live a 'normal' and reasonably stable life.  There is something out there that will suit you too.

Please don't suffer alone.

xxx

Twelve

Nah!  She's not changed so much.

xxx