Summer

Yeah, it’s been ages again. It started so well, I managed four posts in January. I’m not sure what happened in February, then I spent the whole of March planning a ‘catch up post’ and now… well, here we are.

I’m such a creature of habit that after a few weeks of not doing a thing it kind of falls of my ‘memory’ radar, the scope of which is never very big to start with. Plus, if I’m being totally honest, I tend to prioritise a podcast over a post because I can earn a bit of small change from it on YouTube. Fear not though, this is not a precursor to me launching paid subscriptions here (I don’t have the time or brain space to devote to that!). It’s merely an explanation, which for some reason I feel compelled to offer you.

However, I’m pondering if I will continue my already sporadic podcasts (which I re-named ‘Making” recently) as viewership is falling and other types of videos tend to do better. My inane waffle has no doubt reached it’s expiry date and it’s possible that Substack will have the dubious honour of benefitting instead. Lucky you!

The other issue with such a long pause is how best to resume. Too much crafting has happened to catch you up on it all in detail, so where do I plunge back in? I suppose a whistle stop tour of the last six months will do the job and we’ll take it from there!

Catching Up

If I look back it appears I’ve actually got a decent amount done, a total of 20 projects it appears. Not bad, although to be fair, 8 of them were just doilies. I’ve knitted two garments in that time though and completed my ‘#sewalittlebitofhappinesseveryday - Spring’ embroidery sampler and they take me quite a while to do.

I’m most pleased with the amount of dress making I’ve done though, a total of four more garments since we last spoke! I’m especially proud of the ‘I am Gaia’ Vest that I made (and don’t seem to have a photo of), although I owe a lot to my creative bestie¹ there as I couldn’t have done it without her guidance and help.

Six months of making stuff!

Finally on the creative front I launched my ‘Granny’s Cottage Garden’ series, which is a collection of crochet granny motifs inspired by all the favourite flowers found in an English cottage garden. So far I have tutorials for the Camellia Square and the Delphinium Octagon uploaded. Hopefully more will follow this year.

On the home front

Outside of my crafty endeavours I spent most of the early part of the year working on the garden. It was in sore need of a re-vamp and of course these things take time. Last year a lot of the hard landscaping went in and this year hubby and I have been working on bringing the rest together. There is still more to do, but we’ve made a great start and I’m looking forward to adding more once the heat of summer subsides.

Last but not least, we’ve just come back from Norway. What a stunningly beautiful and wonderful country, a treat to visit. We stayed in the Voss/Flåm area and spent our time touring the fjords and soaking up as much scenery as we could get. Although we were blessed with some gorgeous sunny days at the start, Norway is a country that can pull off a cloudy wet day with just as much style. Very enjoyable.

Beautiful Norway

So that brings things nicely up to date for now. I’ve just finished a crochet blanket project that needs photographing and I have a knitting project that’s getting to the home straight, so hopefully I’ll be able to share those soon too.

Lastly, a little welcome and thank you to everyone who has joined since I last posted, it’s lovely to have you here and it would be lovely to meet you in the comments. Thank you too, if you were here before and have been patiently wondering if I’d ever return! I really appreciate your support.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer. Let me know if you are planning a trip too, or where you have already been, it’s always nice to here of new places to visit.

S x

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1. Thank you Sam!