Crochet Pincushion – May 2016

I’ll warn you now, this is an odd one! I’d never really considered pincushions or their usefulness until I decided to make one. I got a free kit with Issue 66 of Mollie Makes – they called it retro style, I saw the opportunity to try out some of the floral designs that can be created with variations of the basic fan pattern. I loved the colours, very on-trend watermelon shades (pinks and greens) although I ran out of the dark pink and the green towards the end so had to improvise with some spare grass coloured cotton DK. I made a second one in blue and purple as a gift for my Mum.

Pincushions are really useful! Until I’d finished making this one, I don’t think I’ve ever used one before! I keep my pins in a recycled tiny jam jar and generally used the arms of the sofa or the chair cushions (as long as my husband didn’t see me!) while I was working on embroidery or pinning together limbs for woollen creatures but no more! At some point when I forget all the previous blankets and the time they take, I’d love to use this pentagon pattern to make something lovely for myself – maybe a bigger, non-pin cushion may be a more achievable goal though!

The Big Reveal – January 2017

It’s been so long since I’ve written anything here that it’s become a “thing”. A niggle at the back of my mind of something that I should be doing but I’ve got out of the habit. One of the benefits of the Cliff challenge, that I hadn’t really given the whole thing credit for, was the focus it gave me and the momentum it provided to make me share – sharing my trials and tribulations and also my achievements. I haven’t stopped crafting, I make something almost everyday,but the recording bit has got lost somewhere so I’ll start my 2017 here and now with the big reveal of all the Cliff makes!
Due to holidays and commitments of extended family, we were really lucky to have three Christmas celebrations (complete with full Christmas dinners) – the final one of these was with my brother-in-law in January. For anyone who may have missed earlier posts, as a running joke with my husband’s family, I have been the long-suffering recipient of numerous Cliff Richard calendars over the past several years. In 2016, I decided to get my revenge!

And so as part of the after dinner entertainment, my brother-in-law was presented with the 12 Cliffs of Christmas. I’d wrapped and labelled each one with a hand-made gift tag – it was almost sad to say goodbye to the collection that I’d put so much time and effort into but it was worth it! I think the most successful piece was probably the jewellery made from rolled strips of calendar. The most challenging piece was the sonobe origami vase or perhaps the unsuccessful attempt at spinning paper into something able to be woven. I think I actually miss the challenge although I’m grateful that I don’t have to look at as much tanned and leathery old man skin – but I digress!

He took it well. I would describe his reaction as a mixture of confusion, amusement and mild astonishment and I’m relatively confident that there will be no more calendars – at least this should act as a deterrent!