2017 has been a much more settled, stable year than 2016 was. My job has continued to be pretty stress free, which has meant that I’ve had plenty of time to spend on all sorts of crafty activities! This year I have also discovered the wonderful crafting community on Instagram. It’s been great connecting with lovely, like-minded people, who motivate and inspire, people who not only understand my yarn obsession but actively encourage me to become more obsessed!
Anyway, enough of the waffle – let’s look at some pretty pictures!
January
January saw me joining in with Attic24’s gorgeous Moorland Blanket CAL. I spent many happy hours hooking away with those gorgeous colours, gradually getting to snuggle under the ever-growing blanket. I enjoyed creating a couple of cute turtles using Little Muggles’ pattern. It was also an odd juxtaposition of cold, frosty mornings, dark nights requiring the gentle flickering warmth of candles and the sudden bright cheer of daffodils, hinting that spring would soon be on the way.
February
February was a month of blankets and turtles! I managed to finish the Moorland Blanket and whip up a neat ripple for a friend’s brand new baby boy. I also had a bit of a turtle production line going at one point, eagerly watched by all the existing turtles. I was lucky enough to win two gorgeous giveaways on Instagram, resulting in an even bigger yarn stash. And I organised a creation station when I spent a weekend away with friends from church. I think most of the girls enjoyed the craftiness, while most of the boys just eyed it all with suspicion.
March
In March I held my own giveaway on Instagram, after creating a cute little spring bunny. I managed to use up the remaining yarn from my Moorland blanket to make a small baby blanket. I hooked up (what felt like) hundreds of tiny hexagons, intending to turn them into a blanket. They stayed on that knitting needle for months… I made a gorgeous Land Girl Scarf with giant pom poms and then went back to making various blankets, using my lovely yarn pegs to plan out all the colours.
April
April was an exciting month as I finally opened my etsy shop! I continued making numerous blankets and started designing the Woodland Willow Shawl which would go on to become the first pattern in my shop. I greatly enjoyed the brighter, warmer days, vibrant spring flowers and spending time Easter egg hunting with my gorgeous goddaughter.
May
Yep, more blankets! (Are you sensing a theme here?) In May I made a Granny in the Garden blanket for a friend’s 70th birthday (click here to see how I made it). I continued some of my previously started projects, started making a lacy jumper and got to test out a new cowl pattern for fellow crocheter @mrsdaftspaniel on Instagram.
June
June got off to a rocky start, with both of my parents ending up in hospital! I needed a portable project to keep my hands busy during hospital visits and came up with the Dahlia Granny Square. Thankfully, both parents were home after only a week and even though life wasn’t quite back to normal, there was less travelling involved! I managed to list my first etsy pattern and start designing my second, made another turtle, held a summer fun giveaway, completed my pattern testing for @mrsdaftspaniel and started pattern testing the Rosella Flower Hexagon Blanket pattern for @stitchedupcraft – phew!
I rather fell in love with the pastel rainbow colours I used for the Rosella Flower blanket and may have made an extra collage just to enjoy those fabulous colours…
July
In July I went camping with some friends, meaning that I needed some portable projects. Yep, you guessed it – more blankets! A neat ripple with Caron cakes and vintage pastel coloured v-stitch blanket were well on their way to being finished by the end of the week. I also finished the Rosella Flower blanket, made my first corner to corner using the same colours, and had fun with the kids telling silly stories.
August
In August I realised that I had far too many half-finished projects lying around, so challenged myself to finish 6 of them within the month. Not only did I managed to complete my list, I also had time to test @mrsdaftspaniel’s Lark’s Knot Scarf and start writing up the pattern for my Dragon Tail Shalarf (that’s a shawl/scarf hybrid, just in case you’re wondering!)
September
September marked the beginning of Autumn, my favourite season. I loved spending time outside as the weather turned cooler, but also enjoyed coming home to knit my very first pair of socks, writing up a pattern for my new Cloudy Day Cowl and joining in with the Liula scarf CAL by Potter & Bloom. During my August WiP challenge lots of people on Instagram said they had the same problem – a whole host of WiPs sitting round, often neglected for months on end. So I teamed up with Charlie from lovecharlie.co to plan a WiP Along for October – a group for crafters to join together to support and encourage one another to finish their own individual projects.
October
October was incredibly busy, not only trying to work through my own WiP list, but also trying to keep up with everyone else who joined the WiP Along! It was a lot of fun and certainly helped me to crack on with some of the things that needed to be finished. I was also gifted a gorgeous bag (bottom right) which was made by one of my very talented colleagues, and won a beautiful skein of yarn and project bag in an Instagram giveaway.
November
November saw a whole lot of Christmas preparation happening, along with the making of a new hat as the weather turned properly cold. I had fun making a cross stitch cushion cover for a friend’s birthday and held my final giveaway of the year, full of lovely cosy things for gloomy days.
December
In December I worked flat out in an effort to complete Christmas gifts in time for the big day. It didn’t work! My poor Dad and brother ended up with their gifts being wrapped up with knitting needles and stitch markers still attached. Oh well. Once my Christmas holiday started I was able to enjoy some baking and paper crafting, as well as starting to test the Granny Rocks Jumper pattern for @iron_lamb on Instagram.
So that was my year – often busy, sometimes crazily so, but always with time for craftiness! Let’s hope there’s more to come in 2018!