Made in January

OK, so, it's the last day of January and I have already let slide the promise I made to myself to get a head start on next Christmas. I have always been a last-minute-Christmas kinda gal, so this is no surprise to me. I only managed to get as much done as I did in 2009 due to the fact that I am on maternity leave and trying to take it easy, rather than my usual running around taking on far more than I know is good for me (doctor's ordors this time!!).

Having said that, I haven't been completely idle this month (is it actually possible to be completely idle with a baby, toddler and 5 year old??). Woolly hats and scarves have been made for each child to ward off the cold (remember the -23 degrees celsius nights at the start of January??), birthday cards have been produced, crocheted throw has been started (more about that later), a tea cosy has been made to fit in with my pink kitchen and two cardigans have been knitted. I also stepped out of my usual style to make a fluffy gillet for my daughter (not usually a fan of this type of synthetic ribbon yarn, but it suits her bubbly personality).

The tea cosy is from a pattern shown in a couple of recent knitting mags. I altered the pattern to fit my teapot (a gift from my parents 18 years ago when we bought our first house!) and used wool which I bought 6 years ago and gave up on soon after purchase when I discovered that I wasn't as keen on wearing it as I thought. The plan had been to knit something for myself whilst on my first maternity leave. I got as far as knitting the back of a cardigan, but soon found that the yarn was actually much warmer to wear than I had realised and I knew then that I would never wear the finished garment. The yarn is beautiful. It is Rowan Big Wool which is 100% merino. It knits up really nicely (some merino can be a pain) and projects take shape quickly using 12mm needles. I dug the pack of yarn out of my spare room at the end of last year and made a couple of Christmas gifts with two balls. That left 10 more.... The tea cosy swallowed up 2 more, leaving 8.... I started a woolly buttoned neck-warming collar with another 2 and have knitted up a Rowan pattern (Dumpling from Rowan Babies pattern book by Kim Hargreaves) with another 2, leaving 4. This should be just enough to make a chunky cardi for Purdey, which I hope to start this coming month before the weather turns to warm for her too!

Anyone who hasn't yet fallen to sleep reading about the yarn (still available from Rowan stockists) and long forgotten half-knitted cardigan may be thinking 'what happened to the bit used to make the back of the original cardi?'. Well, rather than unpick it, I cut it down the middle and joined the two armholes together then overlocked the cut edge to make a scarf with neck-shaped cut out. Ideal for a scarf made in such a thick yarn. As it can be a little overwhelming up near the face, I backed it with some pretty fabric, so it is also now reversible. Ingenious I hear you cry!

The Dumpling cardi was created for my niece Hannah who will be one in Feb. Born amazingly early at just 26 weeks, she and her identical twin Lucy are doing incredibly and are growing well. They are roughly the same size as our 6 1/2 month old baby boy, but I have knitted the pattern slightly larger in the hope that it will fit her in the autumn too. I have knitted a second version for Lucy using Sirdar Big Softie in a lighter shade of pink to match the hats I made them at Christmas. Each cardi has a knitted flower in the alternate shade of pink and green embroidery for the flower stem and leaf, just to make it unique. I just hope the bright pink isn't too garish for their gentle colouring!

The bicycle birthday card needed a quick fix. I used a thick shoelace just twisted together at the side of the card and attached with the last tiny bit of adhesive left in a glue runner. The moral of this story is not to place your cards above a log fire as the glue (especilly when you have not used enough of it) will come unstuck! I will fix it with some Tombow before giving the card to the birthday boy, but it was photographed before I had chance!

More to come on this month's creations when I get the chance to take more pics, or get my slave (I mean husband) to do it for me.

Here are some I made earlier

As well as making various handmade gifts, clothes, accessories, homewares, cakes and preserves, I have (with a little help from my husband) found time to make three little people over the last five or so years! Here they are! The two bigger ones are not in disguise, they really do look like that!

More Christmas goodies

A few more bits and pieces I made for Christmas this year. The guitar cushion was made for my 5 year old son for his den, the apron for my friend who is a talented crafter herself, and the red heart wreath which hangs in my living room.

Handmade Christmas

Especially since having a family, I have wanted to give hand made gifts at Christmas. I have made a few gifts in the past, but this year, I really went for it! I think that I gave at least one handmade gift to everyone on my Christmas list, whether they appreciated it or not!

Not everyone 'gets' the idea of handmade when everything can be sourced so easily (OK, not handmade versions). For instance, there are members of my family who probably think I am crazy spending two whole evenings knitting up fingerless mohair mittens when they can be bought for a fraction of the amount I spent on the yarn. They are WRONG!! How can you compare something made lovingly for you from great quality, luxurious natural materials to a bargain pair of acrylic gloves popped in a shopping basket without a second thought? To me, handmade is about the care and love that goes into making an item. To use the mittens example, the two evenings making them is two evenings thinking about the person they are for. You can't say that about mass-produced shop bought items! If you don't enjoy making things yourself, the next best option is to buy handmade - there are lots of us out there willing to provide such a service. After all, we run out of reasons to make things for our own families after a while!

My only regret is tht I am so bad at taking the time to photograph the things that I have made. As so many of the gifts made this Christmas were only ready at the last minute, I only just about got the time to wrap them before it was time for them to be unwrapped again! Many of the gifts were also given in handmade packaging (shown in the picture) or in handpainted gift wrap, made on snowy afternoon by my two eldest children. We also made all of the gift tags and Christmas cards, only finishing late into the night on Christmas Eve.

I WILL start earlier this year! With three children to occupy, finding time to craft is hard. If it is for someone else, I get the excuse that the item MUST be made, so therfeore I can justify taking the time to indulge myself in 'making'. If it is just for me, it isn't so easy to mke tht justification and housework has to take priority (doh!). Oh well, 341 days until Christmas.....

Random memory no.1

As a young girl, we lived in a small cul-de-sac. Just Mum, me and my sister. Across the road lived an elderly lady who had spent time in India as a young woman back in the days of the British Empire.

In order to keep in touch with things back in Blighty, her relatives had sent her piles of magazines which she had neatly kept. She very kindly passed some of this collection on to me. These date back to the 1920's and nearly all featured some form of craft. Usually needlecrafts, often including embroidery patterns and, in some cases, iron-on transfers. Spending time with 'Aunt Flossie' meant that I learned free hand embroidery, cross stitch, doll-making, pulled-thread lace and various other textile crafts.

Just before she died, aged well into her 80's, this wonderful life-long spinster gave me her collection of threads, fabrics, magazines, patterns and doll-making supplies as her eyesight had deteriorated and she could no longer sew.

I have no real knowledge about Flossie's life story, except that her actual name was Florence. She had spent most of her adult life living with her (also unmarried) sister and that, as far as I know, she had no remaining family.

I will always be grateful for her kindness, patience with a curious child and her generosity of spirit. Her support was one of the many stepping stones on my lifelong crafting journey. I often think about her and the times we spent together and it makes me think of bone china tea cups, lace table cloths, half-drawn curtains to prevent the rugs from fading in the afternoon sun and of those faded, beige paper magazines from almost 100 years ago.

About me

Most days, I may as well not have a name. That's fine by me. I am delighted to spend my days being called 'Mum' by my eldest offspring, 'Mummy' by my middle child and, newly 'Mama' by our 6 month old (who, of course, isn't really saying Mama at all, just mumbling in the usual bubba jibber jabber).

Anyway, I do actually have a name. It is Charmayne. I am 37 and live in Kent, England with my husband and children.

My loves (apart from my family and friends) are various crafts, mostly textile and paper. I've always been in love with crafting for as long as I can remember and recall a huge feeling of satisfaction (dare I say joy??) at 10 years old when given the responsibility at school for teaching knitting to other pupils (curiously, mostly boys!!). I also vividly remember being taken to see the headmistress at infant school to show her the selection of felt animals I had made in my lunch breaks! It felt to me like an audience with the Queen. Imagine my delight then, at Christmas just gone, to unwrap a huge selection of crafting items from my wonderful husband, and to find among them, a book on making felt toys! Hopefully, I'll be posting pics of my creations soon.

Oh, er, um. My first post!

Seemed like a good idea at the time. Somewhere to spill out all the crazy things that pop in and out of my brain. All the little teeny bits of random stuff that there never seems to be the right time to say. That's the main point of this blog!! Be prepared - you have been warned!!