December | 2023 | Making Stitches Blog

Hello there, I hope this finds you well and doing ok. This year, more than most, I know that Christmas can be a tricky time for people, and if that’s been the case for you, I hope you are doing ok now. I have to admit that 2023 is a year I’d rather forget, but life doesn’t always take the easy path. I don’t have many plans for 2024 as we head into this new year – we aren’t always able to control what happens to us – but it’s a fresh start and time to look forward with positivity.

The first step in doing that is publishing this, it’s not been a hugely photogenic month for me to share with you, but here goes…

London in the run up to Christmas

My ‘day job’ took me down to London for the day in early December which was super because it meant I was able to meet up with Eldest for a couple of hours and get a much needed cuddle (I think I speak for both of us here)!

On our wanderings we ended up in St Pancras Station and I found myself face to face with this beautiful Christmas tree made of books. I’d seen it popping up on Instagram a few times and it was lovely to see it in real life. It was rather busy, so I didn’t get the opportunity to sit in one of the booths and listen to an audio book, but I’m glad I saw it.

On the road again…

Just one week after my trip to London, my job took me to Birmingham! In the run up to the trip my colleagues kept arranging to meet under ‘the bull’ before walking to the venue of our meeting. Unfortunately, my train got in me in after they had left, so I missed them and got to walk on my own.

It was fascinating to see the bull which had played a significant role in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. He’s called Ozzy after Ozzy Osborne and he was the centerpiece of the games’ opening ceremony. You can read all about his life after 2022 here.

My solo walk was really rather pleasant, taking me through large town squares filled with Christmas markets, an ice rink, fun fair and over one of the city’s famous canals to the building where we were meeting. Best of all was I arrived in time for coffee and mince pies!!

Yarny things

Last month I shared a photo of an amigurumi head, it was the head of ‘Little Jen’ a gift I was making for my lovely friend who graduated at the start of December as an Art Teacher. I’m so proud of her for going back to University later in life and fulfilling her dream. It’s just as well I only shared her head, because Jen read my last blog post and when she opened her gift said, “I saw that head on your blog and thought that looks a bit like me! But why would Lindsay be making my head??” Well now she knows! I believe Little Jen had a trip into school to meet Jen’s pupils!

In other little crochet people news…. Meet Birthday Boy! I have reached an age when my school friends and I have a BIG birthday looming. This week, it was the turn of Steve, someone I’ve known since infant school, life took us separate ways at secondary, but he joined our sixth form at 16 and is part of the wide circle of school friends I’m still in touch with thanks to the wonders of modern technology.

Steve lives with his family in Barcelona, but came home to Manchester for his birthday celebrations, and boy, they were good!

I’m thinking about publishing patterns for Little Jen & Birthday Boy. Do let me know if you would be interested in making a ‘mini me’?

In other yarny news, work is progressing on my rainbow jumper, although it has taken a back seat in the past week. I love the colours, they make me think of a rainbow against storm clouds. Very apt given the time we’ve been through.

New Year Plans

As I write, I have about 15 hours left of 2024 and although I’m not making an New Year‘s resolution as such, I want to get back into blogging regularly again next year. My current job is coming to an end soon (it was a maternity leave cover) and I am on the look out for a new job. I don’t know what that will entail, nor how much time it will allow for fun things like this, but all being well, I’d like to grow my blog, podcast and crochet business. If you would like to sign up to my email newsletter, I’ll be sharing any news about my adventures there first.

You can sign up for my newsletter here

All that’s left is for me is to wish you a very happy start to 2024, I do hope next year is kind to us all.

Lindsay X

**EDIT!**

I posted too soon this morning – just back from a lovely walk with my boys round the Cheshire town of Lymm and spotted this beauty – which simply had to be shared!

Crocheted Christmas tree 🎄 in Lymm, Cheshire

So, hello there… it’s been an awfully long time since I’ve been around here… I thought that as we head towards the end of this year, it was time to blow the cobwebs & dust off my blog and check in with you.

It’s been a year and a half – 2023 – you know … and as I dipped into my drafts folder to open a new blog post I found this – A Postcard from November 2022 a post which was started but not finished. My word, a year is a long time and an awful lot can happen in that time.

These three first photos were indeed from November 2022, beautiful sunny blue skies above the River Mersey. Little did I know when I took them that the rug would be ripped out from under our feet – it’s just as well we don’t know what lies ahead…

It’s funny really that one of the things which sparked my desire to post was a photo I took while I was on the very same walk with Son number 2 last weekend!

Taken on the same path as the above photo 1 year apart!

This new photo is of the same path, although I may have been facing a different direction, I’m not sure. It’s funny that when big things happen, that we cling to the small routines to keep our heads above water.

If you haven’t been around this way for a while, I’ll put you in the picture. This year we lost a hugely important person in our family. It’s been an unfathomable loss for me and my 3 boys. Life has changed forever in so many ways, obvious ones and in many other ways too.

Aside from the emotional side of things, I have had to return to ‘formal’ work which has meant less time for fun creative things. I have continued to make when time allowed and after taking half a year off from Making Stitches Podcast, I managed to get back into the swing of things with that. Blogging though, fell off the end of the ‘To Do List’.

Life is so different in so many ways from how it was this time last year, I have found strength I didn’t know I had and I have found my friends and family to be amazing. People are so kind.

I’ve learned many things, but the two most important ones are to lean on friends when they offer help and to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

So, the real reason for me blogging is that I had been meaning to get around to it. I miss my monthly updates – looking back through the back catalogue, they form a rather interesting diary for me.

Did you keep a diary as a child? Or maybe you still do now? I did as a child – I wasn’t that great at it but I have a 5 year diary from when I was young somewhere and it’s probably about half filled. I bought another one 5 years ago… this year has been the final year and, to be honest I didn’t feel like filling that in either very much.

One thing I had done pretty regularly, since starting this blog (as Postcard from Gibraltar) many moons ago, was post updates, so I shall attempt to do that again I think. Here goes….

A new project on my needles

A few weeks back I went to Black Sheep Wools to have a catch up with my sock knitting friend, Christine Perry aka Winwick Mum. It was our first catch up of 2023 (because of the reasons outlined above). It was so, so good to get together again and catch up on each other’s news.

I went armed with a planned purchase in mind – I wanted to have a go at knitting a jumper. I haven’t knitted a garment for myself (other than socks) since Eldest was a baby. That was a beige cardigan (with variegated flecks of brown) with a cable pattern up both sides of the front. It ended up being an ok fit, but a bit itchy and had a distinctly ‘homemade’ look to it.

I have been squishing this desire down for ages saying to myself : “you don’t need to buy more yarn”, “you’ll never finish it!”, “it’ll probably look rubbish if you ever do finish it”, “why not carry on with one of your *many* WIPs instead??” – you know the drill…

Anyway I gave myself a good talking to and bought the yarn anyway! I am making a Simple Sweater by Tin Can Knits and had planned to do a rainbow striped yoke, but when I priced up how much it would cost to buy all the different colours I wanted in order to make it (bearing in mind I might never finish it and it may look rubbish if I do) I decided to opt for this (much easier on the pocket) super rainbow yarn instead. It’s called Knit Me Crochet Me and is made by Stylecraft. There was a lovely jumper knitted up in the shop made in another colour way which caught my eye. So there you have it, a jumper in the making … eventually!

I did make really good progress to begin with then when I tried it over my head it was so tight it felt like I was being choked (my fault for using the wrong size needles). This meant I lost a week’s worth of progress, but I’m back on track.

On my hook…

I am in the midst of a gift for a special person… who may read this blog so I can’t show any more than this. I will, however share this little ‘mini me’ once it has been gifted. I was thinking of writing up the pattern if it gets a decent reception, so watch this space!

A trip to the theatre (and the spooky world of Uncanny)

Last month I was lucky enough to have the chance to see Danny Robins, Evelyn Hollow & Dr Ciaran O’Keefe in action at the Lowry in Salford. I have been a fan of the Uncanny podcast since it first started, having listened to The Battersea Poltergeist previously.

When the Uncanny tour was first launched very early on this year, I really wanted to go and see it. I had no one to go with – none of my friends are into the podcast so, seeing as it was a matinee performance, I decided to go it alone. My first time ever doing that!

It didn’t faze me at all and in fact I ended up sitting next to a lovely lady and her son who commented on the fact she would never be brave enough to go to the theatre alone and shared her sherbet lemons with me! I would highly recommend it! I had my first solo cinema trip last year and that went fine – once it’s dark no one can see you are alone anyway! And if anyone has any judgements about it, it’s their problem not yours!

I pre ordered a copy of the Uncanny book and was able to pick it up at the show too – signed!! It was a big fan girl moment!

Crochet & Podcast News

My latest episode of the podcast features Fran Darlington-Pollock, CEO of the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity. The charity is joining forces with Black Sheep Wools in the run up to Christmas with their A Bed for the Night / Deck the Halls campaign. Money realised from selling wool packs and patterns for Christmas decorations will support the charity’s aim to provide 1,000 beds for rough sleepers over Christmas. It costs £30 for a bed for the night and the associated wrap around care. You can find out more information on the Black Sheep Wools website.

Also in Podcast news, at the end of October I went down to London to the Independent Podcast Awards. It was a fantastic night and I was able to meet up with some friends from my local podcasters club (yes they do exist – it’s our Christmas party tomorrow!). Making Stitches Podcast didn’t win but blimey the standard of the other podcasts was high so it was an honour to be considered alongside them!

You might spot Making Stitches on the shortlist (bottom right)!

Winter is here…

The temperature levels have fallen considerably in the last few weeks – this photo was taken on that walk by the Mersey a week ago – it was the end of the afternoon and the frost from the night before still lay on the fields. Yesterday it was -4 degrees when I scraped the ice off the car to drop the boys off for school!

Super cold days usually mean clear skies though so I’m not complaining – blue skies and sunsets are far preferable to damp greyness!