Postcard Months

A Postcard from May 2025

~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

Hello, and welcome to this Postcard from May! I’m starting off with this brilliant sign of spring turning into summer, the first swift I spotted this year.

Back when this blog first began, and my family was living in Gibraltar, we used to spot scores of swifts screaming around the tightly packed streets of the Upper Town in March! This was as they were on their way up north from Africa to spend the summer in the skies above northern Europe. Every time I hear one, I think of those early spring skies in Gib!

So, to May, well, it was a month of lots of podcasting (more on that later!), quite a bit of crochet and the small matter of a running race…

Sporting highlights

Beautiful Manchester Central Library on 10K day

Back on 18th May, a huge chunk of Manchester pulled their running shoes on and took part in the Great Manchester run. The city centre was buzzing and the weather was lovely (almost a little too lovely for the runners – but I’m not really complaining about that!). The atmosphere was utterly amazing and I was so glad I’d signed up to take part again this year.

For those who have followed my blog for a while, you will know I’m not a natural runner, I wasn’t built for speed, but last year, as a personal challenge to prove that hitting the big 5-0 didn’t mean I was ready for the scrap heap, I undertook a lot of training and ran the Great Manchester Run 10k. It was only ever meant to be one-time-only affair, just so I could say “10K you say? Oh yes, I’ve run one of those!” However, on the finish line, those plans were scuppered…. I can honestly say that that last kilometre was a killer and I was vowing to myself, “Just keep going, don’t stop – you’ll never have to do it again!”

But… when I caught up with Son number 2, who was 16 at the time, he said “I’m really proud of you Mum, when you run it next year, I’ll do it with you!”. Not one to thwart the enthusiasm of the young, I kind of had to say yes and sign up again. Fast forward 12 months and there I was, standing back on the starting line, with hundreds of people separating me from Son number 2 as he had pushed forward to be with the fast folk so he could clock a good time!!

This was me at around the 5K mark – photo credit, my lovely friend V who cheered us on

I can honestly say that this time around it wasn’t as bad as last year, I knew that the last kilometre would be hard, but I was prepared for it, and I did it just a minute slower than last year (had I realised, I may have speeded up!) but, that said, I didn’t feel as bad as last time – I won’t go so far to say it was easier, but I guess I must have been a bit fitter. As my Mum said, (who saw me between 6K and 7K) “You didn’t look as dead as you did when you passed us last year dear”. So I’ll take that as a compliment – thanks Mum!

Proof I did it! Me and my medal

I decided to raise funds this year for FareShare Greater Manchester, the charity I work for. If you would like to support my amazing sporting achievement (haha) my Just Giving page is still open for business. Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far – as I write this, the total stands at just over £600 which is brilliant. You can find the link to my page here if you want to check it out.

Also last month, I went to watch our family’s team, Manchester United for a very significant occasion, which happened to be the last match of the season. It was my lovely Dad’s last match as a season ticket holder. He decided that this year, at the age of 82, he was finding the winter matches too cold to sit in the stands for so long and the amount of standing during the matches to see over the people in front was too much for his octogenarian legs. Dad has held his season ticket in the same stand since the season I was born (1973-4). He decided that as he was going to be a Dad and that meant he was getting old, he should treat himself to a seat and move out of the Stretford End which was a standing only area at the time.

So for as long as me and my brother have been alive, Dad has sat in that stand with the same match-going buddies around him. It felt too significant to let it pass without a bit of a fuss. So, I booked tickets for me and Son number 3 to go (the only United appreciator of my offspring) and be in the stadium at the same time, I got Dad’s name put up onto the scoreboard and a little bit about him in the match day programme too.

My view of the Old Trafford pitch at the top of the tallest stand, Dad was in the stand on the left – I even managed to spot him at one point!

It was so lovely to be back at Old Trafford, as once upon a time I was a frequent visitor – my first ever job at the age of 16 was there and I worked there throughout my A-Levels and in university holidays too. In fact it was Manchester United which set me on the career path into radio which eventually led to me creating the Making Stitches Podcast!

I’m so glad we managed to join Dad on this special day – even if we were sitting miles away from him. Oh, and they won too which was a relief!

Making Stitches 2025 CAL

May Blossom square

The May square for the Making Stitches 2025 CAL was a blossomy one. I really debated whether to feature cherry blossom in the April square but changed my mind, opting for April showers for the driest month since records began in the UK (I may be slightly exaggerating there). However, thankfully for me, there was still plenty of blossom around and about when April turned into May, so I still had the chance to jump on the blossom band wagon – what a thrill!

I was really pleased with how turned out, and it would appear that lots of you liked it too as there were some beauties which popped up in my Instagram feed through out the month – you can see some of them below.

Some of the May Blossom Squares

If you missed out on the May Blossom square when it came out, you can still find it on my blog here.

In other crochet news….

Since early this year, I have been beavering away on a cardigan project. I made myself one of these cardigans a good few years ago. It’s a Fran Morgan pattern from Simply Crochet magazine called ‘A Good Vintage’ – you can still buy the pattern online.

My Mum has long admired my cardy, so I decided to make one for her birthday – only problem is, that was in March not May! On the big day, I gave her the body and one sleeve wrapped up and had to ask for it back to finish it. Well, here it is out in the sunshine on my blocking mat.

I’m pleased to report, she thought it was worth the wait!

And, there’s more crochet too…

A special crochet project ❤️

I’m sure an awful lot of you will be aware of a significant blog anniversary which happened earlier in June – the 10th anniversary of Coastal Crochet, by the lovely Eleonora Tully. I have been reading Eleonora’s blog since the early days, as I discovered her as I began my own blogging journey in June 2015 too. Obviously Eleonora’s and my blog trajectory hasn’t quite been the same, but it’s an anniversary worth celebrating none the less! So, last year, when we met up at Yarndale, we discussed the possibility of collaborating on something to mark our joint blog birthdays. The photo above is evidence of that design in progress.

We are hoping to share the finished design next month, and can’t wait to share it with the world!

Podcast News

The first Making Stitches Podcast episode in May was another 10th anniversary celebration (there must have been something in the water in the late spring/early summer of 2015 surely?). This time it was being celebrated by my fabulous sock-knitting friend Christine Perry from Winwick Mum.

During that decade of encouraging the world to knit socks, there have been literally tens of thousands of socks knitted – that’s some achievement. You can find out more about the episode and listen to it here.

Next came a chat I had with Rachael Mills, a crochet teacher and designer and dressmaker from Lancashire. It was Rachael who was responsible for crocheting the giant doily which adorned a Ford Escort car and which was part of the installation which won the 2024 Turner Prize.

I loved hearing about how she took a phone call from the artist, Jasleen Kaur and wasn’t put off about the size of the project – just saying “Yes, I’m up for that!”. What a life lesson that is, you never know where opportunities might lead….

Find the full episode show notes here.

And finally, one week ahead of schedule, I published this episode featuring Nat Walton, the curator of the Woven in Kirklees textiles festival – the reason for the early episode – it went out on the eve of the start of the festival, World Stitch Day on 1st June.

This biennial festival draws on the whole community of this West Yorkshire district and covers all sorts of crafts and creativity. It was fascinating to hear the story of the festival and all the things visitors to this year’s events can enjoy.

Find out more here.

Simply Crochet, simply exciting!

So, this is exciting. A little while back I was approached by Simply Crochet Magazine to ask whether I would like to be featured for my blogging and crochet work. I have been the subject of an article about my podcast, but never about my crochet before. I have to say, after reading the magazine for many years (I even had it delivered to me when I lived in Gibraltar and we moved back home to the UK in 2020), it really made me feel like I’d ‘arrived’ a bit.

What an honour to be featured in this brilliant magazine. You can find the article in issue 162, if you want to have a read. Thank you so much Simply Crochet, and thank you to Marianne Rawlins (@mazcrochets on Instagram) for interviewing me and writing such a lovely interview.

And that just about brings this latest postcard to a close, but I can’t go without acknowledging the awful news our online crafty community received yesterday about Amanda Bloom. I never met her, but I did have the opportunity to speak to Amanda on a couple of occasions for Making Stitches Podcast, and we had spoken recently about me going to visit her at her latest creative endeavour, her ‘Craft Room’ at Bentham in North Yorkshire.

I hope Amanda has found peace at last and that she has been reunited with her beautiful daughter, Jenny.

Take care of yourselves everyone,

Lindsay x

Jenny’s Mandala, from Amanda Bloom’s Little Box of Crochet

A Postcard from April 2025

~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

Hello there! How have you been? We’re ticking along fine up here at Making Stitches HQ, we have been basking in the sunshine recently. My decision to opt for April showers for last month’s square of the Making Stitches 2025 CAL was a bit of a mistake – or maybe it caused the sunny weather we’ve enjoyed?

Here’s my latest postcard, a week and a bit later than planned… I hope you enjoy it!

Sunny Rochdale

Rochdale Town Hall

At the start of April I travelled to Rochdale to visit an old school friend of mine, it was a stunningly sunny day and we decided to go out and enjoy the lovely weather. Whilst I had visited her at home several times before, I had never been into Rochdale town centre, so we headed off and went to the recently refurbished Town Hall – my word it was stunning. The main entrance hall had the feeling of an ecclesiastical building more than a civic one.

The stained glass was stunning and shown off to its advantage by the bright sunshine outside. Inside there was an exhibition of more modern stained glass made by artists which was beautiful too. I particularly loved this bunch of flowers and the blue & green design. The floral window, created by Deborah Lowe, was called ‘Right there with you, Mr Morris’ and was inspired by William Morris. The blue & green one was created by Debbie Copley and was called ‘Goldfinch & Blue Teasels’.

Right there with you, Mr Morris by Deborah Lowe
Goldfinch & Blue Teasels by Debbie Copley

Also on display were two textile pieces produced by Artist Alison Greyer. One had an emphasis on nature, community & remembrance and was made in collaboration with a local arts & crafts group, the second piece was inspired by pupils at a local primary school.

Upstairs in the town hall is the most amazing space which, on the day we visited, was prepared for a boxing match!

The joy of nature

One of our favourite walks down to the River Mersey close to our home

The beautiful dry and sunny weather persisted throughout April, which was truly lovely to enjoy. There were odd days when it was overcast and wet, but to my mind it was nice far more often than when it was cold and wet. What a luxury! This, in turn had a brilliant effect on the nature around me, there have been fabulous shows of blossom, from cherry blossom early on to hawthorn and many other sorts too. It’s thanks to the brilliant displays we have enjoyed this year, that I was inspired to make May’s Making Stitches 2025 CAL square a blossom themed one. 

Crochet…

An Easter themed post box topper in my local town

I will start this section with some crochet that doesn’t belong to me – I always admire post box toppers when I see them – the amount of work and time that goes into them for the benefit of others. This Easter themed one was on one of the main roads through my nearest town. I’m so glad it was left to look lovely and not destroyed.

April Showers Square – last month I opted for the weather as the theme of my Making Stitches 2025 CAL square. I had been toying with the idea of going for blossom as the theme but in the end went for April Showers as the the March square had been floral. It’s always so lovely to see squares appearing on social media throughout the month as other people join in and make their own versions! Thankfully the beautiful blossom has persisted which meant I was able to use that as the inspiration for the May Square instead!

If you would like to have a go at making any of the Making Stitches CAL squares, you can find the patterns all here.

Some of the brilliant Making Stitches CAL Squares which have appeared online this month

Crochet collaboration!

Making Stitches Blog is going to be celebrating a big birthday this summer – it will be 10 years since I set off on this blogging adventure. Back then, of course, it wasn’t called Making Stitches – the name was Postcard from Gibraltar but when we moved back to the UK, I changed the name. Way back in the early days of my blog, I found a fellow blogger who was talking about crochet and other things I was interested in and we became online friends. That blogger then went on to much bigger and better things, designing for Yarn Companies, teaching workshops and is now about to fly to Australia to talk to crocheters over there! She is, of course, Eleonora from Coastal Crochet.

Eleonora’s picturesque beach reveal of our colour palette
My own, back garden version!
Work is underway!

We have been lucky enough to meet in person a couple of times (both times at Yarndale) and when we met up last September, we talked about our impending 10th anniversaries. We decided it would be nice to do something together to mark this landmark and are now collaborating on a joint crochet pattern which we will be unveiling in the summer. Eleonora broke the news on her social media with a perfectly ‘Coastal Crochet’ photo showcasing the yarn we have chosen. I’m afraid my version in my back garden isn’t quite as romantic but it doesn’t matter! 

Eleonora & I at Yarndale last year

We have decided upon the design for our joint project and work has already begun, if you follow our social media (Instagram in particular) you may have spotted some sneak peaks of our progress along the way. I’m looking forward to sharing more in the weeks to come!

Big Birthdays

Eldest’s 21st birthday cake
Making Stitches Podcast turned 5

There were 2 big birthdays in the Making Stitches household in April – Eldest turned 21 (eek!) and Making Stitches Podcast turned 5!

I have no idea how I have ended up with a fully formed adult as a child – it doesn’t seem possible. It’s only 5 minutes ago we were going to baby music groups and then talking about starting school! Time flies far too quickly. On the day after he celebrated his 16th birthday in April 2020’s first lockdown, I launched Making Stitches Podcast as something fun to focus on as we navigated lockdown and an impending relocation back to the UK. I feel quite proud that it’s still going 5 years on. It’s a common fact that podcasts often run out of steam and some don’t last even a complete first series, so to have one which has survived 5 years is a pretty good achievement I think.

Podcast News

So while I’m talking about the podcast, here’s what you may have missed in April. First of all I got to sit down and chat to Marianne Rawlins a crochet designer based in the South West of England. Marianne designs and writes for Simply Crochet Magazine. It’s because of her work writing articles that our paths crossed as she asked to turn the tables and interview me about my blog and podcast for a future issue of the magazine. After that, I returned the favour and asked whether she would like to come on the podcast to talk about her work. It’s funny that we discovered we have an awful lot of things in common, including starting out in journalism and now working in marketing & communications. You can find her episode here.

The second April episode included a chat which was a total joy to record. I have honestly never laughed so much while recording an interview. My guests were husband and wife team Sean and Sara MacLeod. Sara is an avid crocheter who shares hermakes on Instagram. What makes her account stand out is not just her beautiful creations, but the stunning scenery of their home on the Cowal Peninsula on the West coast of Scotland AND her husband Sean. Sara describes Sean as her ‘crochet supermodel’ and he can be seen wearing all sorts of crocheted garments as well as being draped in blankets too. They are such a funny pair, and clearly Instagram agrees as they have a following of almost 30,000. You can find their episode here.

A favour before you go…

You might remember that this time last year, I ran my first ever 10k. It was a challenge to myself for my 50th birthday so I could say ‘I did one’. It was only going to be one-time-only event.

However, on the finishing line, Son Number 2 told me he was very proud of me and that when I do it next year, he would run it with me. I couldn’t very well say – “I’m sorry I’m not doing it again”. So, on 18th May (next Sunday – eek!), I will be running the Great Manchester Run 10k again, this time though I will have Son Number 2 with me at my side as we set off (then I won’t see him for dust!). He’s aiming to run it in under 1 hour, I’m aiming to just get round.

We are going to be fundraising for FareShare Greater Manchester, the charity that I work for and where Son Number 2 has volunteered several times. We have a Just Giving Page, so if you have a little spare cash and wouldn’t mind sponsoring our efforts we’d be most grateful – thank you!

Our race numbers have arrived so it’s official now!

And that’s all for this round up of April. I hope it was a good month for you and that life is treating you well. Until next time, thank you for stopping by!

Lindsay x

A Postcard from March 2025

~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

Hello there! Blimey, the end of March already…. I may be sounding a bit repetitive with these monthly postcards but where does the time go? The year is a quarter of the way through already and it’s showing no sign of slowing down!

It may be going fast, but March was a beautiful month for us here in my little corner of the world. We were so lucky to have quite a few beautiful bright sunshiny days.

Spring did its thing!

My word, the world does look a better place when the sun is in the sky! I really do love this time of year, the end of the long dark nights and cold weather begins as the spring flowers pop up and the acid green new leaves begin to appear on the trees.

The River Mersey

I find, at the minute, that the weeks are so full of school, work, after school activities and rushing and then the weekends also seem full of engagements, football matches and other things. It’s quite hard to be able to take a moment to stop and truly enjoy the beauty of the world around me. I luckily had a few short occasions to do this this month. First of all (top picture) was when I went to collect Youngest from an event in Cheshire. As I sat waiting for him to finish, I enjoyed the surroundings of fields and trees.

Then, one day when it was just me and son number 2, we took the chance to head for one of our favourite walks along the banks of the River Mersey near us. It was a beautiful day – the kind when you are reminded how lovely it is to feel the warmth of the sun on your back.

In the middle of our walk, we stumbled upon this lovely bunch of daffs bobbing about in the sunshine.

Clear bright days also often lead to lovely sunsets. Quite often I’m in the midst of cooking dinner when the sun is setting at present, but one evening, we had a parent’s evening at school, and as we came out we were greeted by this lovely sky!

What’s been on my hook lately

I felt compelled to make this Ukrainian inspired sunflower granny square after watching the news on the day of President Zelensky’s visit to the Oval Office. I was appalled at what I saw and felt utterly helpless. Hooking up a granny square doesn’t actually do anything in the grand scheme of things, but it made me feel a teeny bit better.

Sticking with the sunflower theme, we had a sustainability event at work this month and we were giving away packets of sunflower seeds to guests as they left. I thought the basket they were in needed a bit of decoration, so had a go at making this sunflower and bumble bee.

Crochet on the go…

There’s no such thing as a waste of time while sitting in a waiting room if you have a project to keep you company! I’m working on a cardigan as a birthday gift for my lovely Mum. As it was getting close to the deadline (ie: the birthday) I was taking my crochet with me everywhere.

I’m afraid to say I have missed the deadline – what was done was wrapped so she could open it, with the promise that it will be finished soon!

Spring Cleaning was the theme for a brilliant March Crochet Day at the Crochet Sanctuary at Cranage Hall Hotel in Cheshire. I do love my crochet days with the lovely folk at the Crochet Sanctuary!

I made a waistcoat stitch crochet basket and some waffle stitch crochet wash cloths.

A cuppa & a catch up

It had been about 10 months since the last time I’d had the chance to catch up with my lovely yarny friend Christine from Winwick Mum. I forgot to take any pictures of our time at Black Sheep Wools when we met other than our two tea cups – so you’ll have to take my word for it! It was lovely seeing her again and hearing all her news.

An afternoon with some footballing legends

Also this month, I got the chance to take my lovely Dad to the Lowry in Salford for an afternoon with some Manchester United legends. It was a great show with lots of jokes and laughter about the old days in the 1980s and 1990s at Old Trafford.

Podcast news

In March, there have been two episodes of Making Stitches Podcast. The first one featured a chat I had with a pair of friends, Jenni Smith & Kay Walsh, who have written a book called Menopause Makes filled with beautiful sewing projects to help ease menopause symptoms and get people sewing. You can find out more information about this episode here.

Next up was a chat I had with Justine Robson, a crochet teacher and all round fabulously creative person. Justine started the Carry on Crafting Festival after having a dream about putting one on! She is also the current custodian of Little Box of Crochet. You can find out all about our chat here.

Making Stitches 2025 CAL March Square

I decided to go for spring flowers as the theme of the Making Stitches 2025 CAL square this month. They give me such optimism for the future and the warmer days to come. Plus the colours are stunning!

I was thrilled to see that again, literally within hours of publishing the pattern, some March squares began to appear in my Instagram feed. You have no idea how happy it makes me to see other people making my patterns and enjoying them too. Thank you to everyone who has joined in with the CAL so far!

I will be sharing Part 4 tomorrow evening, I do hope you like it when you see it!!

That’s all for this time. Thank you for stopping by and I hope April is kind to you!

Lindsay x

A Postcard from February 2025

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Hello there! I do hope February has treated you well. I have had a great month, and for once actually have some photograph worthy updates for you! Here goes…

London calling

The view from Greenwich Observatory towards the City of London

I started the month with a fabulous overnight getaway to London. It was courtesy of Eldest who, for my Christmas and birthday presents paid for me to stay in a hotel near his student hall of residence and booked tickets to take me to see Mama Mia! What a lovely boy – I am one very lucky Mum!

One of the joys of train travel (assuming they are on time and you can get a seat) is the uninterrupted craft time…

Once I’d arrived down in London, we had a bit of time to kill, so Eldest took me for a walk around his neighbourhood, which is in the Shoreditch/Islington area.

Although it’s very much an inner city area, there were lots of quiet back streets to explore and wander around.

I had to stop and take a photo of this, I like the sound of the ‘Worshipful Company of Haberdashers’!

After our wander, we headed back to base so I could get changed ready for our big night out. First stop was a delicious pizza for an early tea before hopping on the tube towards the West End…..

My word, I did enjoy the show. I think I must be one of just a handful of people who haven’t seen any of the Mama Mia films. I have seen bits of them but never the whole way through, so I didn’t know the storyline at all.

It was so good and really interesting to see how the ABBA songs were used to tell the story. Eldest made a great choice getting me this present – it was perfect.

On Sunday morning, we woke up to brilliant blue skies. It was the perfect day for an explore, so we hopped onto the Tube and then took the DLR out to Greenwich. First stop was a wander to the bank of the River Thames and a quick Look at the Cutty Sark before heading towards Greenwich Park.

It was such a beautiful morning that there were loads of people out in the park and it took a bit of negotiating to get to the top of the hill to see the Greenwich Observatory.

We really were spoiled to see it on such a beautiful day. That stunning blue sky was the perfect backdrop to the skyline.

After getting an alfresco cup of coffee sitting in the sunshine by the Observatory, we made our way back down into the town centre.

Back down at the River Thames, it looked more like August than the first weekend in February – it was so beautiful! I really was lucky in so many ways during my 24 hours away from home!

We decided to take an alternative route back to the hotel and walked under the Thames through the pedestrian tunnel!

Birthday celebrations continued…

Just two weeks on from my belated birthday celebration in London, I was taken out for another birthday celebration (I could get used to this!). My lovely brother and his wife told me on by big day back in January, that they wanted to take me out for lunch as my gift.

We went to Dishoom in Manchester for the most beautiful lunch. It was such fun and the food was out of this world. The building where the restaurant is based is stunning too.

After lunch, we called in to this Mancunian institution – Peveril of the Peak. Inside are photos of famous visitors to the pub including Robbie Coltrane and the Gallagher brothers.

I can’t remember the last time I went to the pub in the afternoon! It felt like being a student again!

Loving the longer days…

One of the great things about this time of year is the fact that the days are getting longer. I took this photo on the first day when I got home from work before it was dark! It’s the simple things which make all the difference!

Spring is around the corner

Just this week I went out for a walk on an afternoon off work. The sun shone brightly and lit up this fantastic display of white and purple crocuses – just stunning!

An evening with the News Agents

Tower of Light lit in the colours of the Ukraine flag

I was blessed with two weekends with Eldest this month. He had a week off lectures owing to a ‘reading week’ and came home for a few days to see me and his brothers. On Monday evening (thanks to a last minute booking on my part when I heard he was coming home and it coincided with the show) we went to see the News Agents Live at the Bridgewater Hall in central Manchester.

We both have a fascination with current affairs and politics and love to listen to the News Agents podcast on weekdays. When they announced that they were coming to Manchester I had toyed with the idea of going but discounted it as it was on a ‘school night’, however when Eldest said he’d be here and the dates coincided, it felt like it was meant to be, so I booked two of the last few tickets just days beforehand.

We took the tram into the city centre and walked the short distance from the tram stop to the venue past the Tower of Light which was lit in the colours of the Ukraine flag to mark the unfortunate 3rd anniversary of the Russian invasion and subsequent on-going war. It felt rather fitting to see it on the way into a highly political evening of chat which was rather obviously dominated by conversations about Putin, Zelensky and most notably Donald Trump.

Our view as we waited for the show to start

We really enjoyed ourselves, it was a great show and very thought provoking on so many levels. I would highly recommend it to anyone who might be thinking of going.

As we left the venue and began our walk back to the tram, Eldest exclaimed that he had just seen Emily Maitlis at the rear of the building (her bright turquoise dress had caught his eye) then we spotted Lewis Goodall who was chatting with people who were leaving too. Eldest nearly died of embarrassment, but I went along to say how much we had enjoyed the show as well as the podcast and got a celebrity selfie (please ignore the double chin – I didn’t exactly catch the right angle!!).

Not my best angle but a thrill nonetheless to meet Lewis Goodall!

Making Stitches 2025 CAL February Square

The All You Need Is Love February Square

Love seems to be in the air a lot during February, so this month’s square for the Making Stitches 2025 CAL had to involve a heart. It was so thrilling to see squares appearing on my Instagram account literally 24 hours after I published the pattern – wow! Thank you so much to everyone who has taken part in the Crochet-Along so far.

❤️Some of the brilliant February Squares out in the wild! ❤️

If you fancy tagging along, please do, the patterns will be living on my blog for free (there’s a section now in the main menu where you can find links to the CAL patterns so far). It doesn’t matter if you didn’t start in January – a few new faces appeared online this month and have caught up. You don’t even need to do all of the squares – just the ones you feel like! If you do make a square and decide to share it on social media – please use the hashtag #MakingStitches2025CAL so I can see your square!

I’m off shortly to put the finishing touches to the March square pattern ready for it being released tomorrow!

And finally…

Making Stitches Podcast is back! The brand new episode went live this morning and features a chat I had with Felix Ford from KNITSONIK. You can listen to it here.

In it we chatted about Felix’s work with sound, colour, yarn and stranded colourwork knitting as well as her Masters project which involved making knitted cosies for walking sticks which diverted conversations away from disability and towards appreciation of creativity instead. It also features a few snippets of Felix’s musical compositions too. Please do give it a listen!

That’s all for this time – I’m quite pleased I’ve been able to share so much with you for a change! February may be the shortest month, but it’s been a busy one – I can’t promise my postcard from March will be as exciting!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsay x

A Postcard from December 2024

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River Yarrow in Lancashire

Hello there! I hope you have had a good month and that Christmas went ok for you. I have decided to go into 2025 with good intentions and try to be up to date with things so here’s my Postcard from December on the last day of December!

It’s been a funny old month weather wise with us not so much cold and frosty weather as you might expect but plenty of grey, dull, wet and in some cases very foggy days.

In spite of the weather it’s been looking really rather pretty in our neighborhood with lots of lovely Christmas lights adorning people’s homes and gardens.

A lovely yew tree dressed for the season

The FareShare Festive Feast Wreath

I was able to pay £55 to FareShare Greater Manchester just before Christmas, thanks to the sale of patterns of the FareShare Festive Feast Wreath.

Thank you so much to everyone who has bought one! It was a thrill to see photos of wreaths which have been made so far out in the wild!

The pattern will remain in my Etsy shop and any money raised through its sale will continue to go to FareShare Greater Manchester.

Podcast News

The annual Christmas Special from Making Stitches Podcast made an appearance just before Christmas. It was lovely to be able to look back at my podcast year and share a few of the highlights.

It’s still available in case you’ve missed it. You can find it here.

Festive wanderings

We had a nice quiet Christmas and Boxing Day, followed by a lovely walk with family in Lancashire. We visited a route by the River Yarrow near Chorley. It was rather muddy under foot but we were dressed appropriately and really enjoyed our woodland wander.

It felt good to be moving again after a couple of rather sedentary days!

Even when there are no leaves left on the trees it was still a treat to get some ‘Vitamin Tree’.

The walk saw us zig-zag back and forth across the series of small foot bridges as we followed the river.

This bright orange fungus & green moss were real pops of colour on an otherwise grey day.

I believe this spot is a perfect place to enjoy bluebells in springtime. I’d love to come back and see them myself one day…

My word, that work did us all the world of good after a little bit too much chocolate & other naughty food!

And that just about wraps up this final Postcard from 2024. Thank you for stopping by and having a read and to anyone who’s a regular visitor to Making Stitches, thank you for your continued support.

Next year is a big one for me in terms of my blogging, I look forward to speaking more about that next year as this little site celebrates it’s 10th birthday – isn’t that crazy?!

As part of my celebration I’ve decided to release a new crochet pattern each month – a very relaxed crochet-along if you will. Watch this space – more will follow very soon!!

Until then, thank you again for sticking with me to the end of another year, I hope you enjoy your evening tonight however you plan to see in the New Year!

See you in 2025!

Lindsay x

A Postcard from September 2024

Double rainbow over a green grassy field
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Double rainbow over a green grassy field

Hello there! Well, I blinked and then missed September! It was only 5 minutes ago that I was on holiday in Scotland at the end of August surely – how can we be on 4th October already?!

Although it went quickly, September was a good month for us with Eldest heading back to University, Number 2 son beginning A-levels and Son number 3 returning to school too. It’s been a bit full on with work, and despite having great intentions to keep up the momentum I managed to achieve with my crochet adventures during my Summer Craft Challenge, it has, I’m afraid to to say, rather fallen by the way side.

I have been working on something on the QT which I’m super excited to tell you about, but that will have to wait for now I’m afraid. I’m keeping my powder dry on it for the time being, but there will be a big ta-dah moment coming up in the not-to-distant future.

Despite my best efforts to keep up to date with my blog posts (I’m still due to share a Postcard from Scotland) I haven’t managed to, but my excuse is that my laptop died early in the summer and since then I have been struggling on with just my phone to post from. I’m thrilled to say that I am sitting here tapping away on my brand new laptop and it feels good after having had months without one! No excuses now.

Here’s a little look back at what I got up to in September!

Double Rainbow

Now, when I scrolled back through my phone to find some photos from the past month to share with you, I realised I didn’t take very many at all – so I am making up for the lack in variety with the sheer number of rainbow photos from one evening in the first half of the month. It had been raining and sunny in equal measure and I came round from the back of our house to spot this vivid rainbow in the sky in front of where we live.

That’s not over remarkable really, they do happen from time to time. What marked it out as remarkable was the fact it must have lasted for over an hour. It was so vivid and it was a double rainbow!

I drove Youngest to Scouts and spotted it on the field ahead of us (so was able to get him to take a photo)

Then, after dropping Youngest at Scouts, I drove back to the field, got out of my car (much to the bemusement of people sitting in traffic watching the crazy woman who was actually choosing to get wet) and took this lovely picture below!

I then drove round to visit my parents and you could see it shining there for about another 40 minutes – it was truly remarkable.

A finished item!

Do you remember I was working on some Granny squares during my Summer Craft Challenge (particularly when we were on holiday in Scotland)? Well I joined them all together and finished my *very loud and colourful* All You Need Is Love cardigan from Inside Crochet Magazine.

It was supposed to be made in a cotton yarn which I would have loved to have used but it was rather pricey, so I took a look in my stash, and found that I had comparable colours in my Stylecraft Special DK stash and only needed to get a handful of extra balls. I changed the main colour from cream/off white to dark grey and got cracking. I’m quite please with it. I even got it finished in time to wear it to Yarndale!

Yarndale 2024

Looking down towards Yarndale from the Yarn Walk

I made my 4th visit to Yarndale last weekend. I first went in 2016, back in the times before Covid when I actually had to get on a plane and fly over to the UK from Gibraltar to visit (imagine that – it feels like a lifetime ago!). I also visited in 2021 in the first post Covid festival and again in 2022. I didn’t make it last year, but a little bird told me that she would be there this year, so I had to book my ticket so I would get the chance to see her again. Can you guess who that little bird was?

Arriving at Yarndale

I got up early on Sunday morning for a 10am entry (thankfully Skipton is only about 75/80 minutes drive from where I live in Manchester) because there was someone special giving a talk at 11am – it was Eleonora from Coastal Crochet!

Eleonora giving her talk about her crochet along blankets and holding her first one – the Seaside Stashbusting Blanket

It was so nice to catch up with Eleonora and hear her speak about her many, many crochet along blankets. I vividly remember her posting on her blog back in 2018 (I think) that she was thinking of hosting a crochet along and inviting anyone who wanted to join her to make a Seaside Stashbusting Blanket. I was compelled to join in after following Eleonora and her yarny coastal exploits from the early days and it was an utter delight. Before long there was a huge community of coastal crocheters around the world hooking up Eleonora’s lovely designs.

I was lucky enough to meet Eleonora at Yarndale in 2022, and when she messaged me to say she would be going back again this year, I simply had to book my ticket! It was so nice to hear her talk about her passion for being creative and also to have a nice chat afterwards. I had my podcast head on while I was there and recorded a lovely chat with her for a future episode of Making Stitches Podcast, which will be coming your way soon.

After hear Eleonora’s talk, I went off for a wander around the many lovely stalls, I spoke to some truly fascinating people and managed to get to another talk – this one about the economics behind the British yarn industry which was really thought provoking.

Some woolly friends

I do love Yarndale, it’s such a friendly place filled with so much inspiration, I’m so glad I made the journey over the Pennines again this year.

There were some pretty impressive yarn bombed bollards outside Skipton Auction Mart. I remember being bowled over by all the yarny items on my first visit, and this is the first time since then that I have really paid attention to them.

There is so much work which has gone into making each one of them – all of them were works of art!

What I’ve been listening to

My latest audiobook loan was Elton John’s Me read by the man himself & Taron Egerton, the actor who played him in the Rocketman film. Blimey, that man’s had a life and a half. I found it very moving and utterly hilarious. There were times when I burst out laughing and others when I found myself in tears. Just as well I listened indoors!

And that, I’m afraid is it for September’s news – I was pretty rubbish at taking pictures of inspiring things this month. I promise to do better with October’s edition!

Until next time, take care of yourself, and thank you for stopping by!

Lindsay x

A Postcard from August 2024

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Ostell Bay beach, Friday 30th August 2024

Hello there, and hello September! Blimey that summer went quickly didn’t it?! And check me out posting on the first day of the month!

It’s been a funny kind of summer for us, as it’s been the first full summer of my current job – last year I worked 100% from home and that meant I was always around for the boys. They are now old enough to manage without me in the house all day every day, so for a chunk of the holidays this year, I’ve been out at work.

That led to the inevitable Mum guilt of not being around for as many days out as in the past but we did manage a few, and here they are…

At the start of the month we had a nice warm, sunny spell which was a relief after a particularly damp and grey time of it. We are very lucky to have the Cheshire countryside on our doorstep, so getting out into the green is quite easy. One day, when both myself and Eldest were off work, we all managed to get out for a lovely walk along the canal towpath towards Lymm and back again. I love this walk, whether in winter (with the reward of a bag of chips at Lymm) or as was the case this time, an ice cream in summer. It was so nice to get out and enjoy the fresh air!

A visit from special friends

Last month we were so happy to play host to a couple of friends who we’ve known since our time in Gibraltar. They moved back to the UK well before we did but we have stayed in regular contact and it’s so lovely to get together with them when we can.

They arrived in Manchester for a weekend with us and as their previous visit north had been during Covid times which rather restricted what we could do (although obviously not in lockdown though), we were thrilled to take them on a bit of a tour of Manchester.

As one of them is a newly qualified art teacher, I thought she might appreciate a trip to Manchester Art Gallery.

There was a fab exhibition on featuring outfits from a whole host of fashion designers from Balenciaga to Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood to Chanel. It was a real treat!

Also, while they were up visiting, we took them to do one of our favourite summer traditions; a walk around Marbury Park in Cheshire, followed by ice cream at Great Budworth Ice Cream farm. I even blogged about this tradition in one of the first ever blog posts on here back in my Postcard from Gibraltar days 9 years ago!

Teezels at Marbury Country Park

As well as having a dairy herd at the ice cream farm, there are several goats and a rather cheerful looking donkey, who stole the show!

Our final week of August was spent north of the border in Scotland, but I rather think that deserves a blog post of its own, so when I have the chance I will sit down and write that, watch this space!

International Granny Square Day

International Granny Square Day falls in August and this year I was in work on the day itself. I spent lunchtime at work scrolling through Instagram looking at so many gorgeous squares and feeling frustrated that I hadn’t been able to make any myself. So, when I got home, while making dinner for the family, I may have slightly overdone a few bits and bobs while I made these two podcast related granny squares of my own!

What I’ve been listening to

Well my audio book library card has had a fair bashing lately – I’m totally hooked. So much so, I’ve been having to catch up on my favourite podcasts! I have almost finished the four Thursday Murder Club books – I’m in the last few chapters now. I can highly recommend them if you’re after a light, funny and at times emotional read/listen. I can see why Richard Osman sits at the top of the best seller charts with them – he’s such an observant writer.

Podcast News

Dr Gemma McKenzie

There was just one Making Stitches Podcast episode in August – I decided to take a short break as it was proving difficult to keep up the schedule with the boys on holiday. In this episode Dr Gemma McKenzie spoke to me about the crochet exhibition she is planning to raise awareness about human rights around childbirth. It’s an area I admit to not knowing much about but I thoroughly enjoyed our chat and am interested to learn more because of it.

If you haven’t already listened, you can find our chat here along with details of how you can contribute granny squares to the Threads of Protest Yarnbomb.

Crochet News

I almost forgot to add this exciting bit of news which happened in August too – my second design for Inside Crochet magazine was published. I really enjoyed making this soft, textured book for toddlers to celebrate autumn.

That’s all for this time. Thanks so much for stopping by, and until next time, take care!

Lindsay x

August 2024

A Postcard from July 2024

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Hello there! I hope you’re doing ok. I had been hoping to get this post out weeks ago, but hey ho. The juggle of life, family, work, school holidays, podcasting & a craft challenge meant that craft challenge posts took priority and I’m pleased to say I’ve managed to stick to those each week so far! Gold stars all round for that I think.

As I write this, these memories from last month feel very distant, we are currently entering the 5th and penultimate week of the school summer holidays locally and it feels like it’s gone full steam and whizzed ridiculously fast. It’s hard to believe that we had a General Election last month! So much has happened since then.

I had the morning off work this morning to take some lovely friends who have been staying with us this weekend to the station and am feeling very chilled about life which is lovely. I’m back in work this afternoon so taking this sliver of opportunity to get this post written and out to you before I need to start thinking about my Postcard from August!! Here goes…

Greenhouse update

Looking at these little baby tomato plants they look rather tiny compared to the monsters I now have (you’ll have to wait until the August edition to see them now). However this was taken at the start of last month as my new-to-me green house became operational. I have 3 types of tomatoes, all cherry toms but different kinds and teeny sweet pepper plant too.

Also in my garden was this stunning white passion flower. I bought it as part of a deal at the supermarket (3 plants for £12 I think) and the photo label showed a traditional blue and cream kind of flower but this appeared and I love it, if the slugs stop eating it – I will be happy – I hope it survives!

[In slug news – after a particularly damp and rainy day last week we counted 32 in our back garden. 32!! Yuck!].

Back to the Lake District

Our first weekend of the summer holidays was spent back up in the Lake District with our lovely friends up there. We had such a brilliant time. We had a couple of walks – one which involved a kayaking expedition in the middle of it and another which had a fabulous pub Sunday Roast lunch at the end!

On one of our walks we passed these stunning nature-inspired gates. Aren’t they beautiful? They reminded me of the Lord of the Rings films – there are definitely Rivendell vibes in this part of the world.

The view below was from our walk to the pub lunch. The lake in the distance is Grasmere. The photo doesn’t really do it justice, it was so beautiful up there despite the moody skies.

And after that climb, we dropped down into Elterwater (below) where we had a gorgeous lunch. Guilt free after that strenuous climb!

My friends have a fab VW Camper which they’ve owned since forever. I wanted to make them a gift to thank them for their hospitality, so made them a squishy cushion version.

Unfortunately I didn’t manage to finish it before I arrived with them and didn’t take enough stuffing to fill it, so had to bring it back home to fill it properly (see below). It’s now back where it belongs up the Lakes.

Closer to home, we’ve had a few walks on nice days – the picture below is of a local park just about a mile from our house. I do so love that green colour you get as the sun shines through the leaves!

What I’ve been listening to

I have recently discovered that you can borrow audio books from my local library for free! How amazing is that? I’ve listened to Michelle Obama’s Becoming, Richard E Grant’s very moving A Pocketful of Happiness and am currently smashing my way through the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman. I really enjoyed Andrew Ridgeley’s Wham! George & Me which was read by him. For people of a certain age who had Wham posters on their bedroom walls – I can highly recommend it!

Podcasting news

Emma Varnam

Last month, there were two episodes of Making Stitches Podcast released. The first with the fabulous Emma Varnam. I was so lucky to be invited to visit Emma at her home and had a lovely chat about how she began designing crochet patterns, how (like me) many of the people in her closest circle have hand made gifts foisted upon them and the joys of creating. It was so lovely to meet Emma and I have our mutual friend Christine Perry aka Winwick Mum for introducing us – thank you Christine! You can find our episode here.

My second offering featured a chat I had with Jen Simonic from the Loose Ends Project which matches volunteer ‘Finishers’ with craft projects which have been left part made by crafters who have either died or are unable to complete because of health reasons. It’s a truly remarkable project and mind blowing in how quickly it has spread around the world. You can find out more about this here.

Kasey & Jen from The Loose Ends Project

In case you missed my Summer Craft Challenge 2024 so far…

And that just about brings this Postcard from July to a close. I hope you had a good month and have been able to find a bit of creativity to unwind and relax as I have for the past month. You can read all about what I’ve been up to craft-wise in the last few weeks in the four previous posts.

Summer Craft Challenge 2024 Week One

Summer Craft Challenge 2024 Week Two

Summer Craft Challenge 2024 Week Three

Summer Craft Challenge 2024 Week Four

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lindsay x

A Postcard from June 2024

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Hello there! I hope you’re doing ok. True to form, here is a ‘Postcard from June’ coming to you two thirds of the way through July.

Back in the day, when I first started this blog under the name of Postcard from Gibraltar, I was a stay at home mum of three young men. Now I am a working mum of three young men with a podcast to make and crochet commissions to complete too, so despite my best intentions, time can run away with me. It frustrates me sometimes when I realise I have failed my own self imposed deadlines, but then I stop and think about the fact that there are only so many hours in the day and I can give myself a break every now and again.

So, without a guilty conscience on my part, here is a little look back at June in my world.

Talking of giving myself a break…

Langdale YHA first thing in the morning…

The top photo is of the calm before the crowds arrived at a very good friend’s 50th birthday party at the start of the month. They moved from our home town of Manchester a couple of years ago up to the Lake District, a dream of theirs which they decided to just do rather than thinking about it any longer.

They live in a little slice of gorgeousness and love to share it with family and friends, hence the invitation for a jolly good knees up to celebrate the significant birthday. The party spilled out into the driveway which they share with lovely neighbours (who also came to the party) and a brilliant time was had by all – even the weather behaved. It was a truly brilliant celebration.

I went along without the young men in my life in tow and spent the whole time chatting to old friends and having a good laugh. That night, as we all made our way to our various overnight lodgings, I headed over the (rather large) nearby hill to Langdale YHA, my bed for the night. The photo immediately above is the view from the youth hostel first thing the following morning. I got myself a coffee and sat out on the veranda admiring the view and the peace and quiet while I waited for breakfast.

What bliss it was, a mini 24-hour-long holiday in the sunshine with lovely friends. I caught a lift down to Windermere later that morning to catch another lift back to Manchester and my boys. While I waited for the second lift back home, I sat on the shore of Lake Windermere with my crochet… it doesn’t get better than this!

What a place to sit an crochet, while contemplating life!

Such a beautiful place to visit…..

The longest day…

This photo was taken after 11pm on 21st June, the longest day of the year. Despite being on this planet for 50 years already, it never ceases to amaze me that within the matter of a few months, we can go from living in near darkness from around 3:30pm in the depths of winter to still having light in the sky so late on in the middle of summer.

Having had lots of holidays north of the border, I am aware that the days are much longer up there, but this still impressed me!

I have a greenhouse!

One of my oldest friends is having a garden rejig which includes upgrading her mini greenhouse to a full sized greenhouse. That meant her old one needed a new home. So imagine the scene as, along with the help of my two eldest boys, we walked the greenhouse round from her house to mine (some of the journey was spent with me actually in it holding it up – arms above my head – in a Fred Flintstone feet through the bottom of the car style with one son at the front walking backwards and another son taking the weight at the back) it must have been quite a sight for the neighbours between our two homes. On a ‘normal’ day the walk is just over 5 minutes. It took a bit longer than that with a few breaks to rest our arms along the way. I had a giggle, even if the boys died a little bit inside at their crazy mother’s schemes….

Anyway, it is now happily residing up the side of our house (where the sun reaches in the morning and again, mid to late afternoon) and is home to three tomato plants and a sweet pepper plant. I shall keep you posted on any updates on their fruiting – fingers crossed!

A trip down memory lane

At the end of the month, Keele University celebrated its 75th birthday. It’s the place where I spent an incredibly happy three years, meeting life-long friends and the man I married. There was a special open day to celebrate the milestone and former students and local residents were invited along to wander round the campus. I took two of my boys down to see it for the first time. It was lovely to retrace the footsteps of my much younger self!

Keele Hall, where I spent many hours studying English Literature

My design in print

In a month of lots of lovely things, this was probably the most exciting… for the first time ever I got to see my own design in print in a magazine. I designed and made this canal boat art inspired bottle holder for Inside Crochet (my first design for them) and it even made it onto the front cover!!

It was such a thrill to see my design photographed by a professional and presented so beautifully – thank you so much Inside Crochet!!

Podcast news

Two episodes of Making Stitches Podcast made an appearance in June. The first one, in time for the D-Day commemorations featured three of the people involved in creating The Longest Yarn, an 80 metre long display featuring significant moments which led up to, during and immediately after the D-Day Landings.

The second episode featured a chat I had with Claire Reed, who specialises in helping small creative businesses with their Etsy shops, you can hear the episode here.

And that brings, this latest Postcard to an end. But, before I go….

Anyone fancy a Summer Craft Challenge?

As I mentioned at the top of this post, my time is tight right now. I remember back in the summer of 2016, as my boys’ schools in Gibraltar broke up for the long summer break, I wondered how I would survive with three young men for a 10-week-long ‘holiday’. I decided to set myself a challenge that no matter how busy or hectic or tiring a day was, I had to carve out a little bit of ‘me’ time to be creative. It didn’t matter if it was just 15 minutes of crochet late at night when everyone was in bed, or a lazy afternoon hooking some granny squares sitting on a deck chair on the beach.

Each day I took a photo of my little creative moment and wrote a blog post each week to talk about what I was making. It really worked you know, rather than spending weeks too busy to ‘make’ and getting grumpier and grumpier as time went on, I managed to carve out a little bit of creativity and it worked wonders.

Tomorrow, school comes to an end for my youngest, and this year, for the first time since being a Mum, I have a job which takes me out of the house to an office and I have a bigger juggle than ever to fit everything in. No better time then surely to make sure I have a window of creativity each day to keep me on an even keel. So, I have thrown myself the gauntlet of attempting to create that space each day and document it as I go along. Summer Craft Challenge 2024 is a matter of hours away.

Care to join me? If so, please post the photos of your summer creativity and use the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2024 and join the creative fun! I’d love to have your company on this summer adventure!

Until next time, look after yourself and enjoy your creativity!

Lindsay x

A Postcard from May 2024

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Beautiful Rhododendrons in my back garden in May

Hello there! True to form, here’s my look back at May coming to you in the middle of June! One day I may be organised enough to get one of these to you at the start of the month…

Goodbye Diamond

Diamond

Unfortunately, last month, we said goodbye to our lovely little fluff ball, Diamond. Diamond was our house bunny, he came to live with us in Gibraltar, where it was too hot for him to live outside and there was danger from the local residents too (Barbary macaques).

He was the third of our bunnies, first of all there was Bunny Postcard aka Russelina (caramel & white fluff ball), then came Snowflake (who we rescued after seeing her being abandoned in the Alameda Gardens in Gibraltar).

Russelina (left & bottom) and Snowflake (top right)

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us when we rescued Snowflake, she had a virus which infected Russelina, which ultimately led to the demise of both bunnies.

Diamond came into our lives shortly afterwards and he stayed with us until last month, he even traveled by road from Gibraltar to Manchester with a special pet courier when we moved house!

We’ll miss our fluff ball.

Amigurumay

It was the annual Amigurumay celebration over on Instagram last month run by Ilaria Caliri. It was a fun excuse to take a look back in the Making Stitches/Postcard from Gibraltar archives for suitable photos to include. It was nice to see this pair again – Rocksy & Gib, my Gibraltar apes.

A new garden project

At the start of the month I set to work on a project I’ve been wanting to do since we first moved into our home. The front garden is totally filled with pebbles and is effectively a car park. Since we arrived I had planted the privet hedge you can see, but I wanted more greenery.

Monty Don inspired me in an episode of Gardeners World when he mentioned about steel edging for lawns. I thought, that’ll do for my new flower bed. I found some online and ordered it. With a lot of help from my lovely Dad, we made a flower bed….

Then, once it was filled with peat free compost, came the fun part – filling it with plants!

Ta-dah! The photo below was actually taken one week into June (so I’m cheating here in May’s postcard) but here it is now. I’m thrilled with it, it’s got a white theme. There’s a magnolia, hydrangea, astilbe & jasmine along with white Japanese Anemones, geranium Alba & a couple of white bedding plants. I hope to add more white flowering plants in time, but for now that’s it and I’m really happy with it!

Take That!!

Well I didn’t expect to be telling you about this, but I got the chance to see Take That in concert in May too! It was a last minute thing- some of the Mums from Youngest’s football team were going, but one was ill and asked if I’d like to go in her place (this was 24 hours before the show!). I didn’t need asking twice – they were amazing.

I’d seen them once before, many moons ago when they came to the Gibraltar Music Festival and did a half hour set, but this was something else! A fantastic night of dancing and memories!

On my hook

Mini Dan

I have been working on some top secret crochet commissions lately which I can’t share sadly, but I also made this little chap. This is mini Dan. Big Dan was in my year at school and he turned 50 last month. He plays bass guitar in a fab band which does covers of songs from our youth and this is the kind of outfit he wears when he performs. (I believe Dan’s daughters loved mini Dan!).

Dan had a fab birthday party, the band played and folk got up to sing – it was a brilliant and sober night for me as I had a big run the next day – see 👇 below:

The Great Manchester 10K Run

On 26th May, it was the day of reckoning. After months of training I put my trainers on and headed into Manchester for the Great Manchester Run 10K. It was an amazing experince – so many hundreds and hundreds of runners set off in staggered stages.

This was my vantage point in the ‘pink’ stage. The atmosphere was terrific. There was a light rain to start which was fine, but as we set off, the rain stopped and the sun came out and it got really quite hot.

The heat made the run a lot harder than I expected, but I did what I set out to achieve, which was to run without stopping at all. I did it in 1 hour 11 minutes. I have no idea if that’s a good time or not but I’ll take it as a win!

I have a medal to prove I did it! Not sure I’ll run that far again but I can now say I’ve done a 10K at the age of 50!

Thank you to everyone who sponsored me, together we raised £440 for the Jo Cox Foundation which I’m really chuffed with – thank you x

Making Stitches Podcast is back for a new series!

I was thrilled to be able to bring Making Stitches Podcast back for its eight series last month – I kicked off the new series with an episode delving into the podcast’s archives from the past 4 years it has been going. The topic was being creative for mental health and featured excerpts from chats I’d had with Lisa & Lynda-Rose from the Crochet Santuary, Emma Jones from the Vintage Sewing Box, textile artist Matthew Downham, former BBC Europe correspondent and now maker extraordinaire Mary Jane Baxter, Peace Campaigner and knitter, Figen Murray and Clinical Psychologist, Dr Mia Hobbs. You can listen through the player below or by searching for Making Stitches on your favourite podcast app.

For details on all my guests, you can find their links here.

And that, I think is it for this time. Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope June is being kind to you. See you next month!

Take care!

Lindsay x