Hello there! I hope 2026 is treating you kindly so far. It’s been a pretty good month for us, no dramas, no insurmountable problems and despite people calling January the longest month of the year – I think it’s sped by pretty quickly. I wasn’t really ready for it to come to an end, but it has and here I am with my first monthly postcard of the year.
Here’s a little snapshot of what I have been up to so far this year…
A cold start to the month
I know some places around the UK and further afield have experienced some very cold and snowy weather of late. As usual, in my part of the world – which is renowned for its dampness – we have had a rather cold snap but not so much of the white stuff. I always get excited when I see a flurry of snowflakes coming down, it immediately transports me back to being a child again. Unfortunately for the children (and some of the grown ups) in my part of Manchester, there certainly wasn’t enough for snowmen this month!
We did experience some very cold weather in the first week of the year though, unfortunately for us, it coincided with our central heating boiler going on the blink. Youngest had a football match on the first Sunday of the month, in minus 6 weather. It was bitterly cold, but thanks to the fact it was being played on a very smart, state-of-the-art artificial pitch, it was the only game that week in their league which wasn’t called off.
Despite wearing thermal leggings and top under my usual clothes, with two pairs of socks, double coat and hat, I wimped out and ran back to the car to get the heaters on at half time, this picture shows the payers heading back onto the pitch after the shortest half time I’ve ever experienced. Clearly everyone wanted to get it over and done with and get back to warm houses! I had enough time to walk to the car, turn on the ignition and then it was time to go back out into the cold again!
We ended up going home to a cold house as our boiler had stopped working. Thankfully, some of the football parents had spare electric heaters which they leant to us until we could get it fixed (a faulty sensor apparently). It was a stark reminder that without central heating it can be very cold, and for those who struggle to pay for heating, it must be very bleak indeed.
100 episodes of Making Stitches Podcast
I can hardly believe I’m writing this, but at the start of January, I released episode number 100 of Making Stitches Podcast. It was a bit different this time, as my friend Christine Perry aka Winwick Mum offered to interview me! It was lovely having a chat with Christine, we talked about how I got into my crafty passions as well as my broadcasting experiences and my previous podcast, Gibraltar Stories.
It was a bit out of my comfort zone at first, I normally like to be the one asking the questions! But Christine was very gentle with me and was an excellent podcast host! If you haven’t listened yet, you can find it in all the usual podcast places (by searching for Making Stitches Podcast) – you can also find it here, on the Making Stitches Podcast website.
Also this month, my podcast host (Buzzsprout) sent me a lovely recap of the year. It was filled with stats about 2025 for Making Stitches and I was floored to hear that last year, it was listened to in 156 countries & territories around the world!! That’s just a little bit bonkers isn’t it??
Another birthday!
I celebrated my birthday this month, and was spoiled by Eldest who sent these beautiful flowers to me through the post. They were super. I felt very appreciated.
Also for my birthday, my lovely parents took me to see an amazing show at Manchester Cathedral called Luminisence. It was incredible. We arrived knowing very little about what to expect and found some chairs at the back. Slowly the cathedral began to fill with people and then the music started. It was a stunning performance of so many great tunes by a gospel choir with the stunning backdrop of Manchester Cathedral illuminated by a light show. Lights and moving pictures were projected onto the walls and ceiling while the music played along with a narration by the actor, Christopher Eccleston talking about the history of the city and the cathedral itself. If you get the chance to go, I highly recommend it – it was stunning.
January makes
One of my lovely colleagues at work celebrated a big birthday recently. I felt it warranted a mini-me to be made so knocked this little lady up. I used Carla Mitrani’s Crochet Iconic Women book as the basis for the pattern. I love this book and have made so many gifts for special people using the patterns in it.
This gorgeous book was a birthday present to myself. The Crochet Stitch Companion by Anna Nikipirowicz. I want to try to get to grips with mosaic crochet this year, and thought this was a good place to start.
When it arrived through the post, it came wrapped up with this cute crocheted flower and a tea bag! Never before have I received such a beautifully presented book through the post.
Also this month, I managed to get around to getting these hearts off to the North West & North Wales Paediatric Transport Service. The service has an appeal for yarny hearts (knitted or crocheted will do). They ask for 3 matching hearts, one for the patient (a child) and one for each parent, so if they have to be separated from each other during the journey they are on, or at their destination, they will all have a matching heart to keep hold of.
And I’ve been knitting! I got a voucher at Christmas for my favourite yarn shop, Black Sheep Wools, so popped along and spent it on a pattern, some yarn and new needles. I have set myself a tight deadline of mid March for two new cardigans, one knitted (see picture) and another one which is crocheted. Do you think I’ll manage to hit the deadline? Only time will tell.
Miles for Meals
I didn’t really start the year with any resolutions, but I did set myself the target of walking or running 104km this month. At my work (FareShare Greater Manchester) we are trying to raise £25,000 to replace one of our delivery vans which have a habit of breaking down. We use those vans to get food out to the charities and community groups which we support with surplus food. I pledged to walk or run the distance of one of those delivery routes – the one from our base in Openshaw to Atherton and Wigan which is around 65 miles long or 104 km.
I set out on my Miles for Meals mission in the first few days of the year. We traveled to Rivington which is just a stone’s throw from the Atherton and Wigan delivery route and climbed to the top of Rivington Pike. It was a cold and sunny day and we could see as far as Manchester city centre, the mountains of North Wales, Liverpool docks, Blackpool tower and the mountains of the southern Lake District from the top of the hill. It was stunning.
Since then, my walks and runs haven’t been quite as picturesque and were often after dark, but I did manage a morning run on my birthday which was frosty and sunny and then yesterday, on my final day, I woke up with another 10km still to cover, so I set off on a solo walk from our home to a lovely riverside coffee shop beside the River Mersey and back again – a round trip of 10.5km which took about 2 hours to complete. I can safely say I have completed my mission and should you like to contribute to my fundraising efforts, you can find my Just Giving page here.
Thank you!
And that brings me to a close. Thank you for joining me on this jaunt back through the last 31 days! I’m hoping to maintain this throughout the year with a monthly postcard – something I failed to do last year, but we’ll see how it goes.
I hope that February is kind to you and I look forward to seeing what it has in store for us!
Thanks for stopping by!
Lindsay x
