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Happy New Year! Anyone fancy a 2025 CAL? Part One: January

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Happy New Year! 2025 is upon us and rather than make some resolutions I probably will struggle to maintain, I thought I’d do something I’ve been thinking about for years – hosting a crochet-along or CAL.

This New Year is a special one for me – 2025 marks this little blog’s 10th birthday (officially later on in the summer time).

It felt appropriate to mark this significant year with some crafty fun, and what better than a year-long CAL? So each month I’ll be sharing a granny square pattern which is pertinent to that particular month. My plan is to use this opportunity to use some of my considerable stash of DK yarn – Stylecraft Special DK specifically which I have left over from quite a few previous projects. By the end of the year, I am hoping the finished blanket will be a riot of colour.

A selection of CALs I have taken part in

I have taken part in quite a few CALs myself in the past with Lucy from Attic 24, Eleonora from Coastal Crochet and the special Pandemonium CAL during the Covid lockdowns with The Crochet Sanctuary ladies Lisa & Lynda-Rose. I completely take my hat off to them with their ability to get patterns out every week for a period of often a few months. I know with my schedule of work and juggling everything else that there’s no way I could maintain a weekly CAL, so I’m going to be releasing patterns on a monthly basis at the start of each month.

Each square will be themed to the month it’s released in in some way, so this month being January when it’s often very cold and frosty and we even get a bit of snow, I’ve opted for a snowflake…

If you’d like to join me, I’d love that. There’s no pressure on time, this is an open ended CAL, I intend to publish 12 squares throughout the year, and the joining method & border will appear at some point along the way. I’ll let you into a little secret – I haven’t designed all of the squares yet, so I don’t know what the finished blanket will look like. I feel very much that we don’t know what lies ahead this year for us, so in much the same way, this blanket will be a voyage into the unknown.

My pledge to you will be to release a square pattern at the start of each month and although this is meant to be a stash busting project to use up some of the excess yarn I have in my secret hiding spaces around Making Stitches Towers, I will share the yarn shades I am using if you would like to replicate the yarn I have used.

What do you reckon? Fancy joining me with a new blanket CAL for 2025?

I’d love it if you joined in. If you do and you are on social media, please tag any photos of your growing collection of squares with the hashtag #MakingStitches2025CAL as I’d love to see what people make along the way.

So, here goes, here’s the first section of the 2025 CAL!

2025 CAL Part One : January – Snowflake Square

I used: Stylecraft Special DK yarn in white (1001), aster (1003), silver (1203) & denim (1302), 4mm crochet hook, yarn needle, scissors & a stitch marker.

Tension: Tension isn’t important for this project as long as you maintain the same tension throughout the project so all your squares are the same size. Once blocked this square will measure approximately 20cm x 20cm. The stitch count of the final round of each finished square will be 120 plus corner chain spaces.

Abbreviations (in UK terms): ch = chain, dc = double crochet, dtr = double treble crochet, htr = half treble crochet, mc = magic circle / magic ring, rep = repeat, slst = slip stitch, st = stitch, tr = treble crochet.

Pattern:

We begin with the snowflake.

Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Beginning Round 4
End of Round 4

Round 1 Ch2 (not counted as a st throughout), 12 tr into MC, join round with a slst into top of ch2. (12 tr)
Round 2 Ch1, 2dc in front loop only of every st around, closing the round with a slst. (24 dc)
Round 3 work in front loop only – 1dc, 1htr, 2tr, 1dtr 4ch picot 1dtr, 2tr, 1htr, 1dc, 1slst Repeat twice
Round 4 Work in back loop of Round 2, slst ch7 slst into 4th ch to form a picot & 1dtr in first back loop, 2tr, 1htr, 1dc, slst, 1dc, 1htr, 2tr, *1dtr 4 ch picot 1dtr, 2tr, 1htr, 1dc, slst, 1dc, 1htr, 2tr repeat from * then slst into 4th ch of first ch7.

Beginning of Round 5
Completion of 3 picots on first ‘arm’
Slip stitching through two layers to join the ‘arms’
Slip stitching around the second arm
Snowflake is complete

Round 5 Work a slst around the edge of all the sts on the snowflake. At the 6 picots work 5ch and slst into the picot 3 times into each one to form the 3 ‘lumps’ on the end of each ‘arm’. Where the two layers of the ‘arms’ of the snowflake meet, work through both layers to join them before moving on to go around the next ‘arm’. Work all the way around and fasten off white yarn and break yarn. 

Now the snowflake is complete, it’s time to work on the square.

Round 2
End of Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5

Round 1 This is Round 1 of the snowflake
Round 2 With aster blue yarn, join yarn into one of the back loops of Round 1. Ch2 2tr into that first st, 2Tr in every back loop around, slst into top of ch2 to close round, (24tr)
Round 3 Ch2, 2tr, 1tr rep around, slst into top of ch2 to close round. (36 tr)
Round 4 Ch2, 2tr, 1tr, 1tr rep around. slst into top of ch2 to close round. (48 tr)
Round 5 Ch2, 2dc, 1dc, 1dc, 1dc rep around, slst into top of ch2 to close round. (60 dc)

Round 6 turning the circle into a square
End of Round 6
Round 7
Round 8

Round 6 Ch1, 1dc in next 6 sts, 1htr in next 2 sts, 1tr in next 2 sts, 1dtr 2ch 1dtr in next st to form corner of square, 1tr in next 2 sts, 1htr in next 2 sts, 1dc in next 6dc, repeat around. It’s useful to mark the first dc with a stitch marker so you know where to stop! Slst into top of first ch1 to close the round. (64 sts)
Round 7 Join white into any st, 1dc into every stitch around and work 1dc 2ch 1dc into each corner space. (Each side will have 18 sts – 72dc in total)
Round 8 Join silver grey into any st with 2ch, 1htr into every st around working 1htr 2ch 1htr into each corner space. Fasten off. (Each side will have 20 htr – 80 htr in total). At this stage it’s a good idea to stitch the arms of the snowflake into place using white yarn to hide the stitches.

Beginning of Round 9
Round 9 finished
Beginning of bobbles on Round 10
Round 10 bobbles finished
Round 11

Round 9 Join denim blue yarn into the last st of one of the edges before the corner chain space. Work 1dc in that last st, then 1dc 2ch 1dc into the corner chain space and 1dc around as before with 1dc 2ch 1dc into each corner. Slst into the top of the first st to close the round. (Each side will have 22 dc – 88 dc in total).

Round 10 Ch1, 1dc, 1dc 2ch 1dc into corner space and work 1dc into first 4 sts of the next side. Make a 4tr bobble into the next st using white yarn, closing the bobble with denim to give a clean effect (see instructions below if you are unfamiliar with bobbles). Using denim, work 1dc into next 4 sts then repeat with a white bobble, repeat this process across that edge until you have 4 bobbles and end with 4dc in denim before turning the corner. Repeat the process all the way around with 4dc, bobble, 4dc, bobble, 4dc, bobble, 4dc, bobble, 4dc on each side until you come to the last side where you work the remaining stitches after that last bobble and slst into the top of the first st to close the round. (Total of 80 dc and 16 bobbles).

To make a 4tr bobble:

Yarn over hook (white yarn in this case), insert hook into st, yarn over, pull up loop, yarn over, draw through 2 loops on hook – repeat this another 3 times so you have 5 loops on your hook and all are worked into the same st. Yarn over with denim yarn and pull through all of the white loops to close the bobble. If the bobble is poking through the back of the work, gently poke it back through to the front. If you would like a bigger bobble, try it with 5 treble stitches instead.

Round 11 Ch1, 1dc into every st around working 1dc 2ch 1dc into every corner space. Fasten off and break yarn. (26dc on each side and 104 dc in total).

Round 12 With silver yarn, join into any st, ch2 and 1htr into every st around, working 1htr 2ch 1htr into every corner space. Slst into top of first st to close round and fasten off yarn. (28htr on each side and 112 htr in total).

Round 13 With white yarn, join in any st, 1ch and 1dc into every st around, working 1dc 2ch 1dc into every corner space. Slst into top of first st and fasten off, weave in all the ends. (30 dc on each side ad 120 st in total.

Round 12
Round 13
A finished snowflake square

And that is the end of this first part of the Making Stitches 2025 CAL. If you are joining in with the CAL, please do let me know, tag me on Instagram @making_stitches_blog and use the hashtag #MakingStitches2025CAL so I can see how you’re getting on.

I can’t wait to see this blanket develop over the coming months! I hope you enjoy it too.

I hope the start of 2025 is a great one for you! Happy making!

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 October & November 2024

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Halloween decor in London

Hello there! This should really be a Christmas post, but life’s been very busy so it’s a Postcard from October & November instead!

Better late than never eh?

I really don’t know where the weeks have gone but the juggle with work and family meant blog writing got put on the back burner for a while.

Here’s a quick whistle-stop round up of October & November in my world.

October 2024

Half term trip to London

Back in October I took my 2 youngest sons to London to visit big brother at University. As well as visiting him in his Uni accommodation to let Number 2 Son see what lies ahead for him in the not-too-distant future, we did a bit of sightseeing.

We’d prebooked to visit the Natural History Museum as myself and Youngest had never been before. Prebooking was wise because it was so incredibly busy and we skipped the entrance queue. However, once inside it was so busy it was quite unpleasant.

I have never felt panicky in a crowd before (I’ve been to a Wembley cup final & big gigs) but this was intense.

We went to see this big animatronic T-Rex then made the decision that perhaps we should leave as it wasn’t a fun experience.

We took a long route through the museum to appreciate a bit of the architecture, then, once outside we bought an ice cream and found a nice bench to sit on to take a moment.

That bench happened to be next to the Albert Memorial overlooking the Royal Albert Hall.

We sat there for ages as Eldest read us information about the history of the Albert Memorial curtesy of Google. It was an unexpectedly fun hour or so learning about the meanings of all the little statues around the memorial. We just sat there for ages chatting – much nicer than being jostled in a hot, crowded museum!

Then we decided to walk through Kensington Gardens and spied Kensington Palace in the distance as the sun started to set.

We had a lovely meal together before Eldest directed us back to Euston for the trip back up north to Manchester.

One finished jumper!

Well it’s been on the go since about October last year, and stupidly I thought it would be finished for Christmas 2023. It is finished for this Christmas though! I really enjoyed making this Tin Can Knits pattern – for those who don’t know them, you buy a ‘real’ pattern which you can print but you also access it on the Tin Can Knits app and can mark your progress on the pattern and make notes on your app – it’s brilliant! I would highly recommend it!

[The yarn I used was Knit Me Crochet Me by Stylecraft.]

The FareShare Festive Feast Wreath

In case you missed my last post back in October, this is my FareShare Festive Feast Wreath! I started working for FareShare Greater Manchester earlier this year and decided I wanted to create a crochet pattern to help raise funds for the charity. I even made a Making Stitches Podcast episode about it. The pattern’s still available for sale in my Etsy shop if you fancy making your own!

Podcast News

As well as podcasting about the wreath pattern, I revisited a guest who I met at Yarndale this year – Becky Davies-Downes. Becky worked for decades in TV & Film costume departments and now created beautiful things inspired by British wartime fashion. You can find out more about our chat here.

November 2024

And so to November… and that month saw me taking another train journey down to London for a meeting. Thankfully I also got some precious time with Eldest again as it fell on a day he had just one lecture!

It was a bitterly cold day as I left Manchester and saw some lovely snowy and frosty scenes on the way down south. This photo was taken close to the Wedgewood factory in Staffordshire. I took so many but most were blurred as we were speeding past.

I had my crochet for company – the Mischievous Magpie Mal from Heather at Keep Calm & Crochet On & yarn from Kitey at The Yarn Whisperer. One day I will finish this…

After the meeting, Eldest took me to Loop in London – I once visited many years ago while we made a family trip to London from Gibraltar. I remember it was at the end of a long day with lots of walking. Tired, argumentative boys waited outside with their Dad while I walked in and was slightly overwhelmed. I left after a hurried look around aware of the increasingly fractious situation outside and bought, wait for it, a pair of scissors!

This time, Eldest told me he was happy waiting outside and to take as long as I wanted (what a lovely boy!).

Similarly, I was a little overwhelmed by the colours & yarns on offer but this time I left with this lovely hand dyed skein. I wonder what I’ll use it for?

After our trip to Loop and a fabulous pizza for lunch, we went for a short walk along the canal from close to Angel in Islington. It was such a beautiful, bright, sunny day and it was lovely to escape the traffic noise and hubbub of the city.

It really was a lovely day, and a luxury to spend some time with Eldest on my own.

November yarny things..

I decided that I wanted to make myself a quick tank top. After the elation of finishing my jumper in October, I thought I’d see how quickly I could whip up a granny treble cluster tank top. I made one for Christmas a couple of years ago making it up as I went along and did the same with this. I used some ‘Nigel’ yarn I had bought at Yarndale in September. (I did have to order some more mid project as one ball wasn’t enough).

I’m really pleased with how it turned out and how quick it was to make – it goes really nicely over a denim shirt.

Also in November I challenged myself to a bit of knitted colourwork. I ordered the kit for the Season’s Greetings Festive Stocking kit from Black Sheep Wools designed by Debbie Abrahams.

It includes beading with the colourwork and is such a clear pattern to follow. I have amazed myself that I’ve managed to do it so far. I shall share a finished photo when I get that far!

And that just about brings this very belated Postcard from October and November to a close.

As it’s Christmas Eve, I would like to wish you a happy and peaceful Christmas.

If this is a difficult time of year for you, I hope you find some peace and time to do something that makes you happy.

With love,

Lindsay x

A FareShare Festive Feast

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It’s 25th October, so that means it’s 2 months to go to Christmas! Apologies for using the C-word so soon but there is a very good reason for it….

Earlier this year, I started a new job. It was working for FareShare Greater Manchester an organisation which rescues tonnes of good-to-eat food from going to waste and then redistributes it to over 200 charities and community groups across Greater Manchester who are feeding those who need it most. It’s a truly amazing place filled with amazing people. You may have heard about it back in the pandemic when Manchester United footballer, Marcus Rashford came along to help the operation here with his Mum.

Last year, FareShare Greater Manchester rescued almost 2,000 tonnes of perfectly edible food from going to waste with the help of more than 21,000 volunteer hours given by our amazing team of volunteer supporters. That food went to more than 300 charities and community groups across Greater Manchester, into parts of Derbyshire and Cheshire too and was the equivalent of 4.6 million meals which would have gone to landfill or some other form of waste management.

At a time when an increasing number of people are facing the difficult choice of whether to spend money on heating their homes or feeding themselves and their families, this work is needed more than ever.

I was so inspired by the things I see and hear about at work each day, that I wanted to do something special myself to help support that vital work, so I picked up my hook and yarn. I decided I had to make something food related and started thinking about Christmas food in particular. First I crocheted a sprout and perfected a design for it, then some pigs in blankets and before I knew it I had a whole crocheted Christmas dinner.

I then thought about what would be the classic Christmas decoration, and settled on a wreath. A wreath cover was made, the Christmas dinner was added and hey presto, the FareShare Festive Feast Wreath was born.

The next dilemma was how would I be able to make money for FareShare Greater Manchester with this wreath? It would take too long for me to make wreaths to sell, but I could sell the pattern and send the money raised from that to support the FareShare operation. So that is what I have done.

Supported very kindly by Jane Czaja, who has tech edited the pattern, and with the full support of FareShare Greater Manchester, I have launched the new pattern on sale in my Etsy shop today.

I would be so very grateful if you would help me spread the word about the FareShare Festive Feast Wreath on your social media channels and tell all your crocheting friends about it. I would, of course absolutely love it too if you would buy a copy of the pattern and make a wreath(s) yourself!

You can find the FareShare Festive Feast Wreath pattern for sale here.

If you would like to find out more about where the money I raise from the sale of this pattern will go, you can check out the FareShare Greater Manchester website and I took my microphone into work with me to record a Making Stitches Podcast episode all about FareShare and my wreath pattern, you can listen to that here.

Thank you so much for your time and for your support in this, I look forward to seeing how much we can raise for FareShare Greater Manchester together!

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

Summer Craft Challenge 2024 Week 6 & a bit!

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Knitting on the beach on the west coast of Scotland on the last day of our holiday

Well here we are, after the start of the new school year. That summer whizzed in the blink of an eye!

My summer craft challenge for 2024 officially came to an end last Tuesday evening as school bags were packed and the last minute checks were done. This year was my 8th Summer Craft Challenge, it started back in 2016 when I lived a completely different life over in Gibraltar….

I was a stay-at-home Mum of 3 young men and was staring down the barrel of a 10-week-long holiday and thought a craft challenge to do something crafty every day during the school holiday might just help me keep my sanity. It worked. It forced me actually do something for myself in the midst of beach days, household chores & attempting to entertain 3 young men in a non-air conditioned flat in the Mediterranean!

Each summer since then, apart from in 2020 when we moved back to the UK during the summer holiday and mid Covid lockdown, I have set myself the challenge. A few times a handful of people have joined in here and there but this year, I have a had a merry band of crafters who have risen to the challenge and taken part with me. It’s been an unexpected delight! Thank you to everyone who has joined in, with embroidery, crochet, knitting, baking, resin flower making, jewelry making and other crafts too.

A few of the lovely daily crafts shared during Week 6 of this summer’s challenge

In the final full week of the challenge there was slow stitching, crocheting for multiple grandsons, sock knitting and most exciting of all, a new grand daughter for Carol @nanaseamakes – huge congratulations to your family Carol on the most amazing make of the summer! 💕☀️

Thank you to this week’s featured makers : Carol @nanaseamakes Alison @alisonswoolnwalks Sandra @wilddaffodilwild Zeli @yarnstorms Marisa @mariwish & Kristina @catsy_crochet & to everyone else who has joined in with the Summer Craft Challenge this year, it’s been the best one yet without a doubt! I’ve loved seeing all your makes & meeting new people through the challenge.

So here’s what I got up to in the final week and a bit of this summer’s challenge:

Day 36 : Saturday 24th August

Day 36 of my Summer Craft Challenge was mostly spent on the road & on a ferry to a lovely spot in the west coast of Scotland.

I took a huge bag of yarn with me so I was hoping to get loads of knitting & crochet done while I was away. I was a bit tired after the long drive so just did a spot of knitting before bed!

Day 37/38: Sunday 25th August

So, as you can see, my brain went into holiday mode and despite it only being day 37 of the challenge I decided to call it day 38! Whoops! From here on in, I lost a day in the challenge (I’ll stick with what I said it was to avoid confusion but it actually lasted 46 days in total not 47 – I was telling a fib!).

What bliss, crochet & a view – a perfect start to the day! This is how I started day 1 of my holiday – first one up and with the house to myself…

Gazing out at the Kyles of Bute with a coffee & a granny square or two.

Day 39: Monday 26th August

I managed a little bit of al fresco crochet overlooking the water after being out for a nice walk!

Day 40: Tuesday 27th August

A bit of granny square crochet & blue skies on day 40!

Day 41: Wednesday 28th August

So, I thought it would be pretty cool to climb up the hill to the Tighnabruaich Ark which lies above the little town of Tighnabruaich close to where we stayed in Argyll. The ark was built by a local artist using timber which had to be felled due to disease. It was created to make a statement about climate change.

I had a couple of young men with me on the trip and asked Eldest to record me knitting so I could make an arty post for social media. You will be able to hear the wind and beginning of the torrential downpour which ensued.

It was a bit windy!

By the time we got back down the hill, I was wet through to my underwear! So much for al fresco crafting that day!!

Day 42: Thursday 29th August

Thoroughly dried out, on Thursday we had a wonderful (dry) walk in a woodland – it was blissful compared to the day before! Before we left for the day, I found myself with yet another quiet early morning with the house to myself and nothing but my crochet & the view for company! What a joy!

Day 43: Friday 30th August

This was our last full day in Scotland and I have to admit I was feeling rather melancholy about saying goodbye to this view. It was so lovely, just sitting there joining my squares and wondering when I’d next have the opportunity for such long unadulterated crochet time!

I took my knitting out with me to a local beach (you can see it in the top photo). My Mum sent me the following photo of me knitting on the beach… I have no idea what went on in the background – it looks like I’m knitting in a galaxy far, far away!!

Day 44: Saturday 31st August

I couldn’t bear the thought of missing out on my last chance to have some early morning crochet in my Scottish crochet corner, so I set my alarm a little bit earlier on Saturday morning ahead of our trip back home just so I could hook for a teeny bit more.

It was worth it! The sun was out and the view was magnificent- the best day of the holiday weather wise by far (typical!). After a very tiring 8-hour-long journey home (terrible tailbacks on the motorway in Lancashire) we made it safely home.

After that drive, I was utterly zonked and incapable of adulting that evening beyond getting the car unpacked and cooking dinner for everyone so I just sat down and picked up where I left off that morning – same position but with a slightly different view – of my back garden this time!

Day 45: Sunday 1st September

Back at home on Sunday was a hectic day with shopping, unpacking, washing etc. but I did find a little window of opportunity to start sewing in some of my granny square ends.

Day 46: Monday 2nd September

Back to work for me, and there was just a little bit of time in the evening for some candy striped crochet.

Day 47 (actually Day 46): Tuesday 3rd September

My last day of the 2024 Summer Craft Challenge and my attention has turned already to Christmas. The striped crochet is a covering for a wreath idea I’ve been working on – I look forward to being able to share its progress with you in the coming weeks & months!

Thank you for joining along on my Summer Craft Challenge adventure and for stopping by to read my ramblings! Thank you again to everyone who joined me along the way too by finding a little (or not so little) moment of creativity during the summer!

Same time, same place next year?

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2024: Week Five

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Hello there! I hope the summer’s treating you well. I’m writing this sitting in an armchair overlooking the water and across to the Isle of Bute on the west coast of Scotland. The picture above shows how I started the week (on a walk in Cheshire) and how I ended it (on a ferry from Gourock to Dunoon). Just look at the colours in those two photos – they would make a fab blanket don’t you think?

Anyway, back to the challenge for this week…

Day 29 – Saturday 17th August

Day 29 meant just a little time for a bit of knitting & a beer after a fun day with friends including a visit to Manchester Art Gallery & one of the nicest pizzas I’ve ever eaten in Manchester city centre.

Day 30 – Sunday 18th August

Crochet while playing monopoly can be dangerous… like missing when someone lands on your property and they keep quiet about it…

Day 30 of my #SummerCraftChallenge2024 an evening of playing monopoly after a lovely day with friends including that walk in Cheshire I was telling you about before.

Day 31 – Monday 19th August

Back working on my #MagpieMAL this evening after work. Completed section 6 and attempted to begin section 7 but had too many people talking to me to be able to count stitches, so ended up frogging that bit. Shall wait for a quiet moment before trying again!

Day 32 – Tuesday 20th August

I realised as I was writing this post that although I did take this photo on Day 32 I forgot to post it on Instagram at the time – whoops! I did find that quiet moment I was seeking the day before and managed to restart that section I had to frog. Hurrah!

Day 33 – Wednesday 21st August

As of lunchtime on Wednesday, I was officially ‘on holiday’ hurrah!

I spent a very happy hour playing with my @stylecraftyarns Special DK stash in the afternoon, so I have a new WIP to play with while I’m away with my family on holiday.

I’m hoping this means I will be able to share a few more inspiring al fresco crochet and knitting photos while I’m away!

Day 33 of my #SummerCraftChallenge2024 completed in an array of colour! 🌈

Day 34 – Thursday 22nd August

Day 34 of my #SummerCraftChallenge2024 was mainly dominated by GCSE results in our house. I’m pleased to say it was good news – phew! Sending best wishes to everyone else who was involved in such things. It’s an emotional time whether they bring positive or negative news.

Aside from that there were Granny Squares a plenty and the start of a new WIP for my holiday project.

Day 35 – Friday 23rd August

I had a very happy half an hour knitting at the hairdressers getting my holiday hair cut and to hide the silver which keeps appearing.

Do you take your craft projects to the hairdressers? I always do. They’ve stopped asking if I want a magazine to read now as they know I always have something in my bag ready to whip out!

The Summer Craft Challenge 2024 at large!

My word what a creative week it’s been for those of you joining me with the Summer Craft Challenge this year. There’s been slow stitching, sock knitting, blankets and plenty and this stunning embroidery of summer 2024 memories!

I’m still so thrilled that I’ve got company on this creative wander through the summer and so it’s so inspiring to see such lovely work! Thank you all for joining in Marisa @mariwish, Sandra @wilddaffodilwild , Carol @nanaseamakes, Kristina @catsy_crochet, and Alison @alisonswoolnwalks.

If you’d like to join me with a little bit of creativity every day this summer, please do. Just take a photo of your moment of creative fun and upload it to Instagram using the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2024 – there are no rules, just fun! Post once, occasionally or everyday – it’s up to you! 

That’s all for this week, I hope you’ e enjoyed my creative meander through the past seven days. I hope your week ahead is filled with fun & creativity!

Take care,

Lindsay x

A Postcard from July 2024

~ Making Stitches ~ 4 Comments

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

Summer Craft Challenge: Week Four

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Hello, and welcome for Week Four of this year’s Summer Craft Challenge! Here’s what I got up to (craft wise) this week:

Day 22:

Day 22 of my Summer Craft Challenge saw some happy yarny post, podcast editing and, continuing on from last week, a bit more sausage making in front of the Community Shield (on tv). I’m enjoying my crochet food experiment at the moment!

Day 23

Day 23 of my Summer Craft Challenge was a Sunday and I’m flittimg about from project to project a bit at the moment. So why not start a new one? 😂 I fancied some diagonal stripes today…

Day 24

I got a message today that it was time to get back to work on my #MagpieMAL – I looked out of the window and spotted 8 magpies on a neighbour’s roof! (See below for a rather blurry image of the said birds).

So, on Day 24 of my Summer Craft Challenge itinerary it was Magpie time!

Day 25

Busy, busy, busy day – only got to sit down at about 10:30pm! Time for a few rounds of sleeve before bed.

Day 26

Wednesday was a good bit calmer than Tuesday, so I spent a happy couple of hours on my diagonal stripes.What a difference a day makes!

Day 27

It was Granny Square Day on Thursday and I really enjoyed scrolling through Instagram looking at lots of beautiful grannies during my lunch break at work. I admit I was a little frustrated that I hadn’t been able to hook any up myself, so as soon as I got home I got busy.

I learned that day that Making Stitches Podcast had been named ‘Indie Pod of the Week’ by PodBible so went for a couple of podcast inspired granny squares!

Day 28

Day 28 and it’s almost feeling like we’re creeping towards the end of the summer seeing as the new football season’s underway.

It felt appropriate to be working on my red & white stripes as I watched Manchester United win their first match of the season!

Care to join in?

Thanks to everyone who has joined me again on the Summer Craft Challenge this week. There’s been English paper piecing patchwork, baking homegrown apples into a crumble, amigurumi, blanket making, sock knitting and a fair few granny squares too!

If you fancy joining in, you still can – you would be very welcome!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2024 : Week Three

~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

Week 3 of my Summer Craft Challenge has truly whizzed by! I can’t believe that a week has passed since I was sitting in the sun in my back garden with my bee mug of tea & my MagpieMAL crochet… We’re almost half way through the school summer holidays now for our family which means I’m almost halfway through the Summer Craft Challenge too! Sniff, it’s going too fast!

Here’s what I got up to this week:

Day 15

We had such lovely weather on Saturday – we went out for a lovely walk in the Cheshire countryside then headed home for dinner. I took the opportunity have a quiet sit in the garden for a while when dinner was in the oven.

You can’t beat a bit of Al fresco crochet and feeling the sun on your face!

Day 16

Had a bit of fun on Sunday trying to perfect a sprout pattern – I know there are patterns already out there, but wanted to come up with one of my own… still working on it!

Day 17

Day 17 of the Challenge and time for a bit more progress on my #magpiemal shawlette.

Day 18

It was a knitting mindless rounds in front of Olympics kind of a day… busy, busy, busy. And relax…

Day 18 of the #SummerCraftChallenge2024 done!

Day 19

Day 19 of my #SummerCraftChallenge2024 and there was time this evening for a spot of work on a pattern I’ve been sitting on for quite a while. Can you tell what it is? I got a couple of correct guesses over on Instagram which is reassuring I’m on the right path!

Day 20

Day 20 already on the #SummerCraftChallenge2024 and it was back to the #MagpieMAL for me. No work the next day so it felt like Friday already!

Pattern by Heather @kcaco.uk
Yarn by Kitey @the_yarnwhisperer
Cute Stitches Marker by Amanda @MrsGMakes

Day 21

Had rather a lot of fun yesterday hooking up some sausages – doesn’t everyone?

There’s been a bit of a food theme this week… I feel a project coming on – watch this space!

Join in!

Nothing says #SummerCraftChallenge like a bit of al fresco crafting, sock knitting by a loch in the sun, crochet by a tree in Norfolk and embroidery on the beach in Sardinia! Here’s a little snap shot of some of the fab creativity which has been happening this week.

Thank you so much to everyone who has joined in with the #SummerCraftChallenge2024 this week, including @catsy_crochet @mariwish @nanaseamakes @merkducrochet @yarnstorms & @alisonswoolnwalks

It’s so fun knowing so many people are joining in with my challenge this year!

If you’d like to join me with a little bit of creativity every day this summer, please do. Just take a photo of your moment of creative fun and upload it to Instagram using the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2024 – there are no rules, just fun! Post once, occasionally or everyday – it’s up to you!

Happy Summer Crafting!