knitting

A postcard from March 2026

Image shows a closeup of some white blossom against a blue sky
~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Hello there! I hope you’re doing well. My word, March was a super month in my world, filled with fun, sunshine and lots to interesting chats with super people. The main highlight of the month was the TexStyle Festival in Manchester city centre. It was the first of its kind and I spent the whole weekend at it – it was amazing!

So, here’s a little round up of the past month in my neck of the woods…

Sunny days

Image shows a closeup of some white blossom against a blue sky

I don’t want to sound like a weather bore, but in amongst the usual damp and grey March days, we enjoyed several beautiful sunny and warm days this month. Fortunately for me, some of them happened on days when I wasn’t working so I was able to enjoy some time out pottering in my garden.

It was lovely to be able to give the back lawn it’s first cut of the year – it was getting very long and tufty in places, and it stayed looking pretty smart for a couple of hours until it returned to being used as a penalty shoot out area again! One day I will have a pristine lawn, but only when my resident footballers have flown the nest, so I’m not wishing my life away.

A Literary Evening Out

In early March I went along to our local bookshop along with a very good friend of mine to hear local author, Helen Gaskell, speak about her first novel. Released at the height of Bridgerton Series 4 fever, her book The Regency Switch involves time travel from the present day, back to the Regency era.

Helen gave a really fascinating talk and we really enjoyed our evening out (on a school night too!).

Thank you Helen for a brilliant evening!

Image is of author Helen Gaskell posing for the camera holding her first novel, The Regency Swap in a book shop in front of book cases

TexStyle Festival 2026

It’s official I was in!
It was lovely seeing my friend Christine aka Winwick Mum at TexStyle
Work completed by Yarn Addicts of Manchester
Some of the work done by Yarn Addicts of Manchester

Oh my, where to begin with TexStyle Festival? What a wonderful weekend of fun, creativity and community!

I was thrilled to be asked to compere the Textile Talks stage at the festival, so I was lucky enough to spend the full two days at Manchester Central, enjoying all that it had to offer. The weekend’s speakers were textile artists, Sophia Gardiner, Stephen West from WestKnits, Amelia Rogers from Amelia Stitches, Gareth from Manchester Wool & Yarn, Debbie Munro from The Lace Knittery & Jane Smith from Japanese Embroidery UK.

Sophia Gardiner at her stand
Stephen West in action
Stephen West ready to go on stage

It was a brilliant weekend and I feel really privileged to have been a small part of it all. I took my podcast microphone with me (naturally) and shared an episode all about the weekend.

With Gareth from Manchester Wool & Yarn
Jane Smith from Japanese Embroidery UK
Amelia from Amelia Stitches in action

The whole TexStyle experience was a whirlwind, which I still can’t stop thinking about, I had so many lovely conversations with people and look forward to seeing lots of them again in the not too distant future. I’m really grateful to be a part of this super duper community.

Victoria Salmon from Another Knitted Thing
Alena Ruth from Manchester Tufting Workshops
With the super Debbie Munro who gave 2 talks

To get a true flavour of the event, please check out my TexStyle 2026 episode of Making Stitches Podcast.

My March Makes

My only full length photo of my new cardigan taken in the loos at TexStyle!
Image is of the back of a cardigan made using Orla Squares
The back of my Orla Square cardigan

Last month in my Postcard from February, I mentioned that I was working on something using the Orla Squares I had made during my summer craft challenge. The aim was to get a new cardigan made using the squares and I just about managed to get it finished in time for the second day of the TexStyle Festival.

The pattern I used for the squares was on PS I Crochet’s Instagram account last year in Karen’s Orla Love Bag post you can see her account here.

I’m really chuffed with how the cardigan ended up and received some nice compliments about it when I had it on at TexStyle, which is always nice!

Zeens and Roger Small Bobble Cowl pattern

Once my cardigan was finished and I had time to hit my WIP pile with determination to tick another WIP off the list, I settled on this Small Bobble Cowl. I started it in January and then it was cast aside for cardigan making. The pattern is by Zeens and Roger and is called the ‘Small Bobble Cowl’, you can find a link to the crochet pattern bundle for cowls designed by Rosina here. I loved making this and used yarn from Kitey aka https://www.yarnwhisperer.co.uk I love the vibrancy of the colours against the cream background yarn. I just hoping when I wear it, I don’t look too much like a children’s TV presenter!

My final make for March was this ‘mini-me’ for my Zumba instructor, Guillaume who left us at the end of the month to concentrate on his other, candle making business.

I can’t tell you how much my Tuesday evenings dancing have meant to me over the past 4 years I’ve been going. They have been the highlight of my week and such a laugh.

If you want to support his business, I can highly recommend his candles, wax melts, diffusers and candle-making classes. All of which leave your nose in raptures of lovely smells! You can find all of Gui’s products at https://malumiere.co.uk

The mini-me is not anatomically correct by the way! I used my fail safe of adapting a pattern from the Carla Mitrani book Crochet Iconic Women.

On Making Stitches Podcast this month…

I kicked off a brand new series of Making Stitches Podcast this month with a chat I had with Katy Mitchell aka Kate’s Crochet Creations.

Katy is a passionate advocate for the Granny Square and has designed hundreds of different ones. She published her first book last year ‘The Granny Square Book’ which is filled with over 100 different designs for you to make your own unique Granny Square projects with.

You can find Katy’s episode here

Episode art for Episode 101 of Making Stitches Podcast
Episode artwork for the TexStyle festival 2026 episode 102 of Making Stitches Podcast

I have said so much about this festival already in the post, but in case you missed it before, my second episode of the month came out last week and features the brilliant TexStyle Festival. You can listen to it along with all the previous Making Stitches Podcast episodes in all the main podcast places like Apple Podcasts, Spotify etc as well as on my Making Stitches Podcast website.

And that’s it for this month, I hope March was kind to you and that April goes well too. We have the Easter long weekend just around the corner and with it plenty of time to enjoy time with family and my yarn too! Thank you for stopping by to read my latest update.

Have a lovely month!

Lindsay x

A Postcard from February 2026

~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Hello there! I hope life is treating you well. I am writing this bathed in early spring sunshine which is so welcome after a very grey and damp few weeks we’ve had.

I honestly thought that February had been quite a busy month for me, but when I took a look back at my photos I realised that perhaps it wasn’t as busy as I remembered – or perhaps maybe the busyness wasn’t as photogenic as I’d hoped it was!

One thing which happened (which I have no photos for) was the excitement of a new BBC show being filmed in my local area which was a bit of a thrill. Have you watched Small Prophets? There has been a lot of noise about it locally as some of the filming locations are less than 10 minutes walk from my front door!  For those who may not know what I’m banging on about, it’s a show written by Mackenzie Crook (from The Office (the original UK version), Pirates of the Carribean and more recently the TV show Detectorists) about a man whose girlfriend disappeared years ago and he’s effectively waiting for her to return. It’s a really touching story with great actors. I won’t spoil it by saying any more, but it’s a heartwarming story about friendship with a bit of supernatural activity involved and cameo from Michael Palin. Do go and watch it on BBC iplayer if you can – you’ll see one of our local pubs, the street that’s central to the plot and a few other locations around my hometown featuring.

 

Without further ado here is a rather potted version of what I got up to last month…

 

A trip over the Pennines

I got the chance to travel over the Pennines to Halifax one weekend to visit a work colleague who I worked with pre children (20+ years ago – eek). In fact, we both went off on maternity leave with our firstborns at the same time. I didn’t go back to that job and I think she then went off and did other things pretty quickly too.

We hadn’t seen each other since a chance get together on the Costa del Sol back when we lived in Gibraltar! It was high time for a catch up, so we chose a spot which was halfway between where we both are now and that spot was Piece Hall in Halifax.

Inside the Visitor Centre

 

It was so lovely to be back as Piece Hall was somewhere we had visited a few times back in the days before children, Gibraltar and blogging were a thing for me! I arrived a bit early so had a look around the visitor centre first of all. We had the most delicious lunch and put the world to rights before heading off for a mooch around the lovely independent shops which are nestled in amongst the different rooms of the hall.

 

One of the beautiful gates at one of the entrances to Piece Hall

There was a big exhibition of vintage tractors going on in the central area which had attracted loads of visitors and little ones were entertained with a treasure trail put on for the half term holidays – there was such a vibrant atmosphere, it was really lovely to be back again.

Spring

It certainly feels like Spring is doing its thing in the sunshine today. I just love seeing the first tiny hints of green appearing on branches at this time of the year. I went out for a walk one afternoon during the half term holidays and spied this hawthorn about to burst forth which made me smile. Half terms have taken on a new meaning for me these days. Gone are the days of trying to find activities to keep young ones entertained, and now (thanks to my manager being very flexible) I am often able to work from home during the school holidays so I can be a presence in the house even if I am not ‘off’ work. I was fortunate this time that I was able to take a bit of leave (before the financial year end) and got out and about for a few walks on my own – one teenager was otherwise engaged and the other was revising for exams so I escaped for some fresh air alone!

My Makes in February

I set myself a deadline which I thought would be pretty tough to hit when I started work on my cardigan in January. I wanted it to be finished by the end of February, and I’m thrilled to say I managed it with 2 days to spare – go me! I’m so pleased with how it turned out. I have knitted cables before but never lacework and I really enjoyed seeing how this intricate panel appeared just thanks to some slipped stitches and yarn overs! I shall be dipping my toe back into knitting again before too long, I’m sure of that.

My next make involves the crocheted ‘Orla Squares’ I made during  my Summer Craft Challenge last year. I used the project to use up some tiny balls of Scheepjes Catona which I was gifted a box of a while ago (they have been sitting there waiting to be used for quite some time). I determined to only make one square using each of the shades which limited how many squares I could make, but didn’t know what their ultimate use would be.

The planning stage…

Recently, I got to thinking about them again and thought they might make a nice cardigan. I don’t have enough to make an entire cardigan out of them, so think I’ll use them to make the body and have the sleeves with a different design. I’m at the playing with colours stage trying to work out how they will sit alongside each other – random or colour blocked? Only time will tell!

Exciting news

Now this is something I’m really excited about which is happening next week. The first ever TexStyle Festival is coming to Manchester Central on the weekend of 14th & 15th March. I spoke to Michelle, one of the organisers of the event on Making Stitches Podcast last year and heard all about the plans for the event. There will be stalls, workshops and all sorts going on over the weekend and I was getting giddy to have such a large craft related event happening so close to my home.

Last month, I was thrilled to be asked to host the Textile Talks stage at the festival! I will be there to introduce the guest speakers including Stephen West from WestKnits, Amelia from Amelia Stitches, Gareth from Manchester Wool & Yarn, Debbie from The Lace Knittery, Laili from Emily Foulds Knits and Charmingo Sews Academy. I simply cannot wait!!

If you would like to come along and enjoy what promises to be a brilliant event, you can find all the information about it here: https://texstyle.uk/

And that just about brings this Monthly Postcard to an end. I promise I will have a more exciting round up by the end of this month – thanks to TexStyle! If you are going to be there, please pop along to the talks stage and say hello!

Until next time, have a great month and look after yourself!

Lindsay x

A postcard from January 2026

~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

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

Our first snowy dusting of the year

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.

Our approach to Manchester Cathedral
Ready for the show to begin
During the amazing show!

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.

You can read all about the appeal here.

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

The view from the top of Rivington Pike
My frosty birthday morning run
My final walk on 31st Jan taking me to my target

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

Summer Craft Challenge 2025 : Week Six +

image shows Lindsay from Making Stitches sitting on a rock in Snowdonia smiling at the camera while crocheting
~ Making Stitches ~ 2 Comments

Hello there! Bit late getting this out to you again – it’s been quite a week what with back to school shenanigans and a trip up to Glasgow for a University Open Day. But here we are, well into September now and with everyone in my household back at school or university. Back when I first started this Summer Craft Challenge in 2016, I was staring down the barrel of a 10-week-long school summer break with 3 young children. It was a bit of a marathon keeping everyone entertained back then, but times have changed. My boys only get 6 weeks off now we live back here in England AND they are a lot more independent these days, so the summer school holidays don’t feel quite the same for me.

It was still fun to deliberately seek out some time for creativity (almost) every day during that 6-and-a-bit weeks this year. It was also great fun to be joined in the challenge by even more people as well. Thank you to everyone who joined me this summer, it was so nice to hear that the challenge had inspired some of you to dig out some wips and get them finished or try something new. Thank you for sharing what you have been working on this year!

Here’s a little look back at what I got up to during the sixth and final week (and a bit) of the school summer holidays:

In Week 5 I started making another heart for the North West & North Wales Paediatric Transport Service but ran out of stuffing! I made a quick trip out to the shops and restocked on my stuffing stash and was able to finish this one off!

By now, you may well be aware of a special project I worked on with Eleonora from Coastal Crochet called the Let’s Celebrate Wreath. Well before launching that I realised that the orange balloon I’d previous made for it was the wrong shade of yarn! Arghhh! At least I spotted it before it was too late!

On Bank Holiday Monday, I had to make an early morning dash to Snowdonia with son number 2. He needed to gather some evidence for a geography A-Level piece of work. The trip had been scheduled for earlier in the holiday but Storm Floris blew in (not the best conditions for climbing hills) so it was put off, then ill health got in the way so we were left with only one option – to drive to Wales on Bank Holiday Monday – not ideal.

We were up with the lark and he got the work done while I sat on a rock and crocheted!

Not much time for creativity on Day 39 – busy day back at work for me and I was a bit tired in the evening, so only managed one cube on my Hello Hooray Blog embroidery kit.

This Orla Square was made while watching Manchester United get knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Grimsby Town. The dark colour of the flower in my Orla Square was rather appropriate!

Day 41 and I suddenly realised we were hurtling towards the end of August and I still hadn’t completely decided what I was going to do for my September Square for the Making Stiches 2025 CAL – nothing like leaving it until the last minute eh?

This cream coloured square went on to become the middle of an apple. You can find the full square here.

Throughout this Summer Craft Challenge, I have been making these really fun Orla Squares. My aim is to create a garment with them, and, as I often do, I have set myself a potentially unrealistic target for finishing it! On Day 42 (Friday 29th), I laid all these beauties out and was trying to decide whether to go random with their colour placement or have some sort of pattern – I simply couldn’t decide!

Fast forward to Tuesday 2nd September. Week Six officially ended on Day 42, and I had planned to keep going every day until both of my younger boys were back at school, but the weekend was exceptionally busy and didn’t allow for any creativity, so as I climbed aboard a train bound for Glasgow on Tuesday afternoon with Son number 2, I was thrilled to have a good chunk of uninterrupted train crochet time!

Sadly, on our return journey from Glasgow on Wednesday 3rd, things didn’t quite go to plan. A damaged power line meant no trains south of Carlisle, so we had a rather stressful journey home, which took about 4 hours longer than it should have done. We arrived home on Thursday morning ready for a full return to school, university and work. I didn’t get any crochet done on the return leg, so just posted this collection of 9 squares I managed on the journey north.

And that’s it for my 2025 Summer Craft Challenge! It has genuinely flown by for me, I cannot quite believe that we are back in the old routine again. School’s back, Eldest has gone back to University and we had our first football match of the season this morning with Youngest. It’s as if it was all a dream, but at least I have lovely memories and a lot more crochet done and it was so lovely to spent my summer with you all.

Huge thanks to everyone who has joined in with the Summer Craft Challenge this time – it has genuinely been so lovely to have company on this challenge. Included below are some of varied Instagram posts I’ve seen including crocheted rainbow fans by Sarah @Sarah.livelovecrochet, a lovely scrappy sock in the making by Kristina @crochet_at_holme, a beautiful festival cardigan modelled by Carol @nanaseamakes, fabulous mountain-top crochet with Zeli @yarnstorms, the final pocket of a cardigan being made by Sarah @sarahsheehangib, stunning felt fungi by Sandra @wilddaffodilwild, the cutest crocheted avocado made by Jothi @Jothiquestcrafts, a lovely crocheted rose brooch by Karen @seasidekaren & utterly stunning Persian Tiles by AnnMarie @crochetscot – Thank you all!

And that’s all for this week and this summer! Thanks again to everyone who’s joined in with the craft challenge to keep me company over the past six and a bit weeks! Anyone up for joining in next year? If so, watch this space!

Happy crafting!

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2025 : Week Five

~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Hello there! Bit late getting this out to you following the Bank Holiday Weekend. It’s thrown me out of routine and I’m only just getting back on track (and knowing what day it is!) today. We started Week Five of this year’s Summer Craft Challenge up in the Lake District visiting some lovely friends of ours. The view behind the pictures above is of Grasmere, where we enjoyed a lovely kayak around on Sunday. We have visited the Lakes many times over the years, and have never seen it in such warm and sunny conditions – we were really lucky.

Here’s what I got up to this week!

Last Saturday, we woke up in the Lakes again and packed a picnic ready for a big climb. We managed to get to top of a mountain! Cat Bells to be precise. When we made it to the top and found a quiet space to sit, those cheese rolls tasted like nectar from the Gods! Bliss! After our picnic lunch, I whipped my hook out and made another Orla Square at the top as a souvenir of our big climb.

Sunday morning was my last Lake District crochet session, we went to Grasmere and got our friends’ inflatable kayak pumped up so the boys could get out on the water. Once they had all had a go paddling around the island in the middle of the lake, my friend and I got in and had a go. While I was waiting for my turn, I sat in the shade and hooked up another Orla square. I wonder if I will remember where I made each one, when I finish the project later on? Maybe not, but they will certainly remind me of this summer.

On Monday, after work, I found myself back at home with the rather boring backdrop of our dining table for my Orla Squares today!

On Day 32, work was incredibly busy and the evening was too, but I managed to find a bit of time before bed to begin another heart for the North Wales and North West Paediatric Transport Service (full details of appeal is here). Unfortunately, once I was committed, I discovered I’d run out of filling to stuff it with, so had to leave it like this! Off to the shops soon…

Wednesday already and as I am planning on using my Orla Squares to make a garment (once I have enough made), I realised that I will probably need some ‘half’ squares to help with the shaping, so I did a bit of experinenting tonight.

Busy day on Day 34, including a really lovely funeral for a very good friend’s Dad, so not much inclination for making when I got home, some mindless sock-knitting rounds was just the ticket.

On Friday, I did a different bit of crafting – I crafted a podcast episode! The first episode of the new series of Making Stitches Podcast is ready to go live on Friday!

And that’s it for Week 5 of my Summer Craft Challenge from my part of the world.

Huge thanks to everyone who has joined in with the Summer Craft Challenge this week, it’s been so lovely to have company on this challenge. Included below are some of varied Instagram posts I’ve seen including a beautiful crocheted sea shell from Sandra @wilddaffodilwild, a beautiful Crochet Sanctuary Christmas blanket and a cardigan in the making from Kristina @crochet_at_holme, a Making Stitches 2025 CAL Bonus Birthday square from Sarah @sarahsheehangib and the cutest Snoopy and Woodstock from Jothi @jothiquestcraft – Thank you all!

And that’s all for this week, thanks again to everyone who’s joined in with the craft challenge to keep me company this week! If you want to join in, you can do at any time, just share what you’re making (any crafts welcome) over on Instagram using the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2025 and we can all enjoy each other’s creativity!

Happy crafting!

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2025 : Week Four

~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Week Four of this year’s Summer Craft Challenge was much like week three – a real mix of things going on. I made a point of trying to have something different each week. Back in the old days when this summer challenge first started, it was completely different – we were living in Gibraltar (where the beach was a 10 minute drive and the sun (almost) always shone, I was a stay at home mum and my kids were a lot smaller. I now work part time, have only 2 young men at home and they are teenagers, so things have needed to be a bit more strategic.

This week was chilled for the lads as I was working 3 days, then we packed up the car and headed north again (not as far as our last holiday to Scotland though) and went to visit our very good friends who live in the Lake District. It was quite hard trying to find time for crochet or anything else in between things on my working days, but after that, it was a different matter.

Here’s what I got up to this week!

Last Saturday was a busy one (every day seems to be busy at the minute) and the first time I had to sit down and get my hook out was in the evening as I watched Guardians of the Galaxy 3 with the boys. That’s another 2 hearts made for the North West and North Wales Paediatric Transport Service. For full details on why I’m making these, check out this post!

Sunday and I revisited my Orla squares. I’m really enjoying making these as they work up so quickly.

On Monday I managed to make a third yellow heart for the North West and North Wales Paediatric Transport Service. That’s a fourth trio of hearts done.

On Day 25 and I took my knitting into work with me in the hope of getting a few rounds done on my sock at lunch time. I was a crazy busy day at work with one thing and another, so no time for lunchtime knitting for me. I enjoyed a sit down late at night and managed a few rounds whilst watcing the finale of Series 3 of The Guilded Age.

Blimey it was really hot on Wednesday (Day 26), and I managed to spend a good chunk of the afternoon sweating it up under a nylon cape at the hairdresser while she made my ‘silver highlights’ a bit less silver. I managed to hook some more squares up while I was in the chair!

Day 27 found us in the Lake District visiting some very dear friends. First night there involved half a pint of local ale and a lovely pub meal. I managed a teeny bit of crochet while we waited for dinner to come.

On Friday, I found myself beside Loughrigg Tarn (after taking a dip on my first ever wild swimming experience). It was a bit cold, but very invigorating and I am so proud of myself for going out of my comfort zone. I also managed to get last night’s square finished by the side of the water too!

And that’s it for Week 4 of my Summer Craft Challenge from my part of the world. This is coming to you a little bit late on Monday rather than Saturday owing to us being away for a few days. Back home safely now and back to ‘normal’ again for the time being.

Huge thanks to everyone who has joined in with the Summer Craft Challenge this week, it’s been so lovely to have company on this challenge. Included below are some of varied Instagram posts I’ve seen including some crocheted sea anemones from Sandra @wilddaffodilwild, a beautiful Merton Abbey Flower Square designed by Janie Crow and made by Kristina @crochet_at_holme, a stunning black crocheted fan comission from Sarah @Sarah.livelovecrochet. A truly lovely cardigan in the making from Carol @nanaseamakes, some dressmaking for the first time this summer from @seaside_karen, a Making Stitches 2025 CAL August square from Sarah @sarahsheehangib, a stunning collection of Granny Squares from Jothi @jothiquestcraft and finally a beautiful photo from Zeli @yarnstorms of her crocheting at the top of Foel Offrym, the Hill of Sacrifice in Wales. Thank you all!

Some of the brilliant Summer Craft Challenge posts shared on Instagram

And that’s all for this week, thanks again to everyone who’s joined in with the craft challenge to keep me company this week! If you want to join in, you can do at any time, just share what you’re making (any crafts welcome) over on Instagram using the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2025 and we can all enjoy each other’s creativity!

Happy crafting!

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2025 : Week Three

~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Week Three of this year’s Summer Craft Challenge was for us a mix of being back at home and in work, traveling down to London to visit Eldest and entertaining friends back at our home in Manchester. Lots of fun times for us all and thankfully a few little windows of opportunity for me to get crafty!

Here’s what I got up to this week!

Last Saturday we headed off on the train down to London to visit Eldest. It gave me the perfect opportunity to get a good amount of crochet done, I couldn’t help but start a new project! I found the pattern for these ‘Orla Squares’ from @psicrochet on Instagram and fell in love with the multi coloured flowers. I only had a teeny amount of the off-white yarn for the centres so squeezed as many out of it as I could while on the train both ways.

Sunday and Day 16 offered me the chance to sit down and relax a bit after a very busy day of traveling and walking around London the day before. I was able to add to my collection of little Orla Square flowers before running out of the yarn for the middles.

Last day of leave for now and it was mainly spent cleaning, washing and ironing! I did manage to fit in a teeny bit of crochet time in the evening though to complete my third trio of hearts for the North West and North Wales Paediatric Transport Service. If you don’t know what this is, please find the full details here.

On Day 18 and my first day back at work after our holiday, I received some happy post to come home to – supplies of the yarn I need to turn my Orla Square flowers into squares – hurrah!

Yet another busy day in our household, once work was out of the way, we were joined by some lovely friends from our days in Gibraltar who traveled up today to visit us for a couple of days. Needless to say, there wasn’t much time for craft, but I did fit in a few moments of sock knitting in bed, before dropping off!

I’m so pleased with these little squares which are growing slowly but surely in number!

Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to our lovely friends on Friday, we had a really lovely time with them. As I sat in front of the TV after taking them to the station, I indulged in a little bit more of this embroidery project which I started in Scotland. Will I get it finished before the end of this Summer Craft Challenge? Somehow, I think not, but it’s proving a really cheerful ongoing project.

And that’s it for Week 3 of my Summer Craft Challenge from my side of things.

Huge thanks to everyone who has joined in with the Summer Craft Challenge this week, it’s been so lovely to have company on this challenge. Included below are some of varied Instagram posts I’ve seen including some embroidery from Kristina @crochet_at_holme, an ever growing crochet coral reef from Sandra @wilddaffodilwild. Also included below are a Making Stitches 2025 CAL July Square from @sarahsheehangib, purple mandalas from Mo at @mojo_5_yng, a rainbow wind spinner from @sarah.livelovecrochet, a beautiful rose covered blanket from @jothiquestcraft, a temperature embroidery from @crochet_at_holme, a brand new project from Ann Marie aka @crochetscot and a beautiful granny square in the making from Carol @nanaseamakes. Thank you all!

Some of the other Summer Craft Challenge posts from Instagram

And that’s all for this week, thanks again to everyone who’s joined in with the craft challenge to keep me company this week! If you want to join in, you can do at any time, just share what you’re making (any crafts welcome) over on Instagram using the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2025 and we can all enjoy each other’s creativity!

Happy crafting!

Lindsay x

Summer Craft Challenge 2025 : Week Two

~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

Week Two of this year’s Summer Craft Challenge found us in Argyll on the West Coast of Scotland, such a beautiful place to visit and one which has strong family connections for us.

Here’s what I got up to this week!

I’m really enjoying this embroidery kit from Hello Hooray Blog, it’s been quite a while since I last did any embroidery so it’s been a lovely change.

Day 9 brought with it a new design, I have created a brand new bonus square design for my Making Stitches 2025 CAL, which I’ll be releasing very soon!

We had a busy day, meeting friends, having a woodland walk and then time for ice cream & a bit of sock knitting on the beach at Dunoon!

My second set of hearts for the North West & North Wales Paediatric Transport Service was finished today. To find out more about this important appeal, please check out my blog post here.

My last full day on holiday in Scotland, and my last early morning sitting in my favourite chair enjoying the peace and quiet before everyone else was up and being creative with a beautiful view.

Long trip home today – my only opportunity for craft was a spot of sock knitting while sitting on the car ferry!

First day back at home in Manchester after our lovely holiday and I felt restless and unable to settle on anything. I raided my pattern library to look for granny squares and made a few to satisfy my need to make, I think there may be a new WiP in the pipeline!

Huge thanks to everyone who has joined in with the Summer Craft Challenge this week, it’s been so lovely to have company on this challenge. Included below are some of varied posts I’ve seen including some incredible sculptural felting from Sandra at Wild Daffodil. Also included below are photos from @sarah.livelovecrochet @sarahsheehangib @crochet_at_holme @nanaseamakes @jothiquestscraft & @yarnstorms. Thank you all!

Some of the other Summer Craft Challenge posts from Instagram

And that’s all for this week, thanks again to everyone who’s joined in with the craft challenge to keep me company this week! If you want to join in, you can do at any time, just share what you’re making (any crafts welcome) over on Instagram using the hashtag #SummerCraftChallenge2025 and we can all enjoy each other’s creativity!

Happy crafting!

Lindsay x

A Postcard from February 2025

~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment

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 October & November 2024

~ Making Stitches ~ Leave a comment
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