Well here we are on the final day of this year’s Summer Craft Challenge. I know I say it every year, but it’s gone by very quickly. I’m so glad I do this each year, it’s a little diary of where we have gone, what we have done and what I have created throughout the school summer holidays.
Next summer will be very different for me, as Youngest will be doing his GCSEs and after that, unless he goes on to Sixth Form, there won’t be any more school summer holidays in our house after 18 years of them!! What a thought. I don’t want to wish my life away though, next summer is a long way off – we are only 2 days into autumn after all.
So for the final time this summer, here is my weekly look back at Summer Craft Challenge 2026!
I started week 6 of my 2026 Summer Craft Challenge playing board games – a perfect summer holiday activity. In between manoeuvres towards global domination, I managed a few rows of my current shawl/scarf project! I think my feigned disinterest in the game worked in my favour as the boys paid so much attention to each other’s moves they didn’t notice me slowly claiming North and South America and the North West tip of Europe!
Nothing to report that was exciting on Day 37 of the challenge, just a spot of sock knitting in front of the the telly after work!
Had a bit of a play with mosaic crochet – Eldest has just moved into a new place and has asked me to make him a housewarming blanket! Not sure how long it will take me with my track record, but I enjoying the swatching process.
More mosaic swatching today playing with different colours to match in with the colour scheme.
On the final straight of the marathon scarf/shawl I’ve been concocting this summer. Border time!
And at last, it’s finished. A two tone crossed treble stitch shawlette designed by me this summer – feeling chuffed to have another finished object to show for my time.
Managed a bit of embroidery on this summer companion which has kept me company again over the past 6 weeks. I was kind of hoping I would get it finished, but there’s still a bit of a way to go. Maybe next summer?
And on Day 43 (and day 8 of this final week?! Who’s counting?), my Summer Craft Challenge and my son’s school summer holidays come to an end today. Tomorrow, the early alarm for the school bus will ring and we will be back into the swing of things again as if we were never away! My final evening of creating has been spent with a little bit of knitted colour work in the form of a patten by Annah from Needle & Feather – I love her patterns. I picked up her Peace by Piece Cowl pattern booklet at Carry on Crafting back in July, so thought I’d make a start with a vibrant pink against a silver background. I haven’t planned my colour palette I just took a dive into my stash and these colours shouted at me!
In the past few days, people have been slowly bowing out of the challenge too, as their summer breaks came to an end. Thanks to @alisonswoolnwalks, @crochet_at_holme, & @jothiquestscraft for joining in this week and indeed all summer long – it’s been so lovely to see your many makes as the weeks have gone by. Thank you to everyone else who has joined in over the past 6 weeks, including those who I know are out there but haven’t shared photos. It’s good to know that creativity is in full flow and doing us all so much good!
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!
