Winwick Mum

A postcard from March 2026

Image shows a closeup of some white blossom against a blue sky
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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 May 2025

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

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

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

Sporting highlights

Beautiful Manchester Central Library on 10K day

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

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

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

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

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

Proof I did it! Me and my medal

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

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

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

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

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

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

Making Stitches 2025 CAL

May Blossom square

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

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

Some of the May Blossom Squares

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

In other crochet news….

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

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

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

And, there’s more crochet too…

A special crochet project ❤️

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

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

Podcast News

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

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

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

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

Find the full episode show notes here.

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

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

Find out more here.

Simply Crochet, simply exciting!

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

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

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

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

Take care of yourselves everyone,

Lindsay x

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

A Postcard from March 2025

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

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

Spring did its thing!

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

The River Mersey

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

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

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

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

What’s been on my hook lately

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

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

Crochet on the go…

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

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

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

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

A cuppa & a catch up

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

An afternoon with some footballing legends

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

Podcast news

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

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

Making Stitches 2025 CAL March Square

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

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

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

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

Lindsay x

A postcard from November & December 2022

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Hello there, can you believe it’s the last day of 2022? I can hardly believe it and am shocked I’ve been away from my little blog for so long.

Life (as always) has been rather busy of late and blogging found itself at the very end of the to-do list. This time though, blogging felt quite unattainable – I didn’t have the words to write or anything interesting to say either. So here goes, the jolt of moving from one year into a new one might just be the impetus I need to get me going again!

When I looked back I was shocked to see I hadn’t posted for so long. When I changed from Postcard from Gibraltar to Making Stitches I assumed I’d be back again very quickly but hey ho, I’m here now. Here’s a little jaunt through the past two months in my world.

Paid Work!

The main headline I guess from the last two months is that I’ve managed to secure the impossible – paid work for my crochet. I have rather excitedly been commissioned to design some things for a craft magazine. This has taken up a LOT of my time. Solid crocheting from the moment the Little Postcards leave for school in the morning until they come home! I’ve loved it, but it has been a lot of hard work.

The old spectre of self doubt popped into my head on many occasions during this work but I’m pleased to say, the first commission was gratefully received and got a stamp of approval so I’m thrilled about that. I have 3 more projects to complete by mid January and I’m in the midst of those right now.

I wish I could tell you more and show you photos of what I’ve been working on but sadly I can’t for now – just some of the yarn I have used for one of the projects (above). I will investigate further on whether I can share them once they are published.

New article published

Within the last week the latest issue of Simply Crochet magazine popped through my letter box complete with my latest article for them. It was prompted by the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the outpouring of support I witnessed in the online craft community. The main photo is of Amoami bears. This amazing social enterprise helping Ukrainian refugees featured in one of my podcast episodes too. You can listen to it here.

Inspired by their work, I ordered my very own mini Christmas Amoami bears. They were made by Yuliia. They look gorgeous on our tree this year!

A trip to the Lakes

Easedale Tarn

A very dear friend of mine and her husband moved away from our home town earlier this year and settled in beautiful Grasmere in the Lake District. It’s been something they’d been talking about for years, and this year ended up being the right time for them.

I don’t know this part of the world very well, but I have a feeling I’ll be getting to know it a whole lot better from now on!

In November we were invited for a visit to their new home – and boy what a move they have made. They have lost their old decent sized back garden but blimey with this on your doorstep, they have all the greenery they need!!

We took a walk from their front door up to Easedale Tarn. There were butties and crisps at the top to give us the energy to walk back down… what a picturesque picnic spot!

The weather was so kind to us!

It was wonderful to be able to share this with the two Littlest Postcards – unfortunately Eldest missed out by being away at University but hopefully he will be able to join us another time. It was remarkable to see a real change in the youngest two though, from their usual slightly grumpy teenagerish (11 & 15) demeanor to being full of life and scrambling over rocks as we undertook our walk.

We had one whole day of sunshine before the weather turned a bit grey and damp. We were so lucky to be able to truly see the beauty of their surroundings. We most definitely will be back!

November in a nutshell

Throughout November I took part in an excellent daily photo challenge on Instagram run by The Yarn Whisperer and The Pigeon’s Nest. It was called ‘Yarnovember’ and was lots of fun. That kept me rather busy on social media and reminded me just how much crochet has been in my life for the past few years which was such fun.

Also in November I competed my second pair of knitted socks. I picked up the ‘Hope’ yarn from Yarndale in September and used the Winwick Mum basic sock pattern to knit them. I love the colours – they are so autumnal.

I also had a lovely morning walk with Eldest to see the deer at Dunham Massey National Trust park early in the month. He managed to get home for a few days during his University reading week, and we headed out for a walk one day, coffee cups in hand to enjoy the greenery.

The big painting challenge

At the start of December I set myself a tough challenge – to redecorate our lounge in time for a surprise birthday party just over a week later. It was a tough one, but I managed it, despite 4 coats of paint to kill the pattern of the patterned wallpaper on the feature wall.

Before the paint!

I’d been living with wallpaper I disliked for 2 years, and the surprise party was the kick up the behind I needed to get busy. I’m very pleased to say I managed it (with a bit of help from the unsuspecting party recipient). We were all ready in time to welcome party guests to my lovely Dad’s 80th birthday party!

The delicious cake made by my brother & sister-in-law

Cold weather

Whilst it’s been rather mild recently, earlier this month, it was decidedly nippy. We had a proper cold snap in mid December which made the early morning school runs a bit on the cold side. I believe it was minus 9 one morning when my friend’s husband left for work. I walked with Littlest to the bus stop that day to keep him company as his friend was ill and I can confirm it was COLD! It had warmed up slightly when I drove son Number 2 to school (see below)…. It’s so hard to comprehend that a few months ago, parts of the UK were burning in the heatwave!

Back at Old Trafford

I managed to get back to Old Trafford to watch the Manchester United Women’s team play against Aston Villa. I went with my youngest two and my Dad. It was brilliant – the atmosphere is so lovely in women’s football. As you can see, the sun shone and they got a win too – a perfect trip out!

Betwixtmas

This year I’m taking part in the Betwixtmas Makealong by Black Sheep Wools. I have had a skein of Yarn Whisperer hand dyed yarn waiting for the right project to come along and I think this is it. I took it along to Black Sheep wools and picked out two contrasting colours to make up this ‘knitted’ – yes – knitted shawl. It’s pushing my abilities and a bit of a challenge but I have enjoyed putting my hook down for a while over the last few days. I wonder if it will be finished before next Betwixtmas?!!

That’s all I have for you this time, but it’s been lovely to be back and sharing my comings and going’s with you. I hope you have had a restful Christmas – I know it’s very difficult for so many people. I wish you a new year filled with joy and creativity.

Until next time, take care!

Lindsay x

December 2022

A Postcard from October 2022

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Hello there! I hope this finds you well. It’s November – eek! How did that happen??

Here’s what I’ve been up to over the past month…

Autumnal colours

October began and ended in a blaze of orange! The first photo is of one of my little Acers which took on a great colour at the beginning of the month, we also enjoyed this sky of fire at the start of October (below) – the second sunset was taken on Saturday evening before the clocks went back to put us on Winter time….. the last hurrah of the summer that was…

Changing times…

Postcard from Gibraltar

Last month, you may have noticed that there were some changes on this blog from Postcard from Gibraltar to Making Stitches Blog. I won’t go into all the reasons behind it, as you may well have already read the previous post, but if you have just landed here and are wondering why Postcard from Gibraltar is no more, you can read why here.

Yarny news

Last month I decided the time had come to finally dig out my knitting needles and have another go at knitting some socks! About a year ago, I was inspired by Christine Perry of Winwick Mum, to have a go at knitting socks for the first time. Now I learned to knit well before I learned to crochet, but apart from an odd cardigan here and there over the years I haven’t done too much so the prospect of knitting in the round, turning a heel and using double pointed needles sent me running for the hills. (It turns out you don’t need to used DPNs after all – hurrah!) After interviewing Christine for Making Stitches Podcast, we got together for a brew and with her help I actually managed to knit a pair!

At Yarndale this year, I picked up a ball of Yarndale sock yarn called Hope (I have admired this colourway for a while). I have done non-stop crochet for so long, I fancied a change and early in October I cast on the first sock. Determined that it wouldn’t take me months to complete this project (as happened last time) I powered on through and had my first sock finished in less than a week!! I’m very pleased to say that on Monday (31st) (with the help of Christine’s fabulous book “Super Socks“) I Kitchener Stitched the toes of my second sock and I own a second pair of hand knitted socks made by me!

Up the Garden Path friends

Oakley the Acorn Tree Sprite & Agatha the Fly Agaric Mushroom Up the Garden Path crochet patterns

Two new friends joined the Up the Garden Path gang in October, Oakley the Acorn Tree Sprite and Agatha the Fly Agaric Mushroom. I had loads of fun making these – they had both been in my head since last autumn, and finally I was able to complete the patterns in time to get them out for this autumn. Oakley and Agatha should actually have a couple of other autumnal companions but I’m afraid other things got in the way of getting to the finishing line with them, so they will need to stay under wraps (or maybe that should be hibernation) until next autumn.

I took them with me to the gorgeous Dunham Massey National Trust parkland for a photo shoot a couple of weeks ago on a bright sunny morning. It was so lovely to have the perfect excuse to get out of the house and enjoy nature for a few hours. It was great fun finding suitable spots for them to pose with the gorgeous natural backdrop. The only issue is that as it is a deer park, there are lots of lovely areas you can’t go into because they are exclusively for the deer. Any parts where you are allowed to stray a little from the path are generally rather well populated so there’s a ready made audience for a crazy middle aged lady arranging crocheted little people on tree stumps or next to fungi.

I tried to keep my head down and not make too much of a spectacle of myself but I was sniffed out by a rather lovely little spaniel on a super long lead at one point, and at another, I was asked by an amateur photographer if he could photograph my little people too. Those were just the passers-by I engaged with – with many others I just ducked down behind the ferns and tree stumps and hoped for the best! I think most people were just glad to give me a wide berth as I was clearly barmy.

Downloadable PDF patterns for Agatha and Oakley are available now in my Etsy Shop if you fancy making either of them and if you would like to make both, you can buy the pair as a bundle with a bit of a saving.

As you can see below, it was a truly stunning morning at Dunham Massey when I went for my photo shoot….

The first Great Northern Textile Show

A week or so ago it was the first ever Great Northern Textile Show, just down the road from where I live in Manchester. I stumbled across the event on Instagram and reached out to the show’s organiser Tracy Fox to ask for more details. Once I’d spoken to Tracy it became apparent that not only did I have to go to the show, but that I also had to go to meet Tracy and hear more about her story. Tracy is an artist working with textiles, she dyes fabric to create art cloth for art quilts and can use anything from leaves from her back garden to rusty saw blades to create the most amazing patterns. I interviewed Tracy for Episode 52 of Making Stitches Podcast which you can listen to below. Then, on 23rd October I found myself at my second big show in a month by going to the Great Northern Textile Show. It was fab – I met some really lovely people. I shared my experience of the day in the latest episode of the podcast which went out last week – you can also listen to that below too.

Tracy Fox – my guest for Episode 52 of Making Stitches Podcast

In other podcast news, I got a rather lovely surprise at the weekend. I noticed that there had been a rather big upward surge in my listener figures so thought I’d check on the Apple Podcast charts to see if the numbers had had an impact there – and they did! I found Making Stitches Podcast at the Number 1 spot in the craft podcast charts in the UK, Canada and New Zealand, at Number 2 (then up to Number 1) in Australia and at Number 5 in the USA!! What a thrill! The podcast has made it to number 1 several times in the past but never in so many places at once or for so long. Thank you to everyone who has listened to it, recommended it to a friend or left a review – I am a very happy podcaster!

A return to ABBA Voyage!

If you read my August Postcard, you may remember that I made the trip down to London with a couple of school friends to see Abba Voyage. The trip had originally been meant to be for my parents to join me but their holiday which had been booked for 2020 and had been rearranged so many times ended up clashing with the ticket dates. I was able to return to London this month with my lovely Mum, the person responsible for introducing me to ABBA in the first place. It was super to be able to share the experience with her. (It also meant that I was able to meet up with Eldest – who is now a London based Uni student – for the briefest of times for a quick cuddle before hopping onto the train back home).

Half term football fun

Last week was half term week for the two youngest Little Postcards. Youngest is back in love with football after breaking his thumb and really enjoyed being able to take part in the local soccer school for the week. There was some rain, but they were really very lucky with the weather. The pitches, despite appearances, were rather muddy so I spent a week with the washing machine going almost constantly!

Pumpkin season

After a busy half term week and a weekend grass roots football match, it was rather nice to have some time at home on Sunday. Sunday afternoon meant there was time for a session of pumpkin carving and pumpkin soup making with the innards. I may have been a little heavy handed with the chilli flakes – the soup is in need of yogurt to make it palatable but never mind. It was fun to do.

And that, is that. October ticked off. It’s been a pretty good month all in all and the icing on my cake was the arrival of Eldest home late on Halloween night for a reading week break from Uni. It was so lovely to be able to get him back home again and look after him. He has been very sorely missed these last six weeks.

That’s all from me for this time, thanks so much for stopping by and reading my October ramble!

Until next time, take care!

Lindsay x

A postcard from November

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Hello there! It’s the last day of November already eek! I’m not ready for December!!

It’s been a busy old month – perhaps that’s why it’s gone so quickly. It’s only now I look back at what we’ve been up that I’ve realised it’s been quite a lot.

In the latest twist of the Covid story it’s also been a month of regular trips to our local testing centre every time anyone gets a cough or sniffle or we are alerted about a close contact. I think we may have been about 10 times lately – I’m thinking of asking for loyalty points!! Fortunately all tests have come back negative.

Here’s what we’ve been up to this month…

A golden tree at the end of the rainbow

Yet again this year, after over a decade away from the UK I have loved seeing the beautiful colours of autumn this month. I may no longer have little people at home who like to make pictures out of autumn treasure, but I can’t help but pick up pretty leaves when I see them!

No it’s not Christmas yet!!

Eek – am I the only one who gets freaked out by early Christmas decorations? I took Littlest out for hot chocolate on 1st November to a local café and they had a huge tree, giant baubles… the works! On the first of November!!! Maybe I’m just a Scrooge but it’s seems a bit early to me. This photo was of the Trafford Centre on the first Saturday of November…. Christmas lights galore!

Meeting real people in real life!

One evening early in the month, I had the most wonderful time ‘out out’ in Manchester. Since February/March last year I have been a virtual member of a super community for podcasters.

After months and months of zoom virtual meet ups where we hear from real ‘professional’ podcasters and swap advice and help amongst our community, I actually got to meet everyone in real life!! What a thrill. (People were so much taller than I expected after spending so long just seeing them on my phone/laptop screen 😂! )

The occasion for this meet up was to celebrate the club’s 3rd birthday and the 30th meet up in total. There were drinks and even birthday cake!

If you are a podcaster yourself or are thinking of starting your own podcast do come along to a future zoom. The group’s called MIC’s Podcast Club and although it’s based in the North West of England, there are members from much further afield (like America) and I was still living in Gibraltar when I first joined. You can find them on Twitter @MICsPodcastClub and maybe one day you can have the thrill of seeing your own podcast up in lights on the wall of a real-life meet up!

Costa del Ship Canal

Littlest’s football match got cancelled one week and instead the team coach opted to run a team building training session in our local nature reserve.

It was a perfect morning for it – definitely worth setting the alarm for an early start on a Saturday!

Just look at those blues and the golden leaves….

That water almost looked Mediterranean – well almost – it is the Manchester Ship Canal!

Plastic hedge be gone!

In this era of everything needing to look perfect and be convenient, we end up with situations like astroturf and plastic hedges. I am not a fan at all. I’m a bit more slap dash and enjoy going with the flow with nature, plus I really enjoy gardening. So when we inherited this delightful plastic hedge at our new home last year, it’s days were numbered. It did a lot better than expected as other jobs took precedence but this month, it’s time was up.

It didn’t take long, it was so rotten inside it practically fell apart – very little force was needed at all. I’m looking forward to installing a rather more environmentally friendly replacement soon!

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

A few weeks ago I received a message from a lovely friend I used to know in Gibraltar. She, like me has moved back to the UK and is now based in the South East of England. She wanted to let me know she and her partner were having a few days up North and would I like to meet them at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park? Yes! Was my answer!!

Barbara Hepworth sculptures

Before we moved to Gibraltar, we lived in Wakefield just a stone’s throw from YSP and it was a regular destination for us as a family on a weekend. It was so lovely to be able to go back there – albeit briefly while the Little Postcards were at school.

Ai Weiwei’s Chinese Horoscope Characters

The weather was so kind to us. It was very cold but it was beautifully sunny. The perfect conditions for having a wander through the beautiful park and sculptures.

Close-up of one of Ai Weiwei’s Chinese Horoscope heads
You can never have a big enough hand bag!
A Diamond ring made out of car wheels!

We didn’t spend too long together as I was clock watching to get back across the Pennines in time for school pick up, so we didn’t get to see the whole of the park but one exhibition both myself and my friend (who’s also a crafter) enjoyed immensely was one by Joana Vasconcelos who likes to create amazing things out of everyday objects… like giant stilettos out of pots and pans…

…. Lots and lots of crochet!!! Viva crochet!

Just look at that intricate work!!

Close-up of the above statue
Animal heads enrobed in intricate crochet

But the next fabric structure stopped us in our tracks… it was huge!

The photo doesn’t do it justice – it was giant and filled the huge exhibition space. It was a combination of patchwork, embroidery and very complicated crochet.

The photo above shows the end of one of those tentacles and was over a metre in diameter.

There were also pictures made of bulbous crochet structures…

Finisterra 2018
Close-up of above picture
Heartbreak 2015

How about this for a giant pouffe for your living room?

There was also a sculpture made purely of red plastic knives & forks..

Red Independent Heart #3

And then more examples of intricate crochet covering everyday household items…

A double sink
Detail of the sink piece above
A urinal called ‘Purple Rain’

And a fabulous chair…

The back of the chair above

The Joana Vasconcelos exhibition is on until 9th January 2022 both in the underground gallery and with pieces in the open air too. The artist’s work is said to be “sculptures that comment with a feminist perspective on cultural identity and tradition and celebrate the creative lives of women” – YSP Guide.

It was a lovely visit to the YSP and fabulous to be able to see my friend again – who I hadn’t seen since pre-Covid times. I can highly recommend a visit if you haven’t been, I’ll certainly be back when I can spend longer there.

Sock knitting update

Remember the pair of socks I was knitting thanks to Christine Perry aka Winwick Mum’s fabulous book?

Well they’re finished!!

Knitted using the Winwick Mum Basic Sock Pattern in West Yorkshire Spinners 4ply in ‘Brightside’ also designed by Winwick Mum

I now have toasty warm toes!

In other crafty news, I’m currently working on Eleonora from Coastal Crochet’s Winter Walk Scarf CAL.

It took a while to get started as my hand-dyed skein I’d been saving for the right moment got into rather a big tangle…

But I got there in the end…

And I’m on my way!

Making Stitches Podcast

In podcast news, there have been 2 new episodes this month – both of them yarn inspired.

Emma Leith
(photo credit: Emma Leith Atelier)

The first was with the hugely talented and inspiring crochet designer Emma Leith. You can find that here.

Sara Mulvey from Black Sheep Wools
(Photo credit: Black Sheep Wools)

The second was a real treat to record because it meant I was able to go ‘back stage’ at the fabulous Black Sheep Wools Craft Barn and speak to Sara Mulvey. What a joy it was to have a proper chat with Sara after months of watching her videos through lockdown – it was such a positive part of a rather unpleasant time. You can listen to Sara’s episode here.

And finally…

My first ever crochet patterns have been launched and are available to buy from my Etsy Shop!

There’s Flora the Gardener and Hope the Snowdrop and all being well they will be joined by some more friends very soon!

And that’s just about it for this month. I hope November has been kind to you.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lindsay x

Edit: I forgot to mention the snow! We also has some of the white stuff fall in the last few days – super exciting even if it was very cold!!

A Postcard from October

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Well, here we are in November already. I really don’t know where the past month has gone. October has been such a busy month with day to day, nose to the grindstone kinds of things that I feel like I blinked and missed it. It’s only when I looked back at the photos on my phone that I realised what I had done and achieved – sadly I can’t share all of that with you, but before too much longer I will be able to – hurrah!

So here goes, here’s my postcard from October!

The beginning of the month began much as September ended, with children in school and me busily trying to get my ducks in a row for a deadline of the end of the month. As the calendar flipped into October the realisation dawned that by the end of the month, we would have been living in our ‘new’ home for exactly a year. It was Halloween last year that I hired a van, and with the help of two very strong friends, we moved from our rented temporary house into our very own home. That meant that twelve months had passed and there were still quite a lot of boxes sitting around the place hiding under crochet blankets….. they have many uses! I set myself the target of getting rid of the boxes by the end of the month. Did I manage it? Well, I’ll reveal all at the end!

There has been a definite autumnal chill in the air this month, and in case the changing colours and falling leaves didn’t give us a clue about the season, our neighbourhood squirrel (or maybe even squirrels) certainly let me know as they planted my newly cleared pots with all sorts of treats to sustain them through the winter!

Stepping far outside my comfort zone!

Early in the month, I was invited to do something utterly terrifying. I was asked to speak to a my local group of the WI about my podcast and crafts in general. Blimey it was a nerve wracking thing to do. I’m very happy to speak into a microphone in a room on my own but to speak to a room with about 100 pairs of eyes staring back at you – that’s quite another thing!! I debated long and hard about whether I should do it or not, but friends encouraged me to and I’m so glad I did. The ladies were lovely and didn’t bite! Not sure I’d do it again in a hurry but it was a bit of a high to know I’d managed it!

A lovely trip out

Christine and I outside Black Sheep Wools

Back in September I interviewed the lovely Christine Perry from Winwick Mum for Making Stitches Podcast (You can hear the episode here). While we were chatting online we realised that we are actually not that far apart geographically so we arranged to meet at one of my favourite places for a chat and a brew – Black Sheep Wools. It was so lovely to speak to Christine and get to know her a bit better, and she has helped me get over my fear of knitting in the round. As the ‘Queen of Socks’ (I hope she doesn’t mind me giving her that title!) she has helped thousands of people learn how to successfully knit socks with her ‘sockalong’ which you can find on her blog. At the last count, over 15,000 pairs of socks have been knitted by people using her technique and that’s just the ones she knows about. Incidentally Christine has just completed a whole month of daily blogging – phew what a feat! The above photo features in one of her posts!

Christine guided me (and another lady who happened to be in the shop at the same time) on what yarn to buy and what needles were needed to get started. So using her blog and her brilliant book, I have set off on a sock-making adventure. My initial momentum has been dulled by some necessary work on some crochet related items, but I’m back on it, and about to begin decreasing on my first toe!

In crochet news, my Making Stitches wreath which I made from a pattern in issue 96 of Simply Crochet Magazine actually got featured in the magazine itself. What a total honour! Thank you Simply Crochet!

I’ve opened a shop!

Also this month, I launched my Etsy shop called the “Making Stitches Shop’. I decided to try and see if I could sell a few bits and bobs to help support my podcast activities. Whilst I would not want to put the podcast behind a pay wall, it does cost quite a bit to keep going with hosting fees and other things and I thought that if I could raise some money via the shop, it would help me keep going. In the summer I bought a custom made screen with my podcast logo on it, and began screen printing cotton tote bags. It took a lot of trial and error and advice from others, but in the end I successfully printed enough bags to open the shop.

The wonderful Amanda from Mrs G Makes also helped me with advice on running the shop and postage etc. Then, she became not only my first ever customer, she also gave me a glowing review and showed the world her new bag in an episode of her Vlogtober YouTube series. Thanks so much Amanda!

In that first month of being open, my shop completely sold out! Thank you to everyone who supported me! I had to get my screen back out and print a load more on a sunny day just before the Little Postcards finished school for half term!

2nd batch drying on the line!

Half term holidays

Half term was a bit of an odd one for us this year, Littlest had soccer school for most of the week and Eldest was away most of the time on work experience too, so it was just me and Middle Postcard for a lot of the time. Being a teenager, most of that time was spent in his bedroom and I made the most of the peace and quiet by beavering away on something special I’m working on for this month…. (I will reveal all very soon!).

In amongst the hard work, we had a trip to the Etihad campus in Manchester for a teenaged Covid jab. So that’s all bar Littlest done. I feel a lot happier about that now.

Anniversary of moving

As we were celebrating our first anniversary in our home, I decided to have a soirée to celebrate our first year on Saturday evening with the two families who helped us with our move a year ago. As it was Halloween weekend, we had to make the house look the part, so we had a go at pumpkin carving. I think we did pretty well.

I even had a go at carving a squash myself and crocheted one too for good measure!

The innards were used along with some Butternut Squash to make some spiced soup for our soirée and the pumpkins are now out in the garden so the birds and other creatures can enjoy them.

And that pretty much brings my October ramblings to a close. Apart from those boxes. Do you think I managed to get rid of them all?

Well no, but my excuse is that I need a new cupboard to store some of this stuff in, and I can’t find the right one, in the right colour and the right dimensions to fit in the space I want it to go in…. is that a good enough excuse?! I did get rid of about 12 others though – so it wasn’t a complete failure!

I hope October was good for you and that November is even better!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lindsay x