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We spent the day of a friends farm in Kent today, it was such a beautiful, early autumn day, and so warm!  There were berries just all over the hedgerows: sloes, hawthorn, blackberries, rosehips, damsons - it never ceases to amaze me, just how much stuff grows right under our noses and how little we use, I wouldn't know what to do with a rosehip but I know you can do something!

While we were picking sloes to add to gin, my mind turned to crochet (of course), and how amazing the berry and leaf combinations would be made up into something, anything to wear.  I grabbed a few pics, and even brought home a few twigs to use as inspiration.   Kinda loving the idea of soft lime and inky blue in something, the colours of the sloes...




I've already shown you the hair that I've slightly creepily crocheted for my Dias de la Muertos Halloween costume this year, and the peasant blouse has arrived, and the massive skirt I made for the Shop is ideal, but something was missing.

I nearly dragged myself off to bed early tonight, to read a book and be a bit melancholy, but I bullied myself into staying up and doing something.  So I dug through my ridiculous craft stock, dragged out all the silk flowers I could find, some craft wire and an old Alice band, and made a flower headress a la Kirstie Allsop to add to my costume.  I LOVE IT SO MUCH I COULD BE SICK!  Honestly, if there were ever a cure for the blues it's this!  

As each flower went on it became more and more gorgeous until I couldn't wipe the grin from my face.  This is why Halloween is the best holiday ever.




Today has been an autumnal sort of day, but it only struck me half way through making a roast vegetable frittata. Obvs.  I picked a squash from the garden to roast, then plucked some parsley and thyme from the herb patch and trotted in to the twilit kitchen.  I also bought a very pleasing pile of 'seriously chunky' yarn today, all different earthy shades of autumn - to make something super cosy and over sized.

Trotting back into the nearly dark kitchen, thinking about my wool, that's the bit when I realised.  All together, the bounty from my garden and the earthy yarn, gave me that sudden harvest festival feeling, and it was gorgeous.


Now I've calmed down from the Handmade Fair a bit I can start thinking about it a bit more clearly, and start to share.  So today's sharing is about the 3 new yarns I got.

One is Zpagetti - you'll all have seen if by now but this was my first purchase.

Two was a really gorgeous, super chunky yarn by Wool and the Gang, comes in super juicy colours and is amazingly soft. Can't wait to make something with this.

Three is just my favourite - a MASSIVE ball of unspun yarn from Ingrid Wagner that is straight from the sheep. It's so tactile I've been cuddling it since I got it, and it's the first I've worked up.  It's really delicate to use but almost breathtaking in how tactile and soft it is.

Oh my god.  This was so epic it's almost impossible to imagine how I can actually convey it...

My best girl and I jumped on a train super early, she was in charge of the picnic I did tickets and we chugged through sussex up to Hampton Court.  The venue was so beautiful we probably could have spent the day just roaming around the grounds, but we duly trotted in to fair and had our socks knocked off.

The making tents and craft sessions were fantastic, we had a session by Sesame Origami which was brilliant, and our teacher was super cute.  We saw the conversation with Kaffe Fasset and Kirsty Allsop which needs a whole post all to itself.  He is just awwwwwwwwesome.

The selling tents were monumental and I met fellow internet crafters in the flesh, as well as getting some bananas yarns that I'm SO excited about using...  Here are some pics, there just aren't words.

And I love you Kate Sully xxx










Clearly if anyone was going to be obsessed with Halloween, it'd be me.  I know there's still weeks to go, but I'm already working on a costume to take the beasts trick or treating in.  I spent ages trying to figure out what to be, and all the while it was staring me in the face, literally!  A couple of months ago I spent a very happy weekend doodling candy skull designs all over my mannequin head, just for fun, and it's been sat right under my nose.

Now I have short blond hair, not appropriate for a candy skull tribute I hear you say.  So I've made hair, just for me this time, based on the mermaid hair pattern but bigger.  I have actually crocheted a Mexican Day of the Dead wig!  It's so awesome.  Will get the twin over, have a practise on her and show you the results.


Reeeeally enjoying the pottering alongness of making an infinity scarf, no counting, no thinking, just putting together russet oranges, berry purples and late summer greens, it's bliss.


As the weather starts to cool it makes me want something warm for lunch, and this 'pot noodle' recipe in Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall's 'Veg' is peeeeerfect.  Chop all the green things, put in a jar on top of dry noodles, crush some ginger, garlic and chilli in it, then a spoon of stock, lime juice and soy, hot water and 10 mins later and mmmmmmmm....  I was SO excited to have this I sat it on my desk so I could stare at it til lunch.


I've been working on stuff for The Book so long, writing patterns, counting stitches and generally getting very tightly wound, that I am abandoning the Mitten Mission and going for some good, old fashioned,'let's just crochet and see what happens'.

I've dug through the yarn mountain, picked out my most autumnal colours and I'm just going to go freestyle and make an infinity scarf of some sort.

Autumn is my absolute favourite season. The weather cools enough to start getting out all the wool wear and the colours everywhere are glorious.  The evenings shorten, the blankets come out and there's a sense of complete peace, it's like everything gives a big satisfied sigh as the conkers are dropped, the final berries ripen and all that's left is to wait for the pumpkins to fatten.

So, autumn colour yarn for an autumn tribute scarf.


I love crochet, you know I do, but I thought that today I'd share something more important than the successes.  Sometimes it just doesn't work out.  You can have a great idea and after a week of crocheting and unravelling and starting again, sometimes you just have to have a break, take a breath, wait for the RSI to abate and then start again.

I had an idea for some mittens with a cable crochet owl on them, that didn't work so I thought I'd just make a plain pair.  Turns out you need to make mittens with a bit more room than you'd think. So then I thought 'oooooh, I'll make them with chevrons in' - turns out you REALLY need the right number of foundation stitches to make that work, you can't just wing it.

So I'm having a break.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Instead here's a picture of a baby beaver to make me feel better.


One of my best girls (aka craft bitches) sent me a very excited Wassap message last night.  There were a lot of exclamation marks and general effusivenss, all over the new Christmas Molly Make's book. She's probably hunting it down as I type.

Once it's been hunted and caught, there'll be a very satisfying evening pouring over it, with mutual cooing, and then I'll tell you if it's any good.

I'm already VERY taken with the fox collar...


Trotted over to Lewes in East Sussex for a completely lovely afternoon with a friend today.  Ambling up the high street I stumbled across a gorgeous, chaotic shop called 'Abigail's Drapery'.  There were beautiful linens and yarns stuffed into nooks and cubbys, an old display case full of damask off-cuts, spools of thread, antique sewing machines, and the loveliest shop assistant (who was a free-lance display artist and hairdresser, so cool).  If you're ever in the area you definitely have to take a look.


Every summer, in the depths of the Sussex countryside, there are any number of vintage fairs, country fairs and steam fairs to visit.  Recently the very beautiful Firle Place held a ridiculously charming vinatge fair, with 50's style ice cream van, jazz band and a brilliant collection of clothes, crockery and fabrics to browse through.  We took the beasts and they had a brilliant time; climbing trees, watching the fish jump in the ornamental lake and picnicking (something we're professionals at).

Here's just a couple of pics of the vintage haberdashery and crochet blankets that were on offer, we'll definitely be visiting again next year.