Hello 2022!

Hello and Happy New Year to you! Thank you so much for stopping by. I can't believe that it's 2022 already! Normally at the start of a new year, I look back at my year of crafting and see how many of my goals I've achieved. I'm not going to do that as my attempts have been pitiful, to say the least. I set myself the challenge of 9 things to make, and am sad to say that I only managed to do one of them. That was knitting the Habitation Throw. I used Attic24's Meadow yarn pack to make it. (If you're interested in seeing what I was hoping to achieve in 2021, you can read about it here.) I'm really pleased with how the blanket ended up, a nice size without swamping you, and it resides next to me sofa within easy reach.

My top nine posts on Instagram showed me that my health played a big part in 2021, which probably accounts for less productivity on the yarn front. Being diagnosed with cancer and then having surgery definitely wasn't in my plan; thankfully my 3-monthly checkups have all been good so far, so that's a huge relief. My myositis is still proving very challenging.

Flo was most miffed that she only featured once in my top 9, so to appease her, I created a Flo montage! 

I was surprised that knitting was only in one photo too, and that was me knitting a pair of socks the morning after my surgery! But I feel so lucky to have people's support on social media, so thank you for that. I took a look at some of my makes this year, and I have been quite busy as you can see from the photos below. I had two sock designs in The Knitter magazine, and I also released my Bee Cosy bed socks pattern and my PJ Day socks pattern. (Ravelry links) The lovely team at Stylecraft turned my notes from my Softie jumper into a fully graded pattern which can be downloaded for free. I learnt how to crochet amigurumi toys thanks to a great kit from Emma Varnam. I released my first shawl pattern, the Southwold Summer Wrap,  which proved popular in the Stylecraft makealong group on Facebook. I also had a little mat featured in Crochet Now magazine. 

My proudest achievement this year has got to be my fundraising for Myositis UK. When I started fundraising, I didn't ever expect my total to get to anywhere near £26,000! That's an amazing amount of money that can really do something good to help people like me who have this incurable muscle disease. I'll talk a bit more about my fundraising when I share my final raffle prize later in the week. But thank you so much for supporting my fundraising. 

I happened to spot a friend on Instagram who had decided to sign up to Makers Dozen 2022. The idea is to knit or crochet things from stash rather than buy more yarn. Although I've managed to reduce the size of my stash by donating prizes to my fundraising, I do still have A LOT of yarn. I always told Mr JK that it was good for insulating the house, and I still stand by that! But I do actually have a lot of gorgeous yarn that I have rediscovered when rummaging for prizes and it would be great to actually use some of it up. So I need to make 12 things using stash yarn over the course of 2022 which I think is definitely doable, as long as I don't decide that they will all be jumpers or blankets! Anyone can join in, so look for the tag #makersdozen2022 or check out @hadabashery's Instagram page for more details. I promise that I will confess to you about any squishy yarn parcels that arrive chez JK that I have ordered.

So what are your plans for 2022? I'm hoping that the time that's been taken up by fundraising will give me a chance to get back to spinning again as well as sewing too. Please leave a comment and tell me what projects you've got in the pipeline. I'll sign off now with a photo of Flo taken on New Year's Day. (In case you're interested, Flo's resolutions are to sleep lots! No change there then!) xxx

 

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 89

Now I know that I said that today was going to be my final raffle didn't I? Well, thanks to a couple of last minute prizes that were donated to me, I decided to keep one prize back for next week as it brings my fundraising full circle. You'll see what I mean next week! So today I have four wonderful prizes to share with you. As they are all different, I'll give the details of each one separately along with a photo. 

The first prize includes a yarn-themed book box donated by The Never Ending Chapter, a beautiful crochet wrap designed and crocheted by LisasAttik and donated by Fran, three balls of Stylecraft Head over Heels yarn, a skein of Baa Ram Ewe yarn, a skein of Natural Dye Studio yarn and a set of kitty stitch markers donated by Argentology on Twitter. Thank you everyone for your kind and generous donations.

The second prize includes a Skimming Stones project box to make your own bunting donated by Skimming Stones, an A5 notebook with knitting design cover donated by Penelope Cream, three balls of Stylecraft Head over Heels yarn, a set of miniskeins and a skein of yarn from the Natural Dye Studio and a set of kitty stitch markers donated by Argentology on Twitter. Thank you everyone for your kind and generous donations.

The third prize includes a Liberty lawn cushion kit donated by Alice Caroline, a pretty floral zipped notions case, three skeins of yarn from the Natural Dye Studio, a Knit Pro key ring charm, a set of stitch markers and a £25 voucher to spend at Norah George Yarns. Thank you everyone for your kind and generous donations.

The fourth prize includes a Spring 2021 Craftpod kit donated by Craftpod, a fun gnome drawstring project bag donated by Maid in Aberfala, a Yarn Lovers Society zipped case and kitty pen, three balls of Stylecraft Head over Heels yarn, two skeins of Wild Fire Fibres yarn (now known as Eden Cottage Yarn) and a set of kitty stitchmarkers donated by Argentology on Twitter. Thank you everyone for your kind and generous donations.

I'm sure that you know the score by now, but I'll tell you how to enter anyway! You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 2nd January, closing at 23:45. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your email address with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. This is really important as I have no way of knowing who you are otherwise. Each week, I still get donations where no name or email is left, so if that person's number comes up in the random number generator, I have no idea who it is! All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Every single donation is important. We are really close to £26,000 now! Thank you and stay safe! xxx

 

Betwixtmas

Morning! (At least I think it is!) These days between Christmas and New Year almost merge into one, don't they? I haven't got a clue what day of the week it is! All I know is that pyjamas and onesies are acceptable clothing and mince pies are perfect breakfast treats! Did you have a nice Christmas? Mine was quiet but lovely, exactly what I wanted. I spent part of Christmas Day with my friend, her partner and their dogs - and good news! The bandanas looked great!

On Christmas Eve I opened my Christmas Eve box which was a treat to myself that I'd bought from one of my Instagram friends, Helena, who has her own Etsy shop, Edelweiss Blossoms. The whole box had a wonderful vintage feel, with a gorgeous skein of yarn in the colourway 'Footprints in the Snow', a project bag, a candle holder and tea lights and some other treats. I haven't yet wound the yarn as I still  have gift knitting to finish, but I am planning a Cast On party in the New Year!

Since Christmas, I've finished two pairs of socks that were meant to be Christmas presents, and still have a couple more pairs to do. The blue and grey pair are knit using DK yarn, so they were a fairly quick knit. The yarn is Opal. The socks in the Christmassy colours are knit using one of the yarns from Stylecraft's festive Head over Heels yarn pack. I had great plans for all four balls of yarn when I received them, but sadly my fingers had other ideas!

I have also been knitting on my Advent socks, playing catch up! The yarn was an Advent skein from The Yarn Badger, and the idea was to knit a stripe every day throughout December so that by Christmas Day, I'd have a finished pair of socks. Flo has been supervising and tells me that I need to get a wiggle on if I want to have them finished for the start of 2022! Wish me luck! xxx

 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you! Thank you so much for your company this year. I look forward to sharing things with you again in 2022. Wishing you a peaceful and happy time. Stay safe and well. xxx

 

A bit of a making frenzy!

I've been busy making things, catching up on lost time when my hands were too painful to do a great deal. It has felt very good to be back doing lovely creative things at long last. First to be made was a sweet little baby hat and two bears for a friend of a friend. One bear for the new born baby and the other for his big sister. The hat is my go-to for baby knits as it's so quick and easy. It's called the Rialto Baby Beanie pattern by Haley Waxberg and you can download the pattern for free from Ravelry here. The bears are a great introduction to making crocheted toys. The pattern is called Billy Bear and it's by one of my fellow Stylecraft Blogstars, Emma Varnam. Emma has a shop where you can buy her patterns and kits here. 

I've also been busy sewing. First some festive doggy bandanas for my friend's three dogs to wear on Christmas Day. Hopefully I'll get a photo of them wearing them to share with you. The Christmassy dog print fabric is so cute and I used this on the bandana for Rufus as I know he will wear it a lot. The other two are working dogs so don't really wear them a great deal.

I made myself an Advent calendar! I bought this fabric panel the summer before Mr JK died. Although I've made lots of Advent calendars for friends, I  just haven't felt ready to make this one until now. So it's ready and waiting for Christmas 2022. Just call me super-organised! 

Lastly for now, I finished off a cushion for my friend. She cut out the pieces for this cushion over three years ago, and it's sat in a box ever since. I sneaked it out of her house and made it up for her. The pattern is the Contact Print Pillow from Crazy Mom Quilts. I added a piece of ribbon although it should say 'years' rather than 'hours' I think! My favourite square is the little black kitty square as it reminds me of Flo. 

I was hoping to knit a couple of pairs of socks as Christmas gifts too, but I don't think there's any chance of me doing that today! They will just have to be IOU's! Have you been making any last minute gifts for friends? Please tell me I'm not the only one! xxx

 

Fibre 4 Fibres Giveaway preview 88

Welcome to the penultimate raffle prize preview! There won't be a raffle next Sunday as it's Boxing Day and I'm sure that you'll be busy doing other things. The very last raffle will be on Sunday 2nd January and I'll share the prizes as usual a couple of days earlier.

This week I have four amazing prizes for you this week. Each prize consists of three skeins/socksets/miniskeins of yarn, a book, a project bag, a set of stitch markers, hand cream, some Lindor chocolate and some tea. I am so grateful to The Yarn Badger, Ring-a-Rosie, West Green Loft Yarns and Fab Funky Fibres for their generous donations of yarn and bags. Extra thanks for Liz from The Yarn Badger who donated the books. The stitch markers have been made by Julie who is @Argentology1 on Twitter. The teabags have been donated by Yorkshire Tea. The yarns are so beautiful but so different from each other. Ring-a Rosie yarns are really bright, saturated colours, while The Yarn Badger dyes gorgeous self-striping yarns, perfect for socks. Fab Funky Fibres dyes wonderfully stripy rainbow yarn and the colours from West Green Loft Yarns are so calming. Something for everyone there! Thank you so, so much for the wonderful donations.

I'm sure that you know the score by now, but I'll tell you how to enter anyway! You have a chance to win all these gorgeous prizes for a minimum donation of £2! Are you tempted to try your luck? Here's everything you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 19th December, closing at 23:45. To enter, go to my JustGiving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. The more you donate, the greater your chance of winning. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box to share your email address with me when you make your donation, so that I can contact you if you are the winner. This is really important as I have no way of knowing who you are otherwise. Each week, I still get donations where no name or email is left, so if that person's number comes up in the random number generator, I have no idea who it is! All your donations go the Myositis UK to help fund research into this incurable muscle disease, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support. Every single donation is important. Last week the total passed £25,000! Thank you and stay safe! xxx

Bee Cosy bed socks

Did you know that if you go to bed with warm feet, you're likely to fall asleep more quickly and wake less during the night? I wasn't a fan of bed socks until quite recently and I must say that I have noticed an improvement in my sleep since I've started wearing socks to bed. So I'm delighted to share with you my Bee Cosy bed socks pattern today. It uses one ball of Stylecraft You & Me yarn which is 80% premium acrylic and 20% cashmere effect polyamide. The knitted fabric feels very soft and luxurious - perfect for keeping your toes nice and cosy at night. The yarn is self-striping with a fair isle effect, and comes in 6 gorgeous colours. My socks are knitted using Sophia. The pattern is knitted cuff down with a heel flap and the little honeycomb hexagons are achieved using some slipped stitches. As the yarn is double knitting weight, the socks knit up nice and fast, so would make a perfect last minute Christmas gift. As it's my birthday today, I'm giving you this pattern for free as a little gift from me and a thank you for following my blog and keeping me company over the last year. You can download the pattern from Ravelry here. If you aren't able to use Ravelry but would like a copy of the pattern, please send me an email  - josiekitten123 at gmail.com - and I'll do my best to help you. Hope you enjoy knitting them and sweet dreams! xxx