Inspiration book

This is the front of my sketch/field notes book

Twit woo hellooooo

Just a little owl post to say hello to you all. A little owl that I crocheted one afternoon having some me time.

A little owl that will have a little owl family soon as I loved making it so much

Xx

End of an era and new beginnings

As I mentioned I think in one of my early blog posts I learnt to crochet as I found it very therapeutic. As many of us do in our lifetime I had become overly tired, stressed out then finally ending with a diagnosis of depression. I know that there is still very much a stigma attached to depression but it is an illness and nobody would judge anybody with measles now would they. I am standing up and saying out loud that I have been rather Ill over the last year or so, some days struggling even to get out of bed, I was going round in circles. I went off sick from my beloved job and felt all the more guilty for doing so and it took me months to even admit to myself that it was an illness keeping me away. I just couldn’t understand why I had no energy after all I was the original bionic woman… Catch me if you can type of woman…. Well not any more. The less I did, the more weight I piled on and you guessed it I became even more down on myself because then I began to hate the way that I looked…. Vicious circles now.

I am lucky enough to live in a county that offers more than a sticking plaster when it comes to mental health treatment, I was offered a real chance of beating this horrible and debilitating illness and I took it with open arms. I have had counselling and CBT in the past and yep you guessed it, it worked for a time and then BHAM here we go again, another damn circle.

So I return to this story 6 months on in my recovery and where am I. Well you wouldn’t believe it. My last visit to therapy is next week and for the first time in my adult life I am doing things which make ME happy and not what I THINK I should do. I have always put others first to my own detriment, well to a point not anymore.

The job and career that I have worked so hard to succeed in is no more. I realised that it was making me ill. No job is ever worth that much so I packed it in.

So the next chapter – ART

Throughout my journey the one thing that has continuously made me happy was my ability to express myself through a creative medium whether that be sewing, drawing, writing or crochet. I thought that if this brings me such joy and puts me at peace with myself and everything around me then that can’t be a bad thing eh. So that is what I did. I applied to university. You see I’ve never been a half assed person, it’s always been in for a penny in for a pound feet first stuff. I applied 2 days before the clearing deadline and as a result started very late and have needed to catch up. But do you know what… I AM HAPPY, I LOVE MY LIFE AND I’M SINGING FROM THE ROOFTOPS

There is life after mental illness but that doesn’t happen without damn good support around you, it can’t be beaten alone. I don’t give a monkeys whether people judge me because I have had depression, to me that just makes them narrow minded and they certainly wouldn’t be the sort of person that I would give the time of day to. It’s time to stand up and blow the stigma out of the universe.

Lots of joy to you all xxxx

Where did the time go?

I really cannot believe that we are now into September and it is just over a month since I last blogged whilst on holiday. The kids are back in their second week at school and lo and behold the sun is shining. I’ve managed quite a bit of crochet recently so I’ve got a fair few projects to show off. I’ve also been trying to get on top of all of the social media sites that there is, I mean, how much time can you devote to them when it takes time away from crafting. I think I have the majority tied up now and all linked together so my task is now to get more likes and maybe start to sell some of my wares.

 Here are some photos of my latest finished items

Project Stash basket – I made this design up myself as I needed a place that I could store all of the balls of wool for 1 project and move it from room to room – please comment if you would like the pattern.

Starflower Mandala designed by

Ripple Blanket

Road Trip Scarf designed by

Poppy brooch

Cosmos Fields scarf pattern designed by

Road trip scarves

I hope you like them as much as I have enjoyed making them and also with many thanks to Zooty Owl for her wonderful patterns.

Happy hooking

Happy holiday snappies and frolicking seals

I’m sat in a very large inflatable armchair in the awning to our family tent, it’s pitch black out there and as we are miles from proper civilisation there there is absolutely no glow from street lights. Every now and then I can see the lighthouse on Anglesey flash and the only other source of light are a couple of campfires and the glow from my iPad. Even though we are a good few miles out of town on the coast, I still have 3G (yippee)!!!

Today has been wonderful, what a proper camping holiday should be. We are camping on a working farm which has it’s very own private beach. What is even more amazing are the resident seals who bask on the rocks and play in the many coves along the shoreline. This evening we took a trip down to the coast and sat on the hill above the beach. The large bull was lay sunning himself with a few younger seals around him. As the sun began to set the bull sounded his calls for a good hour until a group of about 15 seals were settled around him.

I so wish that I had taken a decent camera with me, as the iPhone is good, but not good enough to zoom and capture the seals close up.

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The only downside to the beach is that there is no sand and is extremely rocky…. I'm quite happy as I love to collect the pebbles, I love the colours, the textures and I imagine making them into little animals.

And last but not least, a beautiful sunset

I could stay here forever

Lots of love and happiness
X O X O X

The dark side of crochet

The dark side of crochet.

Community Pool

Hi all, I set up my first blog yesterday and would really appreciate some comments on the layout and posts. Please be kind as I’m only learning 😁

https://callikatz.wordpress.com

Thanks in advance
Claire

The Daily Post

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Living and Loving as an Introvert

Dorkymum | Stories from Tasmania

*stands up*

*shuffles nervously*

*clears throat*

Hello. My name’s Ruth and I am an introvert.

Would you believe that it has taken me 31 years to say that?

Most of those years have been taken up with saying other things. No, I’m not anti-social. No, I’m not shy. No, it’s not that I hate people, or that I hate you, or that I’m a badly brought up Awkward Annie.

I’m just an introvert.

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Wheely good storage

Unfortunately for the OH (fortunately for me) I have found a wheely great place to store a little of my mostly used wool collection. The great thing is that it has wheels and I can wheel it all over the house and garden wherever crocheting takes my fancy.

I love it but if my potatoes and carrots could talk I’m sure they would be cursing me by now as they’ve been relegated to the kitchen cupboard.

Happy days

Crafty beginnings

I think that it’s only fitting that my first post is all about how and why I wanted to learn the crafty skill of crochet. Firstly I haven’t a scoobies why! All I know is that its hooked me good and proper.

So back to the beginning, I have a very stressful full time job with a long commute each side of my day. Now I love my job very much but life and it’s happenings finally took its toll and unfortunately I am now in a prolonged period of sickness. Following doctors orders I have taken up an interest, really I should be out getting myself into the peak of fitness but when getting out of bed each day is a huge effort, donning running shoes and Lycra is the last thing on my bloody mind.

So I tried getting my sewing machine out 😴, making things with felt, using a felting kit to make a monkey ( which ended me stabbing my fingers numerous times then throwing the damn thing in a box and forgetting about it)…. then crochet.

Little did I know at the time that CROCHET IS COOL and very very addictive. I have watched loads of you tube videos, read lots of books, pinned lots of pics for inspiration, bought loads of magazines and finally made some little things which I am extremely proud.

my first shopping bag

Unicorn Amigurumi

Flower brooch

So there a a few little things that I’ve made over the last few months and I know that this is only the beginning.

happy days x