Looking backwards and forwards

It's the end of the year, the traditional time to reflect on the year past and look forward to the year ahead.  When I read over last year's end of year post I realise how much I've achieved this year.  Apologies for blowing my own trumpet for a second but vet school was a real slog to the bitter end and I'm so grateful it's over, I'm so much happier now than I was this time last year!

The only resolution I made last year was to craft more for me.  I love crafting for friends and family so don't get me wrong, I don't resent it at all.  Just sometimes I take on too much and end up having to put my own projects on hold for months at a time.

Let's see how I managed shall we?

Projects for friends and family - 35

 

Projects for me - 4 (well 3, one is for the dog.  Well, 2.5 as one was just changing the buttons on a cardigan...)



I think we could say that this resolution was an abject fail!  I've loved the projects I've done this year, with personal favourites being mini Maciver's lamb cardigan, Karen's mushroom cushions and Frances' bow cushion.  On the other hand though, I had lots of projects for myself that never materialised (remember 5 tops in 10 days?  My plans for Sorbetto tops?  I even created a tag 'Inspiration' to try and get the creative juices flowing!).  Somehow it's always easier to justify spending the time if I'm crafting for other people and it's money saving if I'm using stash materials for presents - money has been tight this year after 8 years of university.

New year, new start and all that.  Last year I only made one resolution, since with final year I didn't want to commit to more than one and fail (although I epically failed at just one so ho, hum!).  This year I've got a few things I want to improve upon so I plan to make 2013 the best year yet!

1. Craft more for me!  - this time I intend to make it happen!  I'm going to enter
Karen's 'Put your money where your mouth is' post to make sure I stick to this one.

2.  Start giving regularly to charity - I've got a wage now so no excuse of being a poverty stricken student anymore.  I donate regularly to charity in the form of giving to and buying from charity shops but I want to start donating a portion of my income.  I've yet to decide which charity but I'm thinking at the moment something linked to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, something involving health, education for women and vaccinations/contraceptives.

3. Start doing exercise.  I come from a rather large (in kilos), rather unhealthy (in disease terms) family and would like to avoid this trend if possible.  To this end I'm signing up for the Edinburgh half marathon.  I'm doing it with my friend Karen as a means to motivate myself to exercise.  We'll see how I go when it's 5 degrees and sleeting in February...

Christmas presents part 3

Remember the almost-finished project?  Well, it's finally finished!  It was my Mum's Christmas present and I'm really pleased with how it turned out, I'm planning on making one for me in 2013, now I've made one for Vicky and one for Mum.



Once again it's New Lanark wool, I should be sponsored by them I think.  I'm going to make myself one in either Sky, Heather or Woodland.  Decisions, descisions...





Owls!  All with mismatched stash button eyes



Back decreases, for the knitting nerds

I love giving handmade gifts, though every year around this time I get burned out with making things for other people.  I've got 2 more to go before the end of the year and then I'm done for a little while.  Or at least, until the next baby or wedding comes along!

Christmas presents part 2

I made this scarf for my Grandad from a tartan ladies' kilt that was a relic of my old Etsy shop.  I got the idea from a few pretty Pinterest finds (originally blogged about over here), I don't know the official name for this kind of scarf but I think of it as a 'reading' scarf.  The type a gentleman with a library would wear whilst smoking his pipe in front of the fire, sat in a leather chair with a beagle at his feet and a green reading lamp to light the room.



The original tartan skirt.  100% wool made in Scotland, the real thing



It was really simple, I cut around a scarf of mine that I thought was the right size, cut out an identical piece from some satin I had in my stash, then sewed the two together.  My sewing machine then proceeded to break halway through, so this project took 2 weeks when it could have taken 20 minutes.



I bought a plain box from Paperchase to present it in, make it look a bit more professional and all that.  The fabric is lovely, it's the same material that I used for Andrew's tartan tablet case, I love real wool, it's probably my favourite type of fabric!



 

Hopefully Grandad will like it!  The perfect stash bustin', thriftin' Christmas make!

Christmas presents part 1

I think I'm safe to show off this present since its for a lady at work who doesn't know about the blog.  Ever tried explaining blogs to folk at work who aren't into the nerdy world of the internets?  Don't do it, you come away feeling even more of a dork than normal.



I've made loads of these bags in the past, especially when the Etsy shop was up and running.  Having not made them in a while though, I've not practiced and so this bag was a tad wonky in places.  The straps are uneven widths and the lining is too big, meaning there's an ugly pleat down one side.  Hopefully she'll like it anyway, it's the same material as Danica's bag, it used to be a pair of curtains in a previous life.  Gotta love a bit of 'upcycling'!



These photos came out all blurry for some reason, they don't look blurry on my phone but sadly I'd wrapped and given it away before I realised!  You'll have to squint a bit to compensate.

It's a very puppy Christmas

It's been a week of Christmas festivities here at Chez Taylor-Dyce, York Division.  Andrew came down last weekend and we bought my christmas tree, it's a little 5 footer and looks very cute under the sloping roof in my flat.  The dog was very unimpressed by the whole process and probably ate about a kilo of pine needles over the course of the day.



I've been doing a lot of Christmas crafting, most of which I can't share until after Christmas, but I can certainly show off my amazing homemade wreath, even though I do say so myself!  It's made with real tree branches so smells lovely and pine-y every time I open my front door.  A lady at work, Jackie, gave me a massive bag of cinnamon sticks to add to it, I've got enough there for the next 5 years I think. 



Unfortunately we're in that time of year where I'm going to be relying on photo editing tricks even more than normal, given the grey, dark weather.  Instagram is going to come into its own I think!



Quality Wilkinson's ribbon.  I don't have any of my ribbon stash here in York so had to resort to Wilkinsons, they had lime green or grey, neither of which are particularly festive colours

I bought the backing wreath off Ebay about 7 years ago and it's been brilliant, it's made of twigs so it looks quite natural so it doesn't matter if you don't manage to cover the whole thing, you've not got bits of bright green oasis poking through.



Amazing cinnamon sticks.  You can see the backing wreath in this photo, see how natural it looks?  Good old Ebay





The dog helping Andrew straighten the tree.  He was acting as a counterbalance - in his head at least...

I love Christmas and can't wait for us to buy a house and be able to host our own Christmas.  I'm going to attempt shortbread this week for Cake Friday so will hopefully have some lovely christmassy photos of beautiful shortbread to share soon.  Not the burnt lumps of crumbly dough I can foresee really happening...

Autumnal baby blanket

I made this blanket for Elaine's new baby, it started off with a cone of brown wool thrifted from a car boot sale, added some stash yarns that complemented and all came together with some amazing Donegal Tweed wool that was supposed to be for the new house blanket but was too lovely to keep for just one project.  The keen eyed and memory'd of you will recall that I started this blanket back in February, I can't believe how much has changed in the amount of time its taken me to finish.



Now, I know it's not your traditional baby blanket colours but Elaine and her husband aren't really traditional baby coloured people.  Plus, as Elaine rightly pointed out, it'll last past babyhood!  Though it is a bit on the small side for an adult...



This was a lovely project to make, it started off quite organically, just growing and adding as I went without any clear idea of what it was going to turn into or who was going to be on the receiving end.  Then about halfway through it just suddenly became Elaine's baby blanket.  I think it's where the blanket wanted to go.  Or something like that.



Good luck for the 22nd m'dear!

Disasterous refashion

Once upon a time a girl had a pair of lovely green satin knickers.  They were a Christmas gift from some friends and in the sales she stumbled upon the matching camisole.  In a cruel twist of fate however, the camisole was only available in a size too small or several sizes too large.

"Oh no!" cried the girl.  "Whatever shall I do?"

She racked her brains and decided to buy the smaller top, thinking with her magic sewing skills she would be able to transform it into a camisole fit for a princess.  But it was not in the stars for our young heroine, as we shall see if you turn the page...



It's so beautiful

By now you must have guessed that I am the fair maiden in the fairy story.  I figured it would be a quick and simple refashion, unpick the side hems, insert some black lace and there we have it, a lovely matching cami for my french knickers.  How wrong I was.



My sewing machine HATED this fabric, even remembering to put on a fine needle didn't help.  The thread kept getting snarled up, the fabric tore at the drop of a hat and an accident with the iron left one of the bottom lace panels a bit frazzled and holey.



Font credit

When I finally turned it right ways out, I realised that there were several gaping holes and the hems were misaligned.  By this time I was too frustrated to continue so I threw it back into the pile of clothes to refashion (a sizeable pile) and swore loudly at the dog.  Since then I haven't got the courage to pull it out again, it might have to be a bin job because every time I catch a glimpse of that lovely green fabric I feel this knot of burning frustration in my stomach and I'm forced (FORCED I tell you) to pour myself a large glass of wine.  I hate throwing away fabric, even fabric scraps make me feel guilty since they'll just sit in a landfill site and rot away for the next thousand years.  But it's even worse to throw away useable fabric, just because it upsets you so much to look at it.

Any suggestions folks?  I'm going to hang onto it for a while and see if inspiratio strikes but I think this little guy's days as an item of clothing are numbered...

Musings on an Etsy shop

Long time readers will know that in the recent past I used to run a little Etsy shop.  It was also called Second Fiddle, you can check it out over here.  I originally started it with the intention of selling handmade things, but with vet school and real life getting in the way, I ended up selling mainly vintage.  It was never hugely successful but then I never really wanted or needed it to be, I wanted a bit of extra cash to spend on presents and craft things and the satisfaction of knowing that somewhere out there someone is wearing something I sold them.



Now that vet school is done and real life can begin in earnest, I'd planned to restart the shop, selling handmade things this time the way I'd always intended.  I knocked up a few items as prototypes, to see what would sell, but now I've got a job and time is tight, I'm finding my interest in selling has waned. 



One of my friends, Frances of Lapin Gris Crafts has had some success selling at crafts fairs, so I've been pondering trying some next year.  To be honest though, the more I think about it, the more I want to just focus on crafting for me.  I really want to learn how to make clothes and master the art of refashioning, I love making presents for people and I'm really enjoying the sudden arrival of multiple babies in my life, baby crafting is both adorable and super fast!  What little time I have to craft, I want to be focusing on making things for myself, friends and family, not random strangers over the internet.  I really admire people who sew or knit for a living and find the whole process of setting up your own craft business really fascinating but if I'm honest with myself, it's not one of my life goals any more.  I used to dream of being a vet 4 days a week and running a successful Etsy shop 1 day a week but it would take far more than 1 day a week of work to make that dream a reality. 



At the point I'm at now, I want to settle down and make peace with what I have in life.  I feel like I've spent the past 10 years of my life desperate for the next phase to begin; at school desperate to go to uni, at uni desperate to start vet school, at vet school desperate to have a job.  Now I have a job and I'm desperate for the next phase to start, to be able to move back to Edinburgh and buy a house and get married and just generally take life a bit more slowly.  It's silliness, I'm going to wake up one day 50 years old and wonder where my life went! 



So I'm shutting up shop for the foreseeable future.  Maybe at some point I'll get back into selling, if I can't work as a vet for whatever reason, but for the moment I want to concentrate on crafting for myself, friends and family ♥