Back to School

I survived the first week of teaching! The first week of term is always the hardest and usually my crafty mojo disappears. I'm trying to keep my craft passion alive and keep up to my work in projects.
I had a brainwave earlier for a Christmas present for my parents and now I'm panicking trying to figure out whether I have enough time to fit everything in!
I'm a really slow knitting and crocheter so I'm trying to limit my presents to sewing, currently I've got one hexie quilt, one chevron crochet blanket, a homespun quilt and a knitted hat. Phew! Not to mention all the extra little things I want to make for myself too. I think any future dressmaking plans I have will be put on the back burner for a while.
Fingers crossed I can get everything done in time!
How are you planning on getting everything done in time?

Confessions of a craftoholic

Uh, guys, I have a confession.
After spending hours, weeks learning to crochet I realised that I don't like it.
I am so fickle.

I enjoy the process (ish) but the outcome? It's too brightly coloured for my liking and dull coloured wool is not exciting to work with.

I'm currently in the middle of making Christmas presents (I know, I'm organised but if you're going me-made you need to be!) and I forgot how bad my carpal tunnel gets when I crochet.

Anyway I digress, I dislike crochet mainly because of how long it takes, the last baby blanket took me on and off 6 months. In that time I've made 7 pieces of clothing (mostly dresses).
I'm the same when it comes to knitting. Learning to knit was so horrendously painstaking compared to sewing which I picked up easily and now I look at the hat I'm knitting (currently 2 inches long) and I just don't have the patience!

I love quick, easy makes far too much which I think says a lot about my personality. Instant gratification rather than being patient and being rewarded for it. Explains the lack of self control and the ever growing fabric stash too *looks shifty*.

I think I like to learn how to do these things as a personal achievement, like hey! look! I learned a new skill that I'm never going to learn. Kinda like Pythagoras.

I'm definitely coming to accept sewing is way more my thing.

My March picks

I say this every month and at the start of every week but how fast is this year going!?

My March included making 2 dresses, sorting my craft room out, a teapot cosy and the start of a baby blanket!

I managed to fit a lot more in this month than I previously thought. 

Feel free to follow me on Instagram @amys_attic to see what I'm up to.

How was your month?

Amy

Work in progress

Oh! I started the year swimmingly and made a dress. Thought to myself "wow if I can make a dress today, what will I be doing in a years time!?" And then slowly my motivation ground to a halt.

Oh but not before I'd started a few projects...

I replaced the hideous gold buttons with some overpriced but cute CK ones.

I embroidered one pocket and all I need to do is finish the other..

I need to hem my dress and take it in at the sides a little...

And I'm 3/4 of the way through some red striped wrist warmers..

But try as I might I cannot muster up the motivation to finish these.

It's not like me to leave projects unfinished but we had some Bad News, which is not really Bad, but it's not the Plan.

If my life does not go according to Plan then I get dizzy and it takes me a little while to get used to the new Plan. 

I just need to get out of this funk and then hopefully the Bad will have turned into the Good.

Here's to a better 2014, we're only 3 weeks in and it's being a bit rubbish so far.

How has your year been so far?

Amy

Learning to crochet

I follow a lot of people on instagram who enjoy crafts and one particular favourite is crochet. After seeing countless upon countless of gorgeous cushions and blankets I decided to have a go myself. I asked on instagram what the best way to start out was and most people recommended youtube tutorials and a book. I got this book from Amazon and it was only about £6 I think:

I ordered my book and crochet hooks (£3 from Amazon) and got started. The first thing I did was learn a few basic stitches. You can see above I did a row of stitches. 

I then attempted granny squares: 

These didnt come out how they were supposed to and I became frustrated and gave up. I decided I wanted to make my friend a baby blanket and started a very simple double crochet stitch blanket.

I think doing this really helped me to keep the tension right (which is the hardest thing) but I didn't count my stitches (rookie mistake) and it ended up longer on one side than the other. 

I gave up my blanket because I didn't want to give my friend something half done and I wasn't happy with the way it came out. 

I spent a few weeks doing this blanket and I lost interest when I figured out my mistakes. 

Next project was one I'd actually finish!!

I did an autumn themed swap and made some wrist warmers:

Again these were a very simple double crochet stitch which was easy to master and had the added bonus of increasing my confidence with crocheting. 

I decided to finally try a granny square again after my success of making 2 pairs of wrist warmers. I ordered some Cath Kidston inspired wool:

...and finally mastered the granny square!

Phew! I've been very busy crocheting the last few days. I love, love, LOVE how easy these are to hook up. It took me a while to find a pattern that was easy for me to follow but once I found one I was on to a winner! I find the middle parts the hardest to do because they're so intricate and almost never turn out like the picture. 

I found learning crochet difficult only because of how much perseverance it takes. I'm not a patient person at all and doing this craft requires patience with yourself and not expecting to be perfect at it straightaway. 

Crochet has quickly become my favourite craft because it's easy to do in front of the tv and I don't have to sit in my cold and breezy attic sewing room! I'd recommend it to anyone remotedly crafty but it would be easier if you had someone to teach you!

Have you tried crochet? How did you find it?

Amy x