Back again.....

Well, the ground keeps shifting under me so I've been to Portugal for a bit of R&R and me time. I can't believe I last posted here in August - lazy moo, I am - but in my defence I haven't had access to a computer for a while!

Anyhow, my "me time" involved quite a large amount of crochet and beading but sadly no soaping whatsoever. What a relief I hear you cry.... Hang on, though I think I did make a couple of new ones back in September so will have to look for pics (if I remembered to take any). Other time involved desperately seeing if there would be a chance of work or a career in Portugal - trouble is, they're part of the world crisis too so I didn't get very far again, but it wasn't for lack of trying. I even asked the local police when they drove past if they needed any native English speakers at the local station! Well, they didn't say no, but that Portuguese shrug could mean yes, no, or I don't give a whatsit, so I'm not quite sure :-)

Anyhow, now that I'm back I'm absolutely pooing myself with nerves - I should be starting part-time work next week, after 26 years of being my own boss. I am terrified. The only saving grace is that I'll be hopefully working with my sister so I won't be completely at a loss and faff about like a complete moron. Even though our shop (leather coats etc) is doing absolutely NO business, I'll carry on slogging away at it as I have for the past couple of years until we finally decide to call it a day. Hence "the ground keeps shifting under me" comment earlier!

When my head clears a tad I'll look for some pics of what I've been making. Been up since 5 a.m and I'm in shock - didn't know there was a "5" anything at that time of day.
So, until the fog clears, TTFN.
:-)

Crochet binge

Nothing croapy to report lately I'm afraid. Haven't made any soap for ages and desperately need to! Have been a bit under the weather this week so I've been at home and had a crochet binge. I've got loads of ideas going on and some stuff I'd like to make/sell to donate money to charity. Mainly breast cancer charities in the UK, and animal rescue in Portugal if I can.

This is a wonderful site run by a lovely lady called Norma Lynn and I'm trying to make some bits and bobs from her patterns - haven't quite conquered it yet, but I will! Aren't these sweet though. Pics will follow when I finally manage to produce things :-)

Anyway, last year I was sent some of the most beautiful handspun yarns by my friend Ruth. I believe these 2 yarns are a blend of camel down, cashmere and silk! Aren't I spoilt? I've waited for ages to find a scarf pattern that would do the yarns justice and finally found one the other day. I've decided (after consultation to double check) that I don't like the blue lacy edging the pattern calls for so I'm not going to do it. I'll try to remember to post a pic of it finally finished - when the millions of loose threads have been sewn in - that's the bit I really don't like.

This was a flower made from a different yarn - have been playing around with ideas again to come up with brooches/bag flowers etc after CONSIDERABLE nagging from certain quarters. (You know who you are LLL & J).

Remember that cushion?

Remember the jumper I (very) patiently unpicked and made into a cushion cover? Well, here she is.........finished! Yes, I actually finished something before getting carried away and starting something else. Well, I say finished - I never did get round to putting buttons on the back so she does have a tendency to gape and show her undergarments at the moment. I will get round to it eventually......... For the meantime, she's very happily living and working in Portugal, lucky girl.

Sometimes it takes a kid to put you right

This was emailed to me today saying that this 13 year old boy has written this song. If that's true, what a powerful message to put us all to shame.

Well, the body is back but the mind is still swanning about.....

Not a croapy post but I'm back in the UK and trying to settle back into some sort of routine. All the soaps I made before I went away seem to have orange spot and are a bit sweaty-looking so I'm ignoring them for a few more days before I dive in and try to work out what's going on.

For no other reason than I felt like it, I decided to crochet an amigurumi flowerpot today which I've scented. It stands about 4" high (sorry can't think what that is in cm off the top of my head). Not sure if I like it. Maybe a different set of colours for the flowers would help.


I'm working up to facing the challenge of uploading and blogging about what I got up to while I was away, but I've just checked how many photos I have and it's a bit of a task. I'll get round to it eventually. Think I'll set up a different blog for it though as it's nothing to do with soaps. I've gone a bit off track with this one haven't I? Oh dear.

Just a quick word.....

Well, I´m still here in Portugal but I´m busy, honest. I´ve been beading and crocheting and rescuing some poor old wicker chairs from the rubbish. I don´t have easy access to the computer so pics will have to wait unfortunately. I´ve got LOADS of updating to do when I get near a computer for any length of time. Hey ho!

I've been busy, honest!

I haven't posted for a while now - life has a way of kicking you in the backside just when you think things are improving. I may not have made any soap for a while but I've been on a crochet binge to keep me busy.

For some reason I got it into my head to make a bag from recycled carrier/plastic bags. This will be a beach/shopping bag if I ever get round to working out how to do the handles.


Then I decided to unpick an ancient jumper and recycle it into a cushion for the house in Portugal. It took me 4 days to unpick the wretched thing and a couple of days to make the squares. I've done the back but haven't sewn it up yet - it's going with me tomorrow when I disappear off there again, so I'll finish it while I'm away.

I didn't think it'd take me 4 days to unpick the thing, but it did......

And it ended up like this (as well as a whole load of bits floating around the carpet)

And this is how it ended up. I'm secretly chuffed (shhhhh don't tell anybody)

What did I do after that? Oh yes, inspired by Lucy's blog, I had a go at making a bag to cart all my crochet bits around with me.


Then I worked on something else for a friend of mine who has just moved house, but I can't post pics in case she gets her internet connection before she gets the present!

At the moment, I'm doing another stripy bag, which I started in desperation while sitting with my Mum in hospital waiting for her to go down for surgery.

Other than that, I took a couple of pictures of some gorgeous early summer flowers yesterday morning - it was a beautiful day down here in the south of England.

And finally, I HATE snails - this was a healthy petunia. I've now repotted it with anti-snail stuff on top of the soil. We'll see...