Don't just sit there... DO something woman!

I've made up too many excuses in my lifetime - always finding something else to do (mmm, folding washing) rather than sit down and get my hands mucky with crafty goodies. After having my first baby in March I find myself wanting to become more creative and clever like my Mum was when I was wee. She would make all our clothes and (even though she has a quilt she's been 'working on' for over 30 years) she's an inspiration to me.

So I've decided to take a bold plunge into the crafting world.  After snooping on other blog sites I've become obsessed with fabric, buttons and all sorts of craft-geeky goodies I can get my hands on. I love  the ideas and lessons on these sites and it's totally inspired me. I have a background in photography and my career involves building websites and other multimedia hoo-har, but I've been wanting to use my hands in a more touchy-feely way as opposed to just making my computer do all the work.

However, we move house in a months time and I still don't own a sewing machine (any tips much appreciated) so I'll be starting off slowly on hand-sewing/knitting shenanighans. The move to our new house is another good reason to start getting creative. I want to add my own little touch on redecorating the place with things like my own cushions and what-not. I get excited thinking that by having extra space in the house I'll be able to set up a creative corner to escape to (when the baby lets me!)

When I was pregnant last year I tried my hand at knitting. Lessons? No no no... who needs lessons these days when you can make it up yourself! Check out those fabulous holes and the genius way I added extra length to each row I finished. Clever.

First attempt. Poor. 

Thankfully when Mum came to visit last summer (we're from New Zealand but I live in Scotland and my folks live in Hong Kong) she put me on the right knitting rails and set me up with a better project than just getting pink wool and knitting with no direction. We ended up making a blanket for the baby, knitting lots of separate squares which we'd sew together at the end. A jolly good project for a beginner.

Hooray - a blanket for the wee man

It turns out I picked the right colours too as we had a wee boy! Logan is modelling the blanket below and loves it so much I've had to knit a small version for him to use as a cuddly.

Logan loves his Mum's efforts

So, I'm on the lookout for my next project.  I have just ordered a gorgeous reindeer kit from paper-and-string to get my mitts on. Hopefully it's easy enough to follow for a beginner! I'll update my progress once it's arrived. 

Until then... nappies to change, washing to fold, dinner to cook. 

TCx