Oooops!

Bloody hell, I did not realise that I had not blogged since September last year.

In my defense, I have been so busy with college and all sorts of other stuff.  Just before Christmas, a friend from college passed away suddenly. I was gutted to lose her and am even sadder for her 7 year old son and her partner.  I will always remember the fun we had, laughing and chatting.

Being skint and having next to no money for gifts, I decided that I was going to try and make all of my Christmas gifts by hand.  Firstly, I was going to knit them, then I realised I had 16 gifts to knit. No.  That wasn't going to happen.  I think I managed 7.  The rest, I made using ideas from Pinterest.  I got cheap mugs from the pound shop and then knitted cozies for them.  I got some pretzels and then dipped them in melted dark chocolate and bagged them into clear cellophane bags.

For my vegan friend, I made homemade Reece's Peanut Butter Cups.  Nom!  I also got some cheap mason jars and made homemade sugar scrub.  Sorted!

I did enjoy it, but I found it all got a bit stressful in the end.  Next time, I think I may try making things like lotion bars and lip balms.  It was my vegan friends birthday on Thursday and he requested homemade bath bombs, so I now have the kit to make them too. 

I also had college work, as well as trying to hunt for a new job and I felt myself getting incredibly stressed.  I had to drop the job hunting.  My fella is now looking for work as he is now not at college.  It's been 4 months and he's had 4 interviews, which is a start, but no joy yet.  It's been a bit of a struggle to survive on my own wages.  Driving from Nottingham to Leicester for work doesn't help, but I'm struggling to find work that will allow me to go to college.  I plan to do my Masters after this (although, given the current financial situation, I may have to defer it a year until the fella gets work), so will need to reduce my hours.  We will definitely need the fella working for that. 

So yes.  Stuff happening.   LOTS of stuff happening and not nearly enough knitting for myself.  However, I am knitting the Mr a pair of cabled slipper socks with leather soles and then I'm going to spend a month or so finishing the projects I have started (2 pairs of socks, 1 sweater and 1 shawl). 

I do have a couple of blankets on the go, but I'm taking my time with them.  There's no rush at all for them.  I have another granny square blanket, a 10 stitch blanket in random bits of handspun and a Beekeepers Quilt.  The Beekeepers Quilt is being done in scraps of sock yarn in random colours, as is the 10 stitch blanket.  They are the kind of blankets that I can pick up whenever I like.  I have two of then stored in the wardrobe in the bedroom when I'm not working on them.  The Beekeepers Quilt is made of hexipuffs, which I cast on using Judy's Magic Cast on, then graft together once knitted and stuffed (I am saving my scraps of yarn to stuff them with).  I am knitting them on 2.5mm needles, which is probably not a good idea.  I'm toying with the idea of making a 20x20 square with them, then knitting a back and adding a cushion pad and some buttons, just to test the sewing together.  I'm afraid that using the technique described in the pattern, that it'll fall apart.  Plus as I am using the 2.5mm needles, they are smaller and are taking ages to do.  So, we will see how I get on :)

I will be back with pictures soon.  I hope :)  Right now, I'm knackered and need a shower before I go to bed :)