they all came down to be packed away till next year.  And do you know what the worst thing was?  The amount of dust revealed – I blame santa entirely.  (On the plus side I did find several chocolates left on the tree that the boys had hidden so well they had forgotton about them.  Should I tell?

Aside from the detritus it was wonderful, family, food, drink, sparkly lights and presents – what more could you ask for?  Being the muppet I am I didn’t take any photos of what I made, however all were loved, my bestest friend loved her aran cable scarf, my mum loved her neckwarmer, dad loved his gloves, though I’m not sure ‘loved’ is the right word for Rich’s crocheted glof club cover!

I did love my secret santa gifts!  Organised over on the brilliant crafteroo, I sent to Gem of damselfly, and I received my beautifully wrapped gifts from the fabulous Kitty of Kitty ballistic

I received some gorgeous winter scented tealights that are lush, some fruit jellies that are hidden upstairs, way to good for boys, best of all this

talk about perfect, the colours, the details and those pins!  It is way to nice to use so I am going to hang it somewhere on a bit of ribbon.

Finally for now 2 more pictures to show you.  My mum and dad got me a gorgeous ring for Christmas, but the packaging was as lovely

and open

Isn’t it great, I am so going to copy it!

My swapee was the lovely Claire of lesbijouxdeclaire, she makes some gorgeous jewellery, especially her wire work.

She sent me some gorgeous fimo decorations, I said I like traditional Christmas decorations and the whole Scandianavian type feel too.  I think she ticked every box!

Aren’t they gorgeous, I love the detail and they are so fine too

No pics of what I sent yet then, but I can tease my secret santa though!!

Last Sunday it was glorious here in South Wales, so we took a 40 minute trip up the motorway to Glyn Neath, Breacons waterfall country.  It was stunning, quiet, a bit dangerous (though thats probably just us) a bit hard trekking up and down but so, so worth it.

The first one we discovered Sgwd Gwladus

This picture just doesn’t do it justice, its in a deep sort of gorge surrounded by lush greens.  We climbed up to the top and laid on the ledge that the water falls off, holding onto the boys legs VERY tightly!

The next one we visited was The Horseshoe Falls,  several semi circular waterfalls and there would have been lots more pictures

however Tom slipped by the far one and broke the fall with his chin, cutting it right open in a nice clear line.  We were in the middle of nowhere, with only narrow muddy tracks leading eventually to the car – a good half an hour away.  Though I had a packet of clean tissues – go mum.

Tom was so brave, with dad holding his chin together and me hurrying Adam along we made it in 20 minutes!  So, after a bit of glue and several steri strips he is over the moon that he is going to have a proper scar now, and a great story to tell his friends about his brave trek while severely injured!

One of my crafteroo buddies, Vintage Violet has had one of her fab tutorials featured on a brilliant website of awesome turorials .  While checking it out I saw the gorgeous  Kusudama Ball and just had to have a go.  I tried it in thick paper first and quite a large square about 20cm. 

But thought it would be too large and chunky to complete, so I started another one with papers from a magazine.  I also didn’t glue them, I used double sided which does make it a lot quicker.

Itsn’t it fab!  I love it and its not as complicated as it looks, and quite theraputic too, folding all those bits of paper.  I can see a mulitude of uses already, unlike the husband who really cannot see any at all, and my oldest who was about to drop kick it – see what I have to live with!

The instructions are clear to follow, one of the folds confused me a little but a quick scout around utube made it clear.  This one was made using 10cm squares, and does grow quickly – I think they’ll be breeding fast!

So, after doing a bit of research on the internet about space invaders, the general idea seems to be black/white/neon colours and boxy shapes.  None of that appealed to me, plus, I like to change things a bit!

So I’ve gone soft and girly though If I’m being honest it does look a bit more jelly than invader.  However, sticking with the craft neutral 2010 challange (which I’m doing quite well at, my stash is slowly disappearing) I used this bright pink crochet cotton that I really can’t imagine using for, well, anything much.  I tried  a couple of ideas, but my fave one, a crocheted patchwork cushion in nice muted autumninal colours, with the space invader image picked out in slightly darker shades would have taken till next year.  So I resized it to pincushion size I mean, who doesn’t love a pin cushion?!

Carrying on with my crochet patchwork idea would have made a pincushion the size of a pillow so after a bit more thinking I came up with the idea of freeforming it!

Obviously its more likely to gum you as opposed to shoot you, but its definatley a space invader – of the friendly kind!

On the plus side the insurance have come through, so we can finally get the back room sorted which should spur me on.    I don’t think I mentioned that before, did I?  It turns out our lovely quiet neighbours were in fact cultivating a cannabis factory in their house, £800,000.00 worth. 

I used to see these people being interviewed on the news saying that they had no idea that Mr and Mrs A were doing various horrible things next door to them and think, ‘how unobservant can you be’, well errmmm…

I am in and out a lot, we have our bedroom windows open most of the year, I pride myself on my sense of smell though admittidly I’m not that observant, George Clooney could walk in front of me and I probably wouldn’t notice (unless he was carrying a pile of wool of course).

Turns out the police had them under observation for a while – how I didn’t hear them coming and going with SHED LOADS of soil and irrigation stuff I don’t know.  The police knocked on my door to warn me they were going to raid it and to ask me if I had noticed anything.  The stupid thing is I wouldn’t let them in because they were in plain clothes, I don’t know what a police card looks like and to be honest they looked dodgy the way they were both crowding in the door way!  “No”, I said  “they’re lovely, polite, friendly and very quiet, we probably make more noise than them I joked!”  “Didn’t you smell anything?” they asked?

So it was all very exciting for a day, lots of police, a bit of running about and a lovely smell pervaded the street for a couple of days as they emptied the house - then the water started coming through.  Though it did take a couple of days for super observant me to notice.  I did notice a shadow on the wall by the door, over a couple of days… then I saw it at night and thought, ‘that can’t still be a shadow’ (I do get there eventually) put my hand on it and the wall paper started to fall away.  It has now spread into the kitchen and started to bring the floor up, the lesson being drugs bad, insurance good!

So, that is getting sorted, I however am not, so I thought in my great tradition of list writing, I am going to list not everything, duh, that would take a week in itself, no, just the important stuff – crochet:

• finish of the lace weight shawl for friend
• finish of the backs of the 3 cushion fronts I’ve worked while footy has been on
• sew the above cushions together
• finish of crafteroo challange of space invader themed object (don’t ask)
• find a way to open the door to my workroom
• buy cotton and get on with next idea for Beads and Beyond mag before next week
• finish off 2 new scarflette ideas I’ve almost done
• make birthday pressie for niece
• DO NOT START ANYTHING NEW INCLUDING THE NEW PATTERN AND WOOL I’VE JUS T SECRETLY BOUGHT

There are several other UFO’s but being UFO’s for so long now I don’t think they count?

Finally to prove I am crocheting, a peek at my space invader concoction:

I know it sounds dramatic but it had to start somewhere and that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for a blog called quilt while your ahead. 

About 4 years ago we’d moved from Blackpool to South Wales, then my youngest started school full time, I started helping out at school and Age Concern for a few days a week but essentially I was bored, I needed something to occupy my mind and hands.  I’d started exploring the Internet, excited at the possibilities when I found this blog.  It was a revelation; a blog?  It was like being back at college, sharing in these discussions about what we were working on, ideas we had, though it did feel a little voyeuristic at first – I was reading this persons journal!  I saw that people commented and I thought I could never do that, I don’t know her, but the strange thing about the Internet is the intimacy it portrays.  I didn’t feel alone anymore (and by that I mean someone who shared my love of craft/art/textiles).  I checked in on her blog every week (and still do) and it started to inspire me to do something again.

Through her blogroll (yes, even more people like me!!) I found Moonstitches.  Words cannot sufficiently describe her skill with crochet, knitting, sewing.  And her writing is so poetic, her photography simple and beautiful.

These blogs really did inspire me to Do Something.  I’d always sewn, patchworked, embroidered but I’d never crocheted before, I’d tried when I was young but being left handed and my mum and nan being right handed it was all just too confusing for everyone!  But reading these blogs and seeing these amazing creations with just a hook and ball of wool (and a lot of skill!)among lots of others I was finding now, and having the time, I decided to try again. 

 As you may have guessed I figured it out this time and absolutely loved it!  The repetitive motion of the hook, the wool gently feeding through your fingers; it is such a beautifully tactile thing to do with your hands.

I stumbled upon the Ravelry community which was wonderful, but the best thing?  On one of their forums someone suggested I join one called Crafteroo, I can’t remember who it was now, but I had a look.  As I don’t want this post to be a rambling history of my life its suffice to say that I owe everything from that moment on to them really - doing craft fairs, selling stuff, this blog and the confidence to actually do it!

So there you go; quilt while your ahead, Moonstitches and Crafteroo.  There are lots of others, but that’s for another post, if you don’t know them check them out, inspirational, well written and great!

If any of you do your own craft fairs and make jewellery, you must visit Boo’s blog.  Not only does she have gorgeous jewellery, but also lots of free tutorials.  I’ve just made the necklace stand from her template and it really is amazing!  Now I can display my necklaces properly as opposed to lying flat on the table.  I am so envious of people who can think laterally (?) or is the word just clearly (!), i’m not sure, but she is one clever lady.

I’ve also been really remise in not mentioning the Crafteroo Children in Need shop we have set up again on Foksy.  We have all donated items, and all the money goes to the charity, last year we raised over £600 for Comic Relief!  So if you fancy doing your bit, while having fun at the same time, check us out here.

Finally, i’m buzzing this week, i’ve been featured on two, yes two fabulous blogs, one of my bracelets on Found on Folksy and one of my bags on UKHandmade.  Talk about glowing!

I’ve mentioned Crafteroo a few times, for me, its been a life saver.  Now, I’m not one for dramatic pronouncements, but it really has helped me.  I had been toying with the idea of selling my wares, but never had the confidence or know how to.  But after finding this craft forum I discovered lots of new friends who, though we have never met, have helped me more than anyone.  Just being able to talk to people who share your interests alone is enough, in fact that really is everything.  But aside from that wonderful fact I’ve had help, advice and support in the bucket load.  I cannot say enough how wonderful the internet is!

Anyway, enough of that, I got slightly side tracked there, (but, getting side tracked again, I do think we are quick enough to moan if things aren’t right, but often not quick enough to praise if things are good) Ali, has a great blog, as does her other half actually (wonderful pictures of flowers) and has created a new crochet flower pattern and asked people to test it for her.  Who doesn’t love a new pattern, so, with the boys packed off to Cardiff Citys match against Nottingham, I had a free Sunday afternoon!  So, black and white film on telly, glass of wine in one hand and a hook in the other – absolute bliss!

What do you think?

I used a wool that I have been dying to use for ages, a beautiful Kid merino from crystal palace yarns and a 3.5mm hook.  I love it, easy to follow pattern and a gorgeously delicate flower.  I can picture loads, on mass, making a beautiful cushion cover… 

So, if you fancy a fab new flower pattern, pop over to Ali’s blog, craft matters!