How do you find calm? When you have busy mind and a busy life, it can often seem pretty distant. Relaxation and taking 'time away' can often feel a little naughty. The guilt that can creep in when you aren't addressing something in your infinite list of things to do - when you let purpose lie - can keep you 'doing', but rest is crazy important. Finding a way to restore and to reenergise so often leads to clarity and growth. Calm is a little harder - though there is calm in confidence and purpose and the belief you have in your direction (which is fostered by that clarity and growth). 

I have to say, I am a pessimist at heart - and the sermons at yoga (not dissimilar to the above) are more likely to have me rolling my eyes and giggling than being open to a better self - but craft and exercise do both give me moments of calm and of meditation, if they are going right. 

In August, I'll be holding a stall and hosting several workshops at the Exhale Festival in Sussex. An independent wellness festival on Fairoaks Farm for open hearted creative souls looking for new ideas good feelings and lasting community and as usual, I sought some products to sell and workshops to host in keeping with the theme and community attending. So, meditation masks!

These are masks that you can use during meditation, relaxation and Savasana. Filled with weighty natural delights, it rests heavy on the face and smells lovely, providing comfort and blocking out light to give the maximum chance of calm. 

For mine, I have put together an inner mask pouch and outer cover - to provide a little more flexibility for the cover and allow for workshops with embroidery, but you can make it as one if you prefer. The beans etc. have been measure in 1/2 cups, which is a touch American, but a mug would do as well. 

Inner Mask Pouch:

25 x 25cm calico square
1/2 cup linseeds
1/2 cup lentils
1/2 cup of either dried camomile or lavender

1. Overlock your edges
​2. Hem one side
3. Fold, press and sew the other two sides
4. Cut across the corners and invert
5. Fill with ingredients
6. Sew hemmed side closed

Outer Cover:

This is similar, though you create a bigger fold on the hemmed side so that the cover will hold the inner pouch in neatly like a pillow. By making a case, you can be free to use whatever fabrics and decorations you like. Go wild. I have been using up some silk I splurged on in a Liberty sale a few years ago to make a few covers which are on sale below and over the weekend at Exhale.

Summer is here!  What a relief! Who doesn't love the long warm evenings and the clear blue skies - that feeling of sun on your face?! There's less clothes, outfits get to feeling colourful and mediterranean - and with them all types of bags. Picnic bags, backpacks for long walks and exploring, beach bags.. and the lack of rain means we can be just a little less picky about what they're made of. 

I've been crocheting lots of summer bags for The Great Get Together in Woolwich, a makers  market where I'll be selling all the usual  fab knit kits on the 29th June. I thought I'd  share the pattern to this guy - and name her Cornwall. 

It's crocheted with a 12mm hook using Hooked's Zpagetti, recycled cotton jersey t-shirt yarn. Anything chunky will do - it also looks great with the Spesso (a mix of the two is used for a bag below). I'd recommend  a big reel of  Zpagetti, the bags take up  more yarn than you'd think!




For the bag (starting at the base):

Make a slip knot. 
1: Chain 4 stitches and join the last with the first using a slip stitch. (4)
2: Chain 1, 2 DC in each stitch, join loop (8)
3: Chain 1, 2 DC in each stitch, join loop (16)
4: Chain 1, *1 DC, 2 DC*, join loop (24)
5: Chain 1, *1 DC, 1, DC 2 DC*, join loop (32)
6: Chain 1, *1 DC, 1, DC, 1DC 2 DC*, join loop (40)
7: Chain 1, 6 TRC, 8 DC, 12 TRC, 8 DC, 6 TRC, join loop (40)
8: Chain 1, 4 TRC, 12 DC, 8 TRC, 12 DC, 4 TRC, join loop (40)
9: Chain 1, 5 TRC, 10 DC, 10 TC, 10 DC, 5 TC, join loop (40)
10-18+ (go as high as you like): Chain 1, *1 DC*, join loop (40)

In terms of the strap, you can use another material (I've used leather below) or crochet a strap as above.  The crochet strap is simple improvise on, but the above can be achieved by:-

1) Start a chain stitch from one side of the bag until you have as many as fit  the length of the strap you're after (usually somewhere between 80-120). 
​2) Turn and crochet into one side of  the chain
3) Turn and crochet into the other side of the chain
4) Turn and slip stitch the edges of the two crocheted sides together to give you a triangular-like strap. 

Add a clasp, button, or leave it - then enjoy!

So, you may have guessed by now, that I'm willing to give any yarn-based craft a try. Whether it's knitting, crochet, weaving or felting (which I am yet to try...), they all  have their place and where possible if they can be completed within a short period of time, whilst leaving you with something impressive looking, all the better!

At Depop - where I work - we had a line up of crafty workshops for colleagues in the evenings during May for Mental Health Month, so I stepped up and offered to teach Macrame! Had I done macrame before? No!.. but, I stock the fab kits from Hoooked (Only £9) and have a lot of their beautiful t-shirt and cotton yarns, so I got to learning.

 All you need is a wooden ring, some beads and about 18-21m of a thick rope or yarn. 

There are 3  main knots of macrame - all easy to google and thankfully one is half of the other - so really there's only 2! The loop knot, square knot and half-square knot is all you need to cover. Then it's up to you to get creative and combine them to develop a beautiful plant hanger!

Within an hour or so, you'll have something beautiful, functional and the platting and knotting will send you to a serene and lovely place of meditation. 

Enjoy!

Merch no 2. Shrinkies pin badges!!

Below you'll see the post for lino printed t-shirts - and once you've done those, this easily follows. 

What are they? Shrinkies are a crafty favourite of little'uns, I definitely remember playing with them when  I was little - usually with flower fairies on them -  and are essentially very thin sheets of plastic, which can be drawn or printed on and then shrunk in the oven to make cute little hardened shapes. 

Where enamel pin badges can be costly and have high minimum orders required, these can be made one by one, the materials are cheap (£11 for a pack of 50 - I fitted 2 badges on each piece - and £5 for 100 pin backs from Amazon) and they make for lovely results. 

I chose to lino print onto them, the same way I did the t-shirts, but the recommended method is through drawing and colouring in with pencils. Either way, lovely little badges, low cost and great for generating a few pennies for charity!

Man, oh man, I'm behind. I haven't shared anything since January, but there is so much to share. If you by some miracle have missed out on my social media spamming, then you'd see that I organised a big 4 day crafty event in Deptford called MADEptford in March and then ran the London Marathon last week - all to raise money for 999 Club, Deptford's homeless shelter. Well over £2k has been raised, so hurrah and many thanks! Sadly though, I thought I'd able to do these things whilst keeping Chap and Darling at full speed and staying awesome at my 9-5 job, but alas - I am no super human. So...let's catch up. 

I had big plans for MADEptford, if you're going to try something, then you've got to go big! For some reason, for me that calls for merch. I love merch. Merch makes something look a little more legitimate - what fun places don't have a gift shop at the end?! So I sought to turn the beautiful illustrations that I commissioned from Biff Studio into something wearable. 

I can't screen print, I've given it a go at Dalston Print Club before, but it's time, space and money intensive - so that was a no go. Instead, I chose to use lino prints. It's something I could do in my front room and after a few experiments, I'm pretty happy with the results. 

All you need is a t-shirt, lino, a carving set with a roller, good oil-based printing inks and a bit of imagination. The inks will set you back a little if you get the good ones, but they're worth every penny. And that's it! Carve away, roll on some ink, print and after two weeks of curing you can wash your t-shirt in the washing machine like any other. 

There's still piles of mine available on Etsy, Depop - and on here soon too. 

As February approaches, so do many many hearts all over the place. The 14th has long been Valentines Day - a day for lovers to express their affections and for secret admiration to be chanced at with anonymous cards. A day of hope that weeks or months of flirtatious advances might be mutual and one of the only days that you sort of hope to have a stalker. 

In my last relationship, I long pretended that I did not care for the day, for - and it is true - there shouldn't be just one day to share affections, particularly in a relationship, agreeing it was purely commercial garbage. But, in other truths, having grown up with Disney fairy tales and always ready to throw myself at any special occasion going - I do care! As ever, it's uplifting to make someone else feel good and rather lovely to be made to feel good yourself and to be thought of (bar any awkward moments where you are the party adored and need to side step advances gracefully). I'll admit though, to date,  the majority of my valentines cards have been from my father - but even those have stopped, very much appropriately so! So, I shall not be expecting any this year. 

And alas, for the singletons out there, it can often be a sad day of self reflection (woo!). When you don't have a stalker, or the affection hasn't been mutual. You can try and channel Bridget Jones, walking across London Bridge with the wind in your hair, but now - there is an extra commercial opportunity for us! Gal-entines Day - 13th Feb. The celebration of friendships between strong independent women - because that's all we should need right?!

Anyhow, as always, I have diverted. Let's get to business. 

These hearts can be crocheted from anything chunky with 12mm hooks. I've done some in Stitch and Story's chunky merino and Hoooked's Zpagetti. To keep the shape, I've threaded some craft wire around the edge. You can find some on the link here. I think I'm going to stick them onto blank gift cards and flog them at the market. You  could make a few and chain them together for bunting or little bauble type things or start with this heart, and keep on going and see what you end up with!

Before we get confused with US/EU crochet terms, this is what I'll be meaning:-

SC - Single Crochet - hook into stitch, wrap, pull back through, wrap, pull through 2 stitches
DC - Double Crochet - wrap, hook into stitch, wrap, pull back through, 2* (wrap, pull through 2 stitch)
HTC - Half Triple Crochet - wrap twice, hook into stitch, wrap, pull back through, pull through 1 stitch, 2* (wrap, pull through 2 stitch)
TC - Triple Crochet - wrap twice, hook into stitch, wrap, pull back through, 3* (wrap, pull through 2 stitch)

​I believe  this is US notation, but I prefer it - as single, double and triple wrapping once you've pulled through makes sense to me. 

Row 1:  Slip knot, chain 4, connect ring by joining in the first chain. (4) 
Row 2: Chain 1, 2 SC in each stitch, connect ring by joining with the first stitch (8)
Row 3: Chain 1, 2 SC in each stitch, connect ring by joining with the first stitch (16)
Row 4:

(- = move to next stitch)

Chain 2 DC - HTC TC - TC - TC TC - HTC - DC SC - SC - DC chain 2
- DC - SC - SC DC - HTC - TC TC - TC - TC HTC - DC Chain 2

connect ring by joining into first stitch and secure off. 

Your completed hearts will be about 13cm in diameter. 

Go spread them through-out the world, drop them into the bags of frowning strangers and send them to all your friends with packets of chocolate buttons and all the reasons why they're super great!

I shall be brief-ish.

I have always had a strange fascination with eyes. For most of my teens, I had a necklace from a shop called Octopus, that was a weighted blinking dolls eye in a glittery casing on a chain. It made me happy beyond belief - and the fact it freaked a few people out was a little added extra joy. 

They're the window to the soul and the bodies biggest mystery, they are all you need to see of a person to know how they are - and yet, they almost always look the same. 

So, in the spirit of rug making, I've known for months an eye rug was on the agenda. As with my sunshine rug, I extensively googled for eye rugs, but they were either not to my liking, or far too expensive. 

I'm not yet sure whether this is to my liking - and I can't tell you how I made it, because it was improvised, but I can tell you it was made from Hoooked Spesso, a chunky sustainably made cotton yarn with which I am smitten. It's about £12 a skein and there was less than 1 of each colour used here. The rug is about the size of a 32" TV. 

What boggles me the most though, is how Eliot (my kitten) knows to cat-moflage himself in the middle. Does he just like the middle? Or does he know it makes him look adorable?!

The Stitch and Story slipper kit is a very popular gifted item on the stall. You may not know, that all the Stitch and Story kits are built and designed for beginner and I can now advocate, this one really really is. 

As I'm sure you've seen, I've run beginner knitting workshops before, learning beanie hats and my own slipper pattern with t-shirt yarns - and this is not dissimilar, with 2 basic stitches, no increasing and some super simple decreases and you'll be done. SPOILER:- you are basically knitting a big square-ish-thing - that sounds simple enough, doesn't it?

The pack includes some beautiful stubby 12mm knitting needles, the yarn, pattern and instructions on how to knit - Stitch and Story also have lots of videos you can watch to help with this bit too! All you need to learn is how to cast on, a knit stitch and a purl stitch. It'll be a frustrating 5 minutes - but perseverance is key! I promise you'll have it and unending satisfaction in no time. 

I knitted one slipper in an hour - so for beginners maybe allow 2-3? You'll see it growing quickly, which is super rewarding and in an evening you can get one done! The 100% merino wool is super super soft, will keep those toes warm (the pattern splits between sizes 3-5 and 6-8 for a snug fit) and you can make the cute little pom poms for the embellishment on top without any additional tools or cutting of card circles - the pattern recommends using a fork! - I used my fingers. 

Highly recommend!

So, brighter months approach (do I start every post with that?!) and I'm testing out ideas of summery, but crafty workshops. So this time - a rug! 

This is made from Hoooked's Spesso Chunky Cotton, which is great for those 12mm crochet hooks. Hoooked say:-

'Our Spesso cotton yarn is very suitable for decoration and interior design. Tons of textile waste are generated during the textile manufacturing process. We purchase and collect this textile waste from companies that truly care about the proper destination of these materials. After being collected, the textile waste is sorted by colours, shredded into yarn fibre and spun again into this crafty cotton yarn. No chemical dyeing process is required. A new cycle begins, maximizing the use of natural resources. In this circular economy, you are able to transform yarn into art, making crafty creations of the lowest environmental impact and the highest ecological appeal.'

Which, in brief, give a little comfort around the fact that this beautiful rugged and rustic feeling yarn is sustainably sourced, using up waste and repurposing into something that can be used to make something else!

So - the rug - it's super simple. All you need to know is a chain stitch, single and a double crochet. 

Row 1: slip knot, chain 4, complete the round by hooking into the first chain (4) 
Row 2: 2 single crochets in each stitch (8)
Row 3: 2 single crochets in each stitch (16)
Row 4: alternating between a 1 single, then 1 double crochet, hook 1 crochet in the first stitch and 2 in the second (24)
Row 5 - how big you'd like it: continue Row 4, but each circle increase the number of 1s

so 5:- 1 in 1, 1 in 2, 2 in 3, repeat
6:- 1 in 1, 1 in 2, 1 in 3, 2 in 4, repeat 

Essentially your circle is 8 1/8s - and each time your increasing the size of your 8th by 1 stitch. 

Continue until your yarns have run out!

Unfortunately you can see below, I started part way through a skien of the blue, so I'm not quite sure exactly how big 3 would make. There was definitely still at least one round left in each of the pink and yellow - and with each hoop there's about 2cm added on every side. The rug below measures just over 50cm in diameter and therefore has definitely exceeded giant placemat territory!

​1 skien of Spesso is about £12! - On the stall soon. 

Thinking forward to knitting and crochet projects for the summer, bags instantly came to mind. 

Everyone needs a bag, to picnic, to carry those essential items, for a night out - and why shouldn't you make it? I've seen a lot of circular bags recently which I've liked the look of and this was improvised on Greenwich Market the other day. 

It uses Hoooked Zpagetti, but could as easily use a chunky wool or Hooked's Jute or cotton Spesso yarns for a more rustic feel and a 12mm crochet hook. 

Main Bag  (Make 2):-

Make a slip knot. 
1: Chain 4 stitches and join the last with the first using a slip stitch. (4)
2: Chain 1, 2 DC in each stitch, join loop (8)
3: Chain 1, 2 DC in each stitch, join loop (16)
4: Chain 1, *1 DC, 2 DC*, join loop (24)
5: Chain 1, *1 DC, 1, DC 2 DC*, join loop (32)
6: Chain 1, *1 DC, 1, DC, 1DC 2 DC*, join loop (40)
7: Chain 1, *1 DC, 1, DC, 1DC, 1DC, 2 DC*, join loop (48)
8: Chain 1, *1 DC, 1, DC, 1DC, 1DC, 1DC, 2 DC*, join loop (54)
9: on the first go, fasten off, on the second, continue below

Lining up the 2 Main Sections:-
1: 1 TRC in piece 2, then TRC  in the adjacent stitch of piece 1
2: repeat until you secured together 2/3rd of the circles - approximately 35 stitches on either side

Strap:-

1: Chain 60 stitches - 80 if you want a longer strap. 
2: Secure with a slip stitch to the other side of the bag
3: TR along one side of the chain back to the other side of the opening
4: Turn and TR along the other side of the chain. 
5: Secure

Pocket:-

Follow instructions for the main section up to 5 and then fasten off. 
Slip stitch the circle to the middle of one of the main sides. 

Add tassels as required!

I used the scraps to make a lovely place mat too!