This was taken the night I made my Brownie promise. I think I was seven and feeling nervous.

I really liked the idea of acquiring badges - I can remember pouring over the handbook planning the toymaker badge (which I never got). I can also vividly remember the badge test where I had to hand wash a pair of socks in a big tin bucket. Was that the homemaker badge? However, I didn't actually get that many. But I've kept them all these years.


The Pincushion Challenge for August and September is 'recycle'. Finally those hard-won badges have a use :)

We went to The Hub in Sleaford (which is a strange place to build a national centre for craft but that's European funding for you).

I was disappointed with the architecture (it's a converted seed warehouse but it's been VERY converted...), but the exhibition spaces are great, a really nice size and light. And the cafe tables all had a make-your-own-poem game which was fun.


We saw the Embroiderer's Guild exhibition The Art of the Stitch which had some really inspiring pieces. It also had an excellent section with fabric, thread, needles and hoops so you could work out your inspiration there and then. DH and DD got especially stuck in and here's a joint effort headband inspired by Clare Proctor's work.

The show is off to Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead next - worth a visit if you are near. I've never been to the Williamson, I must check it out.

Holiday crafting part 1...

This is likely to be the only picture you get of the red shrug as it's not quite what I hoped it would be. It's intentionally quite bulky (moss stitch in chunky yarn), cinched across the back, but it doesn't quite sit right. AND Skegness beach is covered in spiders...

Great fresh donuts, though :)

Moss stitch shrug knitted with 200g King Cole Magnum Chunky (yes I know... it was the only red chunky in the shop...), 75% acrylic and 25% wool, on 8mm needles, with brocade edging stitched on.

No pattern, just 2 _|_ shaped pieces.

Getting stuff ready for our hols...

Coconut for a curry and a new cardi for the weather.


Isn't it amazing when someone gives you something you never knew you needed? The pins for knitting came from my one skein secret pal - they are BRILLIANT!

DD and I escaped for a long weekend at the beach. So that's why the weather turned a lot cooler in case you were wondering... :)

We had a really great time on the beautifully unspoilt beaches of Prestatyn.

And because the weather was good for maintaining those green and pleasant Welsh valleys (did you know there are 4 million sheep in Wales?), I managed to persuade DD to do a few things I wanted.

On the pile there is a table runner in a traditional Welsh woollen blanket pattern from Trefriw Woollen Mills. I would have loved a blanket but they're unsurprisingly not cheap.

It's a great place though, you can see all the machinery in operation, much of it extremely old. And the setting and drive to it with Snowdon on the horizon was just gorgeous. There's tweed for a skirt and a flower felting kit from there on the pile too.

Then there's red linen, more apple print fabric and something that looks a lot like Amy Butler from Abakhan Fabrics in Mostyn which was completely spectactular. Some wool for a cardigan and some ribbon snuck in too...