Frank and Josie's House

This is possibly the most difficult blog post I've ever written. It's something exceptionally personal which means leaving part of my soul bare in the internet for all to see. So why write it? Well, for me, writing it is part of my medicine and I believe sharing can really, really help. It will not only help me but (I hope) it will help others too- help others know they're not alone and help others understand the murky waters I swim every day. I suffer with depression. I hate using the word 'suffer' as I feel like a victim every time I use it. But in truth it's not just me that suffers- it's everyone around me, from the dogs right up to my husband and friends. Now this is a world away from my normal blog post but the words have been wriggling around in my brain for some time now. Today they have finally wriggled free, through my hand, into my pen and on to my page, then the iPad. Despite the increase in media coverage, promises from government and more openn...

That sentence always gets that old song in my head "I was born by a river, in a little tent. And just like that river, I've been running everywhere since".  Sounds like me on a Wednesday! Seriously now our family is in need of a change. That niggling feeling has been following us around for sometime and finally we have given in. Change is definitely in the air. I'm sure some would say adding another child to a family would be change enough but sometimes the change is geographical even if it's just a couple of streets. We currently are looking at two choices regarding housing and location and I'm not at liberty to disclose either but I can tell you it feels good. Just planning to move, even if we stay put for a few months whilst we iron out the kinks, feels good. You'd think that the uncertainty would drive us mad but at the moment it's quite nice because it's new. It's excited uncertainty, surrounded by the comfort of familiar things. An uncert...

Isn't this wheel of the year picture beautiful. I found it via google so lay no claim to it whatsoever. I simply wanted to share its beauty! Twice!! It's seems a very bloggy thing to do on New Year's Day to either reminisce about the old year or set resolutions for the new one. So I'm jumping on that particular train and doing so too, partly because if I write them down on a public domain I'll feel more like sticking to them than pretending I said no such thing. To be honest I don't really do resolutions. I set aims and this is something I try and do throughout the year. Two sides of me battle with this: the Yoda side who says "Do or do not. There is no try" and the other slightly more realistic "there's only one of me to spread thinly so that won't matter today" side. Read more and write more  Look at these great books I got for Christmas!  I want to read them all and all the crochet magazines I get and the blogs I like. Last year I...

This year I went a bit crazy but I'm really proud of the fact I made so many Christmas presents. The picture below is a selection. So there's three adult hats,  three kids hats , one pair of gloves and an ear warmer. Add to it another hat for my dad, a pair of slipper boots, a toothless hat, a chunky cowl, a Shield logo cushion, another child's hat, and a partridge in a pear tree. (Not really but it felt appropriate). Today it's the Marvel hat and Shield logo cushion I want to show off about....I mean discuss! I found this awesome website whilst looking for patterns. It's called  The Happy Hooker . Basically the lady's who runs it (Jess) does tapestry crochet and puts up tons of free patterns, most of which have pictures showing you the finished projects. Some are really stunning. I was searching for a Marvel logo for Frank's hat and found one here . I like following chart patterns like this as they are so simple and you can really see what you're doing,...

I'm not normally one to write blog posts about celebrity deaths. I leave it up to other people usually. But waking up the news today that Debbie Reynolds has died only one day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher , moves me to write this post. I know there are other turmoils in the world, and I'm not belittling those. Yes, there are deaths every day and wars continue and cause chaos and rip lives apart. I am someone who wears my heart on my sleeve and regularly cries at the news. But it's one of those strange twists in life that because we see celebrities and, in this case, know their films well, can read about their lives etc that we feel we know them, even if all we truly know is their public persona. For me both these women have given a great deal of inspiration. I consider myself an actor. I've deviated from this as a professional career as I had children instead but it remains my first true love. Two films I love (and I mean are my go to films when I'm ill/tired/...

So I can't show much of my Christmas makes just yet but I can show you some of the kids stuff. First is the Polka Dot Dog hat for my baby. This was one of the first presents I started for this year's Christmas haul. It's a really good detailed pattern. I had to alter it slightly as the yarn I had was double knit and not aran (or worsted as detailed). But it was enjoyable to make and the instructions were lovely and clear. I love how detailed the pattern is. Sometimes I feel patterns assume you know a lot about crochet. Whilst I've been crocheting a while I haven't made many hats for babies so it was good to have lots of pictures, which I like to refer to.  The best part was that Rose is young enough I can sneakily try it on her head without her realising what I'm doing! The little touches really make this hat for me. Well they make all the hats to be honest, otherwise they'd just be beanie hats! But I love how easy the details were to make and set in the ri...

I've been so super busy it's been crazy. I suddenly found myself with three part-time jobs which was awesome, if time consuming. I loved it though, and was just starting to hit my stride regarding being a working mum when illness struck.  Suddenly, one day, I was in pain. I thought it was random girl stuff even though it was the wrong time. However, much pain and general exhaustion prompted several trips to the Dr and one to hospital. To cut a long story short it took two weeks to be diagnosed as an ovarian cyst rupture, even now they're not 100% sure. [caption width="721" id="attachment_1104" align="alignnone"] The dog kept me company though and even warmed my seat for me[/caption]  It took me another week to start to feel human again and even now it's touch and go with how much I can do in one day. I have days when I feel great and others when I just have to sit down. It's always crap to be ill but even worse around Christmas especia...