Crafty 'n' Clothy

Workshops

2011-12-30T14:29:00.000Z

This year I have started teaching workshops at RiversMEET Craft Cafe. So far I've done 3; a felted beads & bracelets workshop and 2 beginner crochet workshops.

The next crochet workshop (beginners) is scheduled for January 29th. Book your place directly with RiversMEET. Places are limited. The aim of the workshop is to get you making all the basic stitches, increasing, decreasing both flat and in the round.

Already familiar with the basic stitches and want to do something a bit more advanced? Let us know so we can try to schedule something suitable.

Christmas Chaos!

2011-12-30T12:26:00.002Z

Well, I've just realised I haven't blogged since the end of October. It has been so busy here.

First off I started my second Open University module in October. The assessment for the first 5 Units consists of a computer marked assignment after each one (i.e. every 2 weeks). I have a longer tutor marked assignment due on Thursday that I really need to get started on.

I've also been busily crafting. I took part in a swap on the We Love Lucy ravelry group. This involved making some bits and buying some more things to send to a partner. I had lots of fun selecting items and was sooooo pleased with the items I received.

It included this handmade fairy, which went on our Christmas tree and will do so every year

Some Rowan handknit cotton. I still haven't decided what to use this for.

and lots of other bits

One of the items I've been finishing off is the neat ripple blanket as featured on the Attic24 blog. I made this from Jarol Heritage DK.

I added a sc broder just to finish it off as I thought the lime green end stripe looked a bit unfinished. It's now on the sofa in the living room awaiting cushions to match. I have crocheted the front of one cushion by using wider ripples and sitting on the back of the sofa are 25 granny squares for the other cushion cover. I need to weave all the ends in (hate that job!) before joining them together. My Boxing Day shopping consisted of me searching for some jumpers I can chop up for the backs of the cushion covers.

Of course it wouldn't be Christmas without some last minute panic crafting and this year it was stockings. I made one for a friend of my husband and enjoyed making it so decided to make one for each of us. I'm really pleased with them but oh my, do they hold a LOT.

I didn't have any stocking hangers so did a mad rush round the shops on Christmas Eve and managed to make do with some plastic hooks for hanging lights on the outside of your house. Once these were hanging up I felt very festive.

and the children were very pleased with them. Better still there was no fighting over which one they wanted!

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

CNA Recycled Scarf

2011-10-27T13:25:00.000+01:00

Over on the CNA forum we're having a crafty workshop extravaganza for half term. There's a variety of craft tutorials, some for adults, some for children and for all different abilities. I'm currently hosting a quilted placemat tutorial - why not head over and check it out?!

One of the ones that caught my eye though was the recycled scarf tutorial by the lovely Annie. Unfortunately I didn't have any old t-shirts to cut up but I admired the others that had been made. So I was over the moon why my husband got home and said he's ripped his top while writing on a whiteboard at work. He was perhaps less than impressed with my unsympathetic "Can I have it?" response.

So I chopped the ripped bit off the bottom and cut from armhole to armhole, leaving me with a big loop. I then cut thin strips partway up. I also cut the label out as it was a bit big. Then to add insult to injury I got my husband to model it for me cos I wasn't very well

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. No matter how many people previously made lovely ones, I did expect mine to look like I'd hacked at a t-shirt...rather like that zip corsage I made and donated to the children's toybox because I was convinced it looked like I'd just sewn a zip onto my clothes. This scarf I will definitely be proud to wear.

Christmas is Coming

2011-10-23T19:55:00.002+01:00

Is it too early to talk about Christmas? I hope not because I love Christmas. I also hate how busy the shops get in the run up to it so I tend to do my shopping early. I've pretty much finished it this weekend, just have to get a few more stocking fillers for the kids. Oh and something for two families we're friends with, which I would have by now except the husband did that "What are you buying that for?" look so I didn't get them and typically they'd sold out today after he said later "That's a good idea". Never take the husband Christmas shopping is going in the diary for next year.

Last year I made a gingerbread house from an Ikea kit and decorated it and I just couldn't resist buying another one this year. I'll have to have a think about what to do to make it different this year though. Here's last years

Not bad for a first attempt, which is more than can be said for the wreath

but I was soooo busy trying to make the oranges dry out without burning that I didn't think too much about the wreath itself. Perhaps I should stick to fabric and yarn!

I'd like to say I'll be excited to put the advent calendar up

but it's still up from last year :-o

This year though I plan to actually quilt the Christmas panel I bought last year. I'd like to make a wallhanging or two as well and I really want some bunting. Maybe some crocheted bunting and some fabric. I also have some red and white fabric which I might make Christmas tree shapes from and turn into a quilted table runner or mat for the centre of the table.

Best laid plans and all that though, knowing me I'll get totally caught up with other stuff and not get round to making pretty things for myself

Granny Stripe Blanket

2011-10-21T17:53:00.000+01:00

It's finished! Yay!

Yesterday I managed to finish the double bed sized granny stripe blanket. I started this on September 18th so it's taken me 32 days. Not bad considering I've got a toddler at home, a 4 year old at school and have had a 3 hour exam to revise for and sit. It's been a fantastic pattern for just picking up and doing a couple of stripes while my little one naps. I was getting low on yarn towards the end though and decided to slightly alter Lucy's border as I didn't think I had enough yarn for the two rounds of UK trebles so I switched the outer one for an extra round of UK doubles. The final round of edging was sooooo slow and I didn't think I was going to get it done before the school run but I finished it just in time. It was definitely worth it though as I adore it.

It's a terrible picture because there's not enough space to get in a good position to take pictures in our bedroom and the light isn't good either. Here's a close up of the blanket folded on the sofa for a better view of that gorgeous edging.

Like Lucy I did random stripes. I was planning on doing 80 but then realised the blanket was going to be far too wide(guesswork for the starting chain) so I did 60 and put it on the bed with the stripes running vertically. It was a good job too because I'd have needed to buy more yarn too. It's the Stylecraft Special DK that Lucy used (various places seem to be selling a Attic24 pack) and I couldn't resist the bright colours. It was lovely to work with too, which was a lovely surprise given it's price; even with postage it worked out about £1.50 per 100g.

Quick Granny Stripe Update

2011-10-17T17:24:00.002+01:00

So, I forgot to do this earlier but here's an updated pic of the Granny Stripe blanket. It's now at 45 stripes. I think though that the weight is making it seem wider once it's on the bed and I think I've made it too wide. Current plan is to do another 15 stripes, then add the border and put it the other way on the bed so the stripes are vertical.

Christmas is Coming

2011-10-17T13:46:00.001+01:00

I've already started the Christmas shopping. I always start it in October in the hope I won't have to trawl round the shops when they're packed in December. Of course, the reality is I get all shopping sorted, wrapped, labelled and then the relatives start phoning me "Can you get this thing for you kids cos I can't get it near me?". So I actually do my shopping in October so I can do everyone else's in December, LOL.

I'm always tempted to make all the gifts I send by hand but invariably I end up finding myself without the time to do so. This year though I have already made my aunty a scarf (well I need to weave the ends in but it's pretty much finished). I have enough yarn left to make another so I might do that, it was a fast knit once I got used to handling the loopy King Cole Krystal yarn.

I've also bought the yarn for my next blanket. I'm really enjoying making the Granny Stripe blanket and am planning to make a single bed sized Ripple blanket next. I've loved using the bright colours but decided not to use them again for the Ripple because I didn't want my enthusiasm to wain. So here is my selection of Jarol Heritage DK

Having done the Granny Stripe randomly I might decide to plan the colours out more with this one and repeat them. Still pondering though.

Fat Quarter Quickie

2011-10-13T13:05:00.001+01:00

You remember my Halloween quilt top shown below, well, after sewing it together it was time to decide whether to put a border on and if so, what to choose. My original plan was to use the spare backing fabric for the border but then I realised it wasn't going to look right, the pattern was too much and too big. This is actually great news for me because it means I got to go fabric shopping.

I nipped over to The Skep. I really like this shop, it has a nice balance of fabric and yarn along with a few bits like magazines and buttons. So I had a plan to go and buy a meter of black fabric (wanted extra for my other Halloween project). I was going to be good. Only a meter of fabric....

Well, I came out with the black fabric I wanted, plus a long 1/4 of glow in the dark fabric to use on the corners of the border and a pack of 10 FQ's just because I liked them. Luckily my husband was sitting in the car with the children by this point so couldn't do the "more fabric" eye rolling.

So, here's the finished Halloween quilt top

I'm really pleased with it. It's now awaiting quilting as I've been waiting for glow in the dark thread :-) which arrived this morning. Unfortunately my husband is working late so I doubt I'll have chance to play around with it until the weekend.

Close up of the glow in the dark skull fabric

The extra black fabric was used to do a wallhanging (which I think is from a Nancy Halvorsen pattern iirc), apologies for the terrible pictures

There's still a fair way to go on this so I doubt I'll have both the quilt and wallhanging done by Halloween.

As for those 10 FQ's I couldn't help but do something with them right away. I had a browse online for a pattern but struggled to find anything suitable. Everytime I found a pattern I loved it needed lots more FQ's so I decided to make my own. I cut my FQ's into 10 pieces, then swapped fabrics around so that there was 1 section in each colour and sewed them back together! Admittedly some of the combinations aren't what I'd have done if I'd had a bit more time but I'm pleased with the result. First attempt at laying it out I just put the blocks down as I'd made them in a 3x3 setting then moved them around to balance the colours out a bit. This was the result

but I wasn't convinced about it. I then decided maybe it would look better if I rotated some of the blocks and much preferred that look. I decided to stitch he blocks in each row together and then, since there were only two more lines of stitching to join the rows together, finished the quilt top the day after starting it. Here it is

But 3x3 is only 9 I hear you say! Yes there is a spare block, which I am planning to use on the back of the quilt. I'm thinking of using white fabric for the rest of the back and putting the spare block in to tie it in with the front.

I'm hoping to write up the pattern/tutorial for the quilt top soon so check back if you're interested!

Wednesday is approaching

2011-10-10T12:26:00.000+01:00

Back in February I started a course with the Open University. The idea is that once both kids are at school full-time I will go back to work so I'm retraining to open up a few more possibilities. It's been great doing more study and I feel like I've done well but Wednesday is the dreaded exam day. Three hours of being quizzed on the finer details of the course and writing code by hand. BY HAND. Do you know how annoying that is? And the exam is in prime nap time...you know that mid afternoon, my baby is sleeping and the only thing stopping me from being asleep is the fact I don't want to be late to pick my 4 year old up from school and so I'm lazing on the sofa in a half-dozing state time of day.

So you'd think, with this exam swiftly approaching I'd be sat with my head stuck in the 14 books I've been learning from. Except what I'm actually doing is looking at my backlog of sewing projects

wondering if perhaps it is time to rethread the overlocker to finish that top (the one that was discarded when the thread snapped and I didn't have the patience to rethread the machine that hates me!) or if I should finish the wallhanging I started over a year ago or take up my daughter's trousers that I bought before she started nursery (she's now in Reception).

And before you say that's a small backlog...it's not even half of it. That would be the pile that never got hidden away in a bag somewhere and it's only from the sewing backlog. There's also a crochet backlog, a knitting backlog, felting backlog, jewellery making backlog, dyeing backlog. Yes the list goes on and on.

So what have I done today? Have I started on that backlog? No, of course not. I've ordered thread instead ;-)

Blog Inspiration

2011-09-29T17:27:00.000+01:00

So I've been busily crafting away in any spare moment.

First up is the progress I've made on my Halloween quilt. Originally I had planned to make it 4 blocks wide using the same idea as on the Quilt Dad blog but then I realised that (a) it was going to have to be 8 blocks long and (b) I didn't have enough fabric for 32 blocks. So in a change of plan I decided to make it 3 by 5 blocks and have each block in the same orientation. Of course I decided on this plan after ordering the backing fabric for the bigger size but it's worked out for the best...the sewing group I go to are doing a Halloween quilted bag quilt along so I at least have fabric for the lining and the background.

With limited time this month I am really pleased to have got the blocks sewn together. Just need to decide on a plan for the border so I can get on with it. Here's a pic of the final layout (no pics of it sewn together cos I haven't had time to take any!)

I would have been much further on with it if it hadn't been for a weekend in Lincoln (congrats to Mark & Ming on their wedding) and a weekend in Scarborough, where we had a great time at Flamingo Land and a relaxing day on the beach.

The kids loved Daddy getting buried in the sand

and digging in the sand

and paddling in the sea (even if it was freezing!)

We were really lucky with the weather and definitely chose the right time to go to the beach. By the time we were having a Fish & Chip lunch it had started to darken over and get a bit chilly.

Though obviously you have me to thank for the current heatwave. The hot hot sun had to come out once I was working on a huge blanket didn't it?! The Attic 24 Granny Stripe Blanket is lovely to do and I am up to 23 stripes but making slow progress because of the heat. Here's a picture of the blanket at 22 stripes

I've made it wide enough for a double bed and am hoping to add enough stripes that it works as a blanket but also looks good on the bed. The Attic 24 used 60 stripes so I'm hoping to do around 60-80 and will probably judge it a bit by eye as to whether it's long enough.

As the new school year begins...

2011-09-07T13:07:00.001+01:00

Guess what I totally forgot to do over the summer holidays? Sew name labels onto my 4 year old's uniform. So last night I got the machine out (well I didn't have time to sew them by hand!) and whizzed them on in a rather haphazard manner. I realised we probably have too much uniform but better too much than not enough.

This week and next week will be a little odd. Erin has been to the nursery attached to the school for the past year so is only doing half days at he moment to allow the 'new' people to settle in a bit and make some friends without being overwhelmed. Next Wednesday she stays for lunch for the first time, after that it's full days. She's desperate for next week because she's so excited about staying at school for lunch! Anyway, here she is ready for her first day of Reception.

That's the bear she got at Sundown Adventureland during the holidays. We took the kids camping for 2 nights, which they absolutely loved despite the rain. We'll definitely be camping again next year, hopefully in a bigger tent.

Of course Orla didn't want to miss out on having her photo taken so before getting the one above this is what I got:

See that cheeky face!

Of course once the machine is out, it would be wrong not to start the Halloween quilt. I'm following the wonky log cabin tutorial over on the Quilt Dad blog. I bought some of the fabric from The Skep, a local quilting shop, last year and then spied some lovely fabric at the Great Northern Quilt Show. I didn't have enough though so I ordered a couple of bits from he Eerie Alley collection by Robert Kaufman from JB Quilting Fabrics. By the way, they have a super efficient service, my fabric arrived less than 24 hours after ordering.

Here's the first block

Hoping to do one or two more this evening. I may add a bit more wonk to them but I'm loving the technique. I doubt I'll have it finished by Halloween because this month we're going to a wedding, a company weekend plus I have an assignment due and a face-to-face tutorial. I think it's more realistic to aim for having the top made by Halloween and be starting on the quilting. I will of course provide regular updates.

The Great Northern Quilt Show 2011

2011-09-03T22:59:00.000+01:00

I've had a lovely few hours at the Great Northern Quilt Show in Harrogate while my husband took the children for a picnic and a walk near by. I went to this show last year and really enjoyed it so I can definitely see it being a yearly thing. Last year I also went to the Festival of Quilts but decided against it this year due to the overall cost of going (mainly the travel costs as we have a few trips this year).

I'm always impressed at how much there is at the Harrogate show. It never looks huge from the outside but when you get in there's an impressive display of quilts in one half of the space and a good selection of stalls in the other half, as well as a couple of places to get food/drink.

One thing I find when I go to quilt shows is that I set off with a plan, usually a small list of things I want to look at and maybe purchase but as soon as I get through the door I'm immediately drawn to the fabric. Today was no exception, I had two things on my list and I can't even remember what one was. The other was paper pieces and I decided against those on the grounds that I *could* cut my own and spend the money on fabric instead.

Not that I spent a fortune though, I went with £20 in cash and came back with change. For that I got 9 FQs, a panel, a pin cushion kit with all the fabrics in, some buttons and a strip of Easter themed pictures (they're classed as labels but I'm planning on getting inventive with them).

This is the pin cushion kit and the buttons. The pin cushion kit is a little house that opens and closes and I couldn't resisit it at £2.99 from The Little Lavender Patch and the buttons were 40p and 45p for the packs. The Easter strip below was £1 from Rags For Linda.

I'm also fancy making something in bright colours so I couldn't resist this pack of 6 spotty FQs for £5 from Images of Egypt.

I also picked up some Hallowe'en themed fabric to go with some bits I bought from The Skep last year. Hopefully soon I'll be making a quilt with them. The top one was from Stitch Witch and the bottom two from Cotton Dreams.

The first thing that grabbed my eye at the show though was this lovely Flights Of Fancy panel that I bought from Crafts And Quilts for £4.99.

A bit of crafting

2011-09-03T20:43:00.004+01:00

Having lots of fun at the moment making things for me & my family. When you run a craft business from home it's so easy to end up spending all your time making for other people but August is often a slow month so I took the opportunity to chill out and do my own thing!

First off I taught myself to knit. I've always struggled with knitting as I knit far too tight so about 3 rows in I can't do anymore. A few years ago I decided to practice by making bootees for premature babies and a week later I had a pair of tiny bootees. I proudly showed my mum who then knit a pair in about 15 mins that turned our twice the size of mine. That was when I decided crochet was more my thing! Recently though someone mentioned they prefer circular needles. My mum refuses to knit on circulars because she "can't use them" I've avoided them, but now I have a growing stash of KnitPro Symphonies. My first project was the Oriental Lily dress by Georgie Hallam. It starts off flat, then you join it and knit the rest in the round. It's a fab pattern for learning to knit and I really enjoyed it. Here's it is before I added short sleeves:

I also managed to crochet a scarf for myself. The yarn for this was gifted to me in a craft swap and is handspun. It was called Pebble Beach.

Excuse the orientation of the picture. This was a lovely pattern to make, really quick. It would be perfect for last minute Christmas gifts. It's the Winter in London Scarf by Emily Turner. Using handspun I was slightly worried I might run our of yardage but I actually had some left so I crocheted them up into granny squares along with some leftovers from a baby hat & bootees set I've made for a friend.

I also made myself a hat with earflaps from the Happy Hooker book. My 4 year old loved it and wanted me to make her one so I adjusted the pattern a bit and made hers with the same yarn. Here's the 2 year old modelling it. The yarn is Dazzle DK from the . I still have to add buttons for the ear flaps.

I went the a quilt exhibition at the V&A a while ago, where I purchased 3 FQs of limited edition fabric. I was reminded I had this when a friend posted on facebook to say she'd been married a year. I'd bought the fabric on her weekend hen do in London. Given my recent knitting success I decided to make myself a project bag from two of the fat quarters and I love it.

This photo doesn't really do the colours justice. Both fabrics are bright modern prints and the bag is reversible. It holds lots too. I recently took it away with me for a week and it held my tumbling blocks patchwork pieces, needlecase, 200g of yarn, crochet hooks, pattern and some yarn scraps for granny squares.

My 4 year old is starting Reception this month and I decided to make her a PE bag. I let her choose her own fabric and after liking all the children's fabric I had she finally settled on my Cath Kidston fabric. What can I say, she has expensive taste ;-) . I was originally planning on lining it but decided the fabric was a bit thick and lining it would make it quite bulky so I made up an extra one for Erin's best friend. Each one has their initial appliqued on.

A New Start!

2011-08-16T22:06:00.002+01:00

So I know I haven't blogged for ages but it's one of those little jobs that keeps getting pushed to the bottom of my To Do list, which in turn keeps getting longer and longer.

How about I start with an update? Well, I'm finding that there's far more enjoyment in selling my own creations than selling other people's stuff so I'm in the process of reducing the nappy stock and will be focussing on the hand-dyed yarns & fibres from now on.

In light of this change I took a little trip to World Of Wool the other week. What a surprise I had walking in there! You see, I'm used to browsing Wingham Woolworks, which is like a barn and a bunch of sheds packed to bursting with a huge array of treasures. I love it for it's old-world quirkiness and that's what I was expecting at World of Wool. So when I walked into their modern, bright, airy, well-lit unit complete with cafe and toilets (useful when the kids are with you!) it was a real shock. Even better news though is that I came away armed with a number of fibres and some yarn to dye. Expect to see them listed on Etsy soon.

I'm still pondering whether to keep everything listed on Etsy or to keep some stuff on my own website and will have to decide soon but for now, click the post title to see our SoopSee site and let us know what you think (it's not finished yet but we welcome feedback)

Quilting Shows

2010-10-01T15:06:00.004+01:00

I've been so busy recently and feel I should do a few updates on what I've been up to.

Firstly I've got into quilting in a big way. As part of my new found addiction I combined a family break with the Festival of Quilts 2010. I got a few hours to browse the stalls as well as be amazed by all the stunning quilts on show. One of my favourites was the Traditional Quilts winner by Pauline Ineson, featuring 3d flowers. You can see some pictures on her website here. The Best in Show was a miniature quilt by Kumiko Frydl (can be seen here) and it was stunning. The detail was amazing and it really captured the essence of a miniature quilt.

In September I visited the Great Northern Quilt Show in Harrogate. I was very impressed; plenty of stalls and plenty of quilts to see. I picked up quite a few bargains. I also attended a couple of workshops. One of these involved stamping fabric and colouring it to produce a decorative panel.

I'm planning on machine quilting the sky with variegated blue thread and creating clouds with white thread after seeing this effect in on of the quilts at Harrogate.

I couldn't resist picking up a pattern for this embroidered panel. I was able to sit and do the embroidery while the children played together, which was an added bonus as most of my sewing is done in an evening once they are in bed. I will definitely be doing more of this!

One of the hardest things was finding the tiny buttons for the flowers. I got lucky at the market in Leeds.

And finally, here's my quilt. It still needs the binding in this picture. I've now managed to sew the binding to the front and it just needs hand-stitched to the back.

This is the Pandora's Box pattern from Pam & Nicky Lintott's Jelly Roll Quilts book. Made from a Fabric Freedom jelly roll.

Etsy Shop

2010-08-23T11:39:00.004+01:00

We have decided to have an Etsy store dedicated to our hand-dyed yarns, fibres and fabrics. We felt these products were getting lost in all the other items on our main store and feedback we've had suggested that most people tend to look at sites like Etsy for these products.

As you can see we have quite a few items listed already. There will be more coming soon but we took a break during August for a short family holiday.

Coming later today on this blog - some sewing book reviews.

Worldwide Knit in Public Day

2010-06-04T09:38:00.003+01:00

Do you knit?

If the answer is yes, then I'm impressed because I can't! But whether or not you can knit, you can still take part in Worldwide Knit in Public Day. There's many events around the country but if you're in Leeds, or willing to travel here, then there's The Big Knit on Saturday 12th June 2010.

Grab your chance to learn to knit or crochet for free. There's stalls and entertainment. Latest news is live sheep shearing on the day! How fantastic is that?!?

We'll have a stall there too, with felting demonstrations. You'll be able to buy our hand dyed yarn and fibre, as well as felting kits. So come along and say hello.

Back To The Grind

2010-06-04T09:13:00.002+01:00

Well, I'm now back from maternity leave. It's been odd letting someone else have responsibility for the business I created and have run by myself for so long but my husband has done a fantastic job.

Our baby is now almost 10 months old. She's crawling around and wanting to explore everything, especially her big sister's toys. As for her sister, she's starting nursery in September.

As for the shop, well we're introducing some new lines. First up and launched during Buy British Month on the Cloth Nappy Addicts forum are crocheted woolies. Produced under license from Wigglebunz Creations, we can now provide soakers, shorties, longies and skirties. Due to family commitments we aren't currently offering custom slots and will just list things as they're made but feel free to contact us as we may be able to accomodate you depending on workload.

There are a couple of other product launches coming soon, so sign up for our newsletter for the news! We might also be looking for testers and this will be announced via our newsletter and is a great way to pick up a bargain product.

Hazel Raison is fundraising for Birth Trauma Association (BTA) - JustGiving

2010-05-17T11:21:00.001+01:00

Hazel Raison is fundraising for Birth Trauma Association (BTA) - JustGiving

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A Royal Mail Ramble

2010-02-10T16:18:00.002Z

So, it's been one of those days. I've been trying to get out all day but trying to find time to get to the Post Office with a teething 6 month old and a 2 year old is difficult.

For starters, I had a meeting this morning. It was scheduled for 10am. Great, I figured that gave me enough time to fit in the PO trip before Orla wanted fed again. Unfortunately someone had broken down in the middle lane of the M62 and delayed my visitor until 10.30. So, I had the meeting then Orla wanted fed & changed. Of course by this time is done the older one wants fed and she's a sloooooooooooow eater. I turn the pan of homemade vegetable soup on to heat up.

This is where childrens' amazing ability to pick the worst time comes in. I hear the grunting baby noises for "I'm filling my nappy". I don't know how they do it but it's always when you're doing something else...or in the nappy with the broken elastic. Now being the caring, loving mummy I am, I change the nappy right away...promptly forgetting about the soup. It's burnt by the time I race into the kitchen to turn it off.

So I open the fridge, then the cupboards, look around the kitchen a bit and finally produce "picnic" lunch for Erin. So she's eating away and I decide to try and get a cup of tea. By the time the tea is cool enough to drink Orla is awake and wanting to play. Yes, my second daughter has a wonderful talent; the ability to smell tea & coffee and know just when it reaches drinking temperature ;-)

Orla is now 6 months old so we're starting to do baby led weaning. So I grab some rice cakes for her, which end up on the floor eventually. Still they entertained her long enough for me to drink half my cup of 'slightly on the cold side' tea.

By the time Erin has had a drink and Orla has had her nappy changed again, it's time for her next feed. Once that's done I consider going to the Post Office but it's near a school and its school pick up time. Not only is traffic a nightmare but the queue in the Post Office will be horrendous and I have far too many parcels. So I wait half an hour, at which point my mum rings. Orla is getting sleepy so I settle her to sleep for a nap. Oh and it starts to hail.

So I'm sat here with a baby napping, 50 minutes until the Post Office closes thinking how inconvenient it is. We're surrounded by supermarkets open 24 hours and offering home delivery but I can't post my parcels outside 9-5.30. I can even pay for my postage online but I still have to go to a Post Office and queue, unless I pay 25p per parcel for Fast Drop....which my local PO doesn't offer. Now I get that it's expensive opening longer hours, I get that it's not feasible to implement everywhere but I live near a big city. Could they not open one branch late? Or have evening drop off points at a couple of post offices or sorting offices? Surely there is some way of providing a service to all those people working 9-5.30 jobs who can't nip to the PO in their lunch hour - my husband tried that and waited 45 minutes :-o

Since closing smaller branches it's harder to get to the ones that remain open. My nearest PO is in town, car parks are free so it'snot too bad but the staff look fed up, don't listen and the queue is often out of the door so I go a little further to the one at the petrol station. But I used to be able to nip across the road to post my parcels, to my local corner shop, where the owners would chat to my daughter and the postman would leave my post if it wouldn't fit through the letterbox and I was out.

Come on Royal Mail. I miss my local PO, I miss the friendly service but most of all I miss the convenience.

More BBM!

2009-11-27T09:40:00.005Z

To help keep things organised I've listed most yarn on Folksy.

I've also been selling some hairclips and there's more still to be listed.

I also had a play with Woad dyeing and listed two skeins at a bargain price of £6.50 posted.

Woad produces glorious shades of blue and both skeins are semi-solids. I did one skein of aran and one sock yarn.

Maternity leave is going well. Erin is getting into babywearing!!!

Orla on the other hand is enjoying eating parrots

Speaking of parrots, I dyed this yarn quite some time ago for The Soaring Sheep and it was snapped up.

Buy British Month

2009-11-16T19:50:00.003Z

Well it's that time of year again; Buy British Month on Cloth Nappy Addicts. For anyone who doesn't know, it's a month filled with super products, bargains and one-off items from British Work at Home Mums.

This year I've mainly focussed on hand-dyed yarn & clothing, though I'm hoping to add some jewellery before the end too.

My first item was this appliqued top and yarn. I dyed the yarn and have to admit it was a bit of an experiment. I dyed it in the slow cooker by pouring 4 colours of dye into each corner of the slow cooker and allowing it to mix as it wished. I then spotted the fabric while shopping and thought it matched perfectly.

I've also added lots of hand-dyed yarn.

I also added this gorgeous set; an appliqued top, a skirt, bag with pocket in matching fabric and matching large hairclip. I decided to sell this by auction.

Coming up in the rest of the month, I'm hoping to have more yarn, more clothing, some jewellery and I'd like to make something with these two pieces of bamboo velour:

These were dyed with procion mx dyes using the low water immersion (LWI) technique.

My 'Not Quite To Plan' Lotus Birth

2009-10-01T02:29:00.004+01:00

I planned to give birth at home, using a birth pool for pain relief. I wanted things as natural as possible, but mostly I wanted a birth that I would have happy memories of and I hoped to avoid postnatal depression this time.

My due date was August 4th but it came and went with no sign of anything happening, not that I expected any signs though as I'd had none with Erin until my waters broke. My mother-in-law's birthday on the 6th passed. Then on the 7th August, my mum's birthday, I started getting some pains at about 8.30pm. I thought maybe they were just Braxton Hicks as I'd been taking raspberry leaf tablets for quite a few weeks. From about 9pm though they became regular, every 10 minutes, though still not painful. At about 10.15pm my husband Alan phoned the midwife to let her know what was happening and to say he was filling the pool, just in case it was to suddenly go very quickly like my first birth.

I went upstairs about 11pm and felt two much bigger contractions about a minute apart. At this point I think I panicked it was going to be very quick again and we called the midwife, who said she'd make her way over. I then started to worry I'd called too early, Erin woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep so by the time Michelle (the midwife) arrived my contractions had pretty much stopped.

Alan started topping the pool up (he'd made it too cool) with Erin laughing at him and shouting "come back here little piggy" everytime he bailed some water out. I sat on my birth ball, Michelle dimmed the lights and Alan took Erin back upstairs. The contractions started to return though not regular. Erin eventually went back to sleep at 1am.

Alan helped me with the contractions by pressing on my lower back while I leaned on the side of the pool. Eventually I decided to get in the pool as the contractiosn were getting stronger. My contractions were a mixture of small ones that I hardly felt and huge ones that were hard to cope with. I was being sick and starting to feel I couldn't cope. Michelle offered to do an exam to see how far along I was and I agreed.

It wasn't good news, I was only 1-2cm dilated and Michelle said I was most likely having a back-to-back labour. I was really upset and I think deep down I knew I wouldn't get my homebirth. We discussed the options, but at only 2cm the only pain relief I would have at hospital would be gas & air (I wouldn't have accepted pethidine because of it's effect on Erin). So I decided I was staying put and struggled on. We tried a technique to try and help baby turn but it didn't make any difference.

Eventually I got out of the pool. I was exausted, couldn't keep anything down, not even tiny sips of water. I lay on the couch with towels under me and over me. I was being sick with contractions, which were sporadic. I tried to sleep but didn;t really manage it. About 3 hours after my last exam, Michelle offered to do another as I was saying I couldn't cope any more. I was only just 3cm. I decided then to transfer in to hospital. Alan called some friends of ours and asked if there was any chance they could look after Erin, luckily they said yes! About an hour or so later they picked her up and then I got dressed between contractions to go to hospital. Alan drove me and Michelle followed in her car. In the car I cried, I hadn't wanted to go to hospital, I hadn't wanted an epidural, I was scared and I just saw all my plans going out the window. When we walked through the doors to delivery suite at 9am, I felt tears rolling down my face again. Luckily the midwife that had been assigned to me was lovely. She did a vaginal exam too and I was still only 3cm. They didn't want to give me an epidural as there's more risk having one before you reach 4 cm, though she said I could have pethidine. She took me to a delivery room so I could have gas & air while we discussed options.

As it happens once I was lying down so I could suck the gas & air without feeling dizzy, I found it was pretty effective so I decided to give it a go with that for a while. I had support throughout from Alan and Michelle, Michelle would take over pressing on my back when Alan went to the loo. 3 hours later though and I was asking for an epidural! Luckily I was now 4cm dilated. At this point I was told that if the epidural slowed my labour down and they needed to give me a drip to speed it up that a lotus birth would be out, they'd have to cut the cord.

I got that at 12.30pm and it started to work about 30-45 mins later. I could still feel each contraction, just not quite as strong. I still needed to gas & air though. It gave Alan and Michelle chance to get lunch and try to get a bit of sleep. At about 3.20pm the (nhs) midwife came to check on me. I felt like I was leaking so she had a look and thought my waters had gone. She asked how I was coping and I said I'd like the epidural topped-up. She asked if I would like an exam to see how far along I was and whether I felt it was really needed so I agreed. She confirmed my waters had gone, I was 8cm and baby was halfway turned. She thought the baby would be born by about 6pm.

Just as I was about to say that in that case I'd like the epidural topped up I got two huge contractions. She decided we were probably too close to the birth to have a top-up. I had to start sucking away on the gas & air as the contractions were coming much stronger and closer together. Michelle, who was wandering past the room having had a break, heard me sucking away like darth vader! She came in and the nhs midwife started telling her the progress. At that though I needed to push. They both had a look and told me not to push because the baby was coming out really well on it's own. I sucked away on the gas & air so I didn;t push and it was amazing, I could feel my body 'pushing' her out. It was a really intense feeling and one I never had with Erin. Orla was born at 3.59pm, less than half an hour after the exam where she was only halfway turned.

We then waited about 50 mins for the placenta. The midwives suggested I try giving it a little push as they were pretty certain it would have detached. It had and soon came out.

Alan held Orla while Michelle washed the placenta. It was wrapped in terry squares and then in a hospital bag as we'd forgotten to bring our placenta bag (Oops!). The nhs midwife was interested to know more about it and I thought that was lovely of her to show such interest in it.

Once the epidural had worn off, I was able to have a bath and then be discharged. We were home just before midnight that same day.

Although my birth didn't go quite to plan I felt in control and supported throughout. It was an infinitely better experience than my first birth even though it was a harder labour.

It was interesting to see the changes in the cord over the next few days. Each day we washed the placenta and wrapped it in clean, dry terry squares. It was quite a warm time of year and we felt the bag was starting to get a bit smelly so we washed it. While it was washing & drying we had to put the placenta into a plastic bag which made it smell more. We also found that Erin (2) didn't fully understand that she had to be careful with it and kept wanting to push it away so she could get closer to baby so on day 4/5 we cut the cord. As it happens it fell off the next day anyway.

Here's some pictures!

Cord on Day 2:

Orla's placenta:

Orla with the placenta in it's bag:

Orla attached to the placenta:

I don't know if it made any difference to Orla and I don't think we ever will but we enjoyed it and it was special.

We did learn a few things from it so would probably manage better if we did it again! We would know that it's easiest to lay baby on a changing mat and wash the placenta in a bowl next to her rather than try to struggle holding a baby and wash a placenta at the sink. We'd definitely have more than one placenta bag and to put one in the 'transfer to hospital' bag.

More than 7 weeks on and there's no signs of my postnatal depression coming back.

Why I Chose To Lotus Birth

2009-10-01T02:03:00.003+01:00

When I found out I was pregnant with my first baby, I did a fair amount of reading about pregnancy and birth. I knew there were many choices available to me, from where to birth my baby to pain relief options. I chose to give birth in hospital for the reason many first time mums do; I wasn't sure what labour would feel like, how I'd cope with it and it seemed like the safe place to be.

Throughout my pregnancy I'd happily gone along with all the routine tests. My birth plan consisted of a few simple requests like my husband is to cut the cord. As far as pain relief went I was happy to go with the flow and see what I felt like at the time.

Pretty much everything I'd read and been told suggested the average first labour is 12 hours so I'd prepared myself for that. When I did actually go into labour (2 hours after my waters broke) the contractions were full on. Unfortunately the midwives kept telling me I'd have 12 hours of it, refused pain relief until they realised I wasn't going to stop shouting until I got it. Then they gave it with no internal exam. I was treated throughout at as over-reacting first timer. Well you can imagine everyone's surprise when I gave birth 2 hours 20 mins after labour starting. Unfortunately it meant Erin was very sleepy from the pethidine I'd been given at the wrong time of labour. Because of the attitude of the midwife I refused to have my tear stitched as I didn't trust her.

I ended up with a baby too sleepy to breastfeed, weeks of pain with my tear and my back (I managed to knock my coccyx out of place giving birth) and months of postnatal depression.

As you can imagine I didn't want to repeat this with my second pregnancy. When I found out I was pregnant I started going along to Choices In Childbirth meetings to find out more about birth and also for some support while I planned a homebirth.

It was at one of these meetings that I was given a back issue of The Mother, in which I read a story about Lotus Birth; where the umbilical cord is not cut and the placenta is left attached until the cord falls off of it's own accord.

I decided as soon as I read the article that I wanted to lotus birth. Whilst I liked the spritual side of it, my main reason was wanting control over the birth.

We then had a couple of problems with the NHS. They weren't happy I refused to see a consultant because "postnatal depression" is on one of their tick-boxes for 'refer to consultant'. I refused the booking-in blood tests because they had most of the information from my last pregnancy; the midwife couldn't seem to understand why I wouldn't just have it done "like everyone else".

So I decided to use my maternity allowance and pay for an independent midwife. By this time I'd grown attached to the idea of a lotus birth and the spiritual side of it had really began to sink in, so we decided to continue with it.

Yarn Dyeing

2009-07-26T11:27:00.003+01:00

So I thought I'd do a post showing the stages of my dyeing. Not one to do things by halves, I dyed a kilo of yarn yesterday evening in my small-ish kitchen with a toddler occasionally interrupting!

First step was to plan out what yarn I would dye. I decided that to save me having labels everywhere I would only use BFL and do the organic merino another day. So I worked out how much I could dye with 3 stock pots and a couple of microwave tubs and planned the colours & dyes. This resulted in me having 300g Aran, 200g DK and 100g Sock yarn to soak for procion dyeing as well as 200g Sock and 200g DK yarn for Kool Aid dyeing.

The yarn for Kool Aid dyeing needs to soak in water for about an hour. I always use lukewarm water. The yarn for procion dyeing I soaked in lukewarm water with 25g salt and 100ml of vinegar added per 100g of yarn. To keep things organised I used the balck buckets for the procion soaking and grey washing up bowls (kept for dyeing!) for the kool aid stuff.

While the yarn was soaking we were treated to some Baby Ballet

Then the dyeing started.

The stock pots were roughly half filled with lukewarm water and sat on the hob waiting for the dyes & yarn.

First up was some sock yarn being procion dyed. So I started by adding some pink dye to the water then adding the yarn and heating the pan until just below the boil (i.e. water shouldn't be bubbling). As it was 'cooking' I sprinkled more dye powder at roughly 5 minute intervals to create darker patches on the yarn.

I did a similar thing with the sock yarn being dyed with Kool Aid. I started with a couple of packs of lemonade in the stock pot to create a pale yellow base colour. I added the 2 skeins of sock yarn so that each was laying in one half of the stock pot. I made up a packet of Orange Kool Aid by adding 250ml of lukewarm water and poured it into the centre of the stock pot about 5 mins after the water had heated up. About 5 mins later I made up a packet of Mango and poured this in a circle around the edge of the stock pot.

In the third stock pot I dip dyed some BFL DK using Grape Kool Aid. I started off with one packet dissolved in the stock pot. and hung one end of the skein over a wooden spoon. Every 5 minutes or so I lifted a bit more out of the dye bath and added an extra packet of Kool Aid (made up with water) to the dye bath. This did take some balancing of wooden spoons!

For all of these I then keep the yarn just below bubbling for about 30 minutes to set the dyes in. They are then left overnight to cool.

I then moved on to the dyeing using the microwave to fix the dyes. I started off with Kool Aid dyeing. This is me making up the solutions of Kool Aid.

I didn't photograph the rest of the Kool Aid dyeing as it's pretty much the same as for the procion dyeing!

Here's the made up procion dyes:

I make them up in old drinks bottles as it's easy to mix it by shaking well and easy to squirt it onto the yarn where you want it. As you can see I've already put 2 strips of cling film over the kitchen table ready for the yarn.

I lift the yarn out of the bucket and squeeze gently to remove the excess water. The yarn should be wet but not dripping everywhere! I then lay it out on the cling film.

I then squirt the dye where I want it on the yarn.

I do each colour in turn and take care at the ends of the skeins to make sure all the ayrn is covered with dye. As I pull the cling film over the yarn I gently press the dye into the fibres to make sure they're all covered. I tend to do this through the cling film just so my gloves don't get covered in dye as I can guarantee I won't have got some water ready to wash them!

Once the yarn is wrapped in cling film I put the whole lot in a microwavable tub. This goes in the microwave for about 5 minutes though I try to check on it every minute or so. The yarn should get hot & steamy but shouldn't dry out.

Again this is then left overnight to cool. If I run out of tubs I do tend to tip the hot one onto a tub lid and use the tub again for the next lot of yarn.

In the morning when it's all cooled, I rinse it in lukewarm water and then hang to dry. I'm always impressed & amazed that there's no colour left in the dye baths (the dye has been exhausted).

Typical British weather though; it was gorgeous and hot yesterday when I started the dyeing but today when I want to dry my yarn it's raining! So onto the airer it is!

Longies & hand dyed yarn

2009-07-09T14:59:00.005+01:00

Well first off a big thank you to my mum who knit some longies from the hand dyed yarn in my previous post. I'm sure the new baby (due August!) will look gorgeous in them.

I'm really pleased with how the yarn has knit up. It looks a lot more rose coloured in real life!

I did a huge lot of yarn dyeing on Sunday. Of course the weather decided to go from hot, hot, hot to dull & wet as soon as I needed to dry the yarn! Got it dry eventually though.

Some of the colours were unexpected and some were experimental.

One skein was dyed for the dye-along competition on Ravelry's I'd Dye For Britain Group using procion dyes. I made standard strengths of royal blue and scarlet red. Then I mixed from these to get three solutions as follows:
1) 1 part red, 3 parts blue
2) 2 parts red, 2 parts blue
3) 3 parts red, 1 part blue

Then I put the first solution over one end of the skein, the third solution over the other end and the second solution over the middle sections. This resulted in the following:

Here it is reskeined:

Reskeining makes such a difference to the colours and I've gone from looking at a yarn thinking "Not sure about those colours" to going "Wow, that's the sort of colour yarn I'd buy" just by reskeining. So, here's some of the yarn I've reskeined:

Dyeing & Reskeining

2009-06-23T12:23:00.004+01:00

Well I did some more dyeing the other day. There was a competition thread on Ravelry and the theme was dip dyeing so I thought I'd give it a go.

I used three tubs each with different amounts of Black Cherry Kool Aid, then dipped roughly a third of the skein of wool in each (after soaking it). I let the colours work up the sections in between the tubs. It was then covered and microwaved to set the colours and left overnight to cool. Here's the result

After much debate I decided to go ahead and buy a niddy noddy so that I can reskein my dyed yarn. I was tempted to wait until Woolfest but curiosity got the better of me!

I got one of these beautiful ones (a large) from Michael Williams, who was very obliging and let my husband call at his house on a Sunday to get it.

So after reskeining, my dip-dyed yarn looks like this:

So the plan now is to reskein all the yarn I've dyed so far.

I also really, really need to do some more dyeing cos it's just soooo much fun. I did buy a second stock pot (i.e. now have 2 for dyeing in) but this one also has a steamer section in it so lots of experimenting to do. Am itching to find out what effect I'll get if I do one skein in a dye bath in the bottom of the pot and one skein steamed in the top if I do a base colour in the dye bath and then pour colours over the top skein and let them drip into the bottom.

2009-06-02T14:14:00.003+01:00

Thought it was about time to update this!

Well I'm now 31 weeks pregnant (where did the time go????) and have my birth pool. Everything's looking good so far for a homebirth.

Am getting things ready for the new baby and, after ordering two and loving them, I'll be stocking Itti Bitti D'Lish nappies soon - hopefully they'll be here early next week.

Have also been doing some fabric painting & dying (no pics yet but will get some soon). Meanwhile I've also been trying out some yarn dying. Found a fab place to get undyed yarn that's just down the road. Anyway here's the results!

Buy British Month

2008-11-14T13:02:00.004Z

So it's Buy British Month time at Cloth Nappy Addicts again. Back in May I didn't get a lot of sales but I think people were mainly looking for nappies & accessories then. Now it's November and people are looking for Christmas presents so my products are selling well. I decided to mainly aim at the stocking filler side of things and so far that's paying off!

The bookmarks are proving really popular, I had to order more bits for them to keep up with demand!

I also listed a new line - fabric covered buttons:

and crocheted hats:

The cufflinks (at just £2.50 + p&p) are more popular than I expected! Had to order more bits for those too.

and the jewellery is proving popular too

Of course if you're not a nappy addict you can still get some of these yourself by visiting my site and requesting a custom item. We also have letter beads in stock to do name or initial bracelets, phone charms & bookmarks.

Birthdays and Beads

2008-10-26T18:27:00.003Z

So Friday was my nephew's 18th birthday, which meant a trip up to the Lakes for us so we could go out and celebrate with all the family and friends. Unfortunately we got stuck in traffic on the way - who would have thought a 2 1/2 mile tailback from some small roadworks would take an hour and a half to get through. Luckily mum's tatie pot hadn't burnt, not too much anyway! Then it was a quick change of clothes and off to the party we went. Much food, drink and dancing later we got in at 2.30am - oh how nice it is to have babysitters (aka parents). An extremely wet Saturday left us with not many options for entertainment so we headed off to a craft fair at Rheged and let Erin go to soft play. The craft fair marked the start of my Christmas shopping, a book "Ivver Sen" for my dad. Then visits to family all afternoon and the day passed pretty quickly.

We took a different route home today and we saw the effects of the horrendous rain, lots of flooded roads and some Travelodge guests stranded. Anyway we made it to Harrogate and to the Bead Fair. Soon the plan to 'pick up business cards and make notes over what I liked so I could order in the future' went out of the window and shopping ensued! Strings of pretty beads calling my purse, which luckily didn't have too much money in so I didn't go mad. I got some gorgeous turqoise beads that I can't wait to use. The Tuffnell Glass stall was tempting me with their glass bead making kits but I was sensible, I need to wait a while before moving into that type of thing. I just don't have the time at the moment especially as I can't play with hot glass with an 18 month old running around, that's not a good combination.

Time management probably top of the list when it comes to essential skills of a wahm. I tend to do website updating/accounts/other computer stuff during Erin's nap, crafting in the evening after tea and packing orders...err...ok, so that one I do as soon as I can possibly fit it in, often with litle hands 'helping' me.

Well it was just a quick note today...I'm off to play with my new beads.

Fairs, Festivals & Felting

2008-10-10T16:52:00.008+01:00

Well first up is the stall pic from my last craft fair! We didn't sell much but plenty of people were interested in the products and took business cards. So many people commented that the felted soaps would make great Christmas presents.

The necklace I'm wearing was made for me by a lady on Cloth Nappy Addicts and that's what got me into felting. I did a course and now I'm hooked on it. More on that later...

This morning I got an interesting email. An eco festival that I'd enquired about have had a last minute cancellation and wanted to know if I could still do it. Well it's an hour and a half from where I live and a bit of a last minute rush but I'm going for it! It's at Lancaster Town Hall for anyone that's interested.

The other thing that's happened this week is I've booked to go on a felted bags course next Saturday. I'm really looking forward to it. Although I already wet felt, I haven't done it with a resist, so far I've only done scarfs, beads and that sort of thing. My daughter loves handbags, even though she's only 17 months old, so I'm hoping to make something for her on the day. Then I'll probably make myself a tester one before making some to sell.

Anyway, I can't really talk so much about felting without showing some pics!

This is a picture of one of the bracelets I've made. It's done by making a square with two layers of fibre (one of each colour). It's then wet with warm soapy water and rolled into a sausage shape. Then the sausage is rolled until it's felted. I then cut it to produce a number of swirly coloured beads.

I've also made a selection of wet felted beads and made a bracelet out of them. Each bead is rolled by hand. I added grey spots to the pink one by needle felting.

Finally, here is a picture of my felted soaps. The soaps were made by Mandy at Fizz 'n' Suds then wet felted by me.

You can find my soaps on my website Crafty 'n' Clothy or on my Folksy site.

Let's talk about green issues!

2008-10-07T17:38:00.003+01:00

Since having my daughter I've become so much more aware of the environment and trying to preserve it for future generations. One thing I try really hard with is cutting out all the chemicals we take for granted. Things like shampoo, cleaning products, washing powder. As far as I can see they aren't necessary. Now I'm not saying we should all be dirty, just that there are natural alternatives.

Take laundry for example, I use Soapnuts. They are a natural sustainable product, which can be composted after use. They naturally soften clothes so you don't need a fabric conditioner. Not only can they be used for laundry, they can be used for washing up, you can make a multi-surface cleaner from them and use it as screenwash in your car. How much does it cost? Well, it's actually CHEAPER than washing powder.

That's the other thing I've found about going green, there's this myth that it's expensive. Most of the time it saves money. By buying soapnuts, I don't need to buy washing powder or cleaning products. Similarly by using a Mooncup and/or washable pads rather than buying disposable sanitary pads or tampons also saves money. Okay so you have to spend a bit more this month to buy enough of them but in the long run it saves a small fortune!

Why doesn't everyone start making these changes? Well to be honest with you, I have no idea. I can't understand it, surely everyone wants to save money and help the environment at the same time. I guess they're sceptical..."Does it really work?" is one of the most-asked questions when I do fairs. So, does it?

Well, the Mooncup/Jam Sponge/washable pads one is a definite thumbs up. They work so well and are so much more comfy. I'd never go back to those plasticky disposable things again. As for the soapnuts - they're different. Your washing will not come out of the washer smelling of 'white diamonds' (anyone know what they smell of?) but that's because they are just clean. It's that simple. If you can't get used to that add a bit of bicarbonate of soda and a few drops of a gorgeous essential oil to the softener drawer. These products work, they just don't have huge advertising budgets. Stop listening to the people who pay for your custom and start listening to those who use that money to source a green, natural, cheap product that does the same job!

Oh and for those of you who are wondering about my hair - check out my Virgin Organic Coconut Oil (great intensive hair conditioner) and African Black Soap (great all over bosy & hair soap) over on Folksy!

Folksy

2008-10-07T17:25:00.003+01:00

Folksy is the UK equivalent of Etsy. If you haven't heard of either, where have you been?????!!! Anyway, they're both sites showcasing and selling handmade products. So if you're fed up of the mass-produced stuff on our high streets and are looking for something a bit more unique then these are the sites to check out!

Click the pic above to view my store!

Eek! My house is being taken over...

2008-10-01T16:22:00.003+01:00

by my craft stuff!

As if it wasn't enough to take up 3 huge shelves & a baby changing unit in the bedroom, a huge desk in the living room, a set of drawers in the kitchen and a big box in Erin's room, I've now got a huge set of shelves in the living room. They go either side of the sofa and will have 3 shelves above the sofa when Ikea get those back in stock. Now I just have to sort out all my craft bits onto the shelves, which is easier said than done.

At the same time, I'm trying to get ready for Eccleshill Art & Craft Fair this Saturday. I have soaps to felt and felted jewellery to finish. I'll also be taking along my eco-friendly toiletries, including organic virgin coconut oil, shea butter & african black soap - yummy goodiness!

Hope to see you there!

Yarn & Fibre Addiction!!!

2008-09-16T22:17:00.003+01:00

So I sorted out the living room this week and realised just how much yarn & fibre I have. I have a box full of fibre to try spinning with, a big bag of fibre to felt and a huge basket of yarn. Despite this I ordered some more last night! Oh and forgetting all about the 6 whole fleeces in the shed. It's getting as bad as my cloth nappy addiction!

Speaking of cloth nappies, I'm taking mine on holiday to Morocco - mad???? maybe but I just couldn't bring myself to buy a pack of disposables. I haven't used any since my little girl was about a week old and I'm not starting now. Anyway here's pic of the little cutie ;-)...urm, ok...it's above the post because I can't figure out how to move it!

Organic Fortnight Discounts

2008-09-06T15:49:00.003+01:00

To celebrate Organic Fortnight 2008 we have the following on offer:

20% Off Sckoon nappies & wraps
10% Off Sckoon organic cotton toys
10% Off all cloth sanitary pads - Sckoon pads are 100% organic cotton and Happy Mama Original pads have an organic cotton core

Discounts end midnight 20th September 2008

Green Fair, Charity Crochet and Organic Fortnight

2008-09-04T23:17:00.003+01:00

So I had a stall at York Green Festival on Sunday and despite the heavy rain in the afternoon it was a wonderful day. It's one we'll definitely be pencilling in for next year. There was lots of interest in cloth nappies, which was great because I love talking nappies! It was nice to be near the acoustic stage as we got to listen to the music as we were serving customers. The only downside of the day was getting rather wet when we were packing up the gazebo in the puring rain.

The other thing I've been doing lately is some charity crochet for Caring Yorkshire Hands. I've only just started crocheting and making little hats, bootees and clothes for premature babies is a great way of learning to follow patterns and donating to a worthwhile cause at the same time. It's encouraging to finish items so quickly too. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone starting out or who has a few minutes each day. If you want to know more about Caring Yorkshire Hands, you can find their blog in my blog list.

Saturday is the start of Organic Fortnight and with it will come a range of offers in store. There will be a discount on all the Sckoon pads and nappies - made from organic cotton. If you want to know more visit Crafty 'n' Clothy.

Upcoming Fairs!

2008-08-22T10:04:00.002+01:00

So I'm frantically making lots of stock to take to the fairs I'm attending soon. Coming up on Sunday 31st August we'll be at York Green Festival 2008 in Rowntree Park. It's open from 11am - 5pm and entry is free. Then on Sunday September 7th we're at York Racecourse for the Goddess Fair North.

At the fairs we'll have a range of eco-friendly toiletries, sanitary wear, eco-friendly cleaning products and handmade jewellery. We will also be selling our new range - felted soaps, these are a fab way of using soap as there is no need for a washcloth!

Hope to see you there!

Crafty 'n' Clothy

2008-08-14T17:50:00.002+01:00

Oooh my first blog post! I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Hazel and I'm a work at home mum. I run my own business (Crafty 'n' Clothy) while looking after my daughter Erin, currently 16 months old. Yes, it can be a juggling act but I love it.

I really love crafting and try out all sorts; jewellery making, sewing, card making, felting, knitting, crochet, spinning. I sell my jewellery & felted items online and at local craft fairs.

The rest of my business focuses on eco-friendly living. I've been using cloth nappies on my daughter and now sell them along with reusable sanitary wear and eco-friendly toiletries and cleaning products.

Right now I'm getting ready for a couple of fairs, which means I'm busy, busy, busy. I have fibre all over the place and my desk is piled high with various bits and pieces. Hopefully I'll soon have loads of stock made.

Why not check out my store, we ship worldwide!