As always it’s all go here at JANIE CROW
and in the lead up to Christmas things are no different – in fact it’s all
getting a bit ridiculous! As always I have given myself far too much to do over
the next few weeks and have a list as long as my arm of things that need to be
done in time for the BIG DAY. I do this every year – overload myself with an
impossible number of things, all of which need to be juggled about and squeezed
in so that we can enjoy a few days of holiday over the festive season without
having to think of anything work related.
I am sure I am not alone in overloading myself
with things to do over the next few weeks. Christmas is an ideal opportunity to
set a fantastic deadline, after all, what could be nicer than starting a whole
New Year with a clean slate and a whole new list of things to do? Having
deadlines and working on a tight schedule is a good thing, but the fact that I
always decide to add something ridiculous into the mix is just so annoying -
and to make it worse I do it every year!
The stupidity of the decision to do some
decorating over the next few weeks is the thing that is in danger of tipping me
over the edge - especially as I got a bit carried away with my great idea and
tore quite a large amount of wall paper away from the wall, revealing cracked
plaster and a rather large hole! There is another daunting looking bit of dodgy
ceiling coving that obviously (now I look at it a bit more closely) needs
rather a lot of attention and the 1970s ‘Anaglypta’ ceiling paper is even more
of a sod to paint than I had remembered!
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| Overtly Olive Paint - Dulux |
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| Delphine Wallpaper Nina Campbell |
Of course I’ve sorted all the nice bits –
the lovely wallpaper that I want to hang on the chimneybreast is here, the new
glass fire screen has arrived, I have decided on the new floor lamp and I have
chosen the shade of paint. I’ve got the fabric for the new Roman blinds and
have been looking through flooring catalogues. It’s all going to look so lovely
when its done, especially as I am planning to have some of my knitted cushions scattered about – but before I get to play with the ‘nice bits’ I need to do the
horrible bits = the painting, the sticking, the cleaning, the sawing and the
sewing. Ugghh!
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| Cushion Collection |
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| Echino Fabric For Roman Blinds |
A week on from my first day of decorating I
can see that I have a mammoth job ahead of me. There is so much to do and less and
less time in which to do it. Unfortunately I also have less and less enthusiasm
and energy and so have become an expert in distraction tactics. Rather than get
on with the decorating or one of the jobs on my list I have been crocheting
these lovely baubles designed by Greta Tulner of Atergcrochet. I really love
her cute little designs and these are just so lovely to do. Making these is a
lovely way of playing with yarn colours and using up small bits and bobs from
my stash. I have been using the Rico Essential Cotton that I bought at Manfield
Crafts a couple of weeks ago – I’m really impressed by this yarn, the colours
are fantastic and it has a really good feel, especially considering it is such
good value at just over £2 for a 50g ball.
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| Atergcrochet Baubles |
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| Pouch and Wrap Collection |
Amazingly (amongst all the chaos I have
created recently) Andy and I have finally got around to adding the JANIE CROW
range of wraps and pouches to the web site. Just in time for Christmas, these handmade
pieces of loveliness would make a great present for any knitter or crocheter.
We have 3 sizes of project pouch - small, medium and large - and 3 wrap sizes –
crochet hook, dpn and straight knitting needle. All pieces are hand made in the
UK from vintage woollen felted blankets and have velvet ribbon and a crochet
flower detail. All pieces are ‘one offs’, so we have had to add them to the
site one at a time. There are only about 12 left so you need to be quick if you
fancy one, although we do hope to put some more on the web site soon and if you
place any web site orders between now and the 18th December and your
total spend comes to more than £50 we will send you one of my crochet baubles
by way of a ‘thank you’ (this gives me the excuse to make even more and ignore
the decorating for even longer!)
Better go and at least take a look at the
mess I have created in the living room before I settle down for my day of
crochet. Perhaps we could start a wager on whether or not I get it all done in
time – odds in my favour are not good!