crochet: just go for it!







Crochet has always perplexed me a bit! It is just another one of those crafts that look so simple, but with no "Yoda" of the crochet world on hand to guide me and any pattern looking like gibberish I always gave it a wide berth.

 

It was something I had dabbled in once before, but it was so many years ago it seemed that nothing I was taught had stuck. My granny was able to crochet and once showed me how to add rows onto a granny square. The 2 photos below are of the exact piece of work we did together.

 

    

 

It might be quite a weird thing to say, but this little square of crochet is one of the most precious things I own. It is a lasting memory of a woman I was very, very blessed to call my Granny. It brings back wonderful memories, just as photographs do and it is something I want to turn into a cushion cover so that I can have it out on display everyday to make me smile - the thing being, I am too scared that I ruin it to even attempt anything with it, so it has sat for years while I build up the courage!

 

I'd also like to point out at this stage that the hideous flourescent orange and the ridiculous dark green rows were my contribution to the piece and yes - it looks very odd and not at all in keeping with the beutiful colour scheme my Granny had been working with, but that is the whole point of the square. I remember choosing the yarns, I remember talking to Granny about it, I remember where we were... it is honestly so dear to me because of the memories it brings back. I love my Granny and miss her always x

 

Anyway!! Enough of that or I will be blubbing....

 

Back to the point of this blog. I was scared to try crochet again and I didn't have a Scoobie Doo on where to start because all the books I had on the subject didn't help. My biggest piece of advice to follow, if you are in the same situation as I was, is to get on Youtube! I searched for a simple granny square tutorial and I found one that I could follow and hey presto....

 

The photo above displays some of the fruits of my labour! I think watching a demonstration of a physical act is far easier to learn from, rather than photos and words. Something with me just clicked anyway and I was off! Something also good about choosing granny sqares is that it taught me a chain stitch, a double crochet and a triple/treble crochet in one fell swoop, which I now realise was rather handy. These little beauties can also be combined together to create so many different things that if your crocheting ability stops at these - you could still fill your home with lots of crocheted lovliness!

 

The other point I would like to make is that once you have understood the basics... JUST GO FOR IT! If you try something and it turns out more like matted spaghetti than a crochet masterpiece, who cares?! Just unravel it and start again. I am not just telling you blindly to do this, without myself first diving in and giving it a go! I did this, this week and I am so strangely proud of myself and my finished article!

 

                              

 

I bought this book and fell in love with the "recipe" (as it calls it) for a crochet string bag. I threw caution to the wind, grabbed some cotton yarn and my crochet hood and just went for it! I have to be honest, the way crochet patterns are written are quite back to front to me sometimes because I am used to knitting patterns, but if you take your time and think about it logically - you can get to grips with it. I think it also really helps to have photos of the finished project so you know what you are aiming for. This way you will understand instantly if you have strayed! haha!

 

I didn't have much faith in my skills to complete the bag, but not only have I completed it, I am really happy with it! I even made one slight adjustment to the pattern to make the handles slightly longer so I can wear the bag on my shoulder! Hoorah for just giving something a go!! Here is a little photo diary of my bag:

 

P.s. please excuse my photography and my funky pjama bottoms in some of the shots! haha! It is cold here just now and most of my crocheting time was at night in front of the fire!

outfit post - random trip to Perth

Today, my morning was spent at the sewing machine and sitting at my desk doing some paperwork. This afternoon I decided to head to Perth with my sister for a look-see and this is what I popped on for the trip.

I'm kinda loving the colder edge to the weather that is creeping in as I love my collection of boots and can't wait to get back into them all. It was definitely cool enough to dig into my boots and I have missed wearing these! They are LK Bennett, the softest leather ever and so comfy! The turn downs at the top can also be worn up so the boots are more thigh high and extra warm.

I teamed them with one of my favourite dresses that I bought years ago from a sale rail in Primark for £5!! I also have this dress in blue by the way, which was in a previous outfit post. The cardigan (George at Asda) looks like a dark blue in this light, but it is actually a rich purple to match the dress and one of my Lola Rose blue magnesite necklaces.

The scarf was thrown on in haste because of how chilly it was outside (it was much nicer in Perth) and of course I am wearing my amazing Miu Miu Coffer bag in burgundy.

the WEST HIGHLAND WAY adventure

As some of you may already know, a group of friends and I walked the West Highland Way at the start of August. It was all to raise money for charity and although money is still coming in and we don't have a final figure yet, it is going to be in the region of £1500! Anyway, my plan is to write a post for each day in detail and take you through our adventure. To begin with I want to give a brief overview of how we split up our journey, things we learned along the way that weren't in any guide books and anything else I can think of that may help people wanting to walk the WHW and then I will break down the days and go into more detail. All the blogs I've read about walking the WHW have been rather dull and not really filled with any info that I would want or need (how many times can people tell you their feet hurt and they stink at the end of each day??? that is a given my friends) so I will TRY to make it slightly more entertaining, if not at least more relevant. Firstly (and most importantly) I'd like to say this: we paid for this entire trip out of our own pocket and no money raised for the charities was used to fund the trip. It has been surprising how many people have asked about this - surely no one would use sponsor money to pay their expenses??? Maybe I am just too trusting of humankind, I guess it must happen. So here is some basic info about the trip:

• We chose to walk the WHW over a period of 7 days and so all of my timings and breakdown of days are tailored to this. I would say that none of our group were seasoned hill walkers and I think some of us could have managed the trip in maybe 5 - 6 days so think long and hard about how tough you want it to be, if you like long lunches and getting to where you are going to stay later in the day or if you want to pack in as much distance as possible each day. Everyone will be different
• We got our luggage carried - as did a lot of the other people we came across along the way. We used AMS who were friendly, reliable and well priced at £40 for each bag (under 20kg) for the entire trip. They pick up your bags every morning from where you are staying and drop them off to wherever you are headed that night. This would factor into timings if you were going to carry all of your luggage with you. This will also depend on if you are camping or staying in the many hostels/b&bs/hotels along the way as we were.
• I personally found most places along the way quite expensive for food/drink. Now, some places were WELL WORTH the money and some were charging such ridiculous prices because they obviously know they have a captive audience. Basically, if you are doing as we did - plan for a good £20 - £30 each day if you are buying your lunch and dinner, picking up juice and snacks and whatever other bits and bobs you might need. I will let you know where is good or not in relation to food when I break down the days.
• We did the walk in August and I brought far too many layers of clothing I didn't use. PACK SENSIBLY! I also brought walking poles that I ended up never using because I just found they got in the way rather than helping. The girls I was with all used their poles so it just all comes down to personal preference so I would say try and have a idea of what you like/don't like and will/will not use.
• We are not seasoned hill walkers. We don't do this kind of thing all the time. If you are after a blog more about the hills, the scenery, camping etc etc etc then this blog is not for you.
• I used the Footprint guide map below along the way, which I really loved. It is simple, easy to use and the only thing I really used it for was to see how many miles we had done/were left to do each day. It was really nice to know and the map has each mile marked along it. The WHW is really, really clearly signposted so don't worry about getting lost.
• 
  The midges weren't actually that bad and I didn't use my mosquito net or repellent once.
• We walked South to North, from Milngavie to Fort William: stopping in Rowardennan, Inverarnan, Tyndrum, Kingshouse and Kinlochleven.

 

outfit post - day at the sewing machine

Today was earmarked for sewing, sewing and more sewing so all I want is to be comfortable with room to move my arms freely. I have been rediscovering some pieces from my wardrobe after losing some weight and this top used to be a favourite of mine and it's so great to be able to wear it again! It is a label called "The POP" and I got it shipped from a Japanese website years ago. I have no idea what it was called I'm afraid, but I am sure there will be great websites out there if you look hard enough and make sure they ship internationally. It looks more purple in these photos, but it is actually burgundy. I love dark colours and I tend to wear a lot of them because A - I'm a mucky pup and light colours show all marks and B - I find them quite comforting, slimming and safe.

 

I have teamed my top with my New Look TALL range dark skinny jeans and one of my many blue magnesite Lola Rose necklaces. Lola Rose work with natural, semi precious stones, are a British company and I have countless pieces that are all of incredible quality. I really recommend that you check them out!

 







today's little...

wan·der/ˈwändər/

Verb:

Walk or move in a leisurely, casual, or aimless way In all honesty, "wander" is perhaps not the correct term because it was a lot more brisk than aimless, casual or leisurely, but either way I went for a lovely walk today and as a departure from the routes I have been walking regularly, I made the most of the beautiful beach near where I live and just let my feet carry me as far as they wanted. It is Saturday and I was quite surprised at the lack of other people! It was rather chilly in the wind and there were some showers, but I still expected more than a few birds for company! I did see a few dog walkers on the way back, but they all stayed quite close to the end of the beach near the town. Shame, because further along is really pretty and if our little pooch would walk that far I would definitely take her. Unfortunately, Little Miss Tiffany is far too much of a diva to get grubby on the beach very often. I shall be off out later for another walk, hopefully with some company and a different route. Not long now for the West Highland way... 18 days and counting!

my new healthy outlook on life

OK - a confession: I have found the first half of this year challenging! I won't go into details, but it has been  a bit of a serious drag. I found myself looking into a metaphorical (and real) mirror and not liking what was looking back at me. The realisation: if I don't like who I am or what I look like, why would anybody else? The solution: a major lifestyle rethink. I don't mean to say that I had turned into a bad person, but having confidence issues (body and mind) and having negative experiences giving me a negative outlook was really starting to take its toll on my personality. So, what to do...?

 Well firstly I had to decide what I wanted to change and how I wanted to achieve this and when I thought about it, it boiled down to a little saying that I have since repeated to myself daily: healthy body = healthy mind! I believe the two go hand in hand and to be truely happy you need to think about both aspects of life. Are the choices I make in my life enriching my life or the lives of those I interact with? If the answer was no - that was the wrong choice and wrong action for me to take. Something as simple as what I am fueling my body with came to my attention - is what I am eating giving my body everything it needs to keep me healthy and give me energy.

 Now, I have never been good with this! I have always eaten what I want, when I wanted - whether that be pizza for breakfast or a donner kebab and chips at 1am! I gave no care or attention to what this was doing to my body and unfortunately I was feeling the effects. I now eat a full variety of food, at sensible times of the day and there are a few specific things that I used to love which are now out of my diet completely. It's not about being really strict (I want to make that clear), I have the odd treat and there are still things which I can't force myself to like, such 

as salad or fruit, but there are ways round this issue such as pure fruit smoothies and eating a full range of other vegetables and sneaking some salad veg into cooked dishes! That is one key part of my new lifestyle. The other is how I spend my time. The biggest changes I have made are getting out of the house a lot more (be it exercising or just experiencing new things) and giving some of my time to support a cause close to my heart. I walk for at least 1 hour a day, everyday! I really enjoy it, it clears my head and gives me time to think about things and mainly I just think the fresh air revitalises me. I was also having trouble sleeping and since I started walking I have been sleeping much better - so it is definitely a win:win situation! I think we all tend to forget how beautiful Scotland is and when I am out walking I regularly notice little things that put a huge smile on my face! People travel the world (rightly so) to see beautiful things and meet beautiful people, but where is the harm in looking on your doorstop for those things? One of the best days of my life was spent with a good friend of mine, up in the hills just spending time having a good old chat and exploring a little patch of this Bonnie land!

The last piece of my lifestyle puzzle is giving 4 hours of my time, once a week to a charitable organisation that is close to my heart. I don't really want to go into details or harp on about this because I am not looking for a pat on the back or any kind of recognition for doing it. The experience itself and knowing that I can have a small positive impact on those people I encounter is enough to make me very, very happy about doing it. I know it is not a lot and I know some amazing people that do a lot more to help others and support charities, but it is a start and a very positive thing in my life! As you may also know, my sister and I like to take on new challenges to gain sponsors and raise funds for charities (the West Highland Way being our next adventure) and we plan to continue this and find new and interesting ways to raise money for charity. Cheryl and I are already eyeing up a MASSIVE challenge for next summer, but I will keep that under wraps until we return from the WHW in August! Needless to say it would be the hardest physical activity either of us have ever undertaken... and I used to be a national athlete, so that's saying something!!

I hope everything I have said makes sense and perhaps even someone reading this can take some comfort (if they were feeling low like I was) in knowing that they are not alone and that sometimes you can be proactive in making your life happier and healthier, instead of waiting around for something or someone to come along and change things for you. I will always have confidence issues and things in my life that I struggle to be positive about, but even identifying that and dealing with it in a positive way is hopefully a huge step towards being happy and content with simply being me. No one is perfect, I just have to make peace with who I am and try to be the best Cissyface I can be :)

little vintage project

Here is a little project of mine I picked up from Martha's Closet! It was in the SALE section because it has some discolouration and damage on the bottom half, which meant I got it for the bargain price of £10 - it was originally £35! Woop woop!

Anyway... I wouldn't have ever worn it as a full length kaftan and instantly liked the curved bottom edge of the design which flows from the sleeves. It is absolutely huge and drapes nicely so my instant thoughts were to make it into a loose fitting top that are so popular just now. You can see in the bottom photo that I have crudely lopped off the part of the kaftan I don't need and when I get the time I am going to neatly hem this part and then sew two seams from under the arms to the bottom at each side of my body so that the top sits slightly closer to my body and the sleeve parts still billow out when I move my arms (if that makes sense??!).

It will all become clear when I actually get time to make the changes and I will show you how it turns out. The neckline is really wide and it sits just on my shoulders so I thought a nice necklace some oversized gold hoop earrings and my hair piled on top of my head would emphasize the neckline and of course finished off with some skinnies for a very laid back, summer look :)

What do you think? I don't know about anyone else out there, but the modern high street is boring me at the moment. Nothing is new or fresh anymore and half the fashion is ripped off from vintage anyway so why not get an original at probably around the same price or CHEAPER if you do your homework and shop about!