Crazy crochetting guitar playing girl.

Hi there guys. Well what a crazy month or so. Gig/Work/Gig/Wedding/Radio show/Train renovation and More work.....I have been soooo busy that its just blown me clean out of the water. Still I've lost half a stone as a result of rushing around and such so theres good and bad points right?

I've barely had time to pick up a crochet hook but I've suddenly felt this urgent need to create something so I signed up for a swap on craftser thats a monster swap. How exciting is that. I already have soo many ideas tumbling around in my head on what to make. I like really randomly obscure monsters like bugbears and cockatrices so hopefully my partner will want random monsters so I can make some stuff like that.

My last craft swap seemed to go really well. It was my first and it was an easter one,  this is what I sent in the end

It had to be spring themed and fit in a pringle tube. SO I decorated the tube as an easter chick made a little springtime bag, my favourite bits were the carrot phone charm and the be happy cloud/rainbow magnet.  they were made out of shrinkydink plastic and I really had fun making those.  cramming it all into the tube was tricky though.
Anyway i'll be updating more regularly I promise

Sorry I havent been around since Thursday, I was up in aberdeen seeing my relatives.  I have quite a big family and they all live up in scotland.  it was my mums 50th birthday you see.  I got her a book on Macrame because she wanted to learn that.  And I got her a trip down to my place near london so she can go to a west end show.  She's never been so, she was really excited about that.

Today my crochet magazines turned up and already i've done the two crochet techinque squares that go towards building up the patchwork throw.  im excited about that. its going to look awesome once its finished.  But I wonder how much work I am going to get done in terms of arts/crafts as tomorrow final fantasy 13 is released and I plan to be playing it with every waking moment of my life until its completed.

I'm a gamer girl you see, an RPG (role playing game) nut!  I love the final fantasy series and my HD tv and my playstation 3 are going to get a serious playing over the next couple of weeks.  I really really cant wait.  Its the most anticipated game of mine since Little Big planet was released.
The thing is I am also a bit of a cosplayer, thats where you dress up as computer game/anime characters and go to conventions.  I am hoping to see some really inspirational outfits to have a go at making!

Everyone has something shiny. Something they have natural talent at. I think mine might be crochet but sometimes I wonder, and panic that perhaps my shiny thing is actually something i've never done before, like rock climbing or wind surfing or speaking swahili. I dont know until I try these things, but when will I ever get the chance to hangglide?

Everyone I think has something they're shiny at. Everyone. the trick is to find that something. Thats the hard part.



I was also thinking about dust today. Yesterday at lunchtime I was watching dust float in the sun. its so sparkly and pretty and two thoughts came to my mind. If dust is largly dead skin cells from us, then why don't we sparkle in the sun? Also why do we only see dust floating in sunbeams inside the house. Is there dust outside or is that just a house thing? Its important to ask these questions.



Also tomorrow me and paul go to aberdeen, to see my family I must admit im looking forward to seeing everyone. I dont have much to report in about but it'd just be nice seeing them, and although its chaos up there and really very cold I am still hyped up about it.


Oh yeah and my music is going to be on the radio. A guy contacted me yesterday from south africa LOL and asked if he could play some of my songs on his radio station. He said he'd record it and send me a copy of his show. He also said he would need to bleep out the swearwords how cool is that. im gonna be censored. Thats exciting!

I am in the process of crochetting this.  Yes I know, a little odd but you see my husband is trying (with some other people) to set up a train museum and this is one of the trains they saved.  I wanted to make him a cuddly version and so far ive got the sides done i'm currently aking the windows.  its going to be ace once I finish it. 
I have seriously been toying with the idea of crochetting the real thing, like making a giant blanket (I would make 1ft sq granny squares and use them like pixels to make a message and then cover the train.  I worked out it would take over 1600 squares to do as the train is 64 foot long its something ive been really needing to do.
Do you think I should do it?

The post office re-opened WOOHOO!!! in my ton just before xmas the local post office shut down. It was really inconvenient as it meant I had to drive to a neighbouring town if I needed to send any mail. Techinically theres a law in the UK that large populations such as my town shohuld have a post office within one mile but with our post office closing it meant our nearest one was almost 3 miles away. Utter annoyance! Still now we have one again that means I can send stuff to people which makes me happy because I love sending out parcels to people.

Once theres a few more people watching this blog i'll start doing freebee give away type things because it looks like a nice thing to do.

This weekend i've been doing a tonne of spring cleaning. It is march now after all. I even organised all my wool. I never realised quite how much wool I had. Crazy crazy amounts, lots of half and quarter balls. I need to find som craft projects that use up scraps so I can deplete my stock a little.

Today I made this



I found the free pattern on Sayjai's blog found here http://kandjdolls.blogspot.com/2010/02/pink-little-lady.html
Saw the doll and fell instantly in love and needed to make one right there and then. The pattern was really easy to follow and I really enjoyed making the doll. I named her Amy. the problem is she's too cute. Cute things always have hidden motives. Cute by day, evil plotting to take over the world by night. She has fimo cookies in her basket although you cant see them, they're poisonous so I wouldnt eat any of them if I were you.

Also in other news you won't know this cause I haven't told you but I'm a little on the podgy side and have been dieting to try and shed some stones. in november I was almost 14 stone. Thats not good for someone who is only five foot tall, so I've been trying to lose weight, well today I stood on the scales and im 12 stone 5 thats still not great but its quite an improvement on the 14 stone mark so i'm pretty pleased with myself. Just 3 stone to go and I will be a very happy bunny indeed. Im trying to lose it all before August as I am doing a comedy/music set at a punk/folk music festival and I did a set last year and I was 14 stone so to go back in a years time at 9 stone would really shock people I think. hehehe I can imagine that would feel amazing. So thats my goal. plus to be fitter would be nice.

Our car got broken into or just generally vandalised, its hard to tell which because there wasnt anything worth having in the car, but the back window got smashed in. This is highly inconvenient because we only realised when we went to get in the car and saw glass everywhere, as a result had to cancel our plans tonight which is a bit of a downer.
My husband hasnt been in the best of moods today as it is without this being the icing on the cake. Smoo. Smoo is a word I use for sighing dissapointedly. I've used it for a few years now and all my friends use it now and my husband has just been using it constantly today.
Also today I woke up and my eye felt scratched I could barely open it without it feeling like I had half a sandpit in there. I ended up coming home early from work because the stonker of a headache i had Im guessing from eyestrain. When I got home I went to sleep and when I woke up I used some eyedrops. I noticed as I finished putting the drops in, that I had an eyelash GROWING on the inside of my eyelid. GROWING? why was it growing there? What a stupid place for an eyelash to be, so after an agonising pluck, it was gone and my eye although agitated for having been rubbed constantly all day instantly felt better, which is great cause I phoned the doctor today and the earliest they could see me was tuesday I mean great! Im glad I wasnt dying or anything!

Anyway enough of my whinging, its not been a good day. Hey lets talk crafts. Heres my first attempt at a crochet pattern, im actually working on writing 2 patterns at the moment, one for a snail and one for a mermaid, but heres a random bear pattern for now. As its my first pattern there might be wrong bits, if there are then please tell me so I can fix them. Thanks

Do you want to see something funny. My first ever crochet project. I made this in Feb 2008. I'm a huge anime fan and I really love Cardcaptor Sakura so I thought what better way to start my crochetting skills than to make Keroberos

It took me ages to make and I was so incredibly proud. He always makes me chuckle when I look at him now. I imagine him saying " ......kill.....me...." A few months later i June 2008 I tried again...and well this is the result. I took him with me to a cosplay convention where I was dressed up as Sakura from the anime. I even made little Kero button badges to give to people.

I love the fact that I can see soo much progress in that 2nd picture. It really does make me chuckle, and I kept both of them. I couldnt possibly part from my very first crochet project, I love him unconditionally like a first child. Even if he is a little on the rubbish side.

In other news i'm playing a few songs up at The George and Dragon pub in my town tonight. I have 2 new songs in my head that arnt quite finished so theres going to be a battle against time and me to see if I can perfect at least one of the songs before tonights performance. I like trying new stuff out on people. I mean I like all the songs I do, but sometimes I panic that people are getting bored of hearing the same stuff. My songs are funny but they can only be funny so many times before they get dull. Normally I only write one or two songs a year, but this year already I have written 3 (and one of those is the new crowd favourite) So with an extra 2 imbedded in my head i'm set to have written 5 songs before March which is amazing. That means I already have 5 songs ready for my next album. I will make money out of either my art or my music one of these days LOL. I dont want to be stuck in my day job forever

So heres the strawberry hat I finished recently for my best friends newborn baby thats supposed to be popping out tommorrow. I'm really excited for her and i'm really pleased with how the strawberry hat turned out. The pattern can be found at Theartofcrochet its in the members section but I think its free to sign up. It was a really simple pattern and i've already been asked by another 2 people to make them one, so I will probably knock them out later tonight.
I am soo on a crafting bender at the moment, the thing is, being a gemini I tend to go through phases of obsessions. At the moment its crochet but who knows what next week it'll be. it might be me trying to learn japanese again, or robotics, or maybe something new might catch my eye. With a crochet hook in one hand and my guitar in another its tricky finding time to get new hobbies.
Music wise I have a lot of upcoming gigs. I've been asked to play a venue in Shoreditch and I have the usual ones in my home town and now theres also one in hemel hempsted and another couple in couple in camden. Its all getting a little busy but I guess I wont always be in demand so I should do as many as I can now whilst people still like my music. I sing comedy songs if anyone was interested.
JammieSammys Music page Yeah thats all taken off really rather suddenly. I finished recording my debut album in december and its just not something I ever thought i'd do. I mean of course I dreamed about doing it, but thats exactly my problem. I'm a dreamer, I never actually follow through on any of my ideas so this one has taken me by surprise.

Anyway I better stop blogging and actually go do those strawberry hats I promised.

Has anyone heard of a new magazine thats out in the Uk called 'The Art of Crochet' I've seen it in shops, its one of those weekly collect the issues and put it in a binder thing, and every week they give you a ball of wool and teach you a new crochet technique so that you can make a square that will eventually all combine to make a throw. It looks ace. The thing is I have a problem.

I signed up for a subscription at the beginning of January and a week later I got my first issue, all was good I made my square, things were happy. Then I waited patiently for my next 2 issues to come as they were coming together...and i'm still waiting. The magazine is up to issue 8 now i've seen it in the shops The Art of Crochet but I havent even had issue 2 and it makes me sad. I mean I want to get stuck in, I want to do so many of the patterns I see in the mag and learn new techniques and I have to be patient. I dont want to be patient. I wrote to the people at the website and they told me issue 3 was needing a re-print which was why I hadnt got it yet, and that my sub would start in the middle of feb, but feb ends on sunday now and I still dont have any copies. *sighs*
Has anyone else signed up to the mag and has anyone else had any problems?