Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

Oh dear me, what a long time it's been! For this I can only apologise and hope that you can find it in your kind hearts to forgive me. And I promise to do better next time.
Life has become very busy since my last post - having two jobs and volunteering for charity really does take up an awful lot of time! I think that since last time, I have started at least five projects and finished two... I am proud to say however that one of those two was my very first piece of knitting! After seeing (but foolishly not buying) the new Katia Rizos wool at the Knititng and Stitching Show in October, noting that it looked so easy that even a novice like me could do it, and a significant amount of time trawling the internet, I managed to get hold of a ball of the wool (if one can call it wool) in a lovely tealy blue shade and finally create something that I am not ashamed to admit ownership of! So I haven't just been lazing around in my absence from the land of blogging, I have been learning new skills. Honest.
And since those two jobs of mine will soon be coming to an end, I might actually be able to finish some of the many many projects lying around my house (there's half a sheep somewhere that never got knitted last year...) and try harder to keep up with the mystical blogosphere as well. Once again, my sincerest apologies and I can only hope that nobody missed me too much.
Now, what have you been up to since I went away?

The trouble with birthday presents...

..is that on many an occasion when I've made something for someone, I end up liking it so much that I have to make one for myself as well. Which isn't so bad until I start running low on supplies - but having just booked tickets to the Knitting and Stitching show next month, hopefully lack of supplies won't be a problem for too long! (No, I haven't still got a lovely piece of fabric and some pretty beads that I got from last year's show sitting around waiting to be transformed, don't be silly.)
I've also managed to make a start on a few things to go on my Etsy shop - not much so far, but watch this space! I think I need to get my designing hat on... has anyone seen it anywhere?

Lessons in lace

So, I have returned to the South after a lovely trip up to Manchester for the weekend, encompassing one amazing gig at Lancashire County Cricket Ground and a trip to one amazing bead shop. Lots of inspiration to get creating there! Today my mother has also been giving me a masterclass in lacemaking - hopefully soon I will have mastered it and actually manage to make something that looks more like lace and less like a collection of wonky threads...

A day out by steam

The handbag still has not come to fruition it seems, thanks to a semi-spontaneous trip to a steam railway and the Broads with Big Sister yesterday:

I spy a steam train

Turning the engine around

Do these make anyone else think of Christmas?

Quack quack

The Wildlife Centre is on its own little island - it even has a drawbridge!

Swan swam swiftly...

Hello heron

And tonight sees a long journey to Manchester for the weekend... maybe crafting can be done in the car?!

(Photographs are the work of my very talented Big Sister!)

Post the First

Right now I'm between projects really - well, I say that, but isn't it true that I have a lacy rose still attached to the roll of lace, a knitted Eeyore that needs teazing and sewing together and a brooch that needs recreating since I accidentally sent the last one through the washing machine? Yes, it is. I suppose what I really mean is that I haven't started anything new in the last week or so. Perhaps tomorrow I'll make a handbag.