Uncategorized – Page 2 – A Cottage Crafter

Teaching Knitting at groups

I’ve always loved knitting from a young age and it was back then drilled into me that women needed to learn the skill along with sewing to create clothing for the family. So I learnt.

Knitting as a child was hard work. Trying to find the right time to learn from my mother or grandmother when they were busy with housework or my siblings and also preparing food. So I made it my aim to learn every Saturday if my mother wasn’t too tired from work or on Sunday after church if my grandmother wasn’t busy. But when they tried to teach me I got in a mess and couldn’t quite get the hang of it. So I picked up some patterns and dreamt of knitting and then I saw the folder with the answer, step by step pictures of how to knit. I was in my element when I saw them and borrowed some needles and a scrap ball of wool and set to work.

One I had got through all the pictures, I stood back in amazement. There, at 4 years of age, I was knitting! How proud I felt.

Since then I’ve been slowly developing my skills and knit many items for my children and other people.

Lockdown was hard for many people, but I was able to improve my knowledge of knitting and started making tricky items that I would not have wanted to do before.

I made many items, and some I sold. I’ve enjoyed knitting and have become the local sock knitter! Now, I want to teach my skills to people who want to learn.

So, very soon, I will be hosting a crafters group where I can teach people of different ages. I’m currently designing my very own beginner knitting packs that can be done together as a group or alone at home.

For anyone who is interested in joining my group, please let me know. It will be taking place in Grimsby and I will be finding the ideal place soon.

Clean & green living!

Well, I love to have a good read of books if they get me hooked on the first page.

I’ve been following a lady on Instagram, Nancy Birtwhistle, who has been sharing reels of how she uses natural products to clean her home, clothes and more! She is an extraordinary lady and has even been on the TV showing us her tips.

So earlier this month, I went out and bought her book, Clean & Green, and was instantly hooked! The tips in there are fantastic and I needed to get myself some products to make these brilliant cleaning products.

So once all the products had arrived, I got on with making my very own eco-friendly cleaning detergents.

Works great with my newly knitted dish cloth!

I was so overwhelmed with how good the bathroom looked once I’d cleaned it that I had to make myself the fabric conditioner (as everyone loves fresh smelling clothes!) It smelled good but I wasn’t convinced it was going to make my clothes smell nice, until I tried it. Oh my goodness my clothes smelled lovely and since then, I’ve not used the ones you get in the supermarket. Job done!

Then I decided that I wanted to see more tips from Nancy, so I went out and bought myself her next book, Green Living made easy!

Still impressed with everything written within and looking for ways to do things so much greener in and out of the house, I showed them to my 15 year old son, who is now also hooked and for the first time in his life looks forward to doing the cleaning!

Once we have Christmas and New Year out of the way and we all get back to normal again, I will try some of the recipes from the book.

Now, if you’ve wanted to be a little greener and haven’t really got a clue of where to start. Go out and buy these books, they will change your life for the better and save you money too!

All the best for the new year folks, happy reading 📚

ZJ xoxo

New wrist warmers

Hey there everyone! How are you all doing? I hope you are all doing okay in the topsy-turvy weather! I can’t seem to make my mind up what to wear from one day to the next!

So because of that I’ve put my thinking cap on and come up with a good way to keep warm but not get too hot and that just happens to be wrist warmers!

These great things are just the thing to keep your wrists warm through the falling temperatures.

I made a few in one week and I think they are just the cutest!

I’ve even been experimenting with different patterns and they’ve turned out great.

So if you want one, follow the link to get yours! You won’t regret it 😉 acottagecrafter

Pattern testing

I’ve always wanted people to pattern test my products but never seemed successful in gaining candidates for the challenge!

So I’ve started the other way round instead. I’ve become a pattern tester to get to learn how the person gains their fan base and get those all important pattern testers!

It will become more obvious to me one day I’m sure but for now I’m getting all the research done to get me to the right place. It’s not an easy task really and I don’t want to put myself out there and then have all the nasties bombarding me with evil stuff! That’s not me, I’m looking for the same thing every pattern creator wants and that’s to have their pattern tested and that the public gets excited for the newest patterns and that all important release date!

I will get there I’m sure. But this is such a hard task and even harder when you don’t really know how to get to that finishing point.

If anyone knows how to get this help better, please let me know. I’ve just recently joined “yarnpond” but I think there has to be some funds involved somewhere. This (funds) I have not got as of yet!

I feel like I’ve just ranted all the way through this, I apologise for that. But in the meantime I’m casting on for a lovely lovely project called the hidden doorway tank by Janice Allen from ellevate designs. You can check out her creations on Instagram @ellevate_designs

Making patterns

I’m finding it quite hard to make a knitting pattern!

I know how to read patterns and I now know how to create my own pattern, but writing it down is so flippin hard!

I think I should be writing them as I’m going along but I think because of the multiple times I rip back the work I’ve done, I then forget to rewrite the pattern up!

It’s so frustrating to me and I do need to try a little harder I think?

Om the plus side, my patterns do look good! Take a look for yourselves…

Hopefully after writing g rhus I may be able to write up my pattern properly, hmmmm?

Socks!

Near enough every one of us wears them! Socks are just the greatest invention every to be on my knitting needles! I can’t seem to get enough of them. I love making all different colours of ankle socks that make wearing my walking boots a joy!

I started knitting socks 4 years ago when I was challenged to do something out of my comfort zone because I needed something small to do when I was on a cruise!

The challenge was accepted and I knit a great pair of socks for my Son. He still wears them to this day and he wants to learn the art of using dpn’s just like me! At 15 an autistic it would be a little bit tricky for him to do I think?

After the first pair I decided to make another, this time I understood the pattern and made them within a few days. So then a 3rd was cast on.

Last year after having made a few socks for both myself and my son, I decided to take the leap of asking my own patterns. It was quite interesting trying to work out how to fit a pattern into the correct amount of stitches. Eventually I managed it and my first pattern was born. The dragonfly!

I’m ever so proud of these socks and found it was the simplest of patterns to learn to grasp.

Since then I’ve been able to make a few other patterns. I hope for them to be published into a book someday. Take a look at the pictures below of all the other patterns I’ve completed.

If you like any of the products pictured please find them listed on my sum up shop on http://acottagecrafter.sumup.link or http://www.esty.com/shop/acottagecraftershop

Spring Flowers

I love this time of the year, there’s so many different flowers about. Whether they’re on a tree, a bush, a planter or up against a wall or fence. There’s just so many different types and I keep on taking photos of them!

I can’t get enough of flowers and I have blue bells in my garden (which is a rare sight in towns!)

Around the beaches are my best finds

I sometimes take pictures of people’s gardens and have been seen stepping into some gardens!

I love seeing the trees with their blossom and new leaves, it’s just a pretty sight to see and it makes us all feel warmer I side to see that the winter has been left behind again until next time.

Are you eco friendly?

Since the gas prices have doubled ive had to cut down on what I use. It amazes me at how many electrical and gas appliances we use on a daily basis.

During March we were all informed on the rise in gas and electricity costs that were due to be in place from 1st April 2022, so I thought it would be best to start taking action now!

Taking action!

I stopped using the heating as much and demanded my husband and son to add another layer if they were cold. Given that my husband is in his late 60s he has tried his best to do this, my son finds it great to wrap up in the blanket he knitted himself. I, being a knitter have just worn most of my woolly makes, (including socks!)

The first few days of April were cold and down to freezing temperatures, so I had to put the heating on for a short time to warm us all through. The evening was the same, but I tried to time it with the bedtime schedules. Luckily the weather warmed up shortly after and we were able to keep the heating off. Now it was down to cooking and showering!

Cooking

So our cooker (owned by the landlord) is gas. The hobs, grill and oven all get used quite frequently. But on one particular day in March the grill refused to stay lit! The landlord notified the man for the job only to find the safety for the ignition had broke, it needed a new one and was going to cost as much as a new cooker to repair it! The landlord vetoed that idea and said she’d get back to me on that.

Later that same day after talking with her husband decided to drop off a halogen air fryer they had spare, (there was a great offer at Xmas so they bought it!) They came round the next day with it. I have to say I was not feeling the love and thought to myself here goes my savings on gas!

Once we got it set up I thought I’d make a plate of chips for lunch. Thinking this was going to cost a fortune I took note of the smart meter, £0.46p, okay here goes…

20 minutes later chips perfectly cooked I checked the costs, £0.48p. I was shocked, 2 pence for 20 minutes! That was amazing and I had to admit to I really thought it would cost a fortune to run!

Since then we have cooked, fried and toasted in the air fryer. For vegetables though we have used the hobs, but the hasn’t been using as much as the main oven.

Plastic

I’ve had many adverts for eco soaps and never really looked into them, until I’d finished my shampoo. I clicked on a couple but they were too expensive, but one kept popping up on Instagram with a code for “a free bar just pay postage” link, so I clicked on it. I found one for coloured hair and paid the postage like it said.

Once it arrived in its no plastic packaging I thought I’d give it a try straight away. It smelled great! Once my hair was dry it looked smooth and felt soft, perfect, I could not have been happier! This is the best shampoo I’ve ever had before, you should try it!

Slowly but surely I’m buying less and less products with plastic and I’m moving towards the better way of using bags. I even make my own reusable bags which are great for shopping!

Gardening

I’ve got into growing my own fruit and vegetables now (as well as flowers to help the bees!) So far I have some little shoots from the turnips, I’ll be able to have some really good casseroles with all the vegetables I’ll have.

So as it is, the saving energy part is a work in progress. Soon I hope to reduce my energy usage save a few pennies too! How well are you coping with the rise in costs? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you for reading. Have a good day x

Market Bags

So shopping is a big part of what we do, from clothes to food we need to be able to carry these items around with us.

So why not have market bag made by a small independent business 🤔 It’s better than spending 10p on a plastic bag that we all know will end up in the bin!

A Cottage Crafter shop has a range of different coloured bags on offer. Each month a new selection of bags are added onto the shop. They are fully lined and are reversible for if you want a change.

Click on the pictures to view my shop or click on the link below.

acottagecrafter.sumup.link

Thank you for looking ZJ

Beautiful Cleethorpes

A beautiful sunset last night over Cleethorpes