I have launched a crafting vlog channel: Shiny Crafting on YouTube! !! Crochet may have been my main craft over the last... decade, but now I'm going to be vlogging my hand sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, painting and more. I'll be sharing progress, experiments, and decision making along the way.  I'll be posting every two weeks, roughly, with miscellaneous craft related topics. Three videos are live so far on YouTube, and have been sharing various projects on socials in the last few months. Links to the channel and socials  are on my LinkTree . (10 minute read) Awkward but excited I may do the odd tutorial, but that won't be the focus. I spend a lot of time each week with tutorials for crochet as Shiny Crochet , and while I love that, I'm very excited to have this separate space for a more relaxed and candid format.  Crochet definitely took priority for a long time, but even then I still snuck in other crafts over the years. I would apply it to different things, ...

Earlier this year I decided to have a go at making a pattern for a frog.  I'd started noticing frogs popping up all around, then a friend actually suggested I make one. I remembered making one several years before without writing any notes.  I was in the midst of many other projects so I put off starting this pattern. As always though, I was thinking about how I would go about the design, what's in a frog after all?  (5 minute read) froggie frogs When I'd finally made headspace to look at this project, I was then overwhelmed by options .  I started with sketching them out because I wanted to pinpoint what makes the toy look like a frog, I looked up actually frogs, plushie frogs, toy frogs, and more. Over breakfast on a couple mornings I sketched and doodled and floundered on options some more. I was really enchanted by blobby boy to the top right of with the creepy clear eyes, but I couldn't quite wrap my head around how  I would achieve that, let alone write th...

I have always been drawn in by pretty shawl patterns, particularly with the gorgeous designs being released all the time. I decided to have a go at writing my own which would be light weight and using basic stitches to making it a more mindless task than the more elaborate designs.  The pattern took a lot of time to complete, as I was learning a lot at the same time as writing it. I would focus on it for a few weeks, make some good progress, then put it off a couple months.  This made the shawl sit in an interesting place in my mind as it developed through some strange times, starting to realise I was unwell, moving apartments, the bushfires starting in Australia, my brother getting married. Such a jumble of emotions and stories woven into this pattern. (10 minute read) It was so lovely to then wear to my brother's wedding, even though it was late Spring by then and fires raging all around.  Shawl's first outing This process started around May 2019, at which point I was t...

Winter always sneaks up on me with the cold; and every year I plan on making myself a jumper, but by the time I settle on a pattern, it's Spring.  This year, the stars aligned. The season's cold started so much earlier, and hit so much harder. And the perfect introductory pattern popped up. The Ziggy Jumper, by Stitches by Trudy.   (7 minute read) Candid selfies are possible with The Ziggy Jumper (and a Bluetooth clicker) The final detail I needed to start: the yarn.  I've been working through my stash for the last year or so, but with only cottons and limited hand dyed yarns left I needed some thing new for this. A cheeky sale popped up from Spotlight so I went to check out their options. I had looked at their online catalogue, but it's not the same as looking in person.  The moment I saw the Value Ball Rainbow 3 Pack I knew it would be perfect for this jumper. The colour changes were long enough to be nice sturdy stripes, and the colours beautiful. Though I didn't...

It's been a really cold winter this year, and our apartment is draughty as they put wooden flooring throughout and little direct sun. When we moved in in Spring, this was fine - preferred in fact. Now we're in a record breaking winter and can't seem to keep rooms warm.  I had started using a doona (duvet) cover as a door snake in our bedroom as there is an inch gap underneath thanks to the flooring change.  Each day I would wake up and think, okay I need to make a snake for that.  And then when I went to bed, I'd think, tomorrow I will make a snake for that.  Finally the stars aligned and I remembered during the day and ransacked my remnants and scrap fabrics.  I had some left over outdoor fabric which I'm hoping will be a bit more durable. I measured the length of the door from jam to jam, roughly 80cm.  Then the width of the door, roughly an inch. Now, why would I need the width of the door, a snake just gets pushed against it right? Right, except I ...