Crafting is my Therapy October 2016

Welcome to October's Crafting is my Therapy linky, the place for you to share your crafty progress from the last month. Last month we had lots of lovely crafty posts linked up, and it's so lovely to see such a variety of different projects.

As always, my regular crafting project for this month has been my Sky Blanket. I'm very proud of it, although it's looking enormous now! It's definitely going to need a border to even out the wonky edges and I can see it taking me a couple of hours to crochet each round! Here's how it looks so far, and you can read about it here - My Sky Blanket in September.

I'm still very much enjoying working on it, although I must admit that it is becoming a little unwieldy now and I'm tending to work on a few days at a time as it's quite a hassle to keep unfolding it and folding it back up again. I've already started planning my next crochet blanket, although I think that the next project will be on a much smaller scale!

My Sky Blanket in September #SkyBlanket2016

My Sky Blanket is now complete! Here is a link to the completed Sky Blanket. 

Here is how my blanket progressed throughout the year - January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December.

If you have found this page because you would like to make your own Sky Blanket, you might like these posts:

Tips for completing a Sky Blanket

My Sky Blanket - What I would do differently next time

I can't believe how quickly the year is going! It's October already, and so that means it's time for my Sky Blanket in September update post. As a reminder, here's how my blanket has progressed so far - January, February, March, April, May, June, July and August, and here is how it is looking now:

As you can see, it has long outgrown my sofa photo spot, it really is getting very large now! I hope that it's not going to end up too long and skinny, I think that we may end up using it sideways along the length of the sofa. It certainly is nice and warm and cosy to sit underneath. I'm finding it a bit of a pain to keep dragging out to work on so I've been doing a few days at a time, and trying to be good and sew in the ends as I go. It is definitely going to need a border to even out the edges a little bit, but that's going to be a good bit of work!

The month has been another mixed one, still plenty of blue in there but interspersed with grey too. I'm wondering whether when the blanket is finished there will be any distinction at all between summer and winter!

I very much like the combination of colours that I've ended up with and I like the stiches (mainly half treble) that I've used, it makes a nice solid blanket that hopefully won't stretch out of shape.

There was a group of us taking part in the Sky Blanket project throughout 2016, and you can find us across social media, in particular Instagram, using the hashtag #skyblanket2016. The project was started by Bug, Bird & Bee, The Boy and Me and You Little Sew and Sew.

If you aren't sure if a Sky Blanket is the project for you, you might like this blog post with some more ideas for a year long craft project.

With many thanks to Make it Coats for supplying me with the yarn for this project.

What do you eat for breakfast when you are camping?

We love camping as a family, and although we've yet to camp away for longer than a couple of nights, we've still had to plan how to feed ourselves while away from our usual home comforts. Instant porridge pot company MOMA Foods has conducted research into what campers eat for breakfast, and discovered that a third of British campers go for porridge as their breakfast of choice. 

I must admit that I hadn't realised just how easy it is to make porridge when you are camping - all you need to do is to add some hot water and wait for a few minutes - and it's the perfect way to warm up on a chilly morning outdoors. It's especially handy when you are preparing food for children - you need to find something that is quick and easy to prepare, and that doesn't need too much equipment, as well as being something that everyone will enjoy, and porridge ticks all the boxes!

MOMA Foods also discovered that almost half of Brits reveal that foraging for food to eat is a part of the camping experience. If you are new to foraging, have a look at the infographic below. There are some great tips for what you need to take with you, what to look out for, and some awesome porridge topping ideas to liven up your camping breakfast. 

Happy foraging!

This is a sponsored post.

Halloween craft - Paper plate spider web

This spider web craft is a really simple craft for Halloween, and the finished spider webs make great Halloween decorations!

You need:

Paper plates - either buy black ones or paint them black
White yarn or string
Coloured pipe cleaners
Googly eyes
Black cardboard

Instructions:

Cut slits around the outside of your paper plate about a centimetre or so apart. Tie a knot in the end of the yarn then wrap it around the paper plate hooking it through the slits to form the web. You can either attempt a pattern, or let the child just choose to put the yarn wherever they like for a more random pattern.

To make the spiders, cut four lengths from a pipe cleaner and use one of the pieces to wrap around the other three to hold them all in place. Glue firmly to the back of a small cardboard circle and decorate with googly eyes on the other side. When the spider is dry use plenty of glue to fix it into the web.

If you are looking for some more Halloween decorating ideas, over at Simple Parenting, Becky has been using nature to make some seriously cute leaf ghosts. 

Or for the Halloween buffet table, Cass from The Diary of a Frugal Family has been carving a different type of pumpkin - Halloween Pumpkin Peppers. Another non-scary Halloween food is these Slimer Biscuits from Ghostbusters, made by Joy at Pinkoddy to help meet her son's sensory diet needs at Halloween. And for a Halloween party centerpiece, how about this fabulous Witches Cauldron Cake from Jenny at Mummy Mishaps. 

For when you get back from Trick or Treating, why not serve up some Slow Cooker Halloween Punch for the adults by Aly from Bug Bird Bee. And if your kids are too small for real Halloween scares, Cat from Yellow Days has a round-up of fun, Non-scary Monster Crafts to try.

Planning my next crochet blanket - some crochet blanket inspiration

As the end of the year approaches rapidly, and I can see the end of my Sky Blanket in sight, I'm starting to think about a new project for next year. The Sky Blanket will be my third crochet blanket, having already completed the Patons crochet afghan and my granny square blanket. All three are quite different in terms of style and colour combinations, and I'm trying to work out what I'd like to try out next.

I have quite a lot of white yarn at the moment so it would be nice to use some of that up, although I want to include plenty of bright colours too. A pattern that I've had my eye on for a little while is the Granny Stripe blanket from Attic 24:


It looks as though I might be able to manage it, and maybe I could alternate the coloured rows with white ones, something like this:


On the other hand, after tentatively trying out a few different stitches on my Sky Blanket, I do quite like the idea of just going completely random with a whole mix of different stitches. I've seen some lovely examples like the one below, I could either make it up as I go along or follow a vague pattern, again alternating white rows with coloured ones.


I also like this similar idea using different sizes and shape of granny square, either in a random pattern or one with more structure to it:


To incorporate the white yarn I could use white for the backgrounds to the squares, something like this:


So it looks as though my big decision is really whether to go with stripes or squares! I'm leaning towards stripes at the moment because I quite like the more sturdy look of my stripy blanket, I worry about how well my granny squares will hold together if the blanket becomes well used. I'm hoping that I can come up with something that is an amalgamation of all the inspiration that I've picked up!

I hope you liked all these gorgeous blankets - this is my Blankets inspiration board on Pinterest, I've been adding to it for a long time now and it is stuffed full of more colourful crochet blankets, along with a few hints and tips!

Crafty uses for a comb binding machine at home

Over the summer I was lucky enough to receive a electric comb binder (affiliate link) to review, and we used it to make our fabulous summer holiday scrapbook.

I have lots of other crafty projects in mind for using my comb binder, both for myself and projects for the children, so I thought that I'd share them here in case anyone is looking for inspiration! My comb binding machine is an electronic one which makes it really easy to cut holes in thicker materials like laminated paper or cardboard.

Hobbies and crafting

Patterns - for knitting, crochet, cross stitch and so on, either to keep safe or to use while working on, as the bound sheets will lie flat for easy use

Recipes - again as the sheets lie flat it's the perfect way to organise the recipes that you use regularly for easy access

Inspiration file - with cuttings from magazines, to keep them all together

Blog planner - I'm still collecting ideas for this but there are loads of free blog planner printables about, and although I do a lot of my planning electronically I do like to be able to write things down as well

Portfolios - a way to store and display your best pieces of written work, or sketches, or photographs and so on

For the children

A colouring book - print out free colouring pages and bind them together for a personalised colouring book that you can take travelling with you

A way to collect together stories and artwork - children can write and illustrate their own stories and bind them together to make books, or else keep a diary of what they've been up to or a special day out or holiday, like our holiday scrapbook

Worksheets - perhaps they could be laminated so that they can be worked on again and again, for example for handwriting practice

School information - like class lists, contact details, schedules, after school club information, lunch menus, curriculum information

School work - bind together some of the favourite writing and drawing from the year to create a series of books showing their development. You could also add in certificates that they've received over the year and school photographs

Around the house

Instruction manuals - you could include manuals that are different sizes and make a handy book to flip through

Takeaway menus - for handy access and comparison!

A cleaning schedule - perhaps with laminated pages so that you can tick off chores as they are completed

A babysitting manual - with information for babysitters such as emergency contact numbers, details of your routine, where different things (like the chocolate biscuits!) are kept and so on

How would you use a comb binder at home? I'm sure there are lots of other ideas!

Autumn Activities from the Forestry Commission

This Autumn, Forestry Commission England wants to get everyone out and about enjoying their local forest.

We were sent some crafty bits and pieces so that we could try out some of the activities ourselves. We started with a canvas tree picture, using colours that we found in nature. Mia collected together as many different colours as she could - green grass and leaves, coloured flower petals, berries, and some dirt mixed with water. Then she used them to paint the canvas. The mud worked best, but the coloured petals also worked really well, and she produced a fantastic background for her art. 

Then she painted a tree outline and used white glue to stick down different shapes and sizes of leaf that she found to make the outline of the tree. She was so proud of her finished picture that she took it into school to show her class!

Then I tried my hand at making an Autumn themed dream catcher. I found some instructions here - How to Make a Dreamcatcher - and used a small wooden hoop, twine and beads to weave it together. I decorated it with some Autumn leaves that Mia had collected.

Finally, Mia and I enjoyed some adult colouring sheets which you can download here - Autumn colouring sheets - a great way to spend some quiet time together.

We were provided with some crafty bits and pieces to help us complete these projects.