Michael – Ignore the critics

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Today I went to a morning showing of the Michael Jackson biopic.

It was really good, obviously the music was banging and a lot of chair dancing was happening, myself included. The screening had about 20-30 people in, which for midweek 11:00 am I thought was good.

I know the critics have slammed this, I’m not sure what they were expecting. This is us that were around at the time know the headlines, this wasn’t an in depth documentary. It was more a fly on the wall look at Michael’s life up to the Bad album where it ended with a duplicate of MJs performance.

His nephew, Jaafar Jackson, did a brilliant job portraying him, obviously he’s not his twin, but on stage he was MJ. When it ended I was a bit, what? However it did say His Story will continue, so I’m looking forward to part 2, it’s a bit like Wicked all over again having to wait.

I waited until the credits had ended and the music stopped playing, and came out feeling upbeat, buzzing and a little sad, as I clearly remember where I was when I found out he died. So many of his songs bring back memories from different times in my life. I was one of many who stayed up to watch the Thriller video screened on Channel4 back in the day. I’m sure you know what has been playing on my phone since 🤩

Stitch Festival

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I have been wanting to go to a knitting or sewing show or festival for a long time, I haven’t been to one since the pandemic. This was held at The business design centre and was nice and easy to get to. Armed with a shopping list I went row by row to look at all the stall. Looked at the latest Brother sewing machines, definitely some wants there.

Lots of good fabric stands, some yarn stands , lots of sewing accessories and a surprising amount of crochet stands. I avoided the yarn stalls as I do not wish to buy anymore, having said that I did buy a lovely mitten liner kits from Seven Magpies Studio.

Mitten liner kit

The lovely Jeanette Sloan had a stand and after seeing the items in real life , I couldn’t resist any more and had to buy her latest book with beaded knits. I know I will knit at least 3 of the patterns , I have the yarn and the beads, need to finish my shawl first. I managed to get a matching replacement zip for my backpack from the fab small business Studio 7t7 as well as some cool stickers.

I only bought one piece of fabric , an impulse buy for a specific project, as well as some fusible fleece and knitting needles.

Finally bought a trouser pattern after seeing someone else wearing some Liberty print trousers, who recommended the pattern to me. Also got a dress pattern,

Tilly and the Buttons

I loved the show and thoroughly enjoyed myself, but as it got busier I did start to feel a bit overwhelmed, stuck to my budget and will definitely go again

Progress

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I have finished my Luminos sweater, and am so impressed with how little it weighs and how warm it is. I wish I’d started with the purple lace as I love the way it looks, I didn’t use it as I thought it would be too dark. Note to self, swatch! The stripes were added as it was too dark for me.

If I was to make this again I would make it longer with possibly a smaller size and a solid colour.

Luminos in Hedgehog Sock, Beetle colour way with various lace yarns

Last years mystery blanket is so close to the finishing line and I really want to finish it before the next one starts. This it’s progress so far.

MB2024 JAN 13 2026

January 2026 – a year of celebration

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This year there a lot of family celebrations so I am looking forward to it with optimism and positivity.

I am starting the year with only 3 current knitting WIPs, there are more packed away so I’m not including those for now. As usual I am ending the year with as mystery blanket to finish, I hope to but think it unlikely that I will finish it before the new one starts .

MB2025 strip

The second WIP is my lumino sweater which only has the sleeves to do. As these are knitted top down in the round they shouldn’t take too long.

Luminos before casting off.

My final WIP is the wonderful Yara shawl. This is such a good pattern to follow and I am using the amazing Freehold Autumn yarn from stash as well as oddments where contrast is needed.

Yara shawl

According to Ravelry I have a staggering 111,459.50 yards of yarn, equating to 38867 grams. A lots of it is lace and 4ply/fingering weight but it doesn’t seem as much as that when I look at it. This year I want to use at least 5000 yards. Once again I will be putting a pound in a tin for every ball leaving the stash. Last year I saved over £150.

Still way too much fabric, my granddaughter is helping reduce this and for the rest of the year I plan on opening a box and making items with whatever fabric is there, not including dress lengths.

This year I want to sew at least one back pack, a duffle bag, 2 bags, 2 skirts, 1 dress and a cot quilt using the adventure land pattern. Knitting wise, I want to knit a stranded colourwork Christmas jumper, at least 6 hats, another shawl and be on track with this years mystery blanket.

April 2025

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Last year my granddaughter and I sewed a Freeform patchwork square using Liberty fabric scraps for their patchwork collective to celebrate 150 years of Liberty. I didn’t think we stood a chance as ours wasn’t a traditional patchwork pattern. Today I can’t quite believe it , but I opened my emails to see our square was selected to be in the display. I am so excited , proud, elated is probably the best word, still with a little disbelief. But very happy.

January 2025

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Crafting wise, 2025 has got off to a good start, with some done everyday. I always aim to do some everyday,but this year as I want to craft everyday and make more items, I have noticed that occasionally, I would have gone to bed without doing it. So I am making a proper effort to do it.

I started the new year with a few knitting WIPs , including Debbie Abraham’s mystery blanket 2024, my Wicked tank top, my Meadow Slipover , Debbie Abraham’s baby blanket 2023 and the Good morning blanket by Purl Soho. Progress has been made on all except the baby blanket and the meadow Slipover. Sewing has been a big plus and so far I have managed to complete a number of items.

Amongst the items I made were 2 of @Adamsews EPP Keeper Case from the Alice Caroline Christmas sewing festival. All fabrics and notions were from stash as I am still aiming for a no craft purchases year. I made padded matching needle case so that the needles won’t pierced the plastic pocket.

EPP keeper case

Also made a pouch which was supposed to be a 10 minute make, this was an epic fail as it took much longer. I have a much easier and quicker way to make the same item.

I love sewing so sometimes if I don’t have anything in particular I want or need to sew I will find a pattern I like and make a few of the same. These reusable coffee cup sleeves were one of those projects, a few have gone into the wild are in use already. Some are reversible, so a festive fabric one side and something else on the other.

A few of the coffee cup sleeves

If you scroll down you will see the Anjou Slipover I made that was too big, so I took it in and made a drawstring small pouch with it.

And after a couple of years I finished the embroidery kit I was gifted one Christmas

Looking forward to a year of working through my stashes. My wonderful granddaughter will be helping me to. Her sewing confidence is growing fantastically.

December 2024

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t’s a little earlier than usual, this post, while I am in the zone. My WIP list  doesn’t seem to be getting much shorter but I am making progress on them. 

Debbie Abrahams mystery blanket for this year still has 20 squares to be knit and I don’t think it will be finished this year, I am determined to complete it and send it off before the next one arrives.

The wicked tank top is still very much where it was after seeing the film for the second time. I do want to see it again and was contemplating the sing a long version, when I realised I don’t want to watch it with loads of people singing, yet.  Although if my granddaughter wants to go I may be persuaded .

There is another vest/tank top I have on the go.  For this one, the Open Trails Sweater Vest by Ashley Lillis ,  I will be utilising the yarn I bought for the Fletcher cowl. It is a beautiful Blue Sky Fibers yarn  from Tribe Yarns ,  the cowl frustrated me when wearing it so much that I frogged it and am repurposing it. It is going to be so cosy. 


I have managed to get a few bits sewn and hope to progress and complete this embroidery which was a gift a couple of Christmas ago. Not sure what I will use the finished item for.

In the sewn items it has mainly been the grandchildren using the machine, but I have managed to make some gift bags and reusable coffee sleeves. I want to make at least one  of my PDF patterns a month next year.  I also plan on destashing a lot of my craft books and am not buying any more knitting or sewing patterns next year. Well that’s the plan anyway.

November 2024

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I haven’t completed a lot in the last few months, at least that is how it feels. I am working hard to finish this years Mystery Blanket before the next one starts. I’m making good progress and I really enjoy the knitting of them, however I came to a realisation recently that one of the reasons I have started signing up to them again is FOMO ( fear of missing out] , as there are a few that I wish I’d signed up for in the years I didn’t .

Melpomene is still on the needles and I never managed to get past the cast on Stage for the Sisu KAL, the yarn and pattern are still all kitted up to be knit at a later date. I did manage to finish the MMosiac blanket, I haven’t blocked it as the recipient will wash it once they get it. The only thing I don’t like about it is how the garter stitch edging waves pre blocking.

Mosaic Blanket

I took part in a test knit for Anjou Slipover using more stash yarn. I knitted a size that is way too big but I shall use my sewing skills and take the side seams in. It is lovely and soft and warm. The yarn is Leader of The PAC from Hobbycraft, which I bought with a voucher from work last Christmas. Once I got my head around the very simple pattern it went really quickly.

Anjou Slipover

Sewing has gone reasonably well, a quilted zipped pouch was made as well as some gift bags, pencil cases and book marks. I did fall of the wagon and out of the Last Sewist Standing event , as Liberty launched two Wicked themed fabrics and whilst I know there will always be more fabric, I still think about the Liberty Hello Kitty fabric I didn’t buy and still, regret not getting it. So I bought 1 metre in each of the designs. I’m going to use them to sew a project bag from the Alice Caroline Christmas sewing event. Hopefully will have a few more pictures of finished items next month.

August 2024

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I’m still knitting the two blankets mentioned previously , the mosaic one has the finishing line in site. As well as signing up to the Sisu berry KAL, I have signed up to the Ravelry Romi Hill group one skien , one month KAL, pattern I have chosen for this is from deep stash Melopemene using yarn from RiverKnits that I’d frogged from another project, so far it’s looking good.

I have also signed up to the 10,000 yard challenge, encouraging you to knit from stash , if you buy more you have to start again. As this included WIPs I should do okay. This years mystery blanket from Debbie Brahmas is back on tracking, or should I say getting there. In an effort to help I bagged a few squares up with the yarn, pattern , beads etc and it seems to be working. One tip I have for hooked in beads is to use a water bottle lid to put a few in at a time. I find this really useful and portable.

Sewing wise I am still in #lastsewiststanding heavyweight section. I haven’t sewn a huge amount but have managed to finish my first Lena Shift Dress. Will definitely be making another one but will make a smaller size for the next and shoulders. It has pockets ,

Lena Shift Dress