Best year ever CKAL

Late last year I stumbled upon a fantastic podcast hosted by the wonderful Nikki called Tea and Possibilities.  Her podcast is filled with knitting, crochet, sewing, books & movies and her section called goal power which is about journalling. 
She also has a blog which covers the same information as well as some of her day to day stuff as well.
Nikki has a group on Ravelry and one of the discussion topics is called Best Year Ever CKAL.  The premise of the CKAL is that you knit or crochet four items that bring you joy in your life.  

So what 4 things will I knit or crochet to bring joy into my life?

1. Tube socks for kids using Berry Colorful yarnings in the minion colourway for my son

2. Knit a pair of socks for me using Susan B Anderson's Smooth Operator sock pattern in Candy Apple Lane Sherbert Glitter in the rainbow pretties colourway

3. Knit myself a shawl using the Wave pattern by Kristen Finlay using Fiber Lily shimmer sock in the colourway Selene- Goddess of the moon

4. Is yet to be decided

I have also made a conscious decision to knit/crochet more from stash and to do some more yarn dyeing

Nikki also has a section on Your Best Year Ever CKAL for penpals.  I have been paired up with a lovely lady from the UK named Vikki.  I have posted off my first Happy Mail so will be sharing my experiences here.

Starting Over

2017 is here and one of my resolutions was to share my crafting with more people.

Here are the things I am doing to meet that goal:

- Use Instagram and Facebook regularly

- Plan, plan plan!  Plan posts that I am making on social media, and when they will be published

- Start a blog!  This is something I have done several times and never really kept up with it so I am putting it in writing right here - I plan to blog at least once per week.  Even if it is just a quick update of what I'm working on, I'm going to post a minimum of once a week.

So I thought I would start off the blog by introducing myself.

My name is Simone and I am wife to my darling husband Peter, and Mum to Timothy and Sarah.  They keep my life full of busyness, love and joy.

I started crocheting in 2008 when a colleague where I was working at the time started knitting.  I went with her to a discount store and saw a gorgeous Learn to crochet book.  I picked it up, along with a couple of hooks and a ball of yarn and just like that, I was hooked (pun intended!).

My first project was an elephant bib for my nephew.  Using acrylic yarn was not the best of ideas for a bib but I've slowly learnt and grown from there.  I consider myself an experienced crocheter, and love to make unique, one of a kind items.

I recently taught myself to knit and my first project was a hippo face washer for my sister.

I've now moved on to making a baby cardigan which I am really enjoying making.

You can find me on social media:

Etsy: www.yoellyhandmade.etsy.com

Instagram: @yo_elly_handmade

Facebook: www.facebook.com/yoellyhandmade

Until next week, 

Bye!