Well I'm almost back to eating solids. I've managed a bit of writing and I may even list some new items in the shop.

I really didn't expect that it would take me this long to get back in the swing. Of course it doesn't help that my beloved's computer is dying a slow death so he's taken to running second life on mine. Oh well.

More soon.

I am still alive. Yay!

I am back home after surgery. Sorry the blog went quiet for a bit but I wasn't really up to doing much. I'm still not but I thought I should post something.

Back to normal soon I hope

Another new article. And one on a different subject.

Also some new items in the shop.

More later.

Well today I have done my best to be a good little housewife/writer/self employed crafter. Not a huge success but never mind. I've written another article for Triond but it's not published yet. I've done some tidying and loads of washing. I've listed new stuff on Etsy.

I've also discovered a new definition of fuel poverty. All this talk in the news about people having to choose between heating and eating. We haven't even got the heating on yet and already we're running of of money for electricity. I've had to stop running the washing machine because we're on emergency credit. I'm writing this on the laptop on battery power.

I have to sell some stuff soon or we're in a lot of trouble. So far I've only made $0.02 from Triond. That's 2 cents or about a penny in British money. That's not even paid for the electriciy to write the articles. Still If I write enough it might eventually cover our weekly electricity bill and then I'll have clean clothes.

On Tuseday I slept a lot. I crocheted a lot. I thought about the novel a fair bit. I photographed my jewelry. I moved my computer.

Not a lot then.

If anyone is interested I am currently working on the 'comfy cardi' pattern from Crochet Me. I'll post a pic when it's done.

The jewelry will be appearing on my Etsy shop soon.

www.BadgerArts.etsy.com

Published again, sort of.

Article

Still not much improvement on the novel though. I have been concentrating on sleeping, crochet and worrying about my coming surgery. I have caught some sort of bug from Cassie and it's making me very sleepy. Still, I should have done something with the novel so that's the plan for this evening.

Wish me luck.

I've been published again. Sort of.

I'm trying out a publishing service called Triond . They publish articles on line then pay the writers a percentage of the advertising revenue. Unlike some other services the copyright of the content stays with the author.

I've just had my first article cleared and published. So far no funds but it's been up less than a day. Article

I've done a little work on my novel but I have a feeling it's going to be slow going. It's going to be hard work to get it ready for an agent by Novemember.

I have returned.

Well actually I was never away. I've just been busy crocheting and finishing a novel. Well I say finishing what I mean is editing and by editing I mean getting it ready to send out to agents.

I thought I was ready but not quite yet. I have discovered a hole in the middle of the thing. I know how to fill it but I was really getting into avoiding sending it out. Now I shall have to switch to avoiding writing it.

On the upside I did my first craft fair last Sunday and it didn't suck. I even made a small profit and learned how to make a larger profit for next time.

Here's the new ripple afghan. This one is in cotton double knitting yarn. It's for my daughter so I'm going for a much more feminine colour range.

At last it is finished. It's the perfect size for a single bed. I've already started the next one. Pics of that one later.

This is my first review. I've spent a lot of money on crocheting books and I thought maybe others could benefit from my expenditure.

Vogue Knitting: Crocheted Bags
A lovely little book and eminently portable. The book covers a lot of techniques including tapestry crochet and felting. Obviously to make real use of the bag you need to be the sort of person who wants a lot of bags. Not so good for me as I already have all the bags I need but perfect for present ideas.

It's funny how creativity can come out in unexpected ways. The other day I was reading The Gruffalo to my kids and I found myself doing all these weird voices. The mouse came out very high pitched and posh, like a very camp 'Raffles the Gentleman thief'. It wasn't all good though. My subconscious couldn't make up it's mind if The Gruffalo came from Glasgow or Norfolk. Very odd.

No pics today, but soon.

I have been crocheting away like a demon but I'm not ready for photographs yet. More later perhaps.

Been too busy crafting for much posting. Updates coming soon.

Just a quickie. A ruffle scarf for my beloved's sister. His family are up for a visit and the weather, which had been lovely and warm has taken a foggy turn and it's rather chilly.

This only took one evening and it looks much better in real life. The spiraling ruffle doesn't show up very well in the photo.

I've been experimenting with the ultimate in recycling in your yarn stash. This is yarn made from plastic bags.

As you can see I haven't quite mastered the technique. I decided to try it out by making a case for my new wooden hooks.

I plan on trying something larger with the same technique to see if I can get it to look a bit less scrappy.

I'm thinking about writing some reviews of my favourite crochet books. I have something of a crochet book habit so it could take me a while to work my way through them all. What do you think? Does anyone care what I think about books?

This is the current state of the ripple blanket. It's pretty big but it still needs to bigger. I'm sure now that I'll have enough yarn to finish the main block though I might need to buy some for the edging.

The bridesmaid jewelry was well received. I may have to make a shorter one for my little girl. And I still haven't got a measurement for the bride.

The ripple afghan so far.