On my to-do list || November

I'm okay with it being November already. Totally cool and not at all panicking about having only 6 weeks left before the Christmas holidays. Really. 

Harharhar. If it'd help me get more shit done, I might even try to crochet with my toes too.

Commissions

I've got a huge deadline at the end of this month. I can't show you yet what it's for (although did you see my last two magazine features? I wrote about them here and here - it is so cool to finally see them appearing), but I can probably let you have a little sneaky peak at the yarn. 

Ulysse by de rerum natura. 100% European merino, but unlike any merino I've ever used before. It's ethically produced, using as few harmful chemicals as possible. It feels crunchy and sheepy and absolutely wonderful. The Thing I'm Making with it will be released in February, and you can be sure I'll be shouting about it everywhere. 

Emmy + LIEN designs

• Playing Catch-up - While we still have some natural daylight left, I'm snapping away with my camera like a woman possessed. Re-shooting old tutorials, prepping for new ones. The next one I have lined up is a re-release of the Anemone Square. It's gone a bit bonkers over on Pinterest lately so I really need to move it over from my old blog. 

• Death by ends - I've had a few enquiries about the Window into Winter shawl recently, and it's nearly finished. I just have a few ends to weave in (it will be worth it, it will!)... I've bought a lovely mustard yellow for the border, which I can't wait to get started on. The yarn is a 100% alpaca by iloyarn, another company that uses ethical production practices. They're right on my doorstep too, which I didn't even realise until this week! If you want to be in the know when it goes live, have a look at my facebook, twitter or instagram pages, or join the E+L Ravelry group.

Just me (and baby)

I remember how my first pregnancy seemed to take forever, but this time around I feel like we're on fast forward. Soon I'll be at 20 weeks. I guess I should be resting, but sleep is not working out all that well (heartburn/insomnia/freaked-out 3yo) and from next Monday I'll be going to Swedish class for 2.5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Somehow, somewhere, if I'm not to get completely overwhelmed by general adulting duties, I will need to allow myself to just be me. Which does mean drooling over tiny baby patterns, I'll admit. And eating lots of cake without feeling guilty about it, going out for walks whenever I don't feel like death warmed up, and curling up under a blanket when I do.

Keep warm, lovely people - it was -3 on the school run this morning! - and have a cracking November. 

On my to-do list || June

I'll be brief this month, partly because we're already halfway through June (wud?!) and partly because I'm in the throes of the pre-holiday rush - 2 weeks to go! So during what remains of June I will be:

• Making all the jam - fresh produce is finally available locally and I intend to use up every last scrap of it
• Eating all the jam - such as this tongue-tinglingly good elderflower and apple jelly that I made last night. The recipe is by my friend Juliane at Notes from Björkåsa and I could have it, spread on toast, for breakfast, elevensen, and afternoon tea. and dinner. Every day. 

• Writing all the patterns - the rationale being that if I do all the thinking now, I'll be able to do all the making when the small person is around 24/7. Because I definitely haven't got a deadline scheduled smack-bang in the middle of the holidays and two for straight after... (I do maybe have a bunch of new commission freshly placed, yay!)

• Keeping all my marbles - I'll admit, I'm struggling with the juggling this month. Yesterday morning I managed to lock myself out of the flat, sans phone and avec pyjamas. Says it all, really, doesn't it. Also, I've been shouty mummy far too often lately. No matter how busy I am, I will need to set aside some time to calm down as well. I tend to take a lot of flowery pictures when I'm stressed, and in the evenings you'll find me knitting away furiously at something just for me: a Maeve shrug by Carie Bostick Hoge in the most beautiful organic cotton + merino yarn. I loves it and I can't wait to wear it. 

• Looking forward to all the squeezes - two weeks to go, and then the 3yo monkey is all mine!

Have a good month (or what remains of it, at least)! Also, don't get locked out in your PJs! 

On my to-do list || May

It suddenly dawned on me, at about the end of April, that there were two months left before the summer holidays. Two Months!!!?? In terms of scheduling and deadlines, I'm still kind of flapping about somewhere in mid-March. {Breathe...}

Balcony garden

Right, now I've got that off my chest, let's get on with the business of making in May. Spring took a little siesta last month, but it's back with a hop and skip. I've been putting my wee seedlings out every day, and bringing them back in with my very diligent little helper every evening. He is lethal - sorry, highly effective at drenching - when armed with the watering can. Which is, quite clearly, exclusively his. 

MeMadeMay 2016

May is also the month of all things handmade wardrobe, of course. I haven't taken the #MeMadeMay pledge of wearing a handmade item every day (because I don't have anywhere near enough of them to do so!) and I don't even aspire to an entirely handmade wardworbe. Supporting a sustainable model of consumerism, in which we - makers and buyers alike - value high quality, long-lasting and ethically-produced items is very important to me. Nevertheless, I do love the idea of a wardrobe made with love at least in part by me, as I've discussed before.

Hence, I've started a Pinterest board of what I think will be truly wearable wardrobe staples for me, inspired by Libby and Ioana's efforts to create a gallery of Great Wardrobe Basics on Instagram.There's WAY more on the board than I can make this May, or even in the next many Mays, but I've started. The first project I'm tackling is the Ruby Top, which I'm planning on doing two versions of: one with two contrasting Art Gallery fabrics, and one with a crochet lace yoke. I've never done crochet lace, so that'll be interesting...

I've also got a Milo vest for the Bean on my knitting needles after seeing lots of cute versions of it on Carie's blog, Space for the Butterflies. Finally, I'm making an effort to mend and maintain some of the items I've made in the past after reading about Jen's inspiring #MendItMay pledge on My Make, Do and Mend Life. If you've got a few lackluster woollies knocking about too, I wrote some tips on how to give them a little TLC. 

Emmy + LIEN designs

In terms of my own designs, there have been a couple of interesting developments. The first set of instructions for the Dally Dahlia Blanket is now live. I kind of surprised myself by managing to get that up within the time frame I'd set! 

The first test sample of the Bretonbone Top is finished and there's another in the making, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer for the pattern than I anticipated. This is due to a very exciting opportunity appearing for me, so I hope you won't mind too much. I'll reveal more as soon as I'm able to (think late summer)..

Everything else is still languishing at the planning stage, so for now I'm just squeezing lots of pretty yarn. My current favourite is the mint green, an organic cotton by MoYa. I'm hoping to publish a review of it soon, so watch out for that. And, eventually, find time to actually use it.

Are you taking part in MeMadeMay or MendItMay in any way? I'd love to hear what you're working on this month!

On my to-do list || April

One of my to-do lists, anyway: my creative one. I have loads of others - chores, business admin, life admin, admin for the admin - but they're boring and so I can't very well blog about those. Most days I can't even bring myself to do them, but that's a story for another day.  

So, April. What shall we do this month? 

You might have seen that on the very last day of March I released my first pattern under the Emmy + LIEN label: the Lavender Skies Scarf. That was kind of two months behind schedule but I did it and it's insanely exciting. Especially as the response has been great so far - thank you! And keep it coming! 

With that one out if the way, finally, I can add some new things to the list:

The Bretonbone Top - a pattern

I started this last month and if I'm honest, it's whooped my behind. I think I must have ripped various bits of it out at least 5 or 6 times now. But it's getting there, the first sample is nearly finished and I will be looking for testers come late April. If you're interested in taking part, keep an eye on my instagram posts as that's where I'll put the call out. 

The Dally Dahlia Blanket - a recipe

As far as I'm concerned, there are two kinds of projects: "ponder and tinker and rip out and redo until it's just right" projects (like the top above), and "just for the fun of it" projects. Mindless projects I can pick when I'm too knackered for anything else, and which involve minimal maths (very much not like the top above). 

In the autumn of last year I began just such a project. The starting point was simply a random number of pretty cotton skeins and the Dally Dahlia granny square. No other planning or much thinking at all, other than a desire to make a bright, happy blanket. It's turning out delightfully wonky. I'd like to share it with you this month, but as a kind of "recipe" rather than a complete pattern because I just do not want to do the maths. It'll be free, of course, and perhaps it'll inspire you to make a wonky blanket of your own. 

Crochet meets Patchwork Blanket - a project guide

I've been getting lots of messages on the various parts of this blanket already published on my old blog, pulling me to task and asking where on earth it's going. Quite rightly, too - I've been working on it for nearly two years and have repeatedly stalled, changed colours, redone the border... 

It's at a stage where it's not finished (quite clearly!) but I have a much better idea of what I want it to be. So I'm putting together a complete project guide. It's taking a while, but I hope that by the end of this month or the beginning of May at the latest, most of what you need to make this - the patterns, the yarn, the colours, the tutorials - will all be accessible from one page. 

So that will be my April, in all its capricious spring madness. If there's any time left, you'll find me celebrating my 35th birthday (April is a cool month), knitting when it's raining, and on sunny days turning the balcony into a colourful living space with the help of the world's cutest assistant.

What does your April look like?

The idea for a monthly, fun to-do list came from the wonderful Rachel at The Ordinary Lovely. Her blog really is quite lovely, and I heartily recommend a good browse.