Snow Day Musings (New Hobbies)

So! London is covered in snow. So, naturally, everything has come to a standstill. You'd think that, after three consecutive snowy winters (or is it four? I've begun to lose count), Boris and co. would have figured out a way to keep the public transport running on time. I mean. Sometimes even the Tubes are affected - and they are under the ground!! Please....

But, no. My poor fiance was reduced to a quivering block of ice when he climbed into bed in the early hours of this morning, having spent just over three hours trying to get from one side of London to the other. Poor lamb! Well, at least, that was my opinion until he decided it would be fun to use me and my lovely, cosy, pajamaed body as a means to warm up his freezing hands and feet. I wasn't so sympathetic then....


But moving on. Here I am, still in said pajamas at 11am on a Sunday morning, having imposed on myself a snow day. We live in a part of London that just happens to be extremely hilly, so I don't much fancy my chances on the ice outside. (I think I have mentioned before: I am really rather lazy when it comes to the weekend. What a perfect excuse for a pajama day!). The ingredients are in the bread maker, and the components for a hearty, warming soup are out in the kitchen. Lovely!

And, of course, a self-imposed snow day will give me the perfect excuse to indulge in some new hobbies.

Worry not! My obsession with all things beady is as enduring as ever (you were worried. I can tell.) It just happens to have expanded. For one thing, I am learning to knit. This started with a revival of an old childhood skill, finger-knitting. So easy and quick, and you can knock up a half-decent looking skiny scarf in a couple of hours.



I was quite pleased with my first effort! Perfect for when I do need to venture into the (admittedly quite beautiful) landscape outside our flat window. But needles just seemed a bit more...well...grown-up. And I am (in theory) a grown-up. Sort of. So-ooo, just after Christmas, courtesy of a lovely beginners' knitting book gifted by my mum, I went out and spent a small fortune on various knitting paraphernalia.

Hurrah! A new hobby! But it doesn't end there...

Ever heard of decopatch? No? Neither had I, until a good friend recently became rather good (and, I'm sure she won't mind me saying, rather obsessed) with it. The premise is simple: you get the special decopatch paper and, using the special decopatch glue, you stick it to stuff. Yup. That's it. It's basically posh papier-mache.


Simples! (Sorry. I hate those ads too. But, as catchphrases go, it's catchy. I guess that's the point...)


So, recently, I have been sticking bits of coloured paper to pretty much anything that doesn't move fast enough to get away! I even considered decopatching my mum once, after she fell asleep on her couch...


(By the way, the picture on the left: that isn't me. It's just a picture I found to show that decopatch is precisely as simple as I'm describing. You could pretty much train a racoon to to it. Having said that, the things I've been decopatching have been rather more interesting than the weird, shapeless thingy in this picture. I have NO idea what that is! Any suggestions??)


Back to the point. So, I'm knitting and decopatching. And It's cold. Maybe I should have just said that, rather than bombarding you all with reams of pointless babble?





Anyways....here's a frosted glass tealight thingy I made from an old upcycled jar, some frosting spray, some decopatch paper and relief paint; and an emellishment I threw together with some beads and wire. Does it look homely and cool? Or does it just look like an old jar with some bits stuck on? I'll let you decide. I'll be adding this, and more beaded, decopatched and knitted bits and bobs to the Folksy shop over the next few days. Pop along and visit me....