Rabbit Rattle

Crochet Rabbit Rattle for my friend's new baby.

Gardening Apron

Gardening Apron for a friend's house warming present.

No Junk for Us!

Handmade "no junk mail please" sign in Finnish.

Meet Cyril!

Cyril is an amigurumi pig, made for my nephew.

Boxy Matryoshka Pouch

Boxy pouch made with very kawaii Japanese fabric.

Saturday, 27 September 2008

Ruminations on living a freer life

About a year ago I read How to be Free by Tom Hodgkinson. A "joyful blueprint for a simpler and freer way of life", How to be Free offers sage advice, in an often irreverent way, on how to throw off the shackles of modern life and enjoy a simpler, happier existence. I had my head stuck in it every free moment and raved about it to anyone who'd listen (and some who would not). My raving was so passionate that my boyfriend (who's now my husband) and friends dubbed it "The Good Book".

But as time passed, my fervour lessened as fervour is want to do. I started thinking that what we needed was a house to call our own (flying in the face of chapter 19: Live Mortgage-Free). But today on our Saturday walk into town I finally was persuaded that buying a house is really not the be-all and end-all I thought it was. We're going to rent and that's that. We'll save up the difference between renting and what the mortgage payment on the same sized house would cost.

Having used a mortgage calculator last night, I was reminded that a 150k loan ends up costing 300k. Of course I knew that and still thought home ownership was the way to go.

Cuddly Dalek

Just received this picture in an MMS from my sister (excuse poor picture quality):



It's her friend's knitted dalek, sent to her by her (rather cool, I might say) gran. Not sure if it is capable of exterminating.

Friday, 26 September 2008

Science Geek Cross-Stitch

This appeals to both the scientist and creative in me:



It was made by Geek Crafts reader Jennifer, for her botanist father. I always loved microscopy when I studied anatomy way back in the midsts of time and this makes me want to try cross-stitch out.

I'm in a bit of a craft rut at the moment, to be honest. I realised I was putting pressure on myself to churn out all manner of home-made stuff and actually got quite stressed about it, so I relaxed for a while (though I still made some things, like the booties for my friend). But now I'm itching to make things again, hence the collating of inspiration. Hopefully I will be inspired and get going on something new soon.

Via CRAFT Magazine.

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