Books, glorious books

Here are a few of the books I got for Christmas that may help me make things in the future:

I have seen this book recommended on a few blogs I read and I'm looking forward to reading it.

I really enjoy Kirstie's Homemade Home/Christmas. I'd watch any episode again, but I think the first series, when she was making over the house at Meadowgate was the best. It has given me certain ideas for my own home, although they have not yet come to fruition.

I can't wait to get stuck into this and see what sort of projects it comes up with. There's plenty of junk in the world, so I'm hoping this will give me plenty of ideas.

I loved Milly Molly Mandy as a child. For some reason, we used to get Milly Molly Mandy stories read to us sometimes as part of the children's talk during a church service. I can't remember why, but I guess there were some parallels or moral points drawn from the stories.

I'm planning on making more gifts this year - and returning to making Christmas gifts after my year off. I'm hoping this will provide me with lots of inspiration.

Aren't those sleeves amazing! I wouldn't wear them myself, I'd be forever catching loops on door handles and other things and pulling threads, but I love the look of them. I've flicked through this book and already spotted several patterns I'd like to knit.

I love the Yarn Harlot's blog. A book by her has to be just brilliant - well certainly the first one I read (At Knit's End) was - as was the bit of this I read as soon as I opened it.

So I'm all set for my crafty reading for a while. What are your current/awaiting craft reads?

As time goes by

I have started thinking about next year. I think this is probably because the other day we made a diary booking for January - to have our bathroom ripped out and redone - so next year seems a lot closer. And October is nearly over which mean the end of the year will be here very soon - and Christmas even sooner - yay!

I had plans to learn/try various different crafts this year, but have not got very far with them - although I did at least get my sewing machine out and now know how to thread it and sew two pieces of fabric together.

So I'm open to suggestions - what craft do you love and suggest I try to learn/develop my abilities in next year?

This year was also the year I was going to get the house sorted, cleaned, decluttered and organised - the less said about progress with that the better!