Winter Blues and Grey Days

I have a huge case of the winter blues...

As much I as I love frosty mornings and Christmas-card snowy views I'm really not a winter person - I much prefer bare feet and flip flops to fluffy socks and slippers!  

I think it's these dark mornings that are really making me feel bleugh.  I love waking up early to the sun streaming through the window and the promise of a long day ahead whereas these dark mornings just make me want to turn over and go back to my warm fuzzy sleep; especially last week when I finally succumbed to the dreaded bug that's been doing the rounds.

However, despite headaches, runny noses, coughs and sneezes we must get up and get on as jobs need doing, bills need paying and craft needs crafting!

I've had quite a productive start craft-wise this year already having made my first bunny and sent her on to her new family.  I really love the Toft Emma the Bunny pattern and can't believe I've made 35 of these now, they're such a perfect and personal gift - let's hope baby Evie will love her new friend.

I'm in the middle of making myself a messy bun hat - the latest craze to hit Pinterest by the looks of it!  Having long hair that's always up, I don't wear hats very often as it's uncomfortable and I end up with a rather unsightly lump in my hat, so I thought this would be the perfect compromise.

As always, I don't make things easy for myself and I chose a beautifully soft wool which is an absolute nightmare to crochet with.  Fingers crossed I'll get it finished and I can be warm and toasty without having to wear my hair down or plait it like I do now in order to wear my bobble hat (especially at the rugby on these cold evenings!)...

Due to running out of stash space I think it's about time I started making up the pile of "freebie kits" that grows every month.  I subscribe to 2 magazines and often buy others and they all come with little kits on the front and I pop them into my storage cube in the living room.  The poor cube is getting way too full so in between my "proper" projects I'm going to see if I can fit them in...

The first one I did was the flower brooch from Simply Crochet Issue 43 which I am really pleased with, an easy pattern to follow and I managed to whip it up in no time :)  I might make a few more to have as little standby gifts, always handy to have.

I have put mine on my black winter coat and it's a gorgeous splash of colour on these dull grey days..