This February I decided to take part in an Instagram photo challenge to post one photo each day of the month using the prompts suggested by @yarnlovechallenge. It was great fun and so I thought I would put all the photos and comments together into two blog posts for you to see and hopefully they will give you a little insight into the world of Woolly Chic!
Intro 
Corner of my home 
Snip 
Generation
- Excited to take part in this year’s #yarnlovechallenge and really hope to post something every day. INTRO – I am Helen and I have a small online wool business called Woolly Chic, where I sell British Wool, Fairtrade organic cotton and knitting and crochet kits. I am really proud to be supporting British farmers and I have had wool spun from the fleece of sheep farmed by my family in Wales. I also teach crochet in Hitchin and have just started to make crochet video tutorials. I have three children, all now at Secondary School, a husband and two cats.
- Day two of #yarnlovechallenge2019. Here is a corner of my home that I am so excited to share! Last year I had my garage converted into a studio and what was meant to be a simple two week job turned out to be a nightmare! I won’t go into the horrible details, but now 7 months later the studio is finished and my husband put up this shelf today! I am so lucky to have a lovely space to store lots of wool, to write patterns, film my crochet tutorials, knit and crochet. I am not a tidy person at all, but here I will try to keep my desk free of clutter!! (yeah right!)
- Day 3 of #yarnlovechallenge2019 – Snip! Casting off or fastening off and reaching for the scissors is always the best moment! I even enjoy sewing in the ends! I share a handy tip for fastening off your crochet stitches in a a little YouTube video I made https://youtu.be/SVUoMydJjRk
- Day 4 of #yarnlovechallenge2019 Generation- I love this photo of my Mum, my daughter, my Granny and me; 4 generations! (To give you an idea of when this photo was taken, it’s my daughter’s 15th birthday on Wednesday!) My granny loved to knit and I have one of her knitting books that was printed in 1949. I would love to know which patterns she made! My Mum taught me to knit and crochet and has helped me so much with Woolly Chic. At the moment, my daughter isn’t interested in learning to knit, but says she might one day!!
Substitution 
Challenging 
Relaxing 
Non Craft Hobbies
5. Day 5 – Substitution – my first choice for yarn is always wool, and preferably 100% British Wool. My Aunt, Uncle and Cousin have a sheep farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales and so supporting British farmers and buying local is important to me. However, I know that wool isn’t suitable for everone, so looking for an alternative to wool, I found this beautiful 100% organic Fairtrade cotton, made by Katia from organic cotton farmed in India and Tanzania. Kind to the environment and ethical too, this yarn is the perfect substitution for wool (and great for baby knits and amigurumi toys!)
6. Behind and stuck on the prompt Challenging today, which is apt as I find keeping up to date with social media extremely challenging. As a small business owner, I know I should use FB and IG for shameless self promotion, but this is so not me. I would much rather be knitting than sat on my PC or on my phone! My current knitting project is proving to be rather challenging, it is now my third attempt of knitting the sleeves, but now I know what I am doing and am looking forward to moving on to the yolk!
7. Relaxing, by the fire, with my crochet and a cup of tea!
8. Non-yarn Hobby. Tricky as, my interests are nearly all yarn related. I used to read a lot, but now I listen to audio books while knitting or crochet. I love to travel, but wherever I go I seek out a wool shop! I have even been known to knit in the cinema! However, this morning whilst I was swimming, it struck me that here was one activity where I couldn’t knit or crochet at the same time!!! It didn’t stop me thinking about yarn whilst swimming up and down.
Draft 
In My Area 
Pack 
Soothing Colour
9. The prompt on day 9 of #yarnlovechallenge is draft, so here are a few knitted and crocheted swatches that are draft designs in the making (although some might only be in my head!)
10. In my area there is a fantastic new local yarn shop. The Haberdashery is great for sewing and knitting supplies, yarn, ribbons and buttons. I am so happy to be able to teach Crochet workshops there and on the first Monday of the month we meet for an Evening of Craft and Cake.
11. Day 11 of the #yarnlovechallenge and the prompt is Pack. In my dreams, this is how I would pack to go on holiday! A case full of yarn with hardly any/ no space for clothes!
12. I am finding the colours of my current crochet project very soothing. The remind me of a chewy sweet of my childhood, but I can’t quite remember the name! The yarn is Katia’s Fair Craft Cotton that is self striping, which makes this project a bit addictive!
Motif 
yarn love
13. A classic motif has to be the Crochet Granny Square. Here they are put together into a blanket made for the Blankets for the Homeless project. Every last Thursday of the month a group of us get together at the Nourish Cafe in the Letchworth Healthy Living Centre to make granny squares. To date we have made 6 blankets.
14. Yarn love – I love British wool and this is the lovely West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley DK wound into 25g balls to go into some of my Woolly Chic kits. Happy Valentines day too xxx
These 14 posts mark the midway point of my Yarn Love Challenge and so ends Part one of this blog. You can find Part two here….