I was too young to remember actually learning to hand knit, dress-make and work embroidery. Crafting of all kinds of varieties stayed with me all my life, but progressive long term illness and disability has caused me to be bed bound virtually 24/7, so the crafts I can work from bed are the ones I'm able to work more with, like hand knitting and crochet, the latter of which I taught myself from books and the internet when I thought I would ... Read Full Bio »

I was too young to remember actually learning to hand knit, dress-make and work embroidery. Crafting of all kinds of varieties stayed with me all my life, but progressive long term illness and disability has caused me to be bed bound virtually 24/7, so the crafts I can work from bed are the ones I'm able to work more with, like hand knitting and crochet, the latter of which I taught myself from books and the internet when I thought I would no longer be able to hand knit with becoming bed bound. Through learning to crochet, I learned different ways of holding knitting needles, as well as the use of different types of needles, and find that working with much shorter needles (usually circular needles, so recurrently dropping one needle doesn't drive me totally crazy! LOL!) and am really happy to report that I am, after all, still able to hand knit, though it is slow progress! LOL! I studied and gained qualifications in art and embroidery, and studied weaving and fashion design but the exams clashed, so I was unable to gain qualifications, unfortunately. Since then, I have worked in candle making, patchwork, quilting, card makiung, fashion jewellery making, bead weaving, quilling, and probably quite a few other passing fancies over the years! LOL! I do use knitting and crochet patterns, but I usually make slight variations to make the item more personal. With regards to jewellery and card making as well as dress-making, I much prefer to design my own, and have often sold one-off commissions of sets of jewellery, perhaps to match a particular clothing outfit, for example. I generally work on smaller items these days, or I don't think I would have very many finishes, and I get a real buzz out of making items personalised for someone, and gifting them that item, especially when I know it is someone who will really appreciate hand made items, and the work that has gone into creating them! :-) I live alone with my Husky/Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross called Lexie.....it's actually debatable who looks after whom the most, to be honest! Hehe! She has a natural inclination to be an assistance dog, but when I enquired about getting her the specialist training for disability assistance, I was told she was unacceptable due to being half Staffordshire Bull Terrier.....it's very sad when a dog breed is judged for what humans have made them, rather than judging the individual dog on their own individual abilities. and merits! :-( Still, Lexie is my best friend and companion, and I can't imagine not having her here with me, especially during the time that my health has deteriorated. I have a daughter and a toddler grandson, but they live almost 100 miles away, and if you don't have a vehicle of your own in the UK, travelling any distance is expensive,, difficult and often very slow due to extreme traffic congestion - we are, after all, a very small island, so space is at a premium, including that for roads, so even travelling in your own car can turn from an hours planned journey, into a four hour almost stationary snarl up! We're thankful for computers with webcams, MSN and telephones, so I get to see my daughter and grandson pretty regularly - technology has made the world smaller and much more easily accessible, even though I'm stuck in bed most of the time! LOL! :-D