Doing a little stocktaking

This morning, Facebook gave me an 'On this day...' snapshot as it always does, of things that I have posted on this date in previous years. Today, it reminded me of a blog post I wrote on 25 November 2016.

The opening paragraph read as follows (you can read the whole post here, if you're so inclined):

The last couple of days have been very difficult for me. The brief version is that I have lost my beloved workshop space. You know the cliche 'it never rains, but it pours'? This wouldn't happen while everything else was hunky dory. Oh no! It has to happen while we're trying to sell our house, and while Mr Namasi is trying to find work (in a less than ideal job market) before his notice period comes to an end, following the demise of the business he has been working for. And while I am waiting to find out whether 'the big C' has taken up residence in my body.

It seemed like an appropriate time to do a little 'then and now', without burying myself (or you) in the 'what went between' bit.

I have lost my beloved workshop space. We have since moved house, and I now have a workshop space at home. It is much smaller, and not terribly weatherproof, but it's adorable and I love it to bits!

We're trying to sell our house. As you can deduce from the previous paragraph, we sold our house. Not without a few glitches along the way, but it happened. And the proceeds from that sale are what keep the wolf from the door. I especially love our current house, the village and the countryside in which it... yes, I think nestles is exactly the right word.

Mr Namasi is trying to find work. Mr Namasi's search continues. The job market is fierce, and I/we have lost faith in the recruitment industry. At the time of writing, he is in the process of setting up an IT consultancy business... but still open to the idea of a role within an existing company.

I am waiting to find out whether 'the big C' has taken up residence in my body. The 'big C' had not taken up residence in my body, and a minor - albeit extremely painful - procedure was all that was needed. Poor Mr Namasi was subjected to the sounds of his wife squealing in agony as he waited helplessly in the waiting room.

Karyn's Kreations has been rebranded as Karyn's [re]Kreations. A new logo has been designed. A van called Barney has been acquired, and I'm making a real effort to find avenues to take my pieces to market.


So please spread the word: I have stock to hand, including great Christmas gift ideas. I also accept commissions and offer 1:1 sessions and group workshops. And I'm raring to go.

Upcycled Christmas part 1 - handmade gifts

Those of us who make things to sell have to start thinking about Christmas quite early. In less than two weeks, I have a double whammy weekend:

• Our local church is having a Christmas tree festival on 25th and 26th November. Local people and organisations are invited to participate. My theme is upcycled Christmas, and my tree and all its decorations will be made out of reclaimed materials. I will share more about that in my next post.
• The church in the next village is having a Christmas market on 26 November, and I have a stall. I thought I'd unpack a bit about that today.

Generally speaking, people go to village fetes and fairs expecting to spend the money in their wallets. There is little likelihood that I will find a buyer for my chaise or my hall stand. But I can certainly raise awareness of the items and services I offer, while offering for sale a range of small ticket items.

It is, of course, important, that my small ticket items adhere to the same ethos as the bigger pieces I offer: unique, handmade pieces majoring on reclaimed materials. So I have been frantically building up stock of items that fit this bill.

Reclaimed wood of various sorts has been repurposed.

Wall art: reclaimed wood

Framed driftwood

Willow stems

Reclaimed pallet end

Reclaimed pallet end

A box of specimen tubes (unused, of course) was saved from the tip, and used for a range of handmade bath oils and bath salts.

Bergamot, patchouli and lavender

Bath oils, decopodged with paper napkins

Handmade bath salts, petals from Deema Delights

Bath salts - I've tested them on myself ;)

Various found materials were used to make dreamcatcher-style wall art.

Giant quadruple wall art

Autumn colours

Traditional seven-point style

I have been making inroads on the yarn stash with lots of knitting and crocheting.

Place mat

Set of 4

Set of 6

Plant holder, fruit bowl... or hat, if you prefer

Tam o'shanter style jar

Pair of octopus (there are also teddies)

Glass jars have been decorated to within an inch of their lives.

Various other items have been revamped and made over.

Brooches

Wall mounted candle sconce

Variation on the above

Vintage Sylko cotton reels

Decoupaged clock

Light bulb hot air balloon

So swing by St Mary's Little Harrowden at some point over the weekend of 25/26 November to see the trees, and/or St Mary's Orlingbury on Sunday 26th November and grab yourself a Christmas bargain.

A tale of two...hockey racks

I am the wife of an ice hockey player.

I am the mother of two ice hockey players.

If your first thought was for the olfactory assault that results from those two facts, chances are you know a thing or two about hockey.

If you're not in the know, let me clue you in: hockey players come off the ice wringing wet, and it's not from falling down on wet ice. It's from sweat. There's no delicate way to put it. If they were to strip off their underlayer and throw it against the wall, it would stick.

The underlayer enjoys the privilege of an acquaintance with the inside of a washing machine. The outer layer, with the exception of the jersey... not so much.

Those big padded shorts, those leg guards, those elbow guards, those gloves, that chest protector, that helmet... all those pieces of kit will probably never be washed during the entirety of their existence.

And hockey players take a perverse pride in this.

The kit bag comes home at the end of the game. It is opened. The underlayer and jersey are thrown into the washing machine, where - if I have any say in it - an antibacterial agent is added to the drum. The rest of the kit is left to dry out. Often spread over various surfaces. If you're lucky, said surfaces will be in the shed, or the garage or somewhere away from the house.

Drying racks are commercially available, but no-one in my family has ever got as far as buying one. So I grabbed a few bits of reclaimed material and made a couple for my sons.

Son 1's rack - empty

The advantage of this is that I was able to customise them to my sons' measurements.

If you'd like one (perhaps as a Christmas present for the hockey player in your life), get in touch. Of course, because each one is handmade using materials available at the time, no two will be alike. I can also customise them with the player's name or number, or apply team colours to them.

Son 1's rack - loaded (except for shorts)

Son 2's rack - loaded