Why Is 'T' The Most Dangerous Letter?

I don’t know about you, but I’m not one of those who reels off a long list of New Year Resolutions on approaching the stroke of midnight on Dec 31^st each year.  This time last year however, I did make a few simple vows.  To get out more, spend more time with family and friends, and to indulge myself in a lot more music! Singing and performing was always a huge passion, having sung in church since I was 5 years old, doing it professionally for many years and it’s also how I met my husband.  Yet somehow, life got in the way, other things took priority and suddenly I woke up and realised I hadn’t actually been doing it for waaaaay too long.  Ring any bells?

One year on and I am pleased to say I accomplished all of those ‘resolutions’ by ensuring that I said 'Yes' to (nearly...) all invitations to see my family and friends, went out to many more live shows to see some of my favourite bands, made the time to revive my jazz duo and also do much more with my community gospel choir! As a result I enjoyed performing in numerous fun and exciting concerts throughout the year, and as many of our friends and family would either come along to the gigs or even joined our choir, this meant spending even more time with them – so a win, win triple resolution buster all round!

So what am I hoping to accomplish this year?

Nothing quite as grand this time because I’m not done with the music, friends and family resolutions quite yet! But I would like to add a re-kindling of my passion for gardening.  It’s been spurred on by a new found love of dyeing the fibres for my Pink Alpaca workshops.  Having researched into the different dye methods, I got particularly excited by some of the natural colours that can be achieved, and started looking at what plants were used to create them.  That then coincided with our need to re-design the garden area around Pink Alpaca’s newly-built studio - featured here in a previous blog.  So it is now going to be a culinary herb and dye garden!!! Some seeds I’d already planted last year which was fortunate, but this coming Spring I plan to bring it all together and have a lot of new natural dye plants to grow on in the freshly sculpted beds. There, I’ve said it - loud and proud, in public!  That means I’ve got to do it now, so I’ll keep you informed of progress in the next few months.  Watch this space for pictures and details of the plants that I have chosen to include in this exciting dye garden project and feel free to suggest a few of your own in the comments below - I'd love to hear what plants you have used in the past and anything that I should be looking out for.

So my Pink Alpaca friends…my challenge for you this January is simple – what new skill would you like to explore and learn this year? And if it involves anything craft related, can I help you to achieve it?

I know many of you attended one or more of my workshops in 2018, either in sewing, felt-making, jumbo arm-knitting, crochet etc… so what next?  Thanks for some of the suggestions already, as a result I’ve added yet more classes to the Spring programme, which include nine new things to try in 2019, thus proving that the old adage is true – creativity feeds creativity.

Let’s not let another year go by without having a go, nor waste energy talking ourselves out of having some fun, which also includes meeting new like-minded people.  Let’s just do it!  Take that 't' away from the word can't - Life really is too short! Happy 2019 to you all.

Jx

P..S My actual resolution is to get some alpacas this year, just don't tell my husband that's the other reason behind the garden re-modelling!!!!