So much has changed since then. The most obvious changes are that I have moved out of the city to the countryside outside a small town in the sticks. I have also passed my driving test and my attachment at work has been made permanent. We’ve also introduced a new member of our family – Max the Labrador joined us about 2 months ago.

These are all big changes, I think you’ll agree. The biggest is probably learning to drive and passing my test (second time around!). I didn’t really get a chance to write about what happened but after failing first time in the summer, I finally passed my driving test on the morning of September 9th. In the afternoon the same day, we went, on impulse, to view a house in the countryside with a huge garden and 4 bedrooms, never thinking in a million years it’s where we’d end up living.

The very next day we jetted off to Fuerteventura for a week’s holiday, our heads full of moving house. We did little else but talk about it the whole time we were away and ended up moving just a few weeks later. Everything happened in a bit of a whirlwind from September onwards and I’m only really now getting a chance to draw breath and take stock of where we are.

Driving has given me a freedom I really needed and wanted. I don’t have to worry about buses or trains being on time or my feet getting soaked trudging up and down the road to the Subway or about getting mugged roaming the streets at odd hours of the night and day to get to work and back. We’d never have moved to our fantasy house in the country scenario if I couldn’t drive, so it has really unlocked a lot of stuff for me which I wanted.

Of course, I do have to worry about insurance, MOTs, the spiraling cost of petrol, etc but at the moment, I can handle that. I don’t even mind the 40 mile round trip to work and have recently embarked upon motorway driving with more ease than I could have thought possible.

So, what about those objectives I set myself? Well, they have all kind of slid into one big objective of slowing down a bit and not putting so much pressure on myself. One of the main things was rebranding the business (I’m guessing you’ve seen it already, but if not, click here to have a swatch) which now has a much more serene, minimalist and calming feel. I never really expected it to, but I think that has totally transferred over to how I think about it. I feel a bit more swan-like – still paddling away under the surface, but with more composure up top.

In our new house, I have a little office alcove and everything now fits neatly into it. There’s less clutter hanging around which makes me feel less stressed as I know where to find things. I’ve got more space to take care over packaging things up and because I can drive to the post office (and park right outside – imagine!), I can swing by regularly on my way to work without having to lug 10kg sacks with me along the road. In short, I am far more organised.

I didn’t really stick to the plan of doing orders only on set days. With the above, I don’t feel I need to. I don’t think that approach would ever really work for me due to the nature of my shifts at work, but I am happy that I can pop into my office, do a few things and be able to walk back out of it and walk the dog or sit down and do something different.

I do have my merry band of stitchers who I am very grateful to be able to call upon when I need them. We managed to stockpile the perfect amount of stock for Christmas last year, so this is something I aim to keep up with this year. It was a quieter Christmas period than previous years too, which definitely helped my sanity. On reflecting on numbers, there were slightly fewer orders but the value of them was higher, so it was actually on a par with previous years, but really did not feel like it at the time. There seemed to be a definite downtrend in customer numbers for many of my indie craft pals – undoubtedly a sign of the times in the UK.

Taking time off hasn’t been so easy. I still feel guilty when I am not doing something productive and I guess that’s a hard habit to shake. I did take time off in December (of all times) – Max arrived and I was working at the day job from home for several weeks, so life took on a different pace of rising super-early, doing day job work, walking Max, packaging orders, a little more day job then relaxing in the evenings (relaxing being stroking velvety ears  by the fire). I definitely intend this year to spend more time with friends and family and have already got several trips planned for coming months to look forwards to. Lee feels I have more time to spend with him these days too and I’ve seen more of my friends lately than last year (some of them at least!), so I feel I am on the right track.

Which all sounds rosy but there is a however coming. Because I know I am about to get mega busy again. I have booked up to give the Pulse trade show a go in London this June, so there is lots of work to be done for that. I have wholesale orders to work on, as well as website orders and I’m working on redesigning my existing kits, new kits and the new range I mentioned last year. I mentioned that my attachment at work got made permanent which is great but it does mean I persist with the odd shifts and now my journey to work takes an hour each way, so there are less hours in the day! And with a dog to walk, a new house to furnish… see how quickly that positive spin on things can turn to panicky out-of-control oh-my-god-ness? Sticking to my new regime will take a lot of hard work and I could easily fall back into the rabbit hole of jittery 24/7 despair, but I will really, really try not to.

But the over-arching feeling of this has been that my evaluating has been a success. I feel like I have much more to say on the topic so I may revisit it and how it relates to the indie craft community at a later date. I’ve already alluded to the one-up-manship, depressing competitiveness before and there have been lots of good examples lately of really good blog posts exploring that, so I may come back to it one day.

But for now, I am happier than I have been previously and I am glad, judging by the comments and emails on my posts, to have helped some of you along the way.

But I thought it might be quite useful for those who have followed my blog on the strength of those posts to read this from Jonathan from Mr Yen who today wrote on his blog that after taking the plunge and going part-time at his day job last year, he is now going back into full-time work.

He talks about how some people may believe this is a backward step, which is something that I could understand why he’d say that, though I didn’t believe was true. I think it takes the pressure off to be continually producing work which perhaps isn’t as detailed or elaborate as he’d like to focus on at the moment and I think it’s really great that he’s been so open about it.  It is, realistically, no one’s business why he’s doing it, but it’s good that others perhaps in the same boat and thinking they’d be failing somehow to do so might be reassured that everyone has these same concerns and worries. Too often the word of indie craft and design feels like a giant game of one-upmanship, so honest and earthy posts like this really gladden my heart.

To read the whole post, click here. And why not leave a comment here and/or there to share your own thoughts on the matter. Good for Jonathan, I say.

Today we have been dog owners for 50 days. Max joined us 7 weeks ago yesterday. He’s a black Labrador who belonged to a friend of a friend, in the Lake District. His owner was too elderly to look after such a large, exuberant chap, and we were looking for a dog – the perfect match!

So one afternoon, we pootled down to Levens to meet him. It was love at first sight. He’s a big dog, pretty much a small pony. We think he might be crossed with a Great Dane somewhere down the line – his paws are like saucepan lids and he is a bit more houndy than a typical Lab.

He’s extremely good natured and biddable, and pretty much settled in as soon as he arrived. Of course, when we met him, we brought him home that day. Once we’d met, there was no question of us not taking him. And we are both smitten with him and, I’d like to think, him with us.

So, I apologise in advance for becoming a dog bore. If you follow me on Twitter, you are probably fed up hearing of him already. But he is a definite part of the family now and here to stay, even if that does mean he takes up half the sofa.

Boxing Day, day in the life-d. We usually go to Lee’s mum’s for dinner on B-Day, but she was working, so we stayed at home and did not much at all instead. Nikki is compiling and hosting this time – check out her blog here for more.

Every once and a while, you find or buy something that you not only want but you need. You use it every day and love it and then eventually you kind of forget about it and put it in a cupboard and every so often, you’ll rediscover it and so the cycle of adoration begins again.

When I was living in Thailand 3 years ago, one day I stumbled upon a little corner of Chatuchak market in Bangkok I hadn’t been to before. It was a little alley filled with traditional crafts, but the real authentic stuff, not the mass-produced tourist stuff you find everywhere. I found a little tiny, narrow stand with the most amazing handbags made from vintage tribal materials and fell in love with this bag, above.

It’s a thing of beauty, no? The colours are right up my alley and the leather handles smelt divine. It was a big rectangle of fabric, lined, with little poppers added to the corners to make it into a neat envelope shape. It was truly beautiful and even my Thai friends were in awe of it.

Cutting a long, miserable story short, when I moved back to the UK, it got stolen along with a whole bunch of other things, from my possessions which I had to ship back cargo. And ever since, I have been trying to find a replacement. I have tried asking Thai friends, friends of friends who are visiting Bangkok, providing them with detailed maps and directions to the stall I bought it from, but frustratingly, I haven’t been able to get them to the right spot.

I’ve also spent numerous hours scouring the internet for something like it. I’ve come close to finding something a few times but nothing really hits the spot. I’ve tried contacting some sellers on Etsy who have similar but not quite bags and await their responses.

The desire to replace this handbag has gone past just being a desire. It’s a need. It reminds me of such amazing times – exciting, funny, scary, sad times, all at once – and I really, really, really want it back. Or one to replace it.

So, if you have a visit to Thailand planned soon, know someone who lives there or perhaps you’re sitting on a seller of these, please get in touch. Perhaps you are the horrible, horrible person who rifled through my belongings and took what they fancied – please, get in touch! I’m willing to take just the bag back, you can keep the hundreds of pounds worth of other stuff, just give me back my beautiful bag!

UPDATE: I may have found someone in Thailand to make a replacement for me! Watch this space.

So I can only assume that it’s that they haven’t left yet. If the customers are compared to tradtional shoppers, arriving at the shops with credit cards in hand, then mine are still at home, putting their shoes on and trying to find their keys.

Panic starts to set in a little each year pre-Christmas that it’s going to be a quiet one, but this year is the latest I’ve panicked. It means one starts to look at contingency plans – where else can I spread myself to get more coverage and try to attract more customers.

Which is how last night I found myself contemplating re-opening my Folksy shop. I closed it a while ago as it just never worked for me. It took ages to load items, the categories didn’t really fit all my items and I felt it was a bit clunky all round. The recent re-design is nice, although the font makes my eyes go blurry. But the underlying issues and things I don’t like about the layout, etc are still there. But such was my level of worry, I briefly considered it.

For the amount of effort it would take, against the potential gain, I don’t think it’s worth it. I also gave myself a little bit of a talking to and reminded myself that I cannot worry about external factors too much and that I should focus on continuing to do what I am doing to the best of my ability. And have faith that now I’ve built it, they will come – just as soon as they’ve got their shoes on and found their keys.

It’s the time of year when crafters get busier than a whole hive of bees. It’s the thick of Christmas shopping time and the heat is on, with orders flying in quicker than you can say knife.

Or is it? Twitter and Facebook are awash with status updates that make me want to poke myself in the eye. I try not to do this myself as I don’t like to irritate people excessively, but I have read so many, “phew, busiest day since records began” and “disappointing sales today, only 300 new orders” updates that it’s making me feel queasy.

Personally, I’m having a very slow Christmas shopping season so far. This time last year, I was literally unable to keep up with orders coming in at a rate of knots. The main reason for this was one of Emily Peacock’s kits being featured, along with Emily herself, on Channel 4′s Kirstie’s Homemade Home in mid-November. Both her and I went a little crazy, like, really, trying to package and dispatch everything and on looking back at my accounts, I took in more money in November last year than the whole of the rest of the year put together.

It carried on like that through December and into January, finally slowing down to normal just after Valentine’s Day. It was mental – I remember Emily at one point emailing me a photo of herself covered in wool, looking maniacal. It was the glory days. It was driven by a factor outwith my control but I was damned grateful and I made sure I let anyone who cared know that I was riding on the coat tails of that. I was grateful for the exposure to a whole new audience and luckily for me, many of them have stuck with me and returned again and again.

This year couldn’t be more different. I’ve had not even a tenth of the orders of last year, this month.  Yet I am reading every day that everyone else is apparently one step away from floating on the stock market, such are their orders. How have I fallen out of favour so far and so quickly? Or have I at all?  Orders are at their usual steady rate, a little down on usual perhaps. And I know for actual real hard fact that I am not the only one. Other small businesses on my level are experiencing the same. Other businesses I consider to be innovative, unique and successful.  Who is fooling who?

The thing that really bugs the utter fuck out of me is how evasive and guarded people are in our little industry. No one tells the truth. Hardly anyone. I don’t think it’s really anyone’s business to know my turnover or number of orders each day I receive but if someone asks me how business is, I am not going to give the standard “Oh, amazing” answer that’s consistently trotted out. It’s like talking honestly about our experiences is the last taboo.

So – how’s business? For now, slow. I’m hoping that pay day weekend this coming weekend sees things pick up as people start to realise that Christmas is a mere 4.5 weeks away. Until then, I’ll keep plugging away as I do every day to promote what I do (and I know people love) and hope that it picks up. If it doesn’t, it puts my plans for 2012 completely on ice. FINGERS CROSSED.

Other entries – Marceline, Julie & Nikki. Laura gets a special dispensation this time as she’s only gone and had a teeny tiny baby – hello, Dulcie!

Nikki to choose the next date. Do join in!

But first, an observation on the randomness of strangers. This might be isolated to small country towns, I do not know.

It started with our kooky neighbours, the first strange strangers we met upon moving in, who despite first impressions, are thawing a little now. They’re probably harmless.

Then last week, there was the elderly man in waterproofs, stealing (I thought at the time) our neighbour’s wheelie bin. It turns out he is somehow employed in the neighbourhood to put the bins out and do some gardening from what I gather. I stepped out the front door this morning to be greeted by him brandishing his walking stick and instructing me on the finer points of drain clearing. He then ensured I was informed of tonight being Black Bin Night – I think it’s bin collection day tomorrow, rather than there being some sort of neighbourhood wine tasting but you never know.

The strangest of the strangers so far has been the man who looked after our neighbour’s house whilst they were away last weekend (I suspect at the Whitby Goth Weekender, they look the sorts). Cutting a long story short, we were woken on Saturday morning by the police, paramedics and worried family of said man, who had posted on Facebook that he was going to kill himself and now was incommunicado. In his friends’ house. Thankfully, he was either unsuccessful or decided against it, and was led away to seek medical assistance.

More nicely strange was the elderly lady I encountered yesterday morning as I strolled along the canalside killing time whilst my car had its MOT, who, as I approached gave me the heartiest, cheeriest GOOD MORNING! I’ve had in a long time. Heartwarming.

Then there was another harmless old duffer at the cash point next to me – he turned,shivered and said CHILLY FOR JUNE,ISN’T IT, EH? Um, yes…e

I’ve just returned from my new local stationers, a proper old skool good service, shirt and tie sort of place. They also do printing, they could become my new BFFs. I started off proceedings by purchasing 200 padded envelopes which despite being extremely light they insisted on carrying to my car for me. Lovely strangers.

So, in summary – the countryside is a bit…strange.

0600-ish Lee’s alarm goes off. In our new house, it is necessary to put a light on to find clothes/slippers/the door. Bleugh.

0645-ish Lee leaves for work. I am now wide awake so may as well get up.

0700 I shuffle around the vast highways and byways of our new house for a bit. I then sit down, determined to finally do the design for the Christmas card I have in mind. I am very disorganised for Christmas this year, business-wise, due to house moving etc. I sketch it out and then stitch it up whilst catching up on Downton Abbey. I have a chuckle as a girl at work referred to our new house as Brownton Abbey and it has kind of stuck.

0900 Have some breakfast, do some Super Cute Kawaii blogging and finish off sewing whilst watching Boardwalk Empire. I am beginning to get fed up with Kelly McDonald’s character.

1100 I’ve had a shower and am pottering around a bit trying to remember what it is I should be doing. I am so very tired. My shifts at work have been all over the place lately and I have had no routine and most days don’t quite know whether I’m coming or going. The postman arrives bringing our second council tax bill in as many days, this time for a different address. It turns out the original was for our neighbour’s house. Sadly ours is more expensive!  The postman knocked on the door on Saturday and introduced himself and asked how we’d like our mail – he can leave stuff in a safe place, leave Recorded stuff if we’re not in, etc. I almost wept with joy to have such an understanding and helpful postman! He’s definitely getting a Christmas card.

1200 Whilst I am drying my hair, I hear the rattle of wheelie bins outside. I get to the living room window just in time to see someone disappearing up the drive with what I imagine is our new brown garden wheelie bin that the council were supposed to deliver. I suspect they saw our neighbour’s and thought it was ours.  Either that or someone in waterproofs has just stolen our neighbour’s bin.

1230 I leave for work. I remember that I need to get petrol, so I trundle to the garage and nozzle up. It turns out that I have a lot to learn about cars, including that the nozzle needs to be in all the way or the petrol will splash back all over your hands, cardigan, shoes, dress, hair. I am a walking flammable timebomb.

1300 Driving to work, reeking of petrol. I am getting high off the fumes so have to open the window. Guh.

1315 Stop at supermarket. I love the freedom of driving and being able to do whatever you like on the spur of the moment. I quite enjoy supermarket shopping on my own, it turns out. Lee will be delighted.

1400 Arrive at work. It’s mentally busy again. I am the duty editor today, so am essentially responsible for all the subtitles, signing, audio description until midnight. Gulp.

1445 Already want to kill one of my colleagues. They are quite inept though think they are the king of everything. If they ask me one more time if I am OK, I think I will snap.

I lose track of time, to be honest, as I am so busy at work. Laura reminds me I should be taking notes when she messages me to say I can close the window if I want. I am glad she opened it, it’s roasting and I reek of petrol. I have a headache.

I struggle through to 2015 which is the time my colleague has decreed I can take my break as he doesn’t want to cover the phone over the busy news time which on a Monday is 6 – 8. I’m too tired to argue and make a mental note to complain to my boss at some point that break cover is abysmal for such a stressful job.

2030 I’m in the kitchen, eating my pasta. Two subtitlers are in there, asking me questions about the new workflow system that’s been brought in. I don’t know the answers and want to just eat my dinner. I change the subject and then head back to my desk to read some RSS feeds but give up as the phone is ringing off the hook with more problems for me to solve.  Sigh.

2200 Somehow, I am enduring Question Of Sport for the second time today. Speak to colleagues in Australia who do work for us overnight. Usually the last couple of hours are not too bad, but tonight it’s busy right up til midnight. I am so, so tired!

0010 Make it out the office and get in the car. I put the radio on loud and singalong with Motown classics to keep myself alert. It’s a bit spooky driving along dark country roads on Halloween night alone! As I am thinking that, I realise I haven’t seen a single person dressed up today. A badger shuffles out in front of me further ahead on the road. I have never seen one in real life! Lovely.

0100 I get home, put the shopping from earlier away and then collapse into bed. Zzzzz.

Rather a dull entry from me, but them’s the breaks with Day In The Life! Marceline is collating this time, check out her blog for the others.

In others news, we’ve been on holiday to Fuerteventura, I’ve also been to Dusseldorf and um, we’re moving to the countryside this month. Exciting times! More bloggage will hopefully ensue.

A car is waiting to take me to the hotel I’m staying at, the K West in Shepherd’s Bush. It’s well-known for being popular with bands and trendy media types and it has what younger people than I might describe as a “happening” bar in the foyer.

The car that’s been sent for me is inexplicably a chauffeur-driven brand new Mercedes and the guy even comes out and opens the door for me, once he’s driven me to the door of the hotel. This sets off a chain-reaction of servitude and the burly bouncer on the door unclips the velvet rope and sweeps me through. I am mortally embarrassed to see every face in the bar turn to see who it is – just me, with my hair a mess and a hole in my leggings.

The hotel is pretty swish but due to a mix-up with my booking, I have got the worst room in the place – a million miles away from reception and overlooking some skips round the back.  The walk to my room literally takes over 2 minutes of striding down a long corridor which feels like you’re walking to the end of the world. It’s so long that there are TVs in the walls at strategic intervals and a vending machine halfway. The vending machine isn’t working, bah.

Get to my room and I try to switch the TV on but that doesn’t seem to be working either, so I potter about a bit and then get into the comfy bed and finish my book.

I have a game of Zoo Keeper on the DS and then decide, at around 0200 that I should really get some sleep.

I wake up at 0755 and get out of bed immediately as I have to be at work earlier today and also as the curtains let light in. I have a shower and wash my hair in the harsh London water that my hair really does not like. I struggle to get ready, there’s no mirror to dry my hair at apart from one that is behind some glass shelves  in a really inconvenient location. The hotel, upon reflection, is pretty masculine. Then I pack my stuff up.  I like packing my bag to come home, it’s exciting to know that I’ll soon be back.

Realise that by the time I get to work, it’s going to be a bit late for breakfast, so I eat the speculoos from the hospitality tray and gather my stuff and check out. The hotel try to make me pay, but I point out that the company has already paid. Chancers. When I’m checking out, I see one of the bands that were staying outside, loading all their stuff into their tour bus. I later deduce that it is White Denim, indie rock fans. I wasn’t all that impressed with the hotel but it’s still better than the one I usually have to stay in.

I head to the Tube and hop along to White City and walk up to the Media Village. This trip, I have spotted the grand total of no celebrities. One day, I’ll meet Huw Edwards though and be over the moon.

I get to work for 1100 and there’s not much for me to do, as I am pretty much there to finish off my training, which I have already done. I talk to some colleagues and then we watch the athletics and look at Usain Bolt running fast in wonderment.

I chat to my colleague Jane who is Duty Editor today until she finishes at 1400 and get her tips for success. I like my colleagues a lot. Jane is very funny. Around 1415, I gather up my things once more, say cheerio to everyone and head back to the Tube at Wood Lane.

Wood Lane Tube reminds me of the Bangkok Skytrain, especially when it’s as hot and sunny as it is in London today! I take it to Euston Square, which is more scenic than the usual route I take. It passes Portobello Market which today smells of fried onions – which reminds me, I am starving!
I get to Euston Station and look at my lunch options. Discover to my delight that not only is there a Krispy Kreme stand but an Ed’s Easy Diner, too, in a kind of plaza I’ve never found before – hurrah!

I have a hamburger and some onion rings and then go and buy some books and a drink and some donuts to take home, as Lee’s never had KK before and I am nice like that. I have to wait what seems like an age for my train and I am very tired indeed.

Eventually, the platform is called and half the station swarms like ants to platform 6.  I find my seat on the train and settle in next to a hot guy – literally, hot, as in radiating heat like he’s on fire. I am very sweaty. Once the train gets moving, he hops off to find another seat so we can both spread out though, so it worked out pretty well and I got to stretch a bit.

I spend a lot of time people watching the couple across from me who have packed for this train journey like they were on some sort of Arctic expedition. They have pretty much brought a 3 course meal, laptops, iPods, books, cocktails and a change of clothing. I also listen to the Chinese couple behind me synchronise their diaries until literally new year 2012. She’s taking him home to meet her parents for the first time and he recently bought a Shaker style wardrobe that cost £595.

When we get to Lancaster, I am pretty much near death. The Pendolino train  is making me feel a bit queasy which is making me even sleepier but I am too tired to sleep much it seems. We are delayed slightly by some idiot dicking about on the tracks but get back underway and eventually we crawl into Glasgow just before 2300. Lee has come to pick me up and we stop on the way home to pick up something for me to eat before we have a quick exchange of news and then I collapse into bed just after midnight. Zzzz. Thank goodness I’m off work for a few days – I’m exhausted!

Knitted slipcover by Biscuit Scout.

Crocheted stool cover by Dottie Angel.

Knitted blanket via Pinterest.

Doily rug also via Pinterest.

It’s probably the turn in the weather towards autumn (neatly bypassing summer without collecting £200 or passing Go) that is making me crave giant, chunky knitted things. I want a huge big squishy grey and/or mustard blanket.

I want to make one but sadly all my knitting needles, my giant size 20s, my selection of bamboos and even my straggly old metal pins are AWOL, lent out to the Craft Mafia and lost forever, it seems. One day, though, I will get some replacements organised and get knitting. Knitting on giant needles is very easy and produces results very quickly, so even I should be able to fit in some knit time in amongst my busy schedule! Or, I’ll bribe my mum.

Apart from that, I was also being quite flabbergasted that someone brought a dog into the pool at the Hilton I stayed at (only £63 on lastminute.com, bargain fans). A dog. In the pool. Weird.

Other highlights were hanging out with my brother and seeing Kirk from Coronation Street eating in the same restaurant as us.

Came across this on the Nancy & Betty blog recently. This is something that really grates on me, so here’s a timely reminder for everyone.

Been busy at Subtitling Towers recently, feels like I’ve not been away from there – that’ll be the working 5 weekends in a row. However, it is now only 12 days til we go on holiday, so pretty soon, it’ll all be worth it!

http://iheartnancyandbetty.blogspot.com/2011/07/stationerystationary.html

So, whilst I remember, I’m passing on the baton of choosing the next Day In The Life day to Alice.

Tune into her excellent blog to find out when the next one is.