Hello and welcome to my blog, snipsnaphappy!
My name is Ali and I write snipsnaphappy as a a kind of log of all my crafty attempts mixed in with recipes, the odd tutorial, helpful links, plenty of navel-gazing, parenting stuff, money-saving & thrifting and, most of all, crochet.
I started snipsnaphappy in 2008 initially to help me reconnect with my creative side. I had recently come through a period of illness where I had been forced to stay at home a lot and had got into mosaics as a way of keeping me occupied. Mosaics reawakened my creative side (as well as shredding my fingers, I was never a careful mosaic artist) and shortly afterwards I got into sewing (once again with shredded fingers, needles and pins can be lethal...) Then one day in 2009 I saw my sister crocheting a lovely blanket and a new love was born. I immediately ordered the book "The Happy Hooker" and read it cover to cover, forcing myself to do every trial, every exercise & practise until I had taught myself the full set of basics. Now I can pretty much turn my hook to any pattern, even modify and create my own. I find myself attempting to convince people, sometimes strangers, that they really ought to take up crochet...I'm a terrible crochet bore (but seriously if you don't crochet already you really must start.)
As well as all this creativity and finger-shredding I also have a proper job and I am a wife (to Dan) and mummy to two gorgeous girls - Lillia is 5 and Phoebe is 1. We live in a house not much larger than a postage stamp, it is miniscule, and we don't earn millions. So these days snipsnaphappy is about crafting - and parenting - and family - and work - and thrifting & money-saving - and sometimes ulcerative colitis (which is my evil bowel-destroying disease) - and of course crochet - and finding a way to make all these things work together somehow.
If you are relatively new to my blog then you might like the following posts to get you started (these are my favourites anyway...!)
Crochet
All my posts relating to all things yarny and hooky! And by that I mean crochet of course.
Sewing stuff
Toys, creatures, bags (oh, lots of bags), clothes and creations made using a needle and thread...and fabric...and at the cost of a few bleeding fingers (damn those needles...)
The Toy Society
Not heard of it? It's a Pay it Forward crafty project that is worldwide. Have a read...then have a go!
The Happy Hooker Backwards Project
There's a seperate tab for this above if you want more background (basically I am working my way through all the crochet patterns in the Happy Hooker book...backwards, I can't remember why I am doing it backwards, but it's fun nonetheless. I try to share all the details - like the ease of the pattern, the yarn used etc and any pattern modifications or problem solving to help you if you are working on the same pattern.)
Kent
It's where I live and it's the Garden of England, so it's hard not to share some of the beautiful places this county has to offer (no I'm not sponsored by Kent County Council!)
My home
Posts with sneak peaks around my tiny little cottage house in Kent. I put this link in not because my house is particularly stylish or beautiful but because I know I LOVE to nose around other people's houses so thought I'd let you do the same :)
Lastly, it's not pretty and it's not happy but I have written quite a bit on the subject of Post-Natal Depression, if you want a first-hand account then do have a read and please do get in touch if you feel you want to ask any questions.
There's lots more of course but I shan't boss you about, I'll let you find your own way round.
If you have any questions or comments about any of my posts and then please do get in touch with an email or a comment. You can mail me at snipsnaphappy [at] yahoo [dot] com.
Enjoy my blog and thanks for reading!
Ali
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