Ramadan Mubarak

Alhamdulillah (thanks be to God) we made it to Ramadan 2016 or as my trusty Ramadan App tells me - 1 Ramadan 1437.

Ramadan Mubarak (Blessed Ramadan) to all of my wonderful sisters in Islam, we made it, not everyone has, there have been some who were taken before this time, Alhamdulillah the rest of us have another chance to try to win brownie points before we're carted off to our deathly abode - InshAllah (God willing) we shall make it to the end and manage to reap the greatest rewards we can.

I've been waiting for Ramadan this year, with my Imaan (faith) at an all time low, I've been living in dread of becoming one of the Hypocrites as mentioned in the Qur'an many times. I don't want to be left behind, for all my wappy ways, I do have a deep rooted belief. I CANNOT believe there is nothing after this life. To me, a caterpillar has it's life as an egg, then as a caterpillar, a pupa and finally (or maybe not) as a Butterfly. Well, if they can do it - why not us - who's to say there isn't life after death, who's to say, there isn't more after this? I believe there is, and I believe the answers, for me at least, are within the preachings of Islam. Therefore, it's been deeply distressing for me to find that my imaan and my practice have been slipping, and I have struggled daily with myself and my feelings of desolation.

Things aren't easy at the moment in my life, it's just the way it is. In Islam we believe we are tested,

And surely We shall try you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and crops; but give glad tidings to the patient, Who says, when afflicted with calamity: “To Allah We belong, and to Him is our return”: They are those on whom (descend) Blessings from Allah, and Mercy, and they are the ones that receive guidance. (Al-Baqarah 2:155-157)

He Who created Death and Life, that He may try which of you is best in deed: and He is the Exalted in Might, Oft-Forgiving. (Al-Mulk 67:2)

Whatever misfortune happens to you, is because of the things your hands have wrought, and for many (of them) He grants forgiveness. (Ash-Shura 42:30)

On no soul doth Allah Place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Pray:) "Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; Help us against those who stand against faith." - 2:286

Sometimes I wonder if I'm strong enough to carry my burdon. I find it terribly difficult to practice as a Muslim when I'm on my own, and then I look at all the other sisters around who are in the same situation as myself - who seem to have few if no problems. My conclusion always swings back to my being weak and I must try harder.

So I've been praying, BEGGING to live long enough to be given the chance to slightly redress the balance inshAllah (God willing) and Alhamdulilah, I have been..
I nearly didn't though. I had promised my son and his partner that I'd visit them on Monday. For some idiotic reason, I had convinced myself that Ramadan MUST be on Tuesday, I was praying for Tuesday, but no, the moon was sighted a few hours ago in Mekka, so Ramadan (for us in the UK) is on Monday - tomorrow, the day I'm driving all the way to Nottingham and back, having been up until 2.30 am trying to ensure I've drunk enough water to carry me through the 19 hour fast. 

I'm happy, because my belief that I'm in a sorry state as far as my Islamic strength is - it's true, I am in a sorry state, but, perhaps not as sorry a state as I believed (alhamdulillah) because the moment, the MOMENT, I heard that the moon had been sighted - I burst into tears, I was absolutely devastated because I'd promised to go to Nottingham and I DESPERATELY didn't want to fail in my Islamic practice. This tells me that my believe is VERY strong, my practice might be lacking, but my believe is strong, so strong that I was completely torn over what to do - fortunately (alhamdulilah) we've sorted out the Nottingham business, and I am free to start my fast alongside all the other fasting Muslims in the world alhamdulilah. 

I know I'm not the best, I know I'm a long long way from being even remotely good as a muslima (lady muslim) , but I AM happy it's Ramadan, I am happy that I burst into tears, and felt so desolate when I heard, it gave me a feeling of strength because it showed me that I am still muslim in my heart and soul, I'm a bit lost at the moment, but my belief is SO strong, I'm praying that I manage to build up my strength again this Ramadan. My soul needs this, I need this, I pray that I will manage to get through this inshAllah (God willing) 

Ramadan Mubarak to all my Brothers and Sisters in Islam, may our efforts be rewarded and our prayers accepted throughout this auspicious month. Ameen <3 

The funny little Octopus craze

I was posted the same picture, by three different friends, living in three very different parts of the world the other day,

This was the picture, it's very cute, (the pattern can be found at: Pattern...http://www.1dogwoof.com/2016/05/crochet-jellyfish.html ) I couldn't get the idea that it was more a jelly fish than an Octopus, but I think that was half my problem when making it - I couldn't differentiate between the two (you'll see why in a moment. )

Anyway, I set to, crocheting this little cutie, I was worried I wasn't up to the challenge, because I'm really not good at following patterns, but somehow, this is a fantastic pattern, I found it incredibly easy to follow before too long, I'd the top and a few tentacles completed, I finished there for the night, I wanted to add a few more tentacles in the morning, and just complete it (I'd forgotten at this stage what it was, and I had visions of different coloured tentacles)

Morning came and I set too to complete my project, I decided the beautiful teal green I'd got in my stash from Aldies not so long ago would be the perfect colour to add to the lilac I'd done the main body in. Continued with the tentacles - which I was finding quite therapeutic to do.

Face embroidered on - just about the one thing I do not have in my stash are safety eyes. Googly - yes, safety - no! Tied all the tentacles together and shoved them through the main hole in the centre of the underbelly, tied them off, filled the body with toy stuffing, and single crochet (UK double) around the edge. I did take a photo of it as it was in it's finished state, but I was a bit too flippant with the editing and found I'd deleted the photos I wanted.
Continuing on, I thought it would look nice with a frilly edging , just to make it look a little more authentic - at this point,I was thinking it looked more like a jelly fish than an octopus, infact, I'd completely forgotten I had started making an octopus! So I went around the entire body section making a little wavy pattern all around the edge - and VOILA! A Jelly fish!

At that exact point, I remembered I was making an Octopus and mine had 9 tentacles, so I had to cut one off! And Voila!! an Octopus! <3
I posted the pictures of my efforts onto a crochet page on FB only to find, EVERYONE had been sent the same photos that I had, and that everyone was making them. Amazing really, to think how these funny little crazes happen. However, on a happy note, the world is now full of funny, furry, and beautiful Octopusi :) 

Woolly Nutella

I've been getting some stick recently for being just about the only person in the world that hasn't tried Nutella - I can't say it's one of those things that has appealed to me - ever! Anyway, I decided to get a jar and add my own twist.

I decided to Knit my own jar of Nutella so people can stop feeling like I'm missing out all the time :p
Officially, the jar belongs to a friend of mine, and it will be dutifully returned to her (she, incidentally thought I'd crocheted around the jar of Nutella in it's entirety, she wasn't impressed until I showed her the real Nutella jar in all it's unopened glory!)

I crocheted around the jar using UK double stitch (US single) changing colours as I saw appropriate, once I'd decided the white was enough around the main body of the jar, I then did the top (mainly because I was still using the white) I kept increasing until I thought it looked about right. Once I was happy with the fit around the top of the lid, I then crocheted one round through the back of the loop, thereby giving the lid a clear cut "fold" down, then I continued down the side of the lid without increasing until I got to the edge, I then did a round of decrease stitches to give the jar that separated lid look. 

Picking up on the base again, I did another couple of rounds of white, then finished it off with about 4 lines of brown, again decreasing on the last row to about the same number of stitches as the lid. 

I cut out cardboard for the side and a circle for the lid to give the "jar" a stable look, then filled it with toy stuffing until it was firm. 

The fun part was all the embroidery for the label, I crochet embroidered the writing on but used a needle for the knife (which unfortunately doesn't look at all authentic, but was the best I could do given the space confines) The bread was a challenge, I had no bread coloured wool, so had to improvise with two different colours of yellow, ok, so it ended up looking a little like a sunflower, I think, in the main, it was ok. I did a few squirly bits to try to make the chocolate spread on the bread look a little more authentic, then moved onto the flower which I did separately and then sewed on. The hazel nuts were crochet embroidered on, and the leaves done separately and, again, sewed on. 

I then sewed the lid onto the base with a simple running stitch that was hidden in the lid. 

All in all, I'm quite pleased with it, it's not as authentic as I had hoped, but, considering I've never done this kind of thing before, and I am still a novice at crochet, AND, as usual, I'd no pattern to go buy, I just did my "thing" and kept going until I was happy with it. I think it turned out ok really :) 

Cutting costs on a Birthday card and present.

It was my friend's birthday yesterday (Sunday) I've known her nigh on 30 years, which is quite incredible, as I've known her longer than I've known my husband, and he's been in my life since FOREVER!
I'm incredibly short of cash at the moment so I was struggling with ideas of what I should do. I desperately wanted to send a card, but I don't "do" cards, so I was uncertain of where to start.
In the end, I just got out my pens and some stamps and stamped out a butterfly and roses. I played around colouring the butterfly in, and then went over many of the lines in silver, and then did the same with the roses.

 This was the basic design I came up with, but it looked a little bland, I wanted a bit more - but didn't know what. My trusty FB friends came to my rescue and suggested a little glitter and some wording. I was always going to add the Happy Birthday on the front anyway, but wasn't sure about the rest.

 In the end, I came up with this, I think it's quite cute, especially for a non card crafter :p

 I hope she liked it too, the whole lost cost me no more than a first class stamp, I certainly appreciate the value of the whole project <3

I "kinder" like this little Amigurumi milarky

I apologise for my little play on words - I was trying to think of something to do with owls - I found out that the Latin for Owl is BUBONEM - don't say I don't teach you something new :p Talking of something new - I did something different yesterday, I came across some lovely little Amigurumi crochet "beings" on Pintrest (yes, sorry - back on there again!) they were crochet around the Kinder Surprise toy pods - they Yolk part of the egg. I instantly fell in love with them and (of course) I just HAD to have a go :p

I'm so pleased with the result, I wished I'd done some kind of tutorial/pattern to remind me of what I did - but I've now set all my friends on Kinder Egg eating excercise (you know that prayer? "Please God, if you can't make me skinny, then please make my friends fat" - I think someone might have been listening because I'm still not skinny, and the opportunity to make my friends fat has arisen)
Anyway, I started with a magic circle and just kept going round increasing the stitches until I'd got to a suitable size that would enable me to start circling around the sides. From then on, I just kept checking the crochet fit the egg. When I came to the top of the bottom piece, I crochet backwards (Crab stitch) until I got to the last 4 stitches, for which I resumed ordinary crochet I then continued going round, decreasing until I was left with one stitch.
I then crochet a circle for the stomach and one for each eye. At this point, Neil laughed and said it was rubbish and didn't look much like anything - so I scrapped the stomach and used felt for the wings and tail, the eyes and beak were still crochet. A small square for the top of the head and ears completed my owl for the night.

the following morning I'd set my heart on giving it some character, so I continued to play around and fiddle until I was happy enough to glue the crochet on to the "yolk"

Tadaa! The end result.

I love him, can't for the life of me think of a name, but he's gorgeous, and I'm pretty pleased with my efforts. 

I'm Inspired!

I have so many friends who tell me I'm so artistic and creative - I'd like to agree, but usually I'm stuck with making the same things that everyone else makes - well, with the difference that I can't actually follow patterns - I'm much better with pictures. So everything I make is, generally speaking, marginally different to what was intended - ah but hey ho, life would be boring if everything looked the same, so what if mine's a bit crooked and wonky, it all adds spice to life.
This morning, as I was doing my usual heavy duty peruse through Pintrest,  I was inspired by these little cat book marks, they're so cute, and perfect for me to make and build up supplies for my car-boot table (ANYTHING to build up funds until I find a job)

Aren't they just SOO cute? I'd love to receive one as a gift, however, usual problem - I can't, for the life of me, follow the darn pattern, so (as usual) I've done my own thing.

I don't quite know what went wrong, but it's still kinda cute. I'll have to figure out a longer tail, I thought 50 stitches would be long enough, but then I decided to be clever and ended up with a curly tail. It still looks FELINE which is the main idea, so I'm quite happy with it :) Ah well, onwards and upwards as they say <3 

A Change of Name

I fancied a change of name this morning. My old name was far too long. I LOVE my crafts, and I think I'm quite an amenable character (in the main) so I thought it was quite fitting. Besides, I opened up an online shop in Etsy last week, in a mad dash hope to set myself up as a crafter, my shop name is AmenableCrafts so I've linked the two together (mainly because I prefer Amenably Crafty as a name, but thought about it a bit too late :p ) I also have my items on my Facebook selling page - Amenable Crafts.

I have decided I'm too old and decrepit to continue with Maternity Nursing, I've been so poorly recently on jobs, I did take myself to the GP (practically unheard of) and had an all singing all dancing blood test - turns out my Vit D is absolutely rock bottom and I'm possibly on the cusp of Diabetes 2 - certainly it would explain why I was always so poorly after a few weeks in the job - I'd just work myself into a frazzle and my body would react by forcing me to stop.

So the decision has kind of been forced on me as well, certainly, I can't take it up again until I'm back to full health, so in the meantime, I'm looking for some work that will give me some pennies, that will still enable me to pick myself up as a serious crafter. 

Now, typically for me (being Dipsy and all that) I cannot possibly stick to just one craft, that would be just too darn easy!!!! No! I have to try all and sundry, my craft room (was playroom, and previous bedroom) is stocked up to the hilt with beads, wool, material, sewing machines, embroidery machines, glue, wire, pliers, scissors - you name it - I've probably got it stashed somewhere! 

I hope to start blogging about my crafting experiences, some will be successful, and probably several won't, but that isn't going to stop me - at least you'll know where I went wrong and you won't be making the same mistake as me! 

Rambling to Rawdom

Recently I've become interested in eating more of a raw diet - no I'm not talking salad, although technically it's all more or less salad, I'm talking the REAL raw foods, nut butters, seeds etc. I have a variety of books on the subject of raw foods and juices. I've always had a bit of an interest in this kind of thing despite being hugely overweight, I know what I want to do - I just haven't quite got the impetus of my mind behind me. Anyway - I've started experimenting with raw foods and have been leaning quite heavily on this book.

It's lovely, has many beautiful recipes - backed up with gorgeous pictures - I would love to just dive into some of them and have a taste - but no - I have to prepare them and being on an extremely tight budget, I have to take it slowly and surely.
Two weeks ago I made the Warming Green Porridge, For a first taste, it was a good choice, colour was fantastic but not quite what I was expecting first thing in the morning.

Eating the porridge with Raspberries was really something beautiful - I tried the following day with banana and for me, it tasted like banana on sludge - but with Raspberries it works.
Having gained a bit of courage, I tallied forth and tried Banana and maple "bacon" . I needed to finely slice my Aubergine on a mandolin - unfortunately, mine broke, so I had to guess at half cm slices and gave up halfway through and went for rounds.

 Having sliced, dunked and dried the aubergine I placed it strategically on the plate with sliced banana and poured maple syrup over the top - it wasn't bad, not as nice as the porridge with raspberries but MUCH nicer than the porridge with banana - all I can say for it was it's VERY chewy, now that could have been down to my inability to cut 1/2cm slices - I don't know, it's not necessarily something I'd go to the effort of making again, but certainly, it wasn't too bad.

Third attempt was at the Muesli Bread, well, things went pretty pear-shaped with this one, mainly down to human error I guess - but it's all a learning curve - someone's gotta make the mistakes I guess.

 The bowl of soaked seeds and nuts is on the bottom left - the dates and seeds on the upper left are for tomorrow's efforts.

Patiently peeled and chopped the fruits and courgette and span it through my food processor - in two lots because I've only got a small processor and this is a lot of fruit and nut for my poor little processor to work through.

After mixing the two lots together I had the great task of mushing it all onto my dehydrator trays. The recipe says to put it on the Teflon sheets - well, I haven't got any so I put the mix on some parchment paper - BIG mistake, my mix stuck to the paper - so that was mistake 1. Note to self - INVEST IN SOME TEFLON SHEETS!

So, having spread the mixture out over two trays, and dehydrated it over night - I turn it over and discover mistake 1. I also realise that I should have perhaps left it in a thicker layer, perhaps only covering one tray. With the paper sticking to the mix and me struggling to turn it over, the mixture collapsed in several places.

I have an end product resembling more granola than bread - but I have managed to get some reasonably sized and shaped pieces - I don't think I'll spread almond butter on it - I haven't got as far as making any of that yet anyway - but I think I'll probably use it as a snack cracker and the little pieces I'll probably crumble over my greek yogurt in the morning with maybe some maple syrup.
It DOES taste delicious - it just looks a little disappointing - oh well, onward and upward.