gomdega: » About Me

In A Nutshell…

Hello. I’m Wendy, and I like to make things.

Where In The World?

A nice bit of countryside to the north of London, England. (If you live elsewhere, bear in mind that I usually craft in UK English – there can be some big differences, particularly with crochet, for example.)

My house is small and possibly beyond hope of repair, but I couldn’t leave my garden or, rather, what I can see from there: lots of fields, and the wooded hill where the sun goes down…

This Is…

My own little place to record things I’ve made, books I’ve read and any other preoccupation that encourages me to create. Mm, perhaps a bit frivolous of me, but it’s nice to have my own space and somewhere to look back on as the Craft Fu grows stronger…

La Famille

Grey (AKA “His Nibs”) and I have two daughters, Pixie and Flame. Those aren’t their real names, you know, and I have other monikers, depending on the circles I frequent. I’ve chosen to use pseudonyms here to allow for a bit of privacy, so if you happen to know us, please don’t use our other names when leaving comments. Thank you muchly.

Some names you might see here that don’t relate to real people include:

Helga – Ohmygoodnessme – She’s my beloved Husqvarna Viking Platinum 775 Royal Edition sewing machine. Magnifica!
Missy – Unlike Pixie and Flame, she doesn’t mind standing still for hours and having pins stuck in her! Missy is an Adjustoform dressform, and strictly not for voodoo. I must get a man one for when I make stuff for Grey…

Likes

Sewing, crochet, knitting, reading, jewellery, natural skincare, taking photos, dreaming, dancing, cooking (and eating!), foreign language/culture, craggy coastline, chocolate, ancient history, clogs, music, pots, writing, socks, playing video games, and lots more. I am generally more inclined to like things than not, and I figure I might as well try (just about) everything.

Technically Speaking…

Most of the site pics have been taken on a Fujifilm FinePix F40fd. The early craft stuff was taken on my old Nikon Coolpix 5700, which served me well before it went kaput in June 2007. I’m hoping for a new Nikon soon, as I wear digital cameras out! My hard disk and iPod (which is possibly the best Christmas present since Tiny Tears or Girls World) are full of photos – I take pictures of absolutely everything!

15 Somewhat Craft-Related Things About Me

I like to hang on to the things I make – I know exactly what people mean when they say something of themselves goes into their work. When I look at something I’ve made, it’s like recalling a snapshot of my life at that time.
I don’t like buying anything I know I could make for myself.
My first memory of someone crafting was arriving at my grandmother’s house and seeing her in her chair doing something yarny. I don’t remember whether it was crochet or knitting, just that she moved it to one side to make way for her guests. Sadly, that’s also the only memory I have of her because she died when I was just four. :o( I miss not having her around, particularly now that I could do with her expert guidance. She was an amazing crafter. I like to think that she’s around me when I am working on something (she’s probably telling me I’m doing it wrong!). I’ll post some pictures of her work sometime…
My other grandmother was good at sewing and needlework, but I didn’t see her doing it very often. We once spent a day making clothes for my doll on her Singer 128k. That machine went back and forth between Gran and Mum…
…Who also used to knit clothes for my Tiny Tears. I must post pics of those outfits too. :o)
My mother taught me how to crochet when I was very dinky. She didn’t know how to start the work, but my supercrafty granny left some, er, granny squares, and Mum used these as centres for our blankets. All Mum seemed to know was the shell stitch, so we spiralled outwards, not knowing why the blankets always came out misshapen and curved around the corners. Thanks to my growing library of crochet and knitting books, I now know the answers: we should have been chaining at the corners, and there’s such a thing as blocking! I also now know how to crochet in circles/rows, instead of spirals! LOL!
I flit from project to project if I don’t have a deadline or get obsessed with one particular bit of work. It all gets done eventually, though!
I used to run a shop specialising in natural creams, handmade soap, ethically-traded toys, hemp bags, and much more. It got too busy for me to have the simple life I need to have right now, so I closed it down and got back to enjoying life and family, and making things.
It’s the creation stage I enjoy most, rather than the satisfaction of completing the work. I always learn something new, even if it’s how not to do it next time!
I want to learn new techniques all the time, and I want to feel like I’m doing everything properly – not cutting corners or making it look OK on the outside, knowing that it hasn’t been done right on the inside. One example is the Mermaid Purse. I didn’t have time to line it and that bugs the heck out of me every time I look at it!
When I left school, I passed all but one of my exams. I got a ‘D’ in Art. I did some sewing at school when I was about seven (a hand-sewn pin cushion with hexagonal patchwork) and eleven (a cushion with an ice cream sundae applique I designed myself, and then sewed on a Bernina). I think I did a reasonable job at both, but my mother hated to sew so wasn’t really motivated to sit and practice with me.
When Grey tells me it’s bedtime and I say I’ll do just one more round of crochet before I come up, he knows that’s not quite going to be the case… Hence the tagline at the bottom of the webpages.
I love Japanese crafts – I am very much influenced by zakka when making things for the home. As far as knitting is concerned, I’m starting to explore the woolly goodness that’s been coming out of Scandinavia. I also want to crochet something ripply. Not sure whether it will be the ubiquitous Ripple Blanket or not…
If I’m not crafting, I love reading about it, so quite a bit of my hard-earned cash goes on books to feed my obsession. Yeah, I could save some money and order them at the library, but I love that I can immediately look up something I am unsure about, or flip through a ‘coffee table’ tome for inspiration.
Our house is badly in need of repair and redecoration, so I’m going to be doing a lot of crafting over the coming seasons! Yee-ha!