Knitting and Vodka

Welcome, my name is Soph and this is my new blog “Knitting and Vodka”. I wanted to create a different blog that gave me a platform to be creative, experience everything in life and show you some of the other things I enjoy to do or write about.

The name “Knitting and Vodka” came from; well actually me thinking for days on end trying to find a combination that works well together and represents the two different sides to me and my life also.

 Getting back to me, I have always wanted to be a writer and I think to be honest it is the one thing I do think about when I first wake up and when I go to bed at night. I once got told if you think about something like that (from when you wake up to when you go to sleep) then you are meant to be it, whatever it is so I guess I am meant to be a writer – only thing is I haven’t got there yet and not sure if I am even good at it but I love to do it. I can write for hours on end and not tire so surely that is a good sign? Only in the last 7 months I have been really trying to make it happen from a little “what have I got to lose” attitude and finally believing in myself as maybe, just maybe I could make it happen!

I have always been crafty (in an art way!), I think since school, so when I started blogging I absolutely loved it! My very own little place to as creative as I possibly could; I get to be my own boss and best of all people (great people) read my work and like it. Not only like it but tell you they like it, go to the trouble of leaving you funny comments which makes all the hard work worth while and not as lonely too. But I do enjoy other things too and that is where ‘Knitting and Vodka’ comes into it. I love to write, read, photography, drawing, cooking, films, music, festivals, magazines and the list goes on as you will read here soon enough.

Mum and I are very close and as we have been spending more time together we both have come to realise we both enjoy the same things, very similar in many ways and I have seen that Mum is very good at what she does! We have become a little crafty team! Mum will be popping up on this blog so I will let her introduce herself to you all properly but this is what I remember from when I was younger to when it all began for Mum…

 For as long as I can remember Mum has always gone to jumble sales, boot sales and charity shops. I will admit now that I never got it at all, none of us did, it was something we just got used to Mum doing and liking to do! I remember once Mum dragging me along to a jumble sale at my school, in the school hall and when we got there thinking to myself “Where the hell are we?” There was old painting and decorating tables along the sides of the walls and the clothes literally just dumped on there. I am talking just open the bin bag and empty the contents on the table, no sorting skills required and it must have taken 5 minutes to set the whole event up. Mum would just go into a trance like state, you never disturb her when she is like that, she would pass me item after item to hold and only muttering the words “Hold this, and this, and this…” until I was a walking clothes bundle and lost the feeling in my legs.

Mum could rummage like no tomorrow if she could, searching for that hidden bargain and Mum would always find it – very jammy! To me it was always rubbish but Mum could always see the potential. Mum soon progressed to charity shops. When I was with her I would always wait outside the shop, pretending I wasn’t with her or I would go in but follow Mum around like a lost puppy never leaving her side. I would watch in amazement, Mum would scan a charity shop in seconds, then move with swift precise timing to retrieve exactly the chosen item before anyone had a hope in hell! When Mum found some hidden treasure she would be on cloud nine and on a buzz, I still didn’t get it.

Till a few months ago I went along to the charity shop with Mum with the full intention of really trying to understand the magic and boy I did! Mum had a plan of action for me, I watched her closely, I got briefed on the plan and we were off. I went to my area, got searching and found an item I knew Mum would love and guess what? I then got it. At last, I felt the buzz and understood why Mum done it all them years. I took my item to Mum like a proud child wanting my gold star and pat on the head – I had passed the test.

We then whizzed around the shop like a dream team and I even experienced my first charity shop battle – we both had our eye on the same item, we both wanted it, I moved in closer, she knew my plan, we both went for it and I got it – Woohoo! We were on fire! We even performed a high five in public…I am not proud. We left the shop both buzzing and grinning from ear to ear. We got a rug, lampshade, cover for the bed, two tops and a few books for just over five pounds and with Mum’s magic sprinkled over the top it changed a room completely and sold the other items.  

So, that is what Mum has been doing for years now, finding hidden treasure, some times sprinkling magic dust over the items and even keep them or sell them on. Mum knew what she was doing years back and only now has it caught on, people get it too and even more want it! Like they say “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”…couldn’t say it better myself!

So, together we make a good team and are always up to something. We both see the world in chilled out glasses and hopefully share that with you guys as we go along…I hope you enjoy and again welcome to ‘Knitting and Vodka’.