• All about me
  • Blog
  • Favourite links to blogs, places and people
  • Features and Interviews
    • An interview with Dee Hardwicke
    • Knitwear designer Martin Storey – an interview
    • Louisa Harding, knitwear designer talks to Annie Windley
  • How to guides
    • 1 Making a slip knot
    • 2 Cast on – a step-by-step guide
    • 3 Knit stitch – a step-by-step guide
    • 4 Purl stitch – a step-by-step guide
    • 5 Cast off – a step-by-step guide
    • 6 Making a chain stitch
    • 7 Making a double crochet stitch
    • 8 Making a treble crochet stitch
    • How to make a Basic Granny Square
    • Joining granny squares
  • Lessons in Thanet and North London
    • Crochet projects
    • Now We’re Knitting! (beginners)
  • Patterns
    • Annie’s Advent Calendar: Christmas CAL 2018
    • Carrot & pea bunting pattern
    • Fallen Leaves Autumn Cowl
    • Floral granny squares & little flowers pattern
    • Little crochet heart pattern
    • Little Tea Cosy pattern
    • Waffle Blanket
  • Shop
  • Spring Granny-Square Bag CAL pattern
Picking Up Stitches

Knitting, crochet, cross stitch and more - the wonderful world of working with wool

Thanet news

December is here!

December 1, 2022 by Annie Leave a Comment
December Crochet Xmas tree garland with crochet hook

December rolls around again! Time for some new crocheted decorations, methinks!!!

Of course, the old favourites are back – Santa, the reindeer, the little Xmas dogs and cats. But this year I’ve added a few more – and they were a great success at the craft fair in Broadstairs that I took part in last week, so I hope you’ll like them too.

For this December, the decorations include a couple of new garlands, and a neon-bright version of the fairy lights, plus more cards too!

Crocheted Christmas Garlands

Here is the Christmas Tree Garland – sweet little trees topped with buttons!

December Xmas tree garland with 5 button-topped crocheted trees on a black string

And our good old reindeer is making his debut on the Reindeer Garland – three reindeer and two cute little red baubles that reminded me of Rudolph’s red nose!

crocheted garland featuring reindeer and red baubles

Here’s the neon-bright fairy lights with the tree garland – they definitely get themselves noticed!

neon-bright crocheted fairy-light garland with Christmas tree crocheted garland

Crocheted Christmas Decorations

The decorations for our December tree haven’t been forgotten either!

The mice are back again, but this time, they have joined the church choir and have sweet little white ruffs!

Little crocheted mice with choirboy ruff collars.

I’ve added a traditional poinsettia too – well, poinsettias scream Christmas, don’t they?!

crocheted Christmas poinsettia decoration

New cards for December

There are a few more Christmas card designs to choose from this December too! All feature detachable decorations.

As well as the traditional holly and mistletoe, there are also little Christmas trees, which match the garland.

Xmas cards with crocheted tree decorations attached.

And no Christmas is complete without the Xmas wreath and some brightly wrapped parcels, so they’ve made an appearance too! Which do you like best?

Xmas cards with detachable crocheted wreath and present decorations

I’m going to put the pattern up for the little mice soon, so keep a look out on my instagram for news!

New crochet courses coming…

And in other exciting news – From 2023, I’m going to be teaching some crochet courses at the Broadstairs Adult Education College here in Thanet (that’s the region of the county of Kent, where I live). If you’re in the area, please let me know if there’s anything you’d like to learn and if possible I’ll add in a course. And if you’d prefer a solo lesson and you live in the Thanet area check out details of lessons here. I also offer Zoom lessons if you live further away!

Posted in: Christmas, classes, crochet, Thanet news Tagged: Christmas crochet, crochet, crocheted decorations, xmas garlands

Broadstairs – yes, we’ve moved to the coast!

January 31, 2020 by Annie 4 Comments
Broadstairs beach

Broadstairs by the sea!

I’ve moved – Broadstairs is now the place we call home. More precisely, the lovely village of St Peter’s on the edge of town…

Broadstairs St Peters village sign

Yes, after decades in North London, we’ve taken the plunge and moved to the Kent seaside. It’s a beautiful little seaside town, with stunning bays and cliffs and lots of shoreline walks.

Broadstairs beach in winter

My new village not only has a village green, complete with stocks for anyone who misbehaves, it also has a stunning Medieval church – St Peter-in-Thanet – and one of the longest churchyards in the country that leads out to fields!

St Peters Thanet and graveyard

The medieval church of St Peter-in-Thanet

Angel statue in st peters thanet graveyard

The graveyard is a peaceful place to visit

Fields at end of graveyard of St Peters Thanet

The view of the fields from the end of the graveyard

Field of cauliflowers

Cauliflowers growing in the field beyond the woods

Floral delights

You probably know that I love crocheting flowers (like my floral wreaths and Flora gloves) so I’m more than happy that I’ve now got my first ever garden.  I’m currently swotting up on what to do when, and being surprised by all the lovely bulbs and flowers that are appearing all over.

Christmas rose hellebore

Beautiful Christmas rose Hellebore

Bulbs appearing in the garden

Gorgeously scented winter honeysuckle is blooming now and smells wonderful.

There’s also a bird feeding station just outside our living room window, and I’m also enjoying a spot of birdwatching from the warm – robins, magpies, collared doves, sparrows, blue tits, long-tailed tits, wood pigeons, blackbirds and starlings are all regular visitors (as well as the greedy squirrels).

robin on the fence

Lily’s enjoying watching the birds too!

Dedicated craft room!

Best of all, I now have a dedicated craft room at the end of the garden, with the woods behind it, so, as soon as I finish unpacking, I’ll be organising my yarn and fabric and getting cracking on some brand new designs.

Broadstairs craft room in garden by day

I can even use it at night!

garden with lights at night

Lessons in Thanet

My move, of course, means that I’ll no longer be available to teach in London all the time, though I will be returning on a regular basis (as long as enough people want to learn on the same day). So if you’d like to have a lesson, just join my mailing list, or drop me a line so that I can tell you when I’ll next be back.

It also means that I can now teach in the Broadstairs-Margate-Ramsgate area as well – I already have a few lovely places to teach, so I’m looking forward to meeting some Thanet crafters soon… (If you’re interested in a lesson, email me at pickingupstitches@gmail.com.)

PS Lily’s loving life in Broadstairs too!

Lily on the prom

Posted in: classes, inspiration, Thanet news, Uncategorized Tagged: Broadstairs, crochet, knitting, lessons, Thanet

Recent Posts

  • Crocheted daffodils for Easter
  • Spring crochet in pastel shades
  • Easter Bunnies
  • December is here!
  • Crocheted plantpots

Archives

  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • February 2023
  • December 2022
  • May 2022
  • November 2021
  • February 2021
  • November 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017

Categories

  • Bunting
  • Christmas
  • classes
  • craft fair
  • crochet
  • Crochet patterns
  • granny squares
  • inspiration
  • Interviews
  • knitting
  • knitting patterns
  • Thanet news
  • Uncategorized
  • workshops

Pages

  • All about me
  • Blog
  • Favourite links to blogs, places and people
  • Features and Interviews
    • An interview with Dee Hardwicke
    • Knitwear designer Martin Storey – an interview
    • Louisa Harding, knitwear designer talks to Annie Windley
  • How to guides
    • 1 Making a slip knot
    • 2 Cast on – a step-by-step guide
    • 3 Knit stitch – a step-by-step guide
    • 4 Purl stitch – a step-by-step guide
    • 5 Cast off – a step-by-step guide
    • 6 Making a chain stitch
    • 7 Making a double crochet stitch
    • 8 Making a treble crochet stitch
    • How to make a Basic Granny Square
    • Joining granny squares
  • Lessons in Thanet and North London
    • Crochet projects
    • Now We’re Knitting! (beginners)
  • Patterns
    • Annie’s Advent Calendar: Christmas CAL 2018
    • Carrot & pea bunting pattern
    • Fallen Leaves Autumn Cowl
    • Floral granny squares & little flowers pattern
    • Little crochet heart pattern
    • Little Tea Cosy pattern
    • Waffle Blanket
  • Shop
  • Spring Granny-Square Bag CAL pattern

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Follow me on social media

Twitter
Facebook
Instagram

Copyright © 2025 Picking Up Stitches.

Omega WordPress Theme by ThemeHall