The Not Really Resolutions 2015 - The Introduction

It's time. I'm ready for you 2015.

If there's nothing else this blog is good for, it's been absolutely awesome at getting me to set myself some actual goals and then attempt to see them through. Ok, they're not massive huge things, they're usually just stuff that I really needed to do anything but will never get done because I have a tendency to sit in front of the TV watching something with absolutely zero cultural merit.

I can't actually believe that this is the fifth year of doing these - anyone bored yet?!

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1. Read ten Classics/Non-Fiction
So for the past four years I have set myself the challenge of reading twelve Classics throughout the year. The idea behind this originally was just to try and expand my reading repertoire and it's been great at doing that but lately it's started to feel like a chore. It's become something that I've started to get a bit stressed out about and that's no good to anyone.

I've also realised that I don't read a lot of non-fiction and I wanted to rectify that. I didn't want to add in reading non-fiction on top of Classics as I'm not the speediest of readers so I thought I'd take my foot off the pedal a little bit and set myself the challenge of reading 10 books that are either Classics or non-fiction.

2. Go to two Park Runs a month (on average)
When I was looking at getting my car one of the reasons I was really looking forward to it was the freedom it would give me to do more. There is a Park Run tantalisingly close to me but inaccessible unless you have your own transport so now I've got it there can be no more excuses.

(I put in the "on average" when I realised that I'll be away for the first 3 weekends of January...)

This will also tie in nicely with number 3...

3. Beat my 10k time
Last year was the worst year ever when it came to running for me. It feels like I was injured in one form of the other for the whole year - I spent a ridiculous amount of money on physiotherapists and osteopaths and I was completely incapable of winning the battle between myself and my head when I was out stomping around the streets.

But this year is the year that I sort all this out. No more injuries. Just no. No no no no. Well I mean there probably will be, but hopefully nothing too debilitating.

I am roping in the help of my blogger friends with this one - I'm hoping that the encouragement of excellent runners like Miss Pond and Lucy will help me achieve this goal.

4. Design and make my own amigurumi
Last year was the Year of the Amigurumi and it felt like all I did in 2014 was crochet zebras, elephants and horses. But I'm still very much a slave to the pattern and don't have the confidence to take it off the page and out of my head.

But I know I have all the tools to make my own animal/character - amigurumi is basically just a series of shapes and once you can do one you can do any of the others - but I just need to take the time out to sit and design something myself.

5. Crochet an item of clothing
Amigurumi is sorted. Blankets are sorted. But I don't feel that skill-wise I'm really going anywhere at the moment. I see people who have never crocheted before picking up a hook and a couple of months later are dashing about in jumpers and cardigans that they've made. I need to take the plunge and do something out of my comfort zone.

(And no I promise I won't crochet a scarf and call this one complete :) )

6. Blog 3x a week (on average)
I'm an advocate of saying that blogging should be fun and shouldn't feel like a chore and I really do feel that way, but sometimes even with the fun stuff there needs to be a little planning and preparation that goes in to it. I always feel as if I have lots to blog about but I don't get myself organised and then it's easy to be lazy and then there's no point really doing it....etc etc. It's time to get organised. Three posts a week shouldn't be that hard.

She says...

7. Finish one cross stitch piece that's just for me
I have a couple of things on the go at the moment that I've put to one side in favour of crocheting. The trouble is that in comparison to crocheting, cross stitch just takes such a long time. The results are nowhere near as immediate and that can start to become off-putting.

8. Tetris blanket
No seriously. THIS is the year. I've neglected this for way too long. This year will make it the third year that it has appeared on a Not Really Resolution list. I'm not even going to say "Finish Tetris blanket" I'm just making it a statement and whenever I'm looking for something else to put on my hook I will hear a voice in my head that just says "Tetris Blanket" with a slightly disapproving tone.

9. Go somewhere I've never been before each month
This is a follow on from 2014's Do One Interesting Thing each month. I don't want to fall into a rut of doing the same interesting thing each month though - I need to keep challenging myself and now I have a little car of my own it should make adventuring even more fun.

10. Makeover three pieces of furniture
I've been slowly plugging away at getting the flat looking how I would like it to look. I figured it was time to do it so I can stop living life like a student, plus it's a nice distraction. I figure that as I'll be spending a lot of time in it given that I'm the only person responsible for all the bills now, it might as well look nice whilst I'm at it.

Furniture-wise I probably have everything that I need but it is still all a bit of a mish mash which is adding to the weird studenty vibe. Just giving something a little slap of paint will make all the difference I'm hoping.

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So there we have it.

Come at me 2015.

2013 Not Really Resolutions - The Conclusion

I very nearly didn't do this post.

My absolute shame at my performance in 2013 is overwhelming.

It is not going to be one of those "Oh look at me and how great I am".

This is going to be one of those "Well I don't call them Resolutions anyway so it doesn't matter that I basically didn't do any of them."

Prepare yourself for some class A excuses...

1. Get behind the wheel of a car again - Completed! This resolution was invaluable as it has meant that when I have had access to a car I've been able to get out and about, something which is impossible to do when living in the middle of nowhere. I've been able to hire cars to make long journeys rather than depend on the UK's expensive and unreliable rail service (and it does pain me to say that, having been a rail traveller for so long). There is definitely a post I want to write about being a first time driver on the roads - it was a bit of a baptism of fire for me. My first drive on a motorway was a 3.5 hour stint down the M5 to Tavistock which was all kinds of intense. But I'm pleased I've got this one under my belt - you can read about my refresher lessons and my experiences driving my sister's Tank.

2. Project 365 - Failed. I don't really know what happened here because it was actually going pretty well but then I just....stopped. I think I got busy with the impending move in the flat when The Person was moving here and just forgot to take photos. Plus I really didn't do anything and taking photos every day was a bit of a literal reminder of that. I'm amazing I made it through half of the year to be honest. Still, I did do Project 365 in 2011 so I'm not a complete failure (I tell myself).

3. Read 12 Classics - 9/12 - FAILED! I know! First year that I have ever ever failed this Not Really Resolution in all the years that I've been doing it. My downfall was finally picking up a Classic and a half in the shape of Vanity Fair. That is quite the tome you know. I have had a tendency sometimes to play it safe with my Classics and pick up slimmer volumes or easy volumes (for instance, one of my Classics this year was 101 Dalmatians...) so whilst I do feel sad that I didn't complete this one, I feel proud that I took on the challenge of Vanity Fair and conquered it.

1. North & South, Elizabeth Gaskell

2. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

3. Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger

4. The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford

5. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

6. The Chrysalids, John Wyndham

7. The Edible Woman, Margaret Atwood (a review of which can be found HERE)

8. The One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Dodie Smith

9. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

4. Crochet an Elmer Blanket - Abandoned! You may remember that I abandoned this Not Really Resolution back in April as I decided I want to make a Tetris blanket. The Tetris Blanket is currently ongoing...

5. Learn to Knit - Failed! It just....never happened. Nothing more or less to it!

6. Bake once a month - Failed! It was just too hard, living in someone else's house for half the year isn't really conducive to taking over the kitchen randomly and I spent most of those weekends travelling to Preston to see The Person which meant I didn't have much time left for baking.

Jokes. I just bought cakes and ate them rather than making them.

7. Go abroad - Done! I went to Corfu with The Americans and The Person in July and it was amezzing and beautiful and I loved it and I didn't want to leave. It was made even better by the fact that the day before flying to Corfu, The Americans became Engaged Americans which made me giddy beyond belief.

That's what it looked like. Damn. Now I want to go back immediately.

8. Makeover a chest of drawers - Failed. HA. We moved into an unfurnished flat in August and let me tell you, furniture is expensive, even when shopping for cheap stuff. We still don't have a bed in the spare bedroom so we can have guests over, I am far from having the time, willingness and energy to makeover a piece of furniture I already own.

9. Cross stitch a big picture/item just for me - Failed. In the same way that 2012 was the Year of the Cross Stitch, 2013 was the Year of the Amigurumi and I have crocheted my fingers off. I have barely done any cross stitch at all.

10. Only buy 12 books throughout the year - HA! As if. In 2012 I managed to go a whole year without buying books so this should have been easy but it seems that with me, it's either all or nothing, and looking at the state of my to-be-read bookshelves I may need to implement a ban in 2014.

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So there we go. TWO out of TEN Not Really Resolutions completed.

You are totally allowed to sit back and feel pretty damn good about yourself right now.

Hey, at least 2014 is going to be better....right?!

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Take a look back at my past attempts...
Not Really Resolutions 2011
Not Really Resolutions 2012

2013 Crochet Review: The Year of Amigurumi

I can't lie to you, I have not managed to complete my Not Really Resolution of crocheting my Tetris blanket. I mean, not even close.

Actually, I should probably tell you now that I haven't really done any of my Not Really Resolutions.

Like really not done any.

I haven't even learned to knit.

Damn.

But I can redeem myself. Because whilst this may not have been the Year of Tetris Crochet, and certainly wasn't the Year of Not Really Resolutions, it was the Year of Amigurumi.

I have latched on to this like a crazy person. Ever since I did my zebra and elephant earlier in the year I've been taken over by the bug and whilst my hook hasn't done much resting, I just haven't had much time to devote to crocheting blankets.

Zebra herd

The best thing about it is just the speed at which you can turn something out. Crochet, and especially the Tetris blanket, can be a bit of a long game sometimes and you can work and work and work without seeing huge gains. But not with amigurumi, you only have to be hooking for a couple of hours and you can already see the shapes forming. The fact that they are made in separate pieces means that you can literally watch your creation building up and, as with all things, the more you do, the faster you become. I am easily twice as fast as I was when I first started now.

My giraffe that had an incredibly wobbly neck

My first zebra took weeks and weeks to crochet and make - I made one last week which took me a total of 3 nights to knock up.

Best of all? This amigurumi craze has been a little earner for me. The first zebra and the giraffe were made as presents for two friends who were expecting, but pretty much everything else since then has been made for someone and has brought me some money in.

Penguin - one of the funniest things I've crocheted

I'm never going to be millionaire and obviously you can never really charge for the amount of time you spend on them, if any hand-crafty person did that then no-one would be able to afford any goods ever, but hey, I'm sitting in front of the TV anyway, I might as well be making some money doing it.

One of the best things I've made has been this bunny dolly, a pattern from a crochet magazine, that I made for my niece for her birthday. She was the most complicated thing I've made so far but the details are what makes her. Her little pink cheeks and her hair are the best parts. And she has the cutest little bunny tail that I haven't got a picture of, to my immense annoyance.

Since making her, I've made another two that have been sold to people at work and she is so incredibly cute that I can't help but think that I'll be making more in the future.

The lovely thing about amigurumi is that even if you're making something that you've made before, and you're following exactly the same pattern and more than likely using the same yarn, each item you produce will come out looking ever so slightly different. So much relies on expression that just the one little different move of your needle or one iota of difference to an eye placement means that the finished article has a completely different personality.

Bunny dolly to the power of three

So yeah, this year has been the Year of Amigurumi. It's satisfying, it's quick to make, it's fun and it's making me a little pile of cash which I keep separate from all my other money to make sure it doesn't get swallowed in the day to day. So far I've put it to good use and have bought pyjamas, books and bath salts with it.

I know how to live the high life.

But as we were drawing to the end of the year I decided to get selfish and make a little something for myself. I had bought a new book and hadn't flipped all the way through it, so I was terribly excited when I got home and realised that there were some Christmas designs at the back of the book.

So I would like you to meet Ralph.

He may just be my favourite. It's hard to let every item go but if I really had to give Ralph away I really think I would struggle. From the tip of his antlers, to the bottom of his stripy legs and even including his little red nose, I love every inch of him. And although it will be difficult to pack him away at the end of Christmas, I know how over excited I will be to get him out again each year.

So here's to the Year of Amigurumi.

And not completing your Not Really Resolutions.

From L-R: Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Goat, Zebra, Bunny Dolly, Zebra, Penguin, Reindeer

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All creations are from this book and this book apart from the bunny dolly who is a pattern from Inside Crochet magazine (September 2013). 

The Tetris Blanket: Progress Update 3

"Another update so quickly, what is she some kind of crochet machine?"

Erm. No. No I am not.

You see I did my last Progress Update and all wasn't really as it should be.

I was still revelling in my Tetris crochet idea being an awesome idea and everything, but even though I'd started to join it all together and it was all exciting, I just wasn't feeling it in the pit of my stomach.

You know that exciting feeling when you're finally seeing your dreams come alive?

(Why yes I do feel rather dramatic today)

It just wasn't happening. I was looking at it and looking at it but I just wasn't bursting with happiness and giddiness. I tried to add a bit more to the blanket, in the hopes that the feelings would kick in and  that maybe it was a blanket that wouldn't really 'come together' until everything was in place. But when you know something's not right, you know it in the pit of my stomach.

The only time my stomach would flip and I'd feel excited about it, is when I turned the blanket over.

Want to know why? I was joining my squares together in black wool and the join around each pre-made Tetromino was picking them out and highlighting  them beautifully.

It was bit like this patchwork crochet blanket I made back in 2010 - I loved the back of that blanket, with the red wool joining all the squares together.

I knew what I had to do....

So I got on the train to Preston this weekend on Friday. Set up my Tablet and watched some Nashville (are you watching it? You should be. Then we can be friends.) and got to work with my scissors. 

Snip snip snip I went, going carefully and trying very hard to be patient, which I generally suck at. I got an incredibly strange look when the woman collecting rubbish on the train saw my hands full of very tiny shreds of black, frayed wool to stuff into her rubbish sack.

Amazingly, it doesn't take as long to destroy something that you've created and by Saturday morning I had completed my work.

I did surprisingly well. There were only two casualties of my snipping - both black squares - in my defense black squares that have been joined with black wool are not easy to get apart and I got a little scissor happy.

So I am back to the beginning again and the plan is to actually continue on the road I was originally travelling down - join up all my Tetromino shapes first (I hadn't done that with the royal blue and purple ones) and then start joining, only this time with the join at the front of the crochet instead of at the back.

It's been a pain but I'd rather do this than make something that I wasn't happy enough about. This blanket is my original idea and I need it to be a success.

And so we begin again...

The Tetris blanket: Progress Update 2

Let's do a Tetris Blanket update shall we?

After my last update post progress on the Tetris Blanket has been stalled as I've been busy crocheting up a little menagerie. Two zebras and an elephant have flown off my hook in the intervening couple of months and not a lot else has happened.

After my disappointment of the disaster that was the Hull 10km I was not in a good mood for the rest of Sunday. I slouched and moped about and huffed and puffed and basically sulked all day.

Until I decided I would turn to my Tetris crochet.

Sunday wouldn't be the day that I didn't run 10km, it would be the day that I joined my first row of blanket together...

I had a re-think since my last update post. I had been merrily crocheting my Tetromino shapes together with the intention to then crochet them all together that way. But it hit me that I might be better off just leaving the squares separate and joining them as I went to avoid any of the inevitable creasing that you get when you join  squares together.

Of course this revelation only came to me after I'd crocheted 5 out of the 7 shapes I needed. But hey it was a kind of good idea.

I have to say though that I don't think it's made a huge difference - the pre-made Tetrominos haven't joined together in any worse shape than the separate ones. I was a little worried I'd made a huge error pre-making them but I've been relieved that that hasn't been the case.

What has been amazing is how quickly this worked up. I went from the above picture to the below one in the space of a night...

Wahey!

Oh yeah. Tetris Blanket me up until the cows come home.

I am loving this people. I remain convinced this was an excellent idea.

I've got a lot longer to go and there will be a stalling period as I still have to crochet approximately 12 billion black squares (and we haven't got started on the border yet which I think may be more squares), but I will join as much as I can until then because I want to and because I can.

But before I do more of that I have a penguin to crochet...

Not Really Resolutions 2013: Q1 update

After last year's terrible performance when it came to updating everyone on my Not Really Resolutions (number of update posts in 2012 - none) I figured I should probably make more of an effort this year, if only to make sure I stay on track and actually try to get things done.

Seeing as we're nearly at the end of April with well over a quarter of the year gone *starts hyperventilating* I thought it seemed an appropriate time to update.

1. Get behind the wheel of a car again
I have an official license again! After pretty much over a year of procrastination I sent off for my license to be re-newed. After expecting a letter to come back saying "No you need to re-new it and replace it" or some such other nonsense, I was very surprised when after 3 weeks a brand new license flopped through the door with no questions asked.

So no more excuses - time to book some refresher lessons...

2. Project 365
This is ticking over quite nicely and has been much aided by the fact that I have a new phone which has a really good camera. I haven't even used my actual camera in goodness knows when, and because my phone is a Windows phone, everything is very handily backed up to my Skydrive, meaning that when I switch my computer on I just need to log in and download the photos and put them on Flickr. Easy peasy lemon squeezey.

I've been surprised that I've lasted this long because I'm living in the back end of nowhere with basically no friends, but I've managed. Ok, these photos are not going to set your world on fire, but guess what? My life wouldn't set your world on fire, rendering my Project 365 an accurate representation of my life.

The monthly round-ups are fun to do (see January, February and March) and the only thing I am bad at doing is actually uploading the photos to my photostream, which tends to easily be a week or two behind in time. Just like my blogging activities!

3. Read 12 Classics
It's been a good start to the year with my Classics and there hasn't been one I've read so far that I haven't really, genuinely enjoyed.

So far I've read;
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskill (probably the least easiest read out of the lot)

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (can't believe I haven't read this before, I usually think children are made to read inappropriate Classics at school, therefore putting them off for life, but anyone who gets to read this at school I think is genuinely lucky. It was brilliant - not difficult and yet not condescending - it should be a must for all children to read this.)

Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (probably the only one that's made me raise an eyebrow and wonder if I've really understand what I've read and the one that's made me go "Really? This is a Classic?" but a good read nonetheless and one that I think would make a good Book Group read as there could be plenty of interpretations to be made.)

The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford (hilarious. I have no other words. The only one so far that I insist you go out and read immediately.)

4. Crochet an Elmer Blanket
As you may have guessed, this has been put on hold now that I have the Tetris blanket firmly within my sights and underway. I do still want to crochet an Elmer Blanket but mostly I wanted to make a blanket just for me and the Tetris Blanket is definitely fulfilling that need at the moment.


5. Learn to knit
No progress on this one as of yet.


6. Bake once a month
This has been ticking along quietly (why do I always forget to blog about things?!) although I think it's safe to say that Mary Berry has nothing to fear at the moment. In fact I haven't been impressed with anything I've made so far this year. Here's hoping that April gives me my first triumph...

Gingerbread biscuits; The infamous Cookie Monster cupcakes; Chocolate & Peanut butter cookies 

7. Go abroad
Very exciting news on this one. American Girl and American Boy are coming over from the USA in July and seeing as they're here and seeing as we all turned 30 this year (with the exception of The Person who will be almost 31 by the time they get here. Ha. OLD.) we decided to take a little trip to another part of Europe and will be spending the first week of July in Corfu. In sunshine. Sun and The Americans? I don't think my brain can take the excitement.

8. Makeover a chest of drawers
No progress on this one yet.

9. Cross stitch a big picture just for me
No progress on this one yet either. I think my brain can only take one craft per year. 2012 was the Year of the Stitching and it's looking like 2013 might be the Year of the Crochet...


10. Only buy 12 books throughout the year.
HA. If I stick to this I will be shocked and amazed at my willpower. I will be able to do anything.

Unfortunately I think it's unlikely I'm going to stick to it. I am trying, I swear it, but after a year of not buying books, I have a lot of pent-up book buying going on in my system and I am finding it tricky to succumb, especially when in charity shops and faced with such cheapness. I am being very good and tracking what I buy though so I can't cheat and "forget" about a book that has made its way on to my shelves. The current total stands at 6 and we're not even at the end of the April.

And I'm not even counting the three books that I bought with a voucher for my birthday because that wasn't my money and those books don't count.

I love loopholes.

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So there we have it. Have just realised there isn't an awful lot on there that can be ticked off the list easily and that's a shame because there's nothing like crossing things off a list to make you feel like you're getting somewhere, but I shall keep on plugging away.

See you at the end of June for the Q2 update...

The Tetris blanket: Progress Update 1

"Yeah I know I'll crochet myself a Tetris blanket, what a brilliant idea."

So here we are about a month later and I feel like a progress post is due.

I stand by that it is an awesome idea but I massively underestimated what a fiddly little pain in the arse it was going to be.

The joining. OH the joining. So much joining. So many weaving in of ends.

It is never-ending joining and weaving.

I have intense phases on this blanket. I'll do nothing for ages and then go into some kind of crochet frenzy, usually on a weekend, where I crochet up my squares and can see the blanket coming alive in my minds eye.

And then I remember about the weaving and the joining and I go into a decline.

I don't know why I procrastinate so bleeding much because when I force myself to sit down and get a wriggle on it never takes as long as I think it's going to. There's about 20 squares of each colour and weaving in the ends of the middle and the edge of all of them probably only takes an hour or so, if that. I just bang on an episode of something and before I know it, it's all finished.

 

I made some excellent progress during my stay at Norbury Manor where I actually didn't do as much crochet as I thought I would be still managed to weave in all the ends of my red squares, join them all together and whip up all my green squares. However, I have now done very little since I came back from the Manor and have been struck down by Weaving and Joining Doom.

My plan was to do all the Tetronimos and then begin on what will literally be the Black Phase of the blanket. There will be much crocheting of black squares and I really think I'll struggle with that one, although we'll see, I may be inspired.

As it stands at the time of writing I have crocheted up 5 out of the 7 Tetronimos and am just about to start the squares for my next.

I should have made some excellent progress given that I was off Easter and this week for my birthday celebrations (by the way it's today - happy birthday to me and god bless the power of scheduled posting.) but given the Easter Read-a-thon and...you know....my birthday celebrations, there hasn't been a lot of time for crocheting.

I think part of my reticence is that I am dreading the joining of everything together. This is not going to be an easy, joining some lines together and then joining  those lines together, I'm going to have to break it all down into sections and go at it very slowly and probably swear and have a little cry along the way.

 Those pesky ends

But I will soldier on through because it is an awesome idea and after finally plucking up the courage to Google "Tetris crochet" I firmly believe my blanket is going to be the shizz.

Now where was I?

Oh yes, joining and weaving...

For those who wanted to know, I have decided to go with Layout 2 from my previous blog post)

The beginnings of an idea.

I am not a creative person.

I can do crafty things, following a chart or a pattern, or adapting something someone else has created, but on the whole, I'm not an ideas person.

My brain just isn't hardwired to come up with original ideas....until now.

As per my Not Really Resolution to make an Elmer blanket a la Little Tin Bird, I've been steadily plugging away, building up my squares. It's been a good blanket to do for my current situation - space is limited for me at the moment as I'm in my sister's box-room, so I've been bringing a ball of yarn back from Preston and hooking up 20-odd squares before bringing back another.

It has become apparent this has the potential to be a pretty big blanket, and that makes me all kinds of excited.

Yesterday, once back at my sister's, I decided to see where I was in terms of numbers and how it was looking, so I just threw all my squares into lines to see where I was. This actually prompted a bit of a breakdown because all my colours look a bit mental at the moment because I've only done a few balls of wool. In the midst of flurry of e-mails to Heather freaking out about my inability to do anything right (who needs Call the Midwife when you have me around for a Sunday drama?) I had my first ever genuine strike of inspiration.

The blocks of colours all interlocking together - what did it remind me of?

(Don't mind the bad photo, or the weird colours - this was just a practice!)

TETRIS.

I do not do computer games. I lack both the coordination and the mental stamina for anything stressful. But me and Tetris? We go way back. I am bloody brilliant at that game. I didn't have a game console growing up so my exposure to games was limited to my Dad's PC. Yeah I played Lemmings and yeah I played Sim City, but all I really wanted to play was Tetris. Whole days during the holidays would be spent playing Tetris, ringing friends to share our latest high scores. It is a game I now avoid because if I start playing it, I genuinely find it difficult to stop.

It seems only right that I should make a blanket en homage to my favourite game.

Really crochet was made for Tetris (or the other way round?). Those little Tetronimos are begging to be crocheted together in a tessellation of awesomeness.

Once the idea was in my head it became all I could think about - all day I've had to push thoughts of falling shapes out of my head whilst the theme tune has played on a loop.

As soon as I could, I sat down to plan my baby out - and let me tell you, it was harder than I thought. When you're playing Tetris it doesn't really matter if you place 2 blocks of the same colour together, different matter in crochet-land. I also started by fitting everything together perfectly until I realised that would never do. Obviously once you've made a line in Tetris, it disappears, there's no space for inaccurate crochet thank you very much.

This means I was going to have to have at least one black square on each line and that was actually harder for me to do than it sounds. It basically leaves you with a Tetris blanket of a game that is basically bad - this blanket is not going to represent how you should play Tetris - that pains me a little if I'm honest.

So I did some experimenting and I've come up with 2 proposed layouts.

Layout 1

Layout 2

Layout 1 is the first I worked out and Layout 2 I thought was interesting because it shows the final piece falling into place to score the ultimate prize - a Tetris.

At the moment I'm leaning towards Layout 1 - but I welcome a voting situation here, please feel free to cast your vote.

The border isn't permanent - that was just me having a play. Also the colours won't be totally accurate in terms of the shades.

It has been a thrilling 24 hours since the idea came to me. I have so far avoided Googling Tetris Crochet because I know I won't be the first to have had the idea and there's probably much better out there. For now I'm living off the buzz of my very first experience of creativity. My one and only burst of inspiration that I can truly call my own.

What a thrilling life creative people must lead - this is a high I don't ever want to go away.