I have this rule. It's a silly little rule, but here it is anyway:

I'm not allowed to buy a craft magazine unless I make something from it 

I think it's partially because I don't want to end up with a pile of magazines I've never read, and partially because craft magazines are really quite expensive and I feel that I must justify it to myself when I want to buy one.

Anyway.

So every now and then I see something in a magazine that I love, and I get to make a no-pressure project that has no deadlines and no real purpose other than sheer loveliness. It's a bit like old William Morris. What did he say?

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." William Morris

And so this is my latest make: a crochet summer dress that's decidedly watermelon-esque. It's from Simply Crochet, issue 46. Raveled here.


I made it in age 3-4 for little Isla (hoping it would last until Summer because it is definitely not dress weather at the moment!). It has a really charming little yoke construction with a swing skirt and added black watermelon pips/seeds for detailing. It closes at the back with a button or a ribbon.

I've not been very well. My gall bladder, it seems, does not like me very much these days. I've been in and out of the GPs office since October, and (after a trip to A&E and a day in the ward) have finally been scheduled for emergency gall bladder removal surgery which will be in the next few weeks. It's all very scary, but I think it will be infinitely better than the alternative which has left me too scared to eat, and completely immobile for bursts of time with an alarming number of painkillers.

I did learn that a sick bowl from the emergency ward looks exactly like an upside-down bowler hat. Thank goodness for 2 year olds and boundless imagination.