Introduction

When I started this blog a good friend of mine was sceptical.

'Why on earth would you want to look at pictures of hand-knitted socks?'. It was a good question, one that also lurked in my mind at the time.

Fast forward three years or so and I understand. These are not just any old socks.

Often there are reasons why the sock is made,
there is the delicious pleasure of choosing the yarn and pattern,
there is the knowledge that no one else has a sock exactly like it
and, most importantly, there is the chance to show the sock to other people who understand.

In fact, there's an entire community who can help if there are sock-ish problems and give virtual cheers at casting-off time.

It's ace around here.

I've talked about blogging to that same friend many times and always curbed my enthusiasm just a little.

Yet this is a friend who was using thrifted bedsheets to back her quilts, way back in the early nineties, and who has always hung a beautiful collection of vintage plates on her kitchen wall. She's someone who makes her own lip balm and is responsible for giving us our first sourdough culture.

The quilts she has made for me from pre-loved fabrics and teatowels are some of my most prized possessions.

She made the curtains for the beach hut. They speak for themselves.

In recent months I noticed a change. She began to tell me about blogs she was reading - lovely blogs I'd never heard of. I went off to find them, and wondered rather gleefully if she was being drawn towards the inevitable.

She was. She has. She's here, at ThriftyHousehold. It would be wonderful if you popped over to give her a wave.