Well hello 2015

Happy New Year!

I saw in the New Year watching Father Ted (I had been watching Gosford Park!), in my PJs crocheting. It was only the fireworks going off that alerted me to the fact it was midnight!

Although I'm not a big fan of New Year, I do like to take the opportunity to see it as a new start. A chance to think about the year ahead and set myself a few goals.

Last year, I said that I wasn't going to buy any craft supplies unless I needed them for my course or my business. I can firmly say that I failed epically in that department! My yarn stash is bigger than ever. Oops. 

I've set myself 3 goals for 2015.

1) To follow a vegan diet

I won't go into the big details here about my reasons for a vegan diet but I've decided that, starting today, there will be no dairy, eggs, honey or utter animal products in my diet. I've been a strict vegetarian for around 13 years now and I've already cut dairy out of my diet as I'm intolerant to it so eggs (and cake!) are the big challenge now. 

2) Journal 52

Last year I started the art journaling challenge, Journal 52. Sadly, life got too busy and I just didn't get round to making my pages. I love art journaling but haven't been making time for it so this year is the year I do! I've allocated a day, Wednesday's, so I can look forward to it each week. Keep an eye out for my posts!

3) And finally, the stash

I looked through my yarn stash the other day and came to the conclusion that I had a lot of yarn and I couldn't get rid of any of it. I'm not saying that I can't buy anything (look where that got me last year) so I'm going to make an effort to liberate what is in there! 

Have you set yourself any goals for 2015? If so, I'd love to hear about them!

Nooch - Vegan and Gluten Free Eating in Wigan!

This is a slightly different topic than usual, although craft does feature towards the end!  

This morning I went for my first visit to a new alternative food shop in Wigan - Nooch.  It opened last Saturday and is run by the lovely Debra, who I know from The Coven (a vegan and gluten free cafe/restaurant) and her husband Jim.  

If you have a funny diet, like me, then getting certain types of food can be an absolute nightmare.  I have been a vegetarian for over 10 years now and have had varying experiences.  Cooking for myself is easy now and supermarkets have improved their meat free ranges significantly over the past few years.  As well as this, I am also lactose intolerant so dairy is a no-no and you won't believe the items that contain milk.  I spend most of a supermarket trip reading labels and regularly find items contain gelatine or milk powder and often it is the value products that are safe to eat.  To have a food store in my home town that stocks a wide range of products I can eat is just amazing!

Nooch is in what used to be an Indian restaurant that me and Jo (aka Shinybees) frequented often.  It is a lovely, big space which feels bright and airy.  The range of food is truly magnificent.  I bought some soya squirty cream, the most amazing vegan chocolate orange desert, vegan marshmallows, vegan pesto, soya yoghurts, vegan lemon ice-cream a curried cauliflower pasty and a soya sausage roll.  I could have bought much more but I was trying to be a good girl.

They also stock a range of vegan and cruelty free toiletries (I used the handwash in the toilets and it smelled yummy) as wells as plus size clothing my My Queen Bee, vintage clothing and jewellery.  They are home to a mini branch of Book Cycle to with lots of cooking and alternative therapy books.  

It's not just food!

There is an area which is going to be used for groups and workshops to!

The best news is that I will be stocking some of my handmade goodies in there and, hopefully, running a few groups and workshops!  

It's all rather exciting!