Anything But A Card

January – Deja Vu

The Outlawz challenge website is changing and we now have new categories beginning on January 1st 2026. There are less categories and each challenge will be monthly starting on 1st of the month. I am on the design team for two of the categories, Anything but a card, ABAC and Twisted.

ABAC is exactly as it says, anything but a card and will give people a chance to share other crafts or try something different. Some months have a theme, others are anything at all.

Twisted is running along the lines of the themed categories we had before, eg songs and rhymes, colours, greetings. The categories will rotate through the year. January is Song and Rhyme.

There is a third group which is Christmas, ever month is Christmas themed. I am not good at getting Christmas things made so did not join this team, but maybe if I had then I would get more stuff made!

So back to ABAC. January’s challenge is Deja Vu, so a new creation, which is a variant on something you have made before.

It has been a stressful few months in the Shaw household and I haven’t known what to do with myself and have found it difficult to focus on things. When I was in Hobbycraft I saw some yarn from James C Brett. There were several colourways, but one caught my eye as it would work well with my winter coat and boots, called Intense Skies. It’s a super chunky yarn, but wasn’t that think, it’s more fluffy. the knitting helped with my anxiety and kept me sane on many trips up the A64 to York, a road that I hate (I was not driving just to clarify this!). I realised that I had knitted scarves at other stressful times, including during IVF treatment 19 years ago.

The scarf took just oner ball of yarn, which cost £6, so I had a beautiful scarf for £6. The pattern was on the ball band so no added pattern costs.

The picture does not really show the brightness very well. It is also very soft.

My Deja Vu scarves are from a few years ago

Again the picture does not show the colour that well, it is a burgundy colour, knitted as a length then twisted and the ends sewn together.

Since making the multicolour scarf I have also made more scarves and a blanket, much of the knitting done in the car. My husband is also happy as I don’t react as much to the driving! I have not knitted any clothing for a long time, but today bough some yarn and a pattern for a simple jumper. I have several items knitted, but don’t have the confidence to sew them up and pick up necks etc. I am hoping that I will regain some confidence as I used to knit quite detailed things and I have done picture jumpers when the were trendy, I wouldn’t be able to follow the patterns now.

I have seen several articles recently about the therapeutic benefits of knitting and one about the benefits in ADHD. Through my sessions at a local care home I am aware of many of the benefits of other crafts too, both mentally and physically. I have thought about writing a blog post amongst my long list of other projects!

As this challenge is anything but a card I am hoping that it will encourage me to do more varied projects and not just be stuck on cards, so watch this space