2012 has got off to a very slow start on the blogging front, but I don’t seem to have had many moments to sit and think about what to write (Yes! I do think about what I write, although it may not see like it sometimes). There have been quite a few half-written posts in my head, but by the time I actually sit at the computer, they’ve fallen from my brain like leaves in Autumn and turned into soggy mush. Ho hum.

I’m not going to go back to the last post and write about everything that’s happened since then, as that would bore me to tears, never mind those of you that are kind enough to cast your eyes over my little corner of blogland occasionally, and anyway, I can’t remember most of it (or indeed, any of it if Bethany is to be believed).

Obviously, Christmas has happened since I last wrote. It was lovely, fairly quiet and shared with family and friends, with far too much to eat and drink and absolutely no religious content whatsoever,  (unless you count me slaughtering “Once in Royal David’s City” on the piano – I wouldn’t, it was truly horrible) which is exactly as I like it. If all my friends and relatives like their presents even half as much as I like mine, then we can claim Christmas 2011 to be a resounding success.

I only made couple of pressies this year – I was full of good intentions back in the summer but inspiration didn’t strike at the right time. The ideas eventually arrived, but deciding that  hand-spun, hand-woven bags would make perfect gifts for your friends a week before Christmas !!! is surely the way to madness; some may question my sanity at times, but I know my limits. Maybe next year…

I don’t really go in for New Year’s Resolutions as I never stick to them anyway, no matter how strong my resolve on January 1st. This year, although not strictly a resolution, I have decided that “rationalisation” is going to be my watchword for the year; it’s going to apply to as many areas of my life as possible, from household organisation to diet/fitness (and maybe even my not inconsiderable stash. Wibble).

There are many reasons for this and many areas I need to take stock of and I don’t imagine for one moment that it’s going to be a quick fix, but I’ve finally admitted that it’s necessary.

You may remember that 18 months or so ago, I had quite a bad bout of depression and although it has passed (thankfully) there have been a few times recently when it felt like things were getting on top of me again. I really don’t want to go back to that place so tried to analyse why I was feeling that way; it soon became clear that there were two things I could do that would make a real difference, one fairly simple and the other which will require a bit more effort.

The Simple Thing:  exercise.

Going to Zumba classes last year  benefitted more than just my physical fitness but it took me a while to realise this after I let it slide in the run up to Christmas – no wonder I was so stressy and irritable, I needed all that bum-wiggling and loud latin music to set free all those lovely endorphins! Classes start again next Saturday, and I’ll definitely be there (or be square).

The Thing That Will Require More Effort: taking control, rather than just letting life happen to me.

This is where rationalisation really will help, one little bit at a time. There is not, as yet, a grand plan, and I’m not really sure that there should be, but small steps have already been taken e.g. The Great Bedroom Tidy Up:

I admit it, I’m untidy; messy, even (stop laughing, Mum), but even as a teenager I would suddenly get to a point where the mess was too great even for me to justify, so I would spend a whole weekend tidying and sorting until my bedroom was not only habitable again, but also clean. And tidy (seriously, Mum, stop now!)

I’m still messy, but the motivation to do anything about the mess had declined to nothing, tidying seemed a pointless exercise as we all knew it would be a mess again in a week or two, and I resented the fact that no-one else seemed to be a) bothered by the mess or b) willing to help (though really, why should they? My mess, my problem). Before Christmas, all the downstairs rooms were subject to a thorough cleaning and tidying as my parents were coming to stay (yes, Mum, that’s the tidy version that you saw!), which just served to emphasise the disgusting state of my bedroom and I knew that action was needed. The task ahead seemed almost overwhelming and was really getting me down, so I made a plan: over the last four days of my holiday from work, I decided that I would spend one hour each day, no more, no less, tidying my room. Whatever wasn’t done at the end of the hour was left till the next session, regardless.

It worked!

It was a complete revelation to me. Those last four days of the holiday were some of the most productive I’ve had for a long time. My room was transformed from a dark, gloomy pit of despair to a pleasant, ordered place; I found clothes that I’d thought were lost long ago and found that a huge weight had gone from my shoulders. I also didn’t feel the normal, nagging guilt whilst knitting or weaving that I should be doing something “more important” because I’d already done it.

It may have been obvious to other people that breaking up one large task into several smaller ones was a good idea, but to me it seemed counter-intuitive. This seemingly trivial experience has had a much larger-than-expected impact on me (as you can probably guess, given that I’ve waffled on about it for ages) and I’ve now got ideas about other areas of the house – the attic, the shed, the cupboard under the stairs etc etc as well as trying to use the same principle at work and in relation to my hobbies. Yep, no more buying yarns/fabric/fibre/bag hardware on a whim because “they’re pretty” or “it’d make a lovely quilt” or ” that alpaca would be lovely blended with the silk and mohair I’ve already got” or ” I wonder how those bag clasps work? Better buy some”. No, no, no, no, no. I will only buy yarn/fabric/fibre/bag hardware if it is specifically intended for a specific project. Specifically.

Here’s to 2012, the Year of Rationalisation!

No particular reason for being AWOL, just didn’t feel like blogging.

I may not have been blogging, but I have been doing other stuff:

I think the captions are self-explanatory.

Oh yeah, I had a birthday whilst absent from the blogosphere. The lovely pressies I received are great compensation as I come to terms with the fact that I am now in my 50th year…

I just don’t know how I’d manage without her!

Anyway, despite her “help”, I’ve managed to finish my bag – it’s “The Great Getaway Bag” from The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam. It’s the second time I’ve made this bag (the first one was for Lucy, in shades of brown and cream) and I’m ashamed to say that I do not appear to have learnt from my previous mistakes. No. I still think I know best, even when there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary (and more broken machine needles, just to reinforce the point!)

Anyway, modifications this time around (what? Why didn’t I just follow the pattern as written? Too easy, lol) are: no shoulder strap, different kind of fastening on the pocket flap, and attaching the pocket flap in a different way, which I think is neater and less bulky. I decided to quilt the lining, as the fabric I chose was quite thin and needed to be beefed up a bit – very boring to do time-consuming, but worth it (methinks). I used ordinary dress/quilt-weight cotton(by Amy Butler, I think), but interfaced it with some of this stuff – every bit as good as Lisa says and the result is a highly durable travel bag which I’m hopeful will withstand…well, pretty much everything!

All I need now is someone to take me away for the weekend!

and I was going to show you pictures of the bag I have just finished, as well as a picture of my ever-helpful assistant Mollie-the-cat, but WordPress is not co-operating and will not let me upload any photos so it will have to wait till another day.

Sorry

Moving swiftly on…

A couple of years ago, my kitchen was re-fitted – out went the yucky green-but-painted-white 70s cupboards and the hideous blue and yellow mosaic that I made to cover up even more hideous puky-coloured tiles, and in went lovely, sleek, oak-coloured cupboards, my gorgeous range cooker and the slate-look laminate flooring. Perfect. The guy who fitted it all was very thorough and even managed to get rid of the small leak by the main stop-cock, which had caused the old flooring to lift up. I revelled in my new kitchen (not so much the price-tag…) and enjoyed being in there; it even seemed bigger, although I know it wasn’t.

I noticed a little while ago that the door wasn’t opening as easily as it used to, and on closer inspection, discovered that this was due to the flooring going a bit… strange. Bits of the laminate appeared to have bubbled up around the edges and were catching on the bottom of the door. I didn’t want to be in the kitchen so much, it wasn’t perfect any more

Anyway, the enormous trench that makes up the first photo in today’s slideshow was dug, and the old pipes were found to have been incorrectly lagged so the copper had reacted with the concrete and the pipes had turned to…well… sponge, really and the dampness had gradually permeated up to my lovely laminate floor. It’s been sorted now, but the new concrete has to dry out completely before the flooring can be replaced, so the fridge/freezer is standing right in the middle of the kitchen (it couldn’t be more in the way), making even the easiest tasks into a triumph of ingenuity and chess-like manouevres as so many places are now kinda inaccessible, and will remain there for the best part of the week.

So,

kitchen temporarily abandoned, I’ve had to find other ways to amuse myself, which is why you can see pictures of a quilt and a bag.

The quilt is for Lucy, design chosen by her from my copy of  Jelly Roll Quilts, and made using a jelly roll that I picked up for half-price because its label was missing so I’ve no idea what the fabric collection is, except that it is a Moda collection. I know, helpful, aren’t I?

The bag was made this afternoon, about four hours start-to-finish, including quite a bit of seam-ripping when I realised that what I was trying just wasn’t going to work…I’m such a tool, sometimes, and should have realised by now that if something seems too simple to be true, that’s probably because it is, and better brains than mine have already figured out the solution. Oh well…

The bag is  convertible because it can be used as a regular kind of shoulder bag/handbag-type jobby, but the flap is actually an extension of the bag, and unfolds to make almost a tote-bag sized bag, perfect for when you need to pick up a few bottles of plonk  some emergency cat-food or some such on the way home from work. I just need to get some silver-coloured popper studs (to match the twist lock) and it will be finished. Just need to think of a name for the design now.

(Oh yes, the fabric for this is from Amy Butler’s Love collection – yay! I remembered!)

Anyway, there’s a large Belgian iced bun with my name on it,  l8ers, peeps! xx

Today’s dinner is garlic and rosemary chicken with roast spuds and veg, but it nearly didn’t happen – the cupboard where I keep  the potatoes had a plentiful supply, but very few of them were actually useable,  unless I wanted to plant them in the garden; most had sprouts, some were extremely wizened, and some even had tiny, weeny little potatoes growing from the sprouts! I managed to find enough that were sort-of-alright to peel and put in the roasting tin with the chicken, but the rest…well, let’s just say that the composter is feeling nicely full…

It remains to be seen whether there are enough “edible” (i.e. do not pose a hazard to human health) vegetables in the fridge to complete this great repast.

In an attempt to redress the balance a little, I shall move on to other areas of domesticity – cleaning.

As you can probably guess, I dislike cleaning in general (you spend a great deal of time and effort on it, only to have to do it all over again the next week/month/year!), although I do like the satisfaction that results from it, and the improved appearance of the house…cleaning the bathroom, though, is a particular dislike.

There are a number of problems with the bathroom, the main one being that it is an extension on the back of the house and therefore has three outside walls; combine that with a total lack of insulation and major condensation is what follows. The ventilation is also inadequate (especially in winter when you don’t want the window open) so there is  serious mildew – it’s on the walls, on the grouting between the tiles, on the ceiling blah, blah, blah. I have tried all sorts of methods to try and get rid of this buggering, bollocking, arsing mess rather unsightly and unwelcome guest but with little, if any, improvement. Until yesterday. Yesterday, I used SOME OF THAT CLEANER THAT IS ADVERTISED BY BARRY WHO SHOUTS ALL THE TIME, and what can I say? Nothing short of miraculous. The grouting is white again, and when almost your entire bathroom is covered in one-inch mosaic tiles, that is a lot of grouting. Unfortunately, it’s not suitable for painted surfaces so I need to find something else that will work on the walls and ceiling, but at least there is progress.

Oh yeah…this is meant to be knitting blog, isn’t it? Well, there isn’t any knitting to show you (I’ve finished a pair of socks, but they’ve not been photographed yet), but there is this:

Crochet Motif Cardi by Kristen Ten Dyke (pattern available here).

It looks better on the mannequin than on me, mainly because I have more…er…frontage…

I like the way the motifs cease to look like motifs when they are all joined together but I’m not sure how much I’ll wear this as it tends to slip off my shoulders quite a bit. Some of the instructions for the neckline were a little confusing (I think right and left got muddled up) but apart from that it was a well written pattern with helpful diagrams.

Also, summer is here, there’s a rose in my garden!!

Much sewing and some visiting, plus a tiny celebration of a royal occasion – that’s what happened to April

Anyway, the cushions. The rather vague reference to how many there are, and at what stage of completion is due mainly to the fact that these cushions are now rather overdue, and I feel quite guilty about this. They were supposed to be for my mum’s birthday which was 3rd February, but they were not finished because of a) my own stupidity/lack of skills in maths and b) a very bad back.

I’ll explain…

Mum and Dad had their three-piece suite recovered just before Christmas and Mum decided she would like a couple of  scatter cushions for the settee. Having absolutely no control over my mouth, I announced that I would make some for her, as a birthday present, by weaving the fabric on my lovely loom, and then sewing said fabric into cushion covers, complete with piping cord around the edges. (Seriously, why don’t I just keep my mouth firmly zipped? I could have just bought a nice vase or something…)

A few days later, Lucy and I found some gorgeous alpaca and silk yarn in the perfect ( and I do mean perfect) shade of green, so I made some calculations and set about warping up the loom…this is where the lack of maths skills becomes apparent. I needed four pieces of fabric 18″ square, to allow for seams etc. and decided that I would use one continuous warp and weave four lengths of fabric, separated by a couple of inches, so my calculation was 4 x 18″ (actual fabric) + 10% (to allow for loom waste) + a bit extra for luck. What I had forgotten was to allow for the couple of inches between each of the four pieces, but I didn’t realise this until I was almost half-way through the last piece, when it suddenly became blindingly, sickeningly obvious that there was not enough warp left to finish the final square. Of course, I did what any normal, well-balanced person would do in the circumstances:  ripped the fabric off the loom, flung it into a corner, and sulked for a week.

By the time I had recovered my composure enough to think about how to resolve the problem, I had developed a very painful and debilitating back problem, and was unable to re-warp the loom as it just bloody hurt! I did nothing for a few days but soon realised that action was called for if I was to stand even the slightest chance of the cushions being ready for mum’s birthday, so decided to make one cover and send it off with a note saying that its sibling would follow on soon. My back was able to cope with sitting at the sewing machine so off I went, and a cushion cover soon resulted. Something stopped me putting this first cushion in the post, though, because somehow, it just wasn’t good enough. I mean, I’d have been happy enough with it for myself, but this was for my mum. Nothing less than perfect is acceptable for her (in my view), so I held onto the cushion whilst I tried to come up with ways of improving it. I’d more or less made up my mind that the only way to get it to look as good as I wanted was by hand-sewing all the seams so that I could control the piping cord and set it in exactly the right place, but this seemed  rather a daunting task and I put it off.

That is, I put it off until the previously mentioned conversation about piping feet with Jen.

Now I have a piping foot, the first cushion cover is complete and looking pretty damn good (if I do say so myself), my back is better, thanks to some rather ouch-y sessions with an osteopath, and the loom is now warped up and ready to go for the last piece of fabric.

Mum, your cushions will be with you very soon!

So, last Sunday, I went into Brighton to meet my friend Steph, who is planning a wedding. Erm, yeah, it’s her wedding, not just a wedding…whatever, she’s been stupidly misguided kind enough to ask me to make a bag for her so we  had lots to discuss: handles, fasteners, shapes, sizes, colours, fabrics etc, etc, etc. Choices have been made, requisites have been requisitioned and planning has started. Don’t worry, Steph, I will be sensible and do it properly, I promise

Anyway, on the way to meet her at the Brighton Museum (quote from link: “set in the heart of Brighton’s cultural quarter” – we have a cultural quarter?? Since when?) tea room ( great scones, btw) I spotted some snowdrops in the Pavilion Gardens and it’s so long since I saw any snowdrops that I just had to take a photo – a bit blurry, I’m afraid, but still a sure sign that Spring is on its way.

I’m sure by now that it has become blindingly obvious that I don’t have much in the way of content for today’s post (no, really?) so I’ll just blabber on about the other pictures in the slideshow:

Patches of fabric sewn together – this patch is a bit larger than before and proves that I have actually been doing something reasonably constructive of late, although when you think about it, chopping fabric into hundreds of tiny little pieces only to sew them up again into larger pieces could be reasonably construed as highly unconstructive and a complete waste of effort…

moving on.

Fibre. Yummy.

I went to Unravel yesterday and this was one of my purchases. Beautiful, beautiful merino and tencel blend (50/50); soft, shiny and wonderfully dyed by the very talented Daniela of FeltStudioUK . I spotted this fibre as soon as I walked into that particular room, and knew I had to have it. Daniela also produces some of the most stunning art yarns I’ve ever seen – perfect coils, quirky additions and always lovely colours. Well worth checking out her shop when she’s back from the show.

The teal-coloured yarn is a yarn I’ve not seen before (that’d be ’cause it’s brand new and was only launched at the show. Derr!) called Soliloquy, available from Tall Yarns. It’s sold as a light sock yarn, 80% merino/20% silk, but it has such a lovely sheen that I can’t help feeling it would be wasted on socks (and I’m not sure I want to have 80 sts on 1.75mm or 2.0mm needles, for that matter). It’s a very strong yarn so I may well weave with it – a scarf with a textured pattern, perhaps, that shows off the beautiful jewel-like colour. Who could resist a colourway called “Oh! Romeo”? Well, not me, obviously…

I was supposed to be going to Unravel with a friend, but at the last minute, she couldn’t make it. I ummed and aaahed about whether to still go, as these events are much more fun when they’re shared plus it was quite a long drive which would be much better with company, but decided to stop being such a wimp and JUST GO!! Very glad I did and am looking forward to next year’s show already…

Recently, the urge has been stronger than ever, and seems to be encompassing all kinds of different crafts; I’ve been knitting for years and years and years, but over the past four years or so, I’ve added spinning, dyeing and weaving to the arsenal and now I want to have a go at embroidery and other types of sewing. With this in mind, I’ve been loitering with intent outside visiting local fabric shops on the look out for bargains, and perusing the intaweb for ideas as well as buying the odd book here or there. Ahem.

In spite of having an important weaving project on the loom (my mum’s birthday present – already late and still not finished) I have been side-tracked. This wasn’t really intentional, but I’ve been suffering from a bad back since the beginning of the year, and although it is now a lot better than it was, it’s still not quite right and hunching up over the loom would be plain stoopid, but sitting at the sewing machine for hours on end seems to do no harm.

I am still knitting as well, so here we have the Annis shawl/scarf from Knitty – a quick knit (less than a week) using Kauni effekt yarn, although the colour changes have not shown up well in the picture.  There is also a bit of machine embroidery which I did using  a particular kind of sewing foot, whose name I have completely forgotten, and my very first ever machine-pieced patchwork block. One of my excursions to the afore-mentioned fabric shop resulted in the purchase of a jelly roll – once it was in my possession, I figured I really should find out what to do with it so I downloaded this book to my Kindle and have made a (small) start on the Sparkling Gemstones quilt, of which this block is the first. Only 107 more to go. Gulp.

I’ve also made some machine-embroidered birthday cards (Jan/Feb is a very busy time for birthdays in the Creek family), but I’ve sent two off without photographing them (der!) and the next one is still a secret until Wednesday; suffice it to say that I am, without a shadow of doubt, the most awesomest sister in the entire world, evah!!!