Climbing the walls

 When we moved into our place a year ago (!), we spent considerable amounts of resources (temporal and financial) acquiring furniture that we actually liked, would remain functional after more than 6 months and look the part in this 1930's semi. We largely solved that problem. However, the blank walls were crying out for some decoration, and turns out that frames are about as expensive as furniture. So I bought a two lovely pieces of screenprinting from Helen Rawlinson on Etsy. She has lovely stuff, and works out of London. The pieces turned up so quickly, and I got some canvases and glued them on. The ABC one didn't fit a standard canvas size, so I sewed a little linen bias binding on two edges, which looks ok I think. So now the big boy's room is a bit brighter...

 and our room is a little less empty looking.

I also decided we needed a new duvet cover. I had a lovely piece of blue and white fabric in my stash, enormous and bought for a song second-hand a few years ago. But it wasn't quite enough, so I found a lovely piece of 'very vintage' Irish linen online.

 I know, it just looks like a sheet in this picture. Trust me, it is gorgeous. Cool, smooth, clearly used as it is lovely and soft. It has a hand stitched seam up the centre that is done with the most minute stitches, and the hems are so beautifully sewn, all by hand. Someone spent a lot of time on this piece of fabric. It also had a weavers mark on it:

One day I'll remember to take a picture of the finished duvet cover, but I managed to keep the centre seam and some of the hems. It had a few tiny pieces of wear, but these were easy enough to fix. I also have enough left to make some cushion/pillow covers (one day!). I love having this treasured old piece as my treasured new thing.

Productivity

Lots of it! Somehow have overcome the lack of knitting mojo, and am now on max power. Behold.

Bibs, courtesy of Chickpea Designs. Not as cute as hers, but towelling backed, so hopefully useful. They look a bit small, but take about 10 minutes to make, so I might make some bigger ones. Just need to get some press-studs for closures. A book bag for my poor deprived nephew, who didn't receive his original birthday present, and has been waiting on slack auntie to make another one. Which I finally have! (Gotta love Olivia!)
Christmas knitting #1: Quickie Cowl, in Colinette Burnt Umber. Not very Burnt Umber in my opinion, more turquoise & pink. I don't really like this colourway, but the cowl itself is very cute. There is a lace pattern in there (somewhere).
Christmas Knitting#2 (still in progress): Branching Out, looking quite nice in Drops Alpaca. No work done on this since the baby stopped my interest in knitting, but dug it out to take pics, and am surprised at how good it looks!
My new favourite piece of knitting, the Baby Surprise Jacket (Ravelry link here), in Gedifra Fashion Colour. Love this pattern - what fun to knit! I promise more pics to follow of the craziness of this pattern. Love the yarn a lot - is less washed out than in this picture, richer browns & blues, with a subtle self-stripe. Very very nice, but definately not newborn size! I am guessing this is going to be a 1yr old size by the time I finish!
I also did a bit of investment in the stash - some lovely yarn on sale (I needed to top up the Gedifra for the BSJ, so a few more balls didn't hurt!) and a few choices pieces from Colinette (luckily, only the Burnt Umber disappointed on colourway not looking like the internet description).
Also, the Elderflower Cordial went wonderfully, and tastes superb! Cheers.

Slacker

Yep, big fat blog slacker. Not only have I lost my knitting mojo, but I seem to have slipped badly in the blogging stakes! Maybe it is related - no knitting, no blog...but this seems silly, so I am at least going to try to blog a bit more. Maybe I just needed a little rest. Anyway, back into things!

We had snow:

And we had sunshine:

And as you can see, my lovely tulips survived admirably! They are new this year, and I really like them - they are a bit of fun. There are black ones about to come out in the next few weeks, to balance it all out with a bit of elegance.

A while ago, I won a blog comp run by the lovely Skeins Her Way, and in my lovely parcel I found (along with the most delicious chocolate ever, yummy tea, a pattern and a cute tape measure) was this fantastic yarn! I can't wait to use it....

I really struggled to get this colour somewhere like true, but trust me, it is a gorgeous deep, touchable red.
And finally - my latest project (yep, its not knitting. There is knitting on my table, but it just isn't being knitted). This is for my newest nephew (well, as good as a nephew). I started out with a knitted baby blanket, which turned into an enormous horrible mess. Enough to turn me off knitting for a bit (!). So I turned to an older hobby, which I knew I could get finished in time. In the picture, it isn't quilted or finished, but it has taken me so long to blog that I have now finished it! So I might have been very quiet, but I haven't been completely unproductive!

Last weekend...

I know. It was last weekend, and now it is already this weekend. But in the Christmas spirit, lets just pretend I had got around to this earlier....

Last weekend, as well as the usual knitting, there was much other stuff made in our house - here is just a little sample:

Elderflower wine

A consolidation of S's hobby - he swears that the goal is to put something in all these bottles but I am not so sure. In the meantime, I pretend it is some kind of installation art thing. You can still see the last stronghold of books & papers...not for long, I fear.

Bread. I am getting better (slowly)

Dinner - my version of fish & chips! It looked better when the fish was cooked, but I was too busy by then! My kitchen looks like something from the dark ages in this pic (I guess it kinda is).

And just to continue the time-lag theme, here is a picture from the weekend before! This is a brilliant place called The Apple, in Bristol. It is a boat (see the porthole?) which is why it is so blurry & dark, and it only serves cider. Not just any cider, but the best cider I have ever tasted. Except I was designated driver (see my water there!) so I only had a taste of other peoples. Now I need to go back -without a car! So - cool venue and fabulous cider - I reckon if you are ever in Bristol you really should check it out.

Billions of Buttons

Well, not billions, but some. A lovely postman delivered this on Saturday morning, a purchase from EBay. What a great Saturday - buttons, knitting, new friends, then partying to the wee hours.

There are some beauties in this lot - I am very happy. Something ridiculously lovely about all these buttons. And despite what S might think, there is a purpose to them all, but it is a bit of a surprise (and you'll only get to see if it works - otherwise, we'll just call it a collection!)

New toys

Well, there has been talk around here of knitting - and its true. Somehow the knitting has overtaken the photography, so there is a bit of a backlog, but here are my Monkeys! (apologies to Esmerelda for taking so long!) I really don't need to say anything about them, being the ubiquitous internet-knits of the season. However, they were great fun to knit, and a good first lace project. (Sorry about the indoor pics - limited sunshine for the last few days!).

The yarn is lovely hand-dyed stuff from Fearless Fibers, in the Chocolate Pink Cherry colourway (it really does look like a mashed up Cherry Ripe!), and I had a fantastic time knitting with it. The variability made me want to keep knitting, but it was subtle and with very little colour pooling. This is a great yarn! I held off knitting it for a bit as it was a huge skein of yarn, enough to make knee socks, but I just really liked this pattern, and I think the yarn works with it really well (although S thinks they are better named 'inside out Monkeys') . There is enough for some baby sized treats left too.

The yarn was a generous gift from my Sound Swap pal Chris, who also introduced me a heap of new music - we actually just took possession today of a CD by The Builders and the Butchers, which was one of the bands on the CD she sent me. My new favourite driving music.

Another gift that I received today was from my Dad! I am waiting for some needles to turn up so I can start a Jo Sharp cardy/jacket, and I would like to have a pin/skewer thing to fasten it (rather than leaving it open as per the pic in the pattern). But I couldn't find many online, and none really that I liked. So I asked my dad, pointed him in the direction of some similar things I liked, and look what arrived in the post....

Aren't they great! Yay for clever dads. They are about 15-20cm long, and work really well. They are made of (from top to bottom in the picture above) teak, celery-top pine, and Tasmanian myrtle. The last two woods are indigenous to Tasmania, and the pine is actually from an offcut from their kitchen benches! The colours are pretty good, although the myrtle is a bit 'pinker' in real life - a wood I really love. He is thinking of making some to sell - any suggestions from you folks out there? Are they too big, too small, too plain? I will put some photos up soon of them in use so you get a better idea of size.

And finally ..... the gorgeous Esmerelda nominated me as:

How cool is that! And I nominate Tikrimari! I love reading her blog - if only she would write more! So here is my nomination for her (hopefully, she will post some more pics of her new puppy!)

A return to sewing

Ever since I can remember I have sewn things. The first needlework/craft I did was embroidery, which my Nan taught me. I loved lasy daisies, but most of all, I loved satin stitch. It was great. My nan used to crochet lace edges to my doilies and hankies. I still have a few. But sewing was always there, and as I got to be 12 or so, I started to make my own clothes. Many of my attempts were disasterous, and there were many tantrums and fights with my mum. My memory of sewing from a pattern using a machine is that it was the hardest thing in the world to do. There was just too much to think of, and you had to be able to plan ahead, which apparently I couldn't do very well.

As I got older, I went back to making clothes a few times, mostly when money was hard to come by, and material was cheap. Some of my efforts hung around longer than others, and I still have a few pieces in my wardrobe that are efforts from when I had to do professional placements, but wasn't really earning anything.

I have recently come back to sewing, but not because I don't have any money. This time it is because I can't find the clothes that I like! I know, in this day of mounds of cheap clothes, especially in the UK, you think I would be spoiled for choice. But I am a bit fussy (me?!!!) and I just can't find simple, well made, well fitting clothes that suit me.

So I invested in some lovely cloth, hauled out the poor old uncaredfor machine, and voila!

Now, its not the best picture, I apologise. I wore it alot in Belgium, but being the one with the camera, there aren't any pics (ok, there are pics, but they are 'orrible). I will try and get some next time I wear it. Also, it has a big crease down the middle as I hadn't washed it at this stage. The brown at the bottom is the lining. I am not all that fond of the hem seam, and probably should have slip stitched the hem, but then I wouldn't have been able to wear it! As it is now finished and wearable, I can't see that situation changing. The zip is ok, not terribly tidy, but ok considering I lost my zipper foot (oops!). Anyway, I had fun, I love my new skirt, and now I have a bit more confidence to get onto the other fabric (which is even prettier I think!).

And mum - it goes great with the sandles and little sleeveless top you gave me when I was home!

new stuff...

Here is the yarn that Simon's mum sent me for Christmas - sorry about the drab background, but it was snowing the day I tried to take the pic and the light was terrible! The colour is about right though....

As you can see it is Paton's Jet wool & alpaca blend.

Also, a non-knitting craft finished object or two...new cushion covers! The ones in the house we are renting were a bit nasty, and while these are not to my normal taste, they do suit the house & the curtains - and they are kind of velour-ey and cuddly! Not brilliantly made but sufficient for a house that we are not putting heaps of effort into. You can't see the backs as I have to go & buy buttons on the weekend to fasten them! But the fronts look ok.

Also - another craft! Wood splitting! great for the stress release! Although it is a great shot of the nasty end of the garden! That junk isn't all ours I promise!!