Julie Made This (OLD)

Say goodbye, say hello...

2008-05-19T14:13:00.001+01:00

I've decided to relocate this blog, moving it to a new address at http://juliemadethis.blogspot.com where I'll be undoubtedly waffling away about the same sort of things as I do here.

Back when I first set up this blog, Blogger was running under release one which was considerably more clunky, slow and limited in functionality than the Blogger of today. That Blogger took my then Google login id, which was not tied to any other Google utilities and set the blog's URL using it.

Since I was only playing around back then and was using the more robust Live Journal for my primary blogging activities the default URL didn't particularly worry me. Nowadays though, Blogger is my blog of choice with my LiveJournal having fallen into disuse, other than for reading entries from folks I know occasionally. Since it looks like I'm sticking with Blogger, at least for the foreseeable future, I thought it was about time I sorted out that URL.

I'm leaving this site up and running so that any links to pages here continue to function as before, but any new updates will be to the new site. So come on over and visit me there.

Thinking bags...

2008-05-05T19:54:00.003+01:00

Go Outdoors! called a few days back, agreeing completely that my tent did indeed have a three foot gash in the built in ground sheet and that this damage probably happened before it left the factory. I headed over on Friday night after work and picked up a replacement and fingers crossed that this time, it's as it should be.

Now we just have to find time to do a test pitch and this time, inspect it thoroughly!

I bought a couple of new books this week, Making Handbags and Chic Bags, both bought from The Book Depository. My thought was to have a go at making bags, since it would keep my sewing hand in but each bag should be relatively quick to make. Of course I hadn't reckoned on how hard it would be to find suitable supplies in Coventry.

I flicked through Making Handbags, which is a fairly basic book compared to Chic Bags (which has some very, very nice bags in it) covering basic bag designs - namely the tote, the clutch, the drawstring and the beach bag - and variations on each. I'd decided to have a go at making a basic drawstring bag, which is not disimilar to a tote, but with gromits set into the top and finished off with a clip on strap.

Sadly it was not to be.

I found some upholstery fabric offcuts I liked without difficulty after sticking my head into Busy Fingers in town. I rather fell of the wagon there, buying fabric, despite the fact that I've probably got suitable fabric in my stash, but it was pretty... And I justified the purchase after Dave commented that the fabric would make excellent breeches, so it has a secondary purpose already.

Then I walked up to Hobbycraft, thinking I'd pick up some grommits and either dog leash clips (as the book describes them) or key ring split rings. This is where I was thwarted. Hobbycraft had 8mm grommits which are possibly too small but no starter kits or die sets, to fit them. The 11mm grommits, were sold in starter kits but it was a case of you can have any colour you like, so long as it's black. Clips and keyring split rings were not to be found.

After scouring the store, I sought out a shop assistant... who proceeded to patronise me and act in a generally terse and aggressive fashion. She did try to help I suppose, but only after I stopped acting like I knew what I was talking about and apologised for expecting her to do her job.

I left the store without buying anything at all, which demonstrates just how frustrated and generally demoralised I felt by the time this woman was done with me.

So, no gromits and no clips which means I'll need to hunt down the required bits online.

On the plus side, we popped over to see Esther and family yesterday for a natter. I got to hold the latest addition and received some tips for the kind of store to search for. So far, the places which seem promising are Corsetry Suppliers (a store I already use here), leather working suppliers, saddlers and pet shops. I did look at online chandlers, who sell all manner of interesting clips but nothing quite like I was looking for. Bead shops sell lots of other things I'd like to buy and are very tempting, so I'm going to have to return for a second look. And of course, camping suppliers...

I did find out the proper name for a dog leash clip is a trigger hook - which helps no end when trying to do a search.

A sense of achievement

2008-05-02T14:01:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was a first for me. I cycled to work and home again, which not only makes it the first time I've made that journey on a bicycle, it was also my first solo bike ride, since every previous cycle ride has been in the company of Dave.

That means I cycled somewhere between eight and nine miles, sometimes on the road and sometimes on the pavement (where the pavement was wide and had no pedestrian traffic). I made it in and back without needing to stop, managed to get up hills (slowly I admit) and all without incident. I did note how many unexpected hazzards there were... Potholes and poor road surface, pedestrians who seem oblivious to bicycles and will step out right in front of you, dithering drivers, parked cars and their doors... But I coped and at the low speed I was travelling, had plenty of time to react, so all was good.

Today, not surprisingly, I hurt - mostly in the vicinity of my right knee, which really is not happy.

However, other than the expected knee pain, everything else seems to be OK... My legs don't feel like they've been through some sort of torture and even the saddle soreness seems to be less than it was after those first journeys a few weeks back - thank goodness for gel saddle covers - all of which suggests my general stamina must be improving, even if my knee is not.

A win methinks.

On going battles

2008-04-27T17:39:00.004+01:00

Friday I worked from home as I was expecting a workman to come look at my front door again. This was a good thing as my front door which is not even three years old is particularly problematic. It lets in drafts, which it definitely shouldn't and the frame doesn't feel as well anchored into the hole as I'd expect either. Oh and it jams a lot, which was why I replaced the original door in the first place.

This was the second scheduled visit, the first having achieved nothing because the workman arrived without the tools to do the job and not enough time allocated to complete it. Not to mention how difficult it was to get hold of Amber Windows in the first place.

Anyhow, the man from Amber Windows came. He was pleasant and friendly. He made all the right noises. He sucked in the air through his teeth a lot and he fiddled with the door for over an hour. And the result? It's worse than when he started and he still didn't have the parts he needed to finish the job.

I am not happy and shall be phoning again tomorrow morning. Which of course means I need to arrange to work from home again. For some reason, I don't hold out much hope that whenever this next visit is arranged, that that will be the end of the matter. So watch this space.

In more entertaining news, I drove up to Ripley last night to help out Richard with the latest wargame associated with AscendancyLRP which was held in Andy and Heather's shop, Chimera.

I was scribe, my task being to record everything that happened so it could be written up properly. I've had a go at wargaming in the past, I know how it goes... A turn takes typically anything from twenty minutes to an hour, involving a lot of discussion and shaking of dice and sometimes arguments about interpretation of the rules as little men are moved around the table. I checked first and confirmed that my job involved no more than writing down about four lines per turn, I expected to get a lot of sock knitted.

After five turns and four full A4 pages of notes and not a single stitch knitted, I think maybe I was misled. Bad Richard!

It was an entertaining day although I got lost during the rule discussions and it was such a big game, with huge numbers of points on the table, that I couldn't keep track of which unit was which or what just happened. This led to me asking lots of questions in hurried whispers to the players, as I scribbled away frantically.

I even whipped out my camera and took some photo's.

Click on images, to see bigger versions...

Although they probably don't mean much without the context, but some of those figures are very nicely done.

The player's side won.

Just.

And I do mean just. It was an incredibly close call, but I don't think anyone other than those watching the game will have any appreciation for how close they came to losing.

Phew!

Joking aside

2008-04-24T13:30:00.005+01:00

I'm beginning to think I might need to censor Dave's bed time reading.

Last night, just as I was dropping off to sleep he starts to chortle. I asked what was up and he replied...

"I went to the supermarket to buy some H.P. Sauce. I'm paying it off monthly, in sixpence installments."

This morning, while I'm still stumbing around in a caffiene deprived state, he asked "Why do elephant's have big ears?"

I, wondering why he was suddenly putting me on the spot and quizzing me about trivia, replied suitably only to have him smirk and reply. "No. It's because Noddy wouldn't pay the the ransom!"

Cue much mirth on his part.

Can't you tell he's reading a book all about jokes?

In other news, I went along to the knitting group last night where I scored four skeins of Louisa Harding Sari Ribbon (Ravelry Link) in a sort of pale green colour. No idea what I'm going to do with it, but it is very pretty... Ideas anyone?

No pictures, because I didn't think of it and my camera's batteries are playing up again (at some point I will give up and buy new ones).

I also came home with some vintage crochet patterns from the seventies. Everyone else seemed to think they were hilarious, but my response to most of the designs was 'Oooh, nice.' said in a not at all sarcastic way. What can I say, my costuming gene went off big time! I resisted for the most part, but did nab a crocheted cloak pattern (the ultimate in 70's style I tell you and possibly coming to an Eidolan near you) and a couple of very pretty lace waistcoats.

I also finished sock number one. I'll weave in the ends tonight and then, hopefully cast on sock number two.

Not exactly restful

2008-04-20T16:11:00.004+01:00

Friday night I took my new tent back to Go Outdoors! to see about getting an exchange.

The good news was that they still stock the Vango Venture 500...

The bad news, they were not willing to take my word for it regarding the damage and said I'd have to wait until a manager had time to inspect the tent and give their opinion as to whether the damage warranted a replacement or not. No one was available there and then and there wasn't much chance of anyone being around until some point next week. Rather than argue I filled out the necessary paperwork, including an extensive description of the tear and left the tent with them.

I now await their call with interest...

So far, this has a been a quiet and damp weekend. It's not particularly cold, just dark, damp and miserable out there. I'm still worn out from last weekend and with the work the way it is, my priority this weekend has been on recharging my batteries and spending some quality time with my other half.

We've cycled a fair distance this weekend and went swimming this morning (cycling to and from the sports centre, despite the persistant drizzle), which serves the purpose of spending time with Dave but has been hardly restful. The other thing I've discovered about all this exercise is it makes me very hungry!

My only contribution to decluttering this weekend was to pass a couple of kit items to Dave to see if he can find new owners for them via Maelstrom. Two were items I've never used, having picked them up new on speculation but never had a reason to wear them... And since then, my costuming eye has, er... developed a tad... Which means I've become more selective in what I consider suitable kit.

The other, a lightly used (one and a half events) dress I'm still deliberating on whether to let go or not. It's a fairly simple smock in cotton/linen, with beading and fringing detail on collar and cuffs, to make it more interesting.

At the moment it's in the 'go' pile, mostly because I can't see me needing it currently and I could always make something similar if I needed it. Finding suitable fabric would be a pain, but that is always the case.

What it does represent is a trip down memory lane and creative investment. Every costume piece I make has a bit of me in it and so, letting it go is always a problem. Not to say I shouldn't shed kit I'm unlikely to use again, but it's hard when you've an emotional attachment. At the very least, I wanted to record that I'd made this and hence why I've put a picture here.

I finally got around to blocking the scarf I knitted last month which has been sitting waiting for my attention for the past two weeks.

This is 'Scarf Askew' which I originally found on the now sadly no more Magknits site. So far I haven't found it published anywhere else on the internet, but hopefully its designer will upload it somewhere else in due course. The yarn is an aran weight, the discontinued Jaeger Sport in an interesting bluey/green which I think complements the manly nature of this scarf.

The only modification I've made is to add a moss stitch border, in an effort to curb the curl on this one and boy oh boy, does this scarf curl! I think it really wants to be knitted in the round and I think the stitch pattern would make some wonderfully subdued and manly socks. For now, I've blocked the living daylights out of the scarf and I shall wait to see if it holds.

Finally to end...

My current sock in progress.

As always, click on the images to see bigger versions...

Tension seems to be a theme here

2008-04-17T13:33:00.002+01:00

With the end of the week looming fast, I've just realised that I've not written an update on here since the beginning of last week, which perhaps is a fair indicator of how things have been of late.

Work is being work and I'm under a lot of pressure at the moment, mostly because I've been given the go ahead for a project which has been on and off and then on and off and on... (you get the idea) All of which means I'm in full steam ahead mode without much time to do anything else, let alone think of blogging.

When I managed to squeeze in a lunchtime last week, I was working my way through an Anti SpamBot fix for the forums I look after, with a supposedly easy fix having so far accrued at least three hours of my time as I try to get it ready to copy up to server. Since its open source I can't guarantee it will work, but once I finish the last few tweaks (and I have a good clear hour to spare) I'll be ready to give it a go on the test boards before starting to do the same for the real thing.

Last weekend was the first proper camping Ascendancy event of the year and I was preparing for it to be a wet and cold one. As it turned out, things weren't too bad. Friday night the weather waited until we'd got the tents up and then rained heavily, on and off all night and in the early morning, but cleared for the rest of the day. It was cold but I was prepared and so it was definitely copable.

One thing of note was my new tent, bought last September and on its first outing, which turned out to have a three foot tear in the built in ground sheet. It had been partially repaired using tape very similar to the groundsheet, suggesting the damage happened at the factory. How it got past QA I don't know and it certainly shouldn't have been sold that way. I'm not impressed and will be taking it back to the store tomorrow, where I shall be pressing for a replacement.

Plotwise, it was an interesting event which turned into a very uncomfortable situation as plans came unravelled, carefully negotiated deals were thwarted and the whole thing descended into player versus player rather than trying to constructively deal with the problem at hand.

I'm still rather bemused by the way in which we were sabotaged; this happens to me on a regular basis and given the consequences of what happened I'm inclined to react this time. Still pondering how to do this and keep the character playable in such a small game, but it is going to take some doing to repair the damage, something which is going to have to be played out.

Overall, it was a lively game with (I suspect) some OOC personal issues getting in the way which didn't help. The way things went should represent something of a set back for the players, although if they pull together things could work out but we shall have to see what happens.

Knitting wise, I took a sock camping which I diligently worked on while drinking tea in the morning. Talking about turning heels with Gail also proved a helpful distraction to what was going on. A plain sock is easy and relaxing knitting and I heartily recommend it if plot you've been working on for over two years goes horribly wrong, it may save your sanity!

Hmmm... Maybe I should teach Andy to knit? ;)

The same sock went with me to the knitting group last night, where I asked for help from Jane in ripping out the heel. As soon as I showed it to Jane she could see the problem and said I should have photographed it to illustrate what can happen when your tension is way off. I knitted that heel flap on Monday and Tuesday night and to look at it, you'd have said it had been knitted by two different people with completely different needle sizes. On the Monday night it was way too loose and on the Tuesday I seem to have compensated and gone the other way, tightening the stitches so I was strangling the life out of the yarn!

I asked Jane to rip out the heel as the last time I tried that with a sock, I ended up having to redo the whole thing.

All is good now though, with the sock back on its needles and the heel about two thirds done with an even tension throughout.

Wind, rain, sleet, snow, hail and sunshine outside; meanwhile back at the ranch...

2008-04-07T14:20:00.004+01:00

Monday has arrived again in the wake of a weekend where the weather seems to have thrown everything it could think of at us. We had wind, rain, sleet, snow and hail all interspersed with periods of glorious sunshine which made you think Spring had arrived... Except of course it was so cold outside that if you weren't wearing gloves all sensation in fingers was lost within seconds!

No snow pictures because I didn't think of it until this morning and if I had I don't think my camera's batteries are changed so disappointment would have followed.

This weekend was a slow one where nothing much seems to have happened, although I know I spent most of the time being busy in one way or another.

Friday, I went for a long-ish bike ride after work, deciding to cycle towards my place of work and see how far I got - I actually did OK, getting within the last mile before deciding to go home.

One downside of this was I got to see that not only drivers but pedestrians can be a problem when you're on a bicycle, with one youth in particular letting off a foul mouthed tirade when I stopped at a junction and dithered for a moment while trying to find the peddles to start again. Totally oblivious of the large white van waiting patiently (no really, he was no problem at all) behind me or my gender, this lad seemed rather put out that I was there when he wanted to cross the road. I also got beeped at by a white purgeot for no apparent reason that I can think of, but that was less shocking since I kind of expect that.

The other downside of this is that I've been in pain, knee-wise, all weekend with it still persisting today, and I really didn't peddle all that hard. The challenge now is how to build up stamina so that I can get to work and back without crippling myself...

Saturday we walked into town, intending to go swimming but discovered the pool was closed, which will teach me not to check the website before setting off. We bumped into Evelyn123 en route and Dave persuaded the lucky lady that what she really needs is a rhubarb plant cutting (now potted and ready to go) in his efforts to tame the beast which regularly dominates the back step, Triffid style.

I bought wool. I'm thinking of trying to knit a waistcoat or something similar, which will be a departure from the norm for me.

I also did some spinning, both on Saturday and Sunday, with the spindle getting heavier and the bag of fluff getting noticeably smaller, so I'm slowly making progress there. The yarn is still very variable, going between perfect to overspun, to slightly blobby, to laceweight with each additional meter... But I am getting up speed now and I have started standing up to increase my reach. Dave asked me what I'm going to make with the yarn last night and the answer is I have no idea as I haven't really thought that far ahead yet.

Otherwise, this weekend I did some knitting, strung the amulet pouch I made last week, did some housework and pulled another couple of bags of bits together for the charity shop and thought about making some of these... Which are of course row counter, abacus bracelets...

It's all in the spin...

2008-04-03T13:40:00.006+01:00

Last night I headed off to the Knit-Wit's knitting group as I normally do on a Wednesday night, unexploded WWII bombs permitting, where we had a spinning workshop scheduled. Kellie (who sadly doesn't get to make it as often as we'd all like) was along to show us how it should be done, bringing with her a basket full of bits of fleece, hooks, spindles and samples of handspun yarn.

We started out with a table full of interested potential spinners, as Kellie took us through using a hook to practice drafting/spinning on. I'm afraid I couldn't get it. I had no problems with drafting, but I just couldn't maintain tension using a hook to set the spin - I just ran out hands! After staring at my hands and the hook in bafflement for a good fifteen minutes, exchanging bemused glances with an equally baffled Mandy, I reverted to my spindle after which all was good.

Kellie showed me a new technique for applying the Park and Draft method of spinning which was considerably more fluid than my previous attempts. I also learnt a more stable way of attaching and wrapping the yarn around the spindle than the one I'd been using, as well as being shown me how far I could draft out the fibre before spinning, which helped no end.

What a difference having someone show you rather than just reading about how to do something makes!

By the end of the evening I was making good progress, doubling the amount of spun yarn on my spindle. I even managed to join new some new roving without making a complete hash of it and as always, watching the fluff turn into yarn was fascinating.

I was also interested to see the difference between a re-enactment spindle (which both of mine and all of Kellie's are) and a modern American style spindle, which Mandy was using.

The whorl on Mandy's was much larger than either of the ones on my spindles and it's position was more central - although not completely centred, it was definitely a bottom whorl spindle. There was also a little hook set into the top, to help keep the yarn in place I guess, whereas my spindles just have a notch to give the half hitch knot something to catch on. The modern spindle was also far more ornate and highly decorated, with someone having spent a lot of time making it pretty to look at. The re-enactment spindles have a certain simple beauty about them (I like them) but are functional items first and foremost.

I came away with a couple of pieces of merino fleece to practice with, so I can try out spinning with something other than the Blue Faced Leicester silver tops that I picked up from the Mulberry Dyers. Although I have to say that I like the Blue Faced Leicester... When I draw a fibre out, it's typical length is something like 9cm which means it is very easy to spin. It's also soft, fluffy and feels nice.

Of course, that doesn't mean that any yarn I'm spinning at the moment will knit up nicely, given my beginner status, the quality and spin on the resulting yarn is very variable. Hopefully, when I get to having a go at plying, some of that will sort itself out but if it doesn't, I'm not too worried as I'm treating this as very much a learning exercise at the moment.

I have found myself starting to look at online sources for fibre, with Blue Faced Direct, The Yarn Yard, Shunklies and Violet Green all catching my eye.

So far I'm resisting though...

Mend and make do...

2008-03-31T13:25:00.005+01:00

This weekend marked the official start of British Summer Time with the clocks all going forward by an hour on Sunday morning. Personally, I hate it when the clock gets adjusted as it takes at least another week for my body to catch on. It seems to have thrown the cats as well, who were decidedly late in their waking yesterday morning and again today, rather than being ready with the CPR at 6am to get me going.

Today I ache in all the wrong places and my right knee has a definite whinge going on, the cause being too much cycling. Taking advantage of the break in the weather, Dave and I cycled about seven miles on Saturday and another three or so, yesterday.

The ride on Saturday was the more productive of the two and I actually rode on the road, surviving my first encounters with inconsiderate drivers who blocked me in and rode so close, they seemed determined to knock me off the bike. I say 'seemed', since I'm sure they weren't trying to send me flying, just agressively claiming the road, which in turn pushed me into the gutter and made trying to pull out so I could turn right impossible.

Sunday's jaunt was more sedate as well as shorter, since within moments of getting on the bicycle, muscles I hadn't realised I had started to complain very loudly! I persevered and then discovered a new issue, namely the bike seemed to be trying to throw me off every time I changed gear. In the end, Dave had a go, riding my bicycle for a short while around the park before deciding there was a genuine problem with the gear transition. A brief visit by Dave to the bicycle shop later (I let him go, since he knows bike speak) and it was sorted (I hope) and turned out to be a stretched gear cable, which the man in the shop said is normal on new bicycles.

Dave has cycled to work this morning, but for me I think more practice and confidence will be needed before I can do the same.

When not risking life and limb on the road this weekend, I pottered around the house (as I regularly do), performing household chores. In between all this, the focus was on 'mend and make do' type activities, as I get ready for the next AscendancyLRP event.

I started off by spending about three hours on Saturday repairing the robe I wear, which was damaged by a clumsy viking at the last event. Since I couldn't find any replacements for the torn frogs last week, I carefully removed the frogs from under the sleeves on the short jacket I made last year, then transferred them to the dress.

Pictures from when it was brand new and pristine...

The removal of the frogs, took quite a while as I'd sewn them on to stay sewn on, so getting them off without damaging the jacket fabric was very fiddly and time consuming. Then I had to do the same with the damaged frogs, carefully feeling for the stitching with my unpicker so I could cut it, but not the threads of the robe itself. Then came the fun of sewing the frogs back on, both for the robe and the jacket (replacing the burgandy frogs with black ones), since I didn't want to leave it in a canibalised state - knowing me I'd have never got around to fixing it again.

When I was finally done with the robe, I moved onto making an amulet pouch or a little bag to hang around the neck.

This little pouch illustrates and vindicates all my insecurities about why I should never throw away scrap! You never know when you might have to rustle something up which looks like it is and always has been part of your character's costume.

The main fabric of the bag is part of the left overs from a jacket I made... er... five (maybe) years ago. That fabric turns up again on the robe as part of the colar, and the gores (or godets) in the skirt. The lining is scrap left over from the robe I made for Dave last summer. The ribbon came off a chocolate box and the beaded bit is one of the frogs I'd just cut off the robe. Dave has retouched the beads for me, as the paint was worn off and I just need to thread a cord through and it's done.

Not too shabby for something made entirely out of left overs and all in about three hours work.

As always, click on images to see bigger versions...

By way of experimentation...

2008-03-25T14:01:00.004Z

Dave has been safely returned from camping at the Maelstrom event last night and many thanks are due to Sarah who gallantly stepped in as his substitute lift, after his first ride had repeated car trouble. I was on the verge of going to fetch him myself (shoes on, directions from website in hand) when she kindly stepped into the breech, which saved me a two hour round trip. Dave himself is slowly recovering, no longer looks so plasticky (ye gods, the horrors of makeup!) but has a cold to show for his exploits.

Myself, I spent the weekend pottering around the house, running errands and experimenting in a fibery way.

I bravely dodged snow, sleet and hail showers to visit Coventry market in search of frogs. The habberdashery stall there does a range of very pretty, if horribly expensive, frogs and was where I found the originals I'm trying to replace, so it seemed a logical place to start. Sadly, it wasn't to be with nothing even remotely suitable on offer and so I'm preparing to canibalise the jacket I made last year so I can repair my kit in time for the next Ascendancy event.

I'm thinking of stealing the frogs under the arms and replacing them with plain black ones, which shouldn't be too jarring to the eye should I ever wear it again. Looking at the forums, it seems I'm going to have to make an amulet of some sort as well, so I anticipate I will be doing a spot of sewing next weekend.

Feeling an urge for experimentation, I decided to have a tentative first stab at felting knitted fabric. I've been curious for a while now as to how easy it is to hand felt as opposed to machine felting and I wanted to know if an acrylic/wool mix would felt or not. I've not been able to find a definite answer on this one, with opinions being varied and so I decided there was nothing for it but to resort to the swatch...

This rather dashing green Katia Azteca is a 50% Wool/50% Acrylic yarn of about Aran weight...

It knitted up into this 13cm square on 6.5mm needles as everything I've heard suggests that felting is more likely with a looser stitch guage...

The result was actually quite nice; while the stitches weren't overly tight, they weren't terribly loose either and felt good in the hand, with a very soft drape.

For the felting part, I set to work in the kitchen sink alternating between hot tap water, cold water and occasional input from the kettle, as I attacked the fabric square with my agitator (a whisk). It took about two minutes for the first sign of felting to appear and I stopped after about 30 minutes, satisfied the little square did indeed look like felt now...

So to answer my own question, yes, a 50:50 acrylic/wool mix will felt.

Although in this case, I also discovered that I don't particularly like the result.

Unfelted, this yarn produced a nice fabric but felted it looks like nothing so much as one of my kitchen scouring pads - which is of course a good thing to find out now before I try to use it in a proper felting project!

My plan for this little square is to give it a trim, as it may look a bit tidier with fewer fluffy, straggly bits and then I may needlefelt on a spiral or something similar... After which I should have a coaster.

On a more positive note, I finally seem to be getting somewhere on the spinning front!

After Mandy mentioned the 'park and draft' method of spinning, I googled and hit on this tutorial. I gave it a go and this is the result!

(As always, click on the images to see bigger versions.)

Arctic Easter and Pink Fuzziness

2008-03-23T14:45:00.004Z

With certain British papers starting the week with headlines of 'Artic Easter!', you can imagine the theme of the past couple of days. Brrrrrh!

Having never coped well with being cold, this did not bode well for me but even more so it did not bode well for the players at the Easter Maelstrom event, which includes my other half. I'd kept an eye on the forecasts so knew what was coming and spent a considerable part of last week persuading him to take a stove along, as well as lecturing him on not sleeping on the floor! Thursday night Dave weakened and finally consented to take along a small single ring, one gas cylinder, a billy, some tea and some soup (in addition to his usual snack foods).

As it turns out, Dave is one of the better prepared players on site - something of a shock in itself! Tents have been blown down or apart by the high winds, which combined with the snow/sleet/hail showers has driven quite a few people to abandon the event, which Dave says is very quiet (numbers wise) compared to normal. Quite a few of those who've remained have had to give up on their tents, bailing out for the relative comfort and safety of sleeping in their cars.

Not so Dave though, who slept soundly in his two sleeping bags and four blankets. He says the worst his tent has suffered was one lifted peg which meant the inner and outer tent froze to each other. His other complaint was that a billy isn't as good as a kettle when it comes to boiling water.

What a relief that he is OK!

On a knitting note, I finished the pink fuzzy scarf on Friday.

This is "Warm Fuzzies" from Stitch n'Bitch Nation. It is knitted in Paton's Studio Mohair, with two strands held double.

I pretty much followed the pattern, except that my version is considerably longer than the measly 54" suggested in the book. Since the scarf is only 4 1/2 inches wide, I wanted it to have a good length so it could be wrapped around the wearer's neck a couple of times, hence I kept going until the scarf was just over 72" long.

The result is very fluffy, soft and thick scarf which is very pretty as well as warm, which has pleased me no end. Hopefully it will go down well with its intended recipient come Christmas and yes, I'm thinking of Christmas already.

As always, click on the image to see a bigger version...

Pretty in pink

2008-03-18T14:08:00.007Z

Yesterday and today have been spent at home, as I had a couple of days leave to use up or I'd lose them. I'm back to work tomorrow and Thursday and then of course it's Easter so I have a long bank holiday weekend to look forward to.

The theme for yesterday was looking at forum software and trying to remember how to install it. Fortunately, I am a compulsive note taker so once I'd dug out my scribbles I was away and had a fairly productive day. Still lots to do as I want to set up a test bed, so I need to bring it in line with the forums I set up earlier at www.ascendancylrp.co.uk... Then... I shall be able to play with impunity and not worry about breaking anything, which will be good as I have a few tweaks I want to make to the Ascendancy boards. Nothing too drastic initially, but I want to see what I can do to further inconvenience that particular breed of internet pest called the SPAMbot.

I also blocked the Victorian lace scarf which I finished a couple of weeks ago, but was waiting for a clear run (and a clear floor) of days when I didn't have other commitments.

A straightforward shot of it lying on the bed and here are a couple of close ups of the pattern.

I also hung it up in front of the window to see if I could show how the light is coming through the weave as I'm not convinced the photographs are doing it justice.

This is taken from Victorian Lace Today and is "Scarf with the striped boarder from Weldon's, Volume 5 1890". I knitted it in a 4-ply Merino from Tess Dawson, which I bought from Angel Yarns a while back and the colour is cherry.

The result is very light and floaty; it looked good straight off the needles but really came to life once I'd blocked it. It looks equally pretty as a head scarf or worn around the neck and I just love the way the light shines through it making it look like proper lace.

My one reservation is not with the pattern but my blocking technique. After gently hand washing the scarf, wrapping it in a towel and stomping up and down on it to get the water out, I duly pinned it out to dry (i.e. blocking it). Unfortunately, the points where I pinned it seem to have distorted the stitches so the edge is no where near as smooth as I wanted it to be. I steamed the edge after blocking which relaxed things somewhat, but I can still see where the pins were. Any suggestions for how you pin something out to dry so this doesn't happen?

In other news, I can report that I do remember how to ride a bicycle. I took the new bike to the park on Sunday afternoon, taking advantage of a brief let up in the rain. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that once I'd pushed off, I had no problems with cycling, other than being a bit wobbly if I wasn't moving very fast and gears remain a mystery to me but I think I'll get there with a little more practice.

Not quite so successful were my first attempts at spinning using my newly acquired spindles. I tried out the smaller one, thinking it would be easier to handle and so far I'm not having much success. At the moment, my problem is trying to keep the spindle spinning and not back spinning while at the same time trying to tease a small amount of wool out so I can allow the twist into it. I appear to have a distinct lack of hands, with the invariable result being that I can't keep the spindle going, it spins the other way undoing the tentative spin in the wool and then crashing to the ground. Suggestions on how I acquire more hands (or better use the two I've got) gratefully received!

And to answer Frizbe's question - I don't know where I'll find the time and suspect that mostly I won't, but I'm optimistic and do like to try new crafts, you know? Especially if they're pretty, involve yarn, sewing, beads, buttons or sparkly things. :)

As always, click on the images to see bigger versions...

So now I have a spindle or two...

2008-03-15T18:10:00.006Z

So far this weekend is turning into one of those expensive ones, where I seem to be falling over myself to spend money.

Yesterday afternoon, with a few hours off work at my disposal I headed off to the camping shop to stock up on gas and buy a new single airbed, so we're sorted for the beginning of season.

Then I had an unexpected visit from an electrician to deal with a dodgy socket and light switch. Unexpected in that I'd actually booked him for Monday, but he had an empty slot so wanted to come there and then.

Next up, I hurried over to a cycling shop where I took a good hour or so to pick out and buy a bicycle. This is something of a gamble for me, since I haven't been on a bike since my teens... Then, low and behold if Dave (who'd dropped in to see what I was up to) didn't decide to buy one as well!

Then today, to top it off we headed to the Re-enactors Market where I acquired these...

I picked up two spindles of differing weights because I wanted to see what they feel like, along with a little booklet explaining the basics and a couple of 50g bags of wool 'tops'. I've no idea at this point whether I'll take to using a spindle, but I'm determined to have a go.

I also picked up a costume book called "Historic Costumes and How to Make Them" which caught my eye. It's a generic instruction book covering the fifth century through to late eighteenth so I'm hoping might be useful.

Hopefully that's about it for spending money for a while!

Knitting wise this week, I've been working on this...

It's a mock cable scarf in pink mohair taken from Stitch N'Bitch Nation, which is a book I bought right back when I started to teach myself knitting. I remember when I first looked at most of the patterns in this book, I classified them as scary - meaning they looked far too complicated for me to even consider. Having picked it up again, it's comforting to be able to say that there are actually things in there I'd think about making now, which shows how far I've come since Christmas 2006.

Anyhow, I picked out the mock cable scarf because it's pretty, pink and girly, which I'm hoping will suit the intended recipient. It's a fairly mindless knit, which has suited me well this week as I'm feeling rather brain dead after being force fed project management jargon for three days. All of which means, that half way in I'm pleased with it so far.

Circumstances beyond our control

2008-03-13T14:11:00.002Z

Having just spent the past three days locked in a room absorbing information on Project Management followed by evenings packed full of homework, I was looking forward to my regular weekly knitting group last night. Unfortunately, circumstances conspired against me with workmen uncovering a WWII bomb which led to the entirety of the Coventry city centre being sealed off until this morning.

Fortunately, I knew something was up well in advance so wisely stayed home rather than trying to get into town. The journey home last night took twice as long as it should have done, so I tuned into the local BBC radio which is when I found out what was going on. It turned out that the police had also closed Coventry's Ring Road, a major hub here without which it becomes very difficult to get from one side of the city to the other.

Hopefully, all the other ladies heard similar reports and stayed clear.

In other news, we had an event in York at the weekend which went quite well, despite the strong winds which made staying outside incredibly cold as well as making it impossible to hear what anyone was saying unless they were standing right next to you. Thank goodness for gloves and having drafty huts at our disposal!

There was one worrying moment though, when Dave and Richardxl5 disappeared around the back of our hut to fix the roof with some drawing pins!

One fallout of the weekend is that I now have a minor sewing emergency on my hands. A great big, clumsy, armour wearing viking, decided to throw himself dramatically onto my lap when I tried to roll him over (to tend to his wounds). Fortunately, my knee took the strain. Unfortunately, my costume didn't, with his armour ripping into and tearing the frogs which hold the dress closed.

At the moment, I'm counting my blessings that the fabric itself didn't tear as well, but as it is, getting hold of fancy frogs is hard at the best of times, so this damage is not as trivial as it might seem. My current plan is to try to locate suitable replacements, but if not I'll have to cannibalise another outfit which has less frogs on it... The theory being that I'll have an easier time finding a small number of matching frogging than a large number. Or at least that's what I'm hoping.

A whirlwind of activity

2008-03-03T13:32:00.002Z

This weekend has gone by in a whirlwind of activity, pretty much as anticipated really.

Dave departed early on Saturday morning and after doing some household chores, I drove down to Warwick for the Ravelry day at Crafty Cottage. The drive to Warwick was made more interesting than usual by the high winds which kept trying to blow the car off the road. I later learnt that I wasn't the only one having scary moments due to the wind, with a couple of freight trains loosing their containers!

I arrived in Warwick, just as Jo was getting her children to cut the ribbon to start the day's festivities. Then, ribbon cut and scissors stowed, knitters began to file into the shop, at first just a handful or so and then in a steady trickle that just didn't seem to stop. I've never seen so many people in the Crafty Cottage and what is normally a spacious shop, became crowded very quickly... So I did the only sensible thing and retreated upstairs out of the way, where it was slightly quieter.

Upstairs, Steelbreeze was knitting away on her knitting machine and a local textiles artist, Emma Price from Charkha Yarns, was giving a first taste of spinning. This was popular with the other attendee's so it took me a while to work up to speaking to Emma and eventually having a go, first with a tickler and then spinning at the wheel itself.

A tickler is essentially just a piece of wood which has been whittled at both ends so it's got a point. You wrap some spun yarn around it and then use that to lead your unspun fleece onto the tickler, turning the piece of wood which puts a twist in and hence spins it. It did seem incredibly complicated to do, but once I'd had a go on the spinning wheel, the theory suddenly made sense. Using the tickler, I managed to spin up a few yards or so of wool and was pleasantly surprised to find that I picked up the essence of how to use a wheel in less than ten minutes.

If I only had room for one, I'd now be sorely tempted to start looking for a spinning wheel because it was very satisfying to see the fluffy fleece turning into yarn right in front of my eyes... And even more satisfying to know I was responsible for that transformation!

Eventually, I had to go home because I was running out of time on my parking ticket, but I did thoroughly enjoy myself.

However, I didn't manage to slip away before buying some yarn. During one of my forays downstairs in search of cake and tea, I spotted some Shades of Cashmere merino and some locally spun heavy wool. I've PM'd Jo because I can't remember the details of the local spun stuff, but it was in a gorgeous raspberry shade which I think would felt well.

Having spent money at the Crafty Cottage, I was far more restrained at the Living History Fair on Sunday. So restrained that other than some jerky and teas, I didn't buy anything at all! I did have fun looking around though and I think this fair is getting better each time I go. My one request would be that they have more craft traders, who'll supply you with the raw materials, tools and instructions to make your own things rather than just presenting us with the finished item.

After a good while, Richardxl5 and I managed to drag Dave out of the fair and we headed to a local pub for a spot of lunch before going home.

Out of uncertainty comes...

2008-02-29T13:59:00.006Z

This week has been a bit of a tense one at work, with the ominous topic of 'Reorganisation' ringing in our ears. A mandatory meeting along with a huge reem of paper by way of a briefing later and while I'm not directly affected this time, there is an air of uncertainty drifting around the building. Office moves, ongoing building work, drilling which vibrates through the floor and power failures have all contributed to making this a less than pleasant week. I'm also reading through an incredibly dry project management manual and doing exercises in readiness for a course in a couple of weeks. This book is quite honestly enough to make your eyes glaze over within a few minutes... Although I have had fun thoroughly defacing it with post-its and yellow highlighter pen.

This all means that I have been rather brain dead in the evenings and with my weekends continuing to be hectic, I don't see this changing in the near future. Salvation is coming in the form of knitting and crochet, which as always allows me to work on something which is fully under my control even if only for an hour or so a day.

My main distraction for the moment is my first attempt at something out of Victorian Lace Today.
This is my version of 'Scarf with the striped border from Weldon's, Volume 5, 1890', which as you can see is coming along nicely. I'm knitting it in a 4-ply merino, as I really don't want the additional trauma of lace weight or complicated charts at the moment. So far, the scarf is about 60% along, which means that if stretched out (as it will be once blocked), it's about four foot long, with the relaxed length closer to three foot.

Now I'm well under way, this is a relaxing knit with a simple two row repeat where I only have to remember which row I'm currently doing. With a substantial amount of scarf to look at now, it's actually very pretty and drapes well... I'm looking forward to finishing it and seeing how it blocks out.

I've also started this...
Can you tell what it is yet?

It is of course a rabbit's bottom!

Yes, after looking at lots of very cute pictures of crocheted toys on Ravelry and buoyed by Richardxl5's comment that his grandmother used to make fantastic toys, I thought I'd have a go.
The pattern is from Vintage Crochet and is called 'Syd the Rabbit'. Now I don't know if this is a Syd or not yet as it's early days and I can't tell if the rabbit has a personality at this point.

I'm making this proto rabbit out of acrylics that I had lying around, rather than buying anything specific for the project and so far, the body is coming along nicely. I've made a couple of mods, starting with a loop rather than a foundation chain and crocheting in a spiral rather than rounds, as I prefer the effect. The only real problem at the moment, is I'm crocheting a lot tighter than I'm used to and it's proving hard on my hands. I'm thinking that if I get into this toy making lark, I may need to invest in some better hooks.

I also had my first go at Intarsia on Wednesday night, at the regular Knit-Wit's group workshops. Steelbreeze did an excellent job of explaining what we had to do and my effort can be seen here. I'll try to get the sample finished over the weekend and post a proper picture then.

This weekend is looking like a busy one. I'm sending Dave off to Ripley on Saturday for a spot of wargaming with Chimera. In the meantime, I'll be heading to Warwick to the Crafty Cottage, for a Ravelry day hosted by Jo, the shop's owner. I'm hoping I manage to show some restraint while surrounded by so much gorgeous yarn, but having not bought anything really (I'm not counting some discontinued pink stuff I found in Busy Fingers, or the yarn for the Bubbles Blanket... Or sock yarn, sock yarn most certainly does not count) since December, if I do fall off the wagon a little, it will be understandable won't it?

Then on Sunday, with Dave's return we'll be heading off to the Living History Fair at the Warwick Exhibition Centre. The trick here will be to not only watch my spending but Dave's as well. There will be far too many tempting, pretty things... I'm going to suggest that we shop by proxy and help Richardxl5 (and any other friends we see) spend their money instead!

People who know me and see me at the fair, consider yourself warned ;)

Tremors in the night

2008-02-28T09:36:00.001Z

Did the earth move for you?

It did for us in Coventry two nights ago with an earthquake striking a couple of minutes before 1am. The bed shook, there was a bang and a loud rumbling, the cats jumped off the bed and there was the sound of a small herd of tiny elephants running downstairs at speed (Charlie and Missy are not light footed).

Dave woke with an exclamation of "Whuh?!!!!", to which I replied by calmly saying, "It's the cats."

What can I say, other than the normal cause of disturbances in the middle of the night are the cats. I woke as they fled the scene and naturally, my sleep befuddled brain put the noise, the movement and the rapidly departing cats together and came to the most natural conclusion.

I have apologised to the cats.

Speedy socks...

2008-02-25T13:38:00.002Z

First of all, my thanks to Evelyn123 for her donation of paper bags, which are being presented in a rationed style to Charlie. So far, I've offered him the smallest bag which isn't quite big enough for him. He has developed a habit of diving inside and out again then returning to his old bag which he obviously doesn't want to abandon. I'll switch in one of the bigger ones soon...

This weekend was a busy one in terms of housework and family commitments, which saw us driving off to see Dave's sister and her little ones for Sunday afternoon and evening. Dinner was filling and nice, the children were well behaved and I believe that Dave learnt a few things.

Firstly, he discovered that pirate ships can apparently spontaneously develop flight and the ability to dive bomb their opposing combatants. And secondly, he learnt that a one year old who wants to go outside to play can be quite nimble on her feet and won't wait around for you to put her coat on, find your shoes or do anything else that would delay her embrace of mud. I believe he also discovered that (as an adult) it is not advisable to try to catch a two foot high child once she's escaped out the patio doors when the only thing between your feet and the puddles are a pair of socks.

Fortunately, he was wearing a very nice and sturdy pair of socks...

I finished my second pair of socks during last week, but was waiting to glimpse daylight so I could photograph them. I also had another requirement in that I wanted Dave's feet present while I took the photo's so they could be shown off in all their glory.

These are knitted in Regia's Avenue sock yarn. I've been on the look out for manly colours and this brown and slate grey stripey colourway seemed to hit the spot. I based them on the Yarn Harlot's basic sock recipe from Knitting Rules! They got a lot of admirers at Knit-Wit's on Wednesday, with one gentleman at the pub taking a particular like to them. He's got the same size feet as Dave and was asking very pointed questions about how much the wool cost!

Dave's reaction is that he quite likes them and he would like to order another two pairs.

(As always click on the pictures to see bigger versions)

Searching for inspiration

2008-02-18T14:07:00.001Z

I spent this weekend at work, applying an application upgrade to a rather important system, which is why it couldn't be done during normal working hours. Today I can feel the start of the descent into the braindead state that normally follows on from one of these stints and I suspect it will get worse. If things go to form, I'll be having problems distinguishing which day it is by midweek.

Sadly, there hasn't been much time for crafting over the weekend as I've worked full days, leaving Dave in charge of the cats at home. I'm not sure what he did to them though, since they were both very quiet when I did get home! Although it was very sweet to watch Charlie lying beside me on the sofa, twitching and squeaking in his sleep as he chased an imaginary paper bag through his dreams.

In lieu of actually doing any knitting, crochet or sewing, I've become very click happy in Ravelry, adding things to my queue which now contains more items than I could possibly knit in five years! Mostly scarves, which I still focus on, some lace thrown in and of course some washcloths. I've even remembered that I've got some patterns for toys at home, which may come in handy for Christmas presents!

And yes, it is the sad truth that I am thinking about Christmas presents already. Buoyed by the reported success of those items I gifted last year (is it really less than two months ago?) I need to get cracking on this years presents if I'm to get them done in time.

I've also been looking at my fabric stash with a speculative eye. It's comprised of mostly natural fibres, cotton, wool, a little linen and a few cotton/silk mixes. Some are good lengths, originally bought with costume in mind, while others are odd meters left over from some project or other. I've decided they need a good sort through, so I can see them properly and be inspired...

One (or two) cat(s) and a paperbag

2008-02-15T13:19:00.004Z

On Wednesday evening I headed off to knitting group as usual and while there, I asked if anyone had any rugged paper bags they didn't want. When asked why, I explained that I was trying to source a replacement for the rather sorry remains of my cat's favourite toy, which was why it did need to be paper, strong and preferably large tomcat sized.

I also relayed Charlie's latest game where he takes the tissues out of their box, so he can stick his front legs into the now half empty box and push off which his back legs, thus 'sledging' across the carpeted floor. This one is not something we encourage since we'd rather like a box of tissues to be used for their designated purpose, not hijacked by an oversized kitten. I didn't mention his other favourite toys, namely carrots and potatoes or the excitement caused by a box full of vegetables, since I think that one needs to be seen to be believed.

However, I did go home and decide to stake out the paper bag in the hopes of catching Charlie sitting in it. I can now say, that I have an increased appreciation of the difficulties involved in wildlife (wild = boisterous, life = cat) photography.

I managed to get a picture of Charlie sitting staring at the bag, which he'll do for some time as he psyches himself up to attack. After that things became difficult as I discovered the problems with a time lag digital camera. By the time the photo was taken, the cat had moved on...

I sat and waited patiently, while Missy wandered over to see what all the fuss was about.

You'll notice the toys accumulating in the paperbag... Charlie collects toys into one place, where they're all the better for playing with.

Finally, I did manage to get a picture but discovered that a fast moving cat and paperbag can come out rather blurry.

Until, success at last!

Phew, that was harder than I thought it would be!

As always, click on the images to see bigger versions...

Bubbles

2008-02-11T13:18:00.000Z

The focus of this weekend was household chores and errands, which seemed to take forever as they all had to be done on my lonesome. Friday night I arrived home to a strongly worded letter from my optician telling me my contact lens supply had been stopped as I apparently hadn't attended for a check up. As someone who remembers going to the optician at least three times last year and even has new specs, this came a bit out of the blue.

Since being without contact lenses is a real pain (and I do wonder if they'd have stopped deducting monies from my account) I phoned and made an appointment there and then, which pretty much put paid to Saturday morning. I complained about the letter, but didn't seem to make any impact - apparently there should have been warning letters (which I haven't recieved) and traffic light stickers on my lenses, which are delivered by mail.

The reason for the letter and the apparent need for frequent visits, is the previous optician to see me had put me down for a six month recall, rather than the usual twelve months one. Absolutely no idea why. But of course, that doesn't explain the jump straight to threatening letters and stopping my lenses completely.

Saturday afternoon, I returned to the house to tackle chores before escaping for a couple of hours by popping over for a chat with Esther and to drop off a pressie.

This is a Bubble's Baby Blanket, which I've been working on for the past month. I downloaded it directly from Ravelry, but it can also be found in the Crochet Pattern Central download area. It's crocheted in two strands, one of a superwash wool and the other a standard baby acrylic. Both yarns are from a local spinner, labelled as Mercia Wools and sold out of the spinner's shop, Busy Fingers in Coventry.
I started this blanket while working on Dave's scarf and it served as a bit of light relief from all that moss stitch. The Bubble stitch was easy to do and working with two strands and a 9mm hook, meant it grew relatively quickly. So much so, that I had no problem working it to a decent cot size in a month, with just a few hours each week spent on it. The resulting fabric is thick and soft, so hopefully will be put to good use.

Sunday was spent doing more household chores, with the usual couple of hours of decluttering thrown in. I did however make a start on the lace and learnt a new cast on - the 'crochet cast on' which is like crocheting a chain but sticking a knitting needle in the way. I'm working on 4.5mm needles and coming straight from sock knitting these past few weeks, the needles seem huge!

Not much to see so far, as I've cast on, knitted two repeats, decided the first repeat was too loose, ripped it out..... Cast on again and knitted two more repeats and that was all I had time for. At the moment, it doesn't look very impressive but as it's lace I'm kind of expecting that... I shall persevere and see where it gets me.

Sock news - the heel is turned on the second sock and I've picked up the stitches for the gusset, so it's coming along. Slowly.

As always, click on the images to see bigger versions.

Weekend Plans...

2008-02-08T13:05:00.000Z

Today, Dave is another year older and is off to an Ascendancy LRP event without me. Not on purpose or because it's his birthday - that's just when the dates of the events fell; this year, we're splitting them up so that we don't both do all of the events. The idea is to save some pennies, give time to normal life things and so the cats don't have to go into the cattery quite so often.

This means I'm on my own this weekend, so in addition to much housework and tidying, may feel brave enough to look at a spot of lace knitting.

Lace, while very pretty, requires a bit of concentration; at least it does at the beginning when I'm trying to get my head around the pattern. I'm hankering to have a go at one of the 'easy' patterns from Victorian Lace Today. This has the catchy title - "Scarf with the striped border from Weldon's, Volume 5, 1890" which at first glance doesn't look that easy at all!

The second sock is coming along well, with the heel now under way. The yarn and colour choice got much admiration at knitting group this week where I was taking a workshop in Lucetting. The link should take any who are interested to the group blog where you can admire everyone's efforts as they try out using a lucet for the first time. I was impressed at how everyone picked it up and very brain dead by the time I got home. I'd never realised how tiring taking a workshop was!

With all due diligence

2008-02-04T13:56:00.000Z

Another weekend seems to have flown by and I'm sat here trying to remember what exactly I got up to. The answer is quite a lot, in that I was busy throughout the weekend although in truth not much progress seems to have been made.

Saturday morning, we headed into Coventry to try out the swimming baths and I at least was pleasantly surprised. I haven't been in a pool since my mid teens after a childhood full of bad swimming experiences which have pretty much turned me into a non-swimmer. Despite being worried about how I'd get on, I actually quite enjoyed myself.

As I'd expected, I appear to have forgotten how to swim but after ten minutes or so of acclimatising, I was managing to swim back and forth with a float... something I did repeatedly for an hour, which is why yesterday and today I ache a lot. But as I said, it was fun. Dave was very patient and we both spent a lot longer in the pool than we'd intended as a result of losing all track of time.

We popped into town briefly, where I resisted buying yarn but found and bought a crochet book (Vintage Crochet) as my willpower momentarily deserted me. I have a list of books I'm keeping my eye on but not buying on Amazon while I try to save some pennies, so really I shouldn't have bought this but perhaps the exercise got to me. Anyhow, I now have another crochet book in my collection.

At home that afternoon, household chores were the main theme which kept us occupied for the rest of the day. I did take a brief break to finish the toe on the first of Dave's socks, something which took me longer than I liked as I had issues with dropped stitches while I was trying to graft the toe shut. Not to worry though, I finally got there and Dave tried on the sock which appeared to fit well.

Dave also took two loads of stuff to the local charity shops, fallout from the ongoing de-cluttering exercise. Of course no sooner had we cleared the pile of items to go out, than we started again and so a new pile of stuff to go to charity has already started to grow.

We did have one tiny and annoying glitch in that one of our neighbours, who was obviously having a clearout of his own, decided the ideal place to dispose of his rubbish was in our garden. This is a bit of an ongoing issue for us and a few years back, we spent a whole summer clearing as much of the rubbish that others had dumped over the fence as we could easily get at. We put a great big shed in front of the junk we couldn't easily move but haven't fenced it off as I worry that will just encourage our neighbours to think it doesn't belong to anyone. Over the past couple of years, random bits of rubbish appear and we do our best to remove them.

This weekend, we came came back from swimming to discover a discarded patio set, some fence panels and a huge plastic tub or tank thrown behind our shed. Dave had words with the neighbour in question. Admission of ownership and platitudes were offered, but the rubbish remained and so Dave has stacked the stuff back in its original owner's garden. We shall see how things develop. One thing is certain, we have enough of our own junk without neighbours adding to it!

Talking about our own junk, yesterday I diligently spent a couple of hours going through the contents of a cupboard, sorting through old paperwork and arguing with the shredder which kept jamming. I didn't get as far as I wanted to, but at this stage I'm taking the attitude that if I keep chipping away at the clutter I will eventually win.

Yesterday afternoon, I dug out my various lucets and reminded myself of the basics in readiness for the workshop at the knitting group on Wednesday, successfully whiling away a couple of hours.

And other than casting on a second sock, that was about it for the weekend.

Quiet week in Coventry

2008-02-01T14:07:00.000Z

It's been a quiet week on the crafting front, although things have been moving steadily in the right direction. I've nearly reached the toe on the first of Dave's socks and I'm bracing myself for the bit of sock knitting I don't like. For some reason, the toe is where it goes wrong for me, possibly to do with the fiddliness of juggling so few stitches on tiny needles. However, since I believe Dave does want socks equipped with toes I shall have to take a deep breath and push on...

Dave reports the scarf is exactly what he wanted. It is apparently long enough to wrap around his neck twice with enough left over to tuck into his coat. He says it is wide enough that he can pull it up over his face which is the way he likes to wear scarves, it is soft and warm and the colour is perfect. I don't think I've heard him enthuse about a scarf before and he may well be humouring me, but I think I can infer from his comments that he likes the scarf - which is a good thing.

I also had the picture of my first socks selected as a featured photograph in Ravelry this week, which made me smile all day. It's not only an endorsement of my first socks but of my picture taking ability. Knitting is not one of the easiest things to photograph, so these little compliments do wonders for improving my mood.

In other news, I'm racking my brain trying to come up with ways to gradually increase my exercise levels. I've been forced to cut exercise for the past eighteen months or so, due to my knee injury, but with the physio's instructions to gradually increase exercise so I build stamina but no overdoing it, I'm left in a quandry as to what to do to achieve this. At the moment, I considering Tai Chi, Swimming, Yoga and whether I should buy a bicycle.

All have their problems, mostly to do with long working hours and how to fit exercise sessions in; while the thought of cycling to work is worrisome because of the state of the roads, congestion and the insane people who make up a fair percentage of road users. Whatever I do decide on in the way of exercise, it has to be low impact (the knee is still there after all), not too expensive and accessible to someone who works very long days...

Progress of sorts

2008-01-28T13:50:00.000Z

Not much happened on the tidying front this weekend, despite my best intentions being very much in the foreground. Yes, housework got done - so it isn't any messier or more cluttered at home - but that was about it, mostly due to other commitments on Saturday and the vagarities of fate on Friday night which saw our DVD player give its last cough before kicking its little legs up in the air after Alias and then stubbornly dying on us rather than suffer another episode of My Name is Earl.

There was nothing for it but to head out on Sunday to buy a replacement, but since our VCR is also slowly dying I thought I'd better replace it as well. We have lots of video tapes, but barely watch them and so I decided to get a DVD/hard disk recorder instead. The one stumbling block was the lack of a digital signal in our area, but it turned out that you can get analogue hard disk recorders for about the same money as a digital recorder these days. Cue me spending yesterday afternoon getting the hard disk recorder working and testing it to my satisfaction.

Saturday saw us both head up to Ripley so that Dave could play in a wargame in a friend's shop (Chimera). Richard kindly collected Dave so I could do some housework and then follow them up at lunchtime. Dave's side won (just) and I spent the afternoon looking at fabric - which I didn't buy - and then whiled away a couple of hours with Frizbe before we all went out to be sociable over a meal in a pub.

Frizbe's four year old had done some very pretty abstract artwork for us, which went down very well. We particularly liked the design she did for Dave and both are now on display in our living room as the fridge needs more magnets.

While I was in Ripley, I worked away on a sock which I'd cast on last week. It looks a little different to this picture now, as I've turned the heel and the gusset is nearly done, so I'm about ready to start working down the foot. This sock is in a manly brown, especially for Dave and I'm hoping the sturdy heel I've put in will make them able to stand up to his feet.

I also found time to photograph Dave's scarf, which I finished last weekend.

This scarf has taken me a while. I started it the weekend before Christmas and at first I was having a lot of problems with the pattern. Not that the pattern is wrong or bad, it's just that I kept making silly mistakes in the moss stitch and they showed. This led to frequent ripping back and much muttering under my breath.

Fortunately, I finally got the hang of it and it does look very effective.

The pattern for those interested is "His (Birthday) Scarf" and it was knit on 4mm needles in Jaeger Merino Matchmaker DK. The Jaeger was very easy to work with and other than the silly finger problems, the pattern worked up easily even if it did seem to take forever.

(As always click on the images to see bigger versions)

Send cake quick!

2008-01-21T13:39:00.000Z

This weekend has been fairly exhausting. I wish I could say I've done something exciting, but I'm afraid that mostly I was engaged in war on the domestic front. Now before anyone worries, neither Dave or the cats have been hurt in any way although I think a spider may well have met its demise after colliding with a duster. I swear it leaped out at me and menaced me!

Yes, this weekend I decided it was time to start my campaign proper on tidying the house. We started (and this was a joint effort) with the standard household chores such as dusting, vacuuming, laundry, ironing, kitchen and bathroom cleaning. Then, I started - in a very tiny way - to try to chip away at the clutter which the house is drowning in. I didn't get very far, because clearing things out seems to take a long, long time, but I was ruthless and the paper shredder got a lot of use. I now have one clear corner and an empty cupboard, next weekend I move onto its neighbour.

All this cleaning and blitzing the clutter also extended to the loft with Dave producing one black bag of junk so far. We've also set aside several bags worth for a charity shop and a handful of glass and plastic gems which (I hope) are destined for AscendancyLRP's crew treasure box.

This flurry of activity has barely made a dent but I intend to persevere - something I've said before - for my sanity's sake if nothing else. I don't need a spotless house and I like a home to look lived in, but things have got out of hand. Decorating has stalled completely and (to my eyes) the house has a neglected look about it which I'd like to at least make a start on fixing.

The worst moment of the weekend came when I'd finished tidying up after the tidying (how come the act of throwing things away makes so much mess?) and cooked a very nice cabbage, leek and bean soup for our supper. I decided pudding was in order and so rumaged in the freezer only to find there was none, when I was sure I had some left over from Christmas.

I quizzed Dave and he tells me I did pick up cake at the supermarket but put it back!!! That just proves how rough I was feeling prior to and during Christmas itself.

I was so shocked I had to go and cast on a sock to console myself!

It's official... We are completely mad.

2008-01-15T13:25:00.000Z

Friday afternoon saw Dave and myself in a car, driving slowly up the M1 towards York for our first Ascendancy LRP event of the year. Slowly because of the weather which consisted of torrential rain, with the occasional bout of sleet which combined with the spray from surface water on the road, made driving conditions treacherous.

As I sat there, gripping the steering wheel tightly and peering worriedly through the haze, I asked "Dave, why are we doing this exactly?"

My other half hesitated only a moment before replying "Because we're insane."

And there you have it. No argument really. We are completely mad.

So started a very cold weekend, with rain and sleet on Friday night giving way to clear skies and frozen mud by Saturday morning. We were sleeping in dark age (ish) huts which are glorified sheds really, very drafty sheds. It wasn't so bad, we are after all experienced campers, fully equipped with four season sleeping bags, thermal underwear and many blankets so we were not as cold overnight as we could have been. But oh my goodness, was getting out of bed on Saturday morning a shock!

I voted for fire and being the only one brave enough to crawl out of her sleeping bag, I did indeed make fire. And I nursed fire all weekend, which I considered to be something of a success since it raised the temperature of the hut by a few degrees and I managed to do this without burning the wooden building down.

One unfortunate side effect of the low temperatures was the butane gas refused to be 'gas', preferring to remain as a liquid inside its canister. Fortunately, Richard had deep pockets and so ended up carrying the gas cans around to keep them warm when not in use, which is why we did manage to have hot food and drink throughout.

The event itself was fairly good and I enjoyed it I think, while being prepared meant we coped reasonably well despite the time of year. It was a little weird to be playing at Murton Park since the last few times I've been part of the ref team there, but I managed to make the transition I think.

I'm taking a rare break and not playing the event in February, with my next event being in March when I hope things may have warmed up just a little.

And there was light!

2008-01-05T18:25:00.000Z

First things first, I guess... Happy New Year to anyone reading this and I hope 2008 is a good one for you.

So for 2008 isn't looking much different to 2007 in Chez Lurgy. I'm still coughing and sniffing (and wondering if maybe I should enquire about a flu jab next year), Charlie is being boisterous and clumsy even as I type and Missy has retreated to the safety of the bedroom before he tries to wrestle with her again (he's already tried twice in the past hour). I returned to work this week where I'm already heavily loaded with an ever decreasing office population due to the ongoing Norovirus outbreak.

Dave is off at a Maelstrom player event this weekend and so today, I braved Coventry's newly opened Ikea on my own. I was after a reading lamp and I picked it out the catalogue and even checked online to see if it was in stock - however it still took me an hour and a half to find the right one, locate suitable energy saving equivalents to the recommended bulbs, find the checkout, buy said lamp (with bulbs) and then make my way out of the store. I did my homework. I had a map. But it still took forever... And that was just a simple errand - I hate to think what it would be like if I was buying something more substantial like furniture!

Mission accomplished though and I now have a reading lamp sitting beside my customary spot on the sofa which means I should be able to see what I'm doing in our poorly lit living room which should make needlecrafts a whole lot easier.

All were well received...

2007-12-28T13:10:00.000Z

Christmas has been and gone in a predictably quiet fashion, as Dave and I spent it at home, just the two of us, the cats and of course, our ongoing colds. The tree survived without feline interest and the wrapping paper was left unmolested which has led us to believe that Charlie has taken his cue from Missy. i.e. other than prowling around the base of the tree from time to time (who knows what might be hiding there) they've both pretty much ignored all festive decoration.

Unlike this pair (courtesy of Esther) who while very cute leave me relieved that my cats are so well behaved!

The presents I knitted or crocheted for my family seem to have gone down well which is both a relief and a surprise, since my family are not into crafts or hand made gifts at all.

There is even reported sibling bickering, because one niece got a hand knitted scarf and the other one didn't; with the one who didn't complaining bitterly that she'd been left out. My explanation that I ran out of time was accepted by her mother (my sister) who said she'd explain I was an exceptionally slow knitter, the way her brother-in-law was a very slow typer. This left me with the very firm impression that my sister and her family have absolutely no idea how long it takes to knit a scarf and believe one can be whipped up in an hour or two, rather than the more realistic couple of weeks. Some of us have day jobs after all!

Being a free woman who is no longer working on Christmas presents, I finally started knitting Dave his long awaited scarf.

It is taking a long, long time. As you can see, it's mostly moss stitch with a cross-hatch effect picked out across it. Done entirely in either knit or purl, the pattern is easy enough, but the 18 row repeat needs concentration which in my cold ridden state I don't seem to have and the 4mm needles mean each repeat is just a couple of inches, so progress is slow. Still Dave likes it, so there is a good chance he'll wear it when I finally get it done, so I shall continue to persevere.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we present... first socks!

2007-12-23T15:10:00.000Z

It has been a quiet few days here at Chez Lurgy, with the only healthy ones left standing being the cats. My guess is that I picked up a second virus (probably from my father who had a cold when we visited) while in Cornwall last weekend, which latched onto the wake of my original cold and rather knocked me for six.

Worse, Dave caught it as well, so both of us have been coughing, sniffing and shuffling around in a zombie like fashion. This has disrupted our plans over the past few days, since even venturing to the chemist at the end of the road proved to be exhausting. Even knitting was too much of an effort!

We were hoping to go to a carol service tonight, but I doubt either of us could get through one line without inducing a coughing fit... So we shall probably have to skip that as well.

It's not all doom and gloom though, as I did eventually muster enough energy to finish my socks...

So here we have my first socks, knitted from Web of Wool's basic sock pattern, with a few suggestions from the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Rules! thrown in. Her explanation on decreases and arranging the stitches on the needles so you have top and bottom stitches in the same place, helped a whole lot. The yarn is one of Regia's self striping 4-ply's, 75% wool/25% nylon.

I finally got there. I'm not sure the grafting or the decreases are the neatest, particularly on the second sock where I was struggling to breathe while working on the toe. It did serve as an excellent distraction from being miserable though!

And finally, Happy Christmas to anyone reading this and I hope you'll be joining myself and Dave in tracking Father Christmas as he makes his epic journey around the world tomorrow night.

And that's that for another year...

2007-12-19T17:58:00.000Z

I'm still full of lurgy and I don't think spending the past few days driving around Plymouth and Cornwall helped. I know that when we came to a halt on the M5 last night (due to an accident somewhere near Bromsgrove) I was relieved for a chance to blow my nose!

The ongoing problems with internal pressure build up in my sinuses aside, the trip wasn't too bad. There was one particularly hairy moment when we were returning from Bodmin to Plymouth late at night, only to find the A38 was closed. We had no choice but to head off across country, navigating tiny country lanes completely lacking in lighting or signage, driving to Dobwalls via Lostwitheil. The resulting journey being made even more exciting because of a bus which sat on my rear bumper, repeatedly flashing his lights at me because he'd decided I wasn't driving fast enough.

Credit goes to Dave for successfully navigating us across Cornwall, through a combination of creative map reading, guesswork and sheer handsome genius.

Other than that, the trip went pretty much as planned, with my schedule seeing us visiting family in Plymouth, Bodmin and Penzance. I've covered a lot of miles, delivered gifts, collected one or two of the same, found both the yarn shop (Knit Wits)and habberdashery (Buttons and Bows) in Penzance, worked my way through a box of tissues and knitted some sock.

As you can see from the picture, the first sock is done with its toe grafted shut. I've done my best to match up the stripes on its pair which is well on its way, with its heel turned just earlier today. My hope is to get it finished before Christmas!

Take two... or possibly three...

2007-12-13T13:32:00.000Z

I can confirm that I do indeed have a cold that is now in full swing and making life difficult. With an awful lot of work to get through this week, I've resorted to the Beechams and I'm relying on caffiene to keep me on my feet. With winter making itself felt, I decided to be sensible last night and stayed home rather than meeting up with my fellow knitters in the Town Crier. I'd have only sat there alternating between soggy mopping of my poor nose and frantic sneezing, neither of which would have made me very good company I fear.

So at home, I pushed on with the sock which is progressing well (again). I'm working on the decrease for the toe (where it all went horribly wrong last time) and looking forward to my attempt to graft the toe closed very soon. Grafting is reputed to be scary and so it will be interesting to see if I manage it OK.

I am not tempting fate once more by posting pics.

And finally (cos this is just a very quick update really)... Tomorrow marks an important blogging birthday, as it was the 14th December last year that I first wrote properly in this blog, my previous post having been a "Hello, what's this blogger thing then..." type afair. Doesn't time fly!

Alas...

2007-12-11T13:30:00.000Z

After a wet, cold and miserable weekend - today I've woken with what certainly feels like the beginning of a cold. At the moment I'm in the fuzzy headed and active sinus stage... I'm still being optimistic and hoping it will blow over; I far too much to do over the next week or so to be ill!

Friday I worked from home - much to the cats' delight - while I waited in for my new washing machine. I'm happy to be able to report it was delivered as expected, has been unpacked (which involved a lengthy search for mythical plastic bits supposedly underneath the machine but nowhere to be seen) and connected to the water supply and waste pipe. With an ongoing torrential downpour throughout the weekend, I gave it a test drive and it works a treat. The only downside was just how long these 'A' rated appliances take to complete an economy wash!

Saturday I headed down to Warwick, to hunt for some knitting needles in the Crafty Cottage. Sadly, Jo had a sale on which destroyed my wavering self control and I ended up buy some very nice Lousia Harding 'Grace Silk and Wool'. I stayed for a while, enjoying a cuppa, sheltering from the rain while working on my sock and looking through some books. Jo also passed on some antiquated crochet mags which a gentleman had given her which belonged to his late wife and were in search of a new home. I was also completely surprised to be given a Christmas present, completely bowled over really since it was genuinely unexpected. Thanks Jo!

The rest of the weekend was dedicated to wrapping the mountain of presents I need to haul down to the South West to give to our families. I even managed to persuade Dave to wrap a couple!

My other preoccupation over the weekend was my first sock. I posted a picture of the sock last week, but on Thursday (the day after the photo was put up), the sock met with an accident.

I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but I'd reached the toe so was decreasing when some stitches fell off the needle. I didn't spot them until I'd knitted around and then I tried to pick them up. No matter how I tried, I couldn't. They were right in the decrease area and all that happened was I kept splitting the yarn.

After struggling for 20 minutes to pick the stitches up, I decided to take a deep breath and remove the needles, rip back a few rows to before the decrease and then put the stitches back on the needles. What I hadn't counted on was how difficult it is to pick up a round of stitches at such a tight guage. To cut a long story short, I just couldn't get the stitches back onto the needles.

Later, after much silent cursing and hard staring with no progress and things just getting worse every time I tried to fix it... I gave up. I ripped the entire sock out.

Friday evening, I started again.

And now... I'm on the foot again, slowly approaching the toe. Fingers crossed that this time, I make it all the way to the end!

Awash with technical details

2007-12-06T14:22:00.001Z

For the early part of this week I've been mostly at a conference, listening to many, many presentations on Oracle whilst wearing my professional hat. It's been tiring, with long days where I've got up long before dawn, hiked to the nearest train station, suffered the indignity of public transport before hiking to Birmingham's Symphony Hall and Conference Centre where I've had my brain filled with all sorts of technical details. Then I get to repeat experience of public transport to get home somewhere after 8:30pm.

Of course, I should still be there but being absent from work for several days on the trot is tricky, especially since I'll be off on holiday after the end of next week. I have oodles of work to get on with and very few days in which to do it.

After a couple of days of commuting to Birmingham, I've remembered why I hate using public transport and why I would be reluctant to take a job where I had to spend over three hours every day getting there and back. I've also discovered that I've forgotten how to talk to sales people, which used to be something (in a previous incarnation) I had to do on a regular basis. I worked out early on that I should have sorted out business cards, after I wrote my name and contact details down for the third or forth time. And of course, I missed tea and email and access to the internet in general. I could have lugged a laptop along with me and we were wi-fi'd up, but... That would have meant carrying it all day and walking a good two miles through Coventry holding onto it. For the uninitiated, Coventry (while not completely awful) does have its share of criminal types, and a woman walking alone in the dark (be it 7am or 8pm) through poorly lit streets has to remember this.

Today, normal service resumes and I can start off by saying some with relief that I've finished knitting washcloths for this year. No pictures, since once you've seen one you've seen them all but there are some examples here if you really want to see. I'm not entirely sure how many I've made... I lost count somewhere along the way, but if there are not enough to go round then it's tough. I'm done.

On Sunday, the sun came out - albeit briefly - and so I dragged my favourite kitchen chair out onto the patio to take some photographs.

Here we have a Four Cable Scarf, based on the Double Cable Scarf from One Skein by Leigh Radford.

I initially cast on enough stitches for three cables rather than four, but after knitting up some eight inches or so, decided it wasn't wide enough and ripped the whole lot back. I started again with 52 stitches for four cables, incrementing by 12 stitches for each cable from the original 28 specified by the pattern. I also added a considerable amount of length by increasing the middle ribbing section so that the whole thing measures about 6ft.

The yarn is a standard superwash wool DK and in daylight a sort of pinky red which is very pretty as well as a strong colour.

I'm pleased with this one. It's my first go at cables and as someone who a year ago didn't know how to knit (other than in a vaguely recalled way) I think it marks my progress in eleven months somewhat.

Another indicator of how far I've come is this...

My first sock. Still on the needles and coming along well.

Fluffy and sparkly fun

2007-11-30T13:57:00.000Z

This week things seem to have been a bit frantic at work and I've been going home rather on the frazzled side, so it's with some relief that I note that this is the first weekend in ages that I don't have to be anywhere in particular. Oh I have errands and shopping to do and I'm popping over to Esther's, but I don't have to drive miles away, nor do I have to get up at the crack of dawn this weekend which I'm looking forward to immensely.

I've not made much progress on the washcloths this week due to the lack of knitting time, but I have turned the heel on my first ever sock! I'm now working on the decrease around the gusset before I start knitting down the foot towards the toe. I'm also beginning to wonder about this grafting thing and whether I should knit a couple of swatches and have a go before trying to graft the sock's toe.

I headed off to Knit-Wits on Wednesday where I got many admiring glances for the now finished cable scarf (more on that one later when I've managed to take some photo's) and the fun fur hybrid pictured here.

This scarf was improvised from scratch and knit with 25 stitches on 6mm needles. It is garter stitch all the way and worked with one strand of Marble (a DK yarn) held double with any one of a multitude of fun furs. All of the yarns are left over from other projects with only a couple of balls of each available, which wasn't enough to make a full scarf in any one of them. Hence the reason I thought I'd try stripes. It was an easy and fun knit, although I did spend nearly two weeks combing it when done, to fluff it up to my satisfaction.

When seen in person, this scarf shimmers and catches the light whilst having an air of fluffy luxury about it. It's soft, pretty, substantial and not at all scratchy; the consensus of opinion was that it was one I should maybe think about keeping. Not so, I'm afraid since it's intended as a gift for my teenage niece where I hope it will find a happy home.

Finally, the first part of my recent book order has arrived. Since I'm possessed of the desire to understand what I'm doing, I picked up Getting Started Knitting Socks. To round out the parcel, I've also got When Bad Things Happen to Good Knitters and The Yarn Harlot's Knitting Rules. These arrived late yesterday afternoon and I've not had a chance to do more than flick through them as yet, but what I did see looked promising. I just hope I find some time this weekend to do some reading...

Victorianna

2007-11-27T10:09:00.000Z

With Christmas looming ever closer with each passing day, I'm desperately trying to pull my finger out and finish off my seasonal knitting. For the most part, that means I'm currently churning out washcloths like a good 'un; something that Charlie approves of mightly since washcloths are small and therefore do not fill my lap, which of course leaves plenty of room for cat instead.

In between washcloths I've been slowly adding to my sock which is nearing the scary point where I start on the heel. The good news is that I slipped the sock off my needles and onto some cotton so I could try it on, which proved that cuff is nowhere near so small as I think it is. I did somehow manage to drop a stitch in the process though... But I have a keen eye and having watched Steelbreeze deliberately drop one of my stitches (to untwist one some rows back) and then pick it back up again, I did what she did... And lo! You'd never know I dropped it. The only thing I'm not happy with is my tension between the needles which is variable and shows when I cast my beady eye over the sock. But as this is my first sock, I'm kind of expecting this.

To break up the monotony of scarf knitting (which until this week was ongoing) I decided to crochet up this little bookmark.

Dave's comment when he saw it was that it's pure Victorianna... Now I'm not sure of the historical accuracy of that statement, but it is pretty and as effective a demonstration of lacework as I've seen.

The pattern came from here and this bookmark was crocheted pretty much as directed. The only things I changed was to use Crochet Cotton instead of Perle Cotton and as a consequence I went up a couple of hook sizes to 1.75mm. I starched and ironed the resulting lace to stiffen it and then added a tassle.

This was the first time I'd ever used spray on starch and I've got to say it was messy and very sticky. I used some scrap fabric as a pressing cloth and to protect both the iron and board, but it stuck to the iron like crazy which was alarming. Fortunately as a sewer, I knew better than to use steam at this point so I was able to peel it off again before anything scorched but it was a learning experience. Once done though, I've got to admit the starch and iron worked wonders to transform this little piece of lace into something quite special. I just hope it goes down well with it's intended recipient.

A day out and about

2007-11-26T14:28:00.001Z

Saturday morning saw us getting up early once more so we could drive up to Ripley for the Grand Opening at our friends' shop. The cats did not approve, especially Missy who knows a Saturday when she see's one and kept giving me reproachful looks as we woke ourselves up. We finally made it out the door at about 08:45 and after diverting briefly to Richard's arrived in the shop at a reasonable 10:30am.

The shop itself was bustling which was good, although it made finding somewhere to stand out of the way a bit difficult. In the end, I excused myself and explored Ripley for crafting opportunities. Right next door was a wool shop where I acquired more sock yarn, but around the corner was a craft shop. In both shops I found varigated cottons suitable for either braiding or crochet...

I'm not sure what I'm going to make from them yet, but they've been added to my perle cotton stash for later use.

In the afternoon, we visited Cromford Mill which while interesting was very much a work in progress as far as museum's go methinks. It was bitterly cold by then, so standing around admiring the remains of the mill wasn't much of an option while the main exhibition was housed in freezing cold room with no heating.

In the end we moved onto Scarthin Books where we were over whelmed by the number of tomes packed into every nook and cranny. Books were stacked everywhere, with shelves from floor to ceiling in every conceivable place. No landing, room or understairs space was neglected and sorting the books into any order appeared to be an optional concept here. Needless to say we spent a bemusing hour or so wandering around the many rooms which make up this bookshop with our senses just flooded with the bookiness of it all.

After a while, we did start to acclimatise and even spotted titles of interest, but in the end we decided not to buy anything and debunked to the little cafe for tea and cake. The cake was very nice, but they forgot to put the hot water in the teapot... We did wonder if this was a quaint custom local to Derbyshire. Suffice it to say we waited to see if a pot of hot water would arrive for a good ten minutes before asking and finally gaining the required additive.

The journey home was interesting as the salt and water spray from the road made keeping the windscreen clear near impossible. We were a happy pair when we finally got home.

Progress at last

2007-11-23T13:29:00.000Z

Today has started off on a positive note with my physio telling me we're done. I'm not 100% fit yet, not by a long way, but now it's down to me to continue the exercises for my leg and work gradually building stamina. I can walk. I can crouch. I can sit (provided I move about regularly). I can even manage stairs without wincing which has long been an ambition for me. Kneeling is still bad, but to be honest I don't think spending a lot of time on my knees is every going to be comfortable now. And if anyone expects me to look happy about kneeling on concrete, they're going to be sorely disappointed. Consider yourself warned!

The upshot of all this is no surgery, no more painful injections and no more regular torture sessions inflicted by the gentleman in question. As he said, he was happy to have made my weekend.

So ends eleven months of hard and painful work.

Continuing on this positive note I seem to be on the verge of finishing several needlecraft projects.

Currently I have...

A lace bookmark which needs the ends weaving in, a good ironing and starching and a tassel.
A cable scarf in need of blocking.
A fluffy, sparkly, fun fur hybrid scarf which is nearly fluffed to my satisfaction.

All of these are intended as Christmas presents so I'm pleased to see they're nearly done. I just need to motivate myself this weekend and I can declare them finished.

In the meantime, I've resumed making washcloths. I'm getting a bit bored of this pattern now, but again if I apply myself I can get the last few done in the next week or so. And then I really am free to work on what I want rather than trying to get things done to a deadline.

And what is on the horizon you may ask...

Well for a start I've started working on my first sock. There isn't much of it yet, but I have done a cuff and I'm slowly working down the leg and so far I've avoided jabbing the tiny little sticks into anything vital or breaking one of them. The knitting is so far unexciting (it is a basic sock, so a bit of rib at the top and stocking stitch the rest of the way) except for the odd accidental twisted stitch. The first of which Steelbreeze sorted out for me on Wednesday and the second one I spotted and corrected myself. I think I'm somehow having problems and twisting stitches when I switch between needles. But the dreaded 'ladders' between DPNs don't seem to have appeared so I'm happy with progress so far.

I've also promised to make Dave a scarf and the one we've decided is nice can be found here. I'm not sure how I'll cope with all of that moss stitch but I'm certainly willing to have a go. After all I have a lot of manly wool sitting behind the sofa which needs to be put to good use.

And there was snow...

2007-11-19T12:44:00.000Z

With Christmas looming ever closer, this weekend took it upon itself to remind me in as forceful a manner as it could that it is November and it is winter and we should be grown up about this and act accordingly. Foolish notions of running around in the woods should be cast aside in favour of indoor activities where there is heating or at the very least you are not being subjected to a continuous enslaught of rain and sleet.

Yes, this weekend I was walking around Shining Cliffs attempting to save the world as always in the last Ascendancy event of the year. Saturday was OK, cold but dry other than the occasional sleet shower. My feet were numb but I was well wrapped up and coped admirably, whilst watching in horror as one particular participant walked around the freezing woods in bare feet!!!

Sunday morning we awoke to wind, rain and sleet slamming into the windows, at which point a sensible reluctance to go outside took hold. Unfortunately, the other players didn't share that reluctance (possibly because they were in Birmingham and hadn't arrived on the scene so hadn't witnessed how bad it was) and so off we went to share in the madness.

Personally I was already cold by the time we'd stood waiting for the other players to arrive and my toes were lost to me... So I abandoned the car because it was better to walk back and forth in the sleet, because at least that way I could keep the circulation going. We finally got going but those of us of a non-combative nature hadn't a chance of staying warm out there.

I wasn't doing too badly since I was kitted out from head to foot in wool, but while wool is excellent at insulating you even when soaked through it does get incredibly heavy as it soaks up all that moisture. Queue aching shoulders and back as I trudged around after everyone else. The main problem though was my hands and feet, my boots were water proof but offered no insulation against the freezing ground while my leather gloves soaked up the rain like a chamois.

Suffice it to say there was no argument from me when it was finally suggested we retire to an indoor venue. In fact, had things gone on much longer mutiny was in the air as I was on the verge of asking Richard for the car keys and leaving them to it. The only thing stopping me was the thought of sitting in wet clothes in a freezing car for hours on end while the others carried on with the game.

The indoor venue was Andy and Heather's shop where there was tea and heat and a toilet (much needed after all that freezing cold sleet). I'm not sure what their customers thought of all these strangely dressed people descending on them, but at that point all I wanted was to be warm.

A short while after we'd retired indoors it began to snow.

Timing is everything and all I can say is hooray for being indoors at that point!

Anyhow, I survived. The journey home was interesting in a hair raising kind of way as I drove through the snow and was buffeted by wind all the way. I was very relieved to get home safe and sound and my first priority was a long soak in a hot bath.

Not the best weekend really, but the company was good (as always) which saved things some what. Now I'm just wondering what the weather will be like in January when I'm due to do it all again. Blankets and hot water bottles may well be a must!

A continuing theme

2007-11-12T17:52:00.000Z

This weekend, I continued the recent theme for shopping trips by visiting the Re-enactors Market on Saturday, and then Hobbycrafts/Crafts for Christmas at the NEC on Sunday.

Saturday's trip was I think, the first time I've been to a Re-enactors Market and not had a single thing that I needed to hunt down. With no new costume pieces currently planned and the majority of my Christmas presents sorted, I wandered up and down the aisles admiring things but not really wanting to part with my cash for anything on display. To put it mildly, I have loads of fabric already which is sitting around doing nothing so buying more so I could take just to add to the pile wasn't appealing.

However, overcome by the non-shopping trip I did pick up some handspun yarns from the Mulberry Dyers and a small quantity of pretty glass beads from Tillerman Beads (who I'd never seen there before). The beads will go into my stock and will end up embellishing something at some point, but the handspun I'm not sure what to do with. I picked up three packs, two in cobweb weight and the other in what looks like a two ply, no yardage listed and sold entirely by the number of grams in the pack. I suspect they'll make interesting lace, but with no idea of yardage I'm going to have to be very careful on my choice of pattern.

Other than that, we did of course bump into the odd (and I mean that in the nicest way) person or three and Dave was very glad to find his mate Doug (I swear he gets withdrawal symptoms if too long passes between them speaking) who it seemed had come along without his mobile phone.

Sunday it was an early start as we attempted to get to the Hobbycrafts show before some of the crowds. As it was, things weren't too bad. I remember occasions when they've closed the hall while they allow the crowd to thin and witnessed the crush that's led to the first aiders having to rescue people who've fainted. As usual, Hobbycrafts was a card maker's paradise with everything you could possibly want to make and decorate your own cards. I could tell that Richard (a first timer) was a bit overwhelmed by the sight of so much glitter.

I succumbed (can I blame steelbreeze?) and bought sock yarn from Web of Wool. Not just one ball of sock yarn, no... I bought enough for three (yes three!) pairs of socks. I also cast aside my dignity to crawl about in a pile of wool belonging to Black Sheep Wools searching for something manly enough for Dave. More later when I decide what I'm going to make with the olive green wool I eventually settled on, but all I can say is I hope Dave appreciates it!

I'm still working away on my four cable scarf at the moment, slowly crawling my way along the ribbed section in the middle... But I am fretting about those balls of sock wool and feeling vaguely guilty since I'm currently buying wool faster than I can hope to knit it up. I may well be casting on my first pair of socks in the very near future.

Look Ma! Cables!

2007-11-08T13:18:00.000Z

I started knitting another scarf at the weekend, intended to be a gentle introduction to knitting cables. I picked 'Double Cable Scarf' from One Skein since it has 3x3 cables at each end of the scarf, with a length of ribbing in between.

However, the pattern suffers from the not uncommon modern tendency to make scarfs skinny and not overly long, so as usual I intended to add both width and length. I started out on Saturday by casting on an additional 12 stitches to give me a third cable but after knitting up six inches or so (struggling with my cables the whole way) I decided it was still too narrow.

Sunday saw me start again, this time with another 12 stitches added (that's 52 stitches, rather than the recommended 28) and four cables. A couple of days on and I've finally cleared the cable section and I'm happily knitting a 2x2 rib with some slipped stitches at each end.

My verdict so far? Cabling isn't difficult, but it is fiddly. Keeping an even tension is also a bit hit and miss, at least for me on my first real attempt at this. I also need to keep my eye on the stitch pattern as my cables had a tendancy to wander off across the piece to some unshared route that wasn't written in front of me. No idea why... I swear my fingers seem to knit independently of my brain sometimes.

It is pretty and effective though, particularly in this colour and this yarn (one of Mercia Wools DK Superwash Wool range) which is well behaved, easy to knit with and shows up the pattern beautifully.

I'll motor on through the rest of the ribbing now and then cable in the other direction to finish the other end. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it by then, because I've promised to show my mother how to knit cables when I see her next month.

And talking about fiddly, last night I learnt how to knit in the round on DPNs with a view to learning how to knit socks. This tiny picture (the best I could do, it was dark and my camera wouldn't co-operate) shows a little, iddy biddy cuff, knit with four needles. The biggest problem was working around the needles which seem to go out of their way to be in the way. This little cuff is just 30 stitches knitted to about an inch long and took me a whole two hours to knit!

Although incredibly fiddly, it was fun and I think I'm going to have to have a go at a whole sock sometime soon.

Saturdays are for shopping it appears...

2007-11-03T18:24:00.000Z

Today I headed into town to continue my Christmas shopping and I'm fairly pleased with myself now, since having dedicated myself to the task for the past three weeks I think I may be nearly done. Dave of course does not get included in this round up since I'll buy his pressies in the week before Christmas. Next weekend is the re-enactors market and Crafts for Christmas at the NEC... So I suspect I'll pick of a few last things there and I'll be done, save for the babies who'll need the usual special trip.

While I was in town, I found a lawn version of Tic-Tac-Toe which is made up of nine 30cm interlocking foam squares. Dave looked at them and saw possibilities for scenery boards, but what I saw was a temporary blocking surface was was fully customisable, waterproof and pinnable. I bought a set and I shall have to try them out later this weekend, if they work I may have to acquire a second set so I can block really big things like shawls.

I also popped into Busy Fingers to drop off a new poster for Knit-Wits with the details of our new venue. It was a flying visit initially as the lady behind the counter was desperately trying to explain to a customer that she couldn't sell her a single knitting needle. Said customer didn't seem to be able to grasp that needles come in pairs and if the shop split the pair, they'd never be able to sell on the remaining needle.

Anyway, I dropped by again a couple of hours later when my shopping was done and the poster was up in the door, so mission accomplished on my part. I spoke to the manager and he was curious about why we'd moved (I explained that the Town Crier is much bigger than Liquid which we'd outgrown) and asked after Steelbreeze who he said he hadn't seen in a while. I also complimented him on his own spun wool (sold under the Mercia Wools label) which saw him suitably pleased.

I also picked up some more yarn... Some sock wool for after Wednesday's sock knitting workshop and some more Paton's Chunky Parade which they've got on sale at the moment. I'm going to see if I've got some 4ply cotton for this weeks workshop, but I'm hoping to have a go at socks proper very soon.

On the not so good news front... I think my washing machine is soon going to go to the great washing machine retirement home. It's an elderly model and has served me well, with multiple repairs over the years but this time I think the problem is not one that's going to be easily fixed. In brief, we've had less than effective cleaning from it of late, it occasionally eats clothes in spectacular style and has developed this bad habit of refusing to give us our laundry back at the end of its cycle. Todays argument where it only released the laundry after it was pulled out of its cubby hole and threatened with a screwdriver is perhaps a sign that it really is time to buy a new one. It is just a matter of time now before its replacement with a newer and more energy efficient model.

Tired...

2007-11-02T14:50:00.000Z

After the clocks went back last weekend, I'm still trying to adjust and reeling from the sudden encroachment of dark nights. Consequently, I've been fighting off exhaustion all week so I certainly hope that I manage to settle back into some sort of routine this weekend.

This week I headed down to Warwick on Monday for a knitting group at the Crafty Cottage in addition to my usual Knit-Wit's session on Wednesday. It was good to see some new faces there, showing that Jo's shop is becoming known and word is slowly spreading. The only problem with driving to Warwick after work is of course that I don't get there until approaching 6:30pm and have to head home shortly after 7:30pm since I need my dinner. A hungry Julie is not good company, although fortunately if you feed me I will return to my normal aimable self.

While I was there (in Warwick that is) I picked up some DPNs in readiness for my introduction to socks this coming week. Steelbreeze will be running a workshop and I shall report on my progress (or lack of it... the thought of all those needles is scary) in due course.

In other news, the Coventry group (Knit-Wits) that I go to on Wednesdays changed venue this week as we had our first meeting in the Town Crier. This pub is a short walk from the previous venue, considerably bigger, well lit and full of alcoves - one of which we took over. It is also a lot cheaper drinkwise and does proper pub food, which certainly smelled nice. Also, it had no TV and the music was non-offensive and not at all deafening. We could have actual conversations and everything... So far looking good and a win methinks.

And by way of an addendum

2007-10-30T13:12:00.001Z

Yesterday, Blogger seemed to be having issues with photographs so I ended up cutting my post short. Today, with the miracles of modern technology in full swing I proudly present a manly scarf...

This was simple enough to make up and is crocheted DC (or SC if reading American) in the backloop throughout. I kept going until it was six inches wide and then added a simple fringe, giving the results shown. Dave likes it (he is not the intended recipient) so I'm taking that as a good sign. Not the most exciting thing to crochet though, so I don't intend to make another one of these in a hurry.

On the subject of Dave, take a look at this...

It's a sandwich board (if you can call a non-blow-overable-flexi-board a sandwich board) from outside Andy and Heather's shop up in Ripley. It's the only photo I took on Saturday (I know, I should love the Orks more) and I'm posting it to point out the logo, which was designed by Dave. It's called an ambigram or an inversion and reads the same upside down as right way up - pretty nifty huh?

ETA -
And on a crochet related subject, while I was in Ripley, Frizbe and I headed off to her house (leaving the boys to play) where I took her through the rudiments of crochet. She pretty much got it too, just needs some practice and to relax a little while holding her hook. Time will tell I guess as to whether I've corrupted her sufficiently... Time and whether she starts hiding yarn around the house!

(As always, click on the images to see bigger versions)

Something in the air...

2007-10-29T13:27:00.001Z

Monday morning rolled around again (as they're in the habit of doing) and today my body clock is all over the place due to the end of British Summer Time. As the clocks go back and the dark nights are heralded in by fireworks, so we are officially ushered into winter. I'm not the only one finding the changed time difficult to adjust to; both cats were convinced today must be a 'Saturday' and were very disgruntled to realise I had to go to work.

The weekend was a good one, if busy, tiring and expensive as I made some serious inroads into my Christmas shopping.

Saturday saw us driving up to Ripley, where Andy and Frizbe have just opened their new comics and games shop 'Chimera'. Naturally, I picked up a few presents while I was there, while Dave and Richard (who were equipped with Orks and Eldar respectively) settled down to do battle for supremacy of the table top. I forgot to take any pictures (Dave was upset by this, he said I should have photographed his Orks) until after the shop was closed but there are photographs here for anyone who wishes to see.

Sunday, we drove to the Warwick Exhibition Centre for the Living History Fayre. This one isn't as busy as Anne Laverick's Re-enactors Market but had a good range of stalls, so naturally I bought yet more Christmas presents.

I also bought myself two more lucets... I shouldn't have, not really but in my defence sometimes I have a braid on the prongs and I'd like to start another, so... I need more than one lucet. Don't I?

I did however, bravely walk away from spun (undyed) silk... And wool... And linen. And I didn't buy so much as a single meter of fabric, all of which means there is hope for me yet.

Weekend round up

2007-10-21T16:41:00.001+01:00

The weekend is nearly over and it seems to have been a busy one. The focus for yesterday was Christmas shopping for our huge clan. We tend to drive down to Devon and Cornwall a week or so before the big event itself and do the grand tour, which has the positive benefit of allowing us to have a quiet relaxing Christmas with just the two of us. The downside is that we have to be super organised, with all pressies bought and wrapped long before the holidays themselves.

With this duly in mind, I dragged Dave into Coventry where we made a good start on my extensive list and scoped out several shops for intended purchases.

This year of course, I intend to suppliment my bought purchases with hand made items fresh off my own needles or hooks, but nonetheless, I returned several hours later laden down with bags which don't really seem to amount to very much at all.

While I was wandering around town, I stuck my head into Waterstones to browse their pitiful selection of craft books, where I spotted this. I promptly bought it, probably because I was overcome with shock that there was something on the shelves that interested me!

Back home, arms several inches longer and Dave reluctantly kitted out in new slippers, I set about blocking the lace scarf I've just finished. And here it is...

This is knitted up from the Razor Shell Lace Scarf pattern, taken from One Skein Wonders. The yarn is Paton's Studio Mohair which was very soft and pleasant to work, once I'd stopped making so many mistakes and was no longer trying to rip it out every few days. The pattern is actually quite easy and knits up relatively quickly, but took me a while to do because of my novice status when it comes to lace stitches. All in all, I'm happy with the results and may make another one at some point.

Finally, some gratuitous cat pictures.

This time of year is end of season for us campers and so it is time to properly air the tents and put them away. Dave was initially amused and then put out to discover he had a helper in the struggle to defeat the green monstrousity...

In the end, he had to clap his hands loudly and bang things in a noisy fashion to chase Charlie off, otherwise we may have ended up with holes as the daft animal tried to kill the canvas.

(Click on the images above to see bigger versions...)

Tis the season to be knitting...

2007-10-19T13:12:00.000+01:00

I do believe it's Friday at last, although this week seems to have practically flown by! I was straight back to work on Monday morning after a great Strangehaven event and it now seems to be ages ago, not just a few days. For those who are interested, some pictures have gone up from the September event and last weekend.

Winter seems to have arrived in Coventry, with the mild weather of last week replaced with a distinctive chill. The heating was switched on a couple of days ago and even the cats are starting to favour indoors. Missy is of course hanging on in there as a stalwart fan of outdoors, no matter how cold or wet she gets, but even she is showing signs of weakening.

My birthday came and went... And that was about it really. No big celebration or eat out this year and due to the postal strikes, no cards (other than a few hand delivered ones - thanks guys, you know who you are) so it didn't even really feel like my birthday. Instead I went to work, collected the cats, had a long soak in tub and did some crochet.

I started on a new crochet scarf because I've finally finished the lace one I was working on. No completed photo's yet because I want to have a go at blocking it this weekend, however I took it along to Coventry Knit-Wits on Wednesday where it was subjected to some professional fondling, along with 'ooohs' and 'aaaahs' so I think it came out OK.

The new crochet scarf however isn't quite so attractive or likely to draw appreciative noises. It is a simple DC in the back loop job, with row after boring row slowly building up to a band of yucky green with blue and orange flecks.

Manly is how I'm describing it and Dave quite likes it. He says it's non-offensive and yes, he'd wear it, which is how I guage these things. An intended Christmas present, it is going quite well and is now approaching two inches wide, so hopefully I'll get it done soon before I get so bored I can't pick it up any more.

In the meantime, as this scarf isn't really captivating me I've finished another two washcloths, started a third and started this...

Another experiment and destined for Christmas, this is left over yarn from the Spike Stitch Scarf and some novelty yarns passed in my direction by Steelbreeze at our last destash night. Pretty is how I'm describing this one and combined with a nice DK yarn the novelty fur is behaving itself. I may even buy some more!

(As always click on the images to see bigger versions)

Today I am feeling old

2007-10-15T13:56:00.000+01:00

Or rather today is my birthday, not that we're really doing anything to celebrate. I spent the weekend running a LRP event and having had to come into work this morning, my intentions for tonight involve a long soak in the tub and possibly a takeaway (by way of a birthday treat).

The weekend was a good one and (in my view at least) a great end to the events I've written this year. Three Days to Yesterday was as the name suggests (I hope) a bit odd and we had high fantasy meets sci-fi as aliens dropped by to help save the world...

I'm the one in the middle, looking decidely green and waving my scanning wand at the camera. Don't we look impressive?

This one was a test of endurance for me as I spent many hours under that mask and sporting a nice healthy green tan on the bits of me that would show. Green face paint it seems is tenacious stuff which likes to hang around and resist all efforts to remove it, but I'm happy to report I'm almost free of the stuff now... Except for my fingernails which are stubbornly retaining a nice shade of green today.

Suffice it to say that much fun was had by all. The plot went down well with the players who were remarkably on the ball throughout. I was very impressed at how well we (as the aforementioned aliens) managed to communicate with broken english consisting of less than 100 words, hissing, clicking and mime! The players seemed to have fun and hung around going over little moments they particularly liked long after timeout and debrief, which is always a good sign. So as far as I'm concerned it was a good end to this year's Strangehaven campaign and very happy with how it went.

I've got just one more LRP event left this year now and then roll on next year.

(As always click on images to see a larger version)

I'm on Ravelry at last!

2007-10-11T14:24:00.000+01:00

I arrived at late to work yesterday after the usual grueling visit with my physio and a nightmare parking situation at work (there are many reasons why I hate this time of year) to find my long awaited Ravelry invite sitting in my mailbox. It cheered me up no end, the only downside being that I had to wait a while before accepting it.

Needless to say, yesterday's lunch hour was spent poking around the site, discovering how to upload an avatar, exploring the forums, joining a couple of groups and adding a few things to my project list. The fact that I managed to get all that done in such a short time shows just how intuitive the site is to use.

I've not had much time to look at the site but what I have seen I like. In particular, I like the pattern to project integration, which allows me to see examples of the pattern I'm either considering or I'm currently working on, knitted up by other members. Since I substitute yarns other than those listed in the patterns, that could be very helpful.

My one gripe has to be Flickr (which is horribly primitive compared to PhotoBucket or PicasaWeb) which has been integrated in as the preferred photo host, but it looks like there are plans afoot to allow other photo hosts in the future so I can live with it... Besides, in the intervening time perhaps Flickr will grow on me?

Generally though, a big thumbs up and hurrah!

Oooh, shinies...

2007-10-08T10:33:00.000+01:00

As an addendum to my last post and of possible interest to me at least, I've just popped across to Artesano's website to check out the details on the Alpaca wool I bought on Saturday. Naturally, I browsed around their site a bit and wandered into the section on Britanny needles...

It seems they have a special offer on where if send them 10 ball bands, they'll send you a set of Britanny needles or a crochet hook of your choice. Is this a valid excuse to buy more yarn I wonder?

A new yarn shop opened today

2007-10-06T17:33:00.000+01:00

Today I headed off to Warwick where Jo from the Coventry knitting group (Knitwits) opened her new yarn and crafts shop or The Crafty Cottage.

And of course, here is the proud new shop owner, Jo herself...

I dragged poor Dave along, where he tolerantly drank coffee and talked decor before hurrying off to visit Warwick's shops, leaving me alone with wool. I'm not entirely sure this was a good strategy on his part, but perhaps he's preparing his defence for when Andy and Heather open their new shop in a few weeks or so!

I met up with the usual suspects from the knitting group, ate cake, drank tea, discussed Bob Marley and spent a long time browsing the many yarns on offer...

I think I was a bit overwhelmed with such a wide choice of very nice yarns and I carefully steered myself away from the Seasilk (a sort of silk and seaweed derived mix which was very pretty and soft to boot) and numerous other luxury end yarns, before settling on some blue/grey Alpaca.

I'm intending to turn it into a scarf - of course - but one for me, rather than for anyone else, which will be a first.

I also picked up some more cotton to feed my ongoing addiction to washcloths.

Otherwise, I behaved... Honest. Of course, I may well have to go back that way sometime...

In other news, today is Saturday and I've survived the first week of term! Hurrah!

Warning - washcloths are highly addictive!

2007-10-04T12:34:00.000+01:00

Last night, it being a Wednesday I made an effort to get out of work close to on time so I could head out to Coventry's Knit-Wit's group. It seemed I was being thwarted in my efforts to get out the door last night as I was popular on the telephone. First it was my bank, phoning from Plymouth to tell me I have too much money. Yes, apparently I have not been spending enough of late and obviously I need to buy more fabric, yarn and habberdashery...

Engaging as it was to hear another Plymouthian accent and to have the lady on the phone tell me all about the latest gossip from the city of my birth (this girl was very chatty and nice, so telling her to go away was difficult in the extreme) I eventually managed to hang up some twenty minutes later.

Two minutes after I hung up the car dealership where I bought my car called to ask... "Do you still have your Focus?"... Followed by "Do you want a new one?"... My terse reply of "Not right now." was met with a cheery "That's alright. Bye for now." before the salesman hung up. I suppose I should be grateful that he didn't give me the hard sell!

Eventually I escaped to Liquid having warned Dave that I may be back in half an hour. Last night was the Machine Knitting Workshop, which was being hosted at one of our member's flat so I was expecting a low turnout at our usual venue. My plan was to drop by, order one drink and if no one else had shown up by 7:30 or so, I'd go home again.

Anyhow in I rolled to find one other knitter in the corner reading a pattern book and sipping a Coke, having arrived with pretty much the same idea. As it was, it was fortunate that we had both turned up as a new member turned up who we did our best to welcome and reassure that there were normally more of us. Hopefully she'll be back next week when she'll be able to meet every one else.

Last night I was working on yet another washcloth...

And with only two ladies for company, it was suggested that possibly I'm addicted to knitting the things since I do have quite a few now...

Pictured are three finished, but yet to be blocked cotton washcloths along with two unfinished ones lacking their crochet borders. This is my current favourite 'no thinking required' item to knit and I think one of the reasons I like them so much is because of how quickly they make up. I can whip one of these up in a few nights which is quite a pleasant change to the average scarf which I'll labour over for four weeks or so.

This is my current scarf, the fabled scalloped shell lace mohair one that I've ripped out at least four times now and is finally reaching a reasonable size.

I know it doesn't look particularly lacey but it has holes in it, intentional holes at that... And increases and decreases which change the direction of the stitches giving them a textured look as well as creating that wavy edge. I'm pleased with the way it is finally coming together now that I've finally settled down into the pattern and making some headway.

In related news, having had a near disaster this morning with coffee I can also attest to the amazing water (or coffee) repelling qualities of mohair. Liquid splashed onto the ball just sits there allowing it to be dabbed off the surface with a minimum of fuss and no residue left at all. Result!

(As always, click on the images to see bigger versions.)

Some all important updates

2007-10-02T10:36:00.000+01:00

Let's start with a Ravelry update where I see I've crept up to 4920th on the list for an account... Which means I may get my invite in about a week and a half... By the fact that I'm checking my place in the list on a daily basis, I suspect I'm getting impatient to take a look.

I also ordered and received my first ever order from Angel Yarns, breaking down and buying yarns at full price.

Normally, I'm what I'd call a bargain bin knitter. That is, I vist yarn stores or Hobbycraft and look for whatever is end of line, picking up all sorts of bargains such as the cotton which went into the plum coloured sweetpea shawl, where I paid just 99p per 50g. Normally, this is a fine way to boost my stash without breaking the bank, but the downside is that you have to rely on what is left unsold and can't always find exactly what you're after.

Now just recently, I've started to flirt with lace knitting with my efforts so far having mixed results. I've decided that I need to scale back and take baby steps with simpler patterns and possibly using well behaved yarn rather than 'sticky' mohair. Which is why I bought some of Tess Dawson's own range of 4ply Merino, which I can report is very soft and pretty. Dave liked the little packet of Lovehearts tucked into the packaging which he said were very tasty but could have been bigger.

In other news, last weekend was a Shards event which saw me camping at Candleston in South Wales where it was cold of the brain sapping variety. We also had rain, although not too bad and when it came it was actually quite welcome (to me at least) as it raised the temperature slightly. It was also the last Shards event, ever - not counting the Bloodlines event in November or Strangehaven in two weeks, since they're sub campaigns really.

Not to worry though, the campaign hasn't stopped it's just been renamed to reflect the fact that there are no longer any shards as such, since they were all long ago fused into a single world. So next year, I'll be playing Ascendancy... Once I've digested the dates, compared them to my diary, talked to work and booked the cattery.

Those who are interested, take a look at the website which has been pulled together mostly by Richard. My bit was the forums, which I've spent the past few weeks wrestling with.

Running so fast...

2007-09-25T13:53:00.000+01:00

With another week having passed in a whirlwind of business on the work front, I'm struggling to think what I've actually achieved - or of anything much worth writing about for that matter. It seems that I'm permanently thinking about work or forums and websites, with very little time in between for doing or thinking about anything else.

The weeekend just gone started well enough, with a lock-in at Lush in Coventry's lower precinct. I'd been invited by Esther and as a Lush virgin, who'd never had a reason to set foot inside the store before I headed off intending to be virtuous and pure, resisting the lure of cosmetics. Sadly, at heart I'm as girly as the next woman and so I headed home again a few hours later with my bag full of purchases and 'smelling of soap' (as Dave said when I came in). Fortunately though this did mean I was armed with multiple types of luxury bath products and so was able to relax and de-stress Saturday evening in a pool of bubbly and very pink goodness.

I'm sad to say that I spent the majority of the weekend chained to a computer, struggling with forums as I kept my promise to help set up a website. More on the details once it's released and available to the public, but I now know more about PHP, CSS and HTML than I did before. I've also become reacquainted with the fickleness of open source developed software, lack of documentation and the hit and miss approach to whether such software will work or not.

For breaks in the logic nightmare I continued to tackle my lace knitting.

Now, this may not have been the best strategy to relax but at least it gave me a new frustration which sent me back to the keyboard with nenewed optimism that nothing could be as fiddly as lace!

As previously reported I've abandonned the Ziggy scarf for now; the complexities of YO,YO were just too much for me. Instead I'm working on a 'Shell Lace Scarf' from One Skein Wonders which is actually quite an easy pattern in comparison. My problem is concentration rather than the ability to knit or following the instructions. I keep loosing track of whether I'm in a pattern row or a knit row. And when I am in the latter, my fingers insist on thinking I'm in a pattern row and if I don't keep an eye on them, they start knitting of their own accord.

Due to my naughty fingers, I must have ripped out at least three foot of scarf by now! As I type, the scarf is finally approaching two foot in length and I mourn those missing three feet because if I'd have left them in place I'd be nearly done by now!

No pictures as of yet because I haven't had time to take any...

And finally, a link to the BBC news site and an article that caught my eye.

And really finally, it appears I am 8827th in the list for my Ravelry invite which is an improvement on the 12000 or so position I was at last week. I keep checking in there once every few days and it seems I get a couple of hundred places closer to being invited on each time I look. One day soon I may be able to see what all the fuss is about!

Of tents and men

2007-09-17T13:51:00.000+01:00

This weekend just gone was a busy one. Not that I did anything terribly exciting - I didn't really have time.

Saturday morning was spent doing essential domestic things like cleaning the bathroom and kitchen before something nasty could move in. The rest of the weekend was spent becoming familiar with the intricacies of phpBB, glowering at lace or wrestling with tents.

Lace and phpBB will undoubtedly get revisited, but for now the topic of choice is that of tents.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a new tent to replace my good old faithful blue and red tent that I use when camping without Dave. I chose the Vango V500 and picked one up from Go Outdoors. Sadly, the first one I picked up was missing a toggle on one of the window covers so I took it back for an exchange which they willing did because I not only swapped it for a replacement I also bought a second one for Richard.

Not wanting to leave it until arriving on site to discover something more vital than a toggle was missing, I decided a test pitch was necessary. And being helpful, I volunteered to test pitch the one I picked up for Richard at the same time.

Cue a good two hours of fun on Saturday afternoon and another hour or so on Sunday morning as Dave and I unpacked, pitched, collapsed and repacked two tents. Our efforts were of course carefully monitored and at times aided by our feline companions, with Charlie being particularly keen to oversee the operation.

As you can see the tent is a good size and practically fills our lawn.

Sunday's efforts were much more efficient than Saturday's with the tent going up in under half an hour. It was fairly easy, but definitely a two man job as you need quite a bit of tension on the poles to get them hooked onto the pointy thing (a technical term for the pin on the straps) but no where near so bad as my big green tent.

Dave was quick to volunteer to check the inside of the tents for size which as you can see is quite roomy. Dave's final verdict being that he could happily see himself camping in one of them.

Time to wheel out the goats

2007-09-13T13:03:00.000+01:00

You know its been a bad week when you're sitting in a meeting giving a progress update when the suggestion comes up (jokingly I assure you) that perhaps we should take a leaf out of Nepal Airlines book when it comes to dealing with ongoing and as yet undiagnosed problems. However, we all agreed to a far more British offering of a nice cup of tea and a scone rather than involving livestock in any way. Of course, that would mean going against the rules banning all food and beverages from the machine rooms which is why it was said in jest...

Moving swiftly on before this post degenerates into a work based whinge, things have not been going too well on the lace front either. I have temporarily given up on the Ziggy scarf after spectacularly failing to make it past row two of the pattern on a repeated basis. Even my little sixteen stitch swatch to try to get my head and fingers around it refused to behave... I ask you "SSK, YO, YO, SSK", it doesn't look particularly frightening does it? But followed up with a purl row, and I'm getting nothing but a mess with inconsistent numbers of stitches every time. After Steelbreeze told me I'd picked a hard pattern and sitting there for two hours last night trying to get my head around it, I became despondent so I've decided to put Ziggy aside and knit something else. Only now I'm going to have to find something else.

On the good news front, I finished the wobbly lined scarf a week or so ago now. I've refrained from posting about it because it was intended as a present for someone who may have found his way onto this blog. However, now that it has been handed over and duly admired, I can show it here with impunity.

The scarf is in blue DK weight merino wool, loosely based on this pattern. I added some stitches since I tend to steer away from skinny scarves and increased the lenght, until blocked this one measured in at 7ft 6in. The recipient is very tall and had repeatedly told me that he can't find scarves long enough for his liking as most of them are a measly 60 inches (5ft). The first thing he commented on was how long the scarf was followed by he liked it and judging by the grin on his face and the immediate modelling of the scarf, I think it was a genuine hit.

And finally...

Some pictures of the supervising crew in charge of the photography featured in this post...

Charlie decided it was all too much like hard work and had a little snooze, while Missy took over and supervised closely.

A weekend of Pot Watching

2007-09-11T17:30:00.000+01:00

Well, it's September and the month is off to a fine old start, showing all the signs of being as hectic as it always is. Today may only be Tuesday but I'm already embroiled in a few crises in potentia, which seem to be picking up political undertones. I remember the far off days of old when if you saw something was broken, you fixed it and that was that. These days... These days I have to justify every I do and even if a fix is urgently needed or horrible bad things will happen, I face something of an Inquisition.

Still I refuse to have my good mood broken and I'm still basking in the success of the Strangehaven event at the weekend.

Friday I set off for York, braving the M1 to collect Richard by which time it was evident that this particular motorway was not the place to be. After sitting in stop/start traffic all the way from Coventry (J21) to South Normington (J28) and then waiting in a queue to get back onto the motorway after collecting Richard, we made the decision to go cross country, shunning the M1 for A roads. This added probably an hour or so onto our journey time, but since we'd have spent at least that sitting in traffic queues had we stuck with the motorway, I don't think its a bad tradeoff. As it was, we arrived at 7pm and once we'd got settled and briefed the crew, we got stuck in.

The plot this weekend involved the NPC I was playing being kidnapped and brutally beaten before she made good her escape, so it was time to apply the bruise makeup.

I also got to react to my NPC's father dying and even wore some armour although I must hasten to add that the armour was worn by a different NPC to the one who was beaten up.

Me aside, we had set pieces, managed to get some combat in, choosing small skirmishes with lots of sneaking to take the nature of the site into account. The set pieces were fantastic (and boy do I wish I had photo's) and I raided Dave's supply of masks so everyone got to look the part. We managed the tension nicely and the plot happily buzzed along the mood shifting from jovial to sinister and eventually horror as planned. All in all, it worked well and compared with the first game felt a lot easier as it played out. I'm just hoping the players enjoyed themselves as much as they seemed to.

With lots of plot to cram in, we finished a bit later than anticipated on Sunday afternoon but packed in a speedy fashion. By the time we were done though, a cuppa was needed so we stopped for a little while in the cafe before setting off. Thankfully, the roads were much better on the way back and apart from being horrified by the antics of some drivers with fat exhausts, the drive home was uneventful. Even so, by the time I'd dropped Richard off and set off for Coventry, it was gone eight by the time I got home.

As always, click on the pictures to see bigger versions...

Lessons in lace

2007-09-07T10:24:00.000+01:00

Last night I decided to have a go at starting the Ziggy scarf and full of optimism I got out a ball of mohair, some needles and the pattern. I wish I could say I made lots of progress, but after three failed attempts with the mohair and one failed attempt with cotton I'm going to have to admit I couldn't even get past the first row of the lace pattern.

But, all is not lost I am learning from the experience and I've picked up several gems of knowledge from those failed run throughs.

First up, Steelbreeze is right... It takes a lot of concentration to knit a lace pattern, even a really simple one like this. It is shockingly easy to make a mistake as the instructions for each row are very complicated and read like some sort of intricate encrypted code. Watching television is not doable. Holding a conversation is not doable. And having an insistant cat trying to get you to tickle his belly, steal your pattern or eat your wool is not at all helpful.

Second up, mohair is near impossible to rip out (or frog if you prefer). It sticks to itself like mad and subsequently tangles the instant you try to rip it back. It is also very delicate and prone to breaking with very little effort, so once tangled or knotted it is doomed. I went through three attempts at knitting this, ripping it out and starting again before putting the mohair away and reaching for some simple dishcloth cotton.

Third, swatch. Try out the pattern on something simple, cheap and easily ripped out - such as dishcloth cotton. Make sure you can understand the pattern, know what all the stiches are and have practiced them before going near your yarn of choice.

Fourth, use stitch markers. Trying to keep track of where you are on the row and is hard enough, so put something on your needles to help. The best method of using them I'm not sure of yet, since I'm still experimenting but the row where I used them was the closest I came to a good row.

And finally, count your stitches. I can't emphasise this enough. Every single row I tried, I lost stitches and then spent a good ten minutes staring at the row I'd just knitted trying to work out where they'd gone.

Which about sums things up. As things stand I need to rip out everything I've done, take a deep breath and start again... Perhaps perseverance and patience should be on the above list of lessons learnt?

Going round in circles

2007-09-05T13:53:00.000+01:00

I do believe it is Wednesday once more and this week has seen me back at work. The knock on effect of this, is of course that I am absolutely shattered since I got back and hit the ground running as it were; September and October being horrible months if you work for IT at a University.

I've been too tired to really achieve much in the evenings this week, but I've started crocheting a bag which I hope turns out OK. So far, I've made the bottom which is crocheted in the round and is a good size as I've taken it out to about 25cm before stopping the increase.

What can I say? I hate small bags that are bursting at the seams before you've put anything more than the most basic of essentials in them.

Next up, I need to crochet the sides, which just means doing round after round until it's big enough.

This is a bit of an experiment really, as I've never really tried to crochet anything other than blankets, squares and the occasional hat or scarf. I'm using a basic DK acrylic yarn, but intend to work in random stripes to add interest, so should end up with a multicoloured cylinder. I'll work a shoulder strap across that and then maybe edge the whole lot to reinforce it before finding a suitable lining.

I've also castoff the blue wobbly lined scarf I was working on, which ended up 7ft (210cm) long but increased by a further 18cm (7 inches) once I'd blocked it, with a nice even width of 20cm.

Note the mixing of imperial and decimal unit measurements here. I'm afraid I do this all the time, switching between the two without really thinking about it. I do take serious pains when noting a person's measurements to keep them all in one unit, usually opting for centimeters and writing down which I've used. I blame my parents and grandparents. Using decimal at school but imperial at home, means you end up using them interchangeably and causing much confusion.

But back to the subject in hand. The scarf is done and at some point I will post some pictures here once I've uploaded them from the camera.

I've also decided on my next project, which is of course a scarf - namely Ziggy from Magknits. It looks to me to be a fairly gentle introduction to lace knitting without the super skinny yarn and quite a simple selection of stitches. I have some Mohair at home which I think will do this quite nicely and Charlie has given my choice his seal of approval... Apparently, Charlie likes the taste of goat!

Broken tentage

2007-09-01T13:43:00.000+01:00

The past few days have flown by, as they always do when I have a few days off work. Mostly I've been slowly recovering from my holiday, thrown in with a few necessary errands.

While we were away the door zip on our canvas bell tent gave up the ghost. It's always been a bit tempermental, but after the heavy rain of the first weekend and the resulting dramatic shrinking of the canvas, it went from slightly dodgy to near unusable. Hence the tent is going to need a bit of attention before it gets used again.

Now, anyone who's ever priced up a real cotton canvas tent will know they are darned expensive and not at all of the disposable variety. Which is the reason why I intend to replace the zip with dutch lacing.

A trip out to Jackson's of Old Arley later and I have big eyelets all ready to fit. A rummage through my stash produced lightweight canvas which should do the trick for re-enforcing the door flap, making canvas tape loops and an underflap. I'm currently thinking I need to add a couple of inches to the flap so that the loops sit behind the eyelets when the tent door is closed and I'm veering towards tape loops since I think the resulting fastening will be more stable. Input from those who know about such things is of course welcome.

Also on the tent front, my modern dome is also on its last legs. The last time it was used, during the deluge that saw huge parts of the Midlands under water, Richard pointed out the poles have split again. After careful inspection, it looks like all of the poles have hairline fractures, plus the inner tent's ground sheet is wearing very thin across a wide area. The tent goes up inner first which makes it less than ideal in rain and since I've already replaced pole segments twice I think the time has come to buy a new one.

The dilemma here is of course, do I buy now at the end of season or wait until next year?

I have seen a tent I like at Go Outdoors, so now I'm deliberating on whether to go buy it or not. The price is OK and the discount reasonable, but not mind blowing... However, judging by how few tents were available at Old Arley if I leave it for much longer there may not be any tents to buy until the beginning of the year.

All of which means I may need to go back and buy it...

And back to the real world

2007-08-29T12:45:00.000+01:00

I think today is Wednesday. That is, blogger is telling me it is Wednesday and my diary agrees, so it must be Wednesday but my poor body clock has lost all sense of time. It's an even worse shock to realise that August is very nearly over and we're almost in September!

The reason for this loss of time and complete disassociation with the calendar as accepted by the rest of the world is of course having not long returned from being cacooned from reality in Candleston campsite and eleven days of Shards.

Once we'd got past the first weekend, the weather cleared and was fine, which cheered us all up enormously. We were camping in our usual luxurious and prepared fashion, so the rain didn't hamper us too much, but had it continued throughout the full eleven days it would have dampened our spirits somewhat.

As it was, a good time was had by all, with the first two segments being particularly excellent - from my viewpoint at least. The last few days were a bit slow, mostly due to the nature of the plot and the focus on the tribal types, which made it difficult to get involved.

I took some knitting with me and completed two washcloths, with another half done. They're great for picking up and putting down, so made good knitting projects for those quiet moments as well as first thing in the morning. Pictures and details later.

Dave's new costume looked very 'fly' as he would put it, however the character it was intended for only survived about eight hours in game. Rather than have all that hard work go completely to waste, the tunic was passed to another player to pad out their kit for the week. I've got to say, it looked equally good on him.

Monday afternoon we packed up fairly promptly for us and were not the last off site (miraculously), but lost a lot of time due to car trouble. My brakes were resisting and rather than drive all the way home, I called the AA and waited for them to be checked out. It turned out the heavy rain that first weekend, followed by very warm weather and not moving the car was the problem, with a thin coating of rust having formed on the brake disks. A drive with the AA man and some aggressive braking sorted things out and then we drove home, finally getting back to Coventry just after midnight. This was much, much later than we should have done, but those brakes needed checking out.

Now... I have a mountain of laundry to do, plus a load of washing up. I also have a zip to replace with eyelets on my tent since it's about given up the ghost now. Mostly though, I'm trying to adjust to being back in the real world and marvelling at just how tired I feel.

Can you tell what it is yet?

2007-08-11T15:34:00.001+01:00

Having braved the sun to run a few necessary errands, I'm now hiding indoors and psyching myself up to do a spot of sewing. I'm currently very proud of myself as I've displayed an unusual amount of self control and walked away from both fabric and yarn!

Yes, I was in Coventry and stuck my head into Busy Fingers, for no particular reason other than I was walking past. There I saw several interesting offcuts in upholstery weight fabrics which would have made very nice waistcoats - and if Dave had been there no doubt frock coats would have been mentioned - or cushion covers if you prefer tamer sewing pursuits.

I also checked out their bargain buckets/baskets and saw some very nice rich wool mixes of the fussy variety. By that I mean, they had either bits stuck onto the yarn or were variegated and multi-threaded (i.e. two or more threads of a different type wrapped around each other). Very nice, ranging from 50% to 79% wool and just 99p per 50g! Believe me, it took a lot of will power to put the yarn down and walk away.

Now some pictures of Dave wearing the robe I finished on Tuesday.

This is a robe of my own design, with input from Dave as to the features he wanted to see. It's meant to be clerical in appearance, with a deep collar, lots of swish but minimal hampering of movement.

The fabric is a brushed, heavy weight cotton which is both considerably lighter and cheaper than an equivalent amount of wool. I've split it front and back to make sure he can fight in this one (although officially, the split would be there so he could ride) and added gores to the sides to increase the fullness of the hem. The gores run from under the arm to the hem, but I've sewn the side seams closed again at the top to waist level, so that the gores fold in on themselves when Dave is standing still.

The collar is a simple folded over affair with the neck hole big enough for him to pull the whole caboodle over his head. The sleeves are straight and only slightly tapered to the wrist, again intended to give him plenty of movement.

As always, click on the images to see bigger versions.

Special thanks for help with the photoshoot must go to the director, one Missy Cat who closely supervised the wardrobe and the positioning of the model in each shot.

And now for a very important announcement

2007-08-08T13:44:00.000+01:00

In the interests of finding a palatable alternative to my current favourite tea (and yes, tea has finally made it onto my blog) in order to stave off the fear that Morrisons (the only place in Coventry that I can find it) will stop stocking it, I decided to give Twinings Everyday Tea a try. Mostly for Richard's benefit this, but I can report that I have decided I like this tea. It's still not my favourite, but it is on a par with Tetley's normal tea, so it's mild, inoffensive and refreshing but without the kick found in standard breakfast teas.

In other words, just like a lot of the Twinings range, it gets my thumbs up.

And now that I've covered the vitally important subject of tea, onto creative pursuits.

Last weekend was very sewing orientated as I settled down to start making Dave a new costume for Shards. Friday night I drafted a pattern for a new robe and then drew straight onto the fabric, since I was running very short on time and it is quite a simple garment. Some time later, after much pain from my knee, bloodshed from Dave - who pinned one piece when I had to get up from the floor for a minute - and some wielding of scissors and I had all the pieces cut out.

Saturday afternoon I edged them, since experience has taught me it's a lot easier to edge fabric *before* it's sewn up than after. Edging is of course boring and tedious, but absolutely necessary since this robe will not be lined, is made from cotton which will fray if I don't take steps to prevent it and is going to be subject to significant wear and tear... LARP is incredibly hard on costume and of course, the robe needs to be able to survive the washing machine.

Sunday I sewed all the pieces together. I even set the sleeves and attached the collar, much to my amazement at my own efficiency. Over the last two nights I've continued with the hand finishing bits, namely I closed the collar by hand and I've oversewn the side seams using a matress stitch to make the gores sit right.

Alas, no photo's yet as it was quite late when I finished last night and I need to get Dave to pose whilst wearing it for me, but I will get some taken soon-ish.

Tonight I'm intending to leave Dave with a pile of ironing, in the form of the cotton for his cyclas. I've washed it and dried it, but he's been studiously ignoring it for the past few days. Since I intend to start on the pattern for that one tomorrow night, I think it's down to him to finish prepping the fabric so I can get started ASAP.

In other news, in an effort to earn brownie points Dave bought me a selection of jewelry pliers at Hobbycraft. Apparently they have sets of them half price at the moment, so those who like to make wired jewelry or stitchmarkers, take note.

And finally, I finished my second attempt at a washcloth (of which I do have a picture).

While its the same diagonally knit square as last time, taken from One Skien Wonders, this time I've crocheted a Picot stle edge, taken from Knitting Loves Crochet.

The last time I tried to crochet around some knitting, the crochet was too tight and forced the washcloth to curl up around the edges. To overcome this, rather than fighting my naturally tight crochet - a battle I'll leave for later methinks - I used the next size up hook, i.e. a 4.5mm rather than a 4mm and this time it worked well. I'm quite pleased with the way its turned out and envisage making many more...

As always, click on the photo to see a bigger version.

As I sit here shivering...

2007-08-02T10:35:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks after moving from my sub tropical office, in which the temperature rarely dropped below 28C, I have now decided I hate air conditioning. Or rather, I have a strong dislike for aircon which is set to an inhumanly low temperature, blows fiercely, has no obvious temperature or direction controls and the only way to deal with it's bitterly cold enslaught is to use a very long stick to close the vent immediately in front of my desk. Sadly, the vent reopens itself as soon as my back is turned and I am engaged in a never ending battle to try to stop myself from being chilled to the bone.

A complaint has been registered (the maintenance guys are coming to rue the day I moved) and even though a guy from the environmental office showed up and played with the controls for an hour, he could not stop the offending vent from blasting freezing cold air at my desk hour after hour as I try to work. I suspect there is nothing for it and I will be forced to bring a cardi and gloves into work to combat the cold.

The cotton I ordered from Chawla 's showed up yesterday afternoon, so top marks to them for service and delivery. I ordered on Sunday afternoon, so three working days - including Monday as the day they processed the order - is not bad at all. The fabric itself is as advertised and I forsee much sewing in my near future. So much sewing and so little time, which means I've warned Dave he might need to lend a hand. It is for him after all!

I headed off to Knitwits last night, but didn't make much progress on the scarf I'm working on as I didn't seem to be able to concentrate. I kept making mistakes, loosing count and having to unknit stitches which was proving frustrating.

I'm going to put it down to where I was sitting; the accoustics seemed to be making everything echo and very loud so it felt as if I was being overwhelmed by noise which crept up on me as the evening pressed on. I've been sat on that side of the room before and the noise has never been a problem in the past so I'm not sure what was going on there. Perhaps I was feeling more sensitive to it? Or they moved something in the room? Wierd really.

Right, I'm off to find a long stick. I have an aircon vent to prod.

With only two free weekends to go...

2007-07-30T13:45:00.000+01:00

This weekend we headed off to Ripley to visit friends on Saturday which was fun. The drive home was not so fun, with heavy rain, lots of surface water and an accident just after Junction 27 of the M1 all conspiring to make it a long and stressful journey. I was relieved when I finally pulled up outside our door and promptly fell into bed.

On Sunday, I concentrated on preparing to make Dave another costume for Shards, going by his vague brief that he wanted robes and a tabbard which should be very full, flared, be vaguely clerical and look good with armour. Richard's suggestions that we add hand sewn embroidered livery are going to be ignored for now, unless of course Dave decides to do it himself!

Cue me translating Dave's request into a floor length tunic, split at the front and flaring from under the arm. If I'm so inclined, I may also add gores (or godets) to the sides so that he has lots of potential swish. A mid calf length cyclas with a side fastening colar will do the job as a tabbard methinks and by the time it's all belted it should do the job.

A quick dive into my stash and I located 5 meters of a brushed cotton which will do nicely for his tunic, which I promptly dropped into the washing machine. Nothing to hand that would do for the cyclas so I discovered the joys (or not) of internet shopping for fabric and after spending a good couple of hours combing the interweb I finally ordered some cotton twill from Chawla's, who seem to sell discount fabric. I've never heard of them before so this is a bit of a test order but since its just a few meters of cotton I thought it worth trying them.

Finally, on a totally unrelated subject, some links to scarves I found in Magknits...

What looks like a manly scarf...

http://www.magknits.com/Mar07/patterns/askew.htm

Because it looked intriguing...

http://www.magknits.com/warm05/patterns/rib.htm

And because I'm looking for some simple lacey scarves...

Water, water everywhere...

2007-07-26T14:17:00.000+01:00

It's been a quiet week so far as I recover from camping last weekend.

To say it rained is a bit of an understatement and we were very lucky to make it to site when we did. Many thanks have to be given to Richard who drove and bravely tackled what can only be described as a very hairy journey on Friday afternoon. We arrived only about an hour or so behind schedule having driven roads already under six inches of water in places and rapidly getting deeper. Pitching camp in the continuing downpour was not pleasant and for myself, once we were finally sorted I'd have happily crawled into my nice warm sleeping bag and stayed there! News from those travelling behind us told of roads being closed, massive detours and those real unfortunates who were marooned (along with their cars) on the motorway.

The event itself went ahead as planned and we did see enough breaks in the weather through the weekend to make it work. I've definitely played through worse and with the campsite sitting on sand, the surface water drained away quickly so things weren't too bad. Cold and damp couldn't be avoided though, as everything was so wet by the end of Friday night that it just didn't get a chance to dry out. Fortunately (being an experienced camper), I had plenty of gas and tea and the means to boil water which meant things were very much bearable.

The bump worked well although it was hard for people to really tell since I was swaddled in a long and full woolen cloak for most of the weekend. I did somehow manage to forget my jacket, but as I pointed out I was wearing four vests, my thermals and something in the order of sixty layers of padding, so I got by.

And to think I'd been worried about overheating at events this summer!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we now have baby bump mark 2.5

2007-07-16T16:32:00.000+01:00

The bump is done!!!!!!

This bump is mark 2.5 since it's actually the first bump I made, enlarged last year from six months to nine months and I've just enlarged again, to represent two occupants rather than one.

The picture was taken on Saturday, while I was adding a few layers of quilt batting to the top of the bump so it doesn't look quite so like someone stuck a giant 'C' to my tummy. The pink lines are to remind me where the bottom of the bust line or high waist is and over which the bump must not spread.

Once I was done here, I added another two layers of batting over the whole thing, which smoothed out any sewing lines. Then I covered everything up with another sports vest, two sizes larger than the original. I sewed up the bottom, sides, arms and neckline, then added straps above the bump (under the bust) and between the legs to stop it shifting about when worn. No shifting is vitally important, otherwise the bump becomes very annoying and uncomfortable to wear.

I've just done a costume check and boy, oh boy do I look huge and whale like once I have skirts on. No pictures as Dave isn't around and I don't think I can do the outfit justice from a mirror. Do I look like I am carrying twins in this rig? Oh yes...

The dangers of Hobbycraft

2007-07-13T17:55:00.000+01:00

Today I popped into Hobbycraft to buy some cotton tape. It was a genuine errand, because the bump is growing and I'm starting to pull out the layers to the side and top, meaning it will soon be done. Only, now it is so much bigger it's going to need an extra strap to give it a bit more support under the bust and one inch cotton tape will do the trick nicely.

So off I drove to Hobbycraft, because I didn't really want to head into Coventry and more specifically the market just for cotton tape.

Sadly, Hobbycraft did not have any cotton tape, either carded or on a reel. Obviously, I had to search the store - just in case - to make sure they hadn't hidden it anywhere else. Of course, I totally forgot the inherent danger in searching a store such as Hobbycraft.

I came away with a pair of bent cable needles, which I'm going to need if I put my newly taught ability to knit cables to use. Seven different satin bias bindings, all very pretty. Some buttons, also pretty. A knitting needle bag. Oh and some angora yarn... OK quite a bit of angora yarn which just looked too fluffy and soft and in colours I liked, that I bought it. Which of course means I'm going to have to knit more scarves. I can see what everyone is going to get for Christmas this year!

I blame work. It's been a hard week since I've had to move office, which entailed packing up a whole lot of stuff and throwing even more stuff away since I was moving to a cubicle. Then I persuaded my (nice) boss into helping me carry everything to a van so we could drive it a mile up the road and then unload it again. On arrival, the lift ate my chair. It's still in there three days later, nice and securely locked in a steel cage that appears to be stuck six inches up from floor level. Hopefully, someone will arrive some day soon to release it...

Hence, after the week I've had, I probably should have avoided Hobbycraft which is packed full of goodies. At least I didn't make it onto the mezzanine, or I'd have acquired books and beads and tools and numerous other goodies.

Now, all I have to do is see if Dave can be persuaded to go into Coventry market for me, after all I do still need that cotton tape...

Tewkesbury and stuff

2007-07-08T12:17:00.001+01:00

Today is Sunday and marvel all who read this. I am typing in my first ever blog entry from my new internet connection. Yes, we are now online at home although the truth be told and apart from the few hours I spent getting things working on Friday night, this is the first time I've logged on this weekend. I've been busy (as always) and so haven't really had much time to sit playing.

I took Friday off work and spent the majority of the day cleaning, while I waited for the internet to activate itself. I did finish a knitted washcloth I've been having a bit of an experiment with. The pattern for this one is simple enough since it was knitted on the diagonal, using a yarn over to give the holes around the edge. I decided to try putting a simple crocheted border on, but as you can see from the curling I think I got the tension wrong. Ho hum. Experience and all that, but that is why I was having an experiment.

Other than that I've started adding layers to the bump, work which is going well but is both time consuming and hard on the hands. It is definitely growing though, so progress is being made. Slow progress.

We headed off to Tewkesbury for the medieval fayre and battle yesterday where I was very good, not buying any fabric or yarns or... well anything craft related really. Mostly because I didn't see anything that caught my eye, despite several hours of searching. I was hoping to pick up a new lucet and maybe a fancy turned needlecase, but they were barely in evidence in the fayre. I did however pick up a music book and a couple of recorders, which means I suppose I'll have to teach myself how to play now.

We missed the battle itself due to being engrossed in shopping, although the guns were noticeably loud. This fellow was prowling around the market, pointing at people in an ominous fashion for some reason or other.

In all, a good - if long and very tiring - day. The weather held. I didn't spend too much money. Good company. Someone else was driving (Thanks Richard!) and much fun was had.

One soggy weekend later

2007-07-02T12:04:00.000+01:00

With the hoped for dry weather failing to materialise over the weekend, very little got done outdoors and I seem to have had an expensive few days.

I've reluctantly decided that I need to join the rest of the online world, connecting from a broadband ISP... I've also come to the reluctant conclusion that I may need my own computer. Hence, this weekend I placed an order with BT and parted with hard earned pennies so there is at least one decent computer in the house, rather than the hand-me-downs that I normally make do with.

Said newly acquired computer is now at work so I can configure it prior to discovering the joys of a proper internet connection at home.

I also headed into town and in a moment of weakness bought the only new craft offerings on the shelf in Waterstones. I had a couple more book tokens left over from Christmas - I do tend to hang on to them for months and months and months - so it wasn't as bad as it could have been and I walked away with a copy of Knitting Loves Crochet and Crocheted Accessories . The first one in particular looks fantastic, if I had the skill to make anything listed in there of course!

Saturday night, I finished the ribbon scarf I've been working on.

This one is pretty rather than practical and when it catches the light (demonstrated with a flash here) it really does come alive. Drop stitch knits up quickly and the ribbon wasn't too troublesome to use, although I did have tension issues when starting a new yarn. With such a loose stitch (8mm needles) and shiney, slippery ribbon it really didn't hold together too well. Fortunately, going around with a needle and carefully weaving through the ends took care of that though, as I was able to add tension to that first stitch with the new yarn.

As always, click on the images to see bigger versions.

I revisited the bump as planned, but discovered one downfall of making things so sturdily. My intention is to take the larger bump apart, reversing the final construction phases - which make it wearable - so I can get back to the padding. Then I'll start increasing the padding once more, before putting a new shell over the top and reattaching the straps. The theory is sound methinks, but when I sew something together I intend it to stay sewn together despite any rigours that it might suffer due to the stresses of LARP. Hence it took me a good two and a half hours yesterday with a seam ripper to gently remove the straps and outer layers.

I finally got there though and the bump is now divested of everything which makes it useable... Heres hoping I get it suitably grown and wearable in time for the next event!

The best laid plans...

2007-06-29T10:42:00.000+01:00

I just called the cattery I use and cancelled the booking I'd made for next weekend. Sadly, due to lack of confirmed bookings we've had to postpone the Strangehaven event we had planned until September, hence the cancellation. Fortunately, the cattery lady was happy enough as she has a queue of people waiting for cancellations, meaning my cats' space will be reallocated within the next hour. This is good as I like to keep the cattery on side in case I ever need to make an emergency or unplanned dash to the South West for family related matters.

With the cattery all squared away and my time my own again for next weekend, I was briefly wondering what to get up to but fear not, my time has been refilled. It looks like we'll head down to Tewkesbury for the Medieval Fayre and battle instead. Tewkesbury is free to get in, but you have to pay a small donation to park and I believe the organisers make most of their costs back from traders. The Fayre is a great place to buy fabric and see the more crafty end of stalls as well as traditional, historical kit suppliers. In other words there will be many opportunities in which I shall be sorely tempted to part with money. It will also be an opportunity to catch up with some friends from Plymouth I suspect, as I'll no doubt see a few familiar faces lurking around the market. In other words, all good... and it should go a good way to making up for the disappointment of a missed event.

In the meantime, I'm hoping for some dry weather this weekend - although I understand I'm unlikely to get it. I have tents to dry! Admittedly, they're not too bad but they still need to be aired and then folded, so they can re-emerge ready to use in a few weeks time.

With the Sweetpea Shawl finished, I'm contenting myself with knitting some ribbon scarves using a drop stitch pattern. This is the first time I've had a go at drop stitch, but it seems to be working out OK. The ribbon yarn I'm using is not disimilar to those I made last autumn, but then I crocheted them. The main difference in working it is that this time, it is behaving itself and having the ribbon on two sticks seems to be keeping it under control. Less twisting by far and much less of a nightmare to keep the loops open.

Other than that, this weekend marks the return to the bump since I think it's time we saw an increase in size. I have two of these physreps, so the plan is to take one of them, take it apart and then start adding layers until it is huge!

Sweetpea... also in plum

2007-06-20T10:17:00.000+01:00

Taking a few moments out from working and waiting for my new mobile phone to spring into life, to write a further update here. Although before I do, why is it that the delay between deactivating the old SIM and activating the new one has to take so long? I've been without mobile connectivity since 2:30pm yesterday afternoon and I'm now beginning to fret. It's not that I want to call anyone or that I'm particularly itching to send a text message but... You never know I might actually be missing some vital call while I'm disconnected like this!

As you might be able to surmise, upgrading my mobile telephone and my talk plan was on my list of errands over the weekend. After visiting the Orange shop and fast coming to the conclusion that I knew more than the store assistants did about the deals on offer, I headed home and called Orange's Customer Services to negotiate my own deal. Yay for the internet and doing your own research.

Next on my list for overdue upgrades is a computer... As in I think that maybe it's time I actually bought one and maybe, perhaps I need some kind of proper internet connection. Currently, I use dial up from home and a very antiquated laptop which has been retired from work use. While this used to be more than sufficient for my home needs, recently I've been struggling to even read email and so the slow realisation that I need to move out of the stone age is catching up with me.

But I digress...

I also finished crocheting the Sweetpea Shawl on Saturday evening and so, on Sunday decided to take advantage of the fine weather to have a go at blocking out on the patio. I took an old bedspread - normally reserved for camping use - and laid it out, weighing down the corners with bottles of water. Then I spread out the shawl, pinning it into place and pulling it to open out the pattern. Once I had it pinned securely in place, I sprayed it liberally with clean water and waited...

I had to have stern words with both cats when they decided to try to help, but other than that it went well enough and about three hours later the shawl was dry. I carefully unpinned it and was relieved when it didn't immediately spring back into it's previous shape and did a practice drape for Dave who told me it looked 'longer'. Before blocking, I think it reached to about the small of my back whereas now it reaches the back of my knees!

Sunday and Monday night I sat and attached tassles and voila! One Sweetpea Shawl.

I'm really pleased with this one and I think it's probably the nicest thing I've ever crocheted. Before blocking it looked fairly good but now it is really pretty and the pattern has opened out so it can be easily seen. I'm impressed both with the shawl and the transformation, so I guess this blocking lark is all it's cracked up to be.

As always, click on the pictures to see bigger versions.

Another jacket in plum

2007-06-19T12:56:00.001+01:00

This weekend just gone was my first free weekend in about five weeks! What with working and events, I'd just about forgotten what it's like to be able to spend a whole weekend running errands, getting on with projects and of course resting.

Once I'd done the whirlwind tour of town, dealt with domestic necessities and argued with the computer, there wasn't as much time left over for making stuff as I'd have liked, but I did manage to get this finished. Although I had to be very sneaky to sew on those frogs without Charlie's assistance.

Spurred into action on this one by nearly cooking at the event last week. It's a lightweight jacket intended for use in Shards, made as always out of wool and lined in cotton. I've added in extra fabric at the sides to accomodate the padding that is the bump and deliberately stopped the frogs just where it's rise should be. The idea was to make the jacket wearable without the padding, since it's a lot of effort to go to for something I'll only need for two months or so.

I also vented the forearms, using hooks and eyes set in alternate orientation to hold the seam closed. i.e. on one side you have hook, eye, hook, eye and on the other side eye, hook, eye, hook and so on. Basically, this prevents the hooks and eyes from undoing easily by themselves as they will do regularly if you have all of the hooks on one side and all of the eyes on the others (something I picked up on from examining theatrical costume).

As always click on the pictures to see bigger versions.

Of lace and wikis

2007-06-14T14:56:00.000+01:00

I've just spent my lunch hour making a good stab at trying to sort out the Shards wiki which moved from its previous home a few days ago. I'll not go into the whys and what-the-hell's that I could do at this moment, since I've already done my fair share of tearing out metaphorical hair. At the moment I'm concentrating on trying to clean up the spilt milk rather than ranting.

Allegedly, the entire wiki has been copied from Schtuff to PBwiki with it's links intact. Sadly, this does not seem to be entirely true. Most of the data is over, but the context has been lost. The tags are now meaningless and since a lot of the pages were dynamic, based on saved searches, those are also completely lost. Cue me trying to piece together what is or is not missing and then build static pages to substitute for those missing searches. There may of course be a way of rebuilding the searches using PBwiki's tools, but lack of familiarity means that for now I'm not trying to be clever - I just want to get it all back online.

Worryingly I've also come across the odd page which seems to be missing entirely. Fortunatley, the original site is still up so all I've had to do is nip across and copy them over, but time is running out on that score. I'll continue as I am for a few days while I get the measure of it, but then I'm going to need a general announcement methinks... Only the main boards are down as the website is also down and I don't think everyone is using the Yahoo Group.

On the positive side, I have managed to put the beginnings of a sidebar in place to act as a menu. The character pages are beginning to take shape and of course I now have some idea of what is missing. The colours are still yucky and I don't like the template, but without the admin password there's not a lot I can do about that.

On to more fun stuff, despite wanting to do nothing more than curl up and go to sleep, I headed out to Knit-Wits last night which had a good turnout. Steelbreeze had made some latch hooks out of old machine knitting needles, which look not dissimilar to the latch hooks I've used in the past for rug making, only a lot smaller. Steelbreeze went on to demonstrate how they can be used for picking up dropped stitches in your knitting, which sounded like a fine idea to me. So I must admit I snaffled one of these fine inventions for myself.

Steelbreeze also showed me how to do cables, which from her quick demo do not look anywhere near so scary as I thought they were.

With those and the how to fix dropped stitches, I think I really do need to do some sample swatches and have a play. The Stitch n'Bitch book has a section in it about fixing mistakes and I think I might need to deliberately make mistakes and repair them before having a go at lace knitting, because that sure does look fiddly and accident prone.

I took along Victorian Lace Today, which did the rounds and got a lot of oooh'ing and ahhh'ing. Every time I look at that book, I want to make something and by the attention it got, it went down well with everyone else as well. In my case, what can I say... It's finicky, detailed, fussy and requires a lot of attention to finish... Just my cup of tea!

The Sweetpea Shawl also went with me last night and I'm now getting through those rows with frightening speed. I don't think it will be long before I finish it and then comes the dreaded blocking...

Photo's taken by Steelbreeze - as usual, click on them to see bigger versions.

Edited to add: This link to a review I found out there in the blogosphere for Victorian Lace Today. Scroll down and look at the pictures, to see why I like this book so much...

And that was the day the cow stood still...

2007-06-12T14:15:00.000+01:00

The weekend saw myself and others heading off to York to run the first ever Strangehaven event. The game itself went well, but oh my goodness I about melted in the heat! Dressed as I was in many, many layers of padding with many more layers of clothes (costume) on top, I think I came about as close to heatstroke as I have done in a long, long time.

The site was fantastic although hard on the head. I must have banged my poor noggin at least four times in all on low doorways, with the first time being the hardest. I was also very brave and managed to lie down on a bunk infested with wildlife of the eight legged variety. The second night I think I even managed to fall asleep, which is what exhaustion and far too much sun will do for you.

Other than that though, it all went well I think and the players seemed to have fun. After all the hard work which went into preparing, writing background and plot, it was something of a relief to see it all come together. We could do with a few more players though, so if there are any people reading this who fancy having a go, do pop over to our blog and have a look.

Yesterday I had a day off, which meant I spent the day unpacking and tackling the laundry. My first ever subscription copy of Knitting arrived and I'm afraid its been read from cover to cover already. I also retrieved the cats from the cattery, much to their delight with Missy being particularly happy to be home.

And yes, she is chewing a stick. Missy likes chewing and playing with sticks, the more twiggy and well endowed with leaves the better.

Today I ache

2007-06-07T12:30:00.000+01:00

My right leg, from my hip to my calf is giving me some serious gip and complaining as if I'd overdone it at the dojo or gym or something. Muscles I really didn't know I had are complaining this morning and the cause of this discomfort is of course my visit to my physio therapist yesterday. The obligatory lecture covered the does and don'ts of sitting, the need to accurately report on pain, bending my knee and how to stick my bottom out. After forty five minutes of painful mauling, I was really glad to escape back to work!

We have hot water once more, the boiler having been fixed by the man from British Gas... The cause this time was apparently the British weather, with rain being the primary candidate for our problems. There were signs of water damage inside the boiler and the plumber's opinion was that heavy rain (like the kind we had during last Thursday's storms) came in through the flu, flooding the bottom of the boiler so that it spilled out and shorted the electrics. This is not exactly reassuring news, as it rains quite a bit in Coventry and sometimes the rain is indeed of the heavy variety, not like back at home in Plymouth though, where it wasn't unusual to see it rain upwards! But I digress, it does indeed rain in Coventry and so I've now been alerted to a new danger which could strike at any time. Dave has told me not to worry... He says he has a cunning plan involving cellotape.

This news was met with some sceptism at Knit-Wits last night, where we were having a de-stash night. Now I did consider getting rid of some fabric but what with having been working like a crazed crazy woman, I have not really had much time to do anything the past week or two. So in the end, I dug out some no longer wanted issues of Burda and took those along, telling Dave I was doing my bit towards decluttering the house.

Ahem. Somehow I came back with more magazines than I took with me... And some knitting needles... Oooh and some fuzzy sparkly stuff that Steelbreeze waved at me.

I did do some work on the Sweet Pea shawl from The Happy Hooker, which is growing nicely now. I disagree with the designer's comments about whipping it up in a single evening though and having it ready for use the next day. Admittedly, I'm only spending an hour here and there working on the shawl, but those first few rows were killers.

Here it is in its current state, very much a work in progress but you can see that it is beginning to take shape.

I like the way it's coming along and now I've got the hang of the pattern, it's not that difficult to make. I did have problems with the pattern instructions, but fortunately was able to interpret the chart which accompanied it. My next worry is for when its done as I think I may need to have a go at blocking (a first for me) to get the best out of this one.

Finally some gratuitous cat pictures, because I'm in pain, working far too hard at the end of a very long week (i.e. no weekend) and want to see kittens.

My ever vigilant assistant Charlie, who is an oversized kitten really, is always ready to help guard my knitting or crochet. Or at least flop all over the project bag the above shawl currently lives in.

Of course, once he realises that you're watching him he turns on the charm... And don't be fooled by that expression, he is ready to kill Dave (who falls for it everytime) if he touches his tummy.

Missy on the other hand would never allow herself to be photographed in a compromising position...

And to prove that Dave does not always look like a tree...

2007-06-06T11:31:00.000+01:00

Stung by Richard's comments about only linking to pictures of Dave as a tree, I thought I'd better rectify matters by showing a couple of other pictures which maybe put him a better light. The first thing you need to remember is that both Dave and I play characters in LARP events and that we both like to dress up. That is, when kitting out our characters we tend to go to town a bit in the effort department.

At Maelstrom, Dave doesn't normally look like a tree. Instead he plays a polymorphic non-gender specific servant of the gods (i.e. an angel) who sometimes looks something like this...

Note the makeup, dreads and ears which make him near unrecognisable. In fact when I first saw this picture it took a second or two to realise who it was! Dave takes at least six changes of costume to each event for this character, although catching him on camera is apparently difficult and I rarely get to see photographic evidence.

I'm not responsible for any of the costume Dave is wearing, the frock coat having been made by a friend and the rest of his outfit has come from theatrical costume or charity shops.

I am however wholey responsible for this...

Except for the hat and boots that is; fear my sense of style.

As always, click on the pictures to see a bigger version.

Ah... The selfless sacrifice

2007-06-05T10:46:00.000+01:00

With the first Strangehaven event fast approaching, I decided I'd better buy myself one of those self-inflating sleeping mats (the manufacturers for which claim them to be as comfortable as a proper airbed). The site we're using has these little dark age (ish) huts with raised wooden platforms for sleeping on, so I need something to put down to soften things a bit. Last time we went there, I took Dave's self-inflating mat but since he'll be off at Maelstrom (traitor! ;) ) and will be needing it himself, I thought I'd best get my own.

Anyhow, one trip to Go Outdoors! later and I have myself a suitable mat. Being one of those people who doesn't like to leave things to chance, I read the instructions and did a test inflate...

This is what happened the instant the bed had inflated itself.

As you can see, Charlie was selfless as always and promptly volunteered to test the comfort and fit of the new self-inflating matress.

From the look on his face I think it was a hit and a successful test, now given the Charlie seal of approval.

Arrgh! Life has gone all crazy on me...

2007-06-03T10:39:00.000+01:00

It's been an eventful few days in the less than helpful or co-operative sense, with the boiler dying (again) in a spectacular fashion on Thursday. And by that I we had crackling. We had smoke and a strong (still lingering) smell of burning of the electrical kind. The only positive was that it happened whilst we were there and hence we were able to switch things off and did not go up in flames. Those who've read my LJ know that this is becoming a frequent occurance, the third break down in less than a year with the last one being fixed in the middle of April... I am not impressed.

Timing couldn't be worse of course, since the next two weeks see the implementation of a major double upgrade to a critical system. To the non-IT professionals out there, that means I have to nearly camp out in my office, working through the weekend and I simply cannot just nip home for a couple of hours to wait for a plumber.

Cue me spending a couple of hours arguing with appropriate people on Friday - whilst trying to roll out a major upgrade - and eventually being bullied into joining British Gas's Homecare. Twas the only way I could get someone to respond! The result was that by the time I got home from work on Friday night, the gas had been turned off - not terribly convenient - but Transco did come back later and switch it on, before turning off the gas to the boiler at its valve. We still don't have any hot water, but we're not about to blow up or anything and British Gas are now legally obligated to sort it out.

Aside from all of this, I have of course been working. Again, bad timing as I have an event next weekend, which wouldn't normally be an issue but since I'm on the writing team, I'm feeling a bit pressured. I'm hoping that I get things sorted out enough that I can blag Friday off, but I shall have to see.

In the meantime, I'm working. I've sneaked on here for a few minutes to write this but otherwise I'm juggling computers (of the big variety) and persuading them to do what I want them to do. The temperature in here was 30.4C when I came in this morning, having maxed out at 29.7c last night when I finally escaped... So it looks like it's going to be another scorcher. Believe me, by the time I made it home I was tired and drained of all energy.

Still, the world of crafting and making things stops for no one, so besides trying to think in a creative fashion - the operative word being 'trying' - I've dug out unfinished costume pieces. I have a tunic I bought earlier in the year that needs hemming and another one that I made last year for Belgariad (another LARP I was on the writing team for) but never finished. My aim is to get them sorted out and wearable by the end of the week!

Other than that, I've not had time to do anything since like Mandy, I really could do with more hours in the day! Note I do not want more days in the week as that just means I'll need to work even harder. I also need some 'Ooomph' so if anyone has any going spare, please send it in my direction.

Oooh... Pretty Lace

2007-05-30T12:04:00.000+01:00

I'm still in the land of the living after spending the weekend at Candleston doing Shards. While the event was great as always, I think the weather did for me. As the forecasts predicted, it started raining overnight on Saturday and continued into Sunday. While it did let up a bit as the day wore on, the temperature also dropped and the wind picked up. All of which meant that I froze and as anyone who knows me could tell you, I really do not cope well with being cold.

Naturally I was back at work yesterday, where I found my long anticipated books waiting for me in the Telephone Exchange. Facing a backlog of work - and mad traffic queues having delayed my arrival - I resisted opening the multiple packages until the end of the day. When I did, I quickly flipped through the first two, images from which were driven from my mind by the contents of Victorian Lace Today.

Of this book, all I can say is wow!!!! Talk about eye candy... I flicked through and I can't say there is a single project in there that I didn't like. Several got a flicker of interest to the point I stared at the patterns - which I can't actually understand, but hey, give me time and I *will*. Each piece is beautifully photographed in historical settings and the author writes a bit about the original publisher which makes it interesting reading... Ultimately though, wow!

So... I guess I need to give lace knitting a try.

Books, books, books...

2007-05-24T10:57:00.000+01:00

Half of my eagerly awaited book order turned up yesterday. I spent last week monitoring Amazon's stock and came to the conclusion that the other half was holding up the delivery, so I cancelled. I promptly re-ordered those books from their Marketplace sellers, so hopefully they'll show up in the next day or so.

One gripe with the Amazon Marketplace sellers is that they don't seem to combine postage, so rather than offering you savings on multiple purchases, they send each book out individually packaged. This adds to the price of the books, is an unnecessary increase on packaging and can mean that books ordered at the same time turn up at different times. Still, I have my fingers crossed they show up today otherwise they'll sit in the Exchange until Tuesday.

Last night, I skimmed through Crocheted Hats and spotted a couple that looked fun. Dave quickly homed in on a crocheted helmet which he says looks quirky and would make good kit.

I also took the 200 Crochet Blocks book to Knit-Wits, so that the ladies there could browse it. Two observations about this book... Firstly it uses British stitch descriptions, something only obvious when checking the stitch tutorial at the back of the book. This is the first time I've ever seen a book which does so, as most use American stitch names which are nearly identical but describe something entirely different. Hence when I make something from this book, I'm going to have to remember this!

The second observation is that the author is counting changes in colour towards her count of 200 Chrochet Blocks. Now to me, that is plain cheating as a change in colour scheme is not a change in design, sorry.. That all said, it did look interesting and useful and I'll be taking a second look after the weekend.

The other two books which showed up were both full of quick projects using one skein of yarn (One Skein and One Skein Wonders)... I flicked through and while I was taken with the projects, I think they're stretching the definition of One Skein on most of them! Projects which require over 1000m of yarn to complete and are knit with two threads, do not fall into what I'd normally think of as one skein!

An odd week

2007-05-18T12:27:00.000+01:00

It's been an odd week for me and not terribly productive, either at home or at work. Family matters have taken precedence and I've driven an awful lot of miles, in a mad but very necessary round trip to Bodmin for a funeral. Suffice it to say, I'm feeling very tired and drained, waking this morning all thick headed on the tail end of a dream about the shed exploding and torrential rain...

(Dave tells me I must have suppressed anxiety about the shed blowing up. Our neighbour has a distressing tendency to build huge fires in her garden in close proximity to it, pouring petrol on and then going indoors to watch TV whilst it burns unmonitored. More than once, I've prompted Dave into getting the hose pipe out and dowsing down our fence and shed...)

With all the driving and visiting, I haven't really had much time to myself this week, with what little time I have had being dedicated to writing rather than anything else. With the first Strangehaven event in a few weeks, I'm beginning to feel the pressure. We have a ref meeting this weekend, so hopefully once that's done I'll be in a calmer state of mind.

I did take some cotton and a crochet hook down to Cornwall with me, making a start on a plum coloured 'Sweetpea Shawl' from The Happy Hooker. No idea how it's going to turn out, but it seems to be working up OK and Charlie approves. I had a few problems understanding the instructions (I'm terrible with patterns) but fortunately, the pattern is charted so I managed to interpret it in the end.

More soon, when I'm less tired, my brain is working properly and I don't have a huge backlog of work...

Book List

2007-05-11T15:24:00.000+01:00

I'm feeling a tad frustrated at the moment as last week I gave into a momentary weakness and ordered several books from Amazon. What can I say, I had an unspent gift voucher - if such is an applicable term for an online bookstore - and I've been eyeing up several craft books of late.

A week on and the projected delivery date is set for the 21st of the month, so I'm still waiting and will be for at least another week. This is not good. Once I have decided to purchase a book, I like to get my grubby little mits on it as soon as possible. Part of me is itching to cancel the order and buy the books via Amazon's 'New and Used' marketplace, but since the only reason I bought direct from Amazon was those gift tokens it kind of defeats the purpose.

The titles I ordered were all knitting or crochet pattern books, i.e.

I'm particulary keen to get my hands on the lace book as it sounds very good...

I do now however have one of these, having ordered it from Cotton Patch who have always been very helpful in the past. I anticipate a weekend filled with cutting things out!

Knitting Meme

2007-05-08T15:30:00.000+01:00

I don't normally indulge in meme's but since I've been tagged by Jane and I have a minute to spare...

1. What is your favourite cast-on?

Um... I normally do one which uses my thumb and sort of twists the yarn in a figure of eight to form the stitches, but I've no idea what it's called.

2. What is your favourite stitch?

I have recently decided that double moss stitch is very pretty.

3. What are your favourite needles?

My inexperience in the realm of knitting is not to be underestimated, but having tried metal, plastic and bamboo needles, I've got to say the bamboo ones are my favourite so far. They are so much lighter than the metal ones, but nowhere near so bendy as the plastic so I get the best of both worlds.

4. What is your favourite project?

Scarves.

5. What is your least favourite project?

Scarves.

I really do need to learn to make something else methinks...

6. What is your favourite cast-off?

Erm... I only know one. I've heard rumours of others but haven't learnt them as of yet.

7. What are your favourite yarns?

I'm not really a yarn knowledgeable person I'm afraid, being fairly new to this knitting lark. I do like natural fibres - and prefer them when sewing - but don't really have any strong preferences as of yet when it comes to knitting.

8. What are your least favourite yarns?

Anything with eyelashes in the 'novelty' yarn style. Horrible experiences trying to crochet the stuff has scarred me for life.

9. What are your favourite colours?

Colour? Did someone say colour? Yes please!

I like strong colours, but particularly favour nature tones, so earthy browns, reds, plum, greens, blues, yellows, orange and anything in between.

My theory is that there is nothing wrong with any colour itself, it's what you do with it and how you combine the colours that will determine whether it works or not. So learn to think in shades, warmth, tone and contrast rather than just colour.

10. What are your least favourite colours?

I'm not really much of a pastel person.

Some pastels work (pink for example) but others just look too washed out. However, set a pale pastel against a strong, bold colour and you can bring it to life, so I'm not really dead set against them either.

A quiet weekend doing not much at all

2007-04-30T11:35:00.000+01:00

Another weekend gone and it's been a quiet one. I called in sick on Thursday and Friday, so I could rest up after visiting my consultant. He injected my poor knee again and having suffered badly last time, I did exactly what he said afterwards, staying off the leg and elavating it. Five days on and so far so good, I'd go so far as to say I haven't felt this pain free in months! Of course, I'm back at work now and after sitting at a desk for hours on end and facing stairs on a regular basis the familiar burning sensation is starting up again, so I'm not sure how well it's going to last...

Staying home for a couple of days, I reacquainted myself with daytime TV, a dismal, depressing experience if ever there was one. The number of life insurance ads was frightening, with mature actors - all of them household names - inviting me to put money aside to help towards funeral costs every ten minutes... In the end, I put a DVD on before I lost the will to live.

I have done some sewing this weekend, working on a jacket which I made up last week. I set the sleeves and hand sewed much bias binding, both of which could be done sitting down without too much running around. I'm not done yet as I need to set the frogs on the front as my chosen fastenings and I'm toying with adding ties of some sort to the side panels, both for decorative purposes and to cinch it in. Photographs and a more thorough description will be along in due course.

In the meantime, I finished off the spike stitch scarf on Wednesday but just haven't had an opportunity to upload any photos. Better late than never though, so here it is.

Spike stitch is of course a crochet stitch and my scarf is based on this pattern. It's worked in alternating double and treble crochet (or single and double if like me you read American patterns) with the treble stitch spiked in every second row and as you can see was very effective.

I took it along to Knitwits on Wednesday and Kellie said they really needed to get me off scarves. Now, I like making scarves and at the moment, I'm not looking to be challenged overly, but I do get the point. I think I'd like to have a go at something else now, just for a change... Then I can do another scarf.

So, the search is on. What to make?

Finally, a purpose for scrap

2007-04-23T11:36:00.000+01:00

It's with some degree of surprise that I have to admit that I've been making costume for over five years now. Never one to be daunted by a challenge, my first project was a full length semi-fitted coat. It was made of thick coating and lined with linen, which was very prone to fraying and creased if you looked at it. Over the years, I've progressed from those tentative days when I consulted with Esther (who has oodles and oodles costuming experience) over every stitch and these days she's only likely to receive a panicked call if I'm really, really stuck - something I'm sure she's eternally grateful for.

The point of this nostalgic trip down memory lane may not be obvious, but in those five years of sewing costume I've accumulated a lot of scrap fabric. At first, I used to save all of the scraps as I cut, putting them aside, not sure what I'd do with them but reluctant to just throw them away. As the months turned into years and the project count increased, so my scrap mountain grew and grew and grew...

Now, I no longer keep every scrap but I do keep those fragments which I think may be large enough to do something, anything with. Unfortunately, despite my long standing intention to give crazy quilting a go, those scraps still pile up and I never have got around to making anything from them.

Until now that is. I finally found something I can make which uses scrap fabric and here it is!

This is an 'Acorn Hat' taken from The Medieval Tailor's Assistant and it is made entirely of fabric taken from my scrap mountain. The outer shell is grey wool and I've lined it in calico, with four pieces of each sewn together to form the hat shape. I used an even tinier piece of scrap from cutting out these pieces to make a stalk and I'm pretty pleased with the result. In fact, I'm so pleased I may well have to make some more which may end up being donated as kit to Andy.

Before I make any more examples of this little hat, I think I may need a rotary cutter to speed things along. Cutting out the eight pieces of fabric which sew together to make this hat took as long, if not longer than making it up. With this in mind, I dropped by the Singer shop in Coventry on Saturday morning to try to purchase one.

The obvious mistake there was assuming that the ladies who work in Coventry's Singer shop would be more helpful than they usually are. Instead, the conversation went something like...

Sales Lady #1: Can I help you?
Me: Yes, I hope so. I was wondering if you sell rotary cutters?
Sales Lady #1: *Puzzled* A what?
Me: A rotary cutter? It's sort of like a pizza cutter but for fabric and you use it to cut out shapes.
Sales Lady #1: *Shaking head* Never heard of a...'rotary cutter'? Is that what you called it?
Sales Lady #2: *Coming over* Is there a problem?
Sales Lady #1: This lady is looking for something called a 'rotary cutter'.
Sales Lady #2: Oh, a rotary cutter. *laughs* No one uses them any more, so there is no call for them and no one makes them. Sorry.
Me: *Blinking in surprise* Pardon? I think you'll find they get used quite a lot by quilt makers.
Sales Lady #2: Oh no one bothers to make quilts anymore, so as I said, no call for them.

I refrained from commenting further and put this down in the list of bemusing conversations I've either had or overheard in the Singer shop. If it were not for the sewing work they take in and their sewing machine sales, I really don't think this shop would stay in business. My worry is that sometimes they give this kind of advice or information to customers who don't know better. No one makes quilts? Have they checked the craft section of a book stores? Or the magazine rack? Or looked online?

Mesmerising...

2007-04-18T12:28:00.000+01:00

I just came across this graphic illustrating how a bobbin catches the thread in a sewing machine, forming the bottom stitch and locking it in place with the top thread.

It's absolutely fascinating to watch and after a few rotations its obvious why timing is so important in a sewing machine. If either the needle or the bobbin is just a tiny fraction of a second out of sync you can see why this would go horribly, horribly wrong.

My question now is how does it work with oscilating rather than rotating bobbins such as you see on most side loading machines?

A Testament to my Costuming Ability?

2007-04-17T13:10:00.000+01:00

A week on from the first core Shards event of the year, I am just about recovered and my mind is already plotting away for future events, planning kit and coming up with ideas for Strangehaven. I haven't written here for a while, mostly because I was tired and what little energy I had was being directed into work. Now though, with a weekend between me and the event I'm feeling a little more energised and bubbling with ideas.

The event itself was fun, with the best possible weather for camping at this time of year although the flip side of clear, bright days was of course freezing cold nights. Fortunately, I was equipped with thermals, hot water bottle and the means to make plenty of hot drinks.

I spent a good portion of the weekend padded up, playing my pregnant character but curiously, no one really mentioned it until the last morning. At that point, one lady was talking to me when her gaze drifted down to my belly and a puzzled expression settled across her face. Then she prodded me in the belly, to which I naturally acted (as you would) in a startled fashion provoking apologies and exclamations that I normally look so slim. My non-plussed "Why thank you dear but its to be expected, I am pregnant." completely threw her.

Time out was called shortly afterwards, I got changed and returned to my normal slimline self, at which point the questions started. I refused to answer IC queries, just smiling tolerantly, but it seems that those who were not in the know as it were didn't notice the bump initially. I didn't draw overt attention and was dressed in flowing robes, although I made several casual references - again as you would. As the weekend progressed, some people did notice and began to ask amongst themselves if Julie had put on weight. Some even suspected that I might be pregnant, but didn't like to ask or react either IC or OOC in case I was, wasn't or they were seeing things...

The fact that in the mornings I was wondering around OOC and definitely not pregnant apparently didn't register. Nor did the fact that I was also playing my new character who is tiny and again most certainly not expecting anything other than to make as much trouble as she can.

Bizarre.

Last night, I learned how to make stitch markers...

2007-04-05T11:47:00.000+01:00

With a bank holiday weekend looming, I shall be heading off to Candleston Campsite to do a spot of LARPing for the next few days. Very gingerly LARPing, avoiding all physical activities which might impact on my poor knee which is aching as I type this. The weather forecasts look good although I'm not looking forward to the cold nights and have packed my hotwater bottle in preparation.

Mostly, I am looking forward to escaping work for a few days and allowing my mind to drift onto subjects which do not revolve entirely around the University.

I made a special effort last night, escaping from work almost on time and again made it to the Knitwits meeting in time to get a good seat. It was workshop time and I had raided my bead stock and Dave's modelling tools in anticipation of learning how to make stitch markers.

And here are the results!

Aren't they pretty? I should have put a coin in the picture to give some idea of scale, but these little dangly things are about the size of an earring. I started out making the loop style ones which sit on a needle, but as I crochet as well, I thought the hook ones might be more useful.

These stitch markers are my first real effort in a long time to use beads as something other than an embellishment and I think they turned out very well. So well in fact, that I may have to make some more... Although I will have to buy my own tools first.

(Click on the picture to see a bigger version.)

Trees, bugs and bumps, tis the season methinks...

2007-04-02T13:39:00.000+01:00

This weekend I finally escaped from work at 6pm on Friday evening but I don't think I really switched off until the next morning. Having worked straight through, I didn't have much time for sitting around and the past couple of days have been centred around housework and getting things ready for next weekend.

We headed off to the local camping shop and showed great restraint, only buying what we actually went in for! Which was of course gas, a new foot pump and the endless requirement for citronella. Personally, I'm hoping that next weekend the bugs stay away but you never know, the little blighters could wake up early rather than remembering they're supposed to stay dormant until May.

Once we were home again, I busied myself in the house, cooking, cleaning, tidying... All those really essential but boring tasks that never seem to get done if I have to work a lot of hours. The cats took themselves out sunbathing whilst Dave locked himself in the shed, working as always on how to transform himself into a tree.

And here he is in person in tree guise.

I have banned him from the house in case he takes out the light fittings and asked him not to wear this mask in front of Missy. She took serious offence to his Russian hat which makes it look like he's wearing a cat on his head. If he shows her this mask, I think it will remove any doubts from her mind that he is indeed a cat eating monster in disguise.

In between all the cleaning, I did finish the waistband for the skirt to go over the bump and found time for a costume check, hence we have a couple of pictures of me in full padding. Once I'd put the robes on top of the bump, I've got to admit it was scarily convincing - which was of course the point - and I spent a good few minutes standing in front of the mirror staring in shock.

I haven't had time to make up a new jacket as yet, so I've pulled out the one I made a couple of years ago. As with everything - other than overrobes - I make for the character in question, this jacket is fitted but as it is centre fastening I'll get away with wearing it open as demonstrated here. All of which means I'm all set for next weekend.

Except for the customary pouches... I have no idea how I'm going to wear those!

(Click on the pictures to see bigger versions)

And finally we have one wobbly lined scarf

2007-03-29T13:48:00.000+01:00

I remain unreasonably busy at work with no let up in sight and with the weekend nearly in here I'm hoping it arrives while I still have some mental reserves otherwise I'll be hard pushed to achieve very much.

I refused to linger longer than I'm officially supposed to last night so that I'd make it home in time to head to the Knitwits meeting, which was very quiet with only five of us sitting next to the window. I did however get a comfy seat which was a bonus and made good progress on the wobbly line scarf. Such good progress in fact, that when I went home I ploughed on and finished it!!!!

Cue me last night trying to get Dave to show some enthusiasm for woolen winter garments and waving it under his nose again this morning before heading out to work. He says it's very stretchy, which I think is a compliment.

Anyway, here it is along with my ever present assistant Charlie who lay down next to the scarf the instant I got the camera out and refused to budge. No matter how I try, I can't cut him out of the picture (and who'd want to, he is so sweet) so we get two for one in this image.

This scarf is the result of many weeks, intermittant knitting with a row here and a row there as the approach as I've tried to fit it in around work and sewing projects. I'm relieved to finally get it done - all seventy six inches of it - and feeling very pleased with myself since it is stitch perfect. I even cast off in pattern!

For any who are interested, it's based on this pattern but I've increased the stitch count as when I knit up a few inches to test the pattern, it proved to be only 3 inches wide as opposed to the more respectable 6 inches it is now. I'm very pleased with the result, which is a long, thick and good width scarf which should keep someone very warm in winter.

(As always, click on the image to see a bigger version.)

A 'Maternity' Bodice

2007-03-26T13:26:00.000+01:00

Having spent the weekend working, I haven't really had much time to myself the past few days and today is shaping up in a similar fashion. In need of a bit of light relief when I finally made it home last night, I decided to lace up the maternity bodice which I set the last eyelet for on Friday.

Yes, it is finally finished, having taken far longer than something this size really should have. Made from black cotton moleskin with a cotton lining, this bodice is loose fitting, with godets set into the princess seams at the front to give it a high waisted appearance. The sides are laced closed and fitted with sewn in modesty panels, making the bodice adjustable.

The photo's don't really do it justice and it's out of context, worn over a modern top and skirt.

It's intended as a costume piece for Shards to fit a character who is pregnant, hence the loose fit and lack of boning. However, as it is based on a bodice from an illustration dating to the 1620's, I think it could be used as basic kit for other games if I wished. Either way, it looked pretty good on, fitting properly at the shoulders but very roomy everywhere else.

I'll be aiming to do a costume check next weekend, when I'll try the bodice with the rest of the kit, complete with padding. Providing Dave can be persuaded to man the camera, more pictures may be taken then.

(Click on the photo's to see bigger versions...)

More steady progress...

2007-03-23T10:38:00.000Z

Four more eyelets to go! Four and then the little bodice will be done. Now, I need to work out a cunning plan to detach Charlie (the cat) from my side long enough to complete this project and all will be fine.

This week I've been gearing myself up for a critical migration at work which will see me working through the coming weekend, so I've been fairly wiped out by the time I get home. However, I have managed to knit another fifty rows or so of the wobbly line scarf and now with the end in sight, I just want to get this one done so I can move on.

I did see something interesting at the Knit-Wits meeting on Wednesday night where one of the ladies admited to knitting backwards. That is, she knits across the row and then knits back without turning her work. I watched her in action and she did seem to have a fair speed going there. Intrigued, I browsed Knitty and came across this article. And yes, I can see that not turning your work would be very useful if you're working something complicated or involving more than one thread - much like why you'd use the non-turn lucet techniques. One to bear in mind for the future, should I ever get really good at knitting...

A fun filled weekend...

2007-03-19T16:41:00.000Z

The weekend just gone I headed over to the Re-enactors Market for my usual hunt around specialised traders stalls for props or the raw materials to make costume.

This time out, I resisted buying fabric - mostly because I didn't see anything I liked - but sadly still spent far more money than I should have. I blame the luxury of having all those shiny things in one place rather than having to hunt all over the internet... It is just so hard to resist.

With no fabric in my haul, I did buy a couple of costume reference books; namely The Medieval Tailor's Assistant and The Tudor Tailor. I did look at a lot of costume, doing my usual critical examination of the seams and build where I'm mentally working out how to make something similar. The Re-enactors Market is a wonderful source of inspiration for this sort of thing.

Other purchases included the obligatory felt hat, a broach, a nice compass and a pretty sundial thing which I don't know the name for but it will be a very nice prop. I also bought a couple of Egyptian bags and yet another braiding disk.

The braiding disk will be my third one and is the purchase I felt guilty about since I've yet to successfully weave a single braid using the Kumihimo method which is essentially how you should be using with this disk. I can't get the tension right on either the individual strands of yarn or the center pull through the disk (or Marudai if we were talking proper Kumihimo I guess). However, after chatting to the guy selling the disks for some tips on where I'm going wrong I decided to try one of his disks. For the moment, I'm swamped with projects but I do intend to have another go with this real soon...

The rest of the weekend was spent doing either domestic things, fretting about the cat or setting eyelets.

The new cat (or ex-stray) Charlie went outside for the first time on Saturday, hence the fretting. Saturday he was very unnerved by the whole experience and was obviously worried we'd lock him out as he didn't really wander very far. Sunday however he made up for lost time, disappearing for close onto three hours before returning. When he came in, once he'd had his initial fuss he was the quietest I've seen him in a while and actually laid down on the sofa to go to sleep last night rather than being glued to my side.

In between calling for the cat I started setting eyelets into the loose fitting bodice I'm making for Shards. So far I've set forty three eyelets, leaving me with just thirteen to do so I'm hopeful I'll get it finished this week. All of which means, I'm getting there - slowly but surely.

Looking forward to seamingly endless eyelet setting...

2007-03-15T12:25:00.000Z

I headed out to the Knit-Wits meeting last night - having missed last weeks, because I had a cold - where I managed to knit a full twenty-four rows of my wobbly line scarf. This one (my second proper knitting project) is taking me forever to make up, not because it's particularly difficult but because I've been concentrating on making costume for Shards. As it was, last night I was expecting to be sewing but ran out of hem the night before on the skirt I'm currently making. The translation of that being, that I finished hand-sewing the hem and so had nothing portable to take with me.

I headed over to Richard's for the weekend, making use of his spare room in the evening, while struggling around Shining Death doing a LARP event during the day. Determined to make good use of the time, I took two projects with me - the maternity bodice and matching skirt. Both of these had reached a stage requiring hand-sewing so were perfect for working on whilst nattering away to Richard and his fellow guests, Matt and Gareth in the evening.

The maternity* bodice is almost done. Thanks to my efforts last weekend, I've sewn the binding around the armholes so all that's left now is the eyelets, which I hope to make a start on tonight.

Those who know me, know I hate setting or sewing eyelets, which is ironic since so much of the costume I make features them in some way or another. The alternative is to use buttons or loops, but since I typically hand-sew those as well... Let's just say that fastenings are my least favourite part of finishing a garment and leave it at that!

The bodice will need eyelets (or most likely metal gromits) set into the centre front seam as well as the side seams. I still need to press and then sew a flap to each side seam in readiness for this, and then comes the fun of deciding whether to punch a hole or to poke a hole with an awl. The secret to good metal eyelets is to use as small and tight a hole as possible, which means the awl is usually my favoured method, but it's fiddly and time consuming. Not so time consuming as sewing eyelets, but it still takes a surprisingly long time to set metal eyelets, even when you've had a lot of practice.

The maternity* skirt is also nearly finished. As usual, I've opted to use a kilt pin rather than a zip to hold the side closed and was planning on using elastic to help hold the waistband in place. I've never chosen to use elastic before, since most of the costume I make is loosely based on historical clothing. The only reason I thought I'd try it was the skirt has to sit high around the base of my ribcage to allow for the bump*, so I wanted the waistband to have some give in it which would have allowed me to breathe. Sadly, disaster struck from the combination of lack of experience and cheap, nasty elastic which lost all elasticity once sewn - hence I'm having a rethink. I've pleated the skirt into the waistband, so it's not a huge amount of gather we're talking about which means I may opt for a drawstring instead.

So getting there, slowly but surely.

* The costume described within this posting is designed to go over a series of fake pregnant bellies. The LARP character they're intended for is expecting and so I'm simulating the pregnancy with costume.

Just what every LARPer needs, a crocheted jerkin

2007-03-08T11:33:00.000Z

Now this interesting little garment caught my eye today and unlike most people, my first thought was 'Oh, wow! I want one!'...

If I saw this in a charity shop I'd buy it in a flash. I know it's the LARPer in me, but I can see lots of costume potential there and it's clearly in the same league as Dave's knitted cravat.

Domestic Issues

2007-02-27T13:48:00.000Z

Things have been a bit difficult on the making things front for the past two weeks, with domestic issues getting in the way. When I say domestic issues, I mean the unexpected and therefore unplanned addition to our household, pictured here in a playful mood and trying to hide inside a slipper.

This is Charlie, formerly a stray who has been hanging around in our area since the end of last summer. He was a lot smaller then and I only got a good look at him at the beginning of January which was when I realised from his condition that all was not well. I started to feed him and generally win him over while I went through the gruelling process of trying to either find his owner or find him a new home.

To cut a very long story short, Charlie has now been adopted by us. He's been neutered, blood tested, had a broken tooth removed, has his very own microchip and in a week or two, his vaccinations will be complete. He is no longer painfully thin and with our help, his many war wounds are healing and he's nowhere near so scabby, bedraggled or tatty as he was. His coat actually has a shine to it and as the vet put it - he is beginning to look like he belongs to someone.

The downside of all of this (apart from the time, worry and cost) is that my resident cat, Missy is not at all happy with this development. While she was very happy to play with Charlie outside as a stray, having him inside her house, sitting in her favourite places, eating her food and getting affection from her mum is just not on.

However, things have now progressed to the point that Missy (pictured defending her box) - a stroppy tortie at the best of times - has discovered that she can bully Charlie. She is asserting her authority over him at every opportunity, while he does his best to usurp her wishes whenever he thinks she isn't watching. As a disputed territorial trophy, my lap and hands are not my own. I cannot sit or walk or stand anywhere in the house without coming under feline assault of the affectionate and vocal kind and this in turn is having a severe impact on my ability to finish projects I have ongoing.

Nonetheless, using special stealth tactics to escape feline observation I have been plodding on with a couple of things. Not as much as I'd like, but it's better than nothing.

Costume wise, I'm concentrating on Shards as always and having finished the riding jacket I'm pushing on with preparing for a faux-pregnancy. The baby bump which I'll need for Easter is very nearly complete, I just have to finish attaching the outer shell and then add some straps to hold it securely in place.

It is shown here, pinned and ready for sewing, modelled on a pillow which is substituting for me. Making one of these is actually quite easy and I recommend it as a method for making any body padding which you want to look fairly realistic. The cushion is made of several layers of cotton batting, cut in successively smaller ovals and sewn on top of one another. To smooth out the bumps, I just sewed another four layers of batting on top giving a dome as shown. Once it is strapped in place and dressed with costume over the top it will be a fairly convincing pregnant belly. From experience, I can say that wearing one of these is awkward and having the extra inches is strangely ungainly but it isn't heavy and will stay where it is put.

I've started on the costume to go over the top and here we have another work in progress, a sort of waistcoat made up in black moleskin. This is a replacement for a bodice, it's soft and unboned and quite loose fitting - for a bodice anyway. I've added godets to the front along with princess seams (I saw a similar bodice in a historical costume book and thought, gosh it makes her look pregnant). I've added in modesty panels to the sides which will be vented and tied together with points.

It's all looking good at the moment and I'll add a skirt this weekend... Providing of course the cats let me!

Opportunities to spend money, lots of money

2007-02-22T14:45:00.000Z

This Saturday I shall be off to the LARP Fair in Yorkshire and reading down through the list of confirmed traders, I'm happy to see old favourites like Herts Fabrics and Jim the Pot...

Which means that I can buy fabric and giant mugs, yay!

Of course, I don't actually need giant mugs but I do need fabric... I always need fabric.

It is also interesting since both of the aforementioned traders and several of the others on the list normally aim their business at re-enactors. Jim (the Pot) of Trinity Court Potteries is notorious for giving fascinating lectures about the historical significance of each of his pots and will refuse to sell you something if it isn't your period. A sign of how things have moved along I guess, since I know that a lot roleplayers regularly attend historical markets in the ever continuing search for kit.

Time to compile a list methinks.

And check my bank balance.

Snow!

2007-02-08T13:30:00.000Z

A picture illustrating why it is you can never have too many hats, scarves and gloves....

This was the view from my back door at 8:30am this morning.

The large cardboard box in the foreground was standing next to the bins waiting to be broken up, but my enterprising cat decided it was going to waste and would make a fun snow tunnel and shelter.