One soggy weekend later

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...

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

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

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

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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

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

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.

• Crocheted Bags
• Victorian Lace Today
• One-Skein Wonders
• 200 Crochet Blocks...
• Crocheted Hats
• One Skein

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

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

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

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...

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?

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...

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...

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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

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

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

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!

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.

Scarf and Jacket

This weekend I seem to have done a lot of faffing and not much just getting on with making things up. My excuse... I was in pain; I have good days and bad days with my knee and this weekend counted as bad. I blame the weather, I really don't cope with cold and while the sun was out, we have to remember it *is* February.

Anyway, when not moving in a gingerly fashion or worrying about cats I did sew on a lot of buttons and finish the scarf I was crocheting. I decided on the style of top and jacket I need for Shards so only really have the skirt to sort out in my head now. I also cut out the first pieces of batting for baby bump mark 2, fitted the base to me and started sewing the first few layers together. So not a total loss, I guess.

And so some pictures...

First up, time to inject some colour into the procedings with a loud version of the one skien scarf from The Happy Hooker.



I liked the way this one made up, the instructions were clear and since it only uses a single stitch type (doubles or trebles depending on whether you're reading American or British patterns) it was easy and made up very quickly. The photo here doesn't really do it justice - in the flesh it makes me think of smarties - but worn over a plain dark layer and wrapped a couple times around my neck it looked quite pretty in a colourful way. :)

The jacket for Shards is also finished. This one is in brown cotton moleskin and lined in cotton (back and sleeves) and silk (front and skirts). Those flaps conceal real, functioning pockets!





I've yet to wear it over the full kit, so don't have any photo's of it in context I'm afraid, but picture it over full culottes and worn with a tricorn and I think you get the idea.

And finally, for those who might wish to see... A flash of the hideous diamond check pink silk lining, which I think is just perfect. :D

One jacket very nearly complete

All the button holes are done... Just 22 buttons to sew on and then some vigourous ironing!

Knit-Wits was fun last night and I made good progress on the scarf I'm crocheting. The difference in how quickly something can be made up when crocheted compared to knitting is striking though. I started this scarf (a loud version of the one skein scarf from The Happy Hooker) on Monday night whilst watching TV as I couldn't face sewing button holes. I picked it up again last night and with only the border to go now, I'd say that one more evening and it will be done.

In other news I'm getting a hankering to use my lucet again. I don't have any particular need to make laces, but I found myself thinking about decent gimps and whether I should experiment with a different base yarn while I was driving to work this morning. All of which means I may have to make some laces just to get it out of my system.

Edited to add link
I have a double lucet that Dave bought me for Christmas a couple of years ago, but have no idea how to use... And I just found instructions! Yay! A happy me.