Rattling On...

Any colour as long as it's red...

I said there'd be a cardigan, and here it is. It's red just in case your browser is like mine and it appears as a shocking orange. It's red because I wanted a sort of vintagey cardigan to wear at Christmas. And you have to have red and cables for that. Or reindeer. Or both.

It was a very easy knit and didn't use much yarn (it's slightly cropped which helps in that department) but I did make it a size too large. Which turns out to be okay, as that seems to be In at the moment. Very 80s.

I have good memories of 80s knitwear. Even down to the batwing mohair number I knit on broomsticks for a friend to wear to a concert. I made it up as I went along and it was a roaring success. That and the T-shirts I spray painted slogans on using car body paint. We used to knit our own school jumpers, I think the school sort of admired our enterprise and it kept us occupied at break and lunch. Them were the days.

I've been knitting quite a lot recently, I'm rediscovering the zen like quality of plugging away at stocking stitch. The knitting group has taken a turn for the better as well, with the addition of three women who are really good fun. In fact we have so much fun we don't do much knitting, but that's a good thing-right?

Thank you all for the fabulous comments and emails following my last post. I haven't replied to them all individually as constant repetition of Thank You may end up sounding shallow. The support of readers, lurkers (you know who you are) and fellow bloggers cannot be measured but is very precious.

Heathcliffe, it's me, Catheeeeeeee...

This is my go-to pattern when I want to stress-bust. I have made umpteen of these scarves, but I have to say this is possibly the loveliest yarn I've used so far.

It's Catherine Earnshaw merino and is beautifully soft, other than warmth, possibly the most important attribute in a scarf. Having said that I can put up with hairy and scratchy yarns myself if necessary for some sartorial reason. Shoes that rub would have to be top of my Hate to Wear list, or knickers that ride up (most distracting).

This may or may not go into the present stash, probably not as it's so scrummy. And let's face it, I could do this pattern in my sleep; and there will be more I'm sure. I find the combination of stitches very relaxing for some reason, I've said before how I find counting in fives very calming. In fact I don't really know why I don't do a throw in this pattern.

So there you are, I've set myself up with a project for autumn; something stashbusting as well which is always good.

Craft at last...

A finished project at last! This was the throw I named 'Spring' as that's when it was supposed to be finished for. Actually all the crochet was done a long while ago, but the ends that needed hiding seemed to be on an epic scale and I could only face them in small controlled sessions!

It's a duck egg bluey-green background. You may be getting that but I find the colours on my laptop aren't very good compared to my old computer. I sometimes sneak a look at work and find I'm much happier with how they look there.

This one is destined to be set aside for when No2 goes off to university, I wanted to be at least a year in advance this time round. No1 is off to Paris next week where she'll be studying for a year as part of her degree. She won't be able to take hers on this leg of her journey as it's too much to pack for the Eurostar.

All the time spent weaving in ends paid off, though as the back is almost as neat as the front:

Details will be on my Ravelry page (link in sidebar) such as they are, it's nothing off the well-worn beaten track of granny blankets. And there's even another project to come as I photographed that as well.

Off out for lunch today as it's my Dad's birthday, the sun is shining and we're trying Somewhere New, or at least Somewhere Different, that was recommended by a friend. This may or may not go down well as he's a creature of habit. Fingers crossed.

Tabi, or not tabi...

Because I have nothing better to be doing, I knitted myself a pair of booties. Actually they remind me of Japanese tabi socks but without the toe bit.

I think they'd make excellent bed socks or pretentious in-flight socks for when your feet allegedly swell up to bursting. This has never happened to me. In fact I've always found flying as dull as being on a bus, except for the odd occasion there has been some sort of mechanical failure (once, diverted due to engine failure; once, emergency landing due to fuel having run out), weather (once, diverted due to lightning) or the simple excitement of being in a death trap (once, Tupolev with carpet on the walls and what appeared to be rubber bands for propulsion). But the terminal can be far more dangerous than the plane.

I was once in an international airport with the girls, waiting for a changeover, when we decided to have an ice-cream at the pop up thing of a famous manufacturer. We sat at the bar on 50s style stools and scoffed the ice before moving off to wander around a bit more. No sooner than our behinds had lost contact with the seats, but the whole ceiling above the place came falling down. Right where we'd been sitting. They had to cordon off the area as a couple of people were very seriously injured. Fortunately we walked away from it with nothing but shock.

Which is not to say it was plain sailing after that. We got to the gate to get on the plane (remember, we've already been through security as this is a changeover) and were detained while the bomb squad came to look us over. Really. They were suspicious as we had i-pods, phones, a games console, a computer and a docking station on us. This was a time when we were travelling back to the UK for the long summer holiday, and all this paraphenalia was essential or life could not be lived...

Meanwhile, I'd been separated from the girls and had to remove almost all my clothes, undo my belt and unzip my jeans. I imagine it was to prove I didn't have any jollop strapped to me, but it was in plain sight of the rest of the (getting very peed off) people on our flight. When the bomb disposal men arrived, in full riot gear, they waved something over the pile of electricals, took the front of the docking station, put it back on, huffed a bit and waved us on our way.

There's nothing like a bit of ritual humiliation to help you form bonds with fellow travellers. Please tell me you, too, have been singled out for a full body cavity search due to the brand of chewing gum you'd packed...?

Wow...a scarf...yawn

Sometimes I worry that I'm not capable of independent thought, this scarf being an example. I saw it on a blog and thought it would be good for a little bit of the old stashbusting. Sometimes it's just easier to have let someone else do the choosing.

It's made in two halves and grafted together with Kitchener stitch, and I have to say I'm still not completely sure why. If I made it again I may miss out the faff and just keep on knitting away. Details are on my Ravelry page if you're vaguely interested.

Poor old dolly is a Chad Valley cloth bodied doll with a composite head that's seen better days. She, like me, has green eyes. I think she's beautiful, maybe a bonnet would look good on her, spruce her up a bit. Would it work for me as well? I feel very jaded what with the weather and all.

Hopefully this is the last scarf with wearability potential that I'll make for a while. It'd be good to have to leave the scarves in a drawer for a while and get out the linen and sandals. Or even to be able to stop wearing wellies.

I have a blanket on the go and some sewing sort of lined up. If I could lay an egg on what material to use. It's so expensive these days I daren't cut into it in case I ruin it and am reluctant to use up vintage stuff for the same reason and in case it just looks awful. Dilemmas. Years ago I used to hack things up, spraypaint T-shirts and knit on broom handles, when did I become so dull?

Kitsch craft...

These were a steal in a charity shop, not literally you understand, more on the metaphorical side of things.

I don't go in for a lot of kitsch, I find it hard to co-ordinate it in the home. You either embrace it wholeheartedly or dabble, I'm a dabbler. But kitsch with a purpose is always easier, and pincushions are such an easy way to convert things such as my two swans a swimming.

The cushions are just circles of fabric filled with stuffing and secured, you can sew or just use a rubber band. There's a bit of extra stuffing in the cavity and the cushion is pushed in on top. You can glue this in place or just leave it as it is if it's firm enough.

I like velvet pincushions myself, and will look out for a nice rich pink piece for the larger swan, but the gingham is nice and fresh for now. I can see these becoming a gift idea to go to, as there are loads of kitschy small vases out there for the taking. I'm thinking the ones with woodland animals on next...

 

Craft at last...

I would have done some outdoor shots of the bag in a spring-like setting, only it's snowing and not looking very springy at all. So the back of the cupboard door it is.

This is the Chanel-style bag from The Gentle Art of Knitting by Jane Brocket. A very, very simple project to add to a birthday gift.The handles are wooden and the heart I made from felt and a large button. It can be easily removed if the recipient fancies a change

We're supposed to be off out for a meal later on, hopefully the snow will stop as the venue is out of town. Mothers' Day. I received a very funny card this morning (will show it later) but didn't get a cuppa in bed. Sensible daughters wait until I've fed the animals and dealt with the litter tray before arising.

Colour pop...

Another stashbuster of the mindless sort, a super-simple two row crochet pattern from the recent Granny Chic book.

Supposedly it's called granny puff stitch, and indeed one row is bog standard granny clusters and the other a puff. I have to say it's not a very satisfying puff and looks a little bit too much like the granny cluster...but hey, I gave it a bash.

I didn't need another scarf either.

Flower power...

Really easy to make hexy pincushions. These are so quick and another great stashbuster, I made all these in one evening while watching a film. I keep meaning to make some into little lavender sachets for the wardrobe. Watch this space, I may get round to it someday.

I've been having another half-term chucking out session. Not as successful as the last one, or not as productive should I say. I keep getting distracted, usually by looking at something for a great length of time trying to decide whether it's a keeper or not. I'm very much in the camp of 'One day...' but am getting better with practise.

Vintage wool blankets are one thing I don't feel I can part with just yet. I have a couple of really good ones and some reasonble ones. I had thought of repurposing them into throws for the couch but havn't done anything about it. Spot a recurring theme here? Lots of ideas and little action.

Puff Granny...

I know I haven't posted much craft here for a while and that's mainly as I haven't really done anything different, or it's been small things.

Anyway, this is the crochet I was doing the other day, a puffed granny hexagon thingy. It looks difficult but is actually really easy to do, but quite time consuming with all the joining and finding the fronts and backs of stitches!

I decided last night I don't want to carry on with this, I want to do something a bit less multicoloured, but this was good practice. Not sure I'd want to do a whole blanket from these, it'd take a while and a lot of yarn I  should think.

It's still definitely blanket weather here, minus 2 at the moment with a biting wind, though the lengthening days are very welcome. Snow is forecast for overnight.

A friend and I went for afternoon tea yesterday to celebrate both our birthdays, belatedly. She was wearing the scarf I gave her, she'd admired it while I was making it so I earmarked it for her present, the colours are very much her. She was off in the early hours of this morning to France with the school trip. I don't envy the early start but a bit of France would be lovely right now. If I had a passport...

I got new photos for said passport renewal and my driving licence yesterday, which I hadn't chenged the address on for the last, ahem, eight years or so. Thought it was time to do something about them. Photos are FIVE pounds now, I almost fainted. And the rigmarole of posing- blank expression, no smiling, eyes on the line. I had a red nose from the cold which fortunately was washed out in the massive flash the machine emits. Other than me looking like I've just got out of rehab, they're not too bad. Not bad enough to invest another fiver anyway.

Cake mountains...

The giveaway has been drawn and all I'm saying is there's more than one winner. Check your inbox!
Lots of baking going on at the moment, at home and at work. A PTA stall to be stocked, two student birthdays and a fundraiser all on the go. This cherry cake, from Jane Brocket's Vintage Cakes again, is for eating at home. We need a bit of carb to cope with the cold, wet, dark and miserable weather. At least the roof is mended now, following some particularly gusty days last week.

I have some things to show you, when there's enough light to take decent pictures that is. I don't like using the flash, mainly because I don't have the finesse to bounce the light or whatever it is people do. I could learn, but I don't particularly want to. So you get crappy, grainy shots that I could pretend were meant to look like that... let's face it you can spend good money on an app to get the distressed look and I can do it for free.

I haven't made anything with the yarn I spun yet, and I also haven't had any overwhelming desire to do any more spinning. Which is a bit of a relief in a way, but it was nice to try something new and meet some really interesting people. I'm not sayng I won't ever do it again, but I can't see my efforts competing with Rowan any day soon. Although I was watching some drop spindle videos on Youtube, now that looks quite soothing...

Spinning classes...

So, yesterday was the spinning workshop when I attempted to turn one of the above into something useable! Two friends and I toddled off here in the mist and ice to spend the day crafting. Two of us did spinning and one (and another woman) did loom weaving.

It was a cold day, -4C when we drove there, and I'm glad I took my wellies and plenty of layers. We went out to meet the 'ladies' and I certainly wasn't overdressed. There was one gent in the field, who is just finishing his annual duties, he was very polite and well-behaved.

Back inside, we carded fleece before wrangling with the spinning wheels. My worst nightmares of tension and co-ordination were all realised. The treadling bit was easy, as was adding new bits of fleece, but I found getting any consistency very difficult.

But I suppose that's the point of practise, and like anything it would all get better with time. I suppose. I managed to fill two bobbins before 'plying' one of them with a contrasting yarn. A bit of a flirt with the niddy noddy and a skein was mine.

I have an idea of something to make with it, of a rustic nature as befits its rather artisan appearance.

I had a quick shufty on ebay for spinning wheels and almost dropped bow-legged when I saw how much they cost. I'm not sure my talents warrant that sort of outlay...

Scarf weather...

I haven't only been chucking out things, I've been making them as well. Or at least, I've made one thing; a single-skein project that had an easy two row pattern.

I chose this to take along to the new craft group meeting as I thought it would be easy to talk and make at the same time. This week there were six people there, so we've doubled in size already! I spent most of the time helping sort out someone's knitting project, and then again on Saturday when she'd stalled so we met for coffee and knitting.

People were very interested in us and we drew quite a few interested looks and comments. I'm not sure the cafe was too pleased, from the look on one waitress' face you'd have thought we were shooting up in public.

Next Saturday three of us are going for a day on a small farm to learn spinning, after meeting the flock of sheep, lunch there as well. I've no idea what to expect but I'm all for trying new things. I think it's a relatively new venture so it will be interesting to feed back to you, someone else out there might be interested.

Apparently you spin some yarn then make something from it; either knitted, crocheted or woven. Hmmm, might be a very small thing, I've never had a go at spinning. Though I have done all the carding and things for a friend's mother when I was at school. She had a spinning wheel on the landing and a loom in one of the bedrooms.

In some ways I really hope I don't take to spinning...

Need a quickie?

 

As in a quick project...

...and No2 needed a new scarf so that solved two problems.

This is super-chunky yarn on 10mm needles so the inches just pile on (something else I identify with). It's a lovely violet colour that I'm not sure came out on the photos but usually when I look at them on a different computer they look fine, so I think the colour on this one just isn't its best feature. Full details on my Ravelry, button for which is in the sidebar, should you be interested.

And yes, it's resting on a painted chair. One of the chairs that I've been painting for what seems like an eternity. It's just a volume thing, I added so many things to the To Paint list. Basically if it doesn't get out of the way at the moment it gets a coat of paint! Hopefully I'll have more to show you soon, when I've put the room back together again.

Halloween was a wash-out last night. I has all the trick or treat nibbles at the ready but the heavens opened and sensible folks stayed at home. Such a shame as most years the local kids have gone to town on costumes. I put our pumpkins on the mantelpiece instead of the doorstep.

Later on I watched The Paradise which was recorded on series link. Do you watch it? I have to say I think it's a load of nonsense, a sort of Dr Who version of Victorian life. Even the colours in the shop and houses don't have an authentic feel. Yes, it's more pleasant to see pale blue but we all know the Victorians were a Gloomy Lot. I also don't think shop girls would be allowed to go 'out for a drink' unless they were a certain sort. But maybe I've misunderstood the place of Woman in history at that period? (and take a look here as well).

I can't watch Merlin either as both history and fable have been mangled beyond belief. I know you have to make history interesting and accessible to people but really, no wonder people get fact and fantasy confused. Maybe I'm just a pedant...

Tarte with a heart

This is the shallot tarte tatin from this book by Sarah Raven, it's in other books by her and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall reproduced it in his veg handbook (he's a fan of hers).

I love caramelised onions, and this is like eating a great French onion soup on top of pastry, if you get my drift. It is delicious. And very easy to make as well. I didn't have a 'frying pan with removeable handle' to go in the oven, but this little enamel roasting dish worked perfectly.

The recipe calls for slices of cheese on top of the onions and before the pastry, camembert or brie. I used some brie but also some Peakdale Shropshire blue ( red coloured Stilton, strong) for punch. We had it with sugar snap peas and there's some left for today's lunch.

The painting is coming along nicely. I can report that the Annie Sloan chalk paint is a doddle to use, the best bit being that you wash the brushes in water. I only buy water based paint these days as I hate fannying around with turps or thinners. The chairs are fiddly and a real test of patience, the sideboard will be another challenge- the first coat is fine, but then I start to get bored just going over and over. So I tend to do it in chunks rather than stick at it.

Which is odd as I can plug away at the most dull and basic crochet and knitting stitches for hours on end. I have decided I would make a poor painter and decorator but I'd be good at those 60 minute makeover things they put on the telly. Wham bam.