Matilda Update

You may remember our little caravan project? Our Matilda?

Well, since painting the outside, more has happened.

After much contemplation we decided that we could either discuss and plan our Matilda revamp for another 5 years...

OR

... we could just go ahead and start painting! 

We are taking an entirely slap-dash approach to this. If you are a DIY perfectionist this may turn your stomach, but hey, if you have a job that needs doing and that has been nagging you for some time, just do it badly and you might actually be able to get it off your to-do list and start enjoying the results, right?

That's what we are telling ourselves anyway...

We've done no sanding, in fact, no kind of preparation at all, other than taking the door handles off and roughly filling and sanding the hoes (I don't want to re-use the handles and want to replace them with smaller door knobs).

D went digging in the shed and came up with three different tubs of white paint, which we mixed together and tadah! we were ready to start!

Initially we were only painting visible surfaces, but I've changed my mind and will paint the insides of the shelves and the seating area too now, despite the fact that it will have cushions on. The kids are bound to take the cushions off at some point and it would look so bad if we leave this kind of mess under there... 

We've applied one coat so far, but I anticipate that it will need three coats to cover completely. After we are done we'll probably put some blue vinyl floor down or alternatively paint the floor with blue floor paint, and then it's on to the soft furnishings - yay! :)  

Mathilda

My long stretch of teaching is finally coming to an end - only two more weeks left and then we are into the exam and marking period and I can think about how to organise my work over the summer and into the autumn and my much anticipated study leave. I will still have lots to do (after all, that was the purpose of the leave period - to get ahead with that research), but it will be my own time, my own plans. I can't tell you how excited I am.

Spring also leads to other kinds of plan. 

We've had Matilda the caravan for two years now. Last year we finally went ahead and painted the outside - white and a lovely light shade of blue - but the inside, a depressing and faded symphony in fake wood and 1980s design, remained untouched. 

Eventually we decided to rip the toilet/shower out. It was an awful little space and we found that over the years the shower must have leaked, because there was clear water damage in one of the corners. Since it wasn't a built-in toilet we were also sure that we'd never use the little camping toilet in there and we coveted the space that getting rid of the cubicle would create. We were right - removing the bathroom really did open up the space, but what next? 

D had some vague plans of building the triple bunk bed, but even though he started measuring and brought in bits of wood from the shed it never got any further. 

Then it got colder and we shut Matilda's door for the winter and only really opened it again last week, when the warmer and sunnier weather triggered a renewed enthusiasm for this project. 

It helps that I would dearly love to take Matilda to the lake district this year. So far we've never taken Matilda camping with us - she's purely been used as a summer house in the  garden - but obviously we would like to do so eventually. I have plans to attend Woolfest for the very first time, and wouldn't it be nice to bring the caravan and spend a long weekend there as a family? 

Looking at the space again D and I made a spontaneous decision - we don't need a triple bunk! The actual beds would be small and our boys are growing fast, so it would mean such a lot of work for something that might only work for them for a few years. If we go camping we'd probably always take the campervan as well, meaning that it will be much more sensible to have half the family sleep in the camper and the other half in Matilda.

Instead, we decided, we'd have a daybed which would provide additional seating in Matilda and storage underneath and, if needed, can also function as a single bed. D got straight to work and, using pieces from one of the old toddler beds created a frame. Add one of the toddler bed mattresses on top and tadah! we have a daybed! 

He also removed the remaining stud wall next to the seating area which separated the daybed from the bench and which used to belong to a wardrobe next to the bathroom. With all this gone and the daybed in place Matilda is starting to look like a pretty great place to hang out in!

Next job on the list - painting the inside! I'm planning on a simple white interior and I'll add bits of blue through soft furnishings and accessories. 

It looks like we might actually get somewhere with our Matilda transformation this year! 

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Progress update... and another quick FO

Progress this week is less spectacular as last week (after all, I'm not finishing a whole blanket every week!), but it's been steady. With the granny square blanket finished and the sock still stuck in my office at work (I've been working from home a lot this week) I've reconnected with the Garter Yoke Cardi.

I have to say that now that the garter section is finished I'm enjoying it a lot more. I don't really like knitting garter stitch for too long. It's odd really - shouldn't it be easier and quicker than stockinette? I think I just enjoy seeing that smooth stockinette stitch fabric grow as I knit. 

Here is the cardi as it looks now:

Gratuitous close up of the increase:

I've finished the increase section and I'm about to separate the sleeves from the body. They are supposed to go on waste yarn, which is why I stopped knitting - I was at D's mum's house and I didn't have any waste yarn with me. 

This is obviously not even nearly finished, so it's going to stay with me for a while, but a lot of the more concentration-heavy stuff is done (as long as I can keep track of all those button holes. So many button holes!!) so it should be quite good mindless knitting while the house is full of family for boy #3's Christening. 

I do have one little FO to share, though - here is the little granny square pillow I was knitting with the spare granny squares last week:

It's just the one side - once it was done I carefully sewed it to the existing cushion cover. I'm really happy with it. The construction was easy - 9 granny squares, then 2 rows of double crochet around each square. I then crocheted all the squares together and started double crochet rows around and around the set of squares until it was nearly the right size. Right towards the end I added one row of the same pattern that I used for the squares (triple crochet, 3 into one stitch, then a gap of 2 stitches, etc) followed by 1 row of chain stitch. At the moment the pillow is on the sofa but I think eventually it may live in Matilda the caravan. 

More of Matilda and my plans for her to come later in the week! :) 

I played along with:

A Year of Projects

Yarn Along

Keep Calm Craft On

Hooking on Hump Day

WIP Wednesday update!

Well, it's been a productive week. 

I finished the granny square blanket... I'm still a bit in shock, I think. I've had this on the go for so long I don't think I really believe that it would ever be finished. 

The blanket was done a few days ago, actually, and we've had it on the sofa ever since. It's quite heavy, but in a good way, and very cuddly and warm. The boys love it, although I've had to scold them a few times for digging their little toes into the granny squares. I guess it's quite tempting... 

I'm so so happy with it!

In fact, I'm so happy with it, I decided that with the remaining 9 squares (they were the first ones and the gauge was just totally different because I was still learning) I was going to make a little cushion cover for the new stylish Matilda the Caravan. I edged these with blue so they'd match her new shiny outside paint. This is not finished, but I'm planning to crochet around the edge until it's the right size to cover that side of the pillow. I'll then hand-sew the crochet onto the cream pillow itself and tadaa! new cushion cover made out of an old (and rather worn) one!

In between all this I've obviously completed my handspun mobius cowl. I've actually been wearing this on and off - it's great to wear. How did I know know how comfortable cowls are? 

I've also continued to make progress with the Lombard Street sock #2. I've had a couple of hospital appointments this week and as I'm sure we all know, that always entails a lot of waiting around. All good for sock knitting, though, so to be honest I quite enjoyed the quiet time to sit down and work on this .I can't show you a picture though, because, guess what - I've forgotten it at work.

I've also been digging around for some yarn that might be suitable for Steph's Hitofude KAL and I managed to find this:

This is a HUGE cone of some sort of burgundy wool. I think it's lace-weight, so a little thin for Hitofude. May do a swatch, though.

Then I found this:

Honestly, I'm a little bit horrified. There are two cones of 4-ply, one of them superwash. There are also two hanks of Knitpicks yarn, one of them lace-weight, the other 4-ply. Seriously, I had no idea I had all this stuff!! The problem is that I'd have to dye it. Perhaps some Koolaid dying might do the trick? 

I'm also looking forward to starting Liesl. Here is all the yarn - should be enough, no? 

There is still no progress on the Garter Yoke Cardi, but it's next on my list. What with the crochet obsession I've just not found a moment to think myself back into this project (what row was I on anyway??). I'm looking forward to reconnecting with it in the coming week, though.

Oh, and last but not least, D's auntie gifted the boys with this:

Boy #3 calls him 'Ratty Bear'. Isn't he adorable? 

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A Year of Projects

Hooking on Hump Day

WIP Wednesdays - on Thursday!

OK, so this WIP post is a day late, but never mind that - there's been some actual progress this week!

My obsession with the granny square blanket has continued unabated, so I'm pretty much done with it by now. In fact, if I hadn't decided last night to add one or two more rows to it so it would drape more nicely across the sofa I'd be finished by now. I've crocheted all the squares together and have even sewn in most of the ends. The only thing left is to crochet once around the whole thing, but obviously I have to wait with that until I've made more squares for another row or two... Hopefully it'll be done by Friday so I can do a proper FO post for it. It also needs to be washed and blocked properly, but I think that'll have to wait - I want to admire it on the sofa for a few days before I wash it and can't use it for days until it's dry!

 I've also made progress on my Lombard Street Socks. I've finished sock #1!! In the end I kind of made up my own pattern, lol, because the instructions were confusing because I wasn't knitting on dpns. It all worked out perfectly, though, so no harm done. Today I briefly went into work to look in on a colleague's conference, but because it's normally my day off I decided that I would use the half hour before to cast on for sock #2. I've only done a few rows on it but I've done the piquot edging , meaning that I can start with the lace and cable pattern now. I'm really pleased with this pattern - it's fun to knit, and the sock fits perfectly.

I'm taking a couple of days off now, which I am very excited about. D and I have plans to finally paint our old caravan. I bought Matilda (yes, all our vehicles have names...) on ebay last year. It was a bit of a spur of the moment purchase and she is very old and hasn't in fact been anywhere since we've bought her. Her tires need looking at and really, my idea was that she'd mainly be a summer house that we could, very occasionally, take with us when we go camping. I'd like to re-do the interior (take out the nasty-looking little bathroom and the wardrobe to make some room, paint the lot, make covers for the seats, etc.

With all those grand plans, though, not much has happened since she came home to stay with us. After her first winter here she looked decidedly run down and overall pretty green and slimy. We were not enamored. All five of us, armed with sponges and brushes and lots of soapy water, were able to restore her to her slightly shabby previous self, but I think the time has come for her to get her make-over, so this morning we armored ourselves with paint brushes and a tub of Dulux Weathershield and got to work:

Isn't this better? She's not finished, of course - she'll get a coat of white around the middle tomorrow, and we are contemplating whether to paint the roof white or blue... 

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A Year of Projects
WIP Wednesday