Once Upon a Time... A Journey to the North of England

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Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Summer crafting...

... can be pretty slow.

It's been hot out there these past few days. I'm not complaining, mind (I really shouldn't, after whinging for weeks about the unseasonably cold weather), especially since it already seems to be over again (far too soon!), but it did make me slow and unwilling to engage too much with warm wool. I have been doing some gentle crochet, and I've also worked on a test knit which, for a while, took most of my knitting time , but other than that there isn't much to report. I do have plans, though! This year, I am telling myself, is the year when I will knit some Christmas presents. Nothing large - no cardigans or blankets - but some hats and scarves and mitts are in order I think.

I also need to make another baby quilt, because my oldest and dearest friend just had a baby girl (her third little girl, to match our three boys!!). I sewed quilts for her older two, so will obviously have to do the same for the new arrival. :) Add to that a sudden desire to finally learn embroidery (I purchased the materials for this years ago, but never got round to it) after seeing the beautiful bags that Stefanie over at Woolythyme made, and I am pretty much set for the summer and autumn.

I'm also contemplating what to take on holiday with me. It dawned on me the other day that we will be getting ready to board the ferry to Rotterdam in two weeks time. I have dragged the suitcase down from the attic and have been putting kids clothes aside so there won't be a mad dash to get all sorts of clothes washed and dried on the last day!

But what really occupies my thoughts is of course not the packing of clothes - it's the packing of crafts projects. I always overestimate the amount of making time that I have on holiday, but hey, I can dream, right? Right now I am thinking some portable small projects such as hats and scarves, and perhaps that embroidery stuff - after all it's also fairly small and portable... What do you think? What are you taking on holiday with you?

Other than that it's a mad dash to get organised. There is work stuff to be done of course, but in between I have to find time for all the holiday planning too. I have things to get for the journey, and the beach, and food to plan and buy (we are going in the car and we will have a flat, so we may as well plan ahead - since we are going to a small island food is bound to be pricey there).

On top of that I am trying to think up an easy irigation system for my greenhouse. The tomatoes are coming on so well in there, and I really don't want to come back to some kind of desert... The allotment will hopefully look after itself for the fortnight that we are away, although as fate may have it we could be heading for a freak heatwave (a rarity in Yorkshire, but not unheard of...). Not much to be done about that, though, so I can only hope for a) rain, and b) wel-established plants that can weather a dry spell.

Anyway, look what arrived yesterday!

My mum-in-law was kind enough to give me a subscription to Taproot for my birthday. I'm so looking forward to reading it, but perhaps I should wait until the holiday?

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Sunday, July 05, 2015

What do you do when you have too many strawberries to eat?

... you make strawberry jam!

Thursday, July 02, 2015

Allotmenting...

Just feast your eyes on this...

This time of year the allotment doesn't look like much (it starts to look more impressive in August, when the cut flowers are in full swing), but it's already productive.

When I went a few days ago I harvested a bucket-full of sweet and juicy strawberries, some rhubarb, a bowl of mangetout and the first batch of broad beans. Delicious!

Looks drab, doesn't it?

Yet, when you look closer:

And lastly, the strawberry plants - doesn't look like they are hiding all those ripe strawbs, does it?

If you have any productive garden news to share I'd love to hear from you. Just leave a comment below. :)

Friday, June 26, 2015

FO - Eyelet Yoke

What a week this was! At one point I thought I couldn't possibly get it all done, and then I discovered errors on the computer system at the very last minute, and then... Well, enough said about that, it's all done now. Today I spent a bit of time attending to things that I haven't been able to do recently, such as going to the bank for example. Nothing exciting, but it felt good to re-connect. I also dropped off and picked up boy #3 from preschool and he was delighted and so excited that I was picking him up. That felt good too.

I have also finished the Eyelet Yoke. I didn't do that today, though, although I did sew the ends in just now, while 5 (!) boys are playing Super Mario on the Wii all around me (the noise level is pretty awesome...). We have been watching a new drama on TV, Humans, and it's gripping enough that it let me completely forget how boring I find sleeve knitting.

The sleeves are still sort of short - but I like it that way. It fits really well and the yarn is oh so soft.

I also quite like how the neckline has turned out.

Although if I wanted to quibble I'd say that I would have been better off with a less stretchy cast-on (I used the stetchy German cast-on). With less stretch the neck wouldn't be quite so wide, which doesn't matter at the front, but gives me quite a generous dip at the back too... It doesn't gape, though, so it's OK.

Pattern alterations:

Well, I re-sized the pattern so it would fit me.

I also changed the hem. The original has quite an interesting short-row hem that makes the sweater longer at the back than at the front, and I was quite tempted by it, but while I thought it'd be great for jeans, I knew that I'd be wearing this sweater a lot with skirts and I don't think that kind of hem would look that great with those.

Overall I'd give this top marks - the pattern, that is, not my knitting! ;)

Rav page is here, but it doesn't really say anything I haven't discussed in my updates on the blog.

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Friday, June 19, 2015

Oh boy...

... life has a way of getting in the way of good old honest blog writing, doesn't it?

Not that it's been all bad, but the past few weeks have been absolutely packed with all sorts of things, both brilliant and not so brilliant.

On the down side (getting that out of the way first), work has been insane. INSANE, I'm telling you. Not just for me, we've all suffered. My colleague pulled an all-nighter the other day, working 30 hours in a row, with no sleep, just to catch up. While I am familiar with that from my student days it really isn't something that you regularly do in your 40s I think. She admitted that she felt absolutely dreadful afterwards and it took days for her to recover, but it needed to be done at the time.

While I've refused to work all night my days have been pretty intense BUT it's almost done now. Sure, I have other things to do (and I'll get on with those today, so I can finally, finally not feel guilty about postponing them again), at least the big big marking is out of the way and once we have our exam boards next week it will be properly finalised and DONE.

Now, that's the bad stuff. The good stuff is pretty great too!

First of all, boy #1 had his first holy communion a couple of weeks ago.

We celebrated the day quietly, just us, and grandma, and D's uncle and aunt were there for the occasion. After the ceremony there was cake in the church hall and then we all came back to our house for some food. It was nice, and it was so lovely to see D's uncle and wife. They are getting older and who knows how long it will be possible for them to travel, so it was doubly appreciated that they decided to come for the celebration.

A week later (as in last weekend) was my birthday. My 40th birthday no less!

Again, I didn't think we had anything big planned. D convinced me that we should mark the occasion with a nice meal in a restaurant we both like, and again (I thought) we'd planned to just have a quiet meal (well, not quiet per se perhaps, with the boys...), together with grandma, who lives very close by. Little did I know that they'd both been plotting for months! When we got to the restaurant who should I find but my dad and my 2nd mum and her aunt from Germany AND my brother-in-law and his family, all waiting for us?! They'd all been planning their surprise visit for months and my German family had stayed with grandma for the night before the party so I wouldn't know anything about it.

Needless to say I was completely stunned! Such an amazing birthday surprise!

The relatives stayed for a few days afterwards, which was lovely, and went back to the airport on Wednesday, thereby concluding our very sociable last few weeks.

Despite the not-quite-so-nice work pressures it's been a good few weeks.

The only thing that has really suffered (besides the blog) is my knitting. I managed a few rows here and there, but it's been fairly unimpressive.

Anyway, there you go, my excuses are made! ;)

And since I have no knitting worth mentioning that I could contribute to this post today, have this instead - can you spot what is wrong with this picture?

Yep, you got it, it's a chicken in the kitchen. Nyla managed to escape quite a bit recently. She has been a bit unwell, poor lady, but ever since she recovered she's been up to her old tricks, flapping over the fence of the chicken enclosure, and then running, as fast as she can, to the back door so she can slip in while nobody is looking. As soon as she's gobbled up all the cat food she'll make her way to the kitchen to forage for crumbs under the table.

Naughty girl, that Nyla.

Rex disapproves.

Right she is.

Anyway, up and onwards, hopefully towards less stressful worktimes and more productive knitting and crafting.

Friday, June 12, 2015

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...

... 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! :)

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

FO on Wednesday

Meet Liesl!

I actually finished this a while ago but then it was lying around, waiting to be washed and blocked, and well, lace really doesn't look great if it isn't blocked, so I didn't want to photograph her before that was done.

Then, when I had finally got round to the blocking I still had to find some suitable buttons. These ones were luckily located in my big vintage button jar - looking at them they probably belonged to one of D's gran's old coats or jackets...

They are perfect for Liesl I think.

Unfortunately I then sewed them on too far apart and rather than take them off and sew them on closer together straight away I got bored, lost interest, and did something else for a few days. Do you ever do this, or is it just me who does bizarre things like get side-tracked away from a project that is literally 5 minutes from being complete?!

Anyway, it's finally done, and I love it!

Photos, as usual, taken by boy #1.

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Wednesday, June 03, 2015

WIP Wednesday

Is it really Wednesday again?

Already?

This week really has raced by. It seems like yesterday that I posted my last Wednesday WIP update.

Progress this week exists, but is a bit unspectacular.

I’ve been watching Orange is the New Black (so good!!) and while I was doing that I was mainly working on the Eyelet Yoke, which is at that mindless stage of sleeves knitting. Oh, how I hate sleeves. I should really only knit short-sleeved garments, because I get so bored with sleeves and when I get bored I start procrastinating and progress stalls…

I’ve at least managed to get past the elbow, so I guess I’m on the home-straight with this sleeve at least.

Not exciting, but for the sake of documentation, here it is:

I’ve also taken delivery of a huge (and I mean HUGE – I kind of underestimated how much toy stuffing 1kg was!!) bag of polyester toy stuffing, so I was able to finish Roly’s body. I quite like this project – it’s fussy, but with all the short rows and the counting, and the Kitchener stitch and the 3 needle bind-offs it’s never dull, and it’s the perfect project to become more at ease with the fiddlier aspects of knitting technique.

Picture of the kitchener stitch seam on the belly:

I’m also finished knitting the horns and am now on to knitting 14 (!) little insect legs. Once that’s done and all those tiny legs are sewn onto the body I’ll only have to embroider some eyes on and it’s done!!

I’m also slowly continuing to knit on Black Acer. Even though this continues to be slow, considering that for a few months the project stalled almost entirely this is actually really good progress. As I’m settling into the pattern more it is becoming less confounding as well, which is great, because I’m now not continuously glued to the pattern print-out and can actually enjoy the knit.

Here, have a black blob, so you can admire my work this week (isn’t black impossible to photograph?!):

Last but not least, I've been a bad girl and have bought yarn. This was prompted by boy #2's wish for a hat and scarf for next winter, but really, we all know that this is a feeble excuse - I could easily have found something to use in my stash...

Look at it though, isn't this gorgeous?

This is Manos del Uruguay, Silk Blend, which is a 70% wool, 30% silk yarn, approximately dk / aran weight. I bought it through Ravelry.

The other day it occurred to me that this Year of Projects is drawing to a close. I can’t believe it’s been one year already.

With that in mind I went back to my original project list to see what I’d achieved. At times I’ve ventured quite far from that original list, so not everything is relevant anymore and I’ve knitted and crocheted things that I didn’t even know existed when I first drew up that list, but again, for the sake of recapping the year, here is the original list:

The Garter Yoke Cardi - DONE

Ink Flare - DONE

Ink Flare 2 - DONE

Socks for boys - DONE, DONE and DONE

Bulky Moebius Cowl - DONE

Shalom cardi

Ubernatural - SWAPPED FOR LIESL (DONE)

Dietrich

Socks for me - DONE

Sideways Grande Cloche

Easy Raglan V-Neck - DONE

Granny Square Blanket - DONE

I think I've done pretty well with that original list - and of course I've achieved so much more!!

Projects that I've completed (or at least started) that were not part of the original plan were:

Roly the Roly Poly Pill Bug

The Eyelet Yoke Sweater

Black Acer

The Weekender blanket

Ripples

The Crochet Cushion cover

Boy #3's Handspun Hat

Owls

The Mystery Crochet Blanket

Totoro

I think all in all it’s been a productive year, and despite the fact that I’ve been super busy with work. I guess it’s nearly time to start thinking about next years’ Year of Projects – I’ll better get planning!!

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