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Many thanks for your comments about overlockers. I’ve got my eye on the Brother 1034D after recommendations from Ginger Makes and Handmade Jane. It gets rave reviews on sewing.patternreview.com too. It’s my birthday in June, so I’m thinking of getting this as a present to myself 
I didn’t go to my sewing class last night. I haven’t been well since last week and the class makes Tuesdays a long day. I was at the hospital early this morning for blood tests to check whether my medication has made me anaemic again. I’m tired and breathless all the time, which makes motivating myself to sew (or do anything else) quite difficult. However, I have been trying to do some sewing in small bursts because it takes my mind off things.
I have put aside the ‘Peony’ dress for the moment. I’m not in the right frame of mind to contend with fitting issues. To be honest, I’ve lost some sewing confidence whilst struggling with ‘Peony’ so I thought it would be a good idea to try something different for a while.
I’m a fan of Sewaholic’s patterns, so I decided to try the Crescent skirt. It’s a gathered skirt with a fitted yoke, designed for pear-shaped women. It has pockets, which is always a good thing, as far as I’m concerned. Tasia at Sewaholic has written a skirt sewalong, with lots of photos and clear instructions, which is great for a newbie like me.
So far I’ve traced the pattern and made a muslin, following the sewalong posts. I’m making view C, the longer skirt. Thanks to the gathering on the skirt panels, I didn’t need to do any adjustments at the hips as the fit is generous. I took the side seams on the waistband in by 1/4″ on each side and I added 2″ to the length as it was still too short for my liking. I’m not sure about the gathers at the back – they may have the effect of making my already enormous backside look even bigger. However, white cotton sheeting is not the most flattering of fabrics, so we’ll see how the skirt looks made up in proper fabric.
In other news, I am very sad about The Bridge coming to an end. I’ve been addicted to this Swedish/Danish crime drama for the last five weeks. It was one of the best crime dramas I’ve ever seen. I’ll leave you with the haunting theme from ‘The Bridge’, performed by the Choir of Young Believers.
Image credit: Sewaholic
Here’s my birthday blog post, slightly later than I anticipated. I have mixed feelings about birthdays. On the one hand, there’s not much I can do about them (and they’re better than the alternative). On the other, there’s pressure to have a super special day and the reality can sometimes be very different.
I took a day off work last Monday, so I could spend my birthday at home relaxing. I had planned to do some crafting. However, I was so conscious of the need to do something ‘special’, I wasted the day and I ended up doing nothing productive. That is, unless you count emailing/texting people to thank them for sending a card (I do) and knocking half a cup of coffee over a cream rug (I don’t).
The highlight of the morning was opening a parcel from my friend anniebead which contained this wonderful bag and a matching purse.
She made it for me using an Amy Butler pattern and Amy Butler fabrics. Isn’t it beautiful? I’m worried about marking it if I use it as an everyday bag, so I’m going to save it to use as a project bag. I have it hanging on the handle of my living room door filled with my crochet yarn and just looking at it makes me smile.
Monkey was kind enough to get me a present, too.
Er, thank you Monkey.
I think he might have been working on the “if you don’t like it, I’ll have it” principle?
I went to see OH in the evening and my day got better from then onwards. He got me some lovely presents, including a book of Eugene Atget’s photographs of Paris, Mozepedia: An Encyclopedia of Morrissey and The Smiths, original recordings of the Bloomsbury Group, Flight of the Conchords series 1 and 2 and a Father Ted boxset.
Also, he’d gone on a secret mission to the LYS and sought out some nice yarn with the help of the shop owner. He chose two skeins of Araucania Ranco Multy in a purple colourway – good choice!
I think I’ll use it to make a Lace Ribbon Scarf. Has anyone used this yarn before? The label advises alternating rows between different skeins as there are no dyelots. Is it worth doing that, or don’t I need to bother?
I felt very spoilt by the end of the day (and slightly relieved to get back to normal the next day).
One of my New Year’s aspirations (not resolutions!) was to learn another craft – card making. I’ve been tempted for a while, mainly because I have a stationery fetish and it seemed like a legitimate excuse to play with paper, stamps, stickers and glue.
I visited my local homewares store over Christmas, which I know sells lots of card making supplies. However, apart from the obvious (like paper and envelopes) I wasn’t too sure what the rest of the stuff was for. It turns out there are many techniques in card making and all of them seem to require baffling specialist equipment.
I did some online research on card making. If I thought the world of cross stitch was twee, it’s got nothing on card making. Happily though, I came across Lucy’s Cards blog – I really like her simple, retro style. I found out about Hero Arts through Lucy’s blog; they make stamps and other paper crafting supplies. I’d like one of each of their stamps, please (!) but I’ve started my collection with these (all images from Hero Arts website)
Hero Arts have a learning section on their website with some useful guides on stamping and card making and there’s also a gallery of ideas. Despite this, I found it hard to know where to begin, so one of my lovely crafting friends offered to give me a basic introduction to card making. I’ve made a couple of cards now – I’ll try to take photos of them at the weekend, assuming we have any daylight.
I thought card making would be a cheap hobby, but I was wrong! You need to spend money upfront on basic supplies. As a minimum you need: card; envelopes; a paper trimmer; scissors; a cutting mat; a craft knife; a scoring tool and various adhesives. For stamping, you need: ink; stamps; acrylic blocks (if you are using clear stamps) and baby wipes (for cleaning stamps). Finally, you’ll probably want to buy some patterned paper and embellishments such as buttons, ribbons and stickers. I tell you, there’s no end to it. The next thing I need to get is storage.
So far it’s fun and it has more of an instant gratification factor than knitting. It’s taking me a while at the moment, because it’s all new, but some card designs can be made in 10-15 minutes. Also, I love the idea of sending people something handmade rather than mass produced (and aren’t shop bought cards expensive these days?).
It concerns me that I am taking on one too many crafts, though. I struggle to fit in everything already, so adding something else is stupid. Ho hum, it’s the unnecessary things that make life worth living, I guess.
PS if you’re from the UK, do you remember a political thriller called ‘House of Cards’ broadcast in the 90s, starring Ian Richardson? Mmm, he was so deliciously evil.
Happy New Year to you! I hope 2011 brings you health, happiness and creativity.
Christmas brought mixed emotions, but I’ll focus on the good here. I’ve spent the time since then relaxing with OH who gave me some fantastic Christmas presents. I had the Canon Powershot early, but he got me the DVD and book of ‘The Genius of Photography’, the boxset of The League of Gentlemen and some gorgeous yarn dyed by Eskimimi. We’ve been addicted to ‘The League of Gentlemen’ and have watched all three series and the Christmas special over the last few days.
New Year is, of course, a time for reflection and I’ve been looking back at what I did in 2010. The year didn’t start well, as my flat door was smashed, but it got better. I did a photography course and I bought my SLR, which I’m still trying to master. I went to London, Bath and Guernsey. I bought too much yarn at Knit Nation and IKnit Weekender. I saw ‘Love Never Dies’, ‘Wicked’ (for the third time) and the Pet Shop Boys. I presented a paper at a conference and I wrote a chapter in a book. Finally, I saw more snow than I’ve seen for a long time!
In the next post, I’ll look back at a year in knitting and see how I did with my crafting resolutions for 2010.
This week has been difficult. I’ve been unwell and I had a visit to the hospital (only 3 months later than my original appointment, which was cancelled and re-arranged four times). It wasn’t much fun. I hate going to hospitals anyway, but the consultant was patronising – he told me I couldn’t have experienced a particular side effect from a drug he’d prescribed as it “wasn’t in the book” – and I felt thoroughly dehumanised by the time I got home.
I settled on the sofa with a blanky and chanced upon a black and white film being shown on Channel 4, “The Ghost and Mrs Muir”. I’d never heard of it, but I do love my old films. It turned out to be absolutely charming and I’ll remember the afternoon spent watching that film for a long time.
Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney) is an independent young widow desperate to escape her controlling in-laws. She rents a cottage by the sea, despite dark warnings from the agent that it’s not ‘suitable’. The cottage turns out to be haunted by the ghost of its former owner, Captain Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison, sporting an impressive beard and a less impressive ‘seafaring’ accent). However, Lucy refuses to be frightened by the Captain’s attempts to scare her away.
In time, their wary mutual respect develops into friendship and eventually into an impossible love. When Lucy loses her source of income, the Captain dictates his memoirs to her which are published as a novel, the proceeds of which allow her to buy the cottage. In the meantime, she is courted by smarmy children’s author, Miles Fairley (George Sanders).
The film is enhanced by a haunting score and beautiful shots of the coast. In particular, the sea is used to mark the passage of time – Lucy’s daughter Anna has her name carved into a breakwater, which gradually decays as time passes. “The Ghost and Mrs Muir” explores the nature of love and friendship, independence and loneliness. Clearly I’m very fond of stories of impossible love, as my favourite film ever is “Brief Encounter”.
I was delighted to see George Sanders (above) in this film, as I have an affection for him. He’s in two other films I like, Rebecca and (as the voice of Shere Khan the Tiger) The Jungle Book. I have diverse tastes, as you can see! If you haven’t come across George Sanders, he had a voice like honey and was invariably cast as an urbane cad. He committed suicide in 1972 and his suicide note is very ‘George Sanders’: “Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck.”.
If you’re looking for a film to occupy an rainy afternoon, which can be accompanied by tea and knitting, I recommend “The Ghost and Mrs Muir” highly.
I’m sorry I haven’t posted much this week. I haven’t been well, so I haven’t had the energy to blog. One of my problems is the ongoing pain in my hands and arms which is stopping me knitting. This is Not Good.
I thought I’d share a craft project I did last weekend. I was inspired by the cross stitched buttons I saw on an Ysolda sample cardigan at Knit Nation, so I had a go at making my own. Here’s what I did…
I was given a card of self-cover buttons to play with by my friend anniebead. I got some 18 count Aida fabric (finer than the 14 count I use normally). I marked a circle on the Aida fabric using the guide on the back of the button packet (the buttons were 22mm), then sketched out a bird design on some grid paper. I stitched the design using two threads of floss. I cut out the circles, did a running stitch around the edge and placed the circle of fabric on a blank button front. Then I gathered the stitches so the fabric was stretched tightly with the design centred on the button. Finally, I attached the button back and hey presto! I’m saving them to use on one of the many designs I’m planning to knit from Little Red in the City.
One of the things that’s been distracting me is the new BBC series, Sherlock. I’m quite a Sherlock Holmes geek, or rather I was when I was younger. I used to read the stories in my chunky Penguin edition over and over again. My favourite Holmes was undoubtedly Jeremy Brett; my mum and I watched the ITV series with great enjoyment years ago.
So I approached the new Sherlock with some scepticism. It’s not perfect, but it was pretty darn good. Benedict Cumberpatch is excellent – capturing Holmes’ mercurial nature and cold intelligence. I was pleased that Watson isn’t being played as a bumbling fool, instead Martin Freeman plays him as solid and capable (as he is in the stories). Also, Mrs Hudson is played by Una Stubbs – fantastic!
I loved the Holmesian references throughout the three episodes: ‘A Study in Pink’ instead of ‘A Study in Scarlet’; Holmes has a three (nicotine) patch problem, instead of a ‘three pipe problem’ and the final episode with the confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty ended at a swimming pool, instead of the Reichenbach Falls! It’s been confirmed there will be a second series, which I’m looking forward to.
Oh dear, whilst I was writing the above, the boxset of the Jeremy Brett series fell into my shopping basket on Amazon. Ooops.
It’s about time there was some knitting content, so I give you Peter the Ducks (or should that be Peters the Ducks?).
The Peters enjoy a family day out
It was way back in March when Peter the Duck won The K Factor on Harry Hill’s TV Burp. OH’s two nieces were much taken with Peter and asked me to make them one each. I found out he’s a pattern from Jean Greenhowe’s Knitted Animals. I ordered a copy online (although I had to wait, because all sources had sold out!) and I bought some acrylic yarn from my LYS.
I’d never made a toy before so I made a prototype Peter first. They are really quick to knit, but it’s time consuming to put them together. It was a learning experience – I learned that I am definitely not patient enough for small, fiddly knits.
However, this didn’t stop me making six Peters in all (I made another one after the above photo was taken): one for my mum; one for me; one for OH; two for OH’s nieces and one for my friend Chesh. I was all Petered-out when another friend saw them and she would like one as well *faints*.
OH and I went to see his nieces last night, taking the Peters (and some of my birthday cake). They seemed very happy with them and took photos of them looking cute in the garden. One Peter seemed to particularly enjoy peeking out from their dad’s shirt pocket.
It’s lovely to see something I’ve made being enjoyed
I’m back and I’m feeling much better after a short blogging break. Thank you so much for all your kind messages in response to my last post, I appreciated them very much.
It was my birthday yesterday. I am now 37 (and a year closer to 40, boo hoo). In some ways, I am a grown up. I have a sensible job, a pension and a mortgage. But in so many other ways, I feel like a child. I wonder when I’m going to become an adult? I’ve been reading Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (which is excellent). One of the characters (a ghost) makes this wise observation: “You’re always you, and that don’t change, and you’re always changing, and there’s nothing you can do about it”.
I opened my cards and presents yesterday morning. OH got me some lovely treats. I got the DVD boxset of Inspector Morse, which is my favourite TV programme ever. In the days before DVD, my mum (bless her) got me the whole series on VHS. They arrived in installments, one video a month, and this seemed to go on for years, until we swore they were inventing episodes. I’ve got the videos still, but the quality is starting to degrade, so it will be fabulous to watch Morse on DVD.
Also, he got me a Longchamp Le Pliage bag in ‘Graphite’ which is a beautiful blueish grey. I’ve been dithering over these for ages. It’s a deceptively simple bag, made largely from nylon, which folds to a tiny size but expands to hold a huge amount. They’re beloved by French women for being simple, stylish and practical. As I dream secretly of being French, how could I resist? I have to say, it’s a fabulous bag and I love it to bits already. Most importantly, it’s big enough to fit my knitting in – this is an essential criteria these days.
My final surprise present was a monkey! So cute! I’m pleased to say he seems to be settling in well. See what I mean about not being a grown up?
Hello!
We went to my parents’ for lunch, which was lovely, then came back to my flat for more birthday celebrations with a cake. I avoid wheat usually, but I made an exception for the amazing cake OH had bought for me.
Yum yum!
I’ve taken the day off work today so I can relax at home. I had a stressful few days last week – more about that another time. I’m going to watch a Morse episode, knit and drink tea this afternoon. Lovely.
