Not happy campers

We've been a bit derailed this week as some thieving toerags have broken into our shed and cleared us out.

Our garden is fairly secure from the front, the only access being via a side gate and a tiny bit of fence, both of which are six foot tall. Imagine our surprise last week when we discovered a muddy footprint on top of it. Surprise turned to irritation when we realised our garden bench was missing.

It took Dave some time to find the bench where some bods unknown had tucked it behind our shed. Along with the bench we found coke and beer bottles suggesting a group of someones had had a little private party at the bottom of our garden. We back onto several properties all of which are fenced to different standards which would make accessing the garden difficult which was why they apparently came over the gate. Our big question was why?

We contacted the police who said our prowlers were most likely just kids looking for somewhere private to hang out. My response was that our garden seemed an odd place to choose, given how difficult it is to access. I asked if there could be something more sinister behind it - like someone scoping out houses or gardens for burglary but was laughed at and told no, very unlikely.

Yeah, right.

They came back and this time were prepared.

They took down a section of fence at the back of the garden to give themselves easy access via a back neighbour who's side gate was open and removed the shed doors. They then had a leisurely rummage through our shed contents helping themselves to some large items and pretty much clearing us out on camping gear.

The lucky toerags haul included - a gents bicycle, a ladies bicycle, 2 camping stoves, 4 tents (ranging in size from a 6 to a 2 man), a garden strimmer, an electric pump, a collection of camping chairs, a travel cot, tools and a turquoise silk ball gown which stank of smoke so was airing in the shed.

To shift all that stuff we think means there must have been at least two people involved and they must have had either a very large car or a van to cart it off.

So far the police response has been less than sympathetic with the officer Dave spoke to being a bit flippant about the whole thing. The impression I'm left with is that in the scheme of things it's unimportant other than as a statistic. The police won't even investigate, so the culprits are pretty much certain to get away with it unless caught red handed with our stuff.

We are not happy campers.

Of boilers and butterflies

This week was the first of two weeks holiday from work and it's been rather hectic.

The week started with fitters from British Gas turning up to replace my ancient gas boiler with a new, energy efficient one. Naturally the mains gas pipe needed to be replaced and Monday morning started with an animated discussion about where the pipe was to be run. The gas fitter wanted to run it along the outside of the building at about head height, all the way around the house to my kitchen where he'd poke it through the wall.

I vetoed this idea, sticking to my guns, refusing to give permission and pursuing other routes until eventually the fitter relented. The final route for the pipe took it up the wall, under the bedroom floors, through the house and dropping through the kitchen ceiling. Once agreement had been struck work began and my house turned into a building site.

I've got to admit though, once the fitters got started they got on with it and were done by 1pm the next day! There was one incident in the shed involving a tin of paint but otherwise things went fairly smoothly. The worksheets the fitters had didn't match my invoices which left them a bit disgruntled, but since I had written evidence of what I'd ordered, they had no choice but to do as was on my paper work.

So all sorted and we now have heating and hot water once more.

This weekend is the first Maelstrom event of the year and quite possibly the only one Dave is going to make, so I've been left to my own devices for a few days. Saturday saw me head off to Stratford with Richard to visit the Butterfly Farm which is a five minute walk from the town centre.

The Butterfly Farm isn't huge, consisting of one large hot house and a couple of specialist buildings housing caterpillars, spiders and various insects.

Once inside the hot house there were butterflies everywhere, quite happily fluttering around visitors and landing on anyone who looked vaguely interesting.

Richard proved to be a great hit with the butterflies - here he is with a new friend and trying to take a photo...




For once, I took lots of pictures although only about half of them came out as the butterflies wouldn't stay still, were quite small and the light levels in the hot house were not great.

However, some of my favourites were these...








There were also a lot of birds in the hot house, all apparently chosen for their non insect eating ways.



And some very big carp.



Plus at least one iguana who was very curious to see what everyone was doing.



If you want to look at all the pictures I took, they can be found over at Picassa - here.

Stratford Butterfly Farm

A nice place to visit and one I could see me dragging Dave around at some point.

Two steps forward and one back

Progress has stalled again on the decorating front, with a new problem uncovered this week...



You're looking at the top of the door frame which Dave began stripping the paint from earlier this week. If you look carefully you can see horizontal tracks running across it and rather than having a nice crisp door frame shape, the whole thing is rather crumbly.

We're thinking woodworm. Ancient woodworm, which was probably there before the many, many layers of paint were applied directly over the top, covering the exit holes the adult beetles would have escaped through. Oddly, the woodworm only seems to have affected a four foot section of the upright and only certain bits of it, leaving the majority of the frame untouched.

I've contacted our usual handyman who in turn has put out a call to his woodworking mate... we're waiting on a visit for a verdict, but I suspect that we'll need to replace the entire frame. Can you hear me sighing?

In other news, there has been some very slow crafting going on. For example, I'm close to finishing this cardigan.



This is my version of Doris Chan's Cinnabar cardigan, which has been waiting for sleeves for the past couple of weeks. I've added button holes to the top (hence the markers) of the band running up the front, so I'm hoping it will work as a maternity cardi rather than having to wait until I return to my more usual dimensions before I can wear it.

Naturally, since I need to concentrate on making sleeves... I cast on a sock.



These are intended to be something pretty for me and are plain socks, knit up in Wendy Happy, which is bamboo with the usual 25% nylon you'd expect in a sock yarn. So far I'm enjoying knitting this first sock, watching the colours play out is captivating me in the usual way and not having to really think about the pattern is a serious bonus.

So who knows, maybe I'll get it finished fairly quickly?

Decorating - slow progress

Still not much happening on the craft front, although it's only in part due to my ongoing exhaustion and lack of mojo. Instead, we seem to have spent most of our 'free' time working on decorating the spare room. Or rather, initially it was getting the room in a state where we could think about decorating it which is very difficult to do when it's full of miscellaneous stuff.

The first chore was to sort the stuff into stuff to keep and stuff to go out, then the latter into stuff for the bin and stuff to pass on. This took a long time. Not that we were delaying, but when you only really have weekends free to work on the clearing progress is slow.

Over the past week we've passed on redundant furniture via Freegle, with other bits and pieces to follow over the next week or two. On Saturday I took four boxes of some 250 books and another box of sci/fi magazines (some bagged and in mint condition) to the local Oxfam bookshop. Dave pre-warned the manager - who's eyes apparently lit up - and we gift aided the lot, so hopefully Oxfam will make a tidy sum out of them.

Books that I decided to keep either went into the attic or temporarily into the shed, pending movement to a more permanent location. This left us with a nearly empty spare room and so now the decorating has started in earnest.

Dave has discovered how easy it is to remove paint from woodwork using a heat gun and over the past two weekends, we've both attacked the multiple layers of wallpaper with gusto.

Dave in an action shot, up a ladder...



Ladders are out for me, so I concentrated on getting the wallpaper I could easily reach while Dave followed behind working either the more difficult spots or those that were high up.

On the wall pictured, the blue stuff is wall that I stripped back to a single layer of very well attached lining paper which has been painted. We both agree that we like the blue but that it's very dark for such a small room and would shrink the space considerably. On the wall above it you can see the original yucky brown wall paper which is rather like corduroy fabric to look at or touch. Under that was some floral stuff with dubious stains which we decided not to speculate on the origin of too much. The brown stuff came off easily. The floral stuff, not very easily at all. On two walls there's also a pale blue/grey layer which was also very difficult to get off, but we persevered with lots of water and elbow grease finally shifting it.

The blue layer we're left with is very well laid and on top of the plaster on most of the walls, so we've decided that it will probably do as our base layer for papering ontop of. Of course it will need tidying up, holes will need filling and several layers of PVA solution applied, but hopefully it will give us a sound base for our own layer of lining paper which we then intend to paint.

So progress is being made... Just very, very slow progress.

Of tidying, cars and old houses

The past few weeks have been busy, mostly on the home front where we've entered into a tidying frenzy, targeting the rooms upstairs. We braved Ikea and bought shelving, then dived into trying to sort out the mess that our two spare rooms have become.

After two weekends of dedicated effort, I think we're slowly making progress although there's a lot more to do yet. I'm now pondering what to do with about 250 to 300 books which are going out, not through choice but simply because I have nowhere to put them. Not to worry though, I still have lots of books left... Although it remains to be seen if they also get earmarked for the door on a later cull.

Next up are my stockpile of art supplies and my old study materials from my days as an OU student. My degree is still fairly recent history for me, so parting with them is going to be difficult but we don't have anywhere to store them so...

On a more positive, although expensive note, I bit the bullet and changed my car, making the exchange last weekend. I was thoroughly happy with my Ford Focus Estate, so I bought a direct replacement. Namely, I traded in my eight year old Focus for a three year old Focus.

Now, I did try to replace the car last autumn, approaching the local main Ford dealer looking for a suitable 3 year old vehicle, but was told they didn't have a single Focus Estate on the lot; they couldn't get one in and there was no call for them... They could of course order me a brand, spanking new one if I wanted? After I politely refused, the sales person then remarked that mine was the fourth enquiry after a 3 year old Focus Estate they'd had that weekend. Prompting my thought that if they stocked the cars, they might actually sell them.

Anyhow, I've spent the past few weeks lurking on Autotrader, looking for the right car. I'd used Parkers to get an idea of value, both for my own car and any prospective new purchase and about two weeks ago, I spotted a likely candidate. I contacted the dealer, arranged a test drive and with minimum fuss had agreed to buy a car.

I collected the new car on Saturday and so far, while I'm still getting used to it, I like it.

Last but not least, it was Dave's birthday earlier this week, so we arranged a day out on Sunday to celebrate. Our chosen location was the Black Country Living Museum and Richard has already written up the day on his blog.

The day was a cold one and using a camera meant taking my gloves off, which I was reluctant to do as I like my fingers where they are! However I did take a few pictures that I'd like to share.

The first one is the 'Tilted Cottage'.



The Museum is doing it's best to reproduce what life was like during the 19th century by creating a village from genuine period buildings which have been relocated from sites around the area.

The Tilted Cottage is one of many such buildings, but unlike most of the others it was subject to a lot of subsidence (Which is not uncommon in the area due to mining). Over the years, rather than collapse, the cottage twisted and tilted until not a single wall or floor is straight. According to the lady inside, when the cottage was rebuilt it took several attempts to rebuild it just as twisted as it originally was, but at the same time pass the modern building/safety regulations so it would be safe for people to enter.

They'd done a good job but I've got to say that I couldn't stand in it for very long. Just inside the front door was as far as I could go as the wierd angles on everything and the feeling of everything leaning in on itself was so nauseating that it made me feel sick. Dave loved it though and stayed inside long after Richard and I had retreated to the outside where we admired the steel collar around its outside that was keeping the whole thing upright.

Next up a range.



Now when I was a kid, which wasn't that long ago, my parents and grandparents had this habit of spending most of their time in the kitchen. In the tiny little houses in the museum, evidence was that this was where families spent most of their time too. Most of the cottages had at least one working range not too dissimilar to the one pictured and were dressed to represent family life. They made the tiny kitchen very welcoming if rather cramped by the time you included a kitchen table, benches, dressers, chairs...

And a baby's high chair.



Now this one isn't that different to the ones you'll find in the shops today. Although I'm not sure about the hole for the potty. It was convertible, going from a high chair with a tray, to tray flipped over the back, to a low chair to a rocking chair. A very versatile piece of family equipment.

And finally, because I thought it was atmospheric - I took some pictures of some barges on the museum's canal. I was particularly drawn to a sunken barge which hopefully you can see through the water.

The humungous doily

After the drama of last week's broken needle, which was promptly replaced by Get Knitted, this week has largely focused on getting ready for the AscendancyLRP tabletop roleplay and skirmish game this coming weekend.

There have also been several visits from British Gas who now apparently do annual electrical tests for Homecare customers as well as servicing gas boilers. Unfortunately, my house's wiring failed and needs a new RCD as the current one turns out to be too sensitive and is cutting out with only minor provocation. With the house's wiring being of unknown provenance and age, the fusebox is no longer in common use and so a replacement RCD is a special order... We now await the electrician's call to say its arrived.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I finished the humungous doily which came to an end abruptly after several nights of working on the last row, when I suddenly ran out of doily to crochet. Once I'd bound off it looked fairly impressive, but I waited to take any photographs or blog it until I'd had a chance to block it. On Sunday morning, with the weather dry if rather grey and non-descript I thought maybe I could dry it outside and so I decided to have a go.

After gently washing and soaking the doily in hot water for over an hour to make sure it was properly wet, I put it in a mesh laundry bag (the kind I use for delicates or containing fleece for scouring) and spun it on a low speed in the washing machine to get most of the water out. Then I set to work with my foam squares and three pots of quilting pins...



The Between Meals Centerpiece (Ravelry Link) doily is huge and is a combination of fairly dense crochet bands with openwork in between. I tackled the pinning by starting with the centre circle, then moving onto the middle circle, stretching the damp cotton out as I went. I placed the pins at wide intervals and then went around again placing pins between pins, so I evened out the tension. I put in another row of pins just inside the border, ending up with pins every two inches or so. The final row of pins stretched out the border.



Once I was done, I got Dave to help me carry the whole thing outside very carefully so the foam tiles didn't come apart. We left the doily sat on the bins to catch what sun there was, bringing it in again at dusk and laying it on the floor overnight to make sure it was absolutely dry before I removed the pins.

We did try propping the doily, still pinned to the mats up against a wall (something I've heard of folks doing on Ravelry) but while that looked promising initially, it didn't prove to be cat proof. The instant Charlie came in, he made a beeline for the huge doily and spotted the tiny gap between doily and wall. As I'm sure everyone knows, any tiny gap is always improved by the addition of a cat and Charlie is a cat who has no appreciation for the size difference between tiny and a rather large tom. He has wriggle power and a big head, a combination that has always worked well for him.

Fortunately, I saw the cat dart over the doily; was already moving as I saw him stick his head down the side of the mat made up of foam squares and caught the doily before anything catastrophic happened. Phew!

Monday, I unpinned the doily and allowed it to relax a while before laying it out on the bed to photograph it properly...







I give you my version of the Between Meals Centrepiece an original pattern from 1917. I managed to find it again on Annie's Attic, despite it having disappeared the last time I looked. There may be other sites out there that are hosting it if you hunt about.



My Between Meals Centrepiece was crocheted with Clea from Circulo Yarns, shell beige or colourway 7650. I used a 2mm hook because I'm a tight crocheter which gave me a final diameter of 32.5 inches or 83cm, which isn't far off the expected 30 inches reported on Ravelry. I didn't block this one to death, but I did stretch it out to dry although tension was minimal. Before blocking the Clea looked a lot more springy whereas after, it looks exactly like a huge doily should.

This is my first ever go at a doily and I deliberately picked the BMC because it was challenging but it really doesn't contain anything too difficult in the way of stitches. If you can follow American notation (rather than UK), can make a chain, slip stitch, single crochet, double crochet and treble treble (or is it triple triple in American?) you can make this doily. The most difficult thing is the need for perseverance as it takes a long time and those last few inches take forever, with time seeming to slow to a crawl.

The one drawback to the pattern is that it isn't charted, so if you need charts to work this kind of pattern you'll need to make one yourself. Fortunately for me, I'm not dependent on charts although I prefer to work with both so I can compare from written instructions to chart if I need clarification. However, there were moments when I certainly wished I did have a chart as it wasn't always easy to understand what the written instructions were trying to tell me to do.

There are also a couple of minor mistakes in the pattern, where the stitch counts don't work out and I had to fudge things a little. Silly me though, because I didn't note them down I just sort of got on with it... The other thing I'd advise when making up this doily is to read ahead. Understanding what you'll be expected to crochet into the row you're working is essential as is keeping an eye on the tension, otherwise you could find that you get to an end of a round and can't actually crochet the next row into this one, because you can't get the hook through the tiny, tiny little loops.

Overall, I really enjoyed making this doily although I still claim I do not have the lifestyle that supports the use of such frivolous pieces of lace. It took me two months, but I was working on other projects alongside it. I didn't get bored or lose heart and found the whole thing a fascinating experience. This is the first time I've worked something on so tiny a hook and that did give me tension issues at first, but over time I got the hang of it. Even though I have nowhere in my tiny house to display such things, I may well have to make another doily or two, just to prove it wasn't a fluke.



Finally, here is it again, this time displayed on a table at this week's meeting of Coventry Knitwits. The Britannia has dark wood tables in the bar which I thought would show up the pattern nicely. As you can see, the doily is so huge only just fits...

A new fireplace

Yesterday, I took this picture of the 'fireplace' in my living room just before setting off for work, as we had workmen coming in to fit its replacement.



The fitters arrived around 9:30am having rather optimistically saying they'd be gone by 1pm... I think perhaps they underestimated how much work was involved as they didn't escape until 5:30pm! Dave was in charge as I couldn't stay home all day and reports they worked steadily all day, but he was shocked at how much tea two men could drink and how much sugar we got through.

The problems started when they removed the old fire and realised just how tiny the original fireplace was and that it wouldn't house the new fire. This meant they had to enlarge the chimney, which highlighted problem number two, namely the chimney breast had no lintel. A lintel (as I understand it) is a reinforced crossbar which is inserted into the chimney opening so that it doesn't collapse into the fireplace. Fortunately, the fitters had one in the van and work continued.

After drilling out the bricks to fit the lintel and more drilling to enlarge the fireplace, they had to dismantle the living room so they could roll back the carpet. Which was when they discovered they'd need to cut through the floorboards to get to the gas pipe. Then, they had the fun of discovering the original hearth which needed a channel drilling in it before they could lay the new gas pipe for the fire.

I'm imagining that by this time, they were sighing heavily.

Ah well, they plodded on. Dave helped them where he could and mucked in with removing wallpaper (discovering probably the best bit of plaster in the house in the process), keeping them topped up with tea. They seemed happy enough.

By the time I came home from work last night, the fireplace had been transformed into this...



Doesn't it look all grown up?


ETA
For those who might be interested, we bought the fire and new fireplace from The Heating Centre in Coventry, who have a large showroom of such things. They were helpful, reasonably priced and arranged the fitting. Even though there was far more work in the fitting than originally thought, the price for the fitting itself did not go up, although we did have to pay extra for the lintel.

Hot and cold

We can now enjoying the benefits of having running hot and cold water in our kitchen once more, as the handyman showed up as scheduled to replace the tap with a shiny new one. We have actual water pressure when we turn the tap on now and last night Dave spent most of the evening marveling about how quickly the sink fills up. The whole job took a couple of hours and was without drama's other than me discovering the tardis like properties of the cupboard under the sink. I seem to have been collecting dusters, and sponges in there, so many that I had my doubts I could get them back in again when it came to putting things away.

While the handyman was on site, I quizzed him about woodburners (which he didn't know anything about) and escorted him to the end of the garden, to get his opinon of the area behind the shed. This is the forgotten end of the garden, currently hidden by the shed but a traditional dumping ground for rubbish by the previous owner and it seems, our neighbours. We spent a good six months clearing about half of it several years back and I'd like the rest of it cleared, not least because it would discourage said neighbours from thinking they can throw anything they like there.

The handyman stood there looking a bit flummoxed until admitting that he couldn't see any other way to clear it than to do it manually by hand as he wouldn't be able to get a small digger in there. His verdict was that there was at least a couple of skips worth still buried in that patch and it would take a lot of effort to get it out. Hmmm... Not exactly what I wanted to hear.

In other news, I think I'm about to rip out my Jaywalker sock and here is a picture of it, showing my progress so far - just for the record.



I'm not happy with it. I miscounted the stitches somewhere in amongst the increases and decreases that make up those chevrons and for the life of me I can't see where. On top of that, the sock is eating yarn at an alarming rate and I don't think I'm going to have enough left to complete the sock. If I do manage it, there is no way I'll be able to match up stripes because I won't have enough length to play with and of course, because of the mucked up stitch count I'm doubtful the colour bands will match anyway.

Then there's the fit at the heel... Having been warned that the Jaywalker is notoriously tight, imagine my surprise when the turned heel and gusset actually appears to be a bit loose! Not much mind, so maybe knitting it with the correct number of stitches will correct it. If not, perhaps I need to knit the foot in the next size down.

The final nail in the coffin - having tried the sock on I'm not happy with the cuff which doesn't seem to fit at all. Rather than cling nicely to my calf, it just sort of hangs there loosely and is clearly too big for my leg and I don't exactly have skinny legs. Years of walking, vigourous exercise and being a fairly active adult mean that I have muscles in my legs even if I don't have them anywhere else.

I could persevere and hope I have enough yarn to finish the sock, but I'd know it's a bodge. I'd know that cuff doesn't remotely fit even if it is covered up by my trousers and I don't intend them to be house only. If I go to the bother of knitting a pair of socks, while they don't need to be perfect, they do need to at least fit vaguely and be wearable.

So my plan... I'm going to rip that sock out and start again, this time casting on the cuff in the next needle size down. Once I'm off the cuff, I'll go up a needle size for the rest of the sock. I'll shave an inch off the length of the leg too, which should hopefully give me a little more confidence that I'll have enough yarn to finish the sock.

Perseverance, I has it.

In the spirit of cheering myself up and looking for a quick project, I cast on my first intended Christmas present of the year...



It's going to be a mitten...

Tempting the kitchen fates

I think I may have tempted the kitchen fates last weekend, by posting a picture of a dishcloth in repose on the sink. We've been experiencing reduced pressure in from our hotwater tap since Christmas and on Wednesday morning, the tap gave up completely. Turning it on, no matter how fully, did not mean you'd get any water.

Oh well, thought I... I've got that Homecare cover thing with British Gas, which includes plumbing and drains. I'll give them a call and it will be sorted.

Ahem.

The very polite gentleman on the other end of the phone wasted no time informing me that Homecare does not cover what they consider to be 'endpoints' of the pipes - which include the stopcock and the taps. In fact, he couldn't even send around a plumber and charge me for the privilege as they just didn't offer it as a service.

I am not exactly what you might call impressed.

I did not have my agreement, complete with the small print, to hand and so I had no choice but to thank him (equally politely) and start looking for alternatives. Suffice it to say that when I come to contract renewal time in a few months, I'll be looking at the cover provided and that small print very carefully and may well investigate other cover providers.

All of this means that currently, we are without hot water in the kitchen which is proving to be very inconvenient. I've contacted the handyman who sorted the fence for me last summer and he'll be around on Monday to replace the tap, which is great...

But part of me is still annoyed that British Gas' Homecare is not everything I thought it was.

Winter warmer

Yesterday I worked from home, much to both the cats' delight, as I was expecting my new fridge/freezer to be delivered. Since the delivery time was set at between 08:30 and 14:30 I was taken by surprise when they knocked on the door at 08:20! So taken by surprise that I had only just emptied the fridge, the freezer having been defrosting for the past two days and was in the process of giving it a wipe out.

The delivery men were nice enough. They even unpacked the fridge/freezer and put it in the right place in the kitchen. Given the size of the thing (I'm still in shock at its hugeness) there is no way I could have moved it, so that was good of them - and believe me, not all delivery men will unpack large items and put them where you want them.

Dave arrived home last night and spent a lot of time with the door open admiring the spacious fridge. So much time, the fridge began beeping at him and flashing its light... It is fitted with an alarm to encourage you to shut the door, how excellent is that?

The only downside of yesterday was that working at home, I was bitterly cold. The house itself may not have been as cold as all that, but sitting still and typing is not a good thing when its not overly warm and you have bad circulation. I finally gave up and put the heating on... And I'm now thinking I need to knit some fingerless gloves for just such a situation.

I took the finished Stolen Moments Wrap (Ravelry Link) with me to the knitting group on Wednesday, where it was stroked, admired and passed the 'cheek' test with flying colours. The cheek test is when you hold something up to your face to test its softness... Something never to be done I hasten to add (unless you want the wrath of a knitter or store owner) with hand made things or yarn or fabric, if you are wearing makeup of any kind.


These first two pictures capture the colour of this autumnal yarn well, with the other two making it look more of a red, despite having been taken only a few moments later.


The pattern is the Stolen Moments Wrap by Amy Swenson (Ravelry pattern and designer) and I knitted it on 9mm needles, using Paton's Funky Chunky, a super bulky and very under spun yarn.

The pattern itself is a simple four row lace pattern, really consisting of two rows with every other repeat being displaced by two stitches which gives the diagonal lines you can see running across the wrap. It is a very easy pattern and once you settle into it, very quick to do and combined with super chunky wool, litterally flies off the needles.

Knitting with Funky Chunky is an experience, as the yarn has a high wool content and sticks to itself, making it difficult to correct any mistakes. The underspun nature of the yarn also makes it very splitty and easy to break, so the lesson here was to handle the yarn very gently.

That all said, it is a lovely yarn with a nice sheen. It is very lofty and sitting in my lap, the whole thing was very warm, while the finished product is cosy and soft to the touch.

I like it, so much so that I'm making a second one in a sort of purpley colour.

A blanket and some berries

The weather deteriorated on Saturday night so that by Sunday morning, we woke to driving rain, much to the cats' disgust. Missy (being an extreme weather cat of some standing) sprinted out of the door, heading for the bottom of the garden at speed... Charlie went back to bed.

Things did improve by early afternoon and Dave spent a few hours out in the garden, digging things up, cutting things down and planting some sticks. The sticks were in fact a lucky find, in the form of heavily pruned redcurrent, blackcurrent, gooseberry and raspberry bushes spotted in the Poundshop in town, next to the halloween props (which we'd gone in to look at). Given our repeated dismal failure to grow anything of worth in our garden, bets are now being taken on whether they'll survive until spring let along fruit!

While Dave was getting creative in the garden, I got out my spinning wheel again for an hour or two. I haven't touched the wheel since last weekend, so it was a pleasant surprise to discover that in that time, I seem to have finally got the hang of it!

I'm still concentrating on drafting and I'm happy to report that things were a lot easier yesterday. I'm still not producing a single of consistant thickness, but... the panic is gone. I seem to have loosened up and relaxed a whole lot which meant I could hold the fibrestore loosely enough to draw fibres from it. I even seem to be able to stop and start the wheel without everything going to pot and I managed to walk the single up and down the hooks on the flyer the way you're supposed to, producing a much neater looking bobbin. In short, after a tense first five minutes, I was actually enjoying myself, which can only be a good thing.

I'm also thinking about how to improvise a lazy kate, which I think I'm going to need soon as I prepare to tackle the heady heights of spinning, known as plying.

No photographs this time as the light was awful and I'm not sure that another bobbin shot would show much.

I do however have another finished project - hurrah!

I finally cast off the preemie blanket I started for jury service back in July.

This is a waffle stitch blanket, pattern here, although to be honest the pattern wasn't much help. The stitch count and instructions don't really cut it as the maths is completely wrong. If you do want to make this blanket, the stitch count should work out to 15 + a multiple of 6.

In my case, I made a largish blanket but kept it within the guidelines for blanket size for SCBU cribs, so it's 60cm square based on 135 stitches.

I like the blanket and the way it turned out, but I learnt a valuable lesson from this one. A knitted blanket, even if made for the tiniest of recipients is a major undertaking and will take a long time... This compares to all other blankets I've ever made which were crocheted and just seem to grow an awful lot faster rather than sitting there being knit on but never going anywhere for weeks on end. Not to say I'd never knit another blanket of course, just next time I need to remember how long it will take a slow, tight knitter like me!

Doors, sheds and laceweight

Yesterday saw me working from home as I waited in for the fourth visit from Amber Windows to repair my front and back door. The guy eventually showed up at 14:40 and was very grumpy and sarcastic, but grudgingly set about doing the repairs I've been pushing for - after all, otherwise, what's the point of a ten year guarantee? He eventually left at 18:00 having worked on both doors, which at this point to look fixed, there are no obvious gaps or drafts or creaks. Nothing is catching and the frames feel secure...

Now to wait and see how long it lasts.

The gentleman in question did eventually cheer up. He particularly perked up when Dave arrived home from work and became positively happy when he finally moved onto the back door and spotted our shed. We have a large, workshop style shed to which apparently was exactly what he needed for his back garden. When we pointed him in the direction of a shed seller a mile or so up the road (Johnson's Sectionals at Jubilee Crescent for those in Coventry who are looking for a shed), he became positively chatty saying he'd have to drive past to see where it was on his way home.

Men and their sheds!

Our shed is still holding my spinning wheel hostage and storing a soggy tent, which is awaiting drying, but we just haven't had the weather yet.

In anticipation of getting the wheel in action or even getting some time in on the spindle, I succumbed to the pretty fibre available at Violet Green, buying two bags of superwash merino...



It's still in its plastic, because other than acknowledging I've got it I've not had time to even stroke it, that's how mad things are around here!

I also picked up some laceweight, 2 ply merino in a colourway called 'Roses and Cream'...

There should be enough for a shawl there and I've already earmarked it for my next project from the Victorian Lace Today book. This time, I'm doing another 'easy' pattern called 'Large Rectangle with Centre Diamond' (Ravelry Link), which as usual with patterns in this book is descriptive if not as creative as most pattern names I see.

It is however, a very pretty piece of lace and I'm hoping I can do it justice. As with the last one, there are some new techniques I'll need to learn first, such as an invisible lace caston... Which looks interesting. It will also be my first time using circular needles, because while this one is knitted flat, it's a bit big to hold on regular needles, so the bendy ones are going to be called for.

First though, I need to find the time to wind that skein into a ball so I can use it.