Old dog

I spent the first part of the week trapped in my kitchen as workmen took over the house.  Monday I was literally barricaded into one small corner of the kitchen in front of my PC, as the entire contents of the living room and conservatory were piled in the rest of the kitchen.  So no TV to watch, no sofa to sit on, no table to eat at.  Two carpet fitters laid new carpet downstairs and in the master bedroom that day while I spent the day watching stuff on the PC and knitting on UFOs.  Monday night we shifted everything back into the living room, and shifted the contents of the other two bedrooms into the master bedroom (cue much cursing as we struggled to dismantle IKEA furniture or move it without making marks on our newly decorated walls).

So Tuesday I could at least sit on the sofa and knit while the fitters were working upstairs and recarpeting the landing and stairs.  I was bored with my UFOs by then so I sorted out my knitting collection and found a pattern for a cute simple top down baby cardigan, the 'Pop!' Baby Cardigan' by Rachel Atkinson, which was in Knit Now magazine. I am using the Sirdar Snuggly Crofter Baby Fair Isle Effect DK that I got on sale at Hobbycraft.  It's knitting up fairly quickly.

I did find however, perhaps because I was distracted by workmen banging away or moving around the house, that my usual problem with looser purl rows, or 'rowing', was even worse.  I decided this was a low-risk opportunity to try Combination Knitting so I looked up a video on Knittinghelp.com on how to do the purl stitch.  It was a bit of a case of 'old dog new tricks' but I found the purl stitch actually easier to do than how I usually do Continental purling and it really worked to tighten up my purl stitch.  In fact it worked so well that I began to see the opposite problems, with my knit rows being a bit looser than my purl rows.  However, I wasn't so keen on the Combination knit stitch as you have to knit into the back of the loop due to how the stitch is placed on the needle.  I found that harder to do and I was tending to split my yarn occasionally.  In this picture I tried to show the 'before' and 'after':  the six rows nearest the cable (beyond the white row) are in Combination knitting and are much flatter than the earlier knitting. It's an interesting experiment. I finished the sweater later in the week but as I packed my button box, it remains buttonless.

Now that I'm finished the Marina pullover, I'm back on the final clue of the Unexpected Journey Mystery KAL shawl which is a densely knitted on border.  I'm adding a bead to each point (they will be pointier once blocked).  It's easy enough to knit but a bit boring and I have to do something like 56 repeats of the chart, groan.






During my hours in front of the PC I was doing some thinking about my Hawaiian quilt.  I really do prefer the white applique on a blue background, so I was researching how to prevent the seam allowances shadowing through.  Some people seem to think that you can fuse on lightweight interfacing to prevent the shadowing but still be able to needleturn the fabric.  I'm sceptical because I think the fabric will be too crisp for needleturn applique once interfaced but I've ordered the lightest fusible I could find online to give it a go.  Unfortunately it's got to come from America as I couldn't find a UK source, so that's going to take a few weeks and let's hope it doesn't get stopped for Customs duty.  I've ordered some sharp scissors from Cotton Patch in Birmingham that purport to cut through eight layers of fabric at a time - I'm sure they will be sharper anyway that my collection of dull scissors.

I'm starting to lose the will to live with regards to the house. It just seems like it's been going on forever (I'm sure you feel that way too!) and it seems no sooner do I get something looking nice than it gets a mark on it from someone or something.  Even the nice new carpet got christened this morning when the cat threw up on it - probably on purpose.  Next week the leaky panes in the conservatory are getting replaced, and I'm having the EPC report done (Energy Performance Certificate, a requirement now for selling a house in the UK).  Next weekend we will go to Dunelm Mills and see if we can find a few finishing touches, like poncey artwork and silly glass vases that we would never buy in our real life but which seem to be required now to make one's house look like an interiors magazine.

A sense of achievement

I am basking in a sense of achievement, as several long outstanding projects/issues have been successfully tackled.


I finished my Alice Starmore Marina pullover.  The new 23-row bottom band came out just right, it fits well pulling in the excess width unobtrusively, and makes the pullover the right length.  I pulled out the too-small armhole and picked up and knit it again to match the first one.  Then I darned in the ends from the bands, and neatened the ends on the seams.  Then I wet blocked.  I'm quite pleased with the result.  It fits well and looks great.  Even DH is impressed.  It was quite a long saga, conquering everything from a knitting machine that went up in smoke, to writing a new pattern, to programming the machine, and adapting the bands. But the result is a garment that I think I will be wearing for a long time.  And I've got a fair bit of Jamiesons Spindrift left over as some of the colours hardly get used at all, so perhaps I should knit some accessories.

With the help of a very informative Youtube video, I successfully replacing the siphon in our downstairs loo.  It hadn't been flushing very well for a long time, and recently it stopped altogether.  It was a long job but went smoothly apart from I put the water back in too soon for the silicone sealant to have gone off.  But now it has a good robust flush and I reckon I've saved over £100 in plumber fees. It wasn't that hard when I had someone showing me what to do.  My PC is nearby so I would play a segment, pause it and go and do that on my own loo, then come back and watch the next bit.

And today I finally installed the last blind in the conservatory.  I put up side blinds about eight years ago but mis-cut the final blind so couldn't install it.  We eventually bought a replacement blind, but I never got around to putting it up.  So it was one of those jobs on my long guilt list and now it is finally done!

This weekend we have to empty out half the house to make room for the carpet fitters coming on Monday. Then Monday night we have to move everything back into the newly carpeted rooms so he can do the rest of the house on Tuesday.  Then Tuesday night we have to clear everything off the patio and front so that the jet washing people can spray all of the paving on Wednesday.  I expect I will spend Thursday and Friday just putting everything back to rights.

I've been working on my Quilt University Hawaiian Quilt design.  I drew out my potential design and then traced it onto tissue paper so I could cut it out to get an idea what it will look like.  The tissue paper is really flimsy and doesn't lie very flat but you can get the general idea. I based my design on the Plumeria flower.

While I quite like the effect of white on blue, I was actually planning to do blue on white.  So I used Photoshop to simulate what the finished quilt might look like.

I can't use white fabric on blue as the white seam allowances would shadow through when placed on the royal blue background, at least with the white fabric that I currently have.

On Thursday I had a day off from the house and went up to London to visit Grand Designs Live.  I even saw Kevin McCloud up on stage, looking exactly like he does on television.  The show was full of all sorts of house-related products, and I visited a half dozen stands selling garden rooms, as potentially I might need to build a quilting studio in the garden - assuming the garden is large enough.  I quite liked one company and spent the train ride home thinking about how I would actually want to lay out a small studio, which was rather fun.

Apple blossom time

Our apple tree has rushed into blossom during the recent spell of warmer weather.  So pretty, but a bit sad to think that this might be our final spring with it.  I hope we have room in our next garden for an apple tree.

I had a job interview last week for a part-time communications role.  It came up at fairly short notice, and due to being fully committed on the intervening day (up to London for someone's leaving do and then IKEA to buy stuff for the house), I didn't really do much preparation.  That let me down in the actual interview where I found myself quite rusty about responding to questions.  I hate when they are sitting there with the forms they have to fill in, waiting with pen poised to capture the keywords I am supposed to spout in my answers.  Then they score you to rank candidates.  It's supposed to be fairer, but I miss the days when you just had to make a good impression and have good references.  Needless to say they weren't writing down much while I was babbling.  It's hard to get my head in the game when I am wrapped up with the house transformation.

The house is getting there.  I had the oven cleaned last week so it looks like new, and at IKEA I bought a bunch of clean new replacements for our knackered cutting boards, toilet brushes, door mats, place mats etc.  I also bought a pretty cafe chair and table set to go in the conservatory once the new carpet is in.  Today I had a rather Del-boy-like gentleman come to give me a quote on jetwashing the front pavers and our pathway, wash the windows and clean the marks and cobwebs off of the fascia boards and soffits.  I've been slowly emptying out the kitchen cupboards and washing them out, and I'm going to try out our steam cleaner on the bathroom tiles.

On the knitting front, I finished my Featherduster shawl in Debbie Bliss Angel Print, and I've blocked it.  It looked like a ball of nothing when wet, but so much prettier now it is spread out.  I hope it dries quickly so that I can try it on.

I'm still plugging away on my Alice Starmore pullover.  After I had knit most of the bottom band, I tried it on and realised that it was still too short.  So I had to pull out the bottom band for the second time and work out an extended stripe sequence that would look similar to the original bands but be more than twice as wide.  I'm just about finished knitting that now so should be able to cast off soon.

I haven't progressed much on my Hawaiian quilt with Quilt University.  I did piece together the three layers of fabric from yardage, but I had to do that sitting on the floor with my machine on the floor in front of me, as my sewing table is packed and there isn't enough room anywhere else in the house.  Really not ergonomic. I got that all ironed which took ages as I am rubbish at ironing, and then made up the paper pattern for 1/8th of the quilt top.  Now I just need to actually come up with my design.  I'm behind the class now, as this week we are supposed to be cutting out our fabric and basting it.

This past weekend was a long weekend in the UK, and DH and I had the excitement of a getaway city break to Istan bul.  It's such a vibrant city but incredibly overcrowded, twice as big as London apparently. There are so many gorgeous sights but you are constantly negotiating crowded streets and jampacked transport.  It puts London commuting in an entirely better light.  We had some great meals and saw some wonderful sights. Most of the people we came into contact with were courteous and helpful,  and there were a lot of other tourists around particularly in the old city.  Queues to get into major sites were absolutely massive, apparently there is a big cruise ship market now which floods the city with tourists. I enjoyed looking at everything but didn't buy much, only a few gifts for relatives. It was a real mix of East and West, they have Starbucks and McDonald's and everyone seemed to have smartphones, but also ancient Ottoman fountains and crumbling bathhouses tucked in between cramped ramshackle apartment buildings.  I took loads of pictures but won't flood this post with them, here are a couple.

 Galata Bridge across the Golden Horn

 Sultanahmet Mosque at night

The gorgeous tiles inside Rustem Pasha mosque

Back to school for me

Besides the DIY (do it yourself) this week, I have started a couple of online courses.

First up was the Amy Herzog class 'Knit to Flatter' on Craftsy.  I'm watching this on my iPad after downloading the Craftsy app.  The app seems slighly less 'buggy' than the PC version, although still annoying as at the end of every lesson it closes out the app and returns you to the desktop instead of letting you move on to the next lesson.  So you have to start from scratch every time, repeatedly selecting the course, manually selecting the next lesson, and yet again tilting the iPad to turn it from the default portrait display to the preferable landscape display.

Apart from the minor technical annoyances, I am enjoying the class. I'm on lesson six of ten.  I really like Amy as a presenter, and I have followed her instructions to take my own photograph and analyse my body shape (bottom heavy, no surprises there).  There have been some good tips on what type of necklines / sleeve lengths / hem lengths will suit my body shape, and some discussion of shaping the fabric to suit my own curves.  It's been interesting enough that I have now ordered her book which apparently includes more detail plus patterns that are easy to customise.  On the con side, I don't feel we've covered very much yet considering I am on lesson six of ten.  Also, I found that I didn't always agree with Amy when she was displaying different sweater styles on different body types as to what flattered the models and what really, really, didn't. Also, so far Amy has used three models, two of whom have flat stomachs and curvy waists.  The third model is bulkier but also very busty so still not having the issue of a prominent belly. Obviously Amy couldn't have a model for every body type but I think given the majority figure type that I see at knitting shows, I think a model with a spare tyre or an obvious belly would have been good so that she could talk about how to deal with that.  But I have four lessons to go so perhaps I am jumping the gun on judgement.

The other course I have started is 'Design your own Hawaiian Quilt' with Nancy Chong on Quilt University.  When we went to Hawaii a few years ago, I really liked the Hawaiian quilts and bought fabric to make a double size.  The Quilt U course was recommended to me by another tour participant as being a really good introduction.  I always meant to take it but hadn't got around to it, but I'm on their mailing list so received the latest newsletter announcing that sadly they will close down at the end of this year following the death of their founder.  So I got off the fence and signed up for the Hawaiian course which coincidentally was starting the same evening.

The format is quite different from Craftsy.  The lesson is presented as text and images on a series of web pages.  A supply list is also provided which includes tips on fabric selection and preparation.  Course members are given access to a private Yahoo discussion forum where Nancy Chong is also participating, and to a photo gallery to share photos.  Unlike Craftsy, the lessons will be released once a week and will remain available only for a limited time (about two months I think) so I am printing them off.

I enjoyed the first lesson which talked about how to draft the 'snowflake' type design and talked about the history of the Hawaiian quilt.  Our homework this week is to get our fabric ready (mine is prewashing today) and to start creating our design.  I bought a deep blue fossil fern batik and a white flowery background, and the backing is a lighter marble blue.

While I have my doubts about my ability to complete a double size needleturn applique quilt, given my track record with my 25 block Baltimore-style quilt which has languished for years, I am hopeful that doing all the prep up front will encourage me to get on with the applique.  I think part of the reason I've dragged my heels on the Baltimore album blocks is that it is such a faff to get each block to the point where it's ready to applique.

TV knitting this week has been the Alice Starmore pullover vest.  I finished the second armhole band but subsequently realised that I had somehow knit it 12 stitches smaller than the first band, so that will have to be redone.  In the meantime I had picked up for the bottom band and knit a few rows, decreasing evenly all the way around to pull in the excess width.  After a few rows I tried it on and realised I hadn't decreased it enough, so I had to pull back and start over, decreasing even more.  Hopefully it is alright now.  I think I want a deeper band than on the armholes and neck so I am knitting some extra rows in each colour change.

I've also been knitting with string.  It might possibly be a fingerless mitt. We get an organic veg box from a company called Abel & Cole, and the boxes come secured with a multi coloured string that is probably recycled.  From the start it looked like yarn to me, and I've been saving it.  I finally had enough to start knitting.  I think it's about a DK thickness, and I am using the Russian Join to connect each piece to the knitting.

This week I decorated the entrance hallway, which had a huge number of dents, knocks and marks on it.  It looks so much fresher with its new paint job and the new bright light fixture I wired in.  I also painted our front door, which was a horrible job.  I've never done one before.  It took ages to sand it down and mask off the glass, and then the green gloss was like painting with syrup.  The first coat took ages to dry so I had the door open all day.  The second coat dried faster but there are still streaks so it still needs a touch up and I need to clean up the glass.  I've fitted the new brass hardware now so it all looks very hobbit-holeish and shiny.

I've booked the re-carpet job for mid-May, the oven's getting cleaned on Monday and someone is coming in a week to quote on washing the windows and jetwashing the path and forecourt.  I also will have the fun job of varnishing 38 replacement kitchen cupboard knobs and then switching over all of our tired worn ones.  But it's coming together, just the kitchen left to redecorate now.  The hack job I did in the garden hasn't in fact killed the shrubs, and we've planted a few new ones to fill in bare spots.

I hope that somewhere, someone is doing this much work to get their house ready for me to buy!

Sunshine at last

It seems like we've been waiting for spring to arrive for such a long time, but suddenly over the last few days the cherry trees have burst into blossom and things in the garden are beginning to wake up.  It's still not safe to tackle painting the front door as there are still some frosty nights (amazing in late April here near London) but today we had glorious sunshine.

I treated myself to an afternoon off and spent over three hours lounging in the garden - for once blessedly free of the war cries of the neighbour's homicidal grandchildren.  I read - I'm reading 'North and South' by Elizabeth Gaskell and really enjoying it.  This was prompted by renting the mini-series starring Richard Armitage after seeing him play Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit.  The mini-series didn't make a lot of sense (although I would watch Richard Armitage even if the sound were off) but the book is great.

And I did some cross stitch - I finally finished the background of a shadow box that I've been dabbling at for several years.  Now I just need to stitch the quilt that goes on the little brass quilt stand. I'm going to stitch my quilt on some blue evenweave linen so it stands out more.

And I did some knitting:  a few rows on my Quilt Sampler mittens - I'm about halfway up the second mitten now.

TV knitting this week has been working on my Alice Starmore Marina pullover.  I seamed up the sides, but because I knit this on the machine and didn't plan for how the repeat fell at the side seams, the match at the seam is not great.  It's ok on some of the bands, but fairly obvious on the flower band. It doesn't help that I tapered the shape by three stitches going up the body.  Although as it turns out, I needn't have bothered as it is a bit loose at the waist but fits well at the bust.

I've picked up and knitted the v-neck band and one armhole, I am following the 'recipe' for the colour changes in the band and really like how it looks. I picked up 1:1 on horizontal sections and slanted sections, and 2:3 on vertical sections.  After I picked up the back neck, I decreased 4 or 5 stitches evenly across the back on the next row so the band didn't stick up.  I did a double decrease at the centre front of the v-neck.  The armholes could have been deeper but generally it's a good fit and looks great. I'll knit the second armband next and then pick up for the bottom band.  You can see the lilac acrylic waste yarn currently anchoring the bottom live stitches in the picture.

Decorating and gussying-up continues apace.  Earlier in the week I started work on my bedroom, which is the master bedroom.  That was the last of the carpeted rooms so I went ahead and made three appointments with carpet companies to quote on recarpeting the house.  After finishing the decluttering and rationalising the closet contents and rolling all the quilts, I filled all the holes in the walls in my bedroom, scrubbed it all down and touched up the paint.  I also tackled the ensuite and the family bathroom:  pulling down the damaged corner tape over the windows, redoing them with new joint compound, sanding that down and repainting several times.  I had to repaint both bathroom ceilings as the white paint we have doesn't match the old ceiling paint, but I was able to touch up the walls without having to repaint them entirely.  More holes to fill in the walls of my bathroom.  I've also cleaned the inside of all of the upstairs windows with UVPC cleaner I bought on Amazon - fabulous stuff that makes the white plastic look almost new.

I did a mega shop at Argos (like a Target) to replace various tired household goods.  I bought two new ceiling light fittings and wired those in to replace the two I took down which are going with us.  I bought a new bathroom mirror and screwed that to the wall of the ensuite.  I replaced two laundry hampers, the kitchen bin, and three pedal bins in the bathrooms.  And the cat got a new scratching post as she had shredded her old one (in between shredding the sofa cover).

Outside I've painted the top of the wall that runs along our entrance to freshen up the white paint, scraped down the bubbling render on the neighbour's abutting garage wall and repainted that, scrubbed down our entrance porch, and replaced the hardware on the inside of the door (the outside hardware will get replaced as well but I'm waiting for better weather so I can paint it first).

So the only rooms left to do are the lower hallway, and the kitchen.  As we are going to have a tremendous upheaval for re-carpeting, which will involve filling the kitchen with all of the living room furniture, I think I wait on decorating although I can start cleaning the cupboard interiors. I've had two carpet measuring visits so far, and they've come back with fairly similar quotes, and the third company is coming on Monday.  So hopefully we can get the carpeting over with by early May.

In between the work, I've been doing paperwork-type stuff:  househunting on the internet, chasing up the plumber to get the darn part for the leaking hot water tank (he has finally gotten sick enough of my phone calls and actually ordered the part and says it will come next week), getting our household insurance altered to cover the substantial amount of possessions now in self-storage, and talking to the NHBCC about paying for our failed window panes in the conservatory.

So not much job-hunting going on, although I do read my job-ad emails every day and have been twice contacted by agents who want me to apply for things.  DH and I both think that I don't have time to work full-time at the moment, although it feels a bit unnatural not to prioritise job hunting.  If I see a part-time job that I could do, then I would apply for it.

Hope you are getting some sunshine where you are.

Deja vu

Sand, fill, rub down, wash Paint, paint, paint Pack, declutter To the dump, to the dump, to the dump dump dump Tis better to give to charity than to receive Roll quilts and find hidey holes for them Sort through years of paperwork and try to thin out the herd And in the evenings, slump in front of the telly with my knitting. And that's pretty much been my week :)

How the Grinch 'got' decorating

And as the Grinch was slapping Forget-me-Not-blue paint onto her tired and rotting knitting shed, watching it transform before her eyes like an ugly duckling into a fine swan, she suddenly felt her brain let go of its intolerance and scepticism.

Maybe, just maybe, decorating wasn't just what retired people did, or people with no hobbies and too much time on their hands that she had mocked in the past.  Perhaps decorating wasn't just what you did to fool buyers into thinking you had looked after your house for the last ten years and that you were actually tidy, clean people who did frequent housework.

Maybe those retired people were on to something.  Perhaps decorating was a way of feeling good about your surroundings again, and getting a fresh new environment without having to move (even though the Grinch was definitely going to move).  Maybe decorating was a relatively cheap fix that swept away vague feelings of dislike and depression about one's surroundings, and made it feel like you were visiting a hotel, for free.

Perhaps... decorating was something you could do EVEN IF YOU WEREN'T MOVING HOUSE!!

(However, the Grinch drew the line at putting antlers on the cat and harnessing it to a sled full of decorating supplies.)