Transformations

 I spent several hours this week transforming the mud patch in front of the house, to improve the appearance.  It used to be scraggly lawn when we moved in, but it doesn't get much sun. Even planting it with shade grass seed didn't help much.  Planting the hedge to keep the teenage gangs off our our front wall cut off the last of the sunshine and triggered the complete demise of the grass.  Leaving us with an unattractive mud patch:

I'd been thinking about what to do with it for some time, but had to wait until the scaffolding was down.  With help from online inspiration, I headed out with the small spade on Monday afternoon and started excavating a new path. DH helped dig out the rest of the path after work (although we had to work around some tree roots), and I put down some weed suppressing membrane left over from when we did the back garden path several years ago. We lined the path with random bricks we had lying around. DH helped me spread some homemade compost onto the remaining mud, then I dug it over to create a new planting bed.  I've planted it up with various ferns, ivy, evergreens, vinca and begonia that I have stolen from other parts of the garden. So eventually those should all grow and cover the bed (if they survive the winter). We covered the membrane with some  horticultural grit, and brought around some random stone slabs and pavers we had stashed.  So the only thing we've actually had to buy was bags of blue slate to finish the path.  It's still looking a bit raw but it's hugely better than it was.  Once the plants grow, they will hide the wobbly bricks better.  I need to trim down the membrane so you can't see it.

Another transformation this week was to turn a folding table into a portable ironing surface.  Several ladies bring bigger versions of these to the retreat I went to, it's such a good idea because it creates an L-shape working area and frees up space on your main table.  I bought a cheap wooden table off Amazon and beefed its understructure up a bit with additional bracing, but it is a bit wobbly compared to their more robust versions.  The added larger top is a bit of old dining table from the in-laws, covered with a couple of layers of wool wadding and some canvas, and screwed onto the original table. I sized the top so that I can iron a complete FQ or yardage folded in half.

A big finish this week is my Aran jumper, the very old knitting UFO that I found when I tidied up my knitting room.  I bought the pattern and yarn back in the early 90s when I couldn't even knit properly, it's supposed to be patterned all over but I eventually realised that would make me look like the Goodyear blimp.  At some point over the years, I ripped out my initial bodged attempt at the front, and re-knit the front then added a machine-knit plain back before running out of yarn.  When I tidied up the knitting room, I found a cone of a cream Aran yarn which isn't exactly the same colour but it's close.  So I've hand-knit two sleeves and finished the neckline off and it's done!  It was a nice fit but I am blocking it on my nifty Shetland jumper frame which will change the shape slightly, hopefully for the better. One interesting feature is that I have run a cable down the top centre of the sleeve and put my decreases on either side of that, instead of under the arm.  A video I watched on Youtube suggests that this helps a dropshoulder jumper fit better.

Another finish this week was the Lace Scarf that was my travel project on various holidays over the past year, because the chart was only four lines high which made it easy to memorise. It's knit in fingering weight wool. I attempted to block it over a cardboard stretcher the way I learned on my course at Shetland Wool Week but it wasn't entirely successful - my temporary lacing on the sides wasn't very even and has led to some rippling.  The lace has really opened up though.

In sewing this week, I've been ignoring my sewing panel wallhanging in favour of piecing more blocks for the Paducah embroidered blocks quilt, but I also wanted to make an Open Wide Pouch sometimes known as a Magic Pouch.  It's a box-pouch which opens up flat into a fabric tray, to hold for example makeup or tools.  There are a lot of video tutorials on Youtube for these, I picked one and sewed a first attempt which was a bit of a disaster as it turned out the measurements were both wrong, and wrongly converted between inches/cm.  Some of the commenters referenced another video as being much better, and it was - so that's what I ended up using. I used a couple of Aldi FQs and purposely didn't put any stabiliser in - I want to use this for travelling so I wanted to keep the bulk down. So my version is a bit floppy.  I will use it in hotels to corral my possessions in the bathroom, then I can zip it up during the day when the housekeeping might come in.

These pictures are strangely washed out, I think the sun was shining into my camera lens

A local place was doing a Halloween-themed afternoon tea and could do it gluten free, so we headed over on DH's lunch hour this week to treat ourselves.  It was quite fun! Tasty as well.

I don't think I am going to do anything for Halloween this year - in past years I have done a lot of decorating, carved a pumpkin, got in lots of sweets etc. But last year we only had a handful of trick or treaters and neither of us have an office to take the leftovers treats to any longer (DH works from home), and I just don't feel like I've got the energy to decorate this year - so I'm taking a year off. We will go dark on Halloween eve and ignore the doorbell if it rings, but it shouldn't because the unwritten rule is to only visit houses that are decorated.

Happy Halloween if you are celebrating though!

Another quilty weekend

 I was away for a long weekend at the Coventry retreat that I've been to twice before.  I like it because it's not too far away, the hotel is fine (unlike some other retreats I've been on), and the people are really nice.  It's just nice to have nothing to do but make things in likeminded company, and not have to do anything else because all the meals and refreshments are laid on.  I had a good time but I'm really tired now! By coincidence, Chooky was running her quilting zoom call from Australia as well on Saturday morning, so I joined their call  and showed the Australians our retreat room and some of the things people were making.

I was in the boxmaking class which was hard work but we produced four really great boxes. The teacher's technique is a bit of a hybrid mix between the cartonnage I have done before, where everything is glued; and the old-fashioned way of making boxes where you sew the covered card together.  We covered pre-cut card with fabric and then used our machines to zig-zag the flat joins.  Then we turned the joined pieces into 3D boxes by hand-sewing the vertical seams, reinforced with glued-in lining card and bases.  The hand-sewing was quite fiddly, particularly as I had forgotten my new reading glasses so only had my two-prescriptions-ago sewing glasses. But I'm pretty pleased with what I turned out plus the teacher went through how to calculate your own size of box to make at home.  So I could make more on my own time. Her method is a bit quicker than the cartonnage method because you aren't using as much wet glue so don't have to wait so long for things to dry. But on the other hand, the zig zag stitching shows on the outside of the box, and the hand-sewing is quite fiddly.

The two bags at the back are ones I sewed in between making boxes, when I needed a break from fiddly stuff. They are the large and small sizes of the Retreat Bag, a free pattern from Emmaline Bags, designed to take a wire frame so that they open wide like a doctor's bag.  I am going to make my wire frames out of coathanger to finish the bags off. It's a great project for a feature fabric like this old print of American farmhouses and quilts hung on the line.

On Sunday (today) I started cutting out and sewing blocks for the  quilt kit I bought at the Paducah show with the embroidered blocks that I've been stitching since the spring. I'm still working on the central embroidered panel but I could put the rest of it together.

There was various de-stash for sale for charity at the retreat, I picked up several bargain spools of brand-name thread but I also bought a Janome Jem Platinum 720, which is a 3/4 size Janome machine with 20 stitches, for a very good price. The foot pedal isn't working but my own Janome pedal works fine on it. Apparently someone's mother had given the machine to them, but they didn't sew and the machine just sat around for years.  It seems in very good condition apart from the pedal and  it could probably benefit from a service - and it comes with a little extension table and a sturdy carrycase.  I had to take my big Janome to the retreat because my Featherweight doesn't do a zigzag stitch, but now I will be able to take the Jem instead.  Much more portable, and hopefully less likely to go wrong from being transported.

Large and little.

I also took my own de-stash to donate to the charity sale: several bags of yarn and various craft books, so I've cleared out some more clutter.  I've also got some sweater's worth packs of Rowan yarn that I will try to sell.

In the week I tried out another pattern from Mrs. H aka Swoon Patterns, which was a test that ran while I was in Shetland so I missed it. It's called the Expandable Pouch and comes in five sizes, with organising and travelling in mind.  This is the largest size and it's big enough to put bulky clothes into. Now that I understand the pattern, it's a fairly straightforward sew, and I might make some more as organisers.  To use, or not use, packing cubes while travelling is a surprisingly controversial topic with lots of videos for both methods on Youtube. I don't find normal packing cubes that useful, but compression cubes that squash your clothes or yarn purchases down by compressing out the air can be quite handy. So I wouldn't use this for travelling but for things like drawer organisation, they might be handy.

So that's it for trips away from home for the year, or at least, I have nothing else booked at the moment. I can concentrate on trying to salvage the very-neglected, and somewhat squashed by scaffolding, garden; and on various jobs around the house.  I am still wading through de-cluttering - I spent several hours this week on my box of 1960s Barbie dolls, looking them up online and giving them a gentle clean, and sorting out the clothes. Apparently a couple of the dolls are fairly collectible but none of them are in great condition as they were hand-me-downs from an older cousin then I played with them, and they've been living in various attics for decades. I've emailed an auction house to see if they would be interested in them.  They may be inundated with similar collections from others jumping on the Barbie film bandwagon.

A quilty weekend

 It feels odd to have done more sewing this weekend than I have done for literally months. That came about because I happened to see an invitation on Facebook  for Brits to join an online Canadian quilting retreat. It sounded fun so I signed up and logged into Zoom at 3pm on Friday, ready to sew and with DH warned that there would be no supper.  It got off to a anticlimatic start with just me and another Brit wondering where everyone was - turned out the organiser had got the time difference wrong and it didn't start until 4pm UK time - but quilters gradually trickled in until there were over 30 of us.  It's organised like a physical retreat: we had introductions, door prizes, a mystery workshop (to make a wine glass coaster), a tutorial on facing a quilt and there have even been some pop-up vendors but mostly later at night after I've gone to bed.

But the best thing about the retreat is  the psychological permission to just sew from 4pm until late, without the burden of 'I should be doing that', 'I should be getting supper ready', 'I should be doing something worthwhile and not just sewing' etc. etc. It's so silly because I'm retired, I should feel like I have that permission all the time - but I don't. I don't know if it is the vestiges of a lifetime of work ethic but I generally spend most of my time doing chores and paperwork, until I feel like I've earned the reward of doing some crafting - and sometimes I'm too mentally worn out by that point to tackle anything challenging.

In addition to the retreat, I attended the Quilt Guild's region 7 regional day yesterday. I've been a member of the guild since I retired, but this is the first regional day I've managed to attend (and only because DH kindly drove me almost an hour to get there). It was smaller than I expected, I guess I was mentally picturing the bustle of a typical lace day but this was very civilised with about 30 chairs set out to view the presentation by the African fabric shop's Magie Relph on her travels and fabric collecting in Africa and the resulting quilts.  There was a raffle and I actually won a prize of a very nice little Japanese redwork zip pouch kit and a few other bits.  There was a small show and tell - I took along my Janet Clare Spoondrift quilt because I knew most people would recognise the pattern from the magazine BOM.  There was even a decent offering of gluten free cakes which was much appreciated.  In the afternoon we did a workshop with Janice Gunner to collage African fabrics into a little panel.   I met some nice people and it was nice to get out and meet some other quilters in real life. 

African fabric workshop samples

I came home and logged straight back into the Canadian retrest a bit late, and kept working on the little African panel.  So this is what I've been working on this weekend so far:

I assembled and lined the little knitted bag from 'Wool Gathering' magazine, that I was knitting in Shetland. It is probably a bit small for a knitting bag, it could be a tatting bag (if I still tatted)

I took apart the fair isle knitted shoulder bag that I bought in Shetland, removed the overly bulky and long shoulder strap, and added some soft handles. I put it back together and understitched the lining so that it tucks into the bag neatly now.  This will make a nice knitting bag for smaller projects.

This is the raffle prize I won.

This is my African panel which I turned into a little folding wallet with bound edges.  The button was also given to us by Magy. This project was a bit out of my comfort zone, most African fabrics are not my typical colours/patterns and I don't do much free form piecing.  Nice to finish something though.

In between the smaller projects, I've been working on the sewing panel wallhanging that I started several weeks ago.  I think it just needs some kind of border now.

Last week, before the quilty weekend, I stopped procrastinating and finally put together my contribution to a group U3A project. We were asked to make a 5x7" scene that must all feature a path starting two inches from the bottom and being half an inch wide - so that all the scenes can be shown side by side with the path joining them altogether. It's based on a group project one of the members saw somewhere else.  I agreed to do one back in August.  I based mine on the books by Sally Holman about fabric scenes, so it is heavily inspired by her work.   

On the side, I have occasionally been pottering with the book nook kit I bought in Northumbria. It has what seems like a million pieces so it is slow going and is definitely only 'assembly' rather than creativity.  But it is starting to look more interesting.

And finally, here is my new toy: a tiny bluetooth keyboard which I'm hoping is going to solve my problem of trying to type on my phone with my sausage fingers when I'm away travelling. It also connects to my ancient tablet so I might take the tablet as well.  The tablet and keyboard together will be much lighter than the laptop I took to Japan but hopefully will do the same jobs that I want to do on the road: blogging, expenses records, travel research and bookings, watching videos etc.  It's slightly awkward to type on due to the size, but already hugely better than the phone.

Summer's curtain call

 I did a brief google on the politically correct description for what we used to call 'Indian summer' and there doesn't seem to be a consensus - but I did stumble across a poetic description labelling it 'Summer's curtain call' which is quite sweet.  Yes, after a week and a half of definite Autumn weather in Shetland (see previous post), and coming home thinking it was time to put away the summer clothes, the weather has surprised us by suddenly warming back up to a sunny 23 degrees.  Luckily we had booked to go away one final night in our caravan for the season so we were able to take some advantage of the weather. We camped down south of Bletchley and had a nice lunch with DS who lives in Milton Keynes now. Yesterday we had a walk down the Grand Union Canal as far as the Three Locks which was quite pleasant.

I also got to go to Milton Keynes IKEA where I picked up some more folding storage boxes to fit my Kallax yarn storage units, as part of the continuing struggle to sort the knitting/lace/ScanNCut room out.  The original idea back when we moved in was to have all the yarn nicely on display in each cubbyhole of the Kallax units, like a yarn store.  In practice this doesn't work at all because the yarn is all different shapes and just wants to fall to the back, or fall out completely to the front.  It's easier to just stuff it all into a storage box labelled 'Shetland' or 'DK'.  I was also looking for a better storage option for all my DPNs but the Milton Keynes IKEA no longer seems to stock any useful divided boxes or cardboard drawers like they used to. I may have to build something myself.  10-15 years ago in my sock knitting heyday, I had all kinds of smaller DPNs but now I can't find hardly any, they can't all have broken or been lost so I'm hoping they are in the mess somewhere.

I also came across a fairly ancient knitting UFO - an Aran jumper I started c late 90s before I learned how to handknit properly.  I had later pulled it back and reknit the front, and knit a plain back on the machine, but stalled on the sleeves partly because I've run out of the original yarn (now discontinued) and couldn't find a good substitute.  When I cleared out my machine knitting room, I came across a cone of Aran wool so I'm using that to handknit the sleeves while we watch 'Shetland' on television. I had never watched Shetland before as I'm not really into crime dramas, but now I can tell DH 'I was there!', 'I had chips in that chippy!', 'that's the museum!' and point out the continuity errors as they jump locations.  As you can imagine, DH just loves all the interruptions.

Before I headed off to Shetland, I finished the circular sewing box I was making, it turned out quite cute. Not sure how practical it is, as it wants to roll forward, but if it had tools in it then it would stay put better.  There is a sewn on magnetic closure, then the ribbon acts as both decoration and a handle.

Our window repairs are all done, so no more builders, yay!!  The scaffolding is still there even though we've told the company we're done with it. Last time we had scaffolding I think it stayed up for a further three weeks, I suspect they were using us as free storage until they needed the equipment for someone else.  I can climb out our second floor hall window and have a cup of tea on our temporary 'balcony' at the back of the house, it's rather nice.  I've been plodding on with booking up my New Zealand itinerary, the flights, hotels and domestic transport are all booked so now I am focusing on activities such as Hobbiton, Weta Workshops, Maori village dinners etc. I feel like travel today is stuck in a grey place between 'exciting global adventure' and 'no admittance unless you booked six months ago'.  And if you booked it all six months ago, then it can start to feel like you are just 'travelling by numbers' when you're there instead of exploration and discovery.  But that's the reality for popular destinations so I try to have a mix of both. What's your travel style?

Shetland Wool Week

 quote: :"Shetland Wool Week is a world renowned celebration of Britain’s most northerly native sheep, the Shetland textile industry and the rural farming community on these islands...Since its conception fourteen years ago, Shetland Wool Week has grown into an internationally acclaimed event. Throughout the week there are an extensive range of exhibitions, classes and events, which will cover many different subjects. ...Events take place from the most southern tip of the Shetland, right up to the most northerly island of Unst, famous for its beautiful lacework, with many locations in between." unquote.

Shetland Wool Week (or SWW) is something I've been meaning to go to for years but the timing never seemed right. Also it isn't easy to get to, being in the far north. I almost went before COVID, even getting as far as buying a pair of waterproof trousers after reading about the horizontal rain and constant wind.  So SWW was high up on my retirement bucket list and 2023 was the year I finally went.  The events of the week run from Saturday through to the following Sunday, but as the programme isn't released until a few months before and yet you have to book accommodation a year ahead, I had booked to be in Lerwick for 12 nights just in case.  So that's why there was no blog the past two weekends, as I was up north with only my phone. Travelling took up a full long day each way: train to Birmingham, flight to Aberdeen then a layover, and another flight to Sumburgh airport on Shetland which is 25 miles or so out of Lerwick.  As I don't drive any more, I was staying at a small hotel in Lerwick itself.  But I managed to book several of the bus tours offered during the event and eventually saw most of the main islands apart from Unst.

It was a great week!  The camaraderie amongst participants (some 600 for event bookings and many more friends and partners, and people just hanging out) reminded me of the early years of the Paducah quilt festival: everyone in a good mood, everyone enjoying their week, lots of creative inspiration and gorgeous knitware being worn, you ended up chatting to strangers everywhere or even sharing their table for dinner or their car for a lift. The Shetlanders themselves gave us a warm welcome, they seem to love having the SWW every year and lots of shops and communities were doing special exhibitions of traditional knitting for  visitors to see. 

Shop window display

Early in the week I visited the Jamiesons shop, the Jamiesons & Smith Wool Brokers (a different company despite the name), and the Loose Ends knitting shop. I managed to secure shade cards for both Jamiesons' shops so no more guessing from online pictures of Spindrift or jumperweight.

Knitwear for sale in Loose Ends

I spent a lot of time at the Shetland Museum in Lerwick, both to enjoy the exhibits and some booked talks and a music evening, but also just relaxing and knitting in the knitters 'Hub'.

Historic knitwear on display

Entrance to the Hub (above) and inside (below)

I took tours of the South mainland, the North mainland, Yell, Whalsay, Uradale Farm in Scalloway and the Jamiesons factory in Sandness, so I saw a lot of the magnificent scenery and coastline.  Lots of sheep, lots of Shetland ponies, some highland cattle and even some seals. Many of the tour guides referenced the 'Shetland' TV series which I had never seen (we've started watching it now I'm back) and one guide had even been an extra - playing 'angry villager'. I have to say that having grown up in a heavily forested part of the world, I don't find the open heather moors and miles of empty peat bog to be beautiful as such, but it is striking. I did love the coastlines and if you come earlier in the year you can see puffins and lots of other sea birds. I was a bit surprised to learn that Shetland is actually very affluent - they get a lot of money from the pelagic fishing fleet, the cruise ships, the oil industry and of course tourism.  The hotel where I stayed the last night, the proprietor had a Jag sitting on his drive with a personalised numberplate. The cost of living is high, probably because so much has to be imported, so prices were high for example in restaurants, and houses appeared to cost the same if not more as where I live.

We were lucky with the weather: although it was almost always windy, it was never the Force 9 gales they had last year. Weather stayed relatively warm at 12-14 degrees C, and although there were many sudden showers of rain, they were generally light. So I lived in my raincoat, hat and quick dry trousers the whole time, but didn't need my waterproof trousers after all.

I took one class on blocking knitwear which was quite interesting, and I ended up investing in some glove boards and a jumper stretching frame like this one. I've already used mine to dry the acrylic cardigan I wore on the plane after washing it.

The knitwear on show was amazing, loads of people wearing their creations.  I took a few things to wear but generally I find handknits too hot to wear indoors.

Just before I went, I had started clearing out my knitting room and bagging up no-longer-wanted yarn for sale or to give away, so I was trying hard not to buy more in Shetland. Of course a few things crept into my luggage.

Shade cards for both shops, a couple of project bags, a weird pen-shaped scissors, and yarn to knit a pair of fair-isle wrist warmers (pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits)

A pin cushion

Genuine Shetland hat and gloves bought at one of the community sales that we visited, and a greeting card with mini Shetland lace on it

Obligatory tea towel (got one for the MiL as well), a bag recycled from fair isle knitting, and a cushion cover sewn from tweeds into a Shetland scene

From Urudale Farm, I bought a pattern for handwarmers and three balls of their own yarn.  During the week I was able to knit the body of both handwarmers but I think I am going to add some fingers.

I also bought several traditional patterns including one for a yoked cardigan (Hairst Yoke by Sandra Manson)- so while I was there, I chose yarn for the cardigan.

It is recommended to purchase membership of the SWW early on, so that you get an advance look at the programme when it is released and can plan your attack for the subsequent ticket selling bloodbath.  But you also get a cool membership set which I picked up at the Hub while I was there. The hat motif is this year's SWW hat pattern.

All in all, it was a pretty good week.  Many people go every year - I met one woman who had been 11 times.  Most people rent cars so that they can get around easily and book nicer accommodation outside of Lerwick. I feel like I 'did' the event pretty thoroughly so I don't know that I would go back again, at least not for a while. As a non-driver, I would only end up booking the same tours again unless I could entice DH to come along and act as chauffeur.