Chat Lunatique

Baby Booties pt.2

2010-10-22T11:25:00.000+01:00

Pattern is Saartje's Bootees from Saartje Knits made using Rowan RYC Cashsoft 4 ply

These booties were made two years ago for the birth of my nephew, Mitchell. I think that the two-tone colour works really well and the little buttons make them reasonably secure, and much easier to take on and off than ribbon.

Card by Dutchdoor via Etsy

The buttons offer a nice way of personalising the booties.

Grey Baby Booties

2010-10-22T11:11:00.000+01:00

Thanks to the ongoing supply of babies by friends and colleagues, I have been working my way through various baby bootie patterns for gifts. Here are two different designs I tried for baby boys, both using grey Jaegar Matchmaker Merino DK yarn.

Beginner Booties by Cathy Payson from Knitting For Baby


Oh! Baby Baby Booties by Judy Nemish from KnitList (card by Teresa Robertson)

Dundee Cake

2010-06-19T17:29:00.001+01:00

For Father's Day tomorrow...

Going Home

2010-03-25T15:47:00.000Z

Some scenes from the Underground, captured in retro glory thanks to a new iPhone programme which mimics the Hipstamatic, a plastic camera from the '70s. Reminds me of the lost joy of Polaroids (only more discreet...).

Baby Birthdays - part 1; or Items from the Archive

2009-10-23T18:11:00.003+01:00

Quite amazingly it transpires that my niece, Clarissa, is 1. I'm really not entirely sure what happened to the last year, particularly as I haven't yet got round to blogging about the sampler that I made for her as a birth gift. So, in honour of her 1st birthday, here is the sampler, a year late.

This was my first cross stitch project in a long time and my first ever sampler (there's an unfinished Beatrix Potter squirrel cross stitch lurking somewhere at my parents' house, disgarded about 15 years ago. I'd happily finish it, if it ever surfaced). This pattern came from Moira Blackburn who has a really lovely collection of classic sampler patterns. The historical goon in me appreciates the fact that old samplers often missed the letter 'I' because 'I' and 'J' were interchangeable. The sampler that I did for Clarissa follows that rule - I wonder if she will ever notice!

I enjoyed working on the project. It did take months and months to do, though. And, in the process, it became very well travelled, visiting Hawaii and New York with me during the spring and summer of 08. I got lots done while staying in NYC as I tried to keep out of my host's way in the evening so worked on the sampler in my room whilst watching endless 'Law and Order: SVU' (very addictive and a good contrast to days spent in the library). I'd love to try a larger sampler at some point but it has become increasingly clear to me that the reason my grandmother was such an embroidery/tapestry goddess was that she didn't work and had all the time in the world! I hope she'd be a little bit proud of my efforts, though.

Summer fruits

2009-09-22T15:06:00.000+01:00

Some recent fruits of the garden...

'Black Beauty' aubergine

Brandywine tomato with assorted (smaller) others behind

A cat 'growing' in an empty bit of vegetable bed (can't you just see the vitamin D production underway?)

Soggy Early August

2009-08-04T13:19:00.002+01:00

Despite the best efforts of the British summer, the garden has done some growing. The view above is the one that greets us as we come down our back stairs and open the garden door. The weather was very overcast when I took these this morning but the flowers still manage to shine. And the wet weather goes some way to explain the untrimmed grass!

The flowerbed at the back is looking very bright. I'm looking forward to the clematis which I've grown around the tree stump coming into flower, although that may not happen until next year. Amongst the flowers are 3 small 'Tophat' blueberry plants. These have not exactly yielded a bumper crop. The five solitary blueberries still look lovely, though! I'm going to re-pot them over the winter and move them to the other end of the garden as I suspect they need more sun.The veg bed is doing well. From this view you can see runner beans with butternut squash and a small courgette plant in front of it. Some cabbages, giant purple sprouting broccoli, then beyond that tomatoes. There are also chard and leeks which you can't see, plus lots of salad and french beans in pots near the house.
The runner beans are 'Liberty' and I think the red against the green looks wonderful, even in such flat light. Hope they taste as good!
The new neighbours have been nice, and very impressed by the work we did in the garden. One of the women lived here a few years ago, so knows what it looked like before! She has grown some tomatoes on her side (you can see some of them in the far left of the picture at the top of this post). Apparently, they have amazing beans in Bulgaria and she has promised to bring me some for next year (although, given the quick turnover of people in the downstairs flat, who knows how long she'll stick around, but I hope she does - it's great to have someone take an interest).

Come in to the garden

2009-05-08T11:43:00.006+01:00

For a joyous 4 months at the beginning of this year we were blessed with an empty ground floor flat. This meant that, apart from not being disturbed by noisy neighbours, we also had the garden to ourselves.

To recap, this is what we found when we bought the house in 2007:

After some cutting and clearing last year, the addition of a new fence and the introduction of a raised bed, things began to look much better.

However, I had been unsure how much work to do on the garden since it is technically shared by the downstairs flat as well. Our last neighbours took no interest in it at all. Thus, whilst we had it to ourselves I decided to try and improve it to the point that we could take pride in it and, when we come to sell, it might not actually put people off! Plus, I thought if we made a show of caring for the garden the new neighbours might too.

So in January Miles and I with stoic help from my Dad pulled down all the overhanging creeping vine and chopped down as much as we could of the dead tree. Which left us with this:

We then spent a couple of weeks burning that giant pile in our new incinerator bin - very exciting!

Then this spring I've been adding in more flowers and introduced a container garden on the raised shelf at the back (it is filled with soggy gravel from its previous life as a pond/bog so I thought it was probably easier to put things on top rather than to try and clear it out. Miles lugged 3 enormous paving slabs up and down the stairs then across the garden which are what the middle pots are now sitting on). This is how it's looking this morning in the sunshine that followed the rain.

There is now much-needed colour in the garden which makes a huge difference. I'm planning to add more pots and plants throughout the year. The azalea and pansies are the stars at the moment:

Like every other gardener out there, I'm keen to get going with the major vegetable planting. Salads etc are doing well but I'm waiting to let my collection of triffids (or should that be tomato plants?) outside. Currently they are on our dining table wondering if the humans will make a good dinner...

Cardie conundrum

2009-02-06T10:55:00.004Z

I am really excited about my Buttony cardie. The yarn is lovely, the fit is good and it's going to be great for the kind of proper wintery weather we've been having lately. All was going well until, half-way down the second arm I ran out of yarn. I am really baffled by this as I KNOW I had enough yarn. I originally bought 7 skeins (700g) of this yarn and the sweater only just weighs 500g so problem one - where are the other skeins??

I turned my yarn storage boxes upside down at New Year and couldn't see hide nor hair of them. So, I did what any sensible person would do, I ordered 2 more skeins. The yarn is from handpaintedyarn.com so has to come all the way from Uruguay. This took a few weeks, then, on Tuesday morning the package finally arrived, so I wound myself a ball and started up knitting again.

Now, the moral of the story so far is two-fold: 1) don't lose your yarn in the first place and 2) don't assume hand-dyed yarn from September 2007 will match the same colour-way dyed in late 2008, plus, don't knit half a sleeve, sitting on the sofa in bad light watching telly as it may well be days before you notice this little problem!

So I find myself here:
with a half a sleeve (on the right) darker and less varigated. This flash-bleached picture gives you an idea of how much the two different dye-lots contrast.
The problem is too pronounced to just let it go, so my question is, what do I do?

Do I have yet another look for the original skeins? (Did that this morning. Result: no skeins, but I did find the docking wire for my Zen and my mobile phone holder!)
Or, do I shorten both sleeves and make them 3/4 length? (I'm sure this would look fine but it makes the jumper much less practical)
Or, do I rip back both sleeves (boo hoo) and knit them again, doing one round with the original yarn and one round with the new yarn and trust that they'll blend together (and not look too odd next to the colour of the body)?
Or, do I email the suppliers and see if they'll dye some more for me (and thus give up on wearing the jumper this year since I'll have to wait ages for the delivery)?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Puff Daddy in da House

2009-01-10T14:03:00.005Z

For my friend Noel's birthday present I made a lovely, quick gift - the Puff Daddy. It is a little scarf which fastens by passing a large pompom through a keyhole opening.
I made it with two strands held together, one of Colinette Graffiti in Velvet Plum and one a very boring purple 100% wool aran weight yarn that I had lurking in the stash. The scarf is very warm as, thanks to the giant i-cord construction, it comes out double thickness. Noel seems very pleased with it and has even modeled it for her office! Thanks Noel for the pictures.

I can't wait to do another one: I think I can improve upon it by using some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran for the second strand, which would make the scarf softer overall. I also saw an excellent mega version on Ravelry, where the size had been increased to make a large neck warmer rather than a scarflet.

Picture by Yarnzillaonline.

This is a great project for this time of year - you can make it in one sitting so it will keep you warm as near to instantaneously as knitting will allow!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T13:03:00.005Z

The New Year, full of promises... Like finishing this Buttony jumper, and posting 4 months of backlogged projects...

I blame having to go to an office everyday for the chronic disruption to blogging service.

Anyway, a Happy New Year to all from me and my sleepy cat.

Handkerchief Corners Quilt

2008-08-12T23:16:00.000+01:00

I realised that I've been keeping this blog for just over a year, so happy blogging birthday to me! I started last year with the quilt I made for Dominic and Carolyn's wedding. It was the first, and so far, only, full-sized quilt I've made (despite many good intentions!). I had, however, made a lap quilt beforehand. Thinking back, it came to me that I'd never photographed it so here we have, well over a year late, my Handkerchief Corners quilt.
It was initially going to be full-size but I thought I'd better learn how to bind and quilt somehow before embarking on the quilt for Dominic and Carolyn so I stopped at lap size in order to get it finished. It now measures 106cm square.
I took these pictures in the garden on a very bright day, just before I went to New York. In actuality the colours are a little richer than they appear here - a combination of the sun and my bog-standard camera conspired to bleach them. I love the backing fabric. I'm not sure what it's called - I bought it with lots of other retro 30s fabrics in Branson, Missouri two years ago.
As you can see, Emily appreciates the burrowing potential of a folded quilt! She deserves a special mention today for having been a brave kitty and making it through her neutering operation with minimum fuss. She is back home, and, having got past the wobbly stage, is now in fully-fledged-chemical-madness-stage which involves knocking over all food and water bowls and then marching repeatedly over your humans, purring all the time but never settling down. It doesn't help that she isn't allowed to go out for a while - the vet said to keep her in for EIGHT days. I don't think the carpets (or the cat, or the humans) will be able to stand that! At least the madness is packaged in such cuteness:Going back to the topic of weddings - I heard today that my wonderful bridesmaid Abby is getting married (about time too!). I'm so thrilled for her and Misha. I wonder if this means more commemorative quilting is called for...

Wonderful Town!

2008-08-11T13:48:00.008+01:00

I made it back from New York in one rather sweaty piece and am subsequently delighted with the Typical British Summer we have been experiencing for the past week! Since most of my time in New York was spent at various libraries I didn't manage nearly as many cultural activities as I would have liked.

I do have a couple of good recommendations, though: on the museum front, the Merchant's House Museum is worth a visit. A preserved 19th century home with recreated interiors and an especially good kitchen - water pump, a full cooking range and a pie-safe (pictured below) - I love all that stuff!

Also the Folk Art Museum was excellent - very varied and interesting. This detail is from an incredible papercut, made by a prisoner in the 1830s.

If you can catch it before 14th September, the Asa Ames sculpture exhibition at the Folk Art is really remarkable too, displaying amazing wooden portrait sculptures (good pictures on their website to give you a feel). Also, if you're in New York, definitely stop at Blossom in Chelsea, an excellent gourmet vegetarian restaurant (or it's sister branch, Cafe Blossom uptown): I took my very carnivorous host and she was impressed!

I stocked up on lots of ideas for the next visit as well - Governor's Island, the Cloisters, Morris Jumel Mansion, the Rockefeller observation deck, Green Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, the Highline Park (once it's finished) etc etc... Oh, and obviously, many more trips to Moo Shoes (they have live-in cats!) and Purl (where, just as everyone would have you believe, you DO feel like you've died and gone to tasteful-craft heaven). Can't wait to get back with Miles for a proper holiday, maybe 'autumn in New York' next time to avoid the heat, though!

A Man Named Pearl

2008-07-19T17:06:00.004+01:00

I'm currently in New York doing some research at the Schomburg Center. And it is HOT. The Center is actually quite cool, but outside it is boiling. It was 29C at 10.30PM last night: yes, it was basically as hot as the hottest we ever get in London AT NIGHT! Crazy weather. However, I've not seen kids playing with fire hydrants yet, but I'm keeping an eye out!

I'm staying with my friend Janet in Brooklyn and last night, at the insistence of her sister, we went to see A Man Named Pearl. It's a lovely little film about a self-taught topiary artist, Pearl Fryar, from a tiny town in South Carolina. We got a chance to meet him before the screening and he was very charming and interesting. His work is incredibly elegant and beautiful, and a true testament to the value of finding what you do well and having fun with it. Also, it's amazing to learn that most of the plants in his garden were salvaged from the dump behind his local garden centre. It made me think of all those crafts people out there producing beautiful work in so many mediums. There's a nice post here about a visit to the gardens and some great pictures. If you get a chance to see the movie I recommend it - a real one-off.

A Fishy Tale

2008-07-06T21:54:00.006+01:00

So, on Friday night I was walking home from the tube station about 11.15 - I rounded the corner into our road and something caught my eye on the street. It was a small fish tank with one dead goldfish and one live one. It seemed that someone had just dumped the tank (maybe because they freaked out at the dead fish?). Anyway, I couldn't leave the poor surviving one, so I enlisted Miles' help, and he carried the tank home. We flushed the dead one down the toilet (the appropriate funeral method for goldfish, I believe) and cleaned out the tank for the remaining chap. We had no fish food (obviously) but I found out online that fish are meant to like lettuce so I tried some nice organic stuff but did not meet with success. Fish food from B&Q on Saturday morning proved more popular. I had been thinking of contacting the RSPCA but Miles had the inspired thought that our sister-in-law, Carolyn, had mentioned that she'd like to get a goldfish. And that if she had a fish she'd have to call him 'Ramesses', because a small fish could walk/swim taller with such a grand name! Anyway, we asked, and she and Dominic said they would take 'Ram O'Seas' (as Dominic excellently renamed him). Unfortunatley they couldn't come till today so we had to hide the fish from Emily for a while. I ended up putting him on our chest of drawers in the bedroom as Emily isn't normally allowed in there, but, given the tank had no filter, the water began to smell really quickly! Well, we managed to keep Emily at bay, although she'd worked out something fishy (sorry!) was going on by today (in an unguarded moment I found her sitting on Miles' pillow, smacking her lips...). Dominic and Carolyn bought a spiffing new tank for Ram O'Seas and came to collect him this evening. So there is a happy end to the story of the rescue fish, and here he is in his new home playing with his own reflection.

Kitchen Cloths

2008-06-24T09:24:00.002+01:00

After some experimentation I think I've found a fool-proof kitchen cloth pattern. Over the last couple of years I've made a selection of cloths for my mother and she has declared this pattern the most effective - and Mum's cloths take lots of punishment so if she says they do their stuff, they do!

I made this pair of green and pink cloths as a gift for a friend.

And this pink cloth for my kitchen. The pattern lends itself well to stripes and the pink cloth is made from a varigated and a solid pink yarn in alternating 2-row stripes. All the cloths are made from Peaches and Cream cotton.

I found the stitch pattern in my Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework.

Woven Stitch - Double crochet stitches worked in single chain spaces.

Unit of 3 ch plus 3

Row 1: miss 2 ch, 1 dc, *1 ch, miss 1 ch, 1 dc*, 2 ch, turn

Row 2: *1 dc in ch sp of previous row, 1 ch*, 1 dc in the turning ch sp, 2 ch, turn

Rep rom Row 2

Happy crocheting and happy cleaning!

Digging for Victory

2008-06-15T10:36:00.004+01:00

This was our garden in March. Neater and tidier but still suffering from the broken fence problem. Having finally plucked up the courage to speak to our neighbour on the right, Sandee, I discovered that she'd been thinking about getting her Dad to repair the fence anyway. And repair it he did - he made a fantastic job of it, a million times better than Miles and I would have managed on our own. And they refused to accept any money from us! Sweet, lovely people.

The installing of the new fence meant I could finally start my vegetable plot. After much sweat and toil I managed to make a very rudimentary raised bed and felt, frankly, very pleased with myself! So here we have the veg plot and new fence at the beginning of this month.
After a halcyon period during which I convinced myself that some pellets from the garden centre would be enough to deter the cats, I gave in and installed some more forceful defences. Thank you, chicken wire.I have planted a few different things: (working backwards from the foreground) various salad, tomatoes, beetroot, peas, perpetual spinach, one pumpkin and two courgettes (under the cloches), pak choi and radishes. My containers of herbs and salad are doing well, with the mint and rocket trying to out-do each other. The little cat on the doormat is Belle, Emily's friend from downstairs and one of the many local cats who think that my raised bed is a giant toilet!
I'm also trying some chillies and aubergine but they're not looking very impressive. I planted them as plugs nearly two months ago and this is as far as they've got. Oh well, at least the cats leave them alone so maybe there's hope yet!

Emily Entertainment

2008-06-15T10:22:00.002+01:00

After a request for some Emily updates here we have a selection of illustrative portraits (which I am finally able to load having found my camera cable. Hurrah!).

As a growing cat, Emily divides her time between attacking things

and sleeping.

The purple cushion is her joint-favourite spot (the other is on Miles' desk, tucked behind the curtain). She is also good at helping me work. Here she is sitting in a surprisingly human position and looking rather sleepy .

This pose, with the crossed paws, reminds me of those primary school portraits they make you have. She should be leaning on a prop pillar!

The Ginger Giant or Kitty Kapers - part 2

2008-06-07T10:36:00.006+01:00

Not much has been going on here apart from work, work, work. Now punctuated by sickness. Boo.

One of my many recent work things was an academic conference at which I had the excellent fortune to meet Maura of Paper Bluebird. After hearing rumours that she and a colleague were looking for fabric shopping opportunities in London, I felt like the bat logo (or pincushion logo, I guess) had been flashed on the sky and jumped to their aid! Once we got down to talking fabric I discovered that, apart from being a fascinating scholar with an interest in Victorian suburbia, she was a craft blogger who follows many of my favourite crafters too. Ah, serendipity. So lovely to make a new friend who straddles two worlds!

Away from the internet and back home, having Emily the kitten is making everything brighter. She is currently helping me mark A-level scripts by eating my biro. Being so cat focused recently, Miles pointed out that I really should share with the world the truth about Pip, my parents' ginger cat. He has been the cute kitten in the photo on my blog banner since I started writing lechatlunatique last year.

However, he is no longer a pip. He is, in fact, the Ginger Giant! Seen here with my father as a point of comparison!

He has truly become one of the biggest cats I have ever seen! Despite being the size of a small dog he is still utterly gorgeous and one of the most sweet-natured cats you will ever, ever meet. He continues to be devoted to his sister and her daughters, and takes his uncle role very seriously. He can be seen here with Emily's sister, Primrose. It's all too cute!

Kitty Kapers

2008-05-05T14:14:00.005+01:00

Please say hello to our new four-legged friend, Emily.

Our big excitement on getting back from holiday was adopting one of Agnes' kittens, so last Sunday Miles and I went over to my parents' house and collected little Emily. She was good as gold on her tube and bus journeys, even going to sleep (I've never known any cat to do that in a carry basket!).

This week she has made herself thoroughly at home, and then this weekend she's started to explore the garden too. Although, like any kitten she spends most of her time bouncing around, scrambling up furniture and pouncing on anything that moves, she has also shown a propensity for curling up next to me while I'm reading on the sofa. Too cute!

Aloha from Hawaii

2008-04-28T21:35:00.008+01:00

Ok, so we've actually been back from Hawaii for over a week, it's just taken me a ridiculously long time to do any posting. The island of Oahu was incredibly beautiful - just like all those pictures and movies would have you believe. We were very fortunate to be staying near what had to be the loveliest beach on the island, Kailua Beach, pictured top. From Kailua the bus took us into Honolulu in about 45 minutes. These shots are just a few from around Honolulu and Waikiki.

The flora and fauna were incredible - as just one little example, the plumeria flowers look and smell wonderful, and locals really do wear them in their hair!

A shop in Chinatown selling fresh leis.

On the craft front, there were a few examples of Hawaiian quilts in the art museum we visited.

The top fabric is cut like a paper snowflake then appliqued onto the base fabric. Typically the quilts are in bold, two-tone colours, with shapes often representing natural forms. The quilting is done in tiny, closely packed rows which echo the cut-out design. One description I came across pointed out that Hawaiian clothing did not generate scraps in the same way that 19th century American clothing design did, hence the Hawaiians did not develop comparable patchwork techniques. The echo quilting technique is incredibly time-consuming, with some designs taking up to a year to do. A possible explanation for this is that the quilts are only ever decorative - the crafts people did not have the pressing deadline of a snowy New England winter to work towards and thus could afford to take as much time as they liked!

One of my top recommendations would be Shangri-La, a breathtaking house built in the 1930s near Diamond Head by Doris Duke, an American heiress, as a home for her collection of Islamic art. This picture above just shows the pool house!

Looking at that view everyday wouldn't be difficult! If only I had a magnate's fortune!

Married!

2008-03-31T09:38:00.005+01:00

The wedding was beautiful! In the end it went by in a flash. Wish we could do it all again.

One of the most impressive elements were the beautiful bouquets and buttonholes produced by the bridal party under the tutleage of chief bridesmaid Becca. Close ups on the bridal bouquet and one of the bridesmaids' posies:

We bought the flowers from the New Covent Garden Flower Market on the Friday morning then made them up into bouquets on the Saturday. The making was so much fun and made the flowers feel so personal. And they smelled amazing! It's a shame there aren't more opportunities in life for playing with lovely flowers!

Happy Belgian Easter

2008-03-24T19:38:00.008Z

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend. These pictures are from my trip to Bruges last weekend (to buy booze for the wedding, which is now only 5 days away!). Obviously the Belgians are all about good Easter chocolate!

Bruges itself is best described as 'chocolate box' - very picturesque but also lived in (you can see a child's sandpit in the left-hand corner of this picture).

We visited Ypres and some of the WW1 sites as part of the weekend too - as you'd imagine, it was all incredibly poignant. This is Tyne Cot Cemetery.

And this is the Menin Gate in Ypres.

I didn't spot much of crafting interested except lots of impressive lace. A few things that did catch my eye, though: this great fabric used to cover a shop window undergoing a revamp (it's called 'Gourmandise' by Pierre Frey),

this lovely Pinocchio tape measure my Mum purchased;

and this excellent little storage chest.

What is it with European haberdasheries and lingerie in the same store? I've noticed that in France too - not very welcoming for any stray male crafters!

Flowers from the Estate

2008-03-08T09:53:00.006Z

I am disproportionately excited about these daffodils because they are the first blooms from the Rodway-Eady estate. Ok, so, the term 'estate' is a little grand for our garden but I'm aiming for big things. This was how the garden stood last November when I spent about 3 hours clearing a makeshift flowerbed (with only hand-tools, I hasten to add):

The extent of the plant growth over the rest of the garden gives you a feel of what I'm up against! We share our tiny urban garden with our neighbours on the ground floor - the sink which you can glimpse in the far left hand corner is theirs. Lovely. They only use the garden for hanging their washing and sitting outside to smoke in the summer. Given that they clearly have no designs on garden design (as it were), I feel more than entitled to plant whatever I like. I'm sticking to our side for the time being, though. At the moment this is the best view.

I've installed a compost bin at the end, under the tree, and have daffodils and irises in the flower patch (there should be crocuses too, but the squirrel has munched them down to nothing!). Nearest the camera is a planter with parsley, thyme and rosemary. As you can see, the major problem is the broken fence. The plan is to replace this once we get back from Hawaii at the end of next month, and to raise the bed so I can plant vegetables to see us through the summer. I have ordered some shade-loving plants to put in the built-up concrete bed at the back which will hopefully give the garden a little more shape. For now, I'm enjoying the amazing smell from the daffodils - so much stronger than any shop-bought ones. I feel positively green-fingered!

Kitten update

2008-03-08T09:18:00.007Z

The kittens have been coming on in leaps and bounds (well, mostly wobbly crawls and whines at the moment!). Here they are on 24th February:

and again on 6th March:

Obviously, they're still doing much the same things - feeding and sleeping in a kitten pile, but they have got much bigger and have opened their eyes. They'll be bouncing out of that box in no time. We have reviewed the gender situation and discovered that my original readings were wrong - in fact there is one boy and three girls (my career as a veterinarian crashes and burns before it's even started!). In the picture above, the boy is second from the right - he is the darkest and biggest. Since discovering that it is a brother and three sisters, the names coming into consideration are, obviously, Branwell, Charlotte, Emily and Anne (after the Brontës), or Chekhov's three sisters, Olga, Masha and Irina (the brother is generally called Prozorov - more a dog name than a cat name, I feel!). My current vote is for the Brontës but we shall wait and see.

Pip is still rather wary of them but is happy that Agnes occasionally wants to come out of the box and play with him in the garden - they're only really kittens themselves (Agnes turned one yesterday and Pip's birthday will be on Good Friday). Here they are on Thursday evening, back to one of their favourite positions - lounging on the breakfast bar (with Pip merrily disregarding the presence of Mum's laptop):

I'm trying to picture the poor old breakfast bar when 6 cats want to get on it!

Clever Cat

2008-02-29T13:24:00.003Z

The beautiful and very clever Agnes had her kittens last Saturday! There are four, two boys and two girls. Three are dark with assorted markings, but seem to be getting a little lighter already, while one looks very much like her mother. The names are still a work in progress. At the moment Dickens is offering some inspiration, as he has done for Thornton Rodway cats for many years, although the second source, Brambly Hedge books, are coming in a strong second.

Pip seems to be somewhat confused by the whole process, understandably. However, he's not eaten the kittens so far, so at least that's a good sign!

PregnaCat and the 1001 Poses

2008-02-15T10:17:00.010Z

So it seems like only minutes ago that my parents aquired the new kittens but time marches on and little Agnes is now expecting kittens herself! This has generated great excitement and the lavishing of perhaps excessive levels of attention (how many cats have you ever met that got an ultrasound?!). Anyway, as D-day draws near I have been roped in as standby nurse and have spent a few days cat sitting while Dad's been out. While I'm not sure I'd be a great help to Agnes during her delivery, it does mean that I get to witness the many, many sleeping positions she is working her way through. I guess I'd want to keep the weight off if I was that rotund.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I give you, PregnaCat and the 1001 Poses.

Meanwhile, on the other armchair, Pip gets in some quality time with Ted (a dismembered toy head, which, when he was little, he would sleep cuddled up to like a teddy bear).

As I think you can see, however, from the wild look in Pip's eyes, their relationship is complex!

When he's in the right mood you can get Pip to play 'fetch' with Ted. Pip the enormous cat-dog! If only I could get it on video I'm sure £250 from You've Been Framed would be mine for the taking!

Suits You Scarf

2008-01-17T21:52:00.000Z

More December back-blogging... I made two of these lovely scarves as Christmas gifts. I made one really early, in October possibly, hence the nicer weather and leaves on the trees in this picture (which also incorporates our broken garden fence!).

I cut enough fabric for two so came back and made another in the week before Christmas. The pattern is the Scarf Wrap from Denyse Schmidt 'Quilts'. The scarf is made from a mix of wool suiting fabric, corduroy and felt with various scraps of silky, chiffony type stuff and then backed with pink cotton. I've always liked mixed textures and the shots of colour make for a very pleasing scarf I think - perfect for enlivening a work outfit.

It was a good learning exercise too as it used the foundation piecing method - not one I'd used before but I can definitely see the value of it when working with fabrics of such different weights. I'm very happy with how these came out and just wish I'd had time to make one for myself! The only crafting I've been undertaking lately was adding a few rows of crochet to my never-ending ripple blanket as I lay in bed ill last week. I always think it's unfair that when you're ill and stuck at home you actually don't feel up to doing any crafting. I did watch the whole first series of 'Ugly Betty' though so I guess my time wasn't completely wasted!

Mushroom Pincushion

2008-01-08T11:00:00.000Z

Some Christmas back-blogging. This is a little mushroom pincushion that I made as a gift for Miles' mum. She loves mushrooms and toadstools and I've been collecting bits of mushroomy material with her in mind. The master plan is a cushion, or some such, for her toadstool guest room but since, just before Christmas, she lamented that her pincushion was giving up the ghost, I saw where I could put some of the stash to good use in the short term.

To make the pincushion I followed this tutorial from whipup. The top was made from mushroom print cotton (with iron-on interfacing for extra strength) and the base was from some red wool suiting material. I finished the top with a lovely vintage cream plastic button (which came in a wonderful assortment from my aunt some time ago) and on the back I covered a small button with some of the main fabric.

This was my first pincushion since a cross-stitch one I made in school when I was about 11 and I'm really pleased with it. It was a very quick and very satisfying project and I was even able to rope Miles in as Chief Pincushion Stuffer. I think I may do some more of these in the coming year.

Wreath Lecture

2008-01-06T17:14:00.000Z

Happy New Year everyone!

After being admonished by my family for not having posted recently I realised that I had better get some of my Christmas-related bits and pieces online before time renders them entirely irrelevant. Since it's 12th night today, I thought I'd post the pictures from our wreath walk on Boxing Day before the owners pack them all away! The walk took us through bits of west Kensington and Holland Park. As has become traditional (well, we've now done it two years running) we started the walk with a visit to the house of the late, great comedian Frankie Howerd, just to wish him Merry Christmas as it were.

I would say that the wreath on the Frankie Howerd house is about average size for the area - many however, get as grand as these ones:

But, if you are so posh that your house has an enormous double door, you may be forced to have not one but two wreaths:

The residents of this house didn't seem to have quite understood the level of grandeur required for a Kensington wreath:

Then we saw this along the side of Holland Park - it may have a house number and For Sale sign, but where, I ask, is the wreath?

Then we come to my favourite wreath - so ostentatious and, well, purple, that it takes up a full half of the door:

Here is a close up. I do not mean to offend any readers from across the pond, but my Mother reliably informs me that this house is inhabited by Americans. I can't help but admire their, well, balls!

Day 25 - Merry Christmas Everyone!

2007-12-25T10:58:00.000Z

Illustration by Allison Reuling

Advent - Day 24

2007-12-24T23:43:00.001Z

Just slipping in under the wire before Christmas proper (it's 23.45 now!) we have this wonderfully kitsch Saturday Evening Post cover from 1933, which features an amorous swain going in for a Christmas Eve kiss - frankly I'm impressed he managed to get around all the fair maiden's headwear!

Advent - Day 23

2007-12-23T22:55:00.001Z

Trying to get this advent door up quickly before I miss the 23rd entirely! As you can see, Santa is skating towards us all with his gifts - hopefully he'll make it in time for tomorrow night.

The image is from some wonderful retro 50s fabric - Joannaha.com has a vast selection of cushions in 50s prints, of which this is one - I am sorely tempted to get the Christmas ones and hide them away till next year.

Advent - Day 22

2007-12-22T22:22:00.000Z

I love Christmas wreaths. Unfortunately I haven't seen a single one in our area - I suspect they would get vandalised and/or nicked. Oh well. There is however top wreath action in Kensington and Holland Park - my mother, also a wreath fan, has been scoping out the choice specimens for a Boxing Day walk. The more ostentatious the better - can't wait!

Advent - Day 21

2007-12-21T12:23:00.000Z

This lovely Christmas card is just one of an amazing collection of mid-century Disney Christmas cards digitised by the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. A really fascinating website - take a look!

Advent - Day 20

2007-12-20T12:08:00.001Z

Behind today's advent door is a whole museum! The Geffrye Museum is one of my favourite in London - it is dedicated to the history of British domestic interior design and each period is reflected through a staged room. At Christmas, every room set is dressed in seasonal decorations appropriate to the period:

Miles and I last went in Christmas '05 and it was lovely. If you visit their website they have a virtual advent calendar which showcases seasonal items from their collection. I heartily recommend a real visit to the museum too, and the exhibitions are wonderful at any time of the year!

Advent - Day 19

2007-12-19T21:06:00.001Z

This lovely illustration, containing more of the popular rabbits/Christmas theme, is from Bunny Rabbit's Diary, by Mary Frances Blaisdell, illustrated by George F. Kerr, available via Project Gutenberg.

Ho Ho Ho!

2007-12-18T21:06:00.000Z

Ho Ho Ho everybody! We're Cara and Miles' Christmas cards. We started off as an army of origami Santas, forged in the primeval fire (well, folded in front of the primeval repro Victorian fireplace anyway).

We then marched onto the cards to be joined by some jolly stamps from Blade Rubber, outside and in.

We have now trooped into our envelopes to spread the Christmas message of minimalist Santastic joy (and yes, Santastic is a word).

Advent - Day 18

2007-12-18T19:59:00.000Z

"Dey eyy-teen" in the Chat Lunatique house* and Miles is home from work sick, poor thing. In a not very lady-of-the-lamp moment I went out in the morning to Foyles where we had our knitting group secret Santa. I got some wonderful little owls made by Caroline for my Christmas tree. Hopefully I'll be able to take some pictures in the light soon - which I can then add to the serious backlog of pictures I have to post!

*To quote the dulcet Newcastle tones of the 'Big Brother' voice-over

Advent - Day 17

2007-12-17T09:44:00.001Z

Given that Miles was the original recipient of the advent calendar I couldn't possibly do 25 jolly pictures without including rabbits. This Christmas rabbit is actually from a needlepoint canvas designed by Peter Ashe. I think the rabbit is lovely but I'm not sure I'd have the patience to embroider him. However, needles and thread will feature in my day today as I am doing Christmas present crafting. Maybe there'll be pictures once I am reunited with my camera!

Advent - Day 16

2007-12-16T13:56:00.001Z

Ok, so we're counting down for Christmas now and it's time to focus on finishing up the present making and/or shopping. I'm planning a whole day of sewing tomorrow and hopefully some serious knitting time on Tuesday and Wednesday. My knitting has hit a rather major obstacle in that the gloves I was making for Miles are being scrapped due to horrible pattern problems (ie the pattern is horrible!). I was going to take some pictures for a fuller explaination but I have succeeded in leaving my camera at a friend's house again (yes, I am an idiot). Anyway, hopefully it will be back in my possession tomorrow evening so I can post some of my own pictures rather than generic ones off the internet!

Advent - Day 15

2007-12-15T11:55:00.000Z

After the funky, folded Santas, we have Christmas good wishes from his funkiness himself, Laydeez and Gentlemen, the hardest workin' man in showbizness, Mr James Brown! Today is also Miles' nephew's birthday (known fondly by us as 'Bramble') and he is a three year old boy who loves Barry White, Barry Gibb and Barry Manilow (the 'Barry triumvirate') plus Hawaiian shirts (or 'party shirts' as he calls them) and jumping on the bed. So, all in all, I feel dedicating James Brown's Funky Christmas to him is rather fitting! Happy Birthday, Bramble!

Advent - Day 14

2007-12-14T19:15:00.000Z

Rather late in the day and a little on the small side we have a cute dog with some holly. The picture comes from an album cover - the record is 70s, I think, and is called 'Christmas at the Patti'. I know nothing about it but I do like that little dog! Happy weekend everyone!

Advent - Day 13

2007-12-13T12:53:00.000Z

Picture by Eric Newcomer.

I love Christmas trees. Our one in rather less grand than this picture, but one thing about Christmas trees that I like is their organic quality. I don't mean in terms of growing in the ground: my family tree has been plastic every year of my life - the same ancient tree from BhS goes up and down every year - and ours is plastic this year since it seems such a shame to get a real tree which we don't then have the garden space to plant it out come January. I was thinking more in terms of the decorations - by adding a few new ones each year the tree gets a little more special every time it goes up. Needless to say, since this is the first year of our tree the decorations are a little sparse but there are still a few with a personal edge like the two we bought in Stockholm last year, just after we got engaged.

One thing which I know our tree won't do and which is frankly a crying shame, is grow like the one in the Nutcracker:

[The HK Ballet production]

I have many happy childhood memories of watching both the Royal Ballet and ENB productions. Maybe when I finally live in a palace I'll be able to stage the growing tree bit just for me!

Advent - Day 12 (when Santa gets folded & funky!)

2007-12-12T14:34:00.000Z

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Miles and I have been on an origami kick recently, well when I saw the array of folded Santa Clauses on this site I just had to include one in the advent calendar. The problem is there are so many funky Santas to choose from! This is another favourite:

Santa clearly has some groovy moves in his sack along with all those presents! Get on down.

Advent - Day 11

2007-12-11T10:08:00.000Z

Now we're getting on to the good food stuff - mince pies! I am a relatively recent convert to these having spent many years worrying (as all good vegetarians should) about something containing 'mince meat'. Then, of course, even once I knew that it was just a strange way of describing dried fruit, there was the problem of beef suet. Well, all these clouds have been blown away and, thanks to the glory of vegetable suet, I can munch my way through mince pies with the best of them. Miles is the chief mince pie maker in his family and I helped him make them last year. This year we have gone a step further and made our own pear and ginger mince meat (so I can definitely confirm, no animals were harmed in the making of our pies).

However, the mince meat is still in its jars so no pictures from our kitchen yet, although hopefully there will be later. The picture at the top is from the BBC Good Food website and shows Apricot and Hazelnut Mince Pies. The recipe looks interesting and doesn't require the mince meat to be stored to let the flavours develop, making for a much quicker process. Maybe one for next year if the pear and ginger doesn't work out!

Advent - Day 10

2007-12-10T13:04:00.000Z

A snowflake (as if you couldn't work it out for yourself!). Because it's pretty and is the closest we in London will get to a white Christmas.

Advent - Day 9

2007-12-09T08:57:00.000Z

[Picture by Cathie (couldn't find surname) at http://www.americanrag.com/watercolor_gallery.htm]

I like this snowman and his knitwear.

We're off to a christening this morning for the little girl who I made a jumper for in the summer. Now, we weren't invited to her big brother's christening so I reckon it's the hand knit that swung it this time! Yay!

Advent - Day 8

2007-12-08T10:12:00.001Z

"Merry Old Santa Claus," by Thomas Nast from Harper's Weekly, January 1, 1881

A very jolly Santa Claus indeed - I particularly like the jaunty holly in his hat. I'm sure Coca Cola would never let him smoke now! Have a lovely Saturday everyone.

Advent - Day 7

2007-12-07T08:02:00.000Z

Christmas pudding - one of Miles' favourites but not mine. I'm hoping his Mum will make one when we visit after Christmas so I don't feel too mean for leaving it out of our Christmas sweets!

Advent - Day 6

2007-12-06T10:04:00.000Z

A companion piece to the cat-Santa hat humiliation of the 4th.

Advent - 5th December

2007-12-05T08:35:00.000Z

Mistletoe - because we all deserve a kiss, especially on a wet Wednesday in December!

Advent in Blogland

2007-12-04T06:37:00.001Z

Thinking about how much work I did (and how much fun I had) putting Miles' advent calendar together, I thought it might be a nice idea to use the pictures to do a virtual advent calendar here on the blog. I should explain straight off that none of these pictures were taken by me - they are all things I turned up using Google Image search. Obviously I've got a few days backed up, so here, for one day only, laydeez and gentlemen, are three, yes three, advent doors for your delight and delectation! Drum roll, please...

December 2nd:

December 3rd:

I want it!! This does, however, remind me of a notable childhood fancy dress party: my Dad made me an excellent firework costume out of a cardboard box - I was small enough that my whole body fitted inside - unfortunately, I experienced a problem know to many of our insect relatives... if I was pushed onto my back I couldn't get up. The other children found great enjoyment in tipping me over onto my friend Alice's bed. Meaneys.

And for today, December 4th:

[from http://www.glennjamesphotography.com]

Ho Ho Ho. Cats and Christmas - what's not to love?!

'Bottom Flap' Hot Water Bottle Cover

2007-12-03T22:29:00.000Z

This is the first piece of my Christmas knitting. It's made from the handspun, hand dyed yarn from the Handweaver's Studio, given to me by Noel (pictured here). It's based on the BAWK Hot Water Bottle Cozy pattern which I've made twice before. The problem I found with the pattern, though, is that, although the bottle does pull out through the ribbed neck, in doing so it stretches the fabric totally out of shape. I decided to add a 'bottom flap' to get round this problem.

I knitted a flap with ribbing and three button holes at the base back and forth on two needles and then cast on the back of the cover and joined to knit in the round.

I put some ribbing on the back section but apart from that I pretty much followed the original pattern from there up.

I think this has worked out pretty well - on with the rest of the Christmas knitting pile now!

Pinch Punch... (& only 24 days to Christmas!)

2007-12-01T13:55:00.000Z

Miles and I have made a start on a bit of Christmas crafting. I made an advent calendar yesterday from the template provided by Sarah of The Small Object. I love her downloads - they are always so fun and stylish. I made the calendar for Miles really - mostly because I knew he'd enjoy it but partly to say sorry for breaking the attic hatch that he so lovingly made a few months ago. Ooops. For all the images I chose things that I thought would either make him laugh or smile. For 1st December, we have a blues musician doing Christmas songs (Miles' love of blues means that miserable Christmas songs with quotes from Jingle Bells in a minor key are a seasonal staple which make their annual appearance on the 1st!).

I had a go at some origami stars for the tree which were reasonably successful but refuse to sit flat. I guess if they're hanging that shouldn't be too much of a problem!

We've also be experimenting with Christmas card designs, but more of that later...

Sweet Paprika in Cold Canada

2007-11-23T17:13:00.000Z

A bit of back-blogging here... This time two weeks ago I was in Montreal for an academic conference. It was actually my second but the first where I've given a paper. I'm glad to say that my presentation went down really well, thanks in no small part I'm sure to Mr Boogie Woogie Piggy Wiggy, the handsome little fellow you can see examining my notes in the photo. He has been a work mascot since around 2002 so he definitely had to come to witness such an important professional occasion. Since I'm 26 not 6, he did stay in the hotel room rather than coming in my pocket to the conference floor, but he was with me in spirit!

After a couple of days in Montreal I travelled down to Ottawa with my friend Elizabeth. We meet a few years ago at the Foyles knitting group, and Elizabeth, ever the demon knitter is now taking her crafting to a new level. Not only is she pattern editing professionally but she and her sisters have also launched Sweet Paprika Designs.

They have a range of patterns and kits but my favourite bit is the lovely hand dyed yarn. I passed a happy 10 minutes on the Sunday morning photographing some of their stock. This is the 100% merino range called Messa di Voce.

This is the silk and merino blend, Dolce. I think the rich colours are just gorgeous.

And finally hand dyed, self-striping sock yarn!

Unfortunately the light wasn't great and the colours look a bit dull (you can see truer colours on their website). I've tended to avoid buying self-patterning sock yarn because I'm not keen on the jacquard look that most of them have, but this yarn is properly self-striping. This is a close up of the sample sock Elizabeth was working on.

And, as if seeing my friends and being fed lovely home cooked meals wasn't enough, Elizabeth kindy gave me two skeins as a birthday present! I chose the purple colorway of the sock yarn and here they are back at home with me.

Thanks again to Elizabeth, Paul and her sisters and cousin for such a lovely stay! I can't wait to go back when it's cold enough to ice skate!

Miles' Noro Hat

2007-11-06T18:27:00.000Z

I made this hat as an anniversary gift for Miles last month. I hadn't been able to photograph it until this weekend due to the aforementioned camera problem. These pictures were taken on the camera phone so they're not great but they'll do! The hat is made from a lovely, lovely Noro yarn which I bought from Angela at a yarn swap/sale hosted by Adrienne. It's called Cash Laine and is 60% wool, 20% cashmere and 20% lamb's wool (sadly, having done a quick online search, it looks like it might not be made any more). The grey colourway (#22) is rather un-Noro but works great for a man knit. The pattern is adapted from the Marsan Watchcap by Staceyjoy Elkin, and was worked on 5mm needles over 104 stitches.

Miles is really pleased with the hat (an improvement on the last one I made him two years ago which was an excessively tight skull-cap type beanie with mixed weight yarns and poor gauge - I feel my knitting has improved since then!). The reason I chose this pattern for him is he likes a cuff which he can adjust, depending on the cold, and this has an extra deep turn up. One feature of this pattern I really liked was that the twisted rib is maintained throughout: thanks to a bit of jiggery-pokery on the circulars, the whole hat is turned inside-out after the cuff so that when turned up the cuff and hat body match. I also think the decreases look really smart, and because the twisted rib has lots of stitch definition, you can see them in action!

Angela told me today that she got some more of the Cash Laine to do another jumper so I hope if she has any left-overs she passes them my way! Finally, a camera update - having researched duty free and found it to be stupidly expensive, I gave in and bought a new Samsung from Comet (one of the few times living right next to a retail park pays off!) so at least normal photo quality can be restored with the next post.

Oh, and one last thing - does anyone have any good yarn shop recommendations for Montreal or Ottawa as I'm off to Canada on Thursday?

Mobile blogging

2007-11-01T14:33:00.001Z

This is a picture of some lovely handspun Noel gave me and which may become something christmassy. I took the photo with my new phone and sent it and the blog post direct from my mobile! I'm feeling pretty 21st century today!

Radio Silence...

2007-11-01T11:03:00.000Z

Apologies for the complete lack of activity over here - I have been mourning the sad loss of my camera. I took it to Brighton where I photographed my friend Becca looking lovely in the head scarf I made her, as well as a couple of her beating her monkey pinata. Then, in my eagerness to stuff my early birthday pressie into my bag, I promptly left my camera behind. I know for a fact that the camera made it as far as another friend's bag when she prepared to return to London the following day but unfortunately all that could be found once she got home was the post-it note with my name on that had been stuck on the camera case. Boo! It wasn't a particularly smart camera but it was quite new and cost £80. I've been umming and ahhing about how and when to replace it and have currently hit on the idea of buying one in duty free when I got to Canada for work next week (it seems that the prices in Canada are comparable to here unfortunately so no bargains to be had - why can't I be going to a conference in the US with the 2-1 exchange rate?!)

There has been good, if unphotographed, crafty activity going on - I knitted a new hat for Miles for our anniversary last week which I'm happy to say he is really pleased with. I will take a piccie as soon as I can. I'm also in the process of deciding what to make for Xmas pressies but I can't really discuss that here in case the recipients happen to stop by!

And the final irony of the camera saga - with the good weather we've had over the last couple of days the light has been so much better so I could have been taking lovely photos. I think the short term solution is to play with my new CyberShot mobile phone today and see what 3.2 mega pixels can accomplish!

Short Rows: the Sequel

2007-10-19T18:43:00.000+01:00

I actually finished the Calorimetry ages ago, but as is the way with so many nearly completed projects, it had to hang around folornly waiting for buttons until I finally took pity on it at the beginning of this week. I'm taking it as a birthday present for a friend tomorrow and I hope she likes it - maybe I'll manage to get her to do some modelling. With the autumn light changing, our kitchen now gets very long shadows which you can see in all these photos. As a result, when looking back at the pictures of the Calorimetry I realised that I had somehow knitted a small, fierce monster!

My love affair with the Wendy Fusion continues: having picked up some balls at Ally Pally I decided to try a test patch for the Lizard Ridge throw and I'm so pleased with how it came out.

This is the Aniseed colourway, a great mix of pinky purple, green and bright blue. There are 16 different colours in all which I reckon should be perfect for the throw. The Fusion is about half the price of the Kureyon and so much softer. Unfortunately it took me a while to realise that I was doing the short row wraps all wrong. You can see in this picture that I was twisting them far too much on the purl side.

By the final couple of repeats I had consulted a back issue of the trusty Interweave Knits and all was well.

Given the fact that I'm still only about half way through the crochet blanket I suspect the finished throw may be a way off, but the pattern is very enjoyable, especially as the colour changes spur you on to see how the next ones will fit in. I'm no nearer getting the lovely blue rocking chair or mountain scenery suggested by the pattern picture, however!

Cat-isfaction

2007-10-13T09:21:00.000+01:00

Our little friends Agnes and Pip came to stay with us for a whole seven days last week as my parents were away on holiday. We took them back home last night and I'm missing them already. It was wonderful to have them for so long as they really settled in - after a couple of days there wasn't even any hiding under the bed. There were some early problems with our feet (and other body parts) being attacked in the middle of the night but we worked out a good system which saw the cats spend the nights in the kitchen with access to their food, litter and no human toes.

I was excited to see that my lap quilt was a big hit with Pip - praise indeed for the handcrafts, I feel. Here he is snoozing with paws over his eyes on the living room floor...

...and here a little more alert on a dining chair.

I made them a little ball of cotton to play with which was so popular I made them another to take back to Mum and Dads'.

This was a super easy (and effective) toy - I hand-wound some cotton yarn and then with the final 20cm or so threaded on a yarn needle I fed the end up and down through the ball to secure as much of the yarn as I could. This way the cats can abuse it as much as they like but it's very hard to unravel! Actually the pink yarn was from Noel, and since she's a cat lover, I hope she won't mind the use I put it to!

I will leave you with this incredibly cute picture of Pip.

As the British sometimes say, 'pip, pip for now'.

Seasonal Snowflake Silliness

2007-10-08T11:42:00.000+01:00

Check out Make-a-Flake: you can design your own paper snowflakes or download a template for a ready-made design (like the one with the elves above)! I feel this is definitely too good to just be for kids!

La Moda

2007-10-01T20:52:00.000+01:00

After a long journey through the American and British postal systems (most notably the black-hole that is the Broad Lane sub-post office, N15), the beautiful piece that I won in the One in Ten auction arrived today.

It's a small collage by the incredibly talented Lisa Congdon. I've followed Lisa's blog for the last couple of years and I really enjoy her work, her philosophy and her cats (who sadly appear rather less in her new art-focused blog, oh well).

I particularly like the sewing ephemera in this piece and the vibrancy of the red goes very well with the blue in our living room. And I had a bit of a thing for stamps when I was little. (I still have a giant tin of old ones somewhere - maybe I should use Lisa as inspiration and do something creative with them...)

We just have to work out where to hang the picture now. The big question is, should it take the place of the signed photo from the cast of Scrubs, or is that sacreligious?!

Short Row Serenade

2007-09-27T16:55:00.000+01:00

After months of crochet on the as-yet-still-unfinished ripple blanket, I've picked up the knitting needles again to work on this Calorimetry as a birthday pressie for a friend. The yarn is Wendy Fusion which I've used before in the red and orange colourway. This time Clare had spare balls of the purple which she kindly distributed amongst the Foyles knitters.

The Calorimetry pattern is worked in short rows which I've realised is one of my favourite knitting techniques - there's something rather magical, I think, in the way straight lines can become three dimensional, just by leaving behind stitches. One of the most satisfying projects I've knitted was the A Capella cape, which is all short rows.

[photo: Leo Bleicher, via Knitty]

Although the picture of the project didn't sing for me, I saw it knitted up and it's wonderful. My Mum is devoted to her purple one and wears it most days during the winter.

I have my eyes on another promising short row project, the Lizard Ridge Throw, also on Knitty.

[photo: Laura Aylor, via Knitty]

Its so gorgeous I can hardly contain myself! Sadly I have exactly one ball of Kureyon in my possession and am without the financial means to acquire the enormous pile the project requires. Oh well, I can always dream!

Local Colour

2007-09-22T19:05:00.000+01:00

I must admit that went I first moved to N15 several years ago my knowledge of its charms was limited to the fact the the rent was affordable and the house inhabitable. When Miles and I came back last year having bought our flat, I felt I knew a little more about the area but I'm always surprised at the treats that it has in store in the most unexpected places. I found one of these last week in the form of the wonderful interior of a Chinese restaurant on Kingsland High Street. Once an eel and pie shop, the tiles are a fantastic teal and green (two of my favourite colours). There are great details like the entwined eels on the mirrors and there was a mosaic of an eel by the door. The food was lovely too ("Buddhist Monks'" Vegetable Hot Pot" plus dumplings and spring rolls) so I'm definitely going back.

Today Miles and I went for a walk down the River Lea, taking in the end-of-summer fine weather. The river is a great little oasis, so slow and quiet compared with the city all around it.

We were walking south and got as far as the Walthamstow Marshes where we found cows! I've seen them before from the train but it was such a treat to see them there, just getting on with their grazing in the middle of London. I love those little flashes of the rural which you occasionally find in the city - like having the best of both worlds!

Extreme Sushi

2007-09-19T08:58:00.000+01:00

Miles and I made a new friend yesterday. Meet 'extreme sushi', so raw there isn't even any rice. We decided in the interest of health, detox and being thinner for the wedding (ha!) to try one night a week of raw food. Rather depressed by visions of endless salads I was excited to find this sushi recipe. It uses a pâté in place of the rice, making them rich and still filling. They are noticeably harder to roll than normal sushi, though, as the pâté is much squishier than rice and so just wants to come squirting out the end!

We made our pâté from carrot and red onion, hence it is rather more 'orange' than the 'pink' of the original recipe. Frankly, there was substituting going on all over the place - we used rocket instead of watercress and sun-dried tomatoes instead of the evil cucumber. Also, I didn't quite have enough cashews so almonds found their way in too. I think the moral of the story is, this is actually a very flexible recipe so I suggest going wild (well, as wild as vegan raw food night gets!).

(For a master class in rolling sushi, the first episode of the Post Punk Kitchen TV show has all you need to know. Have a look at the video and the sushi tips page on their website.)

The recipe we used was originally printed in Waitrose magazine a couple of years ago as part of a feature on the café at Triyoga in Primrose Hill, which, at the time, served mostly raw food (it's changed management since then, I believe).

Pink Sushi

Serves 6 as a starter
Preparation time: 40 mins, plus chilling

11g pack nori sheets
100g bag watercress, stalks cut off
1 carrot, peeled and cut into julienne strips
2 x 5cm pieces cucumber, cut into julienne strips
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
1 tsp tamari

PATE
1 small red pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 medium beetroot (raw), peeled and chopped
100ml olive oil
50ml tamari
2 tbsp cider vinegar
200g cashew nuts
1 tbsp roughly chopped ginger
1/2 red chilli, roughly chopped
1 tbsp maple syrup

Put all the pâté ingredients into a blender and blend till completely amalgamated and smooth (may need to scrap down the sides a few times). Refrigerate the mixture for 2-3 hours to firm up or, if you're in a hurry, freeze it for 30 minutes.

Lie a nori sheet on a sushi rolling mat or clean tea towel. Arrange a handful of the watercress on the lower half of the sheet then spread about 1½ tbsp of the pâté over the watercress. Arrange some carrot, cucumber and avocado over the pâté, then a little more watercress. Carefully roll up the seaweed to create a neat roll, using a dab of tamari to seal the sushi. Slice with a sharp knife and serve immediately.

Architectural Adventures Chapter 2 - Open House Weekend

2007-09-18T14:58:00.000+01:00

Sometimes London weather really comes into its own in September and last weekend was no exception. As part of London Open House Weekend, Miles had planned himself a comprehensive tour of art deco buildings (this is his third year of deco OHWs - we've decided that next year may be time to look at other things!) and I tagged along for a few of the highlights.

On Saturday we visited the Unilever building at Blackfriars - with its amazing deco facade we'd both wanted to have a look inside for a while but it only finished a massive redevelopment earlier this year. The exterior looks fantastic but the inside was a real shock - they've gutted the building and fitted a completely souless glass atrium-type interior. But to try and accentuate the positive I include here some pictures of the carefully restored handsome exterior.

The angles of this light are wonderful.

These little birds are a great detail - I'd have missed them if Miles hadn't pointed them out. Each pair makes the apex of the zig zags on the gates.

On Sunday we made it all the way down to Tooting for 10am(!). While waiting I noticed the library and wonderful old advert on the building across the street.

We actually went to see what was the Granada cinema. Now a bingo hall (the saviour of so many cinemas) the facade is relatively demure...

...but it conceals a fabulously over the top 'Shakespearean Medieval' interior.

We then progressed to the Park Lane Hotel. The bit we'd really wanted to see was the ballroom but there was a wedding going on (imagine how much that must cost!). We got to see the ballroom lobby though, which was incredible - a sea of silver leaf and mirrors. Here you can see Miles in action too.

The metal work shapes in the light fitting were echoed in the banisters too.

We were also taken to see one of their suites (the rack rate is over £2000 a night!). It was the favourite of Marlene Dietrich, apparently, and she was known to entertain guests from the bathtub!

And to finish, one more pretty picture: these lillies were from some dinner guests last week and I think they match our fireplace beautifully.

Architectural Adventures - Twyford Abbey

2007-09-13T16:06:00.000+01:00

Earlier this week, thanks to my ever amazing Dad, I got an opportunity to poke around a remarkable, forgotten gem of a building. Tywford Abbey was built in 1807, in full gothic style, as a country house in what is now sunny Park Royal. The building was a nursing home until the late 80s but has just been falling apart in planning limbo since then. Dad came across the building when he was asked to lead some local area walks in Park Royal and has now got involved in campaigning for its preservation. There was an article on the building in Time Out last month which explains the history in more detail.

One of the strangest aspects of the building, when viewed straight on, are the balconies. These must have been added in the 50s (I rather like the design of the railings!) and so we decided there might have been a recessed court yard entrance in the original design.

We were only able to get into three of the original Georgian rooms. Two had obviously been kept in good condition and their ceilings still look amazing. These pictures were taken in the dark, just with flash but you can imagine how they would sparkle in candle light.

I love the amazing red of this room - it was actually less pink in real life. The wonderful ceiling rose does not deserve that manky light bulb!

Sadly much of the building has been very badly damaged by water. I took this picture in the hallway next to the rooms with the beautiful ceilings.

The water has meant the things like this have appeared: mushrooms growing out of the walls.

Even more impressive, though, was the tree growing out of the back of the building.

The Time Out article explains the details but much of the problems with development of the site are that, not only is the building listed, but the wild, rambling grounds are also under conservation orders which means paralysis. Such a shame as this is pure Jane Austen fantasy!

As I was on my way back home I was thinking how lucky we are as Londoners that at least constant usage means people are aware of the architectural value of our tube system. Park Royal station is a wonderfully functional art deco building: this view of the stepped back of the main building is from the platform.

I'm looking forward to this weekend as it's London Open House, so expect more architectural adventures detailed next week!

Life on the Inside

2007-09-08T21:38:00.000+01:00

This last week has passed in a blur of staring at the computer screen and not much else. The chapter I've been working on is based on the three books in the picture above - I feel like I know them inside out, which I guess from the point of view of my PhD is a good thing but it does get a bit claustrophobic. This feeling is certainly reinforced by stretches of 48 hours plus not leaving the house! Spending that much time in the same environment does always encourage me to try and see the old angles with new eyes, though. The picture below is the view from our bedroom which I normally think is pretty grim but I realised that by focusing on the green and white of the foliage and the brown of the brick it's actually rather nice. This does mean ignoring the concreted over garden of our neighbours, filled with washing and the enormous satellite dish which the people downstairs put on our wall, but that's the beauty of framing!

My reward on Friday was dinner at Mum and Dad's which of course offered amongst its many attractions (good food, lovely company)...cats!

Pity the video is so dark - sorry! But I love how you can see the thought to go for Pip's jugular run through Agnes' head before she does it. They make me giggle those two.

Bread & Fire

2007-09-03T14:53:00.000+01:00

One thing I wish I was better at is bread making. All my previous attempts have been middling to poor, the problems generally boiling down to heavy, unrisen, yeasty smelling bread. Not to be defeated when I saw this book on sale at Foyles last week I was wooed by the step-by-step photography and snapped it up. The first loaf I made turned out beautifully. It was a Nutty Yogurt quick bread - perfect for me as there was no getting your hands sticky or waiting for it to rise, just mix everything together in the bowl and then put it straight in the tin and on into the oven. One hour later, voila!

It was very gratifying to hear Miles walk into the kitchen and exclaim, "It looks like proper bread!". And it tasted proper too. I'm looking forward to working my way through the book and to overcoming my bread demons.

Finally, a little historical tidbit.

Miles and I spent the weekend with his parents at their house in Winchester. Along the road that runs from their house to the centre of town are these old cottages (I'm not sure of the date, but given that a bit further along the same road there is a building from the 15th century I think we can safely say they are pretty old!).

The detail I love are the little plaques you can see on two of them.

They are fire insurance marks: before municipal fire brigades, insurance companies ran their own private brigades. In the event of a fire the firemen would check for a plaque to see if the building belonged to their scheme before setting about tackling the blaze!

What I Did on My Bank Holiday

2007-08-30T08:47:00.000+01:00

Given that the weather has now returned to regulation overcast it seems like a good time to celebrate the surprise sunshine which blessed the bank holiday weekend.

Miles and I had a lovely weekend filled with cats and family visiting. Mum and Dad's kittens (well actually gangly adolescents now) came to stay with us on Saturday as part of our training programme which will hopefully mean that they can come and stay with us when my parents go away, rather than us having to up sticks to west London for the week. Pip and Agnes are getting very good on the tube (I think they've had 7 journeys on it now) and, thanks to a ballsed up Piccadilly line on Saturday, they've now done one bus ride too.

They seem to like our bedroom the most and the pictures show them not helping me change the duvet.

On the Monday we went round to Miles' brother's to view the bounty of their wedding list which had just been delivered. I was delighted to see that all the linen they'd asked for is blue and goes very well with the quilt that I made for them!

We spent the afternoon playing darts in the garden (so much harder than it looks!) and then Miles and I went blackberry picking with his parents in the wild little woody bit that covers one of the train tunnels.

Yesterday, I got round to cooking up our share of the Bounds Green Blackberry Bounty with some cooking apples and then used the puree to make a charlotte (so tasty we've almost finished it between the two of us!).

On the craft front, I'm plugging away at my ripple crochet blanket. I'd like to finish it by Christmas which should be possible - I think I have about one third done so far. Better get up some speed surfing those ripply waves!

Quilting Green Paper

2007-08-25T21:55:00.000+01:00

My first Japanese craft books arrived in the post last week from YesAsia. I got Machine Made Patchworks and then, because it seemed such a waste not to make the free shipping threshold, I added From Quilters Studio too. I had seen Machine Made Patchworks around but was finally motivated to buy it by this post from Manda at Tree Fall Design where she discusses the lovely red quilt she made for her daughter. I've been thinking about doing a quilt for our bedroom and have had some fabric in mind for it. I have a bit of a thing for log cabin designs and I think Manda's quilt with the single colour palette and solid centres is beautiful and really effective. This is the log cabin quilt which features in the book:

I'm planning to do a two-tone colour scheme in yellow and green for ours. I have seven patterns in each tone, mostly half yards and fat quarters.

I cut a few test strips so I could lay out some ideas I had for blocks. For the first one I mixed the colours, using a block of one colour for the middle rounds and the other for the outside.

This second one is a little truer to the book (and Manda's design): sticking to using one colour in the centre and one colour on the outside, I mixed up the fabrics within each colour area.

Although I really like the effect of the second design, I think I will stick to the first one: I like the idea of foregrounding the colour work and letting each fabric speak for itself. Also, Miles prefers symmetry and order so I know the first one is more to his liking. Since he has to share the bed with me, I feel it's only fair his taste is considered too!

For the overall design I'm planning to alternate blocks with green and yellow centres and then maybe join the whole thing together with plain purple borders. Could be a while before it's finished, of course, but the planning is almost as much fun as the making!

Food, Glorious Food

2007-08-25T20:33:00.000+01:00

As I mention in my profile, I spend much of my day thinking about food. Since most of my time is taken up with reading, I find the mind needs to wander and food seems a legitimate channel! I made a couple of things I was really pleased with this week. The first was an Indian meal which was absolutely fantastic. I'm blowing my own horn here, but it really was! Apologies for the bad picture but the camera batteries died after only one shot and we were too hungry to mess about finding more! Here in all their fuzzy glory are steamed basmati rice with a spiced coconut dahl, green bean-sesame curry and beetroot salad.

I must hasten to point out that the dahl and curry are both from recipes so to be honest I don't deserve much credit, I just did what I was told! The dahl was from an old Waitrose magazine I think - basically cooking red lentils in stock, frying up some onion, garlic, ginger and curry powder, then adding these to the lentils (keeping a little for garnish) along with some coconut milk. By far the best dahl recipe I've found, and very easy. The real stars of the meal were the green beans which I made from this recipe posted by Indira on her Mahanandi blog. I've been thinking about using the sesame mixture on other vegetables, maybe courgettes...? I urge everyone to give the recipe a go - so so good.

On the other end of the food spectrum, I made some cupcakes for Saturday tea. I did the Brooklyn Brownie cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I didn't do the icing, instead I put a little maple syrup on the top and stuck on some chopped pecans. Now I know it's tantamount to blasphemy for someone who loves chocolate as much as I do but [whisper] I think if I had to choose, I'd take the green beans!

I'm going to lie down for a minute and hope the world gets back on an even keel.

I Only Have Eyes for You

2007-08-19T21:06:00.000+01:00

Having agreed, due to wedding savings, to keep birthday and Christmas presents on the small side this year, I decided to make a gift for Miles' birthday. He recently got contact lenses for the first time so he needs to carry his glasses around along with spare lenses and eye drops. In honour of this, I came up with the eyechart pouch which I thought could take any combination of these.

I found a vintage eyechart online which I printed out on a transfer sheet (but of course there was the obligatory wasting of the first sheet before I remembered to flip the image!).

Having ironed the image onto white cotton I made it up into a pouch using a lovely reproduction 30s fabric which I bought in the fabulously surreal Branson, Missouri last year. (It's a sort of Christian, middle-American Las Vegas. Here is the 'Hollywood Exhibition' venue.

Who exactly are the figures meant to represent, because, frankly, it's a little hard to tell?!)

I used Anna's excellent tutorial for making a pouch but modified it to include batting behind the front layer. I quilted these two layers together around the square frame on the front and along the vertical lines of the pattern on the back.

This was a really fun piece to make and reminded me of all the iron-on transfer possibilities. Maybe I can include some of this in my Christmas present thinking...

The Cardie, the Cake and the Oven Glove

2007-08-13T21:52:00.000+01:00

Our friends Poppy and James had a little baby girl 3 months ago and in honour of Roseanna Maeve's birth I decided to make the Pea Pod Baby Set by Kate Gilbert. For once I miraculously had the specified yarn - Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere - in my stash, albeit in purple not green. I made the cardie without the hat on 4mm needles, and I have to say, it was a very enjoyable pattern to do: the lace panel gave me just enough to keep me interested in each row but not so much that my brain hurt!

What really sold me on it, though, was the wonderful detailing on the ribbing - so cute!

I was very pleased with the lace - I've only done small pieces before and this definitely helped build my confidence. I'm just not sure my propensity for knitting in front of the TV could cope with a whole lace project, though. I'll have to wait and see.

Roseanna seemed very pleased with her cardie but didn't model it - I made the 6 months size so hopefully she'll fit it once autumn sets in.

As well as going to see little Roseanna, we also got to see her lovely two year old brother, Daniel, who has taken a great big shine to Miles and insisted on sitting on his lap so they could read all his books together. It was definitely a heart-melty moment for me!

As if the new baby isn't enough to be getting on with, Poppy and James are currently renovating their first house too! We went to see them there, even though they haven't moved in yet. I made a quick oven glove as a (rather early) moving in present.

It's based on the Too Hot to Handle Oven Mitt pattern from Denyse Schmidt Quilts. It's one of those perfect gift projects that can use up left-overs. Eagle-eyed readers may notice that the binding comes from the Dominic and Carolyn quilt!

I also made a Pumpkin Loaf to take for tea. (As well as being polite, taking baked goods when we travel ensures Miles will always have a vegan tea option!) The loaf is from a recipe that Anna gave me a while ago and it's one of my absolute favourite cakes. I made this one with some frozen homemade pumpkin puree which I think made it extra-specially good. Between the four of us and Daniel we only got through about half of it but I figured you just can't ask to take back some of your own gift to eat later. Shame though!

Square Dance

2007-08-08T21:10:00.000+01:00

Starting this blog has got me thinking about all the older pieces I've made which I never managed to photograph and catalogue. With this in mind I finally got round to taking some pictures of this granny square blanket I made for my Dad at the end of last summer. He has always enjoyed a little TV watching and/or snooze on the bed tucked up under one of their various crochet blankets. As he was due to start his radiotherapy I thought he would probably be needing more snooze time than normal so I made this blanket.

It is very well travelled having been on a road trip from Virginia to Oklahoma (and back again) with me last summer whilst under construction. I finished it on the plane coming back and got blue fingers from the yarn on the final two rows! It was worked on a 6mm hook with various aran weight Debbie Bliss yarns. Anyway, with Dad's treatment done and dusted (successfully, thank goodness) the blanket has become a well used permanent fixture, and it's now ever so slightly felted as you can see in the pictures.

As I was taking the pictures today some investigative felines appeared: first Agnes...

who was soon followed by the loyal Pip.

Going through the archive

2007-08-06T22:54:00.001+01:00

I spent the weekend at my parents' house going through my childhood bedroom trying to thin down some of the 'archive' (aka old tat). The flat was flooded in the heavy rain a couple of weeks ago and Mum and Dad are now staying in my room so I feel I should really sort things out.

No lost treasures discovered but I did come across lots of wonderful book covers, including these 50s Penguin editions of Raymond Chandler. Oh, and the beautiful Pip.

D & C Wedding Quilt

2007-08-03T15:10:00.000+01:00

I made this quilt for Miles’ brother, Dominic’s, wedding last weekend. I had wanted to make a quilt which incorporated scraps as they are something I have rather a lot of and I think they can work well in a gift as the recipients can mull over it, choosing the fabrics they like best rather than being offered big swathes of what you hope they’ll like! I originally wanted to do a traditional double wedding rings pattern which uses small scraps against a light background. However time constraints and my own inexperience (paper piecing and curves, oh dear) meant that I came up with this modified design. I found a beige background fabric with a pattern of small navy blue fronds (that’s the best I can describe them!) called “Deja’ Blues”. (I love the romanticised names of the American Victorian repro fabrics: they often seem to be along the lines of ‘Confederate Star’ or ‘Belle of the South’. Funny how designers don’t go in for names such as ‘Toiler in the Cotton Fields’ or ‘Exploited Northern Mill Worker’, though…).

Anyway, back to the point at hand, I cut out scrap strips of various lengths then stitched them into long ribbons (lots of seam pressing) and pieced everything together using a sort of contracted log cabin which I think gives a woven effect from a distance. Obviously, although I have plenty of my own scraps, I decided that I needed more and bought a scrap bag from Alicia. I was looking for small scale, generally floral prints and her bag came up trumps. It’s nice to think that her off-cuts found a new home!

I included only one piece of plain fabric on the top, a raspberry taffeta, which I used to embroider ‘D♥C 28.07.07’ for Dominic and Carolyn and their wedding date. I’ve not tried to do letters and numbers in embroidery before (hence the heart not an ampersand – simpler lines!) and I think they came out ok, apart from being a tiny bit wonky!

I’m really pleased with how well the navy polka dot border picks up the blue of the fronds (loving that word). On the back I used the Heather Ross West Hill Matryoshka dolls print in brown, and, as I didn’t have enough for the full width, I put in a couple of edging strips in dark brown. Dominic has a wonderful sense of humour and, as the dolls make me smile, I thought they honoured that in a rather roundabout way (having consulted Miles on this point, he agreed). Although I would have liked to have done the quilting by hand the fact that I only had two days to do it and the binding meant that I machine quilted around each of the eighty squares (overall the quilt came in at about 170cm x 130cm). Bizarrely the quilting was really tiring: having to push and pull the whole fat sandwich through the gap under the machine arm took much more effort than just leisurely quilting on your lap!

Thanks as ever to Miles for being my glamorous assistant, glimpsed here holding up the quilt. I didn’t manage to get a picture of Dominic and Carolyn with their quilt but as they both looked so lovely on the day I feel they deserve a photographic mention!

First steps

2007-08-02T10:11:00.000+01:00

Ok, well, I suppose I have to start somewhere. So this is me saying 'Hello world, welcome to my blog'. I plan to use this space to record my creative endeavours, in both textiles and food, for me and for anyone else who wants to join me. Once I've done battle with the software some more, maybe I'll actually be able to post some handmade things!