Hello Sunshine

Over the past couple of weeks we've had more wet days than sunny ones, but it doesn't matter. We've seen the sun, it was nice while it was here. I will remember what it looks like in case it doesn't fully appear again until next year. 

Have a look at this...

It is not a Pantone colour chip, although they have probably patented this particular shade along with every other colour that ever existed. It's the sky above my house, taken earlier in the summer. After three years of crap, wash-out summers, I thought I'd snap this to enjoy in the winter. It's probably also the best composed photo I have produced for this blog.  

It actually got hot enough for us to do a bit of wild swimming this summer. There was a beautiful quiet place, so still and peaceful it looked like the setting for a low-budget horror film. The glamour was provided by my friend R, looking very elegant in her Esther Williams 1950s swimsuit.

Somehow, whenever I go wild swimming I find myself enjoying the sunlight and scenery, pushing through the water at a gentle pace thinking "this is nice", then I start to wonder if there might be a pike waiting to savage us under the water. It has never happened, yet as soon as I think about it, the idea of swimming loses its charm and I retreat to the bank. On that occasion we got hassled by some creatures that looked like caddisflies which kept nipping us so getting back in the water provided some protection. It did at least take my mind off the possibility of a lurking pike. 

"Look out!"

Creature from the black lagoon's relaxing swim was marred by unsettling thoughts of pike attack

There has been little time for creative activities although I have finished a simple a-line skirt that had been draped over the back of my sewing chair for a good while. It has subsequently been worn to work a few times, as I have to look a bit smarter in my not-so-new job. So here it is, having been worn and washed a few times... 

Purple mini-cord a-line skirt

This skirt actually looks quite nice on, but there is no one about to take a picture of me in it and I haven't had much luck with the "selfie" approach to garment photography so far. This picture reminds me that as much as sewing has been a feature of this blog, so has bad photography. 

I did a bit of knitting when we went on holiday to the Borders, but that was blighted by my inability to pay attention to what I'm supposed to be doing. I was going great guns until I realised one of my needles was the wrong size. Subsequently, the knitting had been shoved into a bag and ignored. However, this fabulous summer we have been experiencing will come to an end at some point and cardigans will be required. Now that my studying is over (until October) there really is no excuse not to knit and get ready for Autumn. So far I've got the back knitted (with the correct needles) and am about to start a sleeve. Since I seem to have at least a two-month gap between posts there's a possibility it might be finished for my next write-up! 

Ollie-bird had been doing well after surviving a cat attack where s/he sustained a broken leg and a gash to the side of the head. Last seen, s/he was still slightly bald, but the leg was mending well. There's so much for birds to eat in the garden this time of year that are probably tastier than cheese (if grubs and beetles are your thing, that is) so we only get fleeting glances of him/her.  

So next up, hopefully another completed nomad jacket. I was also hoping to come up with my own version of a mock kilt I bought over the summer but need to get suitable fabric before I can tackle this. From October there probably won't be much time for sewing and knitting as I have signed up to do a social sciences course with the Open University. It's nice to have something planned for the winter months and to gain a sense of moving forward after a long period of feeling stuck in a rut.   We'll see how it goes...

I Hear Music

Creations of the world's ultimate fibre artist

Here is the handiwork of spiders after exposure to psychoactive drugs. The image in the top left of the series is a regular web. The rest show how different drugs affect the spider's productive abilities - caffeine clearly is not a useful start to the spider's day! The drugs were administered by feeding drug dosed flies. I suppose a teeny-tiny bifter or miniature cup of espresso might be cute but impractical. (On a tangent but have a look at these clothed fleas from Tring Stuffed Animal Museum).

Six months ago I got moderate unilateral hearing loss during a virus. So the GP gave me an assortment of meds to try and sort it, including pseudoephedrine (see benzedrine/speed web). I certainly noticed a boost in energy but not in a way that felt particularly productive. I did have a lot of great plans in the middle of the night (I was awake quite a lot); not really the best time for using the sewing machine though. 

Since then I've had a comprehensive hearing test at the Infirmary. Apparently I have bat-quality hearing, so now I have to stop complaining that music still doesn't sound right to me. The pitch is wrong in one ear but I can hear it well enough. I should just get back into listening to music and enjoying sound. The birds have been knocking out some cracking tunes by our bedroom window at 0545 each morning.

So there have been no blog entries as I attempted to keep assorted plates spinning. There has been a bit of sewing - just another Burda A line skirt for work using some stash fabric. Not a very exciting project, but I will post a pic of this in a few days.

Keeping on a spider theme, I have started doing some free-arm embroidery after a gap of many years. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to "draw" with the machine. The Bernina 1008 is great for this. I will need to come up with some kind of project that needs a bit of doodling...

Nomad sweater design F

Although we're in April and we've had a good few sunny days, it's been so cold I've been tempted to knit more than sew. I've got my eye on some Wendy Norse chunky yarn in a warm dark blue. I was thinking of using this Sirdar pattern from my Nomad booklet. 

It has been cold enough for me to waste an hour looking for the knitted frogman suit with integral balaclava I once found on a Bulgarian website in the early days of the (publicly available) internet - sadly it's not there any more. However, that would take a lot of yarn and time so I will probably settle for this plain sweater without the cowl neck piece.

So projects on the go are: a breton sweater for Little Creature, this sweater on the left (trying out a tension swatch just now), a short distance learning course. I have also threatened to make some kind of vintage style hat for my niece this year. Nice to have assorted irons in the fire. Happy Beltane!

Almost Blue

My recent burst of creativity and motivation has collided with an unavoidable round of winter virus bingo, which has meant there have been lots of creative thoughts but not so much in the way of actually making stuff. 

Luckily, I finished the nomad jacket just before the latest virus cranked up to full power. Less fortunately, I misjudged placing the buttonhole (which I wrote into the pattern last time round) and it needed to be a couple of rows higher and closer to the edge by a couple of stitches. Ordinarily this wouldn't seem like much of a big deal; it was only 7 rows to rip back and re-do. It took a few evenings to sort it out and it really could have been done in one. 

A few days in the head-clearing spaciousness of Keswick have helped; not enough energy for big walks but we went for a wander along the lakeside and enjoyed the winter sun. 

Derwentwater

The dress I wrote about last month has been deferred into next year - too much to do in December without tracing pattern pieces and making toiles etc. I did buy a linen/cotton blend fabric although I'm not so sure about the colour. I bought it online and it looked much bluer on my screen; it's really more of a lilac. (I also bought some habotai silk to line it as it worked out only slightly more expensive than buying an acetate lining). This is only the latest online purchasing mishap. Previous cock-ups this year included ordering a miniscule hat, and fabric that was too light weight for a skirt. The lightweight fabric will get used for something, not so sure about the hat though.

l-r: purple corduroy, printed lawn, habotai, linen/cotton 

So instead of the dress, I might be making a quick and easy skirt using some stash fabric that Kath gave me (purple corduroy, far left) and a previously tested Burda skirt pattern. Or I might make something from the December issue of Burdastyle which has some interesting patterns. It's the first issue I've bought where I'm not sure what to make first. As ever, there's some weird stuff in there too:

Burdastyle weirdness

Next year I'm hoping to use up some stash fabric and work from patterns I have already. That includes a pile of Burdastyle magazines that I haven't tried yet. Each one has at least one worthwhile pattern in. Unfortunately, during the time I took out my subscription there were some monstrosities in there. This Krystle Carrington biker jacket on the right here is an aberration in an otherwise excellent issue.  

The picture below is of the completed nomad jacket. This is the second one I've made, but this time using yarn closer in gauge to the recommended yarn. The colour scheme is a bit 1980s but I'm happy with the fit. I'm pleased to report it looks better on me than it does on my trusty dummy Maria. I'll try and replace this fuzzy pic with a clearer, human one soon.

Nomad Jacket

 

I'm Not Done

Now that Autumn is here and it's only a few weeks to the shortest day, I've been trying to get organised for the dark evenings and keep busy. So far I've felt quite positive about the approach of Winter so long as I have plenty to do. (Well actually there's no shortage of things to do - I could be clearing out the understairs cupboard or cleaning the oven).

Butterick Retro 1956 Dress B5813

I've just bought a couple of patterns I've had my eye on for a while, with a plan to make one of them as my December project. The dress pattern arrived (see right) arrived ahead of the blouse so I may well source fabric for that and keep the blouse project for the New Year. I'm inclined towards a linen/cotton blend for this dress.

My year long challenge ends in December and I've been wondering what sort of creative plans I should make for next year. It's been both a pleasure and a bind at times, but has definitely helped me feel I'm in a good place mentally. 

The deadlines have been helpful in motivating me to complete projects, but I think sometimes the quality of the finished item could have been better had I taken more time. So rather than make a garment a month next year, I am going to aim for a small number of projects and see how long they take - I expect some will be quick, some may just need more than a month. I will keep going though.

So far I am up to date with my challenge. I have included the spider costume in my list although it's not for me, it is a wearable item. (Perhaps that's cheating - I will need to think about this). LC wanted to wear it for the next two days after Halloween and has been asking to wear the tights again. I suppose they might come in handy for outdoor adventures on cold days. 

This week saw the start of the second series of The Hour on BBC2. I watched all of series one; it was a little uneven script-wise, but I did enjoy the outfits very much. Last night's episode did not disappoint (not least because Peter Capaldi is now in it and I think he's always interesting to watch). As of next episode, I will be keeping a pencil and sketchbook handy. Quite what I'll be doing with any doodles I make I don't know. I think making the pattern for last month's spider costume has possibly given me delusions of excessive ability!

Romola Garai gets to wear some snappy dresses

Wages at the BBC must have been ok even then.

I am quite far on with my second Nomad jacket. I decided to try the coloured yoke version but with long sleeves. I'm halfway up the second sleeve and have completed the back and front pieces. I remember the slowest bit of this pattern was the pick-ups for the yoke and rib bands up the front. I'm trying to crack on with the knitting the pieces so I can take my time with the pick-ups. I'm aiming to post a pic of the finished jacket by the end of the month.

Won't be wearing with headband or feathers

Over this past month I've worn a few of the things I've made including items that I wasn't too pleased with initially. The Vogue long sleeve top has been a good weight to wear now it's getting colder and I've even got round to wearing the Burda a-line skirt (not the really awful one though). 

I've had no more opportunities to wear my 1947 dress since Kath's wedding, but Christmas isn't far away and I won't be cooking the dinner.... 

That's How You Sing Amazing Grace

The dress has been progressing nicely and I've been thinking about making a hat too, but nothing too ambitious this time. It's many years since I made a hat, and although I still have two hat blocks and a spiral spring, I got rid of my stash of felt hoods and blocking net a long time ago. So it actually works out cheaper just now to buy a blocked shape and stick some flowers on (which I suppose is cheating a bit).

Coffee Bean felt hat

I've been looking at blocked shapes and after consulting my friend Kath (in whose honour I will be wearing the hat), this is the one we decided looked least like an air hostess's hat. The other two looked decidedly British Airways circa 1980s. The selected coffee bean is from Macculloch and Wallis, so not cheap. I ordered it yesterday; I hope it's larger than an actual coffee bean. I have already made one bad micro-millinery choice this month, more on that later... 

In my teens I used to wear hats a lot. I wouldn't have gone out to the shop without sticking on a beret or an old charity shop breton. These days it's more for practical reasons like not getting frozen ears. In my younger days I was convinced that more people spoke to me when I had a hat on than not. I will have to see if this theory still holds...as I live in a fairly small community it's difficult not to have some kind of human interaction when out, and most folk are wearing hats at this time of year anyway (not usually ones with flowers on them). Here are my nice red flowers:

Velvet flowers to go on coffee bean hat

I bought these online along with a little black sinamay hat base called a "cookie". They weren't kidding, it's not much bigger than a biscuit. I must have misread the measurements; I thought I'd get something the size of a side plate. I've been wondering where the line is between cocktail hat (quite like) and fascinator (definitely not ok) and I think the cookie is on the wrong side of the line for me. 

Sirdar Nomad Jacket design e

I've not been doing any sewing for the past few days as it was my turn to get the virus that's doing the rounds, but I did start some knitting for my November project a couple of days ago. Knitting feels more sedate than sewing, and I can watch telly too. I'm trying another one of these Sirdar Nomad jackets using their new brushed yarn Babouska. In spite of my initial disappointment with the last one I made earlier this year (aka the Heffalump jacket), I have actually worn it a lot, and it is surviving quite well in its various roles as dressing gown, work jacket, and fetching-the-coal jacket. I should add, it washes very well! 

The new one is in a plum coloured yarn and a size smaller so I'm hoping to get something more like the shape of the one in the picture.

Well as the week moves on, this virus is looking suspiciously like hand foot and mouth. Luckily Mr K and LC shook it off in a matter of days. I am feeling quite sorry for myself and frustrated that I can't get on with the dress. Having made the toile recently, I have a fair idea of how long it will take so I'm not too worried about the timescale although I don't want to leave it to the last minute. My hands are nowhere near as sore as my feet so I could be sewing tomorrow, or the next day.

Earlier, Little Creature and I were sitting in a cafe waiting for Mr K to come out of the dentist. I'd bought him a magazine with a free camera (with little revolving picture disc in the viewfinder). He was pretending to take snaps of people in the cafe. The waitress obliged him with a toothy smile. "It' doesn't really work," he explained earnestly. "The batteries have died." He gave me a commentary of what people were doing in the cafe, and the street, as he worked on a teacake. My cup of tea seemed to stay hot for ages. I forgot about my sore feet. Time goes at a nice pace when small folk remind you of how interesting now can be.