Making Good Use

My Name in Print

Some months ago I found a John Bull Printing Set in a charity shop.  As I remembered having one of these as a child - and really enjoying it (although in my day the little letters were made of metal not plastic) - and it only cost £1.25, I thought I'd buy it.  Naturally, it's been gathering dust on a shelf ever since but I'd always had the idea of trying to make a 'Making Good Use' stamp with it so that I could add the name to the backs of cards that I made or stamp it onto little labels attached to any craft items that I manage to sell.

Cue a spare half hour at the end of the day and, after a lot of faffing about and the slow realisation that the letters had to be back to front in order to print the right way round - doh!, I came up with this.  I had to wait until this morning, when I managed to buy a cheap ink pad, to see if it worked OK.

The result is a little, ahem, rustic, but that's not really a problem for me as I only wanted something cheap and cheerful anyway.  I've no idea how much a custom-made stamp would cost but I'm guessing a lot more than the £1.25 I paid for the printing set - plus I've still got loads of letters leftover so could make any other name stamp I fancied.

Knitted Dishcloth Pattern - Knife, Fork and Spoon

After having had a bit of a disappointment with my knitted blanket, I decided to do some very familiar and easy knitting to cheer myself up and made another knitted dishcloth.  I've been using knitted dishcloths for washing up for the last couple of years and they are wonderful.  They don't scratch glassware but are tough enough to scrub away at fairly stubborn spots, they cut down on the need for plastic washing-up brushes and brillo pads (my consumption of both have dropped dramatically since using knitted dishcloths) and, best of all, they can be chucked in the washing machine on a very regular basis - and you can't do that with a plastic brush.

However, after two years continuous use my dishcloths were looking a bit the worse for wear so a couple more were needed (I'm going to relegate the old ones to bathroom cleaning duties,) and I thought I'd knit some in my own 'knife, fork and spoon' design.  I worked this pattern out a few years ago now and have always knit it from a very scrappy chart I did.  I thought I'd write out the pattern row by row so if anyone else wants to have a go at knitting one the instructions would be a bit easier to follow (plus, it could be useful if I manage to mislay the bit of paper my chart is on!)

Using 4.5mm needles and dishcloth cotton (although you could use any cotton yarn that knits as DK) cast on 36 stitches.  Knit 4 rows.  5th row, k3, p30, k3.  6th row, k36.  Repeat 5th and 6th row 3 times.  Row 13, k3, p4, k3, p7, k3, p6, k3, p4, k3.  Row 14, k36.  Repeat rows 13 and 14 11 times.  Row 35, k3, p4, k3, p6, k5, p5, k4, p3, k3.  Row 36, k36. Row 37, k3, p3, k5, p4, k7, p4, k5, p2, k3.  Row 38, k36.  Row 39, k3, p3, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p4, k7, p4, k5, p2, k3.  Row 40, k36.  Row 41, k3, p3, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p4, k7, p4, k4, p3, k3. Row 42, k36.  Row 43, k3, p3, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p4, k7, p4, k4, p3, k3. Row 44, k36.  Row 45, k3, p3, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p5, k5, p5, k3, p4, k3.  Row 46, k36.  Row 47, k3, p3, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p6, k3, p6, k2, p5, k3. Row 48, k36.  Row 49, k3, p30, k3.  Repeat rows 48 and 49 3 times.  Row 56 - 58, k36.  Cast off.

These are a lovely quick knit and a very useful item for the kitchen.  Do get in touch if there are any howling errors in the instructions, or if anything is unclear.  If anyone does knit a dishcloth from my pattern I'd love to know.

Hideously Hot - and Humid

Oh dearie me, the long-forecast heatwave has definitely descended on SE Essex this afternoon.  It is HIDEOUSLY hot with extremely high humidity and I'm disgustingly hot and sticky.  Top temps. are supposed to be around 30C and I'm feeling every single degree of that at the moment.

This morning was not too bad and I managed to get quite a lot done around the house.  This afternoon has been a whole other ball game, and I've done very little apart from flap around with an experimental pasta, bacon and parmesan salad concoction for the evening meal (there are only so many days I can face lettuce, cucumber and tomato with 'something' on the side for my tea,) baked a few homemade rolls (hoping for a barbecue tomorrow evening) and sat around reading last weekend's Saturday Telegraph.  Yes, the news was a bit stale by now but it was better than actually DOING something.

I've also just discovered that the nasty incident with a mouthful of orange squash going down the wrong way yesterday afternoon, which resulted in vast quantities of sticky liquid spraying everywhere in the study (mercifully missing P's chess book collection) has gummed up the hyphen key on the keyboard.  Hmm, not sure how I'm going to fix that and I do like to use a hyphen key quite a lot!!

Seek and Ye Shall Find - Eventually

I do like reading a good thriller / crime novel - especially Scandinavian ones - and have been wanting to get my hands on a Stieg Larsson book for ages.  I figured that as the books are so popular eventually I'd come across one in a charity shop or at a boot sale. 

Sure enough, on Monday I found the second book of the trilogy for 75p in the local charity shop - a much better price than the £7.99 on the back cover.  I haven't started it yet as I'm working my way through 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter' - another charity shop find and, surprisingly for me, not a thriller - which I've had for ages and hadn't bothered reading.  I'm about half-way through it and am finding it a mesmerising read - I can highly recommend it.

Then today at the boot sale I came across a DVD copy of 'Tootsie.'  I love this film and haven't seen it in years - and they never seem to show it on the telly either.  I found it on video somewhere in a charity shop a year or two ago and have no idea why I didn't buy it then.  As our video is no longer plugged in (we finally made the leap to a DVD player a few months ago) I was really delighted to find a DVD of it for only £1.50.  I'll be keeping this one in reserve for watching when P is away, men dressing up as women is something P certainly wouldn't want to watch!!

Hmmm!

I finished sewing up my second patchwork knitted blanket yesterday evening.  It's been a bit of an ongoing project as I'm pretty sure I started it waaaaay back in the cold weather in February.  My other knitted blanket was done in squares and went together really nicely.  I thought I'd have a change with this one and try knitting in strips instead - probably not the brightest idea I've ever had, especially as there were all sorts of different weight yarns in the mix.

Somehow parts of the strips have ended up, as my Dad used to say, 'all to cock,' and there's a definite slant going on in places!!  It's all a bit of a b*gger really and very very annoying.  Question is, do I take it all apart and try sewing it up again to see if that sorts out the slanting, or do I just learn to live with it as it is.  For the time being I don't have to look at it so I think I'll put it away in a cupboard and think about it in a little while.

At least the colours are quite pleasing together when the blanket is folded up. 

A Bit Late to the Party

 
I've no idea why this one lone blossom has just appeared on the apple tree long after the rest of her sisters have turned into

 
perfectly formed but still rather small apples.

 
The tree is heavily laden this year and I foresee branches snapping under the weight of all these apples before too long.

Vintage and Handmade Textile Fair - This Time With Some Photos

I've finally been reunited with my camera lead (note to self, pack the bloomin' thing as well next time.)  These are a few photos of the lovely Vintage and Handmade Textile Fair held last Saturday in Chipping Sodbury's Old Grammar School Rooms.

 
The bunting was up and fluttering in the warm breeze - there is something very comforting and patriotic about the Union Jack in such a traditional setting.

 
There was lots and lots of gorgeousness on display but Mum and I were particularly taken with the lovely stall of The Wool Sanctuary - the two ladies were a delight to meet and the designs and kits are just fab.

 
There was the chance to buy a cup of tea and a piece of homemade cake (I'm so agreeing with the sentiment on that poster.)

 
The pretty courtyard area was just the right setting for drinking the tea and eating a cupcake that was more like a work of art

Ha! I've just noticed the cupcake almost matches the tablecloth!

 
I think I'm right in saying the cake was the handiwork of Hen from Hen House Home Made.  It tasted as good as it looked.  

 
Everything had been organised with such care, from the flowers on the tables to the baskets of kntting dotted around with a note saying 'Knit Me.'  It was a truly memorable day out and I do hope the V&H Textile Fair will be a regular fixture.

Vintage and Handmade Textile Fair

Mum and I have been off to Chipping Sodbury again - this time the Old Grammar School (coincidentally the very school where my Grandfather used to be the woodwork teacher) to visit the Vintage and Handmade Textile Fair.  It was a fab-u-lous day out and I took loads of photos - sadly, I hadn't brought my camera lead with me to Bristol so the photos will have to wait until Monday when I'm back home. 

I was quite restrained in my purchases - although I could easily have bought a lot more - six gorgeous wooden buttons (not sure who the seller of these was), a vintage fabric badge and a pack of dinky crocheted squares from Textile Treasure Seeker, and a copy of Selvedge magazine which features an article written by P's sister (who is, I suppose, sort of my almost sister-in-law.)  

More photos and talk about the fair on Monday - including the most beautiful and delicious cupcake ever.  

Rinky Dink Pink

Lily, Mum's cat, has a lovely pink nose and matching pink pads on her paws.  You can always tell how Lily is feeling by how pink (or pale) her nose is.  When it's really pink it's the colour of a Mr Kipling Fondant Fancy.  Or it's rinky dink pink - as in the Pink Panther.

Here's To The Next 50 Years

I have had the most wonderful extended birthday this year.  It started on Thursday when P and I travelled to Bristol for a luxurious two-night stay at the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel.  It was sheer luxury all the way, from the air-conditioned room (that was SO nice) to the wonderfully comfortable bed, the breakfast buffet, the relaxing G&T on the terrace before bed and the splendid hotel swimming pool - which we had practically to ourselves.  Add to that two wonderfully indulgent evening meals in local restaurants (yay! no cooking or washing up) and the two day break made me feel as relaxed and pampered as if I'd been away for a fortnight.

Originally, we had decided to go to Bath Spa on the Friday and try out the roof-top pool at the Thermae Bath Spa but it was so hot that we decided sitting in the full sun in a thermally heated swimming pool might not be the best of all ideas.  So, being ever flexible, we changed tack and headed instead for Weston-super-Mare (known locally and more accurately as Weston-super-Mud.)  True to form the sea was nowhere to be seen, just miles and miles of mud stretching, so it seemed, all the way to the Welsh coast.  Every summer a few twits think they can walk to Wales and sure enough I saw on the local news that the Coastguards had had to rescue 8 people from the mud this weekend and warn of a further 30!

Weston has A LOT of charity shops so I was quite happy to work my way through at least eight of them.  Sadly, I didn't find anything for myself in but I did score a few bits and bobs for my nephew.  We had a bit of a walk along the front and were very pleased to see the new pier is well on the way to completion.  The old pier burnt down a couple of years ago and it's great to see the owners have rebuilt it so quickly.  As it got hotter and hotter P and I retreated to a cafe with outdoor tables in the shade and had a spot of lunch whilst watching The Wurzels being interviewed for local radio.  When the radio presenter began making the rounds of other diners, asking them how they were enjoying their day in Weston, P and I beat a hasty retreat. 

On Saturday, my actual birthday, we had a lovely buffet lunch at my Mum's house, followed later on by a slice of birthday cake and a nice cup of tea sitting in the garden. It was really relaxed and chilled-out and the ideal way to round off a wonderful few days.  I had some gorgeous presents and this particularly wonderful card from my sister.

We were both very fond of this book when we were children and I was really touched she'd found this card for me.

So many thanks to my Mum, my sister, brother-in-law and nephew and especial thanks to P who 'played a blinder' by giving me such a relaxing stay in a wonderful hotel.  Here's to the next half century!!