Making Good Use

Conversation with a Five-Year Old

'Mandma's* an idiot', said DN yesterday, as he was being pushed by both Mandma and me on the swings.

'Don't call Mandma an idiot', I replied, 'it's very rude.'  (Mandma being hard of hearing had not heard this conversation.)

'But Mandma said she was an idiot herself', replied DN very seriously, 'and she's quite right!!' 

What can you say to that, except be careful what you say to five-year-olds!

*Mandma is what DN calls his Grandma.  He used to call her that as a baby and somehow it just stuck.

The winner of the Fair Isle knitting book is Catherine.  Catherine, let me have your address and I'll post the book off to you at the end of next week.  (Sorry for the delay but I'm still away from home.) 

Computer Says 'Bang'

Yup, this morning, after nine years of loyal and faithful service, my computer finally died with a loud bang and a nasty smell of burning.  P has resurrected it twice before but this time we both feel it might be time to buy a new one.  The first time P brought it back from the dead it took him a couple of months to get it working - amid much swearing, shouting and tearing of hair (and that was just me!) but it soidiered on for another three years with no problems at all.  Second time he managed to get it working again a lot quicker with the help of a new motherboard - this repair gave another 20 months of use.  This time it's definitely curtains.

I don't think nine years for a computer base unit is too bad going, especially as it gets used A LOT every day.  On the positive side, it will be lovely to have a computer where I can actually delete my photos when I want to, can view websites that are heavy on photographs without having to wait a.g.e.s for them to download and, fingers crossed, I'll be able to view the BBC iPllayer service.  Every cloud etc etc.

Two much more positive things though are:

1. The neighbour whose garage borders our garden had a chap in this morning to replace the guttering.  As he had to get into our garden to do it I asked if he could have a quick look at what I suspected was a blocked gutter on our roof too (once he'd finished the other job, of course.)  The gutter has been pouring water whenever it rains, and irritatingly dripping almost constantly this winter. He did a sterling job on both the neighbour's garage guttering and with unblocking our gutter - yuk, it looked a horribly mucky job.  And all he charged me was a fiver.  Excellent service.  He's recently been laid-off working as a builder but I foresee him having no shortage of work in our area as he was a really tidy workman, charged very reasonable rates and actually arrived bang on time.

2. I bought a £2.99 boiling bacon in the butchers on Friday so that I could make Nigella Lawson's delicious 'Gammon Cooked in Cider' recipe.  In the past I've always bought the boiling bacon in Aldi but the one's in the butchers looked much nicer for roughly the same price.  I couldn't believe how much meat there was for the money - no way that even P and I could eat it all in one sitting (and we have both got good appetites.)  I chopped up the leftovers - meat and carrots and leeks, boiled up some dried Penne Pasta, mixed it all together, added a cheese sauce and baked it in the oven.  Well, it was truly delicious and there is even still some of that left over.  That £2.99 piece of meat has provided enough for five or six separate (and very generous) servings. 

Postings will be a bit sporadic for the next week or so as I'm off to Bristol tomorrow to see the family.

Giveaway Monday - 4

This week's offering is 'The Complete Book of Traditional Fair Isle Knitting' by Sheila McGregor.  A 144 page hardback book.

Here's the spiel from the introduction to the book 'Sheila McGregor describes the unique techniques involved in this type of knitting.  However, she makes it clear that any good knitting technique can be used to create Fair Isle patterns as long as the circular method is used.  There are chapters on designing garments (including jerseys, lumbers, stockings, gloves and tammies), on knitting techniques (such as grafting) and on the use of colour.  There are no stitch-by-stitch instructions, instaed, Sheila McGregor sets out the steps in planning a Fair Isle garment, so that knitters will be able to design their own knitwear.  She also explains the principles - and the few rules - that apply to the use of colour schemes.  Applying these guidelines to the many pages of patterns - probably one of the most comprehensive and authentic collections ever published - will give inspiration for endless variations and adaptations.'

So, if you fancy winning this book (and are a much more advanced knitter than me - circular needles are the devil's work in my opinion!) please leave a comment on this post and I'll get the virtual hat to draw a winner on Saturday 21st February.  It's a bit of a weighty tome so I think, for once, I'll have to restrict entries to UK addresses only.

The decluttering continues at a more reduced pace these days, although in the past week I've managed to get rid of three pairs of my old shoes.  They all had completely worn-out and split soles so goodness alone knows why they'd been gathering dust on the shoe rack for years.  There was also an old bra with a completely snapped underwire that was poking through the fabric.  Like I was ever going to torture myself by wearing that particular undergarment again!!

The 'Virtual Hat' Chose ....

Comment number 3 which was  A Piece of Wood.  Let me have your details and I'll put the Cath Kidston pouch in the post to you.

Thank you to everyone who took part. 

All You Need Is ....

Decorated L O V E letters given to me for Christmas by my best boy - my darling nephew. 

He's only five but is the loveliest, sweetest, funniest little fella in the world to our family.  Ever since he came into our lives he's been the centre of our universe (and he knows it!!)  Seeing the next generation growing up - learning to walk, talk, have opinions (oh my goodness, does he have opinions on anything and everything), now going to school and learning to read and write, seeing the world through his eyes, and learning all about Ben 10, Lego, Star Wars and 'aliens' (that's us, not DN - he knows ALL about those things already) - that really is the best LOVE ever.

Happy Valentines.

Geek

I don't suppose I really am a geek (certainly not technically at least), but there is one thing that I am somewhat obsessed and geekish about, and that is the hours of daylight.  I certainly suffer to some extent from Seasonal Affective Disorder and find the winter months VERY difficult.  Hence why I rather geekishly check the sunrise and sunset times on the BBC Weather Site several times a week.  And this year, for the first time ever, I remembered to make a note of the sunrise and sunset times at the winter solstice so that I could check every week just how much extra daylight we've now got (and can compare the times with the sunrise and sunset at the summer solstice if I, hopefully, remember to make a note of those too.)   If anyone (apart from me) is the least bit interested, I can confidently tell you that at eight weeks past the solstice this Sunday we will have gained 47 minutes extra daylight in the morning and 1 hour and 20 minutes extra in the evening.

Sadly, my geekishness doesn't stop with details of sunrise and sunset just for where I live, oh no.  I also have comparison times written down for Bristol (the same gain in daylight as where I live but 13 minutes later with both the sunrise and sunset), and Lerwick in the Shetland Islands (a gain of an hour and 22 minutes in the morning and just short of two hours in the evening - impressive).  I've also noted that this coming Saturday, Qaanaaq in Northern Greenland will finally glimpse daylight again after living in perpetual darkness since mid-October.  (Again, for any fellow sunrise / sunset geeks out there - or am I the only one? - Qaanaaq will be in 24 hour daylight from mid-April.  Wow, that must really mess your body clock about!!)

So, for anyone else who finds the long, dark days of a British winter very trying I can thoroughly recommend making a note of the hours of daylight and checking them regularly - there is something undeniably geekish about it, but I also find it a huge comfort to see the daylight increasing on a regular weekly basis.

Pillowcase Tote How-To

A couple of people asked for a how-to about making totes from pillowcases.  They're really quick and easy to make, and are ideal for spring and summer. 

These are some samples I made to go with the instructions given for my Pillowcase Totes in the first issue of 'Sew Hip'.

Measure 18 inches from the bottom of the pillowcase, draw a straight line at this length across the width of the pillowcase and cut across.  This gives the body of the bag.  Fold over 1 inch on the top edge of this part of the pillowcase and iron flat.  Now fold over a further 1 inch and iron this flat too.  This gives a neat seam to the top of the bag.

From the remaining top portion of the pillowcase measure an 8 inch wide strip, avoiding any seamed pieces at the very top of the pillowcase.  Draw a straight line across and cut out.  Cut the 8 inch wide strip on either side of one side seam, open it out, and carefully cut away an excess material from the innner pillowcase flap (if there is one).  This strip will become the handles.  Fold the 8 inch strip in half lengthwise and iron a crease.  Cut along this crease so that there are two 4 inch strips.

Decide how long you would like your handles to be.  I usually make them 23 - 24 inches long.  Whatever length you decide you want your handles to be remember to add an extra 3 inches for seaming and attaching the handles to the bag.  Try to keep the original pillowcase side seam as the centre of the handles whatever their length.  Cut the strips to the required length.

Using an iron, fold each strip in 1 inch at eah short end and iron flat.  Then fold in 1 inch along each long side and iron that flat too.  Fold the two long sides together and rion flat.  This should give you handles that are approx. 1 1/2 inch wide x your chosen length.

A more recent make. A plain pillowcase jazzed up with some vintage linen bird appliques.

Sew down the folded part on each short side of the handles.  Then sew along the folded edge length-wise on each handle.  

Sew around the top of your bag.  Turn the bag inside out and on one side line up the sie seam on top of the centre bottom fold line.  This will give you a triangular shape. From the peak of the triangle mark down 3 inches and mark a straight line across.  Sew across the line twice for added strength.  Repeat the process for the other side of the bag.  Turn the bag inside out.  (You can miss out this bit if you want a simpler bag shape.)

A lovely spring-like butter-soft printed cotton pillowcase ended up as this bag.

Decide where you want to position the handles on your bag.  I usually put them about 4 inches in from each side, and pin the handles in place.  Check that the handles match up on each side and that they aren't twisted.  Attach the end of each handle to the body of the bag by sewing a rectangular shape around the edge of each one and then diagonally from one corner to another.  The transformation from pillowcase to bag is complete.

Please let me know if something is unclear or is a howling error.

If Winter's Here, Can Spring Be Far Behind?

These really cheerful British-grown daffodils were bought last Friday as tightly-furled buds.  Since then they have blossomed wonderfully, filling the hall with their breath-of-spring fragrance.

Somehow this winter seems to have lasted forever.  It started very early - the last week of October - and has just been unrelentingly miserable every since, cold, dark, wet days and, more recently, heavy snowfalls and ice.  I'm fed up with having to wear layers and layers of clothes and two pairs of socks just to keep warm indoors (and that's with the heating on too!!)  I think a lot of the problem, for me at least, is the fact that we've had no summer for the past two years either - and it's really beginning to tell now.  Three straight years of winter - by gum, I've had enough.

Anyway, with the hope that spring really may be just around the corner, I picked up these two pillowcases in the charity shop yesterday (50peach) to make some tote bags from.  The yellow one with water lilys on just shouts warm summer days to me.

For anyone in the UK who saw the Channel 4 programme 'Britain's Tightest Person', you might be interested to know that the lady who wore the boys underpants instead of knickers (as she claims they are much cheaper and better made) has started her own blog with loads of interesting money-saving ideas. 

Giveaway Monday - 3

Up for grabs this week is a little Cath Kidston zipped pouch.  This was originally given free with Easy Living magazine, and I was lured into buying the mag just to get hold of the pouch.  Somehow I never got round to using it and it resurfaced during my recent de-cluttering, so I thought I'd see if anybody here would like to make use of it instead.

It's clear plastic with a pink, blue and lemon floral pattern and a pink zip. The pouch measures approx. 7 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches and there is a 'Cath Kidston for Easy Living' label to one side.  Would make a great little make-up bag, a storage bag for embroidery thread or crochet hooks, or for carrying any small craft project around in.

Just leave a comment on this post to be entered into the draw for this little pouch.  The 'virtual hat' will pick a winner on Saturday 14th February.  It weighs practically nothing so I'm happy to post anywhere in the world.

And the Cranks Cook Book Goes To ....

Heather as she left comment number 6 - the number chosen by P whilst in his role as the 'virtual hat.'  Heather, I'll pop the book in the post to you on Monday. 

Stay tuned, as there's a very small Cath Kidston something as the Monday Giveaway next week.