This is me smiling at the bus stop this morning with my brand new cosy scarf. I had a burst of knitting during Wednesday TV night. Am still persevering with Lost and am totally enthralled with the new BBC "Rome" drama. Don't understand what's going on but it doesn't seem to matter.
Our office is away to Glasgow tomorrow for a company get together and Christmas Party. Giddyup (anyone else think its a bit early?)
This photo taken in winter morning light doesn't do the colours justice. My Secret Pal 6 sent me a lovely package for the weekend. The chocolate truffels are long since gone and I've pretty much read the book cover to cover. Now I just have to decide what to do with this fancy yarn. Start another scarf perhaps?!
I made this little pincushion on the weekend for my secret pal. I was wrapping up her parcel (some luverly goodies) and thought it needed a little something extra. You may recognise the design - I was more than a little inspired by Cassie's at Bella Dia.
This was just a fraction of the craftiness that happened on Saturday - left to my own devices for the whole day I also almost finished Boy Twin quilt top, Manos scarf and started a new scarf (in red – very warming). ie I started more things and didn't finish anything. I got stuck in total indecision paralysis as the Boy Twin top has worked out significantly smaller than Girl Twin. Can such inequality start so early? I think not. Therefore my options are (a) order more fabric and make Boy Twin bigger or (b) make a whole new smaller Girl Twin (and KEEP the current Girl Twin - I have developed a bit of an attachment). So of course I couldn't come to any conclusions and finish anything. Nor could I decide how long to make the Manos scarf (if I keep going till the yarn runs out it might be a bit long) but I can't seem to stop. Its so nice to knit.
ps - I tried to explain all this to Smithy and his eyes glazed over in about 2 seconds. I'm hoping my crafty readers will have some understanding of these dilemmas.
We had wine, food, a chocolate fountain (!!!) and games, setting the bar pretty high for my first baby shower. We even had a ferry ride from Blackfriars down the Thames to the venue at Woolich - through the Thames barrier - all quite an adventure and fab to see London from a different perspective.
I ended up deciding to make a little hat for the new arrival and wanted to decorate it - harder to embroider knitting than I thought. But I was happy with the little design in the end....after about six attempts and ruling out anything with curves.
And mum to be loved it so I was v. happy.
I had a great day yesterday. It started early when the bus driver was pulling away from the stop as I ran up AND ACTUALLY STOPPED for me. Then I got to the train station just in time for the train.
With a start like that to the day Nomes and I decided to really push our luck and queued up at Leister Square for tickets to the London Film Festival preview of The Brothers Grimm. Of course we got in (although we did freeze for half an hour waiting) and THEN we got free t-shirts and an icecream. But the coolest part was the director Terry Gilliam introducing the movie and answering questions afterwards. And the film was pretty good too. Can't complain about two hours of Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
I don't have enough projects on the go at the moment so I started two more on the weekend. This is my new winter scarf to be - made out of special Manos del Urugauy wool from New York. Well I bought it in Purl but its not originally from New York - its from Uruguay where it is hand made by a collective of women artists. Its soooo soft and squishy. My knitting guru Pauline suggested the mistake rib stitch and I think its showing off the colours perfectly. A nice brainless project perfect for CSI and Lost viewing although Lost almost lost me last night - why is only every second or third week any good?! I'm persevering with it ...but only because there's nothing much else on.
Inspired by Kaffe Fasset's 2x2 pastel design in Patchwork and Jane's beautiful 'Etre et Avoir' colourful version I decided to make this for one of the twins. The girl one. Hopefully I will come up with a better name by the time I'm finished. For the quilt that is not the baby . I'll leave that up to Shaz obviously.
Sharon isn't much into pastels but I think I can get away with this combo with the browns and creams to tone it down. I (selfishly) couldn't resist the pinks and lavenders.
I'm pretty happy with the colour combo and am now waiting for some more of the striped fabric for the edge trianges. I bought a small piece of it NY and its perfect but frustratingly didn't have enough. Especially with the mistakes I made cutting it out late last night.
I finished the second beanie last night and now just have to sew the two jumpers together. They will be quite plain so I'm considering extra decoration ideas. I was thinking about some crocheted flowers - once I find out how to make them. Or maybe some applique - but am not sure if I like applique on a knitted background.
It was a quiet, yet busy weekend. The main event was the 10km run on Sunday when we joined Paula Radcliffe and a few thousand others to become walking Nike advertisments. We were in the first tranche at 9:30 which meant getting up early but was worth it as Hyde Park was really lovely - slightly misty and cool. The autumn leaves are beautiful. I know 9:30 is not that early but ....Sunday.
The run was good but even better was lunch at the Black Sheep Cafe at Crystal Palace after. Newly discovered (by us that is)...why hadn't we been before - good atmosphere, really good food and couches so comfy Beth and I were nearly asleep.
Saturday morning I woke up early (two early weekend mornings - v. weird) and started baking. Chocolate and ginger cookies were good - better if i hadn't over cooked them. Version two of the Peach tart was better - no lumps this time but was let down by very tasteless peaches. Will have to try and remember the tricks to this recipe for next summer.
I didn't make much progress on the twin's sets but hoping to finish them this week - if I can figure out how to make crochet flowers for added detail.
After the Delia Cooking day I thought I would attempt the Peach Tart for Steve’s birthday. I gathered all the ingredients including organic Peaches from Borough Market and a FIVE pound vanilla pod from Selfridges food hall. I’ve since seen vanilla pods for much less but of course couldn’t find one at our local Morrison’s (they didn’t even stretch to vanilla essence).
I think after the Chef demo’d six dishes in the space of two hours I was under the illusion that it wouldn't take very long to make. But with so many components – pastry, peaches cooked separately, filling and fruit glaze I ended up in a bit of a tizz with pastry needing to be frozen and rested and blind baked. Talk about high maintenance. (Unfortunately Morrison’s didn’t stock frozen short crust pasty either – bugger).
Anyway so by the time I came to the cream filling there was equipment, dishes and packets strewn across the kitchen. I was closely following the instructions – In a pan mix sugar milk and the (extortionately expensive) vanilla and boil it, then blend egg yolks with something else in a separate bowl – ok no problem. But…still following instructions…I then poured the milk into the egg mixture….and watched with horror as the eggs began to take on a very strange texture. I managed to scramble them. Total panic – I couldn’t start again as I didn’t have any more vanilla. Time and patience were also almost all out. So I pulled out the stab-mixer and blended the hell out of it while yelling at Steve that I was having a major disaster. He yelled back “didn’t Alex say something about that – to pour it in slowly to stop it going funny?!”. Oh. Yes. He did. Whey the hell didn't he put it in the instructions though?!!
So although the end result looked divine(if I do say so myself) – the slightly rubbery, lumpy texture let it down a bit(Steve and Naomi both made very polite yum noises - thank you).But I’m not going to let this experience put me off – I’m going to try again this weekend with the very last peaches of the season.
We went up North on the weekend to say goodbye to the cottage. No more BBQs in the backyard, stepping next door to the pub and being lulled to sleep by the beck. But we rescued some of the kitch that is close to our hearts so Beth can still dance around the Chinaman lamp at our next get together.
We had a wonderful dinner with Jake and Jo - it was chilly up there so we had total comfort food - braised lamb and roast veg. Feeling hungry just thinking about it.
As always the kids were super excited to see us. I should really say - to see Uncle Steve. I think they've eventually accepted that I'm a regular extra. Georgia has stopped calling me "THAT girl" anyway. And they sometimes call me Aunty Helen... usually when they want something. Its facinating watching them play. Sam LOVES anything to do with vehicles, especially cars, trucks, trains and likes to build complex road and rail systems for them....whereas Georgia will spend hours colouring in, writing and making crafty things. It seems to be completely hard coded. If you try to interest Sam in drawing he will simply say "thats stupid" and G will lose interest in building anything in two seconds and drift away. I remember loving playing with lego as a kid but was also into my dolls in a big way. I wonder if just having sisters makes a difference?
This picture is attempting to catch the sleek sexiness of the Hudson Hotel where we stayed in NYC. Behind the stunning chandelier and the reception area is the “Private Park” (also known as an outdoor bar). On the other side is the Hudson Bar with sleek Philippe Stark Ghost chairs and nightclub loud music on the weekend. We studiously sampled the lychee martinis from both and came to the conclusion that they were all good. Our room was tiny as the reviews promised and the whole hotel was dark dark dark. But we felt like rock stars
Steve and I both loved SOHO and the interesting combination of old buildings and funky, beautifully designed shops. We drooled over ibooks and ipods in the warehouse meets high design Apple store. I think we also went into every clothes store – very happy with my new black flippy skirt – bought in an attempt to make my wardrobe (slightly) more girly.
We then rendez vous’ed with Mary of Mamie Makes for lunch. So fun to meet Mary in “real life” after sharing emails and enjoying her fab blog. I was slightly nervous but Mary’s clever choice of café next to gorgeous knitting store Purl quickly broke the ice. Steve was completely mystified by the squeezing, stroking and talking in hushed voices over balls of wool and left to find a safe happy place. Some time later (apparently quite a while) I finally decided on some lovely multicoloured wool for a winter scarf and some pink stripey wool for my Sock Challenge. I think there is definitely a gap in the market for a shop like this in London.
Mary has given me her “easy” Happy Socks pattern so hopefully I’ll end up with something resembling wearable clothing. And also gave me some fab fabric from her stash which was a lovely surprise.
Even after first Monday at work I’m still on a bit of a high after such a good holiday. Something about New York makes me feel inspired and energised (I’m sure I’m not the first person to experience this!).
We arrived Saturday and soaked up the scene walking around in the afternoon. Jetlag kicked in pretty quickly and we woke up on Sunday incredibly early. For some bizarre reason I thought we should get up and go out “to make the most of it”. Of course nothing was open (and we didn’t see anyone else except keen joggers out) but we managed to find some brekky and undrinkable coffee at a dodgy caff until the Metropolitan Museum opened. I think it’s definitely the best art gallery I’ve been to. We then went to the small yet perfectly formed Frick gallery (when it FINALLY) opened after 12. (so ironic from someone who is very rarely up before midday on Sunday).
After all that walking around and looking thoughtfully at paintings we were pretty hungry and Steve was steering me quite determinedly in the direction of a “nice” restaurant. I was kind of wondering why the need for such extravagance but finally clicked when he passed me a little box with “here you go” or something equally romantic. Of course when I saw the sparkler in the box I couldn’t remember what he’d said anyway! Very sneaky (in a wonderful way of course).
Here is my tea towl apron contribution for Amy's Tie One On. Of course as soon as I saw 'Tea Towel' I instantly thought Kath Kidston (just for something different). I gave one to my friend Robbo and she refuses to use it for anything other than decoration. They are works of art really. I don't usually wear aprons for cooking at home and putting this on last night, tying it around the front reminded me so strongly of my waitressing days. Happily now well behind me. It almost made me reach for my waiters friend....oh yeah ...I do that most nights anyway.
I tried pretty unsuccessfully to take a photo of me wearing it but resorted to a 'styled on the bed' approach.
And made just in time before we head of to NYC tomorrow!! yipeee! See y'all next week.
Here is another great parcel from my lovely (not so) Secret Pal, Mary. Some lovely rowan cotton rope and a great collection of needles. Its funny how similar the colours are to the ones I've just bought for the twins. As you can see I have started to use my new needles for the jumper sleeve and they are, as advertised, speedy. And lighter than the ones I've been using.
And I love the little labels ...you read my mind Mary...I've been thinking about making some since I got a parcel from Bella Dia with her fab personalised stationary
Libby and Pete's new twins Amelia and Francesca are going to score matching contrasting (is that possible?!) beanie and jumper sets in this cotton yarn. I have chosen a simpler pattern than my first project ....a very basic boatneck jumper. And as a result I'm making huge progress with them. I had many hours on the train over the last two days on a trip up to Newcastle for work.
I even had a couple of unexpected extra hours yesterday thanks to "complete signal failure in the Darlington region". Our three hour trip took five but I was sitting near some very entertaining people who were intriged by my knitting. The husband of the middle aged Aussie couple from Melbourne volunteered, "I hope you don't mind me saying...but its very weird seeing someone your age knitting!". (I'm not sure what he thought my age was :)) As I explained the rise and rise of stitch & bitch and that such groups actually existed in London their eyes grew rounder and I felt like I was describing a strange cult. Then the BBC producer sitting opposite(on his way to some BAFTA premiere he didn't hesitate to share with us) confirmed my story, adding his sighting of the Circle Line knitters group. The woman opposite me started chatting too and revealed she is Jennie Erdal, the author of a book - Ghosting. It sounds like a good read and I was asking way too many questions about the writing process and her current novel.
I actually went to a knitting group for the first time on Saturday and had a great time meeting Pauline and co. Although it felt pretty weird knitting in the pub with my larger shandy. But it was great to put a face to a name...my first meeting of a real live blogger ...kind of weird meeting someone you know a lot about, but only for a few minutes.
I made this up on the weekend and love it...so cute... but I have a question ...the pattern says to do them on regular needles and sew it up....but could I do it on circulars and avoid the seam without any problems?
Had a girls night out on the town with Mum and K last night - pre-theatre Italian in the West End before going to Guys and Dolls. Ewan McGegor is the big drawcard and definitely had the star presence but Jane Krakowski completely stole the show. Fab show and lots of fun.
Loobylu's month of softies theme for September - "Personal Challenge" is encouraging me to return to a project I started 2 years ago and haven't touched for almost that long. Initial progress was at a cracking pace but came to an abrupt halt when I moved to Frankfurt. But now I have the makings, a sewing machine, a little bit of time and no excuses. I think piecing together the bulk of a queen sized quilt top in a month may be a little more than a challenge but I'm going to give it a try to see how far I can get with it. A deadline may do wonders for my inertia on this.
Its a pattern from my teacher in Brisbane called tessalated pinwheels - a background of greys with highlights of pinks, plums, yellow and green (quite a bold colour combo choice for me). I think the overall effect will be quite starry.
Related to that is the challenge to NOT buy a fortune's worth of Kaffe Fasset fabric (this month at least) after buying two of his books recently. I'm so inspired by the colours and simple patterns and I have ideas for about 5 quilts bubbling away.
Finally, after many months of knitting and about three nights of finishing trying to put it together and hide about a million ends (I had a very productive evening last night with Super Nanny, Lost and a glass of vino) ....this is the result of my first knitting project. Ta da!!
(just don't look too closely....)
...and I thought a little baby item wouldn't take long!! Ha!! And then Mum rings to tell me how she's whipped one up in a week...how??!!!
I was going fine knitting away on each of the separate parts. But I got into a bit of a tangle when it came to joining up the shoulders and doing the neckband. I had to pick up stitches from the fronts and back as well as add a few in between. So far so good, but when I got round to the back I had my end from the front and then the one from the back (at the end of a row of stitches I was picking up) and I had no idea which to use. I continued on the one from the front but then had no idea what to do with this one hanging around at the back...its from a stitch and I don't know how to secure it off. Maybe I should have knitted a few stiches with both threads? NOTHING in my finishing techniques book about this tricky situation!! And Debbie (Bliss...the pattern I'm using) was no help either. Anyone know what I should do/ should have done? ie if you can make any sense of what I'm going on about at all....
We just had a very rock and roll weekend going to a wedding in Slovakia. Steve and I met up in Vienna with some other friends and had a 45 minute trip to Bratislava to rendez-vous with the rest of the gang. We only had time for a very short sightseeing walk around the city – but the little we saw was lovely. The buildings were similar to Prague with their grand facades and details.
On Saturday afternoon we hopped on a coach to head to the manor house for the wedding in a little town called Beladice. The ceremony was a civil ceremony with the town Mayor presiding and translated into English for the visitors. There were some funny lost in translation moments and a lot of formal sounding sections about contracts, health checks and legal requirements being met. Not to mention the part about Narayan choosing Henrieta from thousands of women.
Some of the local traditions were sweeping up a broken plate for luck, shots of some very interesting (strong) liqueur before dinner and all the Slovakian guests brought bunches of flowers.
We all had a great time and there was some very interesting dance moves later in the evening.
I'm a lucky girl - Steve sent me these flowers yesterday.
Guess why???
I haven't been too fazed by using public transport since the attacks. but just when I'm not expecting it I'll have a little frission of nerves. This morning it was the young guy with a large black bag sitting on the seat in front of him. We were the only two people on the top level and every time he reached over to his bag I had to stop myself running down the stairs. Mostly there are just bored, tired looking commuters reading their Evening Standards and not causing any alarm (or even alertness) at all.
Today its a bit hard to pretend things are normal though as every tube and train station has a contingent of police at all the entrances. All looking very alert.
I'm just hoping they don't get overly alarmed again like last week.
On a lighter note, last weekend we went to visit friends and see their new house in a small village north of London. We have a lovely evening sitting in the garden, having a barbie and eating their freshly grown veggies, straight from their allotment. Beth has been growing up a storm. It started to rain but that didn't stop us. It is England ...and it was quite warm still...and the rain wasn't all that heavy. And it is summer.
We got away on Saturday morning after we finally got Mum, Dad, K & P and 6 weeks of luggage (mostly booze) packed into the car and off on their canal boat + Ireland road trip. The family arrived at my place on Friday night + travelling David + Smithy. We were in full swing of a minor party celebrating K & P finishing up at work and I was on my own personal mission to drink as much of their stock of French wine before they could pack it, when my part time week day lodger (& colleague) walked in unexpectedly. He looked a bit surprised (I think he thinks I just sit on the sofa, knit and watch big brother), but not as much as me who had already mentally given his bedroom away to several visitors! Lucky for everyone that he didn't arrive a few hours later.
It might not look it from recent entries but i have managed a bit of crafty stuff lately.
This post is for Mary who sent me this fabric in a swap.
I wanted a gift for Steve's mum Lynn who was heading off from the UK for the next leg of her round the world trip to Canada. Inspired by all the crafty people around the place I thought I'd make something. And I had the pefect fabric as I knew Lynn likes these jewel colours. Its a very simple design but I like the way it turned out. The purple fabric on the right is the lining and the blue fabric on the left is the back.
And the prop is the cool bamboo thingy that Bella Dia gave me as part of back-tack - its so handy!
And although there have been more "incidents" (nice euphemism from the authorities here) and the tube is closed completely WE ARE NOT AFRAID!! And I'm fine.
We had a fabulous weekend in Frankfurt with Mum and Dad and Steve….when we eventually got there.
I know I have moaned about late Friday night flights before but this was really verging on Monty Python status.
I came out of work to find my tube station closed and the street cordoned off with a policeman on a loudspeaker saying “Move away from the tube station. You may be in danger”. All a bit unnerving but I jumped on the first bus, then a quick hop from Green Park and made it to Victoria to meet up with the folks. We got the oven from hell (aka tube) out to Heathrow and had a refreshing beverage to perk us up.
Things were looking good until we got to the gate to see the flight had been delayed for 45 mins til 9. We passed the time with another beverage and boarded about 9. The captain apologised for the delay due to having to replace the break pads. After a bit more sitting around he updated us that they were having trouble shutting the back door and engineers were called out again. It seemed we were on our way but then the indicator light still showed the door was open but it was actually jammed shut. Engineers came out again and we were finally backing away from the gates about an hour later. Hurrah.
But before we got to the runway another pesky light was showing problems with an air filter. The engineers paid us another visit. Took out the offending air filter, chopped it half (the captain was full of the gory details at every stage) and put in a new one. This process took another hour and everyone was standing around chatting in the aisles. All that was missing was waiters circulating with champagne and canapés and it could have been quite a good party. So we ended up leaving 3 ¼ hours late – but the pilot at least had the decency to do the usual 1 ½ flight in 45 minutes!
But it was worth the trip as we had a great day on Saturday zipping around the Rhinegau wine region in a convertible VW Smithy hired for the day. It was sunny and hot – perfect Reisling drinking weather. We had lunch at one of the old wineries, Schloss Volrads and then drove along the Rhine river looking at the impressive castles on the banks.
The day was topped off with dinner at our favourite restaurant in Frankfurt – Gallo Nero. Italian of course! The type of place where the chefs shop every morning at the local market for the freshest fish and the waiters recommend interesting specials, recommend great wine to match and try to dissuade you from ordering something if they consider there’s a better less expensive alternative.
I took this photo yesterday at Trafalgar Square. Shortly afterwards the 2 minutes silence for the bombing victims was held and all trafic came to a standstill.
I have had moments of nervousness on the tube this week and like many others have been eyeing up my fellow travellers and their back packs a bit more than usual. The news that the suicide bombers were identified was frightening, somewhat of a relief, sad and angering.
I have been reading this incredible diary of a woman who was in one of the bombed carriages on the BBC site and have been thinking how lucky I am.
Even with the terrible bombings last week I’m still glad to be living in London. When I catch a bus across the Bridge to Waterloo and look along the river at the beautiful Westminster Buildings and London Eye and St Paul’s I sometimes have to pinch myself to make sure its real and not just a movie set.
There is always something to do here and usually too much to chose from. Last weekend on Suze’s last day here we went to check out the Borough markets at Bermondsy near London Bridge. The organic food available is amazing – I bought some huge juicy peaches for £1.50 and some chocolate brownie for balance. There are also lots of great cafes and pubs on the fringes of the market. I’ll definitely be going back.
Here is my final back-tack contribution which I finally sent off on the weekend, reviving feelings of handing in late assignments! But am pretty happy with the result - lots of handsewing detail - but not half as much as the original crazy pattern from Quilts Japan.
The outside is fairly plain with a little ric-rac detail and I embroidered the recipient's web name on the back. But will keep that as a suprise until it arrives.
Inside has little pouches for scissors, pencil and needle threader and a flower-pot pin cushion.
I used most of the stash from Kath and made a little drawstring bag with leftover fabric - its lined with the red spots.
I came into the office this morning after being at a client's for weeks to find a parcel from my lovely Secret Pal. What a fabulous suprise - she sent me an unreal book of finishing techniques - simple enough for Miss 'What are Circular Needles?'Stewart and will be handy for translating unfathomable instuctions like K2tog, SSK and P2tog. Then there is the pretty pink wool (did I mention I love pink at the moment?!!) thoughtfully wound into a centre pull ball for me, some groovy stich markers in a cute tin and H for Helen postits (in PINK!! heh heh).
Thanks SP you have made my week.
PS Apologies for the bad photo with the attractive grey office carpet background...but I couldn't wait to post this.
