10 things

1. I love this article on yesterday’s Magazine section of the BBC website. I commuted both yesterday and today, knitting socks. This is much easier than commuting with my regular needles – nobody got accidentally poked as I finished a row.

2. At the weekend, I received a parcel from Driftwood – my prize from her 200th post giveaway. She has excellent taste in chocolate and ribbon, and the felted flower is just beautiful. Thank you Tess!



3. I made two more of the Oliver + S skirts on Sunday in this summery turquoise and pink print, for O and her cousin. Every time I make them I am delighted with how quick and pretty they are.

4. I am feeling bad that I can’t make something as quick and lovely for C. But I bought a simple pyjama trousers pattern on Saturday, so I am sure I will soon.

5. He wants a bandana like mine (except I call it a headscarf not a bandana) instead of the pyjamas. He thought a black and red gingham would be good, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen black and red gingham.

6. He may get a bandana AND pyjamas. But in a blue Amy Butler print, not black and red gingham.

7. Carrot cake with a lime icing was a suggestion from Garden Girl. She is a genius. Do try it next time you are making a carrot cake.

8. I really want to go and see the V&A exhibition on hats. I love hats and this just looks so cool.

9. I am reading A Ragged Schooling by Robert Roberts. It is an immensely readable and entertaining book that I just lose myself in.

10. Lady Grey tea is even nicer than Earl Grey tea. Try it, I insist.

A simple, quick headscarf

I wanted to make myself a headscarf like these Blythe dolls from Flickr are sporting. A funky, hippyish, 1970s inspired, tied-behind-the-hair-not-under-the-chin-like-the-Queen-at-the-races, headscarf.

I spent far too long trying to remember my GCSE geometry in an attempt to work out how long the sides of the square needed to be to give me a particular measurement diagonally. In the end I gave up, ate some chocolate and emailed G at work, who reminded me that it was Pythagoras that did what I neeeded: A squared plus B squared equals C squared. Helpfully he'd done the actual calculations for me as well, so I didn't have to start wondering whether A, B or C was the diagonal and how the square root formula worked in Excel.

So I cut out a 26" square from a large remnant of Moda fabric I had been hoarding. I hemmed each side with a double quarter inch hem to give me a scarf that measures 25.5" square and a little over 35" on the diagonal.

As I sat down to sew I was listening to Woman's Hour on Radio 4, and in one of those delightfully coincidental moments they had a discussion on headscarves. Perfect!

Starting and finishing

I hate starting something and not finishing it. A book to read, a cake to eat, a room to redecorate - I am generally good at seeing something through right to the end. If Magnus Magnusson had not got there first, my catchphrase would have been 'I've started so I'll finish'. I am an expert at plugging away at something until it is done.

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But this week I find myself suddenly in a strange, alien world of UFOs - the Un Finished Objects that haunt so many crafters.

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I blame knitting, personally. Since I picked up my needles and the Stitch & Bitch book on Boxing Day I have wanted to make so many things. And knitting takes time - especially when you're learning. I can't make a hat in an evening,m no matter how motivated I am. When I finish a mitten, there is its matching twin to make next. Socks are going to lie around half finished for weeks! The seductive yarns out there tempt me into starting new things and adding new projects to my Ravelry list.

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This year I've also turned to embroidery. I so much enjoyed the tiny bit of embroidery that I did for my holiday traditions swap that I've bought a couple more hoops and a small selection of Anchor threads. I made some little embroidered chickens for a chicken-loving-friend on her birthday, and I've started on another small flock. Yet to be finished.

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I am more used to sewing aprons, book covers, dolls' clothes, skirts and bags that can all be finished in one or two short sewing sessions.

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Perhaps I am spreading my enthusiasms too thinly. I want to make more than just one panel for O's strawberry quilt. I want to do some more embroidery - moving on from chickens to flowers. I need to knit myself a second red mitten and finish that first slow, but wondrous, pair of socks. My sister is getting married in exactly one month's time and I want to make her a wedding present...maybe I'm not spreading myself too thin, but I should just get on and do some sewing!

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So I've made two lists. And as long as the Things to finish list remains shorter than the Things to start list, I think I will be fine.

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The nonsense list

On holiday and away from the predictability of our day-to-day life, I discovered that my family speak complete nonsense.

Some recent examples:

• "Had I married Barbie...."
• "When's it going to be my turn to be the oldest?"
• "There's a peacock perching on top of the hay bales"
• "I know. You burp and I'll take the photos."

These sentences made no sense at the time. Even less so now.

The Tidy Fairy

"That's a nice outfit," I said
"I'm The Tidy Fairy, " replied O. "Except I'm dusting becuase I like that better than tidying."
"The Tidy Fairy?"
"Yeah - you know. The one who tidies our bedrooms."

And at that point I realised that 6 year olds don't really get sarcasm.

I won't be saying 'Who do you think tidied your room? The tidy fairy?' any more. I want some credit around here.

Adding to lists

The Isle of Wight is my new favourite place to go on holiday. I have added it to my list of Places I love to visit the most in the UK. We spent a happy five days walking along cliff tops and beaches, taking photos of seaweed, rocks, stones, birds, waves and views. It was warm and sunny, with just the right amount of mist and mystery in the early mornings.

I've added to a few other lists as well.

A favourite list of mine at the moment is Things I am Going To Do When I am Retired. At the moment this list mainly consists of loose travel plans involving long distance hikes, but it is growing rapidly and by the time I am retired (at least thirty years away) I will need a great deal of energy to work my way through it. This week I added Walking around the Isle of Wight Coast to that list. The Isle of Wight is a walker's paradise with hundreds of marked trails, views around every turn and plenty of tea rooms and pubs for mid-walk refreshment.

My Best Smells list has two new additions to it: seaweed and espresso-made-by-G-to-cheer-me-up. My children claim to hate the smell of seaweed - how can this be? It is the essence of a seaside walk. This week I took deep lung-filling breaths as I walked along the empty beaches. Espresso-made-by-G-to-cheer-me-up smells even better than normal coffee does, which is already pretty good. Coffee made with kindness and love (in the face of grouchiness and scowls) is a wonderful thing indeed.

My Things I Can Knit list is coming along nicely too. I finished some mittens for C before we left for our holiday, and while we were away I knitted myself this hat. I love it - mainly because I knitted it, but also because its comfy, looks pretty funky, and ACTUALLY FITS. For any of you out there who also have oddly sized heads, knitting your own hats is the way to go. No more weird red stripes and indentations on my forehead when I take off my hat - hoorah!

14th February

In this house, 14th February is all about birthday love rather than romantic love.

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But this year, somebody is hedging her bets with a reversible Valentine/Birthday note.

Vintage

My brother-in-law was clearing the loft at the house where his parents have lived for the past thirty-five years. He wanted to know if C would like some old copies of The Beano that he had found tucked away.

As every pre-teen child must know, The Beano has recently celebrated its 70th birthday. Indeed the actual ‘Gnashiversary’ fell on a family wedding last year and C was disappointed in my blanket ban of ANY celebratory menacing that day.

C loves The Beano. As I did at his age, as his uncles and aunts did at his age and as probably most children in Britain do at his age. Of course I said yes to the treasures from the loft.

They appeared on Sunday evening, delivered by Uncle Richard in person. About thirty comics from the early 80s and three annuals from the mid 70s. C murmured his thanks, but was already straining his head sideways to read the cover of one of the magazines in his uncle’s arms. He carried on reading until bedtime, even as he lugged his precious loot up the stairs to his room. When I went in to wake him for school on Monday, he was reading. When I got home from work on Monday evening as the children were going to bed, he was still reading.

Today was the same.

He has even taken one to school to show his class (carefully protected in a plastic sleeve he raided from my desk).

I asked C if The Beano had changed much in the last thirty years or so. He didn’t look up from his reading, but did at least reply. He told me he was shocked at how much the price has increased – 14p in 1982 to £1.20 today. And he was even more shocked that Dennis The Menace’s father used to whack him with a slipper when he was naughty. Who would have thought that The Beano would reflect more modern parenting techniques?!

C plans to keep these vintage Beanos for a long time. Until he is grown up and can pass them on to his own children he said (“but only if they’re careful with them – not if they’re going to rip them or anything”). So thank you Uncle Richard – you have made a small boy very happy indeed.

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For those of you who are Sudoku fans, check out Uncle Richard’s Strictly Sudoku site.

East End Knitters

Pinkie Cupcake and I were bemoaning the lack of easily accessible knitting groups. I can trek into Central London of an evening every now and then, but on a regular basis I know its not really going to happen.

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So we've set up a knitting group on Facebook called East End Knitters and the inaugural meeting is next week. If you live locally and would like to come along, then please do get in touch!

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Here is O's first mitten, waiting to be blocked and stitched up. I'm rather pleased with it! The second one is merely a few rows away from completion too. I love the madly pink/red wool - it is Patons Fairytale Color 4 me in colour 4981.

Winter wishes

I hope that Garden Girl woke up to the snow she wished for. There is plenty to spare here.