Calling all sewing folk!

Is the word ’sewers’ used to describe sewing folk, as in ’sew-ers’, rather than in the context of poop transporter pipes?  I don’t know and cannot be bothered to shift my lardy butt towards a dictionary to find out, lol!  Anyway, I digress.  Today I am in need of guidance.  I got a wonderful sewing machine for Christmas, and am very excited about it.  I have spent all year ferreting scraps (yards) of Japanese kawaii fabric, cotton bobbins and the like, and am raring to go.  The problem is, beyond a couple of Blythe patterns, I haven’t actually got a clue what to do with the darn thing!  Are there any ‘how to sew’ or small project books that you’d recommend at all?  I am thinking of getting this as my ‘basic manual’, but any other suggestions would be welcomed.  Also, are there any equivalent sites to knitty and ravelry for ‘us’ sew-ers? Again, help and advice would be very welcome.

Sewing aside, how was it for you? Christmas, that is… It was fair-to-middling here. Had fun, but not as much as usual. Ate, drank and was merry, but not as much as usual (in fact, have lost 3lbs!). Slept and generally mooched around much more than usual. I blame my general malaise and lack of enthusiasm on that effing thesis, has been locked away until Wednesday (heart rat quickens at even the thought of it). Oh well, if nothing else, I do feel more revitalised and ready to tackle the remainder. I did get some lovely pressies; as well as the sewing machine (from John’s mum); I was given a Vivienne Westwood necklace by John; some pink patterned wellies and a glittery pink scarf from Dad and Jeannette, the ‘Coast’ book from my brother to remind me of my seafaring roots; a knitting box from Peter, Mum’s partner; and a sewing box, Nigella’s latest book (those 3lb may be making an unwelcomed return ), and various bits from Mummykins. So, yes, pretty spoilt all round. Homemade gifts also went down a treat Mum loved her stuff and has been inspired to take up the needles once more (she’ll have to stop putting in 60 hours a week at work then). Jeannette liked her birthday present and wore it when we went round, which made me happy And Andrew liked Doggie’s jumper (perhaps more that he’d care to admit, lol!). As promised, here’s a photo of the two over-loved toys together.

The New Year will be heralding new projects. The ‘Branching Out’ scarf is underway, but is hurting my head. There is something about lace knitting that isn’t working for me. But it’s so pretty that I’m going to persevere. I love the wool that I’ve chosen too – Rowan felted tweed in pink (yes, I like pink). If this goes well, I’ll be making on for Mother’s Day

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

With lots of love to you all! Thank you for tuning in this year and for all your lovely comments. I do hope that you all have a wonderful holiday and it’s everything you want it to be. With much love from me, and all the Robin Gang xxx

Crossing the finish line!

Hoooorraaaay!  I have finished all of my Christmas knitting, and have actually managed to avoid a desperate rush to get it done on Christmas Eve or, worse, Christmas morning as I predicted!  So here it all is!

I say ‘all’, but there is also the bag that I toiled away over for weeks, which is now safely wrapped and under the tree  As you can see, there are two pairs of ‘Fetching’ mittens, which was a super easy pattern to follow and a great introduction to cables.  I didn’t use the recommended yarn, but used Debbie Bliss cotton angora, simply because I once bought 60 balls cheap off eBay, and now I must use them to justify the purchase!  To be honest, I think the recommended cashmerino would have been better, as there is not much stretch in the yarn I used, which has left the cables a little tight.  Fortunately both mums have bony hands (they don’t read this blog, of course), so the mittens will be a perfect fit!  The little stripy jumper is for my little brother.  I should point out that even though he’s my little brother, he ain’t that small – in fact he’s 7 stone more than me!  No, the jumper is small in size, as it’s for Doggy, his threadbare childhood toy.  I modeled it on the one I made for Blue Ted, and will get a photo of the two of them together, as promised.  Finally, the little lilac mouse is a special present from Victor to my Mum.  He caught it in my yarn stash for her as he wanted to say a big ‘thank you’ for her generous help with his surgery fees.      

So that’s it for the craft.  Now there’s just a small matter of wrapping all our presents to worry about!  I do find every year that, despite my best intentions, it’s a desperate rush to the end to get everything done.  Are you the same?

However, now that Christmas knitting is out of the way, my attention has turned to thinking of new projects.  Indeed a trip to Sheffield to see my hairdresser, led to a quick detour to the yarn department in John Lewis and a gentle tickling of the ole credit card.  So, in 2008 you should be seeing me make one of these, one of these, and a lovely pair of socks out of some amazing pink Regia sock-making yarn that I bought.  And after all that, I hope to be making this cardigan (the wool has been laid by for me in John Lewis as it’s going on sale in January).  If I can manage that, I’ve arrived (in the knitting sense)! 

The knitting list diminishes!

Again, a bit of a dearth of posts recently as I’ve been desperately trying to get all those Christmas pressies finished in time for the big day. And would you believe it that they’re nearly all done?!? I’ve made a pair and a half of these for our mums, so I’ve only one mitten left to do, yay!!!!!

That also means that the poor, neglected Happy Sisters will get their little red and green hats too yyyayayayayayay!!!!!!!

AND I’ve even finished my Christmas shopping, so have no chores whatsoever to occupy my time when we finish for our hols on Wednesday, whoop whoop whoop!

Oh, and I just have to share a couple of pics that I’ve taken this week. Here’s the view of Pudsey from a nearby hill – I live next to the church on the horizon.

I took this on the park. It was such a crisp and clear day – my favourite kind. I love what the sun has done to this photo. I also love the whacking CCTV that’s been shoved into the flower bed. Proof, if ever, that us Brits are the most monitored folk in the world. Big Brother was a park keeper, don’t you know?

But I have to say that this is my personal favourite, which reveals a lot about the depths of my toilet humour. If you’re easily offended, don’t scroll down

The kids round here are delightful – they’re all budding Picassos, which is the only explanation for the multiple ‘man bits’…

Getting into the Festive Spirit

That’s the toys, you understand, rather than me.

Christmas Crafting Fun :)

When I started this blog, I really wanted it to be an outlet for my crafty stuff – for others to enjoy, and for me to keep a record of my developing ’skills’ so on a low day I could look back and see what I’d achieved. However, I seriously had no idea that a few weeks later, I’d be selling up, moving to a new city and renovation another house, whilst writing up my PhD thesis. In fact, this life-changing decision was made in MacDonald’s at the end of the M67 on the way home from some friends’ wedding. Never let it be said that I’m a gastronomic snob (although I did have the vegetarian option on a wholemeal sub and took the wrapper home for recycling).

Since then, life has been manic with little time to myself to do the things I enjoy, which has left me stressed, ratty and at times rather tearful Recently, however, things seem to have turned a corner. DIY is reaching an end, and is my PhD thesis (I hope, crossing anything cross-able). I’ve even managed to find some time for my beloved craft! Do you remember me mentioning that I was making a bag for my mum? Yes, I know it was a long time ago but I didn’t forget about it or give up. Slowly but surely I’ve been plugging away at it and now it’s done!

Do you like it? I do, although I try not to look too closely at my stitching up (not my greatest skills). I wish I could claim credit for the pattern, but it’s from Knitty. That lovely frayed fabric brooch? Nah, not my idea either, but so kindly provided by Maize on her blog. It is super sweet though and matches the inside perfectly. I love the corduroy lining – I bought extra so maybe my girls can have some winter capes when I get my sewing machine a fortnight on Monday (wooooottt!!!!)? There’s even a knitted pocket inside that caused no end of headaches, make no mistake. I followed the pattern to the letter and all of it’s turned out mm perfect apart from the darn lining which is 2cm too wide. This called for some judicious sewing and stretching, but hopefully Mum won’t notice (I think you have to be looking for it).

And that’s not all I’ve made! Next weekend it’s my Dad’s wife’s birthday and I had bought her a really cute trinket box for her newly decorated bedroom. I wanted something to put in it, so decided to crochet a poinsettia brooch for her, as it’s December’s birth flower. I’m really pleased with how it turned out, it’s my own design (!) and the clear glass seed beads are sewn on individually for a dewy effect.

And here’s something I’ve made for Sarah/electrocuties for our handmade festive Flickr swap (Sarah – if you’re reading this, don’t scroll down!). It’s a hat for her super-cool Blythe, Pepper. I’ve never used a variegated yarn before and I’m really happy with how it looks. Only trouble is that all my girls now want one. I *hope* there’s enough left for three more hats!

Finally, I still have a WIP on the needles. This is a present for my little brother (aged 24 1/2), or for his childhood toy Doggy to be precise. AAaaaages ago I mentioned making a little jumper for my threadbare Blue Ted. Well I did finish it (did I ever show you? I guess not as it was mid-move), and when my brother saw, it a look of pure envy crossed his face (I *think* that’s what it was anyway!). So the equally threadbare Doggy is going to be getting his own for Christmas. I’ll take a photo of the two together at Christmas and show you all

So real progress all round! Having time has certainly helped, as has joining my local knitting group, injuries notwithstanding. I’d recommend a knitting group for anyone who is time-poor on the needle front as it’s a great way to focus your energies. My jumper for Blue Ted will be done by the next meeting in a fortnight, so the plan is to next make two pairs of these for our Mums. Wish me luck – I may even get this all done in time for the 25th, although I’ll probably be sat in the passenger seat on Christmas morning somewhere over the M62 sewing in the ends

Plumbing Pandemonium

As ever, the never-ending DIY train is hurtling on at full speed, stopping this week at Bathroom Central. Yes, I’ve had the plumbers in all week and no, that’s not a euphemism for that time of the month (you know, ‘I’ve got the painters in’, as your Nan might say). Nowadays John and I are posh, fancy types, and have two bathrooms (main and en-suite) so that’s double the effort and double the expense, oh yay. You’ve heard of John ‘Two Jags’ Prescott? Well I’m Flissy ‘Two Bogs’ 666! There was nothing wrong with the old bathrooms – they were white, clean and quite new. But there was nothing right about them either – just complete B&Q cheapy nonsense. Oh, and they were painted blue. Yeuch – I hate that colour on walls sooooo much. If I were the PM, I’d make blue bathrooms illegal. Sorry – I realise that the majority of the world adores blue bathrooms but I DON’T. So there Oh, and there would be a series of by-laws which banned the sale of the attendant nautical-themed accessories. Punishable by death. I have a half-demolished photo to show you, but avert your gaze quickly if your aesthetic sensibilities are easily offended. BTW – those wavy lines on the wall are where some hideously naff wavy Ikea mirrors had been stuck up with no-nails. I told you it was bad.Progress has been okay this week. In the en-suite, the shower cubicle has been fitted and tiled out and the new lav is in. In the main bathroom it is all fitted, and the chrome towel rail has been installed. There have been a few problems – the shower cubicle needed to be re-built because the walls were out, the en-suite sink had been cast poorly so needs replacing and the pipework to the heated towel rails had to be re-routed. Oh, and the house flooded. I kid ye not. It’s Friday night and I’m plonked in the new bath, and suddenly I notice a ‘tap, tap, tap’ sound. Then I realised it was a ‘drip, drip, drip’ sound. John runs down the stairs and water is rushing out of the ceiling into my lovely new kitchen! He shot outside to turn of the water; and I jumped straight out of the bath to start bailing out the water using the bathroom bin into the basin, as I knew that didn’t leak. Fortunately the plumber came back in 5 minutes and the problem was easily fixed (dodgy plug seal). Nonetheless, it was a scarring experience. It could have been a lot worse though and at least I remembered to put my clothes back on admist the chaos!In non-house related news, I’m still plugging away at Mum’s Christmas present. I can’t understand why it’s taking me so long! Curse those 3mm needles! Is there some secret knitting skill that no-one’s told me about? I look at the sites of such talented people as Julie and Jenny and wonder how the hell they do it! Perhaps they have special prosthetic limbs that they wear for knitting to speed the whole process up. Anyhow, I’m so slow that the Christmas WIP list is going to have to be reviewed.Also had a little spend on some fabric. I’m getting a sewing machine for Christmas, so am gathering supplies akin to a squirrel gathers nuts. The spotty cord is going to be used to line Mum’s bag.Right – off to crack on with that bag. We’ve an extra hour today because the clocks went back, so I may get at least an extra centimetre done. If anyone would like to share the knitting secret, please do!

My Christmas WIP List

Feeling the pressure from work slightly today (a small matter of a PhD thesis to finish – nothing major), so not time for a big post. But I was that determined to keep up the recent momentum, so I thought I would give you a quick knitting update. Do you remember a couple of days ago I casually mentioned that I’d started Mum’s Christmas present? She mentioned ages ago that she’d like a knitted bag, and I found the perfect pattern for her on Knitty. I’ve now managed to progress beyond the initial 2cm, and have finished the front panel.

So just the back, inside pockets, outside pocket, sides, strap and lining to worry about now. EASY! Fortunately John’s out of my hair tonight so I’ll hopefully be able to get stuck into the next section. Then I have to start work on a jumper for my brother’s childhood toy; gloves for the MIL; felt corsage stocking fillers; mini stockings that I’ll be giving out instead of cards, complete with chocolate santas (pattern kindly provided by Julie); and a knitted toy for John (either a Pudsey or Sleepy Snake). Oh yeah, and that thesis.

If anyone does fancy having a go at the Knitty pattern, yarn subsitution was pretty straightforward. I used Patons 100% Cotton in DK (210m/230yd per 100g, so adjust the amounts accordingly). The colours I’ve chosen are a beige (2714) and a cranberry (2708), but feel free to choose your own!