2016: a retrospective

2016 has been a challenging year. 

Brexit and Trump mean it will have a lasting political impact on the world, but there are other things too. Smaller things about my own life which have been difficult and challenging and which will have ongoing and long-term effects. And, just like Brexit and Trump, these things are also changes that I do not want, that I do not support, and which I have done my best to resist. 

It seems - sadly - that I will have to learn to live with them. To work round them and to rethink my future. 

To get back to the other challenges for 2016, I set myself several crafty objectives earlier in the year, and it's time to take stock. 

1. Tame the stashes 
I did a good job of reducing the yarn stash, and knitting from stash a wee bit (tank top or two, plus a few other accessories), and then bought a sweater's worth of lovely yarn from Skein Queen to make myself a jumper, and two skeins of yarn for hats. 

I did sort the fabric stash, and move a few things around and get rid of some fabric I thought I would never use. But, that didn't shrink it much, and then I found I needed to order some more for a project or two that I had planned, so I don't think I am any further forward. 


2. Use the stash!
Knitting: I made a cowl for myself, a tank top for the bean, another scarf for myself, and a lovely hat. I used the stash to remake a hat for my brother, and knit a Christmas hat for my daughter. I made a slightly too big pair of socks that ended up going to my dad. My needles are currently clacking away on a pair of fingerless mitts for my brother's girlfriend. 

Newhaven Hat by Ysolda Teague

knitted in Ysolda's Blend No 1 

wee scrap hat (own design)

modelled by little bean

scrap hat revisited - own design

I made this for my brother using some frogged yarn from an old scrap hat of his, which was disintegrating from use/wear and washing. 

Sewing: I have made myself two jersey skirts suitable for work, three very small raglan tees for a friend, two pairs of school leggings and a nightdress for the jelly bean. I also made a few upcycled projects using fabric recovered from old t-shirts.

3 x recess raglan tee (See Kate Sew)

made with upcycled fabrics; the fire-engine motif was rescued from a toddler t-shirt and attached using bondaweb

4 x upcycled dusters or polishing cloths. Made from old t-shirts

3. Make some things to fill gaps in my wardrobe: 
I made a cowl, a navy jersey skirt, a lovely raspberry coloured scarf, and a grey hat. It is so satisfying to make things that fit right in to the palette and styles that I wear everyday, and which immediately go into rotation. I also made a gorgeous multi-coloured skirt which didn't really fit into my careful plans, but has been a useful me-made addition nevertheless. 

 Bias stripe scarf (Purl Soho)

Knit with some lovely but anonymous raspberry sock yarn from the stash, and striped with some odds and ends

 

4. Finish the UFOs
There has been progress here. My WIP pile has reduced significantly. I think I just have one long-range UFO in my knitting bag, which I am eyeing up as a Christmas gift. My sewing UFO pile ebbs and flows, but I think it has reduced in size a little. 

5. Continue to work on mending. 
There has been a lot of mending this year. I have darned, sewn, embellished, and ironed-on patches. I even managed to do some of that with friends. 

I haven't blogged much.  But I have been stitching. And I made myself some things. I might not have achieved everything I planned, but I can happily tick quite a few things off the list. Hurrah for that. 

On the twelfth day...

Status update:

Cards written: 21
Cards received: 12 or so
Cards posted: 20
Mince pies made: 18
Socks completed: 1

The shopping raid was a reasonable success. I managed to gather a fair number of suitable gifts by visiting only two shops. There are just one or two things to left to buy, but still a whole host of things to make. Yikes!

Better get on....

Heroes

Lots has been happening here, but the blogger app on my phone has stopped working, so none of the posts I have written recently have made it through the ether to the blog. I'm having to write this on a laptop, which feels very retro and strange...

Anyway, if you are sitting comfortably, then I'll begin.

The other day I found myself at home with two boys (one larger, one smaller). It was raining, so we needed something to do other than watch TV (which the larger boy would do all day if permitted). 

I had seen a blog somewhere (can't find it now) about making superhero masks, which seemed perfect for the bean, as his role play usually involves being a superhero or a ninja (or both). We have a good pile of craft felt in the house, and we set to work using the felt and some aged bondaweb.

The bean chose which masks he wanted to make; we made some templates using paper and bondaweb; cut them out and ironed them onto the felt. Easy peasy.

Of course, I will not mention at all, the small - really very small - incident with the new iron and a piece of black felt. I guess it must be another of those arcane rules of physics that when buying a new iron it is necessary, in a balancing kind of a way, for the dial on the new iron to work in the opposite way to the dial on the old iron. So, I feel entirely blameless here when I tell you that innocently turned the dial the wrong way and melted lots a tiny bit of black felt onto the footplate of our new iron. I say 'our' iron, but I should be clear about this: my husband bought the iron; he chose it and paid for it and has - until last week - been the only person in the house to use it. Fortunately I did manage to remove the evidence of this small mishap from the shiny iron, so my husband is None. The. Wiser.

Anyway, superheroes are not to be phased by such happenings, and we made 3 masks in all, one for each child superhero in the house. Note the glinting eye of Batbaby...

Craft In Action

Here's little bean wearing his mama-knitted Charles. And here he is snuggling under the endless blanket in its current form.

The blanket is coming on fine - in line with my little and often philosophy I'm trying to manage a row or two every day. Unlike knitting, I can just about manage to crochet while I am feeding the baby. Who knew crochet was amenable like that?

And look at all that wool at midsummer! What on earth? For the sake of balance and accuracy I should point out that yesterday we were all in short sleeves and sandals. It's not always grim up north...

Little and often

One thing I have learned over the years is that action little and often is no bad thing. Most of my knitting is done this way - a round or two on the bus or waiting for a doctor's appointment.

Now that the little bean is here, this is more true than ever. However, there are lots of things to do, not least of which is to stop fantasising about new projects and finish some of the WIPs piled up here and there.

I managed to grab some time today for more sewing. The third pair of pyjama shorts got some attention, and I quickly rustled up a couple of washable baby wipes.

These wipes are modelled on some fab Imse Vimse wipes a friend passed on to us. I made use of a top I deconstructed the other day because the stitching and fabric were tearing. Two layers of this fine cotton were sewn together to make a thin cloth perfect for washing/wiping a baby's creases.

Projects a-gogo

Much is happening in these parts,and there are oodles of finished and in progress projects stacked up.

The sewing machine has come out of the cupboard again, so I've been whipping up a few things for the children....

This morning I'm off into town to get a few things (thread, ribbon, elastic) including an extra ball of that sparkly blue yarn - if I can find some. Phoebe is coming on nicely, but I think I'll run out of yarn....

Still no sign of the baby.

Birthday

It's my husband's birthday today. He left for work early, so the grand presentation of gifts will come this evening.

I'm trying to finish this sock, so he'll have something handcrafted in the pile. We'll just gloss over the fact that this is sock no. 1, and there is no chance of sock no. 2 before then...

Happy Birthday my love.

Make do and mend

When we visited my parents at Christmas, before we left, my mother pulled this blanket out of a drawer and said: 

"Your great nana made this for you when you were small. Now you can crochet, I thought you might be able to do something with it..."

I've washed it and put it in my knitting basket. It's a mixture of wool and other fibres; it flares a bit at one end, and it makes use of a nice crochet stitch which I don't recognise (my great nana was a great stitcher - she crocheted lace in vast quantities and I have a few tray cloths and things which she made). Repairing the blue edge at the one end seems straight forward enough, but I'm not sure about the other, bigger hole. 

I'm wondering about taking the non-woolly beige/pink stripes off and adding a new border around the remaining, mostly woolly stripes. But I'm not sure... any suggestions? 

S I M P L I F Y

We've started the New Year with a bit of sorting out and shifting a few excess things. My motto for 2013 is S I M P L I F Y.  Yesterday, I spent a little bit of time clearing out my knitting basket - putting things back into the stash, and lining up the few projects I want to concentrate on in the next weeks. 

One of my big tasks for 2013 is to rationalise and simplify my stash of fabrics. My yarn stash now fits fairly neatly into 4 clear boxes, which I can easily access. And, having it to hand has meant that I have a much better of idea of what is there and can use it! My fabric stash is a different story. It is currently hiding in 3 - or maybe 4 - different places: mostly in not very accessible under-bed boxes and a vintage trunk that belonged to my mother - and I am always surprised when I look through it, at all the things I had forgotten about. 

I want to clear out the trunk for the children to use as their dressing up box, so some serious sewing and crafting is required to get the stash down to size. So, I have plans to whip up quilt tops and mats and bits and bobs. With baby no. 3 due to appear in a few months, there is also the need to build up some piles of washable wipes, dribble bibs, muslins and changing mats. 

Part of my simplifying routine will thus be about making time for sewing. I'm good at fitting in knitting here and there - on the bus; in the evenings; watching TV. But sewing is harder to pick up in between times because of all the getting out, setting up and organising that needs to happen (in my house at least). So, I'm going to have a sewing night each week, and see if I can't whip up a few more of these.... 

Progress #2

So, after a week at home, this is how the list looks now:

1. Finish Dolly (baby cardigan), block, assemble and send to recipient. 

FAIL. Sat down to finish fronts, but when measured against back, discovered that they bore little resemblance to the size of the back I had knitted. So I ripped them. Completely. From almost finished to nothing. Just like that. I did not cry, I just swigged my beer a little more vehemently, and got out some crochet (ha!) 

2. Before sending Dolly in the post, check that recipient is still small enough to wear 3-6 month size. If not, pass onto smaller baby and start knitting a bigger Dolly for first recipient. Do Not Swear.


Fail (see above). Now inevitable that first baby will be too big for 3-6 month size... 


3. make some cloth nappies for jelly bean's dolls

Have made a paper pattern, but nothing stitched. Part Fail. 


4. make some more doll blankets/quilts for jelly bean/gift stash

Fail. Concentrated on Other Things.

5. make birthday crown for jelly bean

Success! It was even completed in time for the jelly bean's birthday. But there are no photos (yet).


6. make birthday cake(s) for jelly bean

Success: Two cakes were made. DH is now complaining that there is no butter in the house. Oops. I will not mention the slight issue of cake batter leakage which meant one of the cakes had to be stopped mid bake and (successfully) reassembled. 



7. dye some (old) clothes

Fail. I did look at some dye in the shop, but didn't have any cash.



8. tackle UFO pile: ripple blanket; man socks; sewing pile

Part Success: ripple blanket has got another stripe, man socks have now got a second heel and I made a start on (my first) quilt top! Eek. 



9. make a large pile of gift bags 

Success: it may not be the largest of piles, but I managed to whip up 9 bags. All made from the stash. 



10. do some gardening (back garden: veggie plot)

Success: weeding and clearing was begun. Harvests were gathered (broad beans and potatoes) and eaten (yum). 



11. do some more gardening (front garden: flower plot)

Complete Fail. 



12. take books back to library

Success. Whizzed up on my bike one evening, and came back with some new goodies :)



13. ride my bike

Huge Success. I have cycled to school and back with one child; I have cycled to school and back with two children;  I have cycled to cake shops to hire cake tins; I have cycled to town to buy fabric and bits and bobs and new bras; I have cycled to the library (see above); I have cycled to (Edinburgh) Fringe shows with the family and to meet friends for a grown up night out; and yesterday we cycled to the pool for a swim, and then to the park to play with friends. 



14. drink coffee

Success. 



15. eat cake.

There was plenty. 24 fairy cakes and 2 birthday cakes were baked last week, and I had my fair share. 

Progress #1

The Blogger app on my phone is misbehaving, so all I'll say is: progress has been made on The List.

Here are some gift bags I made earlier in the week.

New beginnings...

Today the bean started school. A momentous moment for every parent. Our first born, at school. It is hard to take in. 

He's there for a gentle morning in a small group to get started. Then another gentle morning with the whole class on Monday, and then 4 more weeks(!) of gentle mornings getting to grips with this new environment and new routine. 

I'm taking some annual leave next week, to be on hand for the bean's first week at school, and in anticipation of an hour or two of me time time for housework and gardening and crafting, I am making a list.

It goes like this:

1. Finish Dolly (baby cardigan), block, assemble and send to recipient.
2. before sending Dolly in the post, check that recipient is still small enough to wear 3-6 month size. If not, pass onto smaller baby and start knitting a bigger Dolly for first recipient. Do Not Swear.
3. make some cloth nappies for jelly bean's dolls
4. make some more doll blankets/quilts for jelly bean/gift stash
5. make birthday crown for jelly bean
6. make birthday cake(s) for jelly bean
7. dye some (old) clothes
8. tackle UFO pile: ripple blanket; man socks; sewing pile
9. make a large pile of gift bags 
10. do some gardening (back garden: veggie plot)
11. do some more gardening (front garden: flower plot)
12. take books back to library
13. ride my bike
14. drink coffee
15. eat cake.

That is all. I'll let you know how I get on....

Rhythm

The rhythm of this new year and a new semester is taking a while to sink in. My teaching days and times have changed, and my inner clock/diary is confused..

It's a new drum. A new tune.

Part of my new weekly rhythm is swimming. My husband is a swimmer - a good swimmer - and before our son was born he helped me to improve my technique. I'm getting back into the groove - and it's noticeable how things improve week by week. Tonight I did 50 lengths.

Crafting and knitting and sewing have little space in my week at the moment. Snatched moments here and there are all I've been able to muster. No evenings of sewing like there were before Christmas - although I'm desperate to get my machine out and try out my new walking foot (thanks, Santa!) I have been knitting some socks for a friend's 40th though. I thought I would nail the pair before the great day, but I didn't. I didnt even manage to finish the first one before the party. Sigh. Last night we watched a film and I cast on sock no. 2. The film was Valkyrie. We enjoyed it and the sock grew nicely. I'll show it to you when it's finished. It's stripey (of course).

Concentrating...

As the time left before Christmas is getting short (only 10 days left - how did that happen? eek!) I'm trying to concentrate on things/gifts which I really have a chance of finishing quickly. The recent snow kept us indoors rather more than is usual, so I grabbed small gobbets of time here and there to get a few things finished off.

There have been some more socks. Two pairs of crazy socks, from the Schoppel Wolle Crazy Zauberball yarn I had for Christmas last year. The two balls I received has made 4 pairs of socks in all - three for me and one for a friend (seems like a fair balance!) The last pair are eked out of the remaining yarn using another ball of yarn from the stash. No idea what this solid green yarn is (Rowan maybe), but the colour fitted in perfectly with the crazy yarn, and I used the grumperina approach to striping. I was prepared for the crazy yarn to run out before I got to the toe, but the amount was perfect to stripe to the end, and gave me just enough to kitchener the toes closed.

There was a baby beanie (tutorial here) knitted in honour of a new baby, born to some friends we met at antenatal classes almost 4 years ago. Their first son was born the day after the bean - both early by about a week - and they get on famously whenever we see them. Anyway, congratulations to you Gilly and Jason and welcome to the world little Callum!

I also spent a pleasant 20 minutes or so refeshing one of the jelly bean's dribble bibs (tutorial here) which had got a bit - you know - grubby. I cut another piece of fabric for the top side, and stitched into place with some embroidery floss. Cute huh?

A pile of flannels (wash cloths) is growing too, ready for the wrapping elves to do their work. I have quite an extensive stash of cotton yarn in various colours, so this is being put to good use. I'm knitting some small for children, and then bigger ones for grown ups. Three small flannels (one white, one pink, and one bright blue) went  - along with some organic baby bubbles - to help a small friend celebrate her first birthday last weekend. Happy Birthday Megan. Hope you are feeling better soon. I dont mind knitting with cotton, but it does help that I can finish one of these in a few hours...

My elaborate plans for a mound of quilted/stitched gifts are definitely rather optimistic. I have made some quilted coasters (based on last-minute patchwork gifts book), using some of the fabric patches from the crazy patchwork duvet cover my grandmother made me when I was a teenager. I thought these would be a nice gift for my mum, to remind her of her mother. But, they are taking me a lot, lot longer than I imagined, and arent quite as square or perfect as I hoped!