Alien

It's been over two years since I posted  here, but today I was looking for a piece I'd written about mass car use, and came across a document I'd written about the film Alien 20 years ago.  Yes, in 1997.  Seemed appropriate as the new 'Alien' film is due out later this month, and anti-feminist rhetoric still seems predominant.  So here it is.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-JH_ACL_Q4dTmZCUlJTU0NLTGc

A new week

It's Monday again!  This time last week I was getting myself ready for a telephone interview for a job.  It seemed to go well, I was on the phone for around 55 minutes on an interview that I was told would last 20 - 45 minutes.  But I've not heard anything back at all yet so not looking too promising. 

 

I had quite a creative week, started lots of projects - must stop doing that until I get some more things finished.  However, I did finish a few things off.  I finally got round to stitching the crochet flowers I had made on to a nice green crochet chain to make a garland for over my fire.

 

 



I also made a new cover for my ironing board.  I'm quite pleased with it. 

 

I've mostly been sewing.  I have my sewing head on at the moment.  However, I do knit when I am watching tv, and I finished this baby hat.

 

 

Back to the sewing and I made this cute cupcake bunting from some fabric I bought on a whim.  I'm pretty pleased with it and glad I didn't just run it up into a cushion.

 

 

My next project is these reversible napkins and napkin rings.  I've been thinking about making some of these for a while, and as is often the case I ended up cutting everything out for them at about 11pm one night. 

Took me a little longer than I expected to sew as I spent a lot of time messing about with the napkin rings as I wasn't quite what I was going to do with them.  Also my sewing machine had a bit of a strop and kept refusing to work.  I've given it a good clean, removing all the fluff that had accumulated and it seems much happier now. 

 

And finally on Friday I made the two lovely ladies in the centre and to the right of this photo.  The one on the left was the prototype made a couple of weeks ago.   I had actually cut all the fabric out for them about ten days ago but hadn't got round to sewing them up.  I do have another three cut out but have run out of white felt for the faces, so they'll be finished later in the week.  I'm going in to Skipton tomorrow morning so will pick some felt up then. 

 

 

I am going to make myself another cup of tea now and write down what I want to make / finish this week.  Hopefully that will help me stay on track and finish off the pile of half sewn projects on my best armchair. I'm not even going to think about all the knitting projects I have on the go.

 

 

 

Creative Every Day

I signed up for the Creative Every Day challenge earlier this year. 

February's theme is 'Love' and I just realised that my last completed project for February fits this theme perfectly.

Here is my 'Love Ewe' cushion. 

 

This cushion is based on a design by Helen of the wonderful Bustle and Sew.  www.bustleandsew.com

Making February

I have been quite prolific making things in February.  I made

• three tote bags
• three baby hats
• five adult hats
• two tea cosies
• four cowls
• thirteen baby tag toys
• three felt owl ornaments
• one cushion

I've also loads of other knitting and sewing projects on the go.  Today I'm planning on sewing up a couple more cushions that I cut out in early February.

Here's a collage of some of the things I made.

De-cluttering

I've been on a de-cluttering mission since I closed the shop at the beginning of January.  When the last of the stock and all of the furniture was brought from the shop to my cottage I felt very overpowered by it all. 

So I've been selling furniture, clothing, and, of course, the last of the stock from the shop.

One of the big things I did, big for me anyway, was to give away some of my hundreds of books.  Not an easy thing to do as I love my books, but they were threatening to take over the cottage.  I had them all over the floor as I'd sold a couple of the low level bookshelves I had in the cottage before the shop closed.  The idea was to use the tall, better quality, bookshelves from the shop instead.  Unfortunately the removal man couldn't get the tall bookshelves in the cottage so they were dumped in the barn.  I need to take them apart to get them in the cottage but haven't got round to it yet.  Must put that on my urgent 'to do' list for March. 

Anyway, lack of shelving and books everywhere stirred me into activity and I sorted through them.  I was quite ruthless surprisingly.  Gone are two carrier bags of well read Terry Pratchett Discworld novels, which I kept thinking I would read again from the beginning, but realistically never would.  Gone are six carrier bags of modern paperback novels, and the same again of paperback classics.  I also got rid of two carrier bags of old philosophy books.  These were the hardest things to give away.   I've also been selling some of my text books on Amazon.  Some of the philosophy and literary theory books I had have turned out to be not so easy to get hold off and are worth a bit.  I raised about £100 in February from selling books.  Not many left to sell now but a bit of useful cash when I had no money at all coming in. 

I still have around 300 books in the living room.  These are mostly gardening, art and craft, poetry and a few others I couldn't bear to part with.   I just need to sort through the cupboard full of magazines now.

My new tea cosy.  I'm pretty pleased with the way it looks and it is very thick so should keep my tea warm.  A little bit of modular knitting and a super quick pompom for the top.  Stitching the linings to the outside pieces was a bit tricky.

2015 and I'm Back

I decided to resurrect this blog after six long years.  This used to be My Mersey Paradise but I moved house almost two years ago and so its been renamed. 

Lots has happened in six years.

• I've had two new different jobs, had a few months off work, had a small shop selling craft supplies and handmade gifts and I'm starting 2015 looking for a new job.
• My son got engaged, then married, and then moved to the states.
• I separated from my DH and both of us moved away separately from our Mersey paradise

Over the last two years since I moved to the Dales I have been very creative.  Lots of gardening, knitting, sewing, painting and many other crafts.  Most of what I have created has been temporary, gifted or sold.

I often feel like I haven't really achieved anything much so thought I would use this blog to document all my 2015 'creations'

Knitting and Frogs

We decided to clear the pond today before the frogs take over in the next few weeks.
I managed to slip and twist my ankle before we'd even got started properly. Anyway the pond is now free of the enormous flag iris that had taken over, and looking much better. T spent a lot of time picking up frogs and taking them back to the pond. We've left the big clumps of iris on the patio and I'm hoping any frogs still hiding in there will make their own way back to the pond this evening.

I'm now laid out on the sofa with my leg up and a very painful ankle. I'm going to spend the evening knitting.

Here are my latest knitting projects.

Angora mitts

Lombard Street Socks

My First Knits of the Year

Seven months into the 52 pair plunge 2 and I'm only on pair six. Here they are:

I've also completed clue one of SKA's January Mystery Sock.

Happy New Year!

One of my challenges for this year is to update this blog regularly!

I'm trying to reduce my stash, and one of the ways I am planning on doing this is by taking part in the 100 balls in 2009 kal. The idea being to knit 100 full balls from my stash this year.

I've managed to knit about 1/2 a ball today, yay!

52 Pair Plunge II

I decided to go for the 52 pair plunge challenge again this year. That's 52 pairs of socks from 1 June 2008 to 31st May 2009.

I should have knitted 12 pairs by now to be on target but I've only completed 4 (and a half) pairs. I've lots of work to do to catch up!

Pair 1 Simple Socks

Pair 2 Baby Socks

Pair 3 Baby Socks

Pair 4 Spring Forward

A Lovely Weekend

Well, I've been very, very lax at keeping this blog up. I've been spending most of my time on Ravelry.

This weekend we had family visiting. Spent Saturday afternoon shopping for dresses and nice things with my niece. Totally exhausting experience. Saturday evening was spent playing Trivial Pursuit under the influence of lots of wine.

Sunday we had a trip to see the Antony Gormley statues on Crosby beach and the impressive Turning the Place Over in Liverpool city centre.

DH and I had a nice relaxing evening and I managed to knit the first sock of my first pair for the 52 Pair Plunge

Big Garden Birdwatch 2008

Well, I did the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch again this year with my feline assistant Viola. I threw down loads of seed this morning for the doves and woodpigeons. I throw some on the lawn for them most days. By the time I sat down to record the activity there were lots of birds in and out of the garden.
I spotted:
2 robins, 5 blue tits, 7 coal tits, 1 goldfinch, 3 chaffinchs, 5 woodpigeons, 3 blackbirds, 2 collared doves, 4 magpies, 12 greenfinches, 1 house sparrow and 1 redwing.
It was pretty much as I was expecting but the redwing and greenfinches were a bonus. I first saw a redwing just before Christmas and haven't definately seen one since, and I haven't seen the greenfinches for about a week so was glad to see them back again.

A Very Late Start to the New Year

I've always been very lax at updating this blog but I'm even worse since I became 'involved' with Ravelry. Is it possible to be in love with a site? I love everything about Ravelry and consequently spend far too much time browsing patterns, lurking in the forums and perving at other folks projects and yarn. Spent two hours knitting time this morning just looking at other peoples knitting. Am I mad? I think I am.

My plan for today is to finish another panel of my Bressay Hap Shawl . I'm trying to get this finished before it becomes another one of those never ending projects that hide in the bottom of my knitting basket. My deadline for completion is the end of Jan to coincide with the For Me Knitalong deadline. If I can just stop myself starting new projects I should easily do this. That's a big 'if' though.

So cold!

It's very cold here in Liverpool. My house is generally a cold building so when the temperature drops it's not much fun. The living room is above the garage so cold air from the garage comes up through the floor. It's nice in the summer but sooo cold in the winter.

I've been going to redecorate the dining room and living room for the last 3 months and eventually decided to do the dining room on Sunday. I just gave it a few coats of white paint and removed some of the junk that had accumulated there. It looks a lot cleaner and brighter and the new light over the dining table looks good too. I'm not going to get the living room done before Christmas now so am planning on working on it early on in the new year when I am on my own in the house.

Ds is coming home from London on Friday and I'm looking forward to seeing him. He's back until the new year when he's going straight to Rotterdam to work on the Rotterdam 6 day track race. I think he's looking forward to being back even though his new house share is pretty good. His girlfriend is coming to visit between Christmas and New Year so that should keep him happy.

Monday Update

I've been busy working on the garden and the allotment the last couple of weeks in between the spells of wind and rain. The garden's looking pretty tidy now although I don't like to leave it too tidy as all the little creatures need some leaves and other debris to overwinter in. I've planted loads more bulbs, more tulips which I love, daffs, and some dwarf irises and more bulbs whose names I can't remember.

I started making a path to the shed two or three years ago and never finished it. I'm making it using the sandstone blocks I dug up out of the front garden with Cathy and Susie (my friendly neighbours) a few years ago. There was an old manor house on the site of the 14 houses in our close and our houses were built when it was pulled down. All of our gardens are full of stuff from the big house. I found two old irons in the back garden and my next door neighbour dug up a complete wheelbarrow a couple of years ago! Anyway I'm planning to finish the path tomorrow. It's a kind of stepping stone path from the patio area to the shed. It's desperately needed in the winter as the soil is very clayey so it's too wet to walk on all winter. It's probably too wet to do it now but I'm just going to have to get on with it regardless.

It's Christmas gift making time again, and I am working on knitted gifts for the family again this year. I will post what I make after Christmas as I know this blog is watched by gift recipients. I'm only making 7 gifts this year so it's not too much to do. I've finished one completely, about 95% of another, and probably about 50% each of a couple of others. That probably means I'm about half way there. I'm planning on finishing off the ones I've got started this evening and tomorrow evening. I'm stitching 'n bitching tomorrow so should manage it. Then it's just three more to go!

Monday Update

I've not done much knitting this last week. I just seem to be jumping from one thing to another and not really getting anywhere. My plan this week is to finished my Composed Mitts and also my Handpainted gloves. There's only a couple of hours work to do on each of these maximum, and it would be good to get some projects out of the way. Also I could do with wearing them as the temperature seems to have really dropped in the last week or so.

I've been in the garden today and dug out my Miscanthus Zebrinus. It had got huge so I decided to move it and split it into 3 or 4 new plants. I managed to get it out. It has only got a very shallow root ball as it seems to have hit a pan of clay where it was sited. I've chopped one chunk off it and planted it against the fence where it looks pretty good and it will get full sun there which they seem to like. The soil there is much better too so it should do well there. I am going to split the rest of the plant into two. One of these chunks will be planted near to the one already in and the other one will go out front in a gap between my garden and the neighbours. I'll have to do that tomorrow as I've run out of light now.

My Current Projects

I started my Bressay Hap Shawl in August almost the instant I received my copy of Rowan Magazine 42. I like knitting shawls and blankets and had enough Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4 ply in my stash (bought for another project never started) to substitute for the Scottish Tweed 4ply.

I knitted one of the border panels very quickly and then as usual became distracted by other magazines , patterns and projects. I decided to start work on the shawl again last Friday and completed the second border panel first thing Tuesday morning. Just working on the third edging section today. I did a little yesterday but got distracted by my Jaywalkers yesterday evening and did a few rows on them instead. I'd been working on my Jaywalkers on Monday evening and when I got up Tuesday morning I discovered the sock on the floor, hanging off the needles, chewed and damp. I think Viola must have been fighting with them during the night. Hid them last night to aviod a repeat performance.

Ravelry

I'm completely obssessed with Ravelry. I've got about half my stash on there now and the same with my projects. I keep meeting people there who I've met in knitalongs and other groups. It's great to see other peoples interpretations of designs.

I haven't put up all my wips as it's just too embarassing (and time consuming). Maybe I'll get round to it soon.

I'm trying to finish of a few of my UFOs but don't seem to be getting far as I keep jumping from one to another. Today, for example I've done a few rows of a cardi I'm knitting in Jaeger Roma and have also been working on my Bressay Hap Shawl. The cardigan pattern is good and the yarn feels great but I'm in stocking stitch hell with it. This is always the point when I abandon a project. I've only just starting to realise that this could be the reason for some of my UFO's. Although I think the main reason is that I have no will power and cast on the instant I see a fab new design.

The Lovely Vi

Here are the photos of Viola being cute as usual. She's always on the lookout for new sleeping spots. When I saw her eyeing up the shelves the other day I decided to put her red blanky in a spare spot and see what happened. It didn't take long before she was in there and asleep.