Crafty Sneak Peek #7
ARGH, it’s a whole damn sock!!! I am SO SO proud of myself. Just another sock to go (I hear they traditionally come in pairs. Drat).
I am super excited about this – it’s my first ever time knitting a sock, using magic loop technique, toe-up, AND my first illusion knit. Ambitious much? Well, it’s going damn well. I’ll keep you updated.
Pattern is from the lovely Alice Bell.
Busy bee
I’ll say it again: Sorry for the recent dearth of posts. I’m actually in the process of trying to relocate, find a job, finish my dissertation… It’s madness. Here, here’s my busy face:
BUT! I have guest blogged over at SWCraftClub. So it’s not all bad. Take a look: Streatham Knit Wits
Crafty Sneak Peek #6
OK, this isn’t a sneak peek so much as a “LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!!!”
I am super excited about this – it’s my first ever time knitting a sock, using magic loop technique, toe-up, AND my first illusion knit. Ambitious much? Well, it’s going damn well. I’ll keep you updated.
Pattern is from the lovely Alice Bell.
I Want Never Gets: Summer Cocktails
Now that the sun is shining, it’s time for barbecues and cocktails. Now, barbies are straight forward – heat and meat usually does the trick. But cocktails? Cocktails I’m not so good at. I wish I could make a good cocktail.
So here are some important ingredients for making cocktails -
A set of ultra pretty cocktail glasses – I love these sophisticated ones from John Lewis, priced at £50 for a set of four.
A cocktail shaker set, obviously. And this one from Heal’s is pretty swish, and comes with everything you need. Nice price at £36, too.
A cocktail recipe book! 500 Cocktails (available from Amazon) by Wendy Sweetser is fairly comprehensive (I mean…. 500!), and it helps with shaking techniques, and the fundamentals of mixing.
Argh, I want mojitos.
Crafty: Knitting Needle Roll
I have way too many knitting needles now. I had to knock together something to keep them sorted. It’s not the prettiest thing in the world (I used what materials I had), but it does the job. All my straights fit in there, but I still have a mug full of dpns and now a big collection of circulars (got a whole set of them for £12 online).
I followed a tutorial online for this – the writer’s version is WAY more attractive, but I did just knock mine together rather than really think it through too much. Yay!
Way, way too many needles. Take some off my hands.
Dirty Rotten Cheapskate #2
Holy mother-load, Batman.
I have been charity shopping. Having been on a knitting binge, I remember that my local Trinity Hospice shop used to have a big mug full of donated needles. When I went there, the mug had gone. Sad face. So I asked the staff if they’d sold them all – no, they weren’t selling, so they had been moved to the store room. They went and got me a massive tangle of well over 200 needles. I bought the lot for a tenner – they were happy to be rid of the mismatched assortment of unsellable pointy things.
After a sort through, about 70 needles are unpaired. A shame. Unless someone wants a bundle of odd needles (I’m sure SOMEONE in the ‘verse can think of something to do with them…) they will be chucked out.
BUT. I now have a mass of knitting needles. Yay! Mainly standard straights and a mass of dpns, but I also found one circular needles, 4 crochet hooks (like I need more of those…) and three stitch counters.
Obviously, some are doubles. I have, for example, 10 sets of 3.75mm needles. So here’s my proposal: if you knit or know someone who knits (or wants to take it up), then have a look at my needle collection on Ravelry. I am happy to get rid of sets for as little as 50p (plus a nominal charge to cover p&p, if you want me to post them out to you). Please note: I’m only willing to sell on needles I have DOUBLES or more of. Please don’t ask for things I only have one of.
And if you fancy that bucket load of odd-needles, I’ll let you have the lot for a quid.
Yay!
Books: Cooking For Geeks
I got this bad boy as a belated Christmas present from my big brother (see here why it was late), but I can confidently proclaim: it was well worth the wait.
This weighty tome from Jeff Potter looks like a text book, but dear lord, if all my text books were this readable, I would have read them all cover to cover by now.
Cooking For Geeks is made up of some science, some “hacks”, some interviews, and tonnes of little nuggets of fascinating facts.
Maybe you’ll love it for the recipes (whilst I haven’t yet tried any, they all sound amazing). Maybe you’ll love it for the miracle berries, or many of the other weird and wonderful additives (which sound AMAZING and I must experiment). Maybe you’ll love it for the stupidly dangerous over-clocked oven (pizza cooked in 45 seconds, anyone?).
If you’re me, you’ll surprise yourself by finding the section on pathogens the most interesting.
The only annoying thing is probably the fact that this book is written by an American, for Americans. Broiling? Seriously? It’s a grill. Also, the references to the FSA make you wonder about our own, British food standards. Must…do further research…
But the problems presented by that fact are minimal. Far too small a problem to detract from the pure joy that is getting immersed into the strange and wonderful world of geeky cooking. Yay!
There is also a Cooking For Geeks website to accompany the book. Double win.
Lewes
Yesterday, I was at my mum’s in Sussex. Given the miserable weather, we decided a day-trip for shopping was in order. So we pootled off to Lewes, for a wander about.
The best place to park in Lewes is, of course, always packed. But we managed to get a spot outside the old Needlemakers indoor market. There is a limit to 2 hours max parking here, but we thought that would be enough time to browse the shops (without frittering away our entire day).
Lewes is a wonderful little old market town, and has evolved into a quite up-market, quaint tourist town (and a fabulous, if on the pricey side, place to shop for the more unusual bits and bobs).
Most of our stay involved looking about in the shops inside the Needlemakers – my favourites being Wickle (where they sold, amongst other things, real beetles set in resin, and postcard booklets entitled “Beautiful Sheep”, “Beautiful Pigs” and “Beautiful Cows”), Skylark (selling a selection of fairtrade craft goods and a variety of unusual books and music) and, of course, not forgetting: The Patchwork Dog and Basket. More on this at a later date – needless to say, they sell goods for patchwork and quilting.
Lewes itself is a lovely place for a general explore – it’s got a lot of hilly bits, which makes for a more interesting walk then a flat town. Oh, and did I mention, it has really unusual shops? Like ones that sell MASSIVE jars of chilli jam?
And in the words of Jackie Chan’s uncle – One more thing! St Michael:
Crafty: Pterodactyl Dresser
How. Awesome. Is. THIS?!
This amazing creation comes from isfive on the Craftster community – faced with a dull, plain wood dresser for her nursery, isfive decided an exciting paint job was needed. And what an amazing job indeed!
I’m thinking I might (one day!) do something similar, but with rats or foxes instead of pterodactyls. Plan?
You can find a detailed how-to on isfive’s blog. She’s kindly provided pterodactyl stencils for you to use, too!
Crafty: Paper dragon illusion
Here’s a fun one for you – and all you need is card, a printer, scissors and tape.
The Gathering for Gardner dragon (if you’re wondering why Gathering for Gardner, click here) is a fantastic optical illusion – a inconspicuous (if grinning in a sinister fashion) dragon, who watches you as you move around the room. Ben LOVES him – I find him a tiny bit creepy.
Basically, he’s a form of the Hollow-Face Illusion – his head IS concave (don’t worry – you have’t folded it inside out, like I thought I had – it’s meant to look like that), but that is what makes him so wonderful.
So, what are you waiting for? Click the image above to get started. Get clicking, get printing, get cutting & sticking!!
Art: Bobsmade custom shoes & headphones
I toyed with the idea of filing this German genius under “crafty”, but really, it is art. They were the inspiration behind my own handpainted Kitty-Fox shoes (which will be featured in a post… some time later. Watch this space)
Bobsmade is a German-based company, established in 2007. Anne, a graffiti-style artist, designs and produces gorgeous, original artworks with her brother Hannes, and will happily customise anything for you, be it headphones, glasses, shoes, bags…
I have followed Bobsmade on deviantArt for over a year now, and peruse their new creations with great admiration – they really play into my great love of bright colours and cuddly animals.
Out of respect for the artists, I won’t be republishing their designs here. So please head on over to either their shop or their dA account and have a browse. Warning: you may lose a considerable portion of your day.
Crafty: French Arrows
On Sunday, Ben went about gathering things: bamboo canes, a pack of cards, string, tape, a couple of nuts (of the “& bolts” variety) and a knife. Then, he had me make a flask of tea and bundled me into the car. I had no real idea where we were going, or why, and what the hell connects a pack of cards with bamboo garden canes anyway?
But I was study-fatigued, so I just went along with it.
We shortly arrived at Wimbledon Common. Yay! Cue me singing the Wombles song, over and over.
After a short walk, we came to an empty clearing by the rugby/football pitches, and sat on a log. Ben started getting out his kit, and crafting what we would later name his “Foxy Lawn Darts”. They are more colloquially known as “French Arrows”.
Ben learnt this technique from a workmate back when he was doing manual labour for British Telecom – he says it’s based on some neolithic spear, but I can’t find any evidence for this and I’m feeling lazy today (post-exam complacency?). If anyone else is any the wiser, please let me know, so that I can inform my readership.
What follows is a basic “how to”, but you can also find a nifty little guide on this website, which helpfully has a cute, low budget animation to make things a bit easier.
First up, select a nice, straight, strong piece of bamboo cane. You’ll need to cut a cross in one end – two vertical slits, about 3 inches deep, which cross over. This will be to insert your fletching! Please watch what you’re doing with your knife. I have a classical “don’t run with scissors!” type photo of Ben cutting whilst looking in the opposite direction.
Next, your fletching! This involves bastardising a pack of playing cards. You’ll only need 2 cards, so you could make 27 arrows out of a whole pack! You could do the whole “cut a slot in each and slot them together to form an x”, but we just folded each card in half.
Then, slide the cards down the cut slots at the top of your bamboo, so each card is like a corner. Line them up so you have your cross.
And now, bind it tightly shut! You could use string. We used tape.
Now, go to the other end of the cane. If you can fit a nut (of the “& bolts” variety) snugly over the end (so it stays put) then great. We had to whittle the bamboo a bit so that the nut only just slid on, but that was great because it meant it fit nice and tight, and didn’t come off when it came to throwing the arrow.
And, if you want, you can sharpen the end to a point, so that when thrown, it will stick in the ground. NOT ADVISED IF THERE ARE CHILDREN OR PETS PRESENT. Or, indeed, if you are a prat like me, and can’t throw.
The “stringing” of the arrow is a bit tricky to explain via text, so I advise you watch the animation on the aforementioned website to get to grips with that – they make it shockingly easy to understand.
Of course, what you really want to see is if it flies or not. Well, it does. And I can prove it, because we took video footage of the damned thing in action. Enjoy!!
P.S., If you make your own French arrows, I would LOVE to see the results. Photos, videos, or even just anecdotes. I’d never heard of them before Sunday, but they are AWESOME.
Food: Paxton’s Tower Lodge
Well, I promised you a post devoted to the food I made on our holiday, so here we are.
WARNING: CONTAINS MEAT. Please turn away if you are a vegetarian, vegan, or just a bit squeamish.
Whilst we ate a lot of junk (mainly sausage sandwiches, crisps, service station chocolate, and the metre of Jaffa cakes that Ben’s nephew & niece gave him for Christmas), there were a couple of beautiful creations, made by my own fair hands. OK, those were also fatty piles of calories, but hey, we were on holiday, and it was cold!
First up, I made my own spin on eggs Benedict. So much a spin, in fact, that you can’t really call them eggs Benedict. An English muffin, a slice of fried middle bacon, a fried egg, and a glob of creamy parsley sauce. We had three each (champion!! Did not need to eat anything until 9pm that evening)
OK, looking at that, I do feel a leeeettle bit sick. But they were amazing, I swear to god.
But let’s cut to the chase: there is only one real reason I wanted to write this post, and that reason is PIE.
I did, in fact, make the pie of a lifetime. Ben says it was the best thing I’ve ever cooked, and I will have a hard time EVER topping it. This makes me a happy housecat. But what made it so good? It all comes down to Kennington farmers’ market…
Every weekend, there is a farmers’ market outside the big church in Kennington, and just down the road lies FWR, the bike shop where Ben gets all his bike repairs done. So, one afternoon, nearly a year ago now, Ben was in Kennington having has bike looked at, and he decided to pop to the farmers market. Needless to say, he came home with three pheasants, a duck and a rabbit. Thankfully, they were all plucked and gutted.
Well, two of the pheasants met their end in the oven over the following weeks, but the final pheasant, and his two other woodland friends, remained in the freezer for many months. Then, a couple of months ago, I decided enough was enough, and chopped them into little bits.
Let it be known that I would be a pretty poor butcher.
However, I’d make a fairly awesome pie chef. I fried up the chunks of game with some cubes of black pudding, then threw in some roughly chopped garlic, a glass of red wine, a good glob of chilli jam and about half a pint of gravy (just for good measure). I let the gamey stew simmer away for about 2 hours, tasting and throwing in herby loveliness along the way. And then? I stuck it in a tupperware box and straight back in the freezer. D’oh.
But then Paxton’s lodge came around. I packed my tupperware box of game stew and a roll of puff pastry (ready made – what do you think I am?!) and on our last night at the cottage, it was only an hour of preparation until pie loveliness. I kept singing “I don’t think you’re ready for this pieee” at Ben (in the style of Destiny’s Child, as you do), which may have gotten annoying, but there we are.
Before pie could be assembled, of course I needed to make some sides. I had some basic ingredients at my disposal, so peeled some potatoes and carrots, and boiled them separately. The potatoes went straight into a tray of hot duck fat, and into the oven at about 180 degrees C. The carrots went into a roasting tin, with “rustically” chopped brown onions, a whole bulb’s worth of peeled garlic cloves, some chopped chillis and lashings of olive oil. That tin went in alongside the potatoes.
And now, the piece de la thingy, Landmark Pie. Easily done: big glass dish, pie filling in, topped with puff pastry. I pricked the top with a fork to let some steam out (as you do). Into the oven. 45 minutes later, this is what we were left with:
Think all that is too much for two people?
Think again.
This pie was nearly a year in the making. Truly epic. I miss it already.
The diet starts today.
Paxton’s Tower Lodge
Ben and I ventured to Wales this week. Predictably, it rained pretty much the whole time we were there, but that was ok because:
- I had my new wellies with me
- We were staying in the gorgeous and cosy Paxton’s Tower Lodge
OK, maybe that needs a bit of explaining (the lodge, I mean. Not the wellies)
This is Paxton’s Tower:
And this, at the base of the hill, is Paxton’s Tower Lodge:
While Paxton’s Tower is a folly, erected in honour of Lord Nelson, and now maintained by the National Trust (not that it needs much maintaining, to be honest), the Lodge has been lovingly restored by the wonderful Landmark Trust. If you’ve never heard of the Landmark Trust (and three years ago, I hadn’t), they are a charitable foundation that restores historic and architecturally interesting buildings for the enjoyment of the paying public. But unlike the National Trust, English Heritage and so forth (where you pay an entrance fee, have a look around, then buy a cake and souvenir and leave), Landmark Trust properties are for living in. Yes, you can rent one for your holiday.
Ben and I have been to one other Landmark Trust property before (the equally wonderful Tangy Mill out in the wilds of Kintyre), but this time we decided to go somewhere… well, less Far Away. We wanted to go to Castle of Park, but they were already booked up for the dates we had free. Ben had been to Paxton’s Tower Lodge once before (4 years ago now, so before we met), and liked the building and surrounding area, so we thought we’d give that a go.
And it was lovely! Apart from the typical Welsh weather, Carmarthenshire is quite nice indeed, but definitely the crowning glory of the stay was our accommodation, no doubt about it. We hardly got any actual sight seeing done, because the cottage was so lovely (and it was cold and wet out). Every evening was spent curled up on the sofa, knitting, whilst Ben poked at (and cursed at) the open fireplace.
(Still working on that bloody Firestarter jumper!!)
A lovely big kitchen meant that I could Get My Cook on – we did eat like pigs. OK, I know, I know, I made a resolution to lose weight, but you didn’t expect me to diet on holiday, right? That aside, I have a separate post put aside for my adventurous cooking, so watch this space.
Other evening activities included trudging up to see the tower (which is lit up at night), and of course Airfix. What? Oh yes. Ben got a Mk 1 Ford Escort Airfix kit for Christmas (from his sister and her other half).
Which reminds me: I have a bone to pick with Airfix. What the hell did you do to the paints, dude? You used to supply tiny tins of top-quality Hummel paint with your kits. And now you have what amounts to shoddy, thinned down nail varnish. Hummels gave a smooth, even coverage in one coat. Three coats in on the bodywork, and the paint job is still streaky. Before you ask: Yes, I did stir the paint before use. Thoroughly disappointed on behalf of my foreman (I was delegated to paint duty, whilst Ben did important cutting and sticking).
Aaaaaaaaaaanyway. We did have some small adventures in wet Wales, but this post is running on a bit now, so probably best to leave those for another day. Deal? Here’s a picture of me in the lodge’s loft bedroom, to make up for it:
The Christmas haul, part 2
Time to indulge me a bit more whilst I gleefully show off a few more gifts I received for Christmas! Again, everyone has been disgustingly generous this year (or should that be last year? Who cares – I love you all 
), but before I share some more pictures of presents, here’s a lovely photo of Ben, all tuckered out, asleep with his mum’s doggy Jimmy:
Awww
Now, where was I? Ah yes! First up, Ben’s sister gave me these intensely cool boxes, in all different sizes and patterns. You all know I’m a habitual hoarder and organiser, so being able to stash things in pretty boxes = Joy! Not put anything in them yet, but time will tell. Also, the boxes had in them a dozen gorgeous oriental silk pouches, and six tiny enamelled spoons (a picture of them will turn up at a later date).
Next up, Ben’s nephew and niece bombarded me with presents! Not actually FOR me… For the rats. Lucky little gits! I swear, the rats got more presents than me! The ratties are on holiday at the moment, but when they get home, they have a rubber finger groomer, a bag of yoghurt drops, a packet of rat “donuts” and a seed star to enjoy. And Angharad got the rats a gift too!! A mineral gnawing block! The lucky little blighters 
Next up, a parcel from Ben’s sister and her partner Paul, with a gifttag that said “To Astrid – pimp your pussy!” Hmmm…. I was a little concerned, I won’t lie. But, on opening, I was presented with a “decorate your own bobble headed kitten” kit! Brilliant. I have enjoyed making them as camp as possible 
I’ve decorated the pink and the blue kittens already, and still have a purple one to do. In the background of this photo, you can also see the gorgeous art noveau Absinthe tin that Rebecca gave me. THAT was full of chocolate – nom!! (Long gone)
And last up for today, not one of my gifts, but something I gave to Ben: a KidRobot Futurama doll. I’m new to the world of KidRobot, but from what I understand, you buy the figures boxed, without knowing what will be inside. I was hoping this would turn out the be Bender (as Ben’s full name is Ben Bender Bending Rodriguez Coxon), but Leela is damn cool, too!
There will be more, oh so much more! Watch this space
What a lovely evening for a murder!
Oh, I do love going to Vin’s. Not only does she have a gorgeous house, but she and her mum are fabulous, wonderful hosts. The occasion for my latest visit? A Halloween Murder Mystery party, no less!
We left London a bit later than I would have hoped on Saturday – it was the first time I had navigated our way up to Vin’s house (Ben has never been, and I have only been via public transport) and I had planned to get there in plenty of time, so that I didn’t have to have my usual time-related panic. Oh well, the best laid plans and all that…
No matter. We got there on time, if not early. And we didn’t get TOO lost (although I did have to phone Vin twice for directions – that’s what happens when you live in a big house in the middle of bloody no where!!). We had enough time to get changed into character and fight into our contact lenses (yes, the monochrome bad boys made another appearance) before making our way down to the scene of the crime.
Aren’t we all beautiful? I had been given the part of Frankenstein’s monster, but being a girl, I tried to steer clear of comedy neck bolts. What you can’t see in the photo is all my crude stitch marks drawn on with eyeliner. I had by far the lamest costume, as you can see. You can also see here Dracula and his bride, Witchy, the von Addamses, a Cruella deVille type character and Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde. Ben is behind the camera – he was the von Addams’ zombie butler, Lurchio (and he looked gorgeous).
We set the scene (and had brief introductions with the people we hadn’t met before) in the living room. Next, the host (Witchy!) lead us through to the dining room. Vin and her mum had gone all our with the decorations, added to the fact that they have a huge, antique-stuff house, so it was an absolutely perfect setting for a horror-filled Halloween dinner. Already waiting for us were our appetisers (pre-chosen by the guests – either salmon blinis, prawn cocktail or pâté), and Mr & Mrs Drac poured us out some wine.
What followed was a scripted murder mystery (with some improvised interrogations), but despite having to follow the script, some fantastic, pantomime acting ensued. We stayed in character as much as we could, but it did fall apart once or twice when we got lost in the scripts, or when we were busy stuffing our faces with the delicious food. Which reminds me: Vin’s mum made a delicious beef goulash for the mains, accompanied by rice, sugar snap peas and french bread. And pudding was a superb home-made chocolate cheesecake (there was the option of fruit salad too, but I think the cheesecake won the day) and a fantastic, stinky cheese board. Eventually we had to put the cheese board away: delicious as it was, it did pong.
I won’t spoil the mystery plot, in the off chance that you come across it in the future: needless to say, the murderer got away scott-free, and we were all a little tiddly. But the company, the food, the decor and the evening in general was delightful. There was time for a final photo opportunity before we all got back into our civies, retired to the living room, and played Articulate whilst being pestered by Vin’s bear-sized dogs.
Thank you, guys!!
Food: Nasi Goreng
OK, don’t think I’m escaping hard blogging by just posting up another recipe. You like my recipes, right? I’m a miserly student, so my food is mostly cost-effective. But I love food, so it’s mostly tasty, too! Double whammy of greatness.
So, why another recipe, so soon? It’s because I am so terribly busy, me. OK, not strictly true. I’d probably be less “busy” if I used my time more effectively, rather than floating in and out of tasks, via Facebook and Twitter (this problem needs addressing). Also, could someone bless me with the ability to read quickly?
Anyway, on to the food. This is another store cupboard miracle – you don’t to follow the recipe exactly, just throw in veggies that you’ve got clogging up the fridge. And if, like me, you like meat in stuff: go on, be my guest, chuck some in.
You will need:
- 300g long grain rice (you can use left over rice from last night’s take away if you really fancy. Gwaaaan…)
- 2 eggs, beaten (so tempting to try this with big ol’ goose eggs!)
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 onions, sliced finely
- 2 red chillis, thinly sliced – although temper it to your tastes, by all means
- 1 sweet pepper – yellow or red, simply because I don’t like green ones
- 2 medium sized carrots, julienned (ok, cut them into matchsticks. I use my mandoline!)
- 4 spring onions, shredded
Make it!
- OK, this has become my most favouritist way to make rice. Stick your rice into a wok (or deep frying pan), and pour on a pint of water. Bring it to the boil, then let it cook away on a simmer until all the water has been absorbed. Then, simply turn out onto a plate and allow it to cool.
- Next up, heat a splash of cooking oil in your wok (it’s fine if there’s still a few grains of rice in there – won’t kill you. Don’t bother using a clean wok – just makes more washing up later)
- Pour your eggs in, and scramble them. Take them out and set them aside.
- You have a blender, right? If not, no problem – just chop stuff finely. But if you DO have a blender (or pestle&mortar, I guess) whizz up the garlic together with half your chilli and half your onion into a paste.
- Heat another splash of oil in the wok (again) and fry your paste for about a minute.
- Add the rest of your onion, chilli and vegetables (except the spring onions) and stir fry for about 2 minutes.
- Chuck in your rice and stir fry for another 3 minutes.
- Stir in a good glob of proper dark soy sauce, your spring onions and the egg, then fry a bit more until it’s heated right through.
- Eat it quick, before someone else asks for some! Should serve two, but I’m pretty certain I could eat the lot on my own.
Fast cars and power tools
The next part in the Big Capri saga? I got to have a ride in it.
Oh. My. God.
It’s a big, grunty, angry beast. It roars. It is beautiful.
Ben drove us down to the jet wash (taking a bit of a detour so that he could do some corners and roar the engine a bit – wheeee….!) to give the car a good, well needed clean. Remember, this car has been basically ignored on a driveway in Suffolk for the past few years. It was crying out for a clean. It had moss growing on the window seals.
Jet washes are brilliant, aren’t they? Nothing will ever top the TurtleWax jetwash we used in Berwick-upon-Tweed in July, which had multicoloured foam and smelt of cherries. But still, it saves a lot of bucket-and-sponge work, which was the bane of my childhood. About £5 (I had to keep topping up the machine with change) and a lot of scrubbing and spraying later, the car was mostly clean. Back to the flat, and to park in the garage.
Unfortunately, one of the locks was a bit bust or something (I suspect the key had just been lost, but Ben refuses to admit this). Solution? ANGLE GRINDER
I enjoy power tools. They’re quite scary, but WOW they do stuff. So I was allowed to free the padlock from from the garage door – Permanently >:D
Then, we simply just took turns butchering various pieces of metal for photo opportunities.
So, you can see my day yesterday was almost in reaction to all the cultured and thinky-type-stuff I’ve been doing all week. Power tools are fun.
Cleaning up your mess
I spent my weekend in Sussex, with my lovely mum. We had a great time, catching up, eating and pestering the dog.
Dusky the lurcher
But my visit was not just to chin wag and to get fat off my mum’s superb cooking. Oh, no. The deal is: my parents own a second house, three doors down from where they live. They rent out this second house, and make money. Hurrah! Well, for the last four years, a guy and his two (or was it 3? I can never remember) sons and their dog have lived there. (It just so happens that the youngest son used to bully me at school, but that’s neither here nor there…)
But, coming to the end of their tenancy this time around, they’ve decided they need to move on. Fair enough, says my mum, your contract ends on the 18th of September, so please have the place cleared up by then.
Mum puts out adverts for new tenants, and has an offer in no time. She agrees that they can move in on the 1st of October, which gives her two weeks to make sure the house is ready for a new family to move in. Hopefully, the last set of tenants are so eager to get their deposit back, they’ll have scrubbed the house top to bottom and fixed anything that they’ve managed to break.
But no. They weren’t even completely moved out by the 18th. I arrived at my mum’s on the 18th, and bright and early on the Sunday (19th) we expected to start on an empty, mostly clean house. NO, NO, NO. There were a dozen dead footballs in the garden, their old barbecue on the decking, two bikes leant against the house, and coathangers EVERYWHERE for some reason.
But Stuff is easy enough to toss in a skip. Less easy: mouldy wallpaper, mouldy curtains, broken window and dog hair, dust and spiders.
For me, the worst was the mould. It’s almost as if they didn’t open the windows for four years. All of the windows had some mould on them (although luckily the frames are plastic, not wood, so it should come of with no lasting damage), some of the curtains need completely replacing, and worst of all: my mum has to repaper half of a bedroom because it was so mouldy. I helped her strip the old, mouldy paper back:
We spent the whole day cleaning (9-6:30) but only scratched the surface. I hoovered my own weight in dog hair, and many a spider met a grim end.
Seriously though – how do people live like this? Why didn’t they see the mould and go “huh, probably should do something about that..”? And the guy came round halfway through the day to pick up some of his stuff (my mum foisted their rusty old barbecue and mangled footballs on him) – he had the utter CHEEK to ask how soon he could get his deposit back!! My mum simply shrugged him off by saying she was a bit busy at the moment. I am trying to encourage her to make an itemised bill detailing all of the ruined stuff that needs replacing, and explaining THAT’S why he doesn’t get his deposit back.
I’ll be back there next week to clean up some more of the mess.
I’m the fear addicted, a danger illustrated
Sometimes, I think I take on over-ambitious projects. Things that I think up and go “Yeah, that’ll be AWESOME. I can so do that. Yea…”
So I buy all the necessary materials, get cracking, realise how long it’s going to take, and give up.
I think this attitude runs through a lot of the aspects in my life, not just crafting: I’m a starter, not a finisher. I like the novel and the exciting, and I detest boredom or monotony. Big projects require perseverance and an ability to barrel on through the repetitiveness in order to see the bigger picture, and reap the rewards at the “end”.
Which is why it’s so refreshing to start a big project, and push through those daunting periods, watching the project slowly come together.
The project in question is a Firestarter jumper for Mr Fox, as seen worn by dear Keith from the Prodigy:
Doesn’t he look like a charming chappy? I realise this picture is in B&W, but then so is the video. But there are some rare promotional images of the jumper in colour. That’s right: red & white stripes, and white stars on a blue background.
So it began. Mr Fox requested a cotton jumper (heavy, but not as sweat-inducing as wool!), so this was by no means a cheap project. I talk about it in the past tense, but I haven’t finished it yet – I’ve one sleeve yet to do, and then assembly. I had hoped it would have been done before the holiday, but we’re leaving TOMORROW, and that second sleeve hasn’t even been started yet.
Anyway, I went out and bought white & red first (pattern works from the bottom up, as is quite common with jumpers). The white was no problem: white cotton is cheap and readily available. Not, however, in the right thickness, but as it was (as I said) cheap, I knitted two threads as one. £1.50 a ball, and the jumper uses just under 8 balls of white. Next, the red. The red was harder to find. There are LOTS of reds, but none which were “quite right” (you have a Feeling about these things, trust me). So I ended up buying red BAMBOO yarn. Lovely stuff, but less cheap. About £4 a ball. And the jumper used 6 (well, 3 doubled).
Blue, however, was impossible to find in the right shade. Mama suggested I buy more white and dye it. She’s always full of bright, problem solving ideas
So… six more £1.50 balls, and a £6.50 box of Dylon in ocean blue. Mistake! Colour was too light. Plus, I thought “machine dye will be much easier – I’ll put the yarn into a pillow case to stop it getting too tangled”. Madness!! All six balls (unwound) escaped the case, and ended up in an enormous, tangley blue mess. Mama and I painstakingly detangled and rewound all six balls, and planned the next step. Ahha! Wind them into SKEINS and hand dye them. Much more wise. Well done mum. Another £6.50 box of Dylon (in Navy this time) and we were THERE. The end result colour is gorgeously rich.
And here we are so far
Seeing as I started this project OVER A YEAR AGO and I’m still going, I am so pleased with my newfound ability to persevere. Maybe it’s because it will be a well loved gift. Mr Fox actually requested this, and is very, very grateful for anything handmade (madman!)
But at hours and hours and hours of labour (I only came to knitting a couple of years ago, and have made about half a dozen things – it’s not my forté!) and about £60 of materials, this is not a thing I will be making for sale.
My big bro has already requested his own one. And he’s going to see the Prodigy in concert in July.
Much as I would LOVE to help, bro….Not going to happen Over a year, I tell you!!
