A Belated Happy Christmas

I hope you had a happy Christmas. Ours was quite chaotic with four children and only three adults  and an absence of grandparents. The lack of grandparents meant that we steered the Christmas galleon without a rudder and the map was upside down. The Queen was forgotten and our meal was interrupted by Room on the Broom. I think I feel a little guilty about this and perhaps I’d like a re-run with things a little more shipshape. But as we got into bed on Christmas day night we did observe that there had been no tantrums, whinging, pressure or tears (and no one had touched the computer).

However, I did start a new tradition. The Yule Log. I have had yule log before but it has never taken stage at our house. Finn and I watched the Hairy Bikers make one and I thought it would be a fun thing to do together. I ended up making it alone but I’m pleased now because I got all the glory. I was worried it would be too sickly but the Hairy Biker recipe is genius. The magic ingredient? Camp coffee. I won’t go on. You must make one yourself. It’s easy and hugely impressive.

Christmas 2012

A belated Happy Christmas from the Carlows.

Pleasant Yarns

Last night’s knitting group at our local café, Pleasant Stores, was much smaller than usual, but full of my friends. A lovely way to spend a couple of hours on a cold night. I like this montage of pictures because I think it captures the scene quite well. Only Louisa hasn’t gobbled up her cake (but she is drinking sherry). The toes poking in at the bottom are mine. It seems it’s trendy to photograph your feet these days. Sara, who owns the shop, is the one in the rust cardi who is reading. We did a bit of surfing and found these sites:

Mimi Kirchner

Frankie Brown on Ravelry 

Alan Dart

and 3191 Miles Apart

 

 

Come Along If You Like

Another speedy poster.

Things I Made This Summer 1

I have made a lot of things this summer, but like everyone else, no time to show anyone. I thought I’d gradually put them on my blog when I have a minute to spare. So here is number one.

This summer my husband was photographing all the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics and Paralympics. You can imagine, we didn’t see much of him. Crazily I tried to make up for his absence by racing around all over the place, seeing friends and catching up with my parents. In short I treated our house like a hotel; but it had no staff. One morning, surrounded by holiday washing, empty tea cups, misplaced lego figures and wilting plants, I decided to take matters in hand. I tipped my huge collection of knitting needles out on to my unmade bed and decided to sort them into pairs, discarding odd ones and giving away any that I had more than two sets of. It made a huge difference to my state of mind if not reality.

The result of this task are these lovely knitting needle bracelets, made from the odd plastic ones I had. I found out how to do it here. It was really easy. I used clothes pegs to hold them in place instead of bull dog clips.

Correction

I can not believe that I misspelled intelligent. May be I’m more blonde than I thought.

The Seamstress

This is a picture of me looking self conscious in my new top. Living with a photographer, you may imagine I have many flattering pictures of myself. But sadly my beauty is so elusive to my husband’s camera that the reverse is true. As I write he is testing a new lighting set up for a job by snapping pictures of me while I work. This happens a lot and I am always eager to see if he has captured me looking relaxed or intellegent. But no. I am usually slouching, I’m not as blonde as I imagine and my neck is sagging. Any way, enough of my vanity. This is a post about my new top.

For a few months I have been working along side my old friend Diana. We are college friends and have always loved sewing together. Like all of us, we have bits of our body that defy high street clothing and making our own solves this problem. To cut a long story short we have decided to teach adults how to sew. We have designed a small collection of clothes (my new top included) that cover all the basic things one needs to know to start making your own. A skirt for beginners teaches you about pockets and zips. A dress teaches gathering and binding. You get the picture. I must say that I am really proud of these clothes and I find myself wearing them most of the time. I made a flyer to advertise our lessons and I wrote down why it’s good to be able to sew:

1. Satisfaction! You experience the joy of wearing something that you love and you’ve made yourself.

2. Suit yourself! You can make something that suits you and fits your body perfectly. Take advantage of all the wonderful fabric around you – in the shops, at your grandma’s, under the bed and at the jumble sale.

You are free from the tyrany of The Highstreet!

3. It’s ETHICAL! Clothes you make yourself last longer. You slow down, invest more time and consume less.

We have been teaching women for a couple of months. Diana trained as a teacher and has held sewing classes in the past but it’s new to me. It’s tiring but I really enjoy seeing the satisfaction on people’s faces when they come out of the changing room wearing something that fits them and they’ve made themselves.

We are called

Next week we launch our Autumn collection. We’re going to be sewing frantically until then. Photos to follow.