Time to Celebrate!

It’s been a while since my last blog, mainly because most of my recent activity has been in preparation for Christmas, and I didn’t want to spill the beans before everyone had their gifts. You may notice a slight change to the post styling this time round, mainly because I’m giving a new blogging software programme a go, so we’ll see how it goes.

It was my birthday in November, and my brother and sister-in-law kindly gifted me some wool. What better at this time of year than a crochet hat and scarf! I used a chunky skein for each piece, and although the scarf is skinny, it wraps twice round and is toastie warm!

We have some friends who got married on the Winter Solstice this year, and in exchange for knitting supplies, I agreed to be official photographer for the day! It was a lovely day, particularly being led by Morris musicians to the reception venue in the snow. I didn’t pass up the opportunity to fashion a new outfit, and here it is in it’s component parts. I made a shift dress from the ‘Sewing is Easy’ Alexander Henry fabric I mentioned before, and paired it with my scarf I finished for the last blog. I also constructed a fascinator using two small Christmas decoration glittered birds from Gisele Graham, and some knitted squares with a crochet carnation to match the scarf. I was really pleased with how it all went together on the day. Snow and ice meant that I gave up on wearing pretty heels, particularly if I was going o be walking backwards taking photos outside, but that did give me the excuse to wear some of my favourite knitted socks.

And so to Christmas presents. I’ve shown a couple of presents in previous blogs, but here are the rest. Firstly I made some ‘Crobots’ for M and my sister.

I made socks for both Mums, and used decoupage to decorate boxes to present them with, the idea being that the boxes were also gifts in themselves.

Other lucky friends and family received fresh home-ground ras el hanout with rose petals, marmalade, elderflower cordial and various jams. Everyone seemed happy and I was thrilled to become the proud owner of two Daniel Clowes graphic novels amongst other lovely gifts. Our Christmas meal has evolved over the years to incorporate a number of homemade favourites including gravadlax, brown bread ice-cream, soda bread, stollen and mince pies from M, and a festive gammon and figgy pudding from me. It was lovely!

I hope you have all had a great Christmas too!

Lustre 2010

It's been a long while again, and hence I have lots to write about. The main thrust of today's posting is to review highlights of 'Lustre' 2010 at The University of Nottingham - 'beautiful things for you and your home'. It certainly disappoint, so more of that later. To kick off, here is my first attempt at carving a pumpkin for Hallowe'en. I took the unconventional approach in carving the base and turning him on his side, and was quite pleased with the results. Rather than risking leaving him unattended and lit downstairs, I stuffed him with coloured paper. On reflection I could have used fairy lights. Maybe next year...


Continuing on my quest for homemade Christmas, I spent a ludicrous amount of time tieing perfect bows on my homemade marmalade. I discovered last year that you can freeze Seville oranges whole, and Nigella has a cheats recipe for marmalade that involves boiling up the oranges whole - perfect when they are slightly soft on defrosting. As a confirmed lover of marmalade, a way to stretch the Seville season throughout the year is welcome. I suppose I could just make more preserve when they are in season, but it is quite time intensive when you have a job to keep down!


I alluded to the fact that M and I have both had birthdays recently, and we have been very lucky to receive this lovely Art Deco granddaughter clock from my Mum. Having been to the nice clock repair man in town for a service, I have learnt the difference between grandmother and granddaughter clocks (Grandaughter - round face, curved top; Grandmother - square face, flat top). We are apparently unusual in specifically looking for a 1930's clock, with most people preferring older models. Ours has a wonderful chime every quarter hour, and it chimed continuously the whole 2 hours it took to drive between Mum's and our house!



I was thrilled with my presents this year, which included a Cath Kidston knitting bag from a very dear friend, and M excelled in purchasing the latest installment in Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library series of comic books. I am a huge fan and collector of Chris Ware's work, and spent the rest of my birthday money indulging in this.

We also took a trip down to the last vintage market of the year in Bridport, and found this rather lovely 1960's mirror. To me it has a cartoon feel to it, which obviously suits well.

My birthday was topped off by a phone call from Loop to say that my Misti Alpaca sock yarn was in stock, meaning I could finally press on and finish the scarf pictured below; my Fanfare Cowl was featured on the pattern designers' blog; and we had a lovely meal out at the Wild Garlic in Beaminster (owned by Masterchef winner Mat Follas). Top idea from there was sparkling wine with a couple of drops of lavender oil and elderflower.


Now, to Nottingham. We are definately coming back as the city is really good for shopping and entertainment, and there were lots of museums and galleries we'd like to have had more time to explore. First stop was to Wollaton Hall and Deer Park. Set in acres of parkland, the Elizabethan house is home to a 1930's Natural History Museum. We didn't have time to visit the rest of the grounds, which also include and industrial museum.


Continuing with the graphic novel/comics theme, I was (geekily) excited to find not just one, but two comic shops. My favourite things combine here - someone has made a giant Persepolis book with a sewn figure in the middle! I spent a good half hour in Forbidden Planet on Sunday buying up half the shop, and being irritated yet again by their bizarre alphabetising of books by title rather than author. They also seem unable to search their store database by author to check you've not missed anything! I'll stop before I sound even more autistic than I already do.

This was the first year we had been to Lustre makers fair, and we had a great time. Every single exhibitor was producing high quality work, and I can only assume they had hundreds of applicants to choose from. The hardest thing was not blowing the budget too soon! I had heard about the exhibition through Selvedge magazine, and at least two stallholders have been featured in the past six months. The exhibition of graduates work was particuarly heartening. M and I both fell in love with this character sculpture by Gillian Lee Smith. Each doll comes with a name and short story, and as she was only just finished, we are waiting to discover more about her. My next task is to find a relevant antique story book to stand her on, which is the artist's chosen way of displaying them, and makes perfect sense as they feel very literary. I love the meloncholic fragility and the way that she is weighted to look as if she may just fall over, adding to her awkwardness.

Other highlights for me included:

Katherine Richmond

Pages of old story books are laminated in blocks, laser used to cut text and shapes into the top layers, and the pieces used to construct wall art and jewellery. It was refreshing an exciting to see a precision tool such as laser put to work in a process where the results are not wholly predictable. The pairing with oxised silver made for beautiful pieces, and the use of books gave an obvious oppertunity for storytelling within the work.

Sally Collins

Freeform crochet and metalwork combined to make these unique pieces of jewellery. The colour palette included mainly pinks, red and baby blues. I loved her style!

Jed Green

Jewellery made by a sculptor like nothing I'd seen before. Some pieces were reminiscent for me of models of molecules in science class, and I particularly liked a ring made to look like a lightbulb.

Rachel Eardley

We were particularly drawn to her lithographic prints, full with detail without looking too fussy. She produced some works using Polaroid snaps within the drawing and extending the scene in pen and ink. She is also a skilled jeweller, using shapes cut from coins to create her distinctive pieces. Her brother is a ceramicist and also had a stall.

Jane Moore

Jane is a jeweller and has an instantly recognisable style. I had seen her designs at Hay festival this year and taken note of her name then, so it was great to meet her. The jewellery is layered with transfers and enamelled, and the designs have a real Japanese feel to them. I love washi papers, and these hold a similar appeal. I did find a necklace I would love, but couldn't quite stretch to the required £450. I will have to be patient and wait for a smaller piece to catch my attention in the same way. Her work can also be found here.

Kate McBride

Fantastically over-the-top ceramic tableware. Indescribable, so I won't try.

Katie Heeks

A new graduate, Katie had a number of her 'Gardens of Personal Delight' exhibited. Fabric was mounted onto wood, and laser cut into flowers and other shapes. They were then assembled in boxes to a create a style evoking memories of paper theatres I had as a child. The photos on her site really don't do these justice, and the use of battery powered LEDs within the boxes helped eccentuate the vibrancy of the colours. The varying depths and overlying patterns made me think of magic-eye pictures (but obviously far prettier!)

New Computer!

This week has been a bit exciting for me as I finally have my new laptop computer! I bribed my way through a difficult week at work with the promise of this purchase, and now have it in my hot little hands. Thanks to some sound advice from a Twitter friend, I plumped for the Lenovo G550 with 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive and a decent speed processor. I'm getting used to Windows 7, and have found that it actually solves a few problems that have prevented me going paperless in the past. I am a scribbler and habitual list-maker, and this allows me to indulge these habits easily with the new 'Sticky Notes' app and screen capture. The 'Snap' funcion has been rather useful too when doing my accounts. I feel bored just thinking about that. Most importantly, I've been able to make my desktop look pretty as well as functional. This is the inaugural blog from the very machine. Ta da!

Pootle2 appears to appreciate it too, although not overly helpfully. Cats are renowned for their love of spreadsheets, I imagine.

In the name of balance, here is a recent snap of Tilly. She was a real troublemaker last night, making a run out of the front door and hiding under the neighbours car. They refuse to keep collars on (and ganged up repeatedly to remove them) and I haven't got around to microchipping them yet as they ordinarily are unable to leave the boundary of the house and back garden. After last night, an appointment at the vets is nigh. I should make it clear at this point that it was M's heroism that finally restored the kittens safely indoors.

We've had a couple of days out recently, one of which was shopping in Bath. Until a few weeks ago, I had not been to Bath for about a decade. I enjoyed it so much, I went twice is as many weeks! One of my favourite shops is All Saints, although my recent drift into wearing bright colours all the time meant that I do stand out a bit when I go in. My attention was caught by their adorable childrens range. You too can dress your daughter like Helena Bonham-Carter, or your son like an extra from 'The Road'. I have a few items of knitwear from All Saints that are perennial favourites, but can't say I've ever bought anything not on the sale rail.

I also discovered the Apricot clothing store. I already had at least five Apricot dresses, but purchased from other stores, not realising they had a whole shop all to themselves. Needless to say I spent a long time in there and bought six more dresses. They are mainly printed knitted dresses that are bright with interesting patterns and embellishments, and very flattering too. Paired with leggings, they make for a very comfy outfit which hides the bulge on a fat day (day..huh!).

It is also that exciting time again that is not only the few weeks between M and my birthdays (excuse for making all sorts of purchases and going out lots), but also when Wetherspoons thoughtfully mark the occasion with a beer festival. We are lucky that our house practically backs onto the pub in question, and they always have a good selection of real ales on. We particulary enjoy the beer festivals for their 'Try 3 Ales' offer, where you can but three different 1/3 pint glasses of ale for the price of a regular pint. Our favourite so far this year is the Double Espresso Wild Oat Stout, although it is quite rich, and I'm not sure I'd manage more than a half pint of it.

In crafting news, I appear to solved the problem of work sliding off dpn's whilst in transport. I have sliced up a plastic cork, skewered holes in each one and am using them as shown in the photo. One thing I learnt this week - it is surprisingly hard to find a wine with a cork these days. I knew screwcaps were becoming more popular now (even with the French!), but hadn't quite realised to what extent. The Observer had an interesting article a few months back about the future of the cork growing industry. Highly recommended.

I finally managed to finish the wallchart for a Christmas present. The initial idea was to make felt pictures with velcro backing to stick to the chart but several attempts to make them durable enough for repeated use were unsuccessful. It was with much frustration that I resorted to printed card with sticky plastic covering and stick-on velcro backs. With hindsight this was much simpler, and allows more labels to be made by the recipient in a matching style. I liked my pictures though. These were the four seasons.

Here's the finished project, with big pockets at the bottom for unused labels, and I've supplied a couple of round hooks to hang the chart on the wall by. Let's hope they like it!

Knitting galore

It's been a while again, neglecting my knitting and blogging duties by going and earning money. Sadly, it has to be done. I am lucky that I have a career I enjoy, but in moderation, as all good things. I have probably overdone it on the hours front recently, bribing my way through last week with promise of a new laptop PC that works at a decent speed. My poor old machine, labelled 'an older machine' by the repair shop just isn't up to the memory hungry media stuff to which we have all become accustomed in the past couple of years. It arrives tomorrow, and I am like a child at Christmas! My lovely better half is staying home to sign for it, and I'll spend the next two days working out how to use Windows 7.

In the midst of all this work and computer stuff I have managed to get at least some knitting done. I finished the tank top for M's birthday and he has kindly modelled it for us...

Safe to say never again as the pattern was infuriating. We got there in the end though. I have made a crocheted toy for a friend's baby, started making a felt wallchart for another friend, and almost completed a lacy scarf with my Misti Alpaca sock yarn I bought at Loop's opening party. I'm a little disappointed (to say the least) that I have run out of yarn with about a fifth to go. Horrors! Worse news is that Loop are out of stock, and won't get more in for at least a month. Patience is a virtue, Holly...

In other news I acheived local fame (ahem) by being quoted in a local paper article about the Stitch 'n' Bitch group in Weymouth. There was also a photo (unflattering, back only). I have been to two meetings now and really enjoyed myself. It's good to unwind after work and meet new friends. Twitter and Ravelry are wonderful sites, not just for spending hours telling people your every movement, but sharing knowledge of these groups and great buys available online. It was via @ThePurplePurler on Twitter I found out about this fabulous fabric. "Home Sewing is Easy" by Alexander Henry. I have treated myself to a few metres and plan to make a simple shift dress for a wedding in December. I have been asked to be official photographer which is a huge honour, but I am getting rather nervous at the responsibility. Of course, it will be lovely.

Felt Corsage

I promised I'd keep you updated on the felt flower, and true to my word, here it is. I finally finished it, and am really pleased with the results. Now to wait til Christmas to see if the recipient is as pleased! As I said I would do, I initially embellished and strengthened the felt with some freehand machine embroidery using metallic thread.

I then cut out the flower shapes. For the centre I cut a circle, and made 6 slits towards the centre to create petals. To give the petals a bit of shape, I sewed a small tuck at the centre of each one. There are 6 smaller circles making the layer below, and 2 leaf shapes to finish the design. I stitched the seed beads in place prior to assembling the flower, and attached a brooch fastener to the back of the bottom leaf once the corsage was constructed. Voila!

It looks pretty good on, I think.

Whilst I had the sewing machine out, I finally got around to making up my Clothkits Kiki for my Goddaughters birthday next month. We were recently clearing out my parents old house and unearthed all my old Clothkittys from the 70's with their clothes. I thought I'd put the lot together as one big present. No sooner was she made, was she on twitter!

We had a lovely morning on Studland beach today, with M's parents and our young nephew. Here was my contribution. Ahh!

Felt Making

It's a been a couple of weeks as I haven't had an awful lot to blog about of late, but that doesn't mean I haven't been crafting busily! I have finally completed the tank top for Martyn's birthday, but I'm not posting pics until he has received it. He's not seen the finished article yet so there will be a tiny element of mystery to it. I've not unsurprisingly been unable to be entirely covert as most of it has been knitted whilst sat next to him on the sofa. I've now moved on to making a couple of amigurami toys for birthdays that are coming up.

I know it's early, but when you are planning on making a lot of things for Christmas, you unfortunately have to start thinking about it and preparing for months in advance. You may have noticed that there are a great number of felt flower brooches/corsages in the shops at the moment. I have been admiring them and have noted some female family members doing the same, but I never want to buy them as they would be so easy to make. A lot of them are also quite boring, and in typical style I have tried to develop the idea to make something a bit more original. As a child I had a great time making felt with Mum, and this has been a good excuse to have another go.

You don't need any special equipment, and the raw materials are not too costly. First off you need to buy some carded dyed wool called 'tops'. I bought mine from our local art/craft shop in town.

This will make up the main body of the felt. You can add other bits to give a bit of texture. I used some waste wool yarn, and also some of this uncarded, dyed wool:

Now you will need some bubble wrap, at least twice the size of the felt you wish to make, soap flakes, very hot water and a rolling pin. I made the felt in the bath but watch your back! Firstly, lay the teased out tops in layers on the bubble wrap, bubbles upwards. You're aiming for a fairly even layer each time, and should alternate layers going up-down and left-right to give the finished felt strength. This process takes a bit of trial and error, but I started with 5 layers. Between the layers, I arranged the waste yarn and pieces of uncarded wool. You then sprinkle the wool with soap flakes and sprinkle with hot water, the hotter the better, but not too hot to burn your hands! Gently press the layers together until they are soaked through. Fold the bubble wrap in two, with the bubbles inwards and soon-to-be felt in between. You then rub the whole thing vigorously with the rolling pin for at least 15 minutes. Keep sprinkling more hot water on the felt as you go to keep it as hot as possible. When you are happy the felt has properly bonded, rinse thoroughly and squeeze the excess water out. Dry flat.

I made my felt with the finished flower idea in mind, hence I have 3 roughly circular areas of pattern within my piece of purple felt. I plan to machine embroider the felt with metallic thread to give it extra stability and interest before cutting the pieces out. I'll keep ou updated - I'm aware it doesn't look like much now but I'm optimistic about the finished article.

I have just come back from re-visiting the Vintage Market at Bridport, and was pleased to find this late 50's/early 60's style clock.

It goes perfectly in my recently revamped small but perfectly formed kitchen:

This week I'll hopefully joining the ladies in Weymouth for a 'Stitch and Bitch' meeting on Tuesday. Should be fun! Now... which project to start next?!

End of the Road Festival 2010

Having spent the past four days and three nights in a field, I am surprisingly chipper today. Reason? We have been to the lovely EOTR festival for it's 5th anniversary year. We can now be considered veterans of the festival, having been every year except the first. We love it, and this year did not disappoint at all. It started as a very small indie festival at Larmer Tree Gardens in North Dorset (described by one security man yesterday as a festival where you knew practically everyone by name), to a small indie festival at Larmer Tree Gardens in North Dorset. Long may it remain this way. I was a little concerned that it felt bigger and busier this year, and they had day ticketers for the first time, backtracking on a previous conscious ideal to create a community atmosphere where the crowd is the same over the duration. It was fine though, but I beg you - no bigger please!

The first task in getting anywhere these days, is shipping the cats off to the cattery (yes, they are now cats as of this week and kittens no longer). They usually are quite good at getting straight into the boxes of their own accord when you set them down, unlike our old cat that required two of us to push her in under protest. Tilly missed the point this time though:

The second stumbling block is the tent assembly. M and I are usually quite good at putting up the tent, and I'm ashamed to say we have suffered from 'bring a spare house' syndrome with a 5 person tent complete with doormat. This year we had a little 2 person number which was surprisingly spacious. The bringing of a new tent, which neither of us had ever tried putting up before caused slight friction, but plenty short of wanting to do each other bodily mischief.

Notes to self for next year:

Don't take any food other than variety packet of cereal. You won't eat it.
The hamper is over the top for a little tent.
Forget the little chairs too. They're good, but you can't be arsed to carry them all day. So don't.
Why did you think you needed your whole purse for the festival? No-one needs store cards in a field and it doesn't fit in your pocket.

This year, the site opened on Thursday rather than the first day of the festival, Friday. We thought we'd go along to save time and the rush on Friday. EOTR is well known for secret gigs and unadvertised late editions, and this year we were in for a huge surprise. There were only a couple of hundred of us there, if that, when Willy Mason was on!! I don't know how they swung it, but I'm glad they did. He didn't pander to expectations and play his biggest hit 'Oxygen', but I admired him for that. It was a great set with a beautiful rendition of 'Where the Humans Eat'.

This was followed up with a set by Isabel Campbell (Belle & Sebastian) and Mark Lanegan (Queens of the Stone Age) which went down very well in the tent. Meursault, 'Allo Darlin' and Darren Hayman (Hefner) completed the line up. The lovely Somerset Cider Bus was again onsite keeping us warm with mulled cider and an optional shot of brandy. It's something we look forward to all year! The food on site is all good quality stuff and well presented. We particularly looked forward to the Goan Fish Curry luxury kedgeree for breakfast every morning. Here is the Tea Stop converted London Bus, with tea in homely style complete with pot, and dainty cups & saucers. I believe that most the stalls make an appearance at Glasto too.

Even Jesus was there.

I was a little concerned by this sign. Did they realise the valuables weren't meant as donations? They also seemed to be giving away free lost luggage which seemed a little harsh on the bereft owners.

Political satire featured a small part. Here was the door to the toilets (which were notably not horrible).

There are four main stages, and here is the lovely Cate Le Bon (no relation to Simon) on the Garden Stage.

The surrounding permanent structures here are lovely.

There are a few bars all serving ale, including the specially brewed Shephard Neame EOTR Ale, which was pleasant enough. They had a few special ales each day, my favourite being the dubiously named Cobble Wobble. With a 5p deposit on each pint 'glass', a small army of minature glass collectors saw a pocket money oppertunity.

Is this a recipe for disaster? Drinking and knitting would surely lead to dropped stitches - but luckily for me I am proud to say the pattern was maintained throughout the festival. Hoorah for me!

There were quite a few arty crafty types around the place. A few people drawing/painting and I did have company on the knitting front. Two fellow knitters were at work during the comedy sets on Sunday, but my jumper was getting heavier by the end of the weekend, and having dismantled the tent and packed the car I didn't want to lug it around all day and night. The two that did were predictably ribbed (appropriate for knitters, huh?) by the entertainment.

Proof, people, that socks and shoes are cool.

M looked happy as ever. In his defence, he was sat next to a woman who annoyed the crap out of him all afternoon talking about drinking ad nauseum and something about her child talking jibberish being evidence of ghosts. If you know him, you'd understand how he'd react to that. There was a 'Healing Retreat' that we stayed well clear of. I have previous when it comes to arguing with people selling magnets for health benefits and M's BP starts to visibly rise at the sight of anything to do with alternative therapy. I'm a bit more open minded, but have my limits too.

This was Fridays headliner Modest Mouse at work. Honest. We left the set early in order to attend the Comedy Storytellers' club, compered by Sarah Bennetto. A mix of short stand-up sets and a story competition. This year it was "A rock star encounter in 5 words". Tough challenge but most people had a go (we obviously didn't win). With Edwyn Collins playing 'Rip it up' in the background, followed by The New Pornographers, a good time was had.

Continuing the now entrenched tradition, the 'Enchanted Forest' was decorated with thousands of fairy lights. The forest is curated by an artist and is scattered with various art installations.

Included is a small living room stage with piano, usually unoccupied for passers-by to have a go, but occasionally they stage the aforementioned secret gigs. Here we saw Norwegian 'Moddi' play tracks from his new record. He's not cracked the UK yet, but is a hot tip for the future. Judging by previous years, I think we may hear more from him. Last year the festival was opened by a band we'd never heard of before called Mumford & Sons. Every year we have seen acts in close quarters that have gone on to be relatively big on the indie, and sometimes popular music scene. I'm thinking particularly of Laura Marling, Seasick Steve, Brakes, British Sea Power, Broken Family Band...

There is always a library in the forest, and this year the idea was developed to allow people to actually check-out the books until next year with the librarian.

I was glad to see they know their target audience well.

Never to miss a knitting oppertunity. here I am in the library Friday waiting for the first band to start. A lady stopped to ask if she could have a picture of M and I. Apparently, with M reading and me knitting, we looked like 'archetypical nerds'. M was very proud of this. See how knitting a jumper doubles as a modesty-preserver when sat in a very short dress?

Within the library was an interactive art installation, inviting us all to contribute to a continuous scroll on the typewriters. The resulting material would then be edited and performed on Sunday.

They had an author Q&A session every morning before the music started, as advertised here in a giant book.

Last year we had a living room and sofa constructed from turf. Here's a sample of this year's art.

This telephone box wound up being pasted with post-it's by the end of the weekend.

No enchanted forest is complete without a games area. This was again formalised this year with an official tournament on Sunday. In addition to this area there was Scrabble Sunday, Croquet, Viking chess and the Ringo Bingo music quiz. Here we had table tennis, table football, giant cards, giant Jenga, ten-pin bowling and Connect 4.

I'm not going to list all the bands we saw but here are the highlights.

Brakes - we see them every year and we love them. I've seen them 5 times and it has always been brilliant.
Low Anthem - beautiful
Woodpigeon - ditto
Three Trapped Tigers - 'heroic' drumming (M's words)
Daredevil Christopher Wright - we like
Charlie Parr - always excellent
Caribou - I love them. M thinks they are a poor man's LCD soundsystem. Harsh.
Philip Selway (Radiohead) - buy his album.
Ben Ottowell (Gomez) - great set, complete with interpretive dancing by his 4 young sons
Adam Green (Moldy Peaches) - high energy caberet on acid. V fun set. Donned a glittery top from one festival-goer and a fake tash from another. Crowd surfing+++
Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley came back for a DJ set after last years success.

The comedy included half hour segments by Russell Howard, the brilliant Tom Bell and Robin Ince & Michael Legge doing their Righteous Anger: Pointless Ire act fresh from Edinburgh.

Overall, if you've never been, it's worth going next year. I'd rather you didn't though, there are enough of us there each year already!