a phd-free week!

Ooh, I'm enjoying life without the PhD! This week has been ever such fun so far. Nice, cheery, gentle fun, starting with fairy cakes at the Women's Institute on Saturday, of course.

And I've been working at home for the last couple of days, up in the attic, which has got a very different feel to it now it's not full of PhD-related paperwork. I can't quite believe I've never had hyacinths in the house before! I'm very much enjoying their bright pink stripiness, and the smell!

Ooh, and can you see what's in the background there? That quilt, on the bed? My lovely auntie made that for me for Christmas, and I'm very much enjoying seeing it laid out on the spare bed in the attic while I'm working away at the desk. Not a fabulous photo, it's been rather grey and dreary round here of late. I'm sure it'll crop up in the background of plenty of photos this year.

I've also had fun playing with my spirograph this week. It's surprisingly satisfying - as is colouring in the little swirls and squiggles.

Tonight, however, I'm working to a tight deadline. I somehow appear to have replaced the PhD with an Urgent Knitting Project - arm warmers for a friend who's heading to the arctic circle tomorrow morning.

I'm thinking she's going to need more than arm warmers.

Best get back to it though, I'm only half way down the second arm, and it's not going to knit itself...

eating from the garden

the first proper strawberry harvest

and there's still some left!

lettuce, mint, and rocket

Things have been getting rather exciting in the garden round here lately. All the lettuce planted in the ground was eaten by slugs, of course, but the ones I sensibly planted in pots are pretty much ready to harvest, and in fact I did just that at the weekend. The mint, as predicted, is overtaking everywhere, and I'm trying to overcome my general dislike of anything minty to invent a variety of things to do with it (not that I invented the idea of having mint with new potatoes, mind you!).

And the strawberries! Last year I only got a couple of measly, half munched ones, but this year, they've blossomed and taken over half of the front garden. I picked a good handful on Sunday, and there's plenty still ripening. I don't think we'll have enough for jam, but we'll certainly have enough for a bowlful to share at the weekend. And I'm starting to think I wouldn't mind if they *did* take over the entire garden - they've been so easy to grow, even for me, and just *so* tasty, that maybe I'd be happy if that was all I ever grew....

There are a few courgettes ripening, the rocket's starting to take off, and the broad beans are showing some signs of enthusiasm (although admittedly not many). I don't think we'll be harvesting rhubarb this year, tempting though it is, I think it needs to settle (although maybe just one or two sticks...). The peas have succumbed to the slugs, more's the pity. But the rainbow chard is doing well, I've got far too many cabbages for the space available, the sage is nearly as big as me, and there are aphids taking over my orange blossom that will just *have* to be dealt with before they start infesting the things I actually want to eat.

All in all, the garden's a little bit of a handful at the minute!

But I'm pretty adept at ignoring its protestations, of course.

(and as an aside, in case you were wondering, the knitting is continuing, it came away with me at the weekend, and travels backwards and forwards on the train each day I go to work. A few more inches to go on the body, then we start grappling with double pointed needles to make the sleeves...)

skirts and scones

the newest skirt, made from an old sheet

a, erm, slightly half-eaten scone

a little bit of painting

Well, I've not been up to much this week other than working and commuting (and knitting) and phd-ing. But I did manage to squeeze in a cup of tea in a friend's garden yesterday, and a scone (or two) this afternoon. Oh, and a new skirt! Gosh, I'm enjoying making skirts at the minute, although at some point I'll have to branch out into a different style - the last three have been pretty much exactly the same but in different colours...

This one is a bit longer, and a little bit more swirly though, so maybe that counts as different?

Or maybe not.

I've also tried my hand at a bit of painting this week. This is part of the ongoing challenge to make all my presents. I've often made greetings cards in the past, but only recently started painting them.

Now, I have no talent for painting whatsoever, but I do like it. I also don't have any kind of special paint, but I rather enjoy the simplicity of a children's paint box with all the colours laid out for me. So I've been painting away, blobbing colours here and there in a very happy, sloshy kind of way - and then put my cards in the post without taking pictures of them! So this photo of the paper I was trying the colours out on will have to do, and you'll have to take my word for it that the finished cards were a little bit more artistic...

Right, off to put on my new swirly skirt for an evening of songs and dancing, followed by a weekend of festivals and birthdays. What are you up to this weekend?

knitting

Saturday morning at the Women's Institute cafe

knitting in the garden

I'm going through a bit of a knitting phase at the moment. It started when a friend gave me £30 of vouchers for this lovely wool shop for my 30th birthday. I decided I'd like a new cardigan, then spent ages in there trying to choose wool, then even more ages trying to find a pattern to knit, and then lots of trips to the shop being told I needed to know things like tension, and needle size, and length of wool needed, not just the number of balls.

Hmm - seems I've got a bit to learn then.

Anyway, I finally settled on a pattern for my cardigan - tea leaves - after seeing it here. Pretty straightforward, I thought - and then realised it's knit on circular needles. Aha, another thing to learn.

Being impatient, and not given to following instructions, I started it on straight needles. I even managed to knit a few rows of 360 stitches (!) on straight needles (although I was too scared to put it down in case all the stitches fell off, so had to sit for 2 hours to knit those rows - hmm).

Finally, an old friend who will be taking me to my new knitting club took pity on me, and very kindly gave me two sets of circular needles. So now I'm all set, and things are progressing nicely.

The wool is Stylecraft pure luxury merino in 'kingfisher' (which this photo doesn't do justice to), and it's ever so lovely to knit with. I've never bought new yarn before, so it really is a luxury!

Anyway, this cardigan and the consequent flurry of knitting, combined with the discovery that you can order and reserve things online at my local library, has sparked a general knitting enthusiasm, and each Saturday I treat myself to a new knitting book from the library. Last week it was Love to Knit by Bronwyn Lowenthal, which has some, erm, slightly quirky items of clothing in, and a rather fetching laced up corset cushion. This week is Greetings from Knit Cafe by Suzan Mischer, which I am already very taken with - particularly the stripey knitted bikini you can see in the top photo (and which I will not be wearing!). Next week's selection will depend on whether what I've ordered turns up - I'll keep you posted.

So, while I actually didn't manage to get to knitting club on my first day at my new job this week, I am managing to turn the 2 hours on the train each day into exclusive knitting time. And next week I'll be spending 10 hours on trains! I reckon this cardi will be ready by July at the rate I'm going...

What are you knitting at the minute? I'd love to see!

weekending

Another full weekend, involving lots of doing and a fair amount of being.

:: I made a new skirt, because an adventurous weekend is always better with a new skirt

:: and then me and my new skirt went off to a wildlife garden open day at a local school

:: then we packed ourselves into the van (along with the new skirt, of course), and headed up to the Lake District to watch a friend run her first marathon. We also met up with some other friends, all known through the internet, and some met in real life for the first time! I managed to take almost no scenery photographs at all, just some of ducks...

... a rather large and very tasty bath bun (spot the new skirt!)...

... and our feet (yep, there's the skirt again!)

There was also the small matter of a 22 mile bike ride to Doncaster, and watching two marvellous live musical performances at a lovely community arts venue.

And today? Today is the first day I should have been at my old job, but I'm not, if you see what I mean :) So I'm very much enjoying it.

And doing lots of PhD work, of course.

A rainy Friday afternoon

The weather finally broke today, and now it's raining hard. I'm quite enjoying it. I love the spring sunshine, but after a few days I'm itching for a rain shower to wash the dust away. I've had a headache for most of the week, and the a good rain seems to have washed the fugginess away. Of course, it could always be because I've stopped thinking for a few hours... 

I've felt very locked up inside my own head this week, getting through work, but not really connecting. Was it the weather? No idea. But I was glad to see the rain anyway, it makes me want to be inside, up in the attic, not exactly wanting to write, but being a bit more inclined than when it's sunny. 

I've spent much of the week thinking about writing, and very much not getting on with it. I hate time like that! All of the space used up in your head, but none of the work done. Today something had to shift. We went out for a walk, and then I got myself up in the attic, listening to the rain, and decided I needed a project. 

With the sunshine in mind, Peter suggested a peg bag for when our outdoor washing line is finished. A nice way to use up some of the lovely yellow fabric from my birthday. It's not quite a conventional peg bag, and Peter insists it looks like a bra, but hey, these things sometimes just build themselves and you have to go with it :) 

We've since found a wooden hanger, which looks much nicer. Isn't that material gorgeous?

In amongst all the fuzziness this week, we had a lovely day on Thursday when my little sister got married :) A simple ceremony, a few guests, and lunch at the pub. It wasn't a dressy affair, but the weather man said it would be a bit cooler than the rest of the week, which gave a nice excuse for a new cardi :) 

This wasn't a pattern, just based on an idea from a book in a charity shop that I didn't buy. The wool is left over from a Dr Who scarf I knitted Peter for Christmas a couple of years ago. The needles are huge, 15mm, and I just cast on 25 stiches (ended up with 24 - oops!), and knitted every row until the ball ran out (it wasn't a full ball). Then I sewed up a couple of inches at each end for the sleeves (on the train on the way to the wedding - classy). 

I think it turned out quite nicely! I've got a few different colours in this wool, so I might experiment with a few different stiches when I'm not in such a rush - maybe one with longer arms?

Aside from all the moaning I've done this week, I have done other things. Made some more rhubarb and orange jam, which is fast becoming a staple in this house. I really should have planted some of my own rhubarb, I've got no idea why I didn't. The clematis in the garden has got a few gorgeous red flowers on, I'll post a picture when it's sunny. And we've actually managed to stick to our June food budget! (yes, I know, it's only the 5th!). 

It'll be a busy weekend - I'm helping to set up the LETS stall at a local small festival tomorrow morning - hopefully the weather will hold off for a while at least. And a few of our friends are playing in various bands there throughout the day. On Sunday a local woman is running a women's bike ride, which I'd love to go on - I haven't been out on my proper bike since last year. But there's work to be done, and I've put it off all week, so unless I gain an extra day between now and Sunday morning, it's looking unlikely. Just goes to prove you need to prioritise, or you'll miss out. Lesson learned (for now).

More sewing and some gardening news

I made another skirt! I'd tried to make a full length, full circle skirt last summer, but had no idea how to do waistbands and made a complete hash of it. After last weekend's success, I thought I'd have a go at rescuing it. This is the finished result.

It's not full length, because rescuing the waistband and putting a proper hem on it somehow took off quite a few inches... But it's still full circle, now has a zip and you can't quite see it in the picture, but I've somehow made the hem flare out slightly, which I rather like :) It only took a couple of hours too, mostly on the hem (which is much longer than you'd think!)

I was also feeling in need of a new bag, and was trying to think of a way to use the cotton pillowcase we bought for 50p last week. This is what I came up with. 

The bottom few inches is denim from the leg of an old pair of jeans. I generally end up putting bags on a mucky floor, or spilling food in them, or having pens leak everywhere, so I've learned that having a white bottom on a bag is not a good idea! 

I made it just about big enough to fit an A4 folder in, along with general purse, keys, phone etc. If it's not carrying A4, it'll fit the normal stuff plus lunch box, book and water bottle. The ribbon (which we already had, and which goes quite nicely) pulls the top shut. The handles are quite long so I can carry it over my shoulder and can pull things out without having to take it off.

Quite a successful weekend of sewing really! I also took in a top that I love, but which was always a bit big, and had recently become rather baggy and saggy in the wash. Took me all of 10 minutes, I don't know why I put these things off for so long! 

There's lots going on in the garden at the minute too - not much of it being done by me... The chives in the front have got loads of flowers coming, which will look lovely, and I'm planning on eating a few of them - not quite sure how yet! 

The slugs are, as ever, eating lettuces, mint, fennel, and most other things they can get their chops round (although oddly enough, not the strawberries). The broad beans are growing nicely, I planted rather a lot thinking most of them wouldn't come up, but they all seem to have done, so we'll be needing plenty of broad bean recipes later in the year. 

And the lilac is flowering. It doesn't last very long, but it smells absolutely gorgeous, and looks lovely hanging outside the kitchen window :) 

Sewing a skirt

I made a skirt! I'm so impressed with myself :) 

I used the instructions from the Crafts magazine I bought last week for 10p. I had planned to make it full length, but there just wasn't enough material in the quilt cover. 

Rather frustratingly, the instructions for the waistband, zip and hem are in the next issue, which wasn't in the charity shop when I went back. I had to turn instead to the "Good Housekeeping step-by-step encyclopaedia of Needlecraft", which is fortunately very thorough and easy to understand.

I made a stiffened waistband, and finally discovered what bias binding is, and used it to hem the skirt.

Here's the final thing - it looks better on, but I couldn't get a decent photo. 

It's a full circle, so it swishes out nicely, and it'll be great for dancing and prancing around in :) 

It only took a few hours, although I did rather rush the hem as we were going to a friend's house for tea. I'll try again soon with a full length one, and I might try a tie waist instead of a stiffened waistband. I'm glad I know how to do it now though. A colourful, unique skirt, made from a second hand quilt cover bought for £3 - a veritable bargain.