Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Sevens

I have been tagged by Dancin' Fool to complete a meme of 7 strange facts about myself. I have done this before, but felt she deserved 7 new things about me, so here goes.

1. 20 years on I still have occasional nightmares about taking my A levels: basically I dream I have skipped 2 years of classes and then have a month to make up all the work!

2. I love handbags.

3. One day I would like to be a librarian.

4. I live in a 300 year old house.

5. I love the works of Thomas Hardy, having first been introduced to his poetry and novels when studying for my O' levels (23 years ago!).

6. As a baby in Cyprus, my parents were offered 2 goats in exchange for me (fair deal I would say!).

7. If you put all the books we own on a single shelf, it would be over 90 feet long.


As I have done this before, it is difficult for me to tag 7 people, so I am going to tag 2 very special people... my secret pal, and my secret pal match (ie the person I am sending stuff to). I have to do this by (anonymous) email as until June 15th we do not reveal our true identities.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Not a case of SSS (single sock syndrome) I promise!

Hey!!! The 1st sock from the lovely soya yarn that my secret pal sent me has been completed and the second one is underway.


I had a lot of fun with this... the yarn is lovely to work with and is very springy when knitted up. I really enjoyed the pattern, I love the way all the decreases work - it's a beautiful kind of symmetry and just so magical when it all comes together. I was pleased with my work... only one small error (that I know of) which happened when I was picking up stitches along the edge for the instep.


Thank you again secret pal!


Wednesday, May 16, 2007

"Working from home"

I did not go to my art class today. There were a number of reasons for this but the main one was that for the last couple of weeks I have not enjoyed it at the class. I am not sure why, I think I was just feeling out of sorts.

Anyway, I stayed at home and finished the wallpapering in the hall, and then tonight I sat down and decided to just enjoy painting, and not try too hard to produce anything "finished". Anyway, that might have done the trick, as I am actually rather pleased with the two paintings I produced. The inspiration came from reading a story book to my little chap tonight... the story was "we're going on a bear hunt" and in it a family take a long walk through many different scenes including a beach, and a muddy walk in a storm.

I like the sky and the wet sand in the seashore picture, and I like horizon line in the second picture. Not sure about the figures, or the bird in the foreground... but it had to be tried! The main thing is I enjoyed it, and it might be just the thing to get me back to class next week.




No will power!


Having said I would save the socks for a holiday project, I just could not resist starting them last night. The yarn is knitting up really nicely, and it only took me a couple of rows to get used to knitting in the round. Everything people say about wooden needles is true! These Brittany needles are lovely to work with. I am hopeful of a completed sock by the end of the weekend, and a completed pair by the end of my holiday.

In the picture you will also see a knitter's charm sent to me by Dancin' Fool (thank you again). It's a keyring, but I am using it as a stitch marker at the moment. It is a very sweet little jumper on a pair of knitting needles.

I still have news from the girlfriend's visit to share, but it is going to have to wait another day or so.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Sock it to me!


Just look at this! This morning my secret pal pulled another of her wonderful tricks out of the bag... I got a fabulous sock knitting package through the post.
It contains 2 balls of yarn made from soy fibre, some beautiful wooden needles (1st I have owned) and a pattern for "beginner socks". The yarn is in beautiful soft colours of green, pink, brown and yellow and is really soft and springy. It's a knitted fibre itself, and I am really looking forward to trying it out.
I have read through the pattern, and it all seems clear enough, although turning the heel is a little daunting. I am tempted to dive in and get started on this project right away, but then again, it is just 10 days until I go on holiday, and I think this might be a nice project to take away with me.
Thank you secret pal... this is a fabulous surprise, and has really made my day.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Austen heroines

Dancin'Fool put me on to this fun little quiz to determine which Jane Austen heroine you most closely resemble. I came out as:
:: E L I N O R ::

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

I am Elinor Dashwood!

The quiz is good fun... follow this link to take part. I cannot bring myself to comment on the analysis (oh so sensible!)!!! Thanks to strangegirl for this.

Flotsam and Jetsam

This will be a mixed bag, indeed! For the last week or so I have felt as if my life has been tossed onto the sea and has been washed hither and thither. There is a lot to catch up on, but it has no coherent pattern and follows no particular direction. Apologies in advance!

Firstly, thanks to my fabulous sister for her great encouragement over recent weeks, and then welcome home to my Mum and Dad from their travels. I look forward to hearing more of your trip.

My last post said that I had been having trouble with my art class and felt as though I had lost direction. I made the suggestion that I would sketch every day to build up the hours, and get "back into the groove" (please don't let that conjure up images of Madonna!).

I did do a few sketches. Only 2 of which I am prepared to share. I was pleased to try branching out into a more sketchy style and try to draw people. Not something I have done before, but I am seriously thinking of signing up to a full day life class in the autumn, so wanted to give it a go.

I have to say that these were drawn from photos, not from real life, but given aside the questionable facial attractiveness of each, I am quite pleased...


and I actually think that some adjustment to the left eye of this chap would yield significant improvement...




And here is my woodland scene painted "in the field" at last week's class. I did not really feel that I caught the essence of the view, but for a first watercolour outside from natural surroundings, it was just about OK.



Next is the lovely sampler band I am knitting from one of the yarns my Secret Pal enabled me to get with her thoughtful gift voucher for my LYS. I love this mix, and am knitting a 30 st wide strip to form an appliqued band to a chocolate brown cushion cover to complement my newly decorated hallway.



It has been so much fun to knit a small amount of so many different yarns. I had trouble with the tasselled yarn - I was not sure how much to force the tassells to lay in front or whether to knit them in with the background yarn. I think I made the right decision in having them all lay forward. You can't see it, but I have 7 different bands so far, and another 5 (I think) still on the ball.

Now onto the promised pictures of the finished shrug. I am very pleased with the garment, which is warm but not at all bulky or restrictive. The photos are severely limited by the fact that I had to model the item... sorry for more visual information than was absolutely necessary!





Finally, we are tackling our eco conscience a the moment. We have replaced many of our bulbs with low energy ones. We are still left wth those where the lamp fittings won't accept a low energy bulb, those on dimmer switches and those we need to use with timers. But any such step must be a good one I think.
We are enquiring about changing our ancient gas boiler for a biomass boiler (wood pellet or wood chip) but it is a difficult area to get going in. I have called three companies today and not really had the response I wanted... i.e. I want a surveyor round here to tell us about the practical options for siting, installing and fuelling one in our house. I have also found out today about carbon rationing and amthinking about signing up for our local Carbon Rationing Action Group (CRAG).
We also had elder son's girlfiend to saty for the weekend ("meet the parents"!). But moe of that will have to wait...




Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Glass

Today's art challenge was to paint or draw glass. Teacher said the piece was coming on, and my capacity had improved (does this mean I can draw more rubbish in the same amount of time?). Feeling very low about the output from the class, and realise I need to shift my mindset to get back to enjoying it (whatever I produce). Still, next week is out in the field ( "en plein" is the technical term I think).

So, feeling brave to show this...




Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Everything stops for tea

... and the odd piece of freelance work. Last week flew by in a whirl as I was working on a user interface design project for an educational company I do work for every now and then. The project was to design a website that teachers could use to analyse and report on the results of class tests that they had set. It's a lot more interesting than it sounds, honestly... I really enjoyed the week, However, it meant there was little time for anything else, least of all blogging.


However, looking back on it, there has been a lot happening... and there is plenty to tell.


I'll start off by mentioning the trip on the local heritage steam railway that my extended family took the weekend before last. It was a great day to commemorate my Mum and Dad's Ruby wedding anniversary. 7 of us made the trip and then went for a leisurely meal. I could describe it in detail, but this has been done very well already by bowledover, with a beautiful picture supplied by dancinfool.


I have finished knitting (but not blocking or sewing up) the shrug from the Ironstone wool my secret pal sent me (thank you again secret pal). I have promised myself to finish it completely this weekend, but here is a sneak view of the colours.... lovely.



I also assembled and posted my second parcel to my secret pal, which includes some lovely artisan spun and dyed wool and silk blend yarn with enticing names. I hope she likes it. I can't show pictures of that yet... but would love to.


In the evenings, I have been avidly reading Alan Alda's autobiography which my sister kindly send me as a surprise last month.




It's very entertaining, and reminds me fondly of the days when I loved to watch MASH, treating every line as deep insight into life, and hero worshipping the character Hawkeye Pierce. So, if you're looking, sis, this is for you:



...and this is for me ;-)




My little chap has made a new friend at school. The new friend (Harry) is round here tonight for tea, and the boys are playing happily with many giggles. Rather endearingly, they are taking it turns to pretend to be a dog in a pet shop, who the other comes and buys! Even sweeter, they were both caught calling me "Mrs. Mummy"!! It was Harry's birthday at the weekend, and he had a great 5 year olds' party including soft play area and face painting. Here's my little chap doing a great Tiger.



As if that weren't all, we are still decorating our hallway and stairs. The patterned wall paper is going up on the contrast walls. So 2 days this week have been dedicated to papering. Here's the paper. I love it. Bold yet simple and (hopefully) elegant. It makes the hall look so much wider and brighter (the main walls are plain cream).


Finally, everyone has a favourite portent of Spring, and mine is newly opened beech leaves. I love the fact that the tree keeps all its dead leaves all winter, and the one day they all drop off overnight, and the next day the beech buds are unfurling, all tender, furry and such a beautiful colour.