March already!?!

Hello Dear Readers,

 How can it be March? I know February is a short month but this is ridiculous!  We celebrated Chris's birthday with a lovely chocolate peanut butter fudge rice crispy thing from my still favorite blog.  Yesterday was my good friend Jennifer's birthday (shout out!) and tomorrow is Adam and Melch's birthday (shout out!), was that last year already?  But this also means that I can reveal some more of my secret knitting projects,

Can you tell what it is? It's the bigger on the inside shawl/scarf that I made for Jennifer's birthday.  You'll remember we exchange Dr. Who related crafts, and when I saw it in Knitty, I just couldn't resist!  See all the little Tardis' along the edge? Subtle, yet for the true hard core nerds, very very clever.

Last weekend I was seized by the start-itis bug, and got a little crazy with the knitting, most of it wasn't even baby related.  Well of course SOME was, but only the most adorable hat you've ever seen.  For reals.

 Didin't I tell you? Cute coming and going! I also need to make sure to send my sister those clips that go on the back of your hat to the back of your coller so the little monster doesn't throw it out the pram.....of course if s/he does it IS basically a cry for more knitting, that's how I would treat it.  "I'm throwing this hat out in a demand for more knitwear Aunty Heather."

Then of course I had to replace my most favorite wool socks which bit the dust this year. The trip to the Scilly Isles was the last straw, I darned them but it never took.  I've now used up the last bit of the glorious yarn made of crab shell (so soft, and of course it wears well in water, as you would expect of crab shell) which have already been matching socks for Molly and Katelyn.

 There was much debate in my Stitch n Bitch group about the accent color, I see it as blue but the words "mint green" were thrown around. Either way, I think this stitch pattern and color combo make these the most beautiful socks in the room.  Depending on the room, of course.

Finally I had this hat pattern from the glorious designer Ysolda Teague (great name for a girl btw, Isolda.  Just saying.  Cat and Jeff.)  I also had most of a ball of red yarn left over from a fornicating raindeer hat, and somehow I couldn't resist making it.  I think it'll go great with my powder blue coat, and the second of my two new dresses from Oliver Bonas, which you can see the top of in this photo.  It's so cute, I wish it wasn't 3 C still, hurry up spring!

House hunting continues apace, with the usual setbacks and dramas.  Looked at a few places, some are ok, the ones we can afford need some love. We'll see how it goes.  Sigh.  I should be more excited but I just know it will suck away my soul and desire to live by the end of it.

Also, next week officially marks the end of the Year of Me, but I'll have a review of that next time.

Cheers!

Christmas Time Is Here

Merry Christmas Dear Readers,

Well, I had a whopping 5 day weekend last week, which was terrific.  The first two days were spent mainly doing laundry and napping, the perfect way to unwind after a particularly busy week at work trying to finish things off before I start my new job January 18th.

 Pat's girlfriend Beth was over for Christmas, we started the morning right with pancakes and sausages, but then Patrick could wait no longer, he wanted presents!  Here he is opening the Kindle Fire that the whole family got him, he's very excited.  He is coming with Chris and me to Cyprus so he's loading it up with plenty of reading material for the trip.

To Patrick's left is what Chris got me a, GIANT BOX OF LUSH PRODUCTS!!!  tied with a big bow.  Just what I always wanted!  It's the gift that keeps on giving, though I'm going to try to stretch it out for the whole year, we'll see.  We spent all of Christmas day in our pajamas, and played the board game version of QI that Beth got us.  If you haven't seen the show you should check it out.

 The next day, Patrick experimented with shaving the beard he's been growing for all of Beardcember, as he calls it.  Here he is sporting a trucker....

 And the bizzare cowboy look,  (Notice my Lush box in the background).  Fortunatly for all of us, he shaved off the whole thing in the end.  Phew.  I think he was taking a page out of this .

I went to work Thursday and Friday, but have been taking advantage of the pouring rain this weekend to do a bit of crafting.   I used this pattern to turn this XL t-shirt from my friend George....

 Into this super cute racer back dress.  I love how I was able to preserve the whole front motif of the shirt.


I also had another oversize shirt that I used this wrap around pattern to make up a front or back wrap dress for.  The little girl that I sew for gets so big so fast that I am trying out dresses with no waistband, on the mother's recommendation.  The racer back is sized for a two year old, and the wrap 2-3 so hopefully it will hold her for the next year or so!  We probably won't have sunny warm weather for her to wear it as a dress, but she can layer it over a top and tights, though girls that grow up in the UK seem to be able to wear little summer dresses - even in winter!

Oh well, at least we are headed to Cyprus tomorrow where the weather has been about 20 degres C (that's about 70).  It will probably feel warm enough to me to wear a dress, maybe even go to the beach!

Speaking of which, I'm headed off to Oxfordd street to do a little shopping.  After 12 weeks of P90X some of my clothes arn't fitting well and I wanted to see if I can get some stuff in the after Christmas sales to keep me looking good and show off my somewhat fitter body.

Catch you all in the new year!

Lady in Red

Hello Dear Readers,

Took a little break from blogging, now I'm back, so here we go..... I'm still working only part time at Kew (but it looks like that will change soon) so last Thursday I enjoyed a day out with a girlfriend from knitting who took some time off work.  I wanted to check out the Portobello road area, made famous for a lot of Americans in Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  It is well known for it's antiques and/or vintage market, the busy day with all the stalls is Friday and Saturday but I thought a quiet Thursday morning was fine for me.
We walked along the shops, just window shopping, seeing a lot of nice antiques.  Further down the road it turns a bit more into name brand high street shops, but with some interesting restaurants (the first vegetarian place in London, for example) down the way.  Along the way I was talking to Lucy about how I was really thinking of buying a nice leather jacket (I know, I know, some people will be confused about a vegan buying a leather jacket, but my issue with fake leather is that it isn't environmentally friendly, and I'd rather use the whole cow anyway than let it go to waste.  Eating vegan is more about reducing my carbon and pesticide footprint than anything else, not that I feel I have to justify myself, I'm just explaining). I have been influenced lately by stylings from Wendy's Lookbook to try to define what I like and how I want to look.  Plus, as it's the Year of Me, I think I need to stop dressing like a graduate student.  I really like the fashions of Emma Swan in Once Upon a Time,  Elena Gilbert in The Vampire Diaries and leather jackets are a key part of their look.  Plus, after seeing photos of myself in my old spring/fall coat, I didn't think it was flattering at all and it's gone into the charity bag as of last night.  Anyway, while talking to Lucy about this we happened to walk right by - a leather jacket shop!  Thirty minutes later, with a little haggling for 20% off the price, in a very uncharacteristic move for me, I walked out with this beauty.

And haven't been able to take it off since!  I would never have thought of red, preferring brown or black, but I felt like it would go with a lot more of my current wardrobe, any color brown boots, black, my navy jeans or a black dress.  Anyway, I'm feeling like a sexy FBI agent, or a cool biker chick when I wear it and since it's been such a cold spring, I think it's going to get a lot of use.

After shopping we walked down to Hyde Park to check out Kensington Palace, where Queen Victoria was brought up and Princess Diana lived.  They have recently renovated it so it was shiny new and stunning.  Afterwards we went to Lush on King's street to stock up on essentials, and made our way back to the palace for Afternoon Tea in the old Orangery.  The building is lovely, really a good afternoon tea feel without the bustle of having it at a hotel or department store.  We had small cucumber sandwiches, scones and a selection of sweet things like shortbread, lemon tart, macaroons and a small layered chocolate cake.   I had a white tea with mine - the whole thing was divine!

I really can't remember the last time I had such an amazing day, Lucy brought out the daredevil shopper in me and I'm very grateful.

Though the weather here has been drizzly and overcast (perfect for leather jackets, btw.) it has made the bright spring greens of London really pop out, as you can see in this shot of the Sunken Gardens at Kensington Palace.  Makes me nostalgic for William and Mary's sunken garden.

On the craft front, my good friend Molly sent me quite a few of her worn out t-shirts and clothes to do a little magic on to turn into things for Katelyn.  I was so excited to get the box, the only thing to tear me away from it was the above trip and jacket adventure.  A few frantic sewing days later (apologies to my housemate for the sound of the machine at 7 am on a Friday), here is the majority of stuff in all it's glory.  Three leggings/pants, two adorable dresses and two summer hats (she threw all the other hats I made her out of the stroller already!)

 I love this little dress to the left mostly because it highlights a science fair held at Cambridge, not a feature on most baby clothes and I don't know why.  With an astronomer father and a biologist mother, this girl is bound to have a curiosity about the natural world - whether she wants to or not!  When they were here last month Molly said Katelyn is really into lady-beetles so I sewed two lady-beetle buttons I found in Portobello road.  The dress below I'm very proud of too for my recycling of lace from the bottom of a much loved but now see through camisole top I got many Christmas's ago in a Kohl's Christmas sale.  Sigh.  The tissue thin top also got used for the lining of the slightly thick spandex white top, and the sleeves for the top were turned into leggins for a matchy matchy look.  The only trouble is since I don't have the kid here to try things on I just have to go on faith and measurements that they will fit........ I'm a little bit nervous, but I figured if they don't' fit her, surely Molly will know someone else with a smaller baby, or wait for Molly to grow into things.

 Fun fun fun, would love to have more little kids (not of my own) to sew for as the projects are so quick and fun.  My brain was bursting with possibilities after I got the box, and I still have more ideas left, though less raw materials.

I also made the two hats, and this little crocheted one should be good for our spring, cotton so as not to be too warm, but pretty enough that she hopefully won't mind wearing it every day (until she throws it off that is).  Oh well, baby clothes should be like babies anyway, their ephemeral nature are what make them so special.



Enjoying a "Bank Holiday" weekend this Monday.  Bank Holidays are a bit weird here, they don't commemorate any event as far as I can tell, or mark any pagan or christian ritual, or even come evenly spaced.  There is "early May" bank holiday, and late May, and Early August, and some others throughout, but nothing like Memorial Day, Forth of July or Thanksgiving.  Christmas and Easter are marked, but the other special days like St. George's Day (patron saint of England) or Remembrance Day (war memorial) pass by without a day off to reflect and BBQ.  Anyway, not complaining about a day off,  just observing and celebrating cultural differences.

Cheerio!

Molly and Baby Katelyn

Hello Dear Readers,

This past week my good friend Molly came down for her spring break and brought her daughter Katelyn with her, who is one year old last month.  We spent the first day recovering from their trip, hanging out in Putney and visiting the children's playground that you can only go in if you have a child with you, how frustrating!  I finally got to go in and play on the swings!

 

The next day we had a sunny day, well sunny morning, out at Kew.  There were quite a few birds out on the little lake, and Katelyn was fascinated by them.  We tried to steer her more towards the plants but we may have a budding ornithologist on our hands.

 Later we had a delicious lunch in the garden while I played with the settings on my camera.  Here I am picking up on all the pink, after all she is a girl and girls mean pink, right?

 It started to rain a bit after lunch, and it was close to nap time so we took the train back home, planes trains and automobiles, this is one well traveled girl!

 The next day we really lucked out because it was sunny and not too windy, the best you can hope for in an English Spring so we took the train down to Brighton.  Here we are enjoying a delicious take away vegan cafe (Infinity Foods Cafe for those interested) lunch in front of what someone once described to me as a giant curry palace, but which is in fact a summer palace of George IV.

 That girl managed to smash an entire baked potato into her mouth, go girlfriend! I had half of a great BLT with potato wedges and vegan mayo and a half of Molly's miso tofu and finished her fries, delish!  We left a little before 5 pm and made it home just as the weather changed (i.e. turned to rain).

They left Thursday morning, but not before I got Katelyn to put on her new duds, pants made from an old t-shirt, and her new matching Easter sweater and bonnet!  A warm Easter sweater is what you really need way up north in Cambridgeshire, and a matching bonnet is just so classy.  It was a really nice distraction, and I hope they are able to come again soon!

Old year project and new years resolution project #1

Hello Dear Readers,

What really keeps me from posting when I want to is poor lighting, which means I can't take photos of the things I want to share. It's usually dark when I get home, so if I don't take a picture on the weekend, it's too late. Fortunately I went in to work a little later today so I was able to take some snaps this morning.

This is the first project finished for my new years resolution to work my way through Last Minute Knitted Gifts, the Baby Hat.  I'm pleased with the way the cotton looks, and how it matches the original in the photo.  I'm trying hard to follow instructions, not an easy task for me but that's why it's a new years resolution.

I'm currently working on the light and airy scarf, it's beautiful in some blue mohair given to me by Icy when she left the knitting group.

I also snapped some photos with the self timer this morning of my Chickadee sweater that I've been working on off and on since Sept.  I finished before Christmas, but didn't get around to photos. Not sure how happy I am with it, it fits really nicely, but the colorwork seems to put people in mind of bad Christmas sweaters....though the birdies are really sweet.

  I also love the vintage buttons that I picked up at Prick Your Finger in Bethnel Green.  I cycled over there this weekend, 10 miles, along the river, through the city and out to the East side. It's so wonderful to be able to cycle anywhere, and have such views.  I went by  Big Ben, saw the London Eye, and went past St. Pauls, The Gherkin, and all the skylines.  Also went by the Tower bridge accidentally, but hey, getting lost is all part of the fun.

Still, it's been a fun knit, and nice to have a new sweater.  There is also a woman's sweater pattern in the Last Minute Gifts book which I will attempt to do with the white camel I got from my friend Lucy when she was in China.

The Christmas Gift that Kept on Giving......me a headache

Hello Dear Readers,

Here I am in sunny warm Cyprus!  I had intended this to be a blog intensive trip, full of photos of the fun stuff Chris and I were doing this time since he promised that we wouldn't do chores or see lots of relatives.  Well, he partially kept his promise in that I spent almost the first full week in bed (starting on Christmas Day) with a nasty, knock down cold courtesy of Chris.  According to his family, the cause of my cold was the change in weather in Cyprus, as it had just turned "cold" (14 C/ 60 F) when we got there. I pointed out that it was actually warmer than in England, which then changed the story to, "the drastic change in temperatures is what caused my illness."  I pointed out that Chris had the same bad cold a week before, but that didn't seem to make any difference, and people mused that traveling such a long distance in an airplane the day before probably also contributed to the cold.  So either it was the fact that it was cold in Cyprus, or much warmer than the UK, or traveling great distances, but not living with a sneezey coughing Chris that caused my illness.  Only by wrapping up warm and sweating it out could I recover, oh, or I could take antibiotics.  Sigh.  I think it was more tiring trying to explain basic biology principles than actually being sick.  I'm still stuffy and coughing, and seem to have pulled a small muscle in my chest with all the hacking, but I'm trying to cram in a few fun things now that I am vertical before we fly out tomorrow!

Before I got too ill, we were able to visit our friends Stavros and Margarita who have two little boys.  I love to make things for them, last year I did the sock monkeys and this year it was a dragon and a lamb.  For some reason Andreas was afraid of the lamb at first, but he took to it eventually with his usual good humour.  Somehow he seems to have skipped the terrible twos.  Here is his baby brother with the dragon I made him, lots of good sticky out parts for him to put in his mouth, which is exactly what I intended, along with some safety eyes that he can really get his teeth into.

Christmas day was a very quiet affair, as only myself, Chris, his mother and aunt and uncle were home (and I was in bed the whole day), but being Greek Orthodox Christmas isn't really celebrated, it's New Years (at midnight) that St. Basil comes and delivers gifts to children.  Chris's cousin and her boyfriend were here for New Years, and somehow we got into a discussion about traditional clothes.  Chris's aunt happened to have an old dance costume of one of her girls, which I immediatly put on and paraded about hte house in.  It's very comfortable I have to say, on a par with what I wore when I worked in Colonial Williamsburg.

 Further proof that I was born in the wrong era, I think, I make these outfits look so good!

New Years day we had the traditional lunch at his Aunt's house.  His sister's family was two ill to drive the 1.5 hours to come see us, so it was just the 7 of us.

L to R is Chris, his mother Nikki, Aunt Anna, Uncle Stephanos, Cousin Valando and her boyfriend Dolis.  I've been able to make good use of my Greek lessons this trip, though the fast paced, slang Cypriot dialect still gets the best of me most times.   Fortunately I've been able to use the time I wasn't comatose to finish up a sweater order that I got before I left. 

Yesterday we drove to the Capitol to see Chris's sister and her family.  His mother spent the whole day before cooking and buying food because she seems to think that the largest and capitol city in the island is a desert, devoid of food and, apparently, quality eggs.  It was a bit of a bust though as Odie is deep in his terrible twos stage, every item in the house is his, and you can't touch it or you get a whack with a plastic wrench.  When given a book as a gift from his great Aunt, he proceeded to tear the whole thing apart while his father watched and sighed "Oh dear, tsk tsk." Hmmm, someone really needed a nap, or perhaps everyone.  Not really endearing him to me yet, but I remember my brother was a little brat as a kid, so I'm hoping in 10-15 years he'll be fine.......

Today is our last full day, and it's sunny and warm.  I'm finishing up a job application (it's a never ending process in these austere times) and Chris is doing his annual servicing of his cousin's computer.  Afterwards we'll take a stroll on the new path by the sea and pick up a few groceries that we can't find in the UK.  Tomorrow it's back home to England, and snug in my own bed again!  I hope that Patrick has fufilled his promise to repaint the kitchen, we'll see....

Hope all my dear readers had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I think I've slept enough this week to last me through the rest of my contract at the Museum, and feel refreshed and ready to tackle the new years resolutions I've made.

Cheers.

Busy Bee

Hello Dear Readers,


Late post this week, I was pretty busy over the weekend working both days at the Sewing Rooms.  Sunday afteroon I was knackered, Pat even made me a sandwich for lunch:

All he's missing is a Kiss the Cook apron.  I managed some sewing, this cute little bag for a gift for a friend. 

And also this football on the left, which is part of an Amish Puzzle ball I've wanted to make for a long time since I read my favorite sewing book Last Minute Patchwork Gifts.  It's the gift that's a pleasure to make, a pleasure to give and hopefully it will give the reciepient some pleasure as well!

Today was a really special day because I got to see my good friend Molly (who actually looked exactly the same today!) who was down to be "standardized" for her teaching.  Remember I made this Itty Bitty Baby Dress?  Well Molly, being the good friend she is, gave me an action shot on the same day as me giving the dress.

This is a woman who knows how to appreciate a handmade gift (and ensure more will be on the way....).  So nice to see her and talk to her without baby interruptions, though I look forward to seeing Katelyn when she is more mobile.  I felt like I ate so much at lunch, but I'm hungry now!  Just  made some chocolate chip banana muffins with Nestle Chocolate Chips imported from the US, I think I'll go enjoy some.

Cheers

The Best Laid Plans

Hello Dear Readers,

Well I had big plans for this weekend, pruning the neighbors rose bush (it grows over into our garden) painting the office and kitchen, the full laundry of three people (incl. sheets) but Friday night I felt a sore throat and Saturday I had a full blown head cold, curtsey of Patrick.  Boys really do have cooties!

The only thing I really managed was to make this Itty Bitty Dress for my friend's daughter. I kind of tried to do a hybrid between the 3T size and the newborn one by shrinking the 3T by 25% and adding .5 inch on each side, but it's still hard to know if it will fit.  I used two old t-shirts, one from Patrick and one from another friend, and the butterfly is off of a pair of Molly's old jeans.....so what goes around comes around, a pretty eco-friendly up-cycled dress all in all!  If it fits and she likes it I plan on making several more as it perfectly uses up most of a t-shirt and I have a bunch of color combos and embellishments I want to try.  She my only friend with kids who has a girl, so unfortunately she is going to be at the receiving end of a lot of girly wear as dresses are more fun than trousers!

I also went to Patrick's Four's Head race this year, hard to believe it's been a year already.... Wasn't up for doing a brunch this year, though I thought about it.  Just too much going on.

I went in to work today because I was giving a short talk to some A-level (mid high school I think is the equivalent) students, but by lunch time I was dragging so I took the afternoon off.  Hanging out with knitting, pod-casts and tea, hopefully I'll be up to speed tomorrow.  This Thursday I take the Eurostar to Paris.  Can this really be my life?!?  Too much fun!

I'll take lots of photos and catch you up on all the fun, fashion and food of Paris next week.
Heather

Baby's First Halloween, or, an excuse for pumpkin hats

Hello Dear Readers,


Last weekend Chris and I took a trip up to Chez Brooke-Becker in Cambridge to visit my good friend Molly from graduate school.  I made a pumpkin hat for Katelyn and it was pretty much the cutest thing you ever saw, and we got a number of compliments on it from strangers.

She even wore it to the pumpkin patch, naturally, where we picked some pumpkins for carving and snacking on seeds. Molly made a cute, sorry, scary face out of the word BOO (left) and George made this fantastic screwball eyed beauty (right).

Chris and I tag teamed a Jack Skellington look alike (center), who hopefully spooked some kids last night.  We weren't home on Monday evening so we didn't get any trick or treaters, but I did see quite a few around coming back from the gym, lots of skeletons and witches, very traditional here.

I also got worms from Molly for my compost bin who will hopefully keep it going though the fall, though we are having a strangely warm November.  I had plenty of room to bring stuff back because I brought a bunch of stuff to share with them, including the baby skirt I made a while ago.  She's still a bit small for it, but I have no fears she'll grow into it quickly.  She also really loved the baby monkey, especially the red mouth, that one goes on the top of my list for baby presents in the future now.

All in all we had a fantastic trip, looking forward to going back in a few months for George's birthday if everything goes according to plan.

Cheers!