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!

Happy Birthday Chris!

Hello Dear Readers,

It's been too long since my last post, but exciting developments have happened since then.  For a Christmas/Birthday present Chris bought me a new camera! Of course he's not a great planner when it comes to gifts, and the worst at surprises, so he told me about it on the 11th of Feb, the day he ordered it....... it's fine, it arrived on Valentine's Day, the perfect halfway point for me between Christmas and my birthday, so it's kind of official.  He got me the Canon IXUS in BLUE!  Our old camera had a tiny screen, battery life problems, the CF reader on our computer was going, and it was just plain BIG.  The new one is a little smaller than an iPhone, perfect for me to slip into my pocket, even my skinny jeans, and take with me to shoot some blog photos to share with all of you.

 It did a great macro shot of the yarn I finished spinning this weekend:

And managed to capture really well in the low light of our office some before and after shots of this neat-o pattern I did for a pair of toddler's sweatpants out of a single t-shirt using just *3 seams*

Aren't they the cutest?  This pattern comes from Hammer and Thread, at this link.  I whipped up this pair in the morning before going to teach knitting, and a second pair when I got back.  Now I just need to find out if they are even close to fitting the toddlers I sew for....somewhere out there I'm sure there is a baby for them.

 The other significant event this weekend was Chris's birthday.  I've been planning a great surprise for a month now, and could barely contain myself, but I did a much better job than Chris with my camera.


Here he is, all unsuspecting on Saturday night. (Everyone was out of the house except us, so of course we stayed up late playing UpWords, which my friend Kat from Chicago gave me years and years ago and we still enjoy).

Sunday after I got home from teaching Knitting in the morning I asked him if he had eaten well and to shave and get dressed nice-ish.  He had no idea what was in store, but dutifully got on the 22 bus with me all the way to Piccadilly Circus.



As we walked down Shaftsbury avenue, past the Windmill street (of Judi Dench movie fame) and through the heart of the West End Theater district.  When he saw the sign for Thriller Live, he knew what was on! If you zoom in you can even see a smile on his face.

For those who don't know, Chris in his misspent youth applied his characteristic laser focus on learning everything there was about Michael Jackson, right down to his dance moves and I catch him doing Billie Jean in the kitchen to this day. Actually, dancing Billie Jean is part of how we met and got together, but that's another story....

After a fantastic show (most people tap their feet or sing along, Chris on the other hand was dancing along to the show......) we headed around the corner to Ed's Diner, a fantastic American 1950's style diner for a chocolate shake, cheeseburger (veggie for me) fries and onion rings, one of Chris's favorite meals.  The place was so cute, and they even had that jukebox system where the tables and booths had their own that you could put 20p in and dial up a song.  Great birthday? or Greatest Birthday Ever?  I'm glad I was able to capture it all on my new camera too.

As my birthday is coming up and Chris's is going down, the last bit of exciting news is that two of my best friends from High School, Adam and Melch (remember them from this post?) are coming to visit me on my birthday FROM L.A.!!  How cool is that?  Skippies visiting me is always something I daydream about, and since Jennifer and Amy's visits last year and this visit on my birthday those dreams have been coming true!  Not sure exactly what we'll be doing, but I know we'll be having fun and laughing so much it hurts. Hooray!

Christmas Week to the Max

Hello Dear Readers,

For the first time in what seems like a while I had no work this weekend!  I had a nice lie-in on Saturday, and did a bit of knitting on Chickadee (working on the boarder) and some other crafty things.

I inherited some old bleached sweaters from a previous roommate, and cut up the back into a new hat I sewed for my beautiful roommate Monica, who is modeling it splendidly to the left.  She moved from Australia earlier this year, so I'm helping augment her wardrobe for winter, what a great opportunity for experimentation!

Saturday evening I went to the birthday party of a friend from Kew, and managed to sleep in till 11 on Sunday.  More crafting, knitting and watching the new Jane Eyre again (mmmmm, Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester...), then I went to a party at my friend Jacquie's, and today I had another party knitting hats for the cancer patients at my mother's work.   Tomorrow is my Tuesday Stitch'n'Bitch Christmas party and Secret Santa, Wednesday is my work holiday party which I am helping to organize, Thursday is dinner with my foreign friends at work (or the "League of Nations") and Friday is dinner with my team from work!!!!!

I've scheduled a massage on Saturday, I'm going to need it before I teach knitting again on Sunday!

I've been thinking a bit about New Years resolutions, I always like to set goals to try new things for the new year, not so much like, lose 10 pounds or anything like that, but just to shake up my routine.  In the past I've taken up veganism, started to learn Greek, started a compost bin etc.

This year my thoughts are:

1. Cheat less on my veganism......though that's tough in Cyprus!

2. I got the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts from my friend Jennifer.  In the style of Julie and Julia I would like to work my way through the book this year.  I would like to try to knit everything from it, I figure if I knit the gift, the recipient will come!  I'm also going to try to knit only from yarn I have in my stash for the most part, though I would like to do a sweater for Chris and I think I will have to buy yarn for that.

3. I resolve to either mend/sew/darn, or throw out (well, into the fabric pile) any clothes/socks/underwear with holes/tears in them and start the new year with a respectable wardrobe.  This one is a bit hard for me, but so far it motivated me to stitch up a hole in my Care Bear undies, darn my first hand-knit socks that I LOVE and sew down some frays on a shirt Pat scored for free from work.....I'm trying, really.

4. Take more time to relax in the year, and travel around England (especially with Chris)!  More massages, perhaps a trip to take the waters at Bath...... we'll see, Chris has applied for a job at British Airways, who know where this year could take me!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Holiday Season and finding time to be with friends and family they don't ordinarily get to spend time with.  I know I'm going to enjoy my holiday week to the max, it's such a privilege to be invited to and involved wiht so many parties, I truly feel appreciated.

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

Craft-sational!

Hello Dear Readers,

I've been on a real craft jag recently, probably to do with the yarn swap/ fabric giveaway that happened at my knitting group, plus one of my roomates gave me an old sheet they had worn a hole in (yes! yards and yards of whole cloth!)

On the knitting front, I finished a vest for Odie out of two skiens that I got from the yarn swap. I just saw them and thought, yes, those are pefect for a vest for a little boy! I used up the two skeins exactly with about 6 inches to spare.

I also needed a project to work on while I was teaching knitting on Sunday, and I happened to get a lovely skein of pink yarn at he swap as well. I had wanted to make these fingerless gloves for a while and I just had a bolt of inspiration. I looked up the pattern and lo and behold, I actually had the yarn CALLED FOR IN THE PATTERN. Which NEVER happens with me, I always do a lot of modifications, but this seems like it was meant to be (plus I already lost one of the fingerless gloves on the last pair I made, so I need a new pair, it was kismet).

Finally for the sewing, I scored a ton of awesome material at a giveaway plus the sheet. I made this quilt out of Last Minute Patchwork Gifts for Odie which was a ton of fun (and incidentally my first go at machine quilting.)

I wasn't sure what was going to happen to it at first but Chris said he actually liked this quilt (for once) and suggested that Odie could use it as his quilt away from home when he goes to "grandma's" house. Perfect.


I also knocked out this pin cushion
which is a pattern from Last Minute Patchwork Gifts as well. What an awesome book. I don't really have a home for it yet either, but I thought it might be fun to have a blog contest, what do you think? Anyone interested in "winning" this hand made exclusive Heather one-of-a-kind leave a message in the comments ..... lets see...... leave a message stating the first project you will use with your new pin cushion. and I'll pick a winner somehow. And they're off! Contest ends...... July 1? :-) Now we'll see if it works! Hey if you don't sew leave a message stating what you would do with it anyway, re-gift, use as a very very soft hacky sack, prop up a wobbly table, whatever.

P.S. Saw Prince of Persia last weekend courtsey of my brother for free tickets. Anyone else seen it? thoughts?

Crafty, like a fox

Hello Dear Readers,

Been working on a few little craft projects here and there, they buzz around in my brain until I get the sewing machine/needles/whatever out and do them. One of the girls in our knitting group was leaving for New Zealand and consequently was unloading her craft stuff. I scored a lot of nice things, including a meter of lovely wool fabric which I turned into a blanket.
She also gave me these buttons which I pointed out were actually grasses, kind of nice since I'm working in grasses at Kew right now.

I also got some misc. fabric, some of which I put into this little birdie I've been wanting to make for a while from Last Minute Patchwork Gifts.
It's a fantastic book with lots of good ideas. This one I filled with lavender so it smells divine.
Speaking of lavender, my garden is going pretty well. The lavender has bolted and so has the cilantro I rescued from my roommate which is now putting on seeds for coriander.
Something else I made was this little elephant for my nephew. I love being an auntie!

Patrick gave me an old pair of jeans from one of his office mates and I cut them up to make a small blanket to sit on at work since we go out into the garden for lunch. With the leftovers I made this little guy.

It's so nice to have a little kid to have an excuse to make toys for, though I'm sure he probably has more toys than he knows what to do with. Of course I will always make toys for adults if they ask me, but then they never squeal with delight when I give it to them :-).
Chris and I had a nice time last night on our Friday night date yoga class. The instructor is a bit militant but I'm really starting to like it, she's all about proper alignment. And standing on you. and pulling on you. and pushing. But it feels like you are really doing something! Today Chris's cousin from Gilford is coming up and I think we'll try to go into the gardens. More pictures to follow.


P.S. Something else I got in the swap was the Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. I know, I know I have a problem.......

Let the sewing continue

Hello Dear Readers,

Spent a pleasant afternoon yesterday working on a new top for the gym out of an XL t-shirt Patrick gave me. (That's a Naruto game for those of you keeping track)


I had a rough idea of what I wanted based on a design I saw at the gym, but I as usual mostly made it up as I went. I used one of my favorite tank tops to cut out a rough shirt shape that would fit.

Then I did a lot of tweaking, cutting and draping to get the final product.

I could really use a dress maker's dummy, there was a lot of taking on, putting pins in, adjusting, squirming, hanging upside down, and once i stabbed the inside of my nose with a pin taking the shirt off. Yikes! I think the pointy shoulder epaulets not only go with the epaulet theme popular this fashion season, but kind of work with the anime theme for the t-shirt. The geisha collar back also works with the Japanese theme....... though it was unplanned. If I had more material i could have cut curved pieces for the neck, or if I was less lazy i would have cut them thinner so they didn't bunch as much but I didn't want to pull out the iron again. Someday I'll have a sewing room set up properly, but hey, it's a white shirt that's going to get yellow sweat stains in a year, I can live with it.
I wore it to aerobics class last night and it worked just fine. Still have a ban on buying new clothes until I start getting paid, but making clothes doesn't count!

Now what do you think blog, should I wear the hotpants with this new shirt to the gym tomorrow? ;-)

Still here!

Hello Dear Readers,

Wow, have I been a lazy blogger! I've been doing stuff, just either nothing too bloggable or working on projects that are going to be given to people who read this blog so I can't share them yet....
I did go to the Victoria & Albert museum last week, the place where the famous knitter Kaffe Fasset gets his inspiration and wow was it cool! They had a great exhibit on fashion and a textile studies room where you can pull out cases of different textiles, some as old as 3 and 4 b.c.e. and study them! I found a fantastic sketch on a piece of linen for an embroidery done in the 1750's, but left unfinished....... my plan is to go back with some tracing paper, copy it and finish it! You know how I hate unfinished projects and 150 years is too long to leave something like that halfway done.

In other news, I've been loving my sewing machine and working up a storm. My most recent creation was to take two NEW t-shirts my brother gifted me and turn them into a convertible top based on this idea. Also American Appareal's and this girl's. I didn't have quite enough fabric for the wraps, but it was mostly just to test out the idea. I might scour the charity shops for some jersey sheets, that should be enough for a dress, though my brother has a lovely gray colored jersey sheet...... Here are three ways I plan on wearing it

with sleeves, tied in the front (not enough length, gives sort of a traditional Japanese feel I think)

halter top style (incidentally at the V&A I saw a dress with a top very much like this)

and as a strapless top! The best thing about making your own, it actually fits you with a bra, especially if you are a weird size like me. I know the left breast is a little funky, I was using hte window as a mirror and just taking quick photos, but you get the picture.

I have one more shirt which I'm going to turn into a workout shirt because I've been going to the gym every day and I can't really wear the same one all week. I saw a great style on a girl at the gym I'm going to copy, hope she didn't think I was a weirdo for staring at her top the whole class, dissecting it in my head! I might try to turn it into a tutorial with photos etc, we'll see.

With the leftovers from the two shirts, I did this:
I had a traditional Cyprus weaving covering the pillow in the living room, but people kept putting their heads on it, and it's not washable, so I took the cover off and (with a little design input from Patrick) used the 4 sleeves and 2 logos from the shirts to make this pillow cover. Those are two Ubisoft games (one of the companies Patrick works with).

Hey, I'm not just a miserly sew-er, it's also green! With all the wasted fabric in the world I can really feel good about upcycling. Hey, I'm so green I even bought a pre-owned sewing machine! I'm still soliciting striped woven (men's mostly) shirts from people to make this quilt. Save them up then COME VISIT ME IN LONDON and deliver them!

Spring comes to Putney

Hello Dear Readers,

I've been reading a lot of books at the library and bookstores about sewing, and lots of them include patterns for needle books. At Liberty department store last weekend I also saw some really cute needle books. I knew of them before, but never really thought much about them because I used my pin cushion to keep needles. But the other day I read somewhere about how you shouldn't keep needles in pin cousins because they get lost in there, and I thought, yeah I may have lost one or two in there, I know because every once in a while I find them again (painfully). I also finally made it to Peter Jones (another department store close to me) and bought a multipack of needles, darners, embroidery, sewing etc because with this increased sewing I was finding I didn't have enough needles. Then I thought a needle book would be a fun little project for this weekend, to make a needle book. I took some of my favorite fabric that was given to me as a going away present when I used to work at a fabric store.k

Ta daaaaa! Very nice. Then I put the needles from the pack from Peter Jones in there, and my needles from my pin cushion. Fair enough, filled up the book. THEN, I started squishing around in my pin cushion to see if I could find any stray needles......


I found OVER 15 NEEDLES IN THAT THING! And I'm sure there are more in there. Most of the needles on this page of the needle book were in the pin cushion. No wonder I never had any sewing needles! I found my lost cross stitch needle (last used in 2004), a few short quilting needles (2008), sewing machine needles, and a ton of GIANT very pointy needles (last used in 2006, yes I do remember these things, don't you?). It was like a treasure hunt! if I had taken an X-ray of the pin cushion without pins I think it would have looked very much the same, crazy!

In non-fiber related news, it's been very quiet here. Too quiet. We live to the South West of London, which means we are generally in the flight path of Heathrow and planes come over every 40 seconds. In fact, the path is such that when I'm in the kitchen I can see them go right over the skylight in the ceiling. But today:


Not a cloud in the sky, not a single airplane trail.

Volcanic ash and dust is also conspicuously absent as well. But it's clear clear clear clear. If you see anything in those pictures, it's probably on your computer screen. And quiet. I think we'll go down to the river to enjoy the quiet while it last. Usually the planes are so low you can very clearly see what company they are with, and they are loud.