Ooh and it’s another scarf because yes, that’s all I can knit and you want a laugh? I started knitting this last winter. Ok, I have this rule where I don’t knit in the summer, or much of the spring thinking about it, so I have a bit of an excuse.
The eagle eyed will spot that this is knitted in Noro, 3 deliberately mismatching balls to be precise and I like it.
Now to think of something else to knit, that is preferably not a scarf . . .
After a blissfully quiet start to the week, which was much needed after our trip to Wales, the action started to get going again on Wednesday when Girl Lacer had a birthday party to go to, I don’t know who was more excited, me or her, as I desperately needed to see some adults who I weren’t related to (no offence Mr. Lacer, my dad or my sister). This particularly party always involves alcohol on pickup, so I even made sure I was wearing ‘nice’ clothes because to be honest my standard of dress has slipped a bit, as it always does in the holidays, my collection of baggy t-shirts have been getting their annual airing, even my ancient (90s) Jamie Oliver Easy Tiger t-shirt, which to be honest, I would never wear to the school gate.
Thursday was Thumbs up it’s Thursday in Kingston, i.e. lots of free activities to lure the kids into town in the hope that their parents spend some money in the process. I’d booked Girl Lacer into a free drama workshop in the local theatre, she’s finally old enough to get to play with the big kids, so the workshop was more of a challenge (but still lots of fun), as she’d been getting bored of the 5 and under workshops. After that and after a spot of chasing the Jamie’s Italian chef down the street (the restaurant is near the theatre and I saw this guy in chef’s whites across the other side of the street with a big platter of food and he was offering people samples to try, now we didn’t need to actually cross the street, but I am desperate to go to Jamie’s Italian and can’t, so I’m there going “Right kids, we need to cross the street” and the kids are going “Why?” and I’m there replying “We just do,” so we cross the street and we’re sauntering along the other side of the street and the chef stops us, “Would you like to try some food?” and I’m all like “Oh, ok then,” like I hadn’t spotted him there, we tried some foccacia and it was melt in the mouth delicious) and a lunch that cost me £14 (there you go Kingston traders, result, although unfortunately it wasn’t at Jamie’s Italian), we went to see the petting farm they’d transplanted into the memorial gardens, which I think was more of a case of duck and cover for Boy Lacer or should I say goose and cover, as this bird was as big as him and heading straight for us.
After that we made some cool pipe cleaner spiders, appraised two lots of queues for face painting (no way) and went to the big kid (6+ again) craft workshop in John Lewis, where Girl Lacer got introduced to french knitting, which resulted in this little lady coming home with us (result again Kingston traders).
I remember French knitting as a kid (and I’m finding it still rather addictive now) but the problem was that although I can French knit, my mum always used to cast on and cast off for me, now it’s a case of me working out how to do it. I managed the casting on bit, we’ll have to see what happens when Girl Lacer wants me to cast off.
Friday was slightly more local crafting at Wendy’s Workshop in Ham, we painted more pieces of pottery, I painted a smaller bowl in stripes to match my bigger stripy bowl which I still use everyday to hold my smaller pieces of sewing junk.
Saturday was the start of birthday present shopping, I really should have started before now (I have to be hideously organised and buy birthday presents over three months to spread the cost). Both Girl and Boy Lacer have asked for Toy Story stuff for their birthdays this year and admittedly the Toy Story range at the moment is actually rather good (maybe because in my eyes the Toy Story range is slightly retro and a ‘proper’ toy beats a wii game, which is what they’d also like, any time). We saw a great range of Toy Story stuff in the Disney Store in Westfield and I had planned on Saturday, having a rare child free moment, to go to my local Disney Store to get some (notably the stuffed pink pig and the Barbie and Ken) and only then did I realise that the shop I’d noticed boarded up for the last week or two was where the Disney Store was, so I guess I will have to find time to go back to Westfield sooner than I had anticipated.
Finally have still of course been busy embroidering; I finished and sent off the mystery items for the book commission on Friday, part of me likes them and part of me thinks “Argh they’re nowhere near good enough for a book!!!!” but I’ve decided I can’t be objective and time was pressing, so they got sent off. The book in question is out in Autumn 2011, so I get to show the result then (if there is one, argh, sorry I’m being really paranoid!). But to show you some embroidery that I can show you, these are what I blogged about over on Feeling Stitchy today.
They’re from a book called Made in France which I’ve reviewed over on Feeling Stitchy (yes, a whole book, there is still a little bit of a lull in the new embroidery pattern generation out there). The book is fantastic, head over to Feeling Stitchy for the proper review but I’ll just say here that expect to see lots more patterns cropping up from that book!
I finished the shoes on Saturday and promptly had to wear them out and then the weather turned to this.
So not my most smartest idea. My feet were slopping around and they got nicely mud spluttered, luckily they washed off ok under the shower once I got home.
Update – The French knitting was finished and cast off successfully. Girl Lacer made it into a bracelet for Boy Lacer.
Boy Lacer in his normal position
I always like it when the postman comes with a parcel and it’s always extra specially special when the parcel contains something a good friend has made. The parcel today was principally for Boy Lacer, containing an extremely cute bag made by 5currantbuns filled with goodies for all of us, so I’m now wearing a lovely brooch, we’ve all been munching chocolate and Girl Lacer has a bracelet to make (she always likes doing things like that).
Boy Lacer really liked his bag and insisted on wearing it straight away, saying “It’s a very nice bag,” and “I love this bag,” and “I’m keeping my things in it”. It’s cute ladybird is actually a finger puppet and it’s lined with Amy Butler fabric, so Boy Lacer’s mummy approves to 
Boy Lacer being very pattern coordinated today, as he definitely thinks stripes are nice.
Well, it’s officially spring and the weather is currently duly obliging, although that may be due more to me ordering a new raincoat yesterday (you know how it goes, you buy sunglasses, it clouds over for the rest of the summer, you buy a natty new pink raincoat and it stops raining).
I read an interesting blog post from the always interesting Cargo Cult Craft, about us Brits and our attitude to the cold, basically saying that we cope with our bone numbing damp cold, largely by denial and I think there is a lot to that, but I think there is also a lot of optimism (or as Mr. Lacer, who also read the post said, “We’re tough”). Like today, beautiful sunlight streaming into our dark and dingy flat and although I knew it was cold outside (through the window we could see ice on the sledge that we’ve yet, ahem, to put back in the shed – well it was going in and out of the shed like a yo-yo this winter). But the urge to go running through the school run and a trip to Sainsburys in just a jumper was almost uncontrollable (I actually went out in a t-shirt, jumper, my green corduroy long coat and one of Mr. Lacer’s scarves – because Mr. Lacer always has the nicest scarves – I may be optimistic but I’m not stupid).
Now we’re back home and I have a lot of housework to do and I’m not doing it, in my defence, the foot I injured last Tuesday is still hurting, aggravated by the walk to the supermarket, but oh I have a lot of housework to do. We spent the weekend starting the process of reorganising our bedroom and have moved the furniture around, in preparation for a trip to Ikea next weekend. However, this rearrangement has thrown up a lot of junk that has to be got rid of or put somewhere. However Mr. Lacer did manage to find my lost editing book and my lost copy of Stitch n’ Bitch, which I’ve been looking for for ages, so I could knit up the jumper I bought wool for, in the January sale. But since squealing in delight at Mr. Lacer, that he found my knitting book, I’ve gone and put the book down somewhere and can’t find it again, I think the fates may be saying I shouldn’t go knitting no jumper.
When the chaos has been reigned in again and new furniture purchased and built, our bedroom is going to be a lot better, which it needs to be, as the kids grow older or should I say more and more capable of taking up every single inch of the living room, me and Mr. Lacer need to retreat to our bedroom next door (one, possibly the only advantage of living in a small flat, with the living room next to our bedroom and doors always open, it is very easy to tell what’s going on, even if us adults have escaped to the bedroom).
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Finally, something that I often walk past and has always made me smile but looked even more cheerful in the bright early spring light today.
Once again having a blog means I can keep track of these things, last year I wrote on the subject of writing
New Year Resolution 2009: Boy Lacer starts nursery (so five mornings or five afternoons) in September, so that will give me a lot more time, until then I need to stop searching fruitlessly for big chunks of time and concentrate on the smaller gaps. The other writing resolutions is to start carrying round a writers notebook for ideas and to get that first draft done!
I never did really find those smaller gaps, although as predicted it did get a lot better when Boy Lacer started nursery and I did manage to get a first draft done. I never did start to carry round an actual writer’s notebook but since changing to an iPhone in the summer, I’ve been really happy with the note taking abilities on that, so have been storing ideas on that.
Another writing promise I made to myself in 2009 was to submit two pieces of work, I only actually submitted one, back in the spring and as it was to a publishing house that doesn’t believe in sending out even form rejection slips, I think the length of stony silence is definitely an indicator that I didn’t succeed with that one. The piece I submitted was very very tailored to that particular publishers and will need quite a bit of rework before being submitted again but it will happen, it’s just the length of time I had to wait before the time they specified was up (about six months after submission), other story ideas pushed in and that particular piece lost it’s place in the queue. I am fairly fond of that story though and it will get reworked at some point.
So, my writing New Year’s resolutions 2010 – continuing to aim to submit two separate pieces of work a year, ideally one large piece (a novel) and one smaller piece (a picture book, non fiction or even just a magazine article). I’m currently editing that first draft and I am confident I will be submitting it in 2010.
The big thing about my writing in 2010 will be time or lack of it, Boy Lacer starts school full time in September, I may or may not have started ‘proper’ paid work prior to that and therefore will have even less time than before or if we can successfully get our DLA changed to a level I think it should be at, I’ll be able to remain off work, caring for my son (and of course daughter to) in a way that I feel I need to (there are big questions about whether we could even find a child minder to take Boy Lacer anyway) and if we were to be in a better financial situation so that I could remain off work, then of course from September I will have even more time to write whilst Boy Lacer is in school.
On the subject of money last year I wrote
Money will be a big issue next year, I have to control it now on an even tighter leash and decide whether my book selling is economically viable. I could do with getting more tuition clients but I’m not sure how easily that will happen with the recession.
Well money will be an even bigger issue in 2010, to an extent where I really need to go back to work about a year earlier than planned and then of course that was always under the assumption that I’d be able to find work (I’ve been looking, it’s turning out quite difficult) and that I’ll be able to find suitable childcare (an issue with Boy Lacer). I have given up on the book selling and have instead opened my Etsy shop, which I’m a lot more confident about or at least it is far less of a financial risk than the book selling was. As for tutoring, it is getting harder and harder to find clients and from next September (I think?) I will have to register with that new register if I wish to continue working and that’s going to cost me quite a lot of money when at the moment I’m seeing one client every two weeks if I’m lucky, so I may register and actually not get my money back. So I need to decide whether to continue, to be honest it’s not my more favourite of jobs but out of all my little businesses it tends to bring in the ‘most’ money (she says, falling about laughing), so maybe I just need to somehow find more clients.
So, until then, before I somehow bring in more money I need to concentrate on saving money, me being at home full time means that I can do things that save us money, this Christmas with my handmade gifts saved us a lot of money, I am vaguely hopeful that this may be the year we get an allotment, I’m getting better at making clothes, I need to spend more time in the kitchen, it goes on. I can contribute to the finances by staying at home but unfortunately without the extra figures going onto the bank balance.
On the subject of cooking I wrote
Cooking is a fine line, I need to make sure I plan for recipes that aren’t going to be too expensive and aren’t going to leave unfinished jars etc. that won’t be used. I think in 2009 I need to make my cooking simpler.
I took it too far towards simple this year and the menu I was producing got simpler and simpler and more reliant on frozen foods I knew weren’t going to go to waste if I wasn’t going to use them. In 2010 I need to start cooking a greater variety of dishes again, stop letting Boy Lacer’s extreme fussiness defeat me and most importantly bulk cook, 2010 will be the year my freezer will truly be my friend.
Finally on the subject of craft, I wrote
Looking at the things I had made up to the beginning of 2008 is a good feeling because I’ve added so much to that list now. I feel that I’m now reasonably ok at embroidery and I’m starting to develop my own style. My soft toys are much better (not hard when compared to my 2007 efforts). I never did get round to knitting again but that will be this year. Oh and as for the sewing machine, I did get it out, managed to thread it up and it does work but I’m sorely in need of someone showing me how to do it properly, instead of a book, so I’m strongly contemplating lessons in January, as in 2009 I would like to start making my own clothes and furnishings.
Well, that was successful! I have knitted and although I’m still not brilliant at it, I am far more confident. I got the sewing machine out in January and I am amazed twelve months later what I can do with it! My New Year’s Resolutions for 2010 is to develop the stock for my Etsy shop and sew (and possibly knit) far more of my family’s clothing. I also want to practice my drawing skills, which can only help develop my own embroidery designs further.
I can almost smell the end of the Christmas present making! Thank god! Although it has been great and I’ve enjoyed it and I’ve saved a hell of a lot of money, I’ve had stuff on the go since mid November and I’d like things to be a little less pressured now. So, as I’ve just finished the scarf (to go with the hat I had to make Boy Lacer, as I couldn’t find a nice, cheap enough hat to fit), the only things I need to do now is sew a couple of cushion fronts together and make Boy Lacer a robot, it will be done – and then onto the preparatory Christmas cooking.
Anyway, the scarf, knitted in Noro again, with one and a bit balls; as per usual when I knit scarfs with no patterns, I’ve gone too wide and consequently it’s a little short, but it should fit nicely tucked into the top of Boy Lacer’s coat and as usual, being Noro, it was a pleasure to knit.
(The bear by the way is mine, called Hug Me, made by my mum, he’s a clothkit style bear, I clearly remember going to the craft shop with my mum and picking the kit out)
As I blogged about recently, I’ve been having trouble finding a hat for Boy Lacer for Christmas, he has a very large head and no longer fits into children’s hats (or some adult ones), so I decided to make one. Buying a ball of gorgeous Noro wool works out cheaper than an adult hat made out of not so nice wool. So I braved my fear of knitting something that wasn’t a rectangle and knitted, roughly following a pattern I found on the net (I made it bigger and stuck to just stockingette stitch, I was really just looking for guidance on when to decrease stitches and then sewed it together – certainly not brave enough to knit on the round yet).
The result, well I’m pleased with it, but a ball of Noro wool can do that, make the most cack handed knitting look great. However, it is possibly too small, I’ve tested it in Mr. Lacer and he finds it a little tight, so I’ve been stretching it a bit. It just about fits on my head (Boy Lacer gets large head size from me), so hopefully.
Talking of Christmas, I blogged (again recently) rather proudly that Girl Lacer wasn’t yet asking for a DSLite, well I shouldn’t have counted my chickens, a conversation this morning -
Girl Lacer: I know what I’m going to write in my letter to Father Christmas.
Me: I thought you weren’t going to write a letter to him?
Girl Lacer: We’re doing it at school.
Me: (thinking – Grrrhhh school, I’ve done my shopping already!) What are you going to write?
Girl Lacer: That I want a DS and a wii.
Me: Oh! Well you know, Father Christmas has so many toys to make I think he may have made yours already, before you wrote him a letter. Do you actually know what a DS and a wii are?
Girl Lacer: No, I just want them to see what they are.
This is where I debate whether to actually tell her or not. She’s obviously heard about them in class and I don’t want her being teased because she doesn’t know what they are, yet telling her would make her more likely to actually want one. I go for the telling option.
Me: Well a wii is that thing Grandma has got that you play tennis and bowling on and a DS is a type of computer game thing.
Girl Lacer: Oh I really want them now!
Internal groan. After enquiring exactly who in her class wanted a DS and a wii, two boys, neither particularly close friends of hers.
Me: Well you know a DS and a wii are really big kid toys, I know you’re big now but it’s more for when you’re 7, 8, 9. If you got one now what would you get for Christmas when you’re 7, 8, 9?
Girl Lacer with big grin: More computer games!
At this point I mumble something about how Father Christmas probably thinks wiis and DSs are something you buy with Christmas money.
Anyway here’s a photo of a far more innocent Christmas present, modelled by big bear.
