Fraud!

Well it happened again.  I was just trying to make a simple internet purchase with my debit card and it was declined.  Hmmmm, I thought, this is odd.  I double-checked my balance to assure myself that the money hadn't run out yet.  Two minutes later my phone started ringing.  It was the bank calling to tell me that the local police had reported my card number as one of many they'd recovered from somewhere dodgy (he wasn't real clear on what the police had found).  In any case it meant my card was immediately cancelled and my replacement won't arrive for 5-7 days.  Now call me crazy but I don't have a bunch of back-up cards from other banks.  I try really hard to be financially sensible and I don't have any credit cards, just that all important debit card.  So 5-7 days without access to money could be a real issue for me.  Luckily I just stocked up at Sainsburys and recently withdrew cash so I should be okay.
I would like to know the deal is though, I mean this has happened to me at least 10 times in the last 10 years, most recently back in July.  My bank has assured me I'm not doing anything weird to encourage it but I'm starting to feel suspicious.

In crafty news, I have been knitting lots of mittens for the afghans for Afghans appeal.  Here's a little sample of the ones I've finished.

mittens in peacock formation (:

They are especially looking for jumpers so I think I'll see if I have some stash that could serve.  I see the deadline is the end of February so if I get my skates on I should be able to knit something with larger wool.  I reckon I'll need to allow at least a week for shipping from here to America where they pack it all up for shipping to Afghanistan.

Listy Friday

Since I've been a bad blogger recently, here's a random list:

1. Today I heard a funny noise while I was getting ready and looked out the window to see a man beating up a DirtDevil hoover.  He was bashing it on the pavement in a rather methodical way.  After about five minutes (during which at least three passersby asked he what was up) he collected up the bits of hoover into a big black bin liner and wandered up the road.
2. I'm just finished knitting a preemie cap using this pattern by Carissa Knits.  I like to have something to knit while I'm watching television or travelling by bus/train.  These will be the perfect little mindless project with a nice charitable outcome at the end.  Also, I reckon it will use up all manner of oddballs.
3. I finished a Beignet skirt, which is lovely, and wore it out to brunch with a few friends on Saturday.
4. I pulled down the old roman shades that were in my kitchen when I bought the house and replaced them with new handmade ones (with a proper thermal blackout backing).  I've washed the old ones and they are drying now.  The fabric is a lightweight decorator fabric and I'm considering reusing some of it to make a skirt.  Possibly a wearable muslin of the pretty scalloped skirt in the Colette sewing handbook.

That's all I have for now...perhaps something with pictures tomorrow (:

Snot factory

I have a cold.  I feel yuck.  I don't even really want to knit.

Bring on the Lemsip with medicinal whiskey.

I sometimes wish yarn could talk

Christmas 2010 I knit a very pretty shawlette for my sister S using just more than one skein of this gorgeous sunstone Socks that Rock.  The pattern is free on Ravelry - Echo flower shawl by Jenny Johnson Johnen



Echo Flower Shawl



Gorgeous, I think!

This left me with just less than a skein of leftover lovely sunstone.  So, I wanted to turn it into something I would be able to wear – I love little neckerchiefs (as my sister A calls them) so I looked for a pattern on Ravelry.  I knit my little heart out on a half circle shawlette….

I realised that despite its prettiness, the half circle was simply too small to be a useful little scarf – I know I would be endlessly re-positioning it and rescuing it from falling off, which would inevitably make me shove it into the back of a drawer.  So.... I ripped it all out. sigh.

In the meantime, I let a bit of holiday knitting distract me - I’ve knit a lovely hat for my brother C, a pair of Duffers for my nephew/godson J, and an endless scarf for my sister C. 

But that ball of lovely orange Socks that Rock keeps winking at me from the corner…what, oh what does it want to be??

The return of the Christmas bags

Several years ago I sewed cloth bags to wrap all of my gifts for Christmas.  These were a big hit with my family and the bags were swiftly repurposed for all manner of uses.  (My favourite is the bag which now holds fifty or so wooden spools that my grandmother saved from her sewing – the spools are very popular with the younger nieces and nephews.)

So last year I was visiting my parents in the states and nipped over to JoAnn Fabrics and bought a selection of Christmas themed quilting cotton.  I had it squirreled away all year until last week when I decided to make more Christmas bags.  I’m a more accomplished sewist now so I made them with French seams and even included drawstrings on a few.  This isn’t meant to be a tutorial, as there are many excellent ones available online already, but I thought I’d explain briefly how I made mine.

Having laundered my fabric, I snipped and ripped it into squares and rectangles of the appropriate size for the item I wished to wrap.   I pressed them and finished the upper edges by turning the edge ¼ inch then another ¼ inch and stitching to enclose the torn edge.  Then I stitched the other three edges (or two edges for those folded rectangle ones) wrong sides together, pressed/trimmed, then stitched with right sides together. 

Finally I stitched on a length of ribbon, about a third of the way down one side.  Voila – a finished bag.  I’m also using these charming little wooden gift tags from CraftShapes.  I had grand plans for painting them or staining/varnishing them but it simply isn’t going to happen this year.  I think they are nice just as they come.

Finish it up – itis

Well, it would seem that I have contracted a serious case of finish-it-up-itis.  I guess it was inevitable, given all the WIPs lurking around the house, but the intensity of the illness has taken me by surprise. 

I began by quitting my job, a task that I knew needing doing for over a year, without a new job in hand. 

Next, I sorted through my yarn stash and re-discovered all sorts of WIPs needing just a little fix or a bit of tidying up. 

A week later I felt compelled to turn that pile of fabric into something useful (Simplicity 2245 Lisette Portfolio Dress).

Then I realised my sudden extra free time meant I could actually cook meals for myself so out came the 1000 Vegetable Recipe book and a small parade of yummy dishes soon followed.

And finally, having thought about starting a blog for a while, I decided to seize the day and give it a go.  I intend it to be a place to talk and showcase about my handmades, but I reckon it will take a little while for it to fully form.

I’m hoping that this finish-it-up-itis turns its attention to my need for an income and pushes me into a job search in the New Year.  I thought it might induce me to get the hoover out or clean the hob more frequently, but this doesn’t seem to be part of the disease.