Author: Susan

The finishing touches – sewing edition

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I was taking some photos of our flat in its “finished” state the other day and realised that I hadn’t blogged about some of the things that I’ve sewn for it.

First up: roman blinds for Steven’s study. My thought process went something like this: custom blinds are quite expensive; blinds are just rectangles, really; I know other people who’ve sewn their own blinds (my mother-in-law who has at least 3 decades, if not 4, more sewing experience than I do); my big sewing handbook has step-by-step instructions; how hard can it be?

Roman blinds

Roman blinds

The answer: reasonably hard but, in the end, actually achievable.

Study

They’re not perfect but I’m pretty damn proud of these.

I went through a similar thought process when I saw some table runners on a display in IKEA. For once, this project turned out to actually be easier than expected since they were selling the fabric with the side edges pre-hemmed so all I had to do was cut it to an appropriate length and hem the ends.

Dining table set

Deciding to then use the same fabric to make matching seat cushion covers was a bit more complicated. The chairs had come without cushions and really aren’t that comfortable without them. It’s surprisingly difficult to find plain square chair pads without ties and the ones with ties just aren’t shaped to fit on chairs with solid backs. We did manage to find some (IKEA again) that had velcro straps that we cut off but they were bright blue so really needed to be covered.

Dining chair cushion cover

I didn’t have a pattern or instructions to follow for these so just sort of made it up as I went along. I cut the hemmed edging off the fabric and cut  squares for the top and bottom of the covers from the geometric pattern centre strips. By undoing the hemmed edging and ironing it flat, I got a nice wide strip that I used for the band around the cushion. I then assembled these as very narrow box cushion covers with an overlapping envelope type opening on one of the narrow sides. Since these sit against the backs of the chairs, it doesn’t matter that they’re a little flappy and don’t stay perfectly shut.

Again, the result isn’t perfect but they do look good along with the matching runners and, hey, at least they’re not blue!

Playing tourist (with bonus knitting content)

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My sister and her boyfriend came to visit last weekend since they had tickets for the event that shall not be named and we took the opportunity to play tourist with a visit to Greenwich Market and the newly refurbished Cutty Sark.

Cutty Sark

The restoration of the ship has been going on pretty much since we moved to Blackheath and only finished in April of this year so it was great to actually go and have a look around before we move away.

Cutty Sark

The ship is beautiful and there is a wealth of information and interactive exhibits on its history. It’s well worth a visit if you’re at all interested in sailing ships.

Imagine my surprise however when I opened a drawer in one of the exhibits to discover this:

Cutty Sark

Apparently, although she is famous for being a tea clipper, one of other cargoes that Cutty Sark carried was merino wool from Australia.

Cutty Sark

I didn’t spot any yarn for sale in the gift shop though!

Finishing touches

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Lots of finishing touches being put on things around here at the moment. My Real Ale Socks pattern got finished and published.

The other sock pattern I’ve been working on is also nearly finished and should be being sent to be edited in the next couple of days. Here’s a little peek at the sample before it was blocked:

Sneak Peek

 

Also, after nearly 4½ years, we’re finally putting the finishing touches on this flat and, more importantly, after nearly 7 years, we’re putting the final touches on our time in London; come September, we’ll be back in Scotland. This makes me very happy and a bit sad at the same time and also somewhat terrified since there’s lots to do before we can move!

The calm before the storm

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I’m currently waiting for a horde of tradesmen (two) to descend and wreak havoc on the house (measure some windows and prepare some walls to be painted). In the meantime, I’m taking advantage of having the house to myself to try and get some designs that are nearly ready to be published actually ready to be published (or at least sent to the tech editor).

My desk

I had hoped that I might even be able to get some decent photographs of the designs today but it’s been pouring with rain since about 10 o’clock and shows no signs of brightening up enough even for indoor photographs so those will have to wait for another day.

The first design (that should be ready to be edited by the end of today) is the cuff-down version of my Irish Stout socks. You would think that writing up a pattern for knitting the same socks in a different direction would be easy (or at least I did) but it turns out that’s not the case, even though knitting them was a doddle.

Real ale socks

The other design is another pair of socks, this time inspired by a London landmark. I’m ridiculously proud of this design (which is the knitting that you can just see in the corner of the first photo above). It’s one of those designs where the yarn and stitch pattern have come together beautifully and exactly match the vision that I had in my head when I started. Of course, that just made it all the more upsetting when I lost the first sample that I knitted, probably somewhere on a train between Glasgow and London. Anyway, my period of mourning is now over and the second sample is well underway so these should be available soon too assuming I don’t lose it as well!

The power of suggestion

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It seems that I am easily suggestible. We were invited to a barbecue last night and offered to bring dessert. Steven baked an amazing lemon tart but I wanted to take an alternative option as well. Having just finished reading Janet Evanovitch’s Wicked Appetite, which has a main character who is a baker who may have supernatural powers that enable her to bake perfect cupcakes every time, there was only one possible choice: cupcakes! (It is a very silly book but a good, fun read, particularly if you like Janet Evanovitch’s other series.)

Raspberry cupcakes

Turns out that I don’t have supernatural powers that allow me to bake perfect cupcakes every time but these turned out pretty well regardless. I used the Raspberry cupcake recipe from Cupcakes from The Primrose Bakery, which includes raspberry jam swirled through the batter before baking. The recipe has you add extra jam after baking and before icing by cutting a small hole in the top of the cupcakes and spooning it in but I skipped this due to limited time before we had to leave.

Raspberry cupcakes

The recipe book recommends a white chocolate buttercream icing but, since  I wanted as little dairy in these as possible as an alternative to the vast amounts of cream in Steven’s tart, I used the basic vanilla buttercream icing instead.

Raspberry cupcakes

Topped with a couple of fresh raspberries, these look amazing and taste great as well.

The best bit — we kept some of the cakes that weren’t quite as attractive as the ones in the photographs so we can have cupcakes again today!

Alas, poor Sock!

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Susan: Alas, poor Sock! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite style, of most excellent pattern: I hath held him in my hand a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at it. Here hung that work that I have knitted I know not how oft. Where be your cuff now? your heel-turn? your toe? your twisting of stitches, that were wont to set the table admiring? Not one now, to praise your own design? quite chap-fallen? Now get you to my lady’s chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that. Prithee, Horatio, tell me one thing.

Horatio: What’s that, my lord?

Susan: How on earth did I manage to lose the sample sock for my new design somewhere on a train between Glasgow and London? And, more to the point, why hadn’t I taken the proper gauge measurements and written them down yet?

[Exeunt stage left, weeping and wailing.]

As there is no body, a memorial service will be held at 8pm on Thursday, 14 June 2012. No flowers, please.

Heel, toe, heel, toe. Step, 2, 3, turn.

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I’ve got heels and toes on my mind a lot at the moment.  I’ve just turned the heel on the new design that I mentioned a couple of posts ago and I’m contemplating starting another pair of my Irish Stout socks.

In the pattern, I recommend using some sort of reinforcing thread for the heels and toes if you’re not using a sock yarn with nylon in. For the sample pair, I used ordinary cotton sewing thread since I couldn’t find anything else that I was confident wouldn’t show against the black yarn. Imagine my delight when I ordered some Lang Jawoll yarn to make another pair and discovered that it comes with its own matching reinforcement thread. (Yes, I know I need to get out more.)

Lang Jawoll Superwash

By the way, if you’ve having trouble finding the reinforcement thread, it is tucked right in the very middle of the yarn but it is possible to ease it out without destroying the whole ball — if I can manage it, anyone can! To use the reinforcing thread, just hold it together with your yarn as you knit. You do need to make sure that you’re picking up both the yarn and the thread as you knit into the loops but that’s the most complicated thing about it.

The reason I’m still contemplating starting the socks and haven’t actually started is that I’m trying to decide whether I want to make a top-down version rather than the toe-up version of the original pattern. Another toe-up pair would be pretty mindless knitting but a top-down pair would mean that I could publish an alternative version of the pattern for those knitters who don’t want to knit toe-up socks. It would mean more thinking about heels and toes though!

For readers not familiar with Scottish country dancing, the post title is a reference to the dance, The Military Two Step, which is a lot more fun when performed as an adult at an actual ceilidh than when you’re forced to dance it in your school gym hall. Here’s a video by the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra showing how it’s done.