Pillow sham (test knit)

One of the great things about knitting in 2010 is you the wealth of online patterns, not to mention the number of other knitters out there who are ready to give advice and share their knowledge on sites like Ravelry. Yesterday I finished testing a beautiful pattern through Ravelry's Free Pattern Testers group, and I'm so pleased with it I want to share the results here.

This pillow sham was fun to knit and the end result looks great. It was designed by Lindsey at PreciousKnits, and the pattern should hopefully be available to buy at her etsy shop fairly soon. I highly recommend you check it out.

So my only question now is: what to knit next?

Autumn

Yes, the leaves on the ground mean it's definitely time to say it's no longer summer, despite some fairly balmy days in the last week. Yesterday I finally walked over to Cherry Hinton Hall (the first time I've been when there was no Folk Festival in full swing), where I got to watch some very cute children feeding some worryingly large swans. When I think of Cambridge's abundance of green spaces I think of the obvious - Parker's Piece, Jesus Green, Midsummer Common - but I always wish they had a few more trees, and that's one thing Cherry Hinton Hall grounds has an abundance of. I'm thinking this is somewhere I should visit more often.

In other news, a new job just six miles from home has led to me rediscovering an old activity - cycling. Someone said to me it's the wrong time of year to start cycling again, but I think autumn is the perfect time of year, while the weather is cooling off but it's not too icy to breathe. I have to say it feels pretty liberating to be out in the fresh air instead of cooped up in my car on the A14. I love my route, which takes me across the river and through Petersfield to the station, out of town past the hospital and through the fields into the village - I love the way the character of the city changes every five minutes.

What I don't love is the way bus drivers appear to have no ideas about giving cyclists personal spaces, which is why I have today invested in a cycle helmet. The last time I owned a cycle helmet, I was 11 years old and I always took it off as soon as I was out of my parents' sight, so I guess this marks my entrance into sensible adulthood. I'm going to look sooooo cool.

Silk purse - first design

Ages ago I made an undertaking that I would try and get some pictures online of various things I've been knitting. Given that I take on projects in spurts and post to this blog rather infrequently, that hasn't happened yet, but I wanted to post now because I'm rather proud of this purse I made - in particular because I designed it.

It's knitted with Rowan Pure Silk DK yarn, which I had a small amount of left over after making a cushion for my grandmother-in-law as long ago as Christmas... and I finally finished it last weekend. Glueing the frame was a bit of a messy business, but so far the whole thing seems fairly stable. I'm pretty pleased although if I attempt any future purse designs, it would be nice to get the bottom a little less, um, bulging. Still - not bad for a first effort!

Allotment progress pictures

Having just eaten some potatoes dug up earlier today, I figured now would be a good time to post some of the pictures showing the progress we've made. First I've uploaded a before and after picture showing what it looked like when I first planted the seedlings I'd grown in the kitchen, and what it looked like after a few weeks of rain last month, albeit before the carrots and lettuce started showing themselves in the plot at the very bottom of the photo.

And just to be smug, there's also a picture of today's harvest, including rhubarb, a courgette and potatoes. I'm still astounded by the fact that all of this comes from a few seeds - I will never stop being amazed when those seeds start turning into plants and those plants start bearing fruit and veg! I can now nod my head in agreement when people talk about how much better freshly-picked sweetcorn tastes, and I can't wait to see what this little patch of ground can produce when I've got a full year to work on it. Watch this space...

Allotment update... and a new job!

Well, it seems I've finally found something I can stick at - it's been slow progress, but the allotment is looking pretty decent and we've been harvesting courgettes, sweetcorn, rhubarb and potatoes (as well as some very small onions).

Only half the plot is dug over for now but I've got plans to start digging over the other half in the next few months, and I've made a start on planning what will go where next year. I'll try and get some pics up soon.

In other news, I am no longer a reporter - I've started a new job as a press officer for a fantastic national charity that's doing some really important work. The nerves have subsided after a few days in the job, as everyone has been really lovely and helpful and I've already got plenty to be getting on with. An extra plus is that it's much closer to home - meaning I no longer need to commute up the A14 and I can get home with lots of time to do things in the evening - like working on the allotment. Bonus!

Starter Plot 1

I think my metamorphosis into Felicity Kendal is finally complete. I've got an allotment!

After months on a waiting list, and having resigned myself to the conclusion that a plot would never become available, I have been offered Starter Plot 1 at the Cambridge City Council-managed Maple Close site. Eeek!

I am both excited and a little anxious - I'm really hoping I'll be able to manage it properly, and actually successfully grow something. It's a really small site (there are two massive plots, and two other starter plots), so I'm hoping the neighbours are friendly and won't look at me with disdain as I struggle to get any green shoots - weeds aside - to come out of the ground. We've discovered a cut through from our house that reduces the journey to a whole five-minute walk, so at least I can't make the excuse that it's too far away.

At present the plot is full of weeds, but they're pretty new weeds so digging them out shouldn't be too much of a struggle. Meanwhile, I've planted tomato, courgette, aubergine and pepper seeds that will hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, be ready for planting out. Look at me and all my plans!

Of course, the real point of all this is to slowly up the pace on my Total World Domination Plan (tm) - but shh, don't tell anyone...

Productive weekend

For once I feel like I've been doing something with my time off: today I actually pulled myself out of bed at 8.30am (this is unheard of for me on a Saturday), to go down to Greenwich with Simon. Okay, so he was going to collect an eBay purchase, but while we were there we took the chance to go and look around the Royal Observatory and the National Maritime Museum. And both are free!

The post-Christmas weeks have been a bit strange; what with the first anniversary of Mum's death, the snow (which I'm grateful has now cleared) and the inevitable lack of money that follows the festive season, I've been feeling a bit blue. I finally feel like things are looking up though, and today's trip definitely helped. Tonight will be my first trip to the pub since New Year's Eve, which might explain my cabin fever somewhat... and tomorrow I have plans to make myself go and talk to the allotment people at the end of our road, in an effort to force myself to spend more time outdoors. Sad to say, this could be one of the more productive weekends I've had in a while. I think this means I need a life.

Now, roll on February!

New pastures

We're in!

Today I closed the door on the old flat for the last time. It felt quite odd looking around the empty space, and posting the keys back through the letterbox knowing I will never see the inside of it again. I hope the new tenant likes it as much.

We had some good times there but I know I will end up loving the new place. It doesn't quite feel like home yet, but already I'm loving how much room we have, and I'm really enjoying being able to cook in the new kitchen. We're close to friends and Dad, we have some great places nearby and we can still be in town in a 30-minute walk - all in all we're much better off. I know Simon is happier being here all day than he was in the old place. Oh, and I'm hoping my bike will get more use, having discovered how dusty it was when I rode it here yesterday...

In other happy news, we have a new person at work who lives in Cambridge and I've discovered that car-sharing is a wonderful thing! Not only do I no longer have the guilt about driving all the way to Bury by myself, but I'm saving petrol and the journey feels twice as fast with someone to talk to on the way. Who knows, I may even get some knitting in on the weeks I'm a passenger. Score!

On being married and moving house

One of the most common questions I've been asked in the last month is "so what's it like being married?" - to which I always reply: "it's just the same as before, except I have a ring on my finger." And that's exactly as it should be, I think.

Simon and I tied the knot on August 8, and it already feels like a lifetime ago. We had an amazing day celebrating with all our friends and family; everyone seemed to have a good time and the whole thing just felt completely right. And the honeymoon was awesome too - the most relaxed we've both been in a long time. I wish we didn't have to come back to reality!

But here we are, and after 18 months in our lovely flat we've decided to move, because we're finally fed up with sacrificing space in order to live right in the middle of town. And I said 2009 would be the year we didn't move!

It will be a wrench to leave here - I love being right on the edge of Midsummer Common and right by the city centre - but we're also fed up of tripping over each other and everything we own. So now I'm surveying all our possessions and wondering how long it will take to pack them. We move in four weeks, so I guess I should get started...

In other news, I'm nearly finished the main body of this beautiful jumper and very excited about finishing it. I will try and get some photos and post them here soon!

Feeling lazy

Having just sponsored a friend who is running the Race for Life, who I know doesn't naturally enjoy running, is making me feel very lazy and pathetic. I have now been living right next to a massive green - runners' paradise - for more than a year, and I've been out for a 'run' once... must try harder. I am now publicly vowing that tomorrow I will get off my backside and try again. It's Mother's Day, so I have a good excuse to get some fresh-air-therapy.

The last two months have sped past. But my aunt reminded me that Mum squeezed every ounce she could out of life; I think it's time for me to start doing the same.

Mum

My mother died just over a week ago. At 2.52pm - the time is etched into my memory - on January 10. She had Meningitis. She was just 50.

I am still figuring out how to come to terms with this; at the moment I'm almost pretending she's on holiday, as if she'll be back in a week or so. She was so full of life and such a big presence that I can't really believe it's possible she's gone, even though Dad and I were with her at the time.

Mum, I miss you. I know the pain hasn't even begun, really. I've been reading your livejournal - all your hopes for the coming year were so hard to read. But it was a comfort, too, to read how happy you had been recently and to see how many friends you had. Kind words have been pouring in from people who knew you (there are so many of them; I bet you never knew just how many people's lives you touched), and they're all saying the same thing: She was so cheerful. She was so positive. She didn't have a mean bone in her body.

It's impossible to sum you up in just a few words, but suffice it to say that I was - and am - so proud of you. You were so courageous and so determined; you must have sacrificed a great deal to be a mother to me at the age of 21, but you never let that set you back, earning your degree and your teaching qualification, learning to drive, setting off on travels abroad, where you made so many more friends. You were a role model, a caring mother and a best friend. One hug from you eased so many of my troubles. If only I could have one of those now.

Mum, Dad is lost without you. You have left a hole that will never be filled. What are we supposed to do now?

Manchester needs to move

I've just come back from a great weekend in Manchester, during which I discovered two things:

• Manchester is approximately 362% nicer, cleaner and friendlier than London
• Manchester is about two-and-a-half hours too far away by car

Given this assessment, I think the only workable option is for Manchester and London to switch places, so that I will only have to spend about an hour getting to Manchester from my house, and will therefore actually be able to see Manchester-based friends on a more regular basis. Therefore, I am adding the Manchester-London Reversal Project to my Total World Domination Plan(tm) and will implement it as soon as the plan comes to fruition, alongside the Guitar Solo Vetting Scheme and countless other life-enhancing changes.

Under the project, Londoners will be given the option of 'staying' where they are to live in Manchester, so long as they agree to discard their old London ways, in particular:

• Forgetting that places outside of London (and especially north of London) actually exist
• Barging into strangers on the street/tube and refusing to apologise in case it holds them up for a second
• Charging exorbitant amounts for beer and, well, most things

There will be other conditions, the most important of which will be a requirement for all Bands I Want To See who book London gigs to also play in Manchester during the same tour, and others that I will add at a later date (when they occur to me). All in all though, I don't foresee to many problems with this one. I'm looking forward to bringing the project forward and rolling it out. Going forward.

Coldham's Crumble

I love food, but the kind of food I love best is the kind that comes free because it grows in public. Right now I'm digesting apple and blackberry crumble after a successful fruit-picking mission to Coldham's Common. I'm definitely planning to go back next week; there are tons of blackberries getting close to ripening.

Coldham's Crumble
Filling: take apples and blackberries picked from Coldham's Common. Core and peel the apples, wash the blackberries, mix them all together with some brown sugar.

Crumble mix: 4oz plain flour/2.5oz brown sugar/1.5oz butter. Rub the flour and butter into breadcrumbs and tip over the filling before baking at 190 degrees C for 45 minutes.

EAT!

Knitting obsession

I'm becoming a bit of a knitwear obsessive. At the Folk Festival last weekend I kept spotting lots of garments that looked like they were hand-knitted and had to restrain myself from asking the wearers about them (I imagine they wouldn't have been best-pleased if I was wrong!). Simon thinks it's all a bit amusing, but I can just throw his model plane obsession back at him, so we're both super-geeks now. Anyway, it turns out I'm enjoying this new hobby so much I'm now planning on making all my Christmas presents knitted. I guess I'd better get cracking, since I'm not exactly the fastest knitter!

I've signed up for a Ravelry account to try and keep myself a little more organised with what projects I'm working on, but until that becomes active I'm going to attempt to keep track of what I've already done here.

So far I have two completed projects - the first being a scarf I made a couple of years back while I was in Nottingham, which I've never really worn. It was more of a practice project - all in garter stitch, which I don't find all that attractive and which, in any case, doesn't sit all that well round your neck - as you can see.

Continuing the garter stitch theme, I also completed this tank top in July - I prefer this, but I'm still not sure how often I'll wear it. It has a fine example of my cack-handed crocheting (I had to learn how to do this just for this top) along the neck and armholes. I'm fairly pleased with the result as a first attempt at altering a pattern. It fits!

Failed!

Oh dear... on reading my last post, I've realised that my green-fingered ambitions have been somewhat foiled. The sunflower seeds, sadly, failed to produce any sunflowers (probably because they were planted too late) and, in a new turn of events, our landlord appears to have started working on the flowerbeds I was going to use. Which means I now have an enormous pot of mint growing in the windowsill, that really really wants an outside home. I think perhaps I need to recruit some people to help me find a patch of scrubland to plant it out...

On the other hand, I have picked up an old hobby and started knitting again. Strange how you suddenly rediscover things your mother taught you as you near your 30s. I'd forgotten how satisfying it can be... although I think I may need to learn how to be patient again; something I've lost since I first learnt to knit. I'll try and post a picture if I ever complete my current project!

Guerrilla inspiration

Today Simon and I went planting on Midsummer Common - we've sown sunflower seeds that came with my copy of On Guerrilla Gardening, which was given to me by Fiona for my birthday. I'm not sure whether she was dropping a deliberate hint, given that the new flat has no outdoor space to call our own, but it's definitely inspiring me so far and I keep spotting pieces of neglected-looking land that I want to make good. I may not be the most green-fingered person in the world, but I'm seriously considering giving it a go, starting with the courtyard outside our flat, which features a strange water feature that probably cost lots of money, and some flowerbeds that are untended and looking a bit sorry for themselves. Need to figure out an action plan though - what to grow, and when to plant it - hopefully without getting noticed! I'll try and post the results here at some point...

Moving house

I'm surrounded by cardboard boxes in a flat that's surrounded by fog. Tomorrow I move house, so Simon and I will get to spend Valentine's Day driving across town moving all our possessions to our new flat - hopefully by that time this fog will have cleared!

Up until today it's felt more like spring than the middle of winter, which has given me a bit of that 'fresh start' feeling while I've been packing. Today it's difficult to motivate myself, though, and I'm putting that down to the weather - although I'm actually excited about moving now, after the initial disappointment of finding out we had to find somewhere new. I'll miss a few things about living here, but it's hard to be upset when we're going to have Midsummer Common as our back garden. I just wish physically moving everything was going to be easier...

Resolutions

So, today the Christmas decorations are supposed to come down and the festive season is really over, which to me means I have all that cold winter to get through with very little else to brighten it up, and no cash left to spend either. Mind you, we still have plenty of wine and chocolate left over to see us through the dark nights, so it's not all bad...

Every year I tell myself I'm not making a New Year's resolution, but when it comes down to it I always end up with a big list of things I want to accomplish. I've come to realise this is a pretty bad idea, since it only leads to an inevitable feeling of failure a year later (of my ridiculously long list of about eight resolutions for 2007, I managed to achieve about two, and they were the easiest ones).

Anyway, since I have no money and no urge to go out into the cold, I think this year I'm going to stick to one resolution that involves staying in a lot - learning to play the guitar I bought for myself last year. It's been gathering dust for several months now, and I haven't managed to progress beyond playing the same few chords one after the other in very slow succession - mostly that's because I get frustrated with myself and give up too easily. I'm sure there are harder things I've managed to master, but those are mostly things I've done because I've had to. It's about time I did something just for the fun of it, so I'm determined to stick with it this time - and hopefully, in a year's time, I won't be re-reading this with a sense of failure...!

Pre-Christmas penny pinching

What a miserable git I am. It's a Friday night, and while everyone I know is out celebrating Christmas in one way or another, I'm staying in and studiously not spending money.

As an atheist, it's ridiculous to like Christmas as much as I do, but I really do love this season. I love that while it's cold and grey outside, town is lit up with decorations and people are getting dressed up and having fun together. I love the buzz in the office on the last few days before the holiday, I love the over-eating and I love getting to spend a good chunk of time with my family. But unfortunately, for about the fourth year running I have no funds to properly enjoy it all and am finding myself ducking out of social events for fear of going over budget... which makes me pretty poor company at the moment.

Don't get me wrong - I fully plan to go out on Christmas Eve, I've managed to buy what I think are decent presents without spending a fortune, and my closest friends and I are planning to share a cheap home-cooked meal tomorrow that will cost next to nothing. But it would be nice, just for once, to get to this point in the year without worrying about how I'll finance it.

Clearly, I either need a better-paid career, a wealthy benefactor or to stop moaning. And in the absence of millionaire friends or a job I would rather do for more money, I guess I should start thinking about a New Year's resolution to be a little more positive... so here's to some festive cheer and goodwill!

¡No hablo Espanol!

I've got behind on myself again, haven't I? It seems like it was at least a month ago that I was lazing by a swimming pool and overheating in the Spanish sun. It's hard to believe I haven't even been back in the country for two weeks, although I've secretly already started plotting my next break. Maybe next time I should try for a country where I can actually speak a bit of the language, for all the use my phrase book was (note to self: being able to use a phrase you looked up earlier that day does not mean you will be able to understand the reply). Embarrassing touristy point-and-hope-for-the-best conversations aside, it was mostly just good to have the time away from Cambridge to relax with Simon and some mates, and to not have to do anything if we didn't feel like it.

It feels now like I've been back at work forever. It's depressing to be driving home in the rain watching the dark creeping up, and to be having email conversations with my friends about Christmas - and what with my weekend duty and Simon's packed-out week of shows, it feels as though we've hardly seen each other at all in the last week. In fact, I think we need a holiday...