Manchester, Home of the Mancunian (NaMoBloPo #20)

Remember that scene in Wayne's World when they go "Delaware! We're in....delaware...". That's me.

I'm in Manchester. For work. It wasn't raining when I arrived so it is, QED, about to rain.

But let's not forget - it also has Abakhan Fabrics. This weird fluorescent lit, frankly dirty shop is packed with crafty gubbins, most of which isn't dirty. I was very restrained. The fact I only got there ten minutes before closing has no relevance.

Isn't that yarn a lovely turquoise? I have a pregnant friend who loves that colour so will be crafting a cardi and perhaps a hat for the baby out of it. I also got a couple of wooden embroidery frames - one circle and one oval, to frame WIPs. The thread is viscose which means it is all shiny and therefore great for machine embroidery. Mmmmm, shiny...

Live Music (NaMoBloPo #19)

I hardly ever go to anything live. I don't even watch TV when it's being broadcast most of the time. When my Dad gave me a call asking if I'd go to a gig with him I agreed without knowing anything about the singer. I now definitely do.

Her name was Beth Hart and she had one hell of a voice on her. She sang, played piano and danced about for about 2.5 hours with no break. That takes one amazing pair of lungs.

Her official website is here. There is also a lot on YouTube. I'd start with Chocolate Jesus as an example. It's not one of her songs but her voice is pretty incredible.

On the Fun Bus (NoMoBloPo #18)

I had the honour of spending a chunk of Saturday with Nickerjac's little boy. He showed me how to get to a shop I needed to visit and I then joined him on his favourite activity - bus hopping. I'd never tried this before but having definitely been on more than 12 buses today I now feel I am an expert. The first stop was S&A in Upminster where I got all the feather butterflies I could possibly need to make a hat to wear to my sister's wedding next month. LB was so good and expressed his artistic side with my camera while he waited for me to choose my colours.

The shop is a warehouse crammed from floor to rafters with stuff. Mainly party stuff (see the 6 foot inflatable champagne bottle in the background above - a mere £14.99) but most of it could be put to a crafty purpose. If I hadn't been accompanied I think I'd still be there now.

The upstairs is all fake flowers, bushes, trees, topiary and more. There's also an extra christmas warehouse.

Hide and seek among the flowers. Awesome.

We sat upstairs on all the buses (obviously) which gave the LB full reign with his playground radar. The slightest hint of a ball pond or swing and we were off.

These things really amaze me. There was no such thing when I was his age. It was literally swings and roundabouts. And a see-saw. See-saws have definitely vanished from the modern playground. Although there is a one person version.

Now would you say that was a camel or a sheep?

Getting Up To Speed (NoMoBloPo #17)

A little while ago I got excited about this pin on pinterest.

Source: lolalina.com via Alex on Pinterest

I've had it in the back on my mind since and so I used one of my work lunchtimes to do a little work on it. I don't know about you - but at my work Avery L7163 is our label of choice. 14 to a page and the right size for addresses.

Now I just need to cut them out with suitably crazy bladed scissors. Now I 'just' need to decide on the string. Do I faff about with baker's twine or shall I just use proper string? Certainly not buying it.

Cunning. 

6 weekends til Christmas people...

A is for... (NaMoBloPo #16)

A is for awesome friend who got me a chocolate letter A.

Nom nom nom.

Keeping Track Tutorial (NaMoBloPo #15)

Sister Diane of CraftyPod has been looking at keeping up to date with what your favourite bloggers are doing. I'm going to share what I do.

She mentions an aggregator called FlipBoard and this is what I use. It's a free app I've got installed on my phone. You can use it to keep track of multiple media sites, or not, as you desire. For me the main use is for keeping track of blogs. This is my first screen when I open the app.

The top section is what the app decides are the top stories from all the other boxes you have. Then below that I've chosen to have UK news and Technology news. I can touch any of these to go into them in more detail. Then this is my second page of the app (I only have 2).

From the top I've got Science news, Flickr uploads by me and my Flickr friends, Google reader (this is the one I use most), Craftzine, Twitter and Facebook. It's Google reader I'm going to concentrate on as it makes keeping track of blogs so amazingly simple.

First up you need a Google account. I defy you not to have one already. If you use Google+, blogger or gmail account you've already got one. If by some chance you don't just click here and create one. If you do have one go to http://www.google.com/reader, click on the red 'subscribe' button and think of a blog you enjoy reading. Type or copy and paste the blog address into the box and click 'add'.

Simple!

Now the clever part. Open your Flipboard app and one of the grey squares will say 'More'. Tap it then select 'Accounts' and 'Add an Account'. This is where you add your Google Reader account details.

And that's it. Now, whenever you want to see what's new with the blogs you follow you open Flipbook and tap your Google Reader square. It will bring up the most recent updates. So for example...here we have something from the book guru Knitting on the Green.

It gives me the main pic and a few lines of text. To read the whole post I tap and it opens up. I can comment on and read other posts if I want to. If I don't want to read the whole post I just stroke the screen to flip it upwards and move onto the next most recent post.

And that's it!

Pay it Forward Attempt Two (NaPoMoBlo #14)

Someone on the U'R Priceless bloghop mentioned 'pay it forward' which reminded me...

I did a Pay it Forward post a month ago and no one took me up on the offer.

A bit of googling gave me this TED event last December where they talk about pay it forward as "the values and proactive attitudes that need to make their way from generation to generation, in order to boost commitment towards a better world". I kinda like that.

Now get to that old post and sign up before I slaps ya.

We're All Mad Here (NaMoBloPo #13)

The best definition of patchwork I've seen was "cutting up bits of fabric and sewing them back together". It captures exactly what happens from both the crafter's point of view and from that of the bemused looker-on. It is something that *had* to have evolved out of necessity - making things out of other things which had part worn out - because you'd not deliberately start out with that intention in mind when you could just get a piece of fabric printed with any patchwork pattern. Plenty of examples can be seen on Spoonflower.

Source: spoonflower.com via Alex on Pinterest

Source: spoonflower.com via Alex on Pinterest

And yet...there is this compulsion to do exactly that. There can be only one explanation. Quilters are obsessive compulsive. Which in itself reminds me...

Have you signed up yet?

Idealist (NaMoBloPo #12)

I was on Pinterest last night, pinning away merrily, when I wanted to check if I'd already pinned something. I very quickly realised I'd forgotten a lot of what I pinned. It was time to give those Boards an airing.

For example, I've been looking for a belt to wear to my sister's wedding. Then I see this.

Source: flickr.com via Alex on Pinterest

That way I can make it exactly the size I want.

I've been pinning lots of little house blocks for more than a year now. I have the wooden blocks my Dad made me to paint and I have more than enough supplies to make some of these little ones.

Source: blog.anydns.com via Alex on Pinterest

I could kill two birds and make them into a mobile. Possibly to go alongside some of the other zillion mobiles I've pinned.

Source: etsy.com via Alex on Pinterest

Source: kiflieslevendula.blogspot.com via Alex on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Alex on Pinterest

Then there are all the patchwork blocks I want to try. There are too many to share here but I bought a dresden plate template when I saw this.

Source: lurlineg.blogspot.com via Alex on Pinterest

Perhaps that will be next!

So, people of Pinterest...don't just keep pinning. Remember to revisit your neglected Boards!

Lest We Forget (NaBloMoPo #11)

"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers."

Lucky Number 10 (NaBloPoMo #10)

I've never made it this far through a National Month of Blog Posts before without missing one.

That is all. 

Wrong Handed (NaBloPoMo #9)

My understanding is that most people are by nature right or left handed. It's a natural preference to use one over the other for particularly manual, dexterous  tasks. The occasional person is ambidextrous and goes both ways but that's fairly unusual.

On Tuesday I woke up with a really painful shoulder. It's kind of inside the shoulder, behind the scapula. It hurts when I do most things including typing so a short post. But knitting, using a mouse, sewing with my right hand - those all make it worse. It is gradually easing but it's bloody annoying in the meantime.

So I've moved my mouse to my left at work and tonight I tried sewing some patchwork pieces together using the needle in my left hand. It was about 1/4 the speed of my right but not actually that hard - and I've found the same thing with my mouse at work. It all has me thinking - is it worth training yourself to use both equally? Or at least to use your non-dominant hand competently.

Of course you still have to hold the fabric with your other hand so sewing with your left doesn't really help. I just can't bear sitting here doing nothing though.

TV To Knit Things By Part 2 (NaMoBloPo #8)

A few weeks ago I did this post on TV series to knit along to. It got quite a few comments and hits and there were many suggestions. I thought I'd summarise them here.

Person of Interest

I've gone from knowing nothing to addict in just a few weeks. The main character is played by Jim Caveizel (on the left above) who played Jesus in Mel Gibson's film. He is sooooooo nice to look at but, sadly, it's 0/10 for removal of shirt. He plays an ex CIA black ops guy (i.e. he killed people cleverly) and, like Minority Report but secreter, there's a machine that knows when someone is going to be involved in a crime. Loads of conspiracy stuff, excellent supporting characters. All good.

Silent Witness
I've not loved this but Becky commented to say she'd fallen back in love with it so maybe I should try again. BBC website link here. I guess this is kind of the english equivalent to CSI so if you're non UK you may want to try this.

Miss Marple
Oh yeah baby. I only left her and Poirot off because I never think of them as series. Whether it is Joan Hickson (the definitive Marple imho) or another they are all good. Got to love Marple.

The Killing (Danish version)
Tracy left a comment about this and is not the first to recommend it. I haven't got around to it but as she says "It is a bit tricky to knit to with subtitles, but you just need to make it a simple knit - completely worth it :)" I believe this is the one with 'the' jumper. Which reminds me. Lopi jumper tool anyone? This site and the accompanying Ravelry group is genius. Put in your measurements and gauge and then either adapt a standard pattern or design your own. Pure genius.

Rosemary & Thyme
Now bagqueen said Murder She Wrote was too corny for her while Ynot suggested this one. For me R&T is just too much. The two women in it are hamming it up so much - Felicity Kendal especially. I can't bear it. Give me Murder She Wrote anytime. Ahhh...Jessica

DCI Banks, Wire in the Blood and Scott & Bailey
I know nothing except they are all british.

I hope you've all enjoyed this little series and let me know if I forgot anything!

Books #42 - #46 (NaMoBloPo #7)

Knitting on the Green is up to book #95. Not that I'm in competition or anything but...hmph...

#42 Unseen Academicals
By Terry Pratchett

This is a reread since I am a total Pratchett addict and read them as soon as they come out. Whenever I want some intelligent comfort reading I turn to these and am in fact rereading another one at the moment. This story concerns the Wizards and the head of the night kitchen. You also get scenes with the Watch and the Patrician (who at one point becomes drunk and reminds me of another Alex I know). The key theme though is football and anyone who has ever stood on a terrace will recognise the rivalry and the people who weave this amazing story. These books are all well worth reading. 

#43 4.50 From Paddington

by Agatha Christie

Another comfort read and an old friend. This book was made for television three times with three different women playing Miss Marple. All have subtle differences and I'd forgotten that all differ from the book, so it was good to get back to the original. This is one of her best books with original writing and ideas. Still a very easy read though. 

#44 A Better Quality of Murder

by Ann Granger

This was a library book and the first I've read in this series. It's 1867 and a scotland yard inspector has a forward thinking wife and so they approach the crime in their own ways. For me this was initially an ordeal to read. It just took soooooo long to get going. Once it did though it was quite good but I found the way the upper class characters behaved rather irritating. I'm still not sure whether this was because they were irritating or because of the way it was written. I guess I need to try another one. 

#45 Dodger

by Terry Pratchett

This is not out in paperback for another year so I won't give much away. I hadn't done my research with this one and was expecting a Discworld book. Not least because of the illustration style on the cover. I was rather stupidly surprised then when it turned out to be a Dickens style romp. I think to use the word 'parody' would be unfair as this is a novel in its own right and the use of the name 'Dodger' (as in The Artful Dodger from Dickens' "Oliver") for the main character works well when it's explained. The way the story pans out is very dickensian and satisfactory. The writing is as good as you would expect from Pratchett and although it wasn't what I had expected I was very happy that I had bought it in error. 

#46 The Chalk Circle Man

by Fred Vargas

I am eternally grateful to my cousin for sending me this. Vargas is a french writer and the original book is called L'homme aux Cercles Bleus which translates as The Blue Circle Man but I guess chalk is thought to be more appealing to english speakers. Perhaps because 'blue' can mean rude/porn? Anyway, completely irrelevant tangent. The Chief is a brilliant character and we get his back story here as this is the first in the series. His supporting detective is also an excellently drawn man and the people the Chief meets as he traverses Paris to solve the case are also wonderfully outlined. An author like Michael Innes, and you can hardly get a more english detective than Appleby, would spend a page and a half laboriously explaining each of their characteristics while Vargas puts them down in just a few pen strokes. Like the difference between a Stubbs and a Degas. The ending was a little bit...odd. But lovely cousin did mention this wasn't the best one in the series. If you read this I suggest bearing in mind Vargas's gender. I was astonished.

All the images in this post are Amazon affiliate links, but I'm only in it for the images. 

One More FO (NaMoBloPo #6)

I finished this at the weekend. I'd done the main ring a few weeks ago, having bought the pattern and fabric while in Somerset. The leaves, beads and a hanging loop were all that I added.

The leaves took a bit of experimentation. The instructions suggested using batting but I found this was too bulky so used a single layer of craft felt instead. One good tip - the leaves only need to have one 'nice' side so to make them I put right sides together and sewed *all* the way around. Normally you'd need to leave a gap to turn them inside out and then whip stitch the gap closed. Instead I used a seam ripper to slice lengthways along one side of the leaf and used that to turn it inside out, leaving all the edges intact.

A few riding hood red wooden beads from stash and I was done! This is a present for Mater so if you happen to see it Mumsy it will be on its way to you shortly.

If I were going to send xmas cards this year (it's not the cost of the cards that puts me off but the cost of the postage) they would have this image on.

E-cards are still a definite possibility though...