Must resist the urge to flash my pocket linings at strangers

I made trousers!

Plain, grey, work-appropriate trousers are perhaps not the most exciting garment to blog about, but they fit, which makes me want to do a little happy dance.  (Actually, I did do a little happy dance.  The first time I put them on I bounced into the room singing TROUSERS TROUSERS TROUSERS YAY, which may have alarmed Martin a bit).  My wardrobe was sorely in need of these since I can count the pairs of trousers that fit me on one hand while still being free to engage in a quick thumb wrestle, so my first victory of the year is a pretty big one.

These started life as Simplicity 2700, which didn't last very long as Oh My God that muslin was baaaaad.  So very bad.  I wish I had taken a photo of it before I started hacking it to pieces because it was so hilariously awful.  It looked like my arse was melting.  I had a few confused attempts at trying to save it before giving up and starting from scratch drafting my own trouser block, using Metric Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear (I love this book).

Much better.  Incidentally I've started using Instagram this year (@pieandhandkerchiefs), and one of my workmates thought these were the finished trousers that I'd made.  I appreciate that as a non-sewer she won't necessarily know what a muslin is for, but I'm a little concerned that she thinks that bright blue stripy clown pants would neatly fit into my personal style.

While I abandoned the main pattern, I did continue to use the (slightly adjusted to fit) waistband, pocket and fly pieces from Simplicity 2700, as well as mostly following their instructions for the construction.  Aside from one dumb moment ironing interfacing to the wrong side it all went rather well considering how many years ago I last made any trousers.  The only issue I had was how weirdly short the zip fly was which makes the trousers a bit difficult to pull on, so that's something I'll definitely change if I make these again.  It's especially odd as the envelope specifies a 7" zip, but the fly piece, minus seam allowances, is only about 4" long so there's a lot of unnecessary zip wastage and a highly inelegant shimmy to try and get them over my thighs.

My favourite part of these is the secret happy pockets.  All trousers should have these.  Especially office trousers.  Except they aren't super secret any more since I can't resist showing everyone who cares and plenty of people who don't.

This is possibly my biggest victory of the project - 3 completed buttonholes and still juuuust enough thread to attach the buttons and hand sew the hems without having to order more online.  I can't find Gutermann anywhere in the shops near me and I refuse to buy Coats thread because I'm still recovering from all the thread nest headaches it gave me in university.  I have of course subsequently found another reel of grey thread since having this panic but I feel that's beside the point.  

Anyhoo, enjoy these photos of my magnificently clad lower half, while I bask in the trousery smugness and try to talk myself out of wearing the same thing to work every day this week!

Here's to more 2016 successes!

Rosetta, the glamorous assistant - Isn't she amazing?

Guys I think I just made my best Hallowe'en costume to date and it's all down to the fabric.  Ok, it's somewhat down to the pattern as well, but Oh.  My God.  The Fabric.  Instead of the usual 'dress up as something scary' shindig my awesome friends threw a circus-themed murder mystery party and I was assigned the role of glamorous magician's assistant.  Obviously my brief for that was going to be skin-tight, shiny, and as tacky as I can get, so I nearly wept when the aptly named Cheap Fabrics threw up a pink and purple leopard print/zebra print monstrosity.

OH MY GOD YES

I used the Nettie pattern from Closet Case Files, which I got in the Sew Independent bundle last month - I will readily admit this is not the first thing I had in mind when I saw the pattern, so I'm sure it will be re-used for slightly more real life appropriate garments.

I cut a straight size 10 low-neck, low-back dress with no modification other than to lengthen the skirt and leave a slit in one side - this isn't the most forgiving fabric so I had to suck my stomach in a fair bit, but I imagine in a slightly firmer knit it would be a damn good fit.  I may give the low back a miss next time though; as Heather rightly pointed out in her sew-along having only half a shelf bra does pull on the side seams and gives the shoulders a tendency to slip off.  I still think the shelf bra is genius though - being able to go braless in October with nary a peep of neeps is ruddy marvellous.

Of course no costume is complete without accessories, so I finished the look with fishnets, a feather headdress, the cheapest feather boa I could find (Poundland FTW) and as much make-up as I could fit on my face.  I think I left bright pink feathers all over Alix's house.

Stole my friend's boyfriend to be my magician - he didn't get the memo about the pink.  Very disappointing.  I don't think my friend minded too much as she was secretly having affairs with both of us while being married to the murder victim.  Who then turned out to be faking his own death to frame the swindling knife thrower.  Meanwhile I had an inescapable alibi as I had apparently managed to lock myself in box.  All prime fodder for some excellent drunken ham acting!

Hope you all had an equally silly weekend!

Sun lounging

I'm writing this on my phone on holiday - I'm not sure about the mobile app for blogger and I definitely don't like the app,  so who knows how this is going to look when I hit publish.  (I miss WordPress a bit but I'm wondering whether 3 posts into the blog resurrection is a bit premature to think about moving it.) I suppose this is my comeuppance for not blogging about this sooner, but on the other hand I'M ON HOLIDAY!  I have made a thing for the sun which is ACTUALLY BEING WORN! IN REAL LIFE SUNSHINE! I may even get someone to take a picture of me on a sun lounger before I publish to prove it. 

When I say I should have blogged about this sooner I actually mean a month ago, before my pyjamas, and before another dress which I haven't even photographed yet, which means that this is the very first garment I've made from a pdf pattern - celebrating the fact that I finally got round to buying a new printer.  It's also the first thing I sewed from start to finish in years and I wanted to just whizz through it without getting stifled with ideas of perfection,  which hopefully explains why I didn't even consider matching the prints or...err...making a muslin. I should have made a muslin. The pattern (Mojave) is from Seamwork, so it's designed to be simple enough to not really need a muslin but yeesh.  The thing was gargantuan. 

I mean come on,  I know it's supposed to be an easy breezy loose bikini cover up, but surely the point of a bikini cover up is that it, you know, covers up some of your bikini? And the back? 

Oh, hello potato sack. All is good now though,  after hiking up the shoulders about an inch I cut a centre back seam which took a good 5 inches out of the top and up to 6 or 7 at the waist! 

It's still a little bit 'is there a stealth pregnancy under here?' in the front, but woohoo! I have a spine again!  Definitely good enough for lounging outside the holiday villa...

Yeah baby!  Trashy novel - check.  Gin and tonic - check.  Wet patches on my boobs to prove that I have been in an unheated pool,  outside, in mid-October - check.  Love you Portugal x

Spritzer pyjamas

Hey everyone, I accidentally made pyjamas!

I didn't think I would ever put time and effort into making pyjamas, but I honestly don't want to take these off, they're so comfy.  I'd originally bought the harlequin fabric a couple of months ago with the intention of sewing obnoxious workout leggings, but when it arrived I thought it was a little flimsy for something so skintight.  Since it was a teensy bit louder than something I'd otherwise inflict on the general public I decided to put it to one side for possible future PJs.

Then about a month ago Sew Independent released a bundle of mostly knit sewing patterns and a few days later announced a competition based on any patterns by the collaborating designers, and my fate was sealed.  Although the bundle included some awesome patterns, some of which were already in my wishlist, I have more or less no experience sewing knits so I figured it made sense to start with some of the simpler designs!

This frankly magnificent set is therefore comprised of the Pinot pants and the free Tonic tshirt,both from Skinny Bitch Curvy Chick patterns.  I've just about squeezed the trousers and sleeves out of only a metre of the harlequin fabric, and the rest is some 4 way lycra from Tia Knight.  This fabric feels lovely but it wrinkles really easily!  I ironed it when I finished the project and by the time I'd put it on the tshirt was already wrinkly - let's be honest though, this is the only time these are ever going to see an iron, I'm definitely not a PJ-ironing person.

The waistband of the trousers uses 1 3/4" wide elastic, and of course I had already cut the pattern pieces before I realised that it was really sodding hard to find that width of elastic in England!  I was very happy to eventually find some on eBay, and since all the colours were the same price I had to buy the green one despite the fact that no one will see it INCLUDING ME.  It's the little things.

I've stitched the seams on my overlocker, and the hems are finished on my sewing machine with a twin needle. 

The feed on my overlocker is apparently a bit uneven (saaad sad little underarm corners), so I'll have to remember to baste my seams first if I want to match them in the future on garments that will see the outside of my flat.

The neckline band of the Tonic is sewn on with the overlocker and then topstitched by machine - I really like this finish, much easier than I thought it would be for a professional looking edge.

I love the twin needle finish as well!  It's a bit ribbly-bibbly on the tshirt as my machine manual doesn't consider twin needles an eventuality that they need to cover so I was making things up as I went along, but I'd managed to figure out the correct tension on the trousers and sleeves so it lies much flatter and neater.

I'm going round to Martin's mum's for dinner tonight so it's probably more appropriate for me to put actual clothes on, but I really want to spend the rest of the evening in these.  Oh well.

Voting on the competition opens soon and there are 3 different categories so you don't have to feel obliged to vote for me (unless you're my mum), but I promise lots of silly faces if you do!

Eh, who am I kidding, I have a tripod and remote control now, there will be loads of silly photos anyway.

Rescue Mission

Ah...err...so it's been a while, hasn't it?  Four and a half years ago in fact, and according to the blog the last time I posted was when I was spending all day stuffing envelopes for an insurance company, which feels like a lifetime ago.

In brief summary, these are the latter years of my twenties (oh dear god where did they go):

• Walked out of said insurance company in disgust when the somewhat more interesting job they kept promising me went to someone else
• Walked into an HR job in a recruitment company and spent the next year and a half being shouted at by temp staff who couldn't quite grasp the fact that no, they weren't going to get paid if we didn't know that they went to work, and yes, they do have to use the sign in sheet for us to know that.
• Watched one of my best friends go off travelling the world and developed seriously jealous itchy feet.
• Shamelessly copied her and left the job to go backpacking around Asia for a year (I actually managed to keep on top of a travel blog as well)
• Miraculously stayed with the same boyfriend all this time despite the fact that I callously left him back in England on his own - his year of waiting devotedly goes some way towards explaining why I can forgive him for the constant fart jokes
• Finally moved out of Martin's parents' flat into a lovely sparkly flat of our own, which has a second bedroom which we have christened the Nerd Lair as it is full of half yarn and fabric and half Warhammer models.
• Got meself a new job in payroll, passed my payroll technician certificate with 98% because (my view) it was a really bloody easy exam, or (my parents' view) I'm phenomenal, aaaaand
• As of this week, started college again part time to learn AAT Accounting, which I'm rather excited about, because payroll is fairly dull (no, of course accountancy isn't dull as well, accountancy is a thrilling rollercoaster every minute)

But in other news, I'm resurrecting the blog because I SEWED A THING!

This isn't just a rescue mission for the blog though, I won the pattern for this dress in a blog giveaway 4 years ago and rather ungratefully it has been sitting abandoned and unfinished for almost as long as Pie and Handkerchiefs because I couldn't get it to fit.

The pattern is Lonsdale by Sewaholic, and I'd like to stress that the not fitting part was down to my pitiful attempts at a full bust adjustment rather than the pattern itself - if you don't do so much inept faffing about with it it's a lovely design and the instructions are very well written.  I'm sure my old college tutors would be horrified with how badly my adjustments went, but I maintain that it's very different fitting something to yourself rather than another body that you can walk around and look at from a distance.

I promise, I did do a muslin of my changes, which seemed to work fine, but my first error, and potentially my first indication that maybe I should slow down and think this through logically came when I somehow managed to cut the bodice from my adjusted pattern and the skirt from the original pattern.  Of course this meant that the skirt didn't come close to fitting on the bodice any more, and I didn't have the fabric to cut another one, so I was forced to cut additional 2" wide panels to fill in the gaps at the side seams.  But - I had several long skinny bits of fabric left, so I decided to make extra long strips and gather them up so the panels looked like a purposeful design feature rather than a bodged up repair job.

THE PERFECT CRIME! I am a GENIUS!

Off I go happy as Larry, sewing up all the pieces, finishing all the seams and inserting my ruddy perfect enclosed invisible zip and making everything look beautiful until it comes time to sew the hem and I tried it on for (what was I thinking) the first time, and it didn't fit.  At all.  I could fit approximately six of my boobs in here and two of those could have migrated to my sides if they really wanted to.  Clearly when I fudged around with the skirt, I really should have checked whether it still worked with my bodice adjustments.  At this point I wanted to cry, so I screwed the damn thing into a ball at the bottom of a box and sulked about it.  For four years.

Fast forward to last month and it appears that it was quite an irrational sulk, because now that I've calmed down and matured somewhat it was quite an easy fix - just taking in the side seams and hoiking up the waistband at the centre front.  I'd thrown out all the excess fabric and there was no way that I was unpicking all the finishing, so it was a case of pulling things around on the inside and slipstitching the outside into submission, which means that there are some odd folds going on inside the dress, but who cares?  The outside fits!

Weird insides

Gratuitous close up of the boobs neckline.  The ladies don't behave when I leave them unfettered so I have to wear a clear strapped bra, but I can live with that.

Best part of the dress though, is without doubt:

Pocketses!

I love the pockets so much and kind of want to put them in everything.  The sudden finishing of the dress was down to a last minute invitation to a wedding, and I left with cake in my pockets just because I could.  I had intended to wear this again to my friend's 30th last week but had to change my mind due to less than stellar weather.  I ended up wearing a shop bought dress which was admittedly warmer, but did not share the pockety magnificence of Lonsdale.  I was disappointed all evening. Handmade dresses win.

It's finally December!!

Ah, I have ben waiting so so long to open my advent calendar this year! It's not just your average cheap bits of chocolate behind a door thingummy (though I got one of those too because Martin's mum is awesome), but a handmade Christmas stocking filled with individually wrapped presents! This was the most recent swap I did with my Monthly adventures group on Ravelry and my received parcel was waiting, taunting me for over a fortnight.

I made my stocking from some lovely upholstery fabric that I bought in New York about 3 years ago. I have TONS of this fabric. I have no idea why I bought quite so much, but I probably have enough to cover an armchair, then make myself a full length coat for camouflage. I will be using it up very slowly at this rate! The knitted cuff is a pattern I found on knitting-and, knitted in Patons Fairytale 4ply. I got back into practice sewing some handmade presents for it as well, due to be enjoyed later in the month by Solvi in Norway.




My return stocking arrived a couple of days after I posted that, from Julia all the way in exotic Leeds, and I LOVE it! It's insanely decorative and pointy and looks like part of a principal boy's costume!

I pulled the cracker (proper traditional cracker, with plastic toy and rubbish joke :D ) as soon as it arrived but I had to wait very patiently for the rest. I even tried prodding and squeezing packages to try and make December come quicker and I'm not usually one to do that! But I finally get to rip things open now!

I got a tube of bubbles today, and a balloon, a silly straw and a cute fabric mouse yesterday (woo, triple giftage!)

I annoyed Martin intensely by insisting on drinking everything through that straw and slurping right the way down to the end of the bottle. That photo by the way, is posed on brand new freshly assembled Ikea furniture.

After 10 months waiting, Martin's stepdad's house has sold and we have keys to a brand spanking new (built 2 years ago) duplex in Poole town centre. This house has only just gone on the market so we can be nice and leisurely about moving in, but Martin and I could move in right now if we wanted, thus a very expensive and tiring shop in Ikea for bedroom furniture (not my money - the good kind of shopping). Of course, that was before we found out that it would be January before we had Sky and internet, but it's still nice to have the furniture all set up and waiting for us. Delivery was on Monday and I have been working like a machine to get things built - all much simpler than the generally accepted Ikea stereotype, apart from the wardrobe doors. Today was a rest day to get over strained muscles and angry, confused brains. Only the bed to go tomorrow though!

Tonight I have been making Honeyed Choc chip Cookies. As ever I have overestimated the size of each cookie and they have now spread to an ever increasing cookie slab. I have made these before! Why do I not learn! sigh. Tray 2 onwards will be much smaller. I hope.

Christmas knitting update: Finished Dad's jumper - Yay! Got behind on everything else - Boo.

I am back! And grrrrraduated.

Look! I'm a real grown up person! I graduated...err...a month ago and got to ponce around in an unflattering gown at silly o'clock in the morning. Wheeee! Just what I've always wanted!

The month since has been somewhat blah, jobsearching is sucking at my soul and because the jobcentre is run by robot monkeys I'm not eligible for job seekers allowance. But hey, I have a lovely (and highly convenient) boyfriend and he has a lovely mother who doesn't want to charge me more than enough to cover the extra food in rent, so I have a place to stay until I find a job and a flat of my own.

(See, if I call it 'a place to stay' rather than 'living with my boyfriend' it's a lot less scary.)

All my worldly possesions, aside from a few clothes and the essential 8 or 9 knitting projects, are now in storage, including my poor neglected sewing machine, which got one last outing after uni to finish my dress for the graduation ball.

This is the best photo I've got of the dress, which is the one that was originally intended for Nancy and Olly's wedding last year before the previous sewing machine blew up. Or possibly just stopped sewing. I forget. It's a shame I didn't get a better picture of all the gathering on the bodice (it took me long enough), but apparently I was more focused on getting drunk and grinning/grimacing like a loon for the camera to get a good shot from the neck down. I think it was worth it. Although, the celebratory amounts of alcohol made it all the more confusing and disturbing when the dancing dwarves came on stage. I know I wasn't imagining this - I found photographic evidence the next day. Also, I'm wearing my Mia! At last!

The other costumes I made last month, for the other ball (yes I got two :D ), were somewhat less sophisticated. These were for the Summer ball held by the Bournemouth University - they kindly allow us Arts Institute types to latch onto their social events like creative little barnacles. My boyfriend and I went this year as the Queen and the Prince from Katamari Damacy/We Love Katamari. I'm not quite sure how to explain this. Katamari is a bizarre Japanese Playstation game in which you roll a ball around picking up things and making the ball grow bigger so you can pick up bigger things. And...um...that's all there is to it. And I love it intensely.

Anyhoo, I found some patterns online and I sent the link to Martin in an 'OMG, look at these, they are so hilariously weird' moment thinking nothing more of it and he came back with 'summer ball costumes please'. Who am I to deny a request for giant knitted earmuffs from my beloved?

I feel I have to add that this was ALL his idea, right down to the green shorts and lovely purple tights. I'm fairly convinced no one had a clue who we were. I did get one high five from a stranger but I think it was because he thought had a pair of boobs strapped to my head.

I can see why he thought that.

Stay tuned (maybe) for new socks! The whole of south east Asia! And the other new resident of Martin's bedroom!

101 in 1001 update: Month 4

I don't seem to be doing very much with my free time this summer. I think it might be the lethargy of having nothing to do. Or perhaps I just need something important to push me to procrastinate. Either way, hardly any knitting, only one fat quarter sewn from the fabric stash, and I have read a grand total of one book, Of Mice and Men, which took me all of one cloakroom shift at work to read from cover to cover (it was a slow night).

I have been swimming and taking proper care of my skin, but I can't exactly say it's regular yet. Getting there though. Wearing skirts has fallen by the wayside a little. I've resigned myself to the fact that we're not getting a summer this year and my legs have been sulking in jeans and trainers every day since Nancy's wedding, with the exception of one night, when I went out in a miniskirt and boots and received many generous offers of drinks from sober and respectable gentlemen.

Knittingwise, I did finish Mia, sodding ages ago, and I farted about with the self timer on my camera today, so I have some very bad photos coming in the next post. Promise! As for sewing and embroidery, I did this a few weeks ago, but have been keeping it quiet as it was a gift for a swap. Anyhoo, Starry (Danielle) has received it now, so I may be smug and show off.

It's not perfect, but not half bad for making it up as I went along, I quite fancy making one of these for myself! I am particularly proud of myself for remembering how to make a jetted pocket (which the post-it block sits in), which was a tremendous waste of time since no one will ever see it! Embroidering and reverse applique...appliquing....appliqueing...sewing the cupcake was fun, thanks to Danielle for picking a fantastic theme for me to play with!

2. Fill out my student loan application for next year. Complete (yaymoney!)
24. Knit 12 garments. 1/12
36. Sew my entire fabric stash. 1/41
43. Do 4 beading or embroidery projects. 1/4
52.Go out to eat 4 times a year. 1/4
73. Go swimming regularly in the summer holidays; attempt to keep it up when I go back to uni. In Progress
92. Keep up a proper skincare routine. In Progress
58. Go to the cinema at least once a month, even if it means going on my own. 4/33
65. Read all the books I haven’t read on my bookcase. 4/25
95. Buy from a local butcher/grocer/market instead of the supermarket once a month. 4/33
20. Reach 175 blog posts. 64/175
82. Try a new food every month. 4/33
91. Wear a skirt at least once a week. 13/143

101 in 1001 update: Month 3

5. Buy Playstation/DVD player. Complete

Yarp. I now own a nice, shiny, entirely non-new Playstation 2, so even though the TV in the new house doesn't pick up, y'know, actual TV, I can watch DVDs. And play Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. Hurrah!

38. Make a dress to wear to Nancy and Olly’s wedding.

Nooooo. Due to the malicious sentience that my sewing machine seems to have whenever I have a deadline coming up, it collapsed in a gruesome tangle of threads 2 days before the wedding. I am mildly peeved. It's a pretty complex pattern so I'd already spent almost a week cutting and gathering the damn thing. I was on the home stretch so I really want to finish it at some point, but it's definitely a summer dress and it's definitely an event dress so I've no idea where else I could wear it. Possibly my graduation, but that's a whole year away! *sigh

76. Give my number to a cute stranger. Complete

Um. Yes. This will never cease to amaze me. Even more amazing is that I actually said yes to a date. There won't be a second one, but still, I am perhaps getting over my habit of saying no without thinking.

82. Try a new food every month. 3/33

Apparently rabbit is the national dish of Malta. I am not terribly impressed. Give me a nice bit of cow any day.

58. Go to the cinema at least once a month, even if it means going on my own. 3/33

Yes! Woop! I fell in love with Wall.E. He is adorable and hilarious and I am not at all ashamed to say I cried. Well, slightly ashamed but at least I wasn't the only one. Also The Dark Knight, which looking back on the plot and characters is a really good film, but when I was sitting in the cinema, losing feeling in my arse, all I could think was 'God this sonar parp is distracting'. Pity they've ruined such a great film with pointlessly flashy effects.

65. Read all the books I haven’t read on my bookcase. 3 /25
66. Read the entire works of Shakespeare. 2/45

I've read the Escapement by K.J. Parker, Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne and The Taming of the Shrew (again) this month. I know as a woman I'm not really supposed to like Taming of the Shrew, but I do. I can't help it.

20. Reach 175 blog posts. 58/175
91. Wear a skirt at least once a week. 11/143
95. Buy from a local butcher/grocer/market instead of the supermarket once a month. 3/33

Old ladies are officially cooler than me.

I was knitting on the bus yesterday and an old lady started a conversation with me about how unusual it is to see people knitting these days. I told her it gave me something to do on the achingly long journeys. She said she used to knit a lot and I asked why she didn't anymore, expecting her to blame arthritis or something similar. Nope.

"I don't really have the patience anymore. I tend to go out and enjoy life instead."

Well, dang. So that's it. I knit because I have no life. I knew something was missing.

Anyhoo, this is what I was knitting:

Ths is my first pair of toe-up socks, using the Knitty Universal toe-up formula, which has a short row toe starting from a provisional cast on. I love this toe, tis genius.

Other than that I haven't done a lot since the last time I updated. The month sort of ran away with me really. The Snapping Turtle skirt is 2 and a half rows down and, man these hexagons go slowly. I finished Mia, and will take a photograph at....some....point, but I didn't get to wear it. The dress I was making for Nancy and Olly's wedding is still in piles of spotty fabric on my desk because (surprise, surprise) my sewing machine broke again, and my fallback dress wasn't quite as shrug-friendly.

I really need to buy myself a new sewing machine.

101 in 1001 update: Month 2

Ok, few days late with this, but if I don’t post now it won’t get done till the middle of the month because I’m Going On Holiday! Did I mention that? Apparently ripping wax off my legs and stinking of fake tan is enough to make me excited about something I was previously a little wary of. Well, provided my friends don’t persuade me to hit the town in hen party-esque costumes I should be fine. Roll on over-priced cocktails and sunburn.

5. Get the CD drive on my laptop fixed.

This one I’m changing to ‘Buy external DVD drive and/or Playstation’ after I was told replacing the drive in my laptop would cost about £120. I really don’t love this machine that much.

29. Go to the Bournemouth and Poole Stitch’n’Bitch at least once. Complete

Yes! After being a member of the Ravelry group since March I finally managed to make it to a meeting last Thursday. Hopefully I will be able to find a day time job soon and go to many more meetings, otherwise Sound Circus will continue to eat up my Thursday nights. It was good though! I got through a mile of otherwise very boring stocking stitch, ate much cake and talked to people close to my own age (GASP!), which was a nice surprise - I went to a ‘Knit and Knatter’ in Poole a couple of months ago, and while they were also very nice people, I was the youngest by a good 15 years and felt a little out of place.

37. Stop putting off my pile of clothes to be repaired. 3/

I sewed some buttons on. I can think of no way to make this more interesting.

42. Make myself a costume for each Hallowe’en and Summer Ball. 1/5

Yes, I have already blogged about this, but here, have another photo for good measure. You can see my moustache in this one. Loved that moustache.
















58. Go to the cinema at least once a month, even if it means going on my own. 2/33

Yes, twice, I’m counting the first one as last month’s cinema trip, because it was early in the month, and I’m apparently already cheating on this list. I have now seen Indiana Jones 4, which is fantastic and I am still in love with him (though I have to stress Indiana Jones, not Harrison Ford – this is strict character love), and Wanted, which I loved but Lucy thought was “the biggest pile of gobshite I’ve ever seen”. I guess I was just in the mood for silly overblown unrealistic violence, and she really, really wasn’t.

63. Make a curry from scratch. Complete…ish

Well, kinda. I started from curry paste though. It’s just a mite too expensive to get whole spices. I cooked it from the Cook Yourself Thin cookbook too, does it count if it’s a low fat version? I’m not even sure why I own this cookbook, I’m not on a diet and doubt I ever could be, I like carbs and dairy way too much. If I get blobby I just have to accept the fact that I’ll have to spend money on a gym membership. Or liposuction.

75. See a sunset and a sunrise in the same day. Complete

Yep, got to the summer ball at 9, didn’t leave till half 4. Very very weird to be walking that road home post-sunrise. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it in daylight before.

78. Go to Bournemouth Oceanarium. Complete

Yup, we watched the stingrays being fed like bona fide tourists. There were teeny tiny baby seahorses too, which I was most disappointed to see people walking straight past. I wanted to grab them and force them back to the tank to take a closer look. I think it’s a good thing I’m not a tour guide, I have a feeling you’re not allowed to be that aggressive with unobservant members of the public.

15. Sell, donate or throw out 101 items I don’t need. Complete
20. Reach 175 blog posts. 11/133
82. Try a new food every month. 2/33
91. Wear a skirt at least once a week. 7/143
95. Buy from a local butcher/grocer/market instead of the supermarket once a month. 2/33

Yes, yes, blah blah, very boring. Lychees = ming. That is all.


Still no progress on the knitting and sewing list items. I fail at free time.

I am a mite pissed off

My boss tried to get hold of me when my bus was late to work this evening and called my old phone by accident- the one I lost 3 months ago. Some guy called Steve picked up. WTF??! What the hell is some guy called Steve doing with MY PHONE! I have spent most of the night fuming at the nerve of this arsehole. For god's sake, he could have at least put a new simcard in my handset. Of course, in clearing out my room I've chucked away all the old receipts and the like so I no longer have any proof that its my phone. Dammit. What are the chances that he just found it and he's honest enough to return it to me when I politely point out that it is in fact not his. I'm thinking slim. I may phone him tomorrow anyway, at least I'll get to vent my frustration at him if he doesn't. And then, since I am on contract now, I shall phone him every single night until he's forced to stop using My Sodding Mobile. Hahahahahaaaaaaaaa, sweet vengeance is mine.

Anyhoo, since I finished work early and am too irate to sleep, I guess it's as good a time as any for the long overdue update on My Life Since Uni.

Unfortunately, the last 3 weeks (I feel so ashamed that it's been that long) have been largely camera free, not through mechanical fault, just through my own laziness. For the whole 8 days I spent in Scotland, my camera didn't leave my bag once, so I have no pictures of the beautiful Moray Firth landscape, or the art festival we were volunteering at, and only one stolen piccie of my parent's new puppy.




































Say Aaaawww. This is Oscar. He likes eating, sleeping, running on the beach, chewing people's shoes, licking people's jeans and getting in the way of the tv when engaged in a wrestling match with his bed.

I managed to finish the back and knit one sleeve of my red jumper (which really needs a better name than 74-7 Ribbed Pullover in Safran - the Drops people make great patterns, but are rubbish at naming them). I was sort of knitting the sleeve on autopilot once I got to the stocking stitch, being determined to finish it even though halfway through I knew it was going to be too big. Bah. It is too big - I could probably fit a leg in there. It seems that despite swatching I didn't in fact get gauge. Must make bigger gauge swatches. Tsk. I shall go a couple of needle sizes down, and make it a bit slimmer anyway to make up for my twig-arms. I can show you the cuff though, for that ROCKS.






























I love those tucked ridges! And they're so simple, just stitches from four rows down hoiked up through the back and knit together with the new row. Definitely going to use this technique again. Hopefully it will make the fact that I have to knit the sleeve again from scratch more bearable.


This is getting to be quite a long post...


Luckily I have no photos again of the Costume show, in fact I was backstage and didn't see most of it, but in short it was an utter shambles and the director will not be invited back next year. After we had sorted out most of his disorganised messes for him, we had a ton of free time between frantic dressing sessions during which I finished a pair of socks....which I don't think I've mentioned on this blog yet...there will be photos. I am not putting a time limit on them though.

Last bit to squeeze in before I should really go to bed: I made my costume for the summer ball! In one and a half days! Yay! I can't bear to look at it too closely because in the last 2 years at uni I've been trained to be a perfectionist and there are an awful lot of cut corners, but to the untrained eye they were fantastic (ah, who am I kidding, they were fantastic anyway). This is me, my best friend and her boyfriend as the Jack, Queen and King of Hearts, in my favourite photo of the night. I have absolutely no idea who these people are but we were wandering round the site and found the ace to the eight of hearts! Love it.