Noo's Knits & Other Bits..

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Sat, 03 Feb 2018 14:47:00 +0000

October 2017.

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 13:31:00 +0000

Ah October has been full of excitement.

I renewed my 3 month gym membership for a whole year! Am loving the Tai Chi and the Bodybalance classes. A few swims and occasional cross trainer use thrown in for good measure and it's definitely worth while for me.

We moved through the process for moving house - and should be on the out by the middle of November. - Coincidentally this will likely be the same week as Mum's anniversary. I think she is making sure that we are all busy and will have no time to be maudlin. Can't believe she's been gone nearly a year already though.

Here are my picture memories from the month.

We went to the South East England Game fair - and I fell in love! 😍

As always there were beach walks when we had time 😌(harder now the evening are darker so this may be the last for a while 🙁)

Also, as always! there was fire!

I emptied my garden pots ready for the move - phew!

The dogs went swimming 😍

And we enjoyed a date night at the Lee Valley velodrome and had a fab time! (already got tickets for next year! YAY 😁)

Busy time now as i get ready to move but hopefully i'll have time to do a farewell post from this episode of Chez Noo !

T'il soon. ❤️

September 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Tue, 03 Oct 2017 15:38:00 +0000

I have got so bad at blogging, but i do love having somewhere to come for my memories. So here in no particular order, was September!

We cooked on fire! (for a change)

We sun-setted at the beach

We went to a festival in Wales. (Good Life Experience - and it was!)

and we stayed in our tent!

There was the last of the harvested veg with sunshine colours.

We visited Stockbridge and watched the trout in the river Test.

I got a cuddle with my boy

and we made footprints in the sand together.

Tah-Daaah

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 15:43:00 +0000

This has been finished a couple of weeks now, but it took me a while to find space enough to photograph it! Even now it is bordered by a tea urn! Ah well, a bigger house beckons :D

More blogging soon, i'm out of the habit!

T'il soon ❤️

Cape Verde - A week in the sun! (and an ethical dilemma!)

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 18:11:00 +0000

Hi honies, we're home!

As I hinted to in my last post - beach wear has been required. We had ourselves a little week in an all-inclusive resort in Cape Verde on the island of Boa Vista:

A lot of people have asked for my opinion on the island as a holiday destination since hearing i was going, so I thought i'd take some time to write, both as a bit of diary of the holiday and also for anyone thinking of going there.

As you can see from the above screenshot of the map - there's not a lot there! Boa Vista is a small island around 620km² ..... That's basically 618km² of nothing and a couple of hotels.

When we arrived the airport kinda gave away the idea that the island is still very much in it's pre-tourist era. Reminiscent of spanish airports in the early 1970's, it was a hut and a short runway, which you walked across (on the pedestrian marked crossings of course!) to get to the aforementioned "hut". In through a door, straight on the back of the queue for passport control, and behind that the two baggage carousels. This isn't a complaint by any stretch, it was efficient and clean and there (at the moment) is no need for anything more. It was beautifully simplistic after Gatwick's cattle market. (I truly felt there like the ball bearing in a game of bagatelle - put in one end and manoeuvred across acres of corridor til i fell out the other side on a plane!). Anyway as we landed i could hear many people in the plane who could see the sister hotel to ours out of the window and who had clearly been before "there she is/won't be long/beach still looks perfect" (it does seem that a good proportion of visitors were repeating the experience - i heard many over the weekend say that they'd been before) That hotel was seemingly very close to the airport (it wouldn't have mattered noise wise, there are only 10 odd flights a day at the moment). Ours was a little further, around half an hour - as you can see by the map above - we had a road....... most of the way ;)

The hotel stands out like a village, in fact it felt as big as the capital city that we went to later in the week. Obviously it's not .... well not quite. As we approached it appeared like an oasis.

That is a tiny corner of it!

Keen to explore we checked in and dumped our bags and headed out to get our bearings. Our room was at one far end of the complex, at the furthest end from us was an infinity pool, and stairway to the beach, the exercise area (didn't visit that again!) a bar, and the spa area. Coming back toward the middle was a massive pool area surrounded by sun loungers and umbrellas, a big buffet snack restaurant (which doubled as the African themed restaurant in the evenings) A pool bar and another stairway to the beach where as well as loungers etc there were also volley ball nets and football nets, and the water sports centre. Also in this middle area - but behind was the main square where there was a stage for evening entertainment, the big main restaurant, bars, themed restaurants, a couple of shops and a doctors! (handy but luckily unecessary!). Back at our own end there was an area for adults only (which we didn't have access to but apparently included another pool and another stairway to the beach) I understood from listening around that the hotel has been extended and it was massive! Someone said around 2000 rooms, but the information says 800 (to be honest 2000 seems more likely given the size but who knows!)

Our first evening buffet was interesting. Never having been on an all-inclusive holiday before, we weren't used to the melee that surrounds mealtimes. To get to the food felt at times like trying to cross the M25, but we soon got the measure of it and i'm sure by the end of the week looked like pro's (or maybe still looked like rabbits in headlights but just felt a bit more comfortable). The food choice was amazing and I amazed myself at the combinations i managed to create. Why is it that given a large buffet to choose from you find yourself incapable of putting together a normal meal, but instead grab whatever you fancy - vegetable lasagne and pork chops anyone? Nice!! For this reason (mostly) by the end of the week i was bored to tears with the food on offer. It was still great food and a very large variety, but every night had been that same variety. And as I hadn't managed to gain the ability to choose a theme at any stage during the week, I'd eaten the best bits (most nights) and still didn't fancy the rest. We did eat in the other restaurants - there was no restriction on how many nights you used the others, just that you had to book. But we soon realised that really they were also just offering the same food for the most part, but in a more sedate setting (which was welcome!)

At 9pm there was an hours entertainment, which generally was of a very acceptable and watchable standard. There was only one night where i chose to withdraw, and that was more about my likes than the performance. I don't much care for the original Justin Bieber or Katy Perry, so someone else doing their songs isn't likely to float my boat! However the Abba night, the Rock Gods night, and the various dance nights were all very watchable and good fun.

So what followed were essentially 7 days of moving from pool to beach (beach mostly), listening to iTunes, and reading. We did two excursions - whale watching, which was rubbish - not because there weren't any whales but because it was bloody freezing, rough as heck, windy, cloudy, windy and did I mention COLD! (and I was sick as a dog despite taking pills, which peeved me more than a little) Most of the people on the trip felt it should have been cancelled given the weather, or at least we should have been offered the chance to rebook. No one had clothing appropriate for the conditions. And we didn't see any whales! Not that that is a problem - on a sunny or calm-ish day the boat trip would still have been a pleasure. But this really wasn't.

The second was a trip to the capital city, up beyond the airport.

(Where we saw the only colour other than green that we had seen all week!) The guide was local, and hugely informative. His English was excellent and the trip was well thought out and flowed from one part of the town to another. There were two stops for local food tastes, and an opportunity to buy souvenirs from a fixed price vendor if you didn't fancy running the gauntlet with the market (i say market, it was 4 stalls! but they tried bless them) A look at the local fish market, and the area where the island inhabitants get their drinking water. The laundry, the harbour,

the school (the only high school on the island, and not accessible really to anyone living outside the capital city) and a church.

And it was this trip that got the old grey matter working......
An island with 15000 odd inhabitants. That grows no produce, has no livestock save a few cows and quite a lot of free-roaming goats, has one city and two shanty towns (around half the population live in the capital, the rest are split between the two villages). Where the village dwellers still have to walk 2.5km to fetch their drinking water which they carry back in 25litre containers on their heads, or if they can afford to get them taken back in the wagon. Where there is no public transport at all, and if you want to go to high school from either of the villages, it's around 10 Euros a day in transport costs, which is unattainable to most.

A stunningly beautiful empty island:

Where you know that tourism gives the population a chance of employment and earning something, but you also know in your heart that they are probably being taken the mickey out of. Without employment they have no chance of sending their children to school, or getting any more built. With tourism may come a public transport system of some sort that could get children to school and food and water to the villages. That will more than likely bring the possibility of electricity to the villages. But already the cost is that 90% of the coast line is sold and in 15-20 years I would say this island and the others in Cape Verde will be unrecognisable. Already there is a huge landfill site off the main road that you can just about see where the garbage from our wasteful tourist existence goes. That the workers in the hotel are mostly resident in the shanty towns, and despite these massive hotels having been there a few years now, there has not been a big improvement in those living situations. That the food and everything for the hotels is imported for those hotels, and therefore is not helping the nutritional standards for the villages in any way. But that the island could not in any way support these hotels even with massive investment. The land is desolate and barren. Even the goats had trouble scratching a living! (You could almost see them gathering around waiting for a green shoot to appear) - although it made for great merriment when they got in the hotel grounds....... instant decimation!) It was a real dichotomy of feelings.

The hotel was amazing. The staff were attentive, clean and courteous. The hotel and rooms were beautifully clean (there was a smell of untreated water in the toilets, which was a bit hard to take if you'd drunk too much! but at least they flushed!! :D and the bigger toilets in the public areas didn't seem to suffer the same fate so we tried to use those as much as possible) It was large and spacious and apart from getting the food at the evening buffet, it was calm and unrushed. The drinks were acceptable - wine was a bit rough, but the spirits were fine, and the food was well cooked and tasty, if a little repetitive. There was no lack of anything at all. You really could'nt have wished for more. We were unlucky with the weather in that it was cloudy all week. So even at 28Deg C with the island breeze and a cloud covering, it felt cold. I spent a fair amount of time with a hoodie on! But we got a tan despite that and at least we could walk up and down the beaches to amuse ourselves for a couple of hours without risk of sunstroke! We watched a few men fishing (and in truth the week would have been better for both of us if someone had taken a fishing rod!!!) and spent hours looking out to sea... because both of us can do that for a good few hours seemingly! (I should add that there was a red flag every day for swimming and apparently that is the case almost all the time)

Would we go again? I think so if we wanted this kind of holiday. But I'd take more things to do. Definitely a fishing rod for his nibs (preferably a fairly cheap one we could leave there for a local to use when we left). A pack of cards! I'd probably ditch the company excursions and try to find a local taxi to use to go to a couple of different beaches or the other side of the island (I believe there is a single beach bar round there!!!!) I'd take more cardigans! (in the hope that I wouldn't need them!) And my binoculars! Because on the last day, we did see our whales... from the hotel beach. 3 or 4 humpbacks about halfway to the horizon (so probably a mile and half or so) and easily seen with the naked eye. But Bino's would have been better. (although the amount of sand that got blown around i'd have to think carefully about that i suppose!) Generally though we like a slightly more active holiday, or at least the choice to be more active/get out more/see more. I've been to Gambia and the Azores and both of those holidays had more to offer in terms of things to see. But for sitting on an amazing beach - even if I was freezing some of the time. Well for just that, this would be hard to beat.

T'il soon ❤️

Chair update! & a new way with horseshoes.

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 19:03:00 +0000

So, just a few photos to update you on how the chair is going. I've piped the front scrolls and covered the bottom. I'm making the cushion just now but that may take a while!!

In other "making" type news. Himself has been playing with his new welder. We are playing with old horseshoes and things to put cookware on fires on. Pot stands and griddle stands: (We got the idea on our cooking on fire weekend last year - do you remember that?)

We had a lot of fun playing with patterns (to say nothing of the welder - who knew that was such fun?) And you know - I do love a bit of fire, and i love cooking outside whenever I can. Not much of one for standard BBQ's these are ideal.

Finally: There has been a little sewing - it's not perfect, but i'm still very much a beginner. Top is Myla, and trousers are Simplicity 1663

Beachwear!!! I'll tell you about that next time ;)

Sorry it's more pictures than words today but i'm short on time. I may edit and describe the upholstery a bit better at a later date (if i can remember what i did!) for my own information, but don't bank on it!

T'il soon. ❤️

Okay - back to my life! Upholstering my chair!

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 16:19:00 +0000

So..... my upholstery course had a little hiatus, due to circumstances beyond my control! But as my chair is only half finished, and knowing that this course is something mummy would wholeheartedly approve of, i booked another term!

At the end of the last upholstery post I believe I had re-foamed the arms as i wanted them with a little more padding than they had. I could feel the wood of the arms if i leant on them, and as i knit in chairs, i decided to take the opportunity to add a little "give".

Then cutting out a rectangle to fit over the arm from down inside the seat up and over and down around and under the outside. It doesn't make sense writing it like that really, but this first photo shows the outside under the arm - that's hard work stapling in there!

This second photo shows the inside - the fabric is tucked down alongside the seat and stapled under the seat wherever i could.

The next job was pleating the front. not as easy job - and i needed to remember that i would need to match the second side so the pleats had to be even and a sensible number! - I tried to do it with temporary tacks but they wouldn't hold the pleats so in the end i stapled each pleat as i went

And then tried to match the second side. its not perfect, but then if i'd wanted a perfect job i'd have paid someone to do it! I want this to be my accomplishment - and it seems even more important just now.

So this is the end of week 7.

In my last week of last term, i made some piping and put it round the back and down the wings. I cut my velvet on the bias (didn't need to be a full 45deg but a definite slant!) then wrap it round piping cord and sew it down nice and tight to the cord using a piping foot. It's then attached to the chair with staples as symmetrically as possible (I laughed a little at that!)

And I stapled a bit of poly wadding on to pad out the wings a little and give a little plumpness under the fabric!

So, today i went back, and had pretty much completely forgotten how to do anything! I had already cut the two wing pieces out so checking my nap comes down the chair, i used a cardboard tape at the top and staples to secure the wing fabric under the piping as tightly as possible. Stopping just before the curved end.

With a little poly wadding to give something to pull down over!

Then pulling that down tight and making a few anchor points a the bottom and back with temp tacks

i started to fold the last side inside the piping and pin it in:

Lots of slits on the inside hem to allow the fabric to curve, and lots of pulling it down and out! (there's a lot of that in upholstery!)

And finally sewing it in, using ladder stitch (which I call mattress stitch) and a curved needle (still pricked myself plenty!)

No photo at the end of the day - cos I'm a ditz! but basically the two sides are very nearly complete. Just need to staple them down at the back and bottom.

In other news, my little lady, Spot went to sleep for the last time at the end of October last year. It was just the week before Mum passed away - maybe she was going to help Mum over the bridge - she always did look after her. There's not much more to say. My best friend, my girl and I miss her. There are two new kids on the block though! - More about them another time.

T'il soon ❤️

Mummy 1942 - 2016

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 09:21:00 +0000

There are no words that I can say

To make our sadness go away

But memories do ebb and flow

To remind us that our love still grows

You taught us how to see the sun,

The colours, the smells, the rivers run

You stopped us often and said “just look”

And mental images we stood and took

We had fairy paths, and frosty walks

We had golden sunsets, and nonsense talks

We sang along to favourite songs

And if we felt it, we danced along

We had our times of heat and stress

But quick to blow and soon to rest

You taught us strength and independence of mind

How to be generous, and fair, and kind.

We got off light around the home

But somehow, still know, how things should be done.

We’re both good cooks, it’s fair to say.

(But I think my dusting skills went astray)

Our holidays were filled with (I want to say food)

Lifelong memories of times that were good

France and Spain in the long summer months

Bacardi & Coke and a sleep in the sun

In winter time, we skied in the snow

You weren’t so good, if you needed to slow!!
Chair lifts and strudels and big furry hats

Pastas, hot chocolates (with a brandy in that!)

Oz, New Orleans, Mauritius and more

Every continent you stepped on, the things that you saw.

There wasn’t a place where you didn’t make friends

Your smile, your charm, your joie de vivre knows no ends.

We watched you and Dad dance nights away

A Jive, a smooch, eye to eye did you play.

The music was always the beats of your hearts

The love that you danced with, set you apart.

I cannot fail to mention these last four years

Your strength, your grace, and a few tears.

You taught me more about myself than I could ever know

That I was stronger and braver too, (and I even learnt to sew!)

Although this is farewell for now, I will see you every day

When I look into a mirror, you’ll look back at me some way

When I see my sister smile at me, your smile I will see too

And my nephew’s laughter will echo, with the things we used to do.

Joyce Margaret Young (née Lowman) 1945 - 2016

Joyce Margaret Young 16.4.1945 - 14.11.2016

Upholstery week 5

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 08:42:00 +0000

I'm just about to head off to week 6, but here is quick run down of week 5.

Firstly all the curved bits were snipped so the fabric sits nicely. These areas will be covered with the outside upholstery but i still needed to be careful to snip enough to make it smooth, but not so far that the snips will show when the outside fabric is put on.

Then I decided to put an extra layer of new 2cm foam on the arms and stapled it down well, and covered it with wadding. The foam is to give it better "squish" (technical term!) as the old stuff was a bit mean! and i can feel the wood of the arms through it. Given that i will mostly knit or crochet in this chair, it needs good arms. The wadding is to smooth over the lumps and where the staples are so you can't feel any bumps.
This week i will hopefully be putting fabric on the arms.

Hopefully back with more photos later
T'il soon ❤️

Upholstery Course - Weeks 3 & 4

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 17:53:00 +0000

Well the wings took me two weeks. Those pesky pleats!

I covered the foam with poly-wadding (like what you put in quilts really) to even out any lumps and just give it an extra bit of squish. Then cut 2 x rectangles. Covering the measurements of the length of the wing and the width of the widest part right through the back to the frame.

Once I'd got the fabric square on the wings i then temporarily tacked the bottoms to hold it in place then started working on the pleats above. Of course the first one went quite well, and then the second, which needs to match the first in direction and number and approximate size - didn't go so well at all. Which is why the wings took me two weeks! I got there though. 5 pleats facing down - pretty much pointing to a central point (if they had all been longer they should meet at a dot - mine was a big dot but it was a dot!) In the end I stapled the pleats because the tacks weren't holding them very sturdily and that was making it harder. The velvet i am using is a bit thick and the tacks slip if i don't get them in far enough - through all those pleats i'd have needed a sledgehammer for the job!

So eventually, with a lot of gentle persuasion I got the wings looking smarter and then cut a notch in the bottom of the back to be able to straighten and tighten that. It's all beginning to look a little smarter.

It's still only tacked in the main so there will be improvements as I staple it later in the course. This week (week 5 already?!) I will be adding extra foam to the arms and hopefully starting to cover those.

T'il soon ❤️

Upholstery Course Week 1 and 2

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 16:35:00 +0000

As i enter my third week of my course - i realise that if I don't blog my progress now it's going to take too long to catch up! This is as much for my own memory - i feel that 10 weeks is going to come and go so quickly and i wonder if at the end of it i will have any memory of what I did along the way.

So......

I have an armchair, a very comfortable armchair. But, I bought it second hand and i think the previous owner had a cat that also thought the armchair was comfortable. It badly needed re-upholstering.

Other pets have apparently liked the chair too (M&D's dog Bonnie in 2013)

So in searching for a local upholsterer, i found Sarah, who offers a 10 week course whereby you take any piece of furniture you choose and she teaches you to upholster it. Score!

So in our first week we are encouraged to take photos of the Before item:

During my first week I had to make her nude! I've never seen so many staples and my hands hurt for two days after. I decided to take her home for homework as I didn't finish in the class and didn't want to spend another week doing it when I could be learning the next stage. So........ at the beginning of week 2 she looked like this:

She is quite a modern piece really and quite possible every part of her had been upholstered separately and then bolted together as a finished item. Consequently getting in to some of the nooks and crannies was not easy. But scissors, staple and tack removers and a strong set of carpenters pliers meant that i didn't do too bad a job in the end.

So, in the second week I padded the back foam with a little extra poly-wadding and attached my first piece of furnishing fabric (I was very excited because everyone else in the class has much older and more traditionally upholstered pieces, so they are all busy with hessian, coconut and cotton wadding, and calico. - I could re-use my old foam in place of the older methods of cushioning and immediately attach my fabric. So a quick measure of the back - then a longer measure as i realised I had it wrong *rolls eyes at self*, cut a rectangle and poke it through the bottom and over the top and through the sides. Sarah made it sound so easy - oh no it wasn't. The middle of the rectangle had been notched so we didn't end up on the squiff, but even so it was tricky to get it straight, and the previous method of manufacture meant that there are big gaps where it's a bit of a surprise, and no gap where one would be useful. Still, in the end I got there and the back is temporary tacked in to place:

This week- week 3. I will be wadding out the wings and hopefully upholstering them too.

T'il soon ❤️

Garden's looking up ;)

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 18:24:00 +0000

A fortnight ago, on a bright Sunday morning, we went to Columbia Road Flower Market.

I have been many times with Mum and Dad..... in what feels like a previous life now if I'm honest. But my garden was shell-shocked from 3 years of non-attendance, and it needed a good injection of fast colour to spur me on to take it under control.

Now, call me old fashioned..... or don't..... but I love nothing more than a good London Market, with shouting and banter and crowds.

And to go on a Sunday, makes me feel... well cheerful! :D

Many people were taking photos of the stalls, an abundance of colour and a riot of scent. But that seemed a little rude to me.

So instead, i bought what I liked and felt that i would enjoy at home.

Now this last photo has a story to it:

This is an Inca Lily or Astromeria. During the time when Mum was in hospital in Chichester... I had a birthday (given that she was there six months i guess it was a 50/50 chance ) My Grandma (mum's mum) bought me for my birthday 2 tubs of astromeria, a pink and a dark pink/almost red. She gave them to my uncle who didn't get them to me very quickly (not his fault at all) and then mum came home, and I neglected them. It was the last gift she ever bought and it broke my heart when i realised that they were in a bad way...... I have a few plants that Mama bought me over the years, she knew i loved my garden, but this was the last one, and I knew she had worked hard to find them for me, having decided this was what she wanted to get. I managed to salvage the paler pink ones, and although they are not healthy i have coaxed them in to a little flowering and hopefully with some love and tender they will continue to improve. But i lost the darker one and was pretty devastated. At Columbia Road, the first time I have ever seen them since, there was a stall full of them, all colours and only £5 a tub. So I think someone was smiling on me and maybe letting me know that it was ok to have been too busy looking after Mum.........

It's a thing I've had to learn about that time...... that it's ok that I didn't manage All.The.Things! Still learning, still forgiving myself.......... and grateful for fate or karma or whatever, to help get the message through!

T'il Soon ❤️

Hi Honey, I'm home!

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 18:30:00 +0000

I'm back in Guildford. Mum and Dad are settled (somewhat) in a residential home. Their house has finally been sold, and I have moved back to my house. It's not very nice most of the time if I'm honest. It's noisy and dusty and hot and noisy and busy and did I mention Noisy? But we have been busy trying to get it to be a home again and not just a collection of somewhat derelict bricks! I wanted to tell you all the things that we have done, but there's too much and we've done it all a bit quick really!

The first room was the lounge- i needed a haven that was finished. It really only needed a good scrub and a new carpet, so as you can see lady Spot is already installed!

We had gutted the bathroom when my tenants moved out (word from the wise - don't rent to male students! - bless them, they weren't bad or anything but I guess the generation down doesn't think about things like wiping down taps after a shower, or opening a window to let the steam out (mould everywhere!). So since moving back a new suite has been installed (a bad buy on my part as it seems it's really a bit big for the room, but it's in and it's fine), and we have protected the wall with bathroom cladding instead of tiles. The room will be finished by the carpet fitter soon, with a vinyl floor.

The kitchen has never been anything much in my home. Don't get me wrong, i've loved it. But it was always a totally free standing affair with a dresser and a range oven and a butchers block and it suited my lackadaisical style. But since moving back i have wanted something maybe more grown up (! first time for everything) and certainly with more storage space as I brought a fair amount of pots and pans from Mum's kitchen (well why wouldn't you she had excellent and expensive taste!) So I got a second hand kitchen on eBay and it's been "Krypton Factor'd" together to fit the best way, and it's looking awesome. Not finished yet, as we need to put a little electrickery around for appliances and gadgetry. And the worktop will be finished off with a splash back. There'll be more photos when it's finished. (there was also a purchase of an impulsive orange fridge)

Of course we bought fire with us (you didn't think we would leave it behind did you?_)

and consequently all patios and the conservatory were pressure washed to within an inch of their lives (and in the case of a few bricks - beyond their lives!)

Roses the shed has been given a new roof:

And finally (for this post - there's loads more going on in the house!), the hen house was renovated with every colour of paint from the shed (geez I have kept some stuff! - luckily i suppose!) I refrained from buying orange just for the heck of it though!

And these little ladies (and one other) arrived on Friday. Not laying yet but they have added to help start making it feel home again.

T'il Soon ❤️

"Tabitha"

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 12:20:00 +0000

I wanted to show you Tabitha. She is my 48th birthday present from MrNoo and very lovely she is too.

She is an Ashford Traveller, and I already love her quite a lot!

She is double treadle which has improved my spinning longevity, and has a built in lazy kate. So far I have turned half of this:

Into:

My first ever Navajo plied yarn. I am thinking it will become fingerless mitts..... when i've done the second half :D

T'il soon ♥︎

Have Fire, Will eat (and eat and eat and eat!)

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 20:37:00 +0000

Oh it's been a while again hasn't it? If I'm honest I'm struggling to find things to write about that aren't about care homes, hospital stays, trying to sell houses and the general fedupness that is sometimes life.

So, when I found that a course on Deer butchery for his nibs for Christmas, was preceded by a course on Cooking with fire (which very much sounded like something I would like), I decided, as all good women do, that his Christmas present should include me (:D) and be a weekend away for both of us to return to the things we love doing together and just for 48 hours (if we were lucky) forget about everything else.

Turned out that it worked really rather well.

We travelled half way up to Yorkshire on Thursday afternoon and stayed overnight in a travelodge and ate KFC at a service station (totally yucky! but a little fun!) On Friday we drove past our final destination and spent the afternoon in Whitby and then the early evening in Scarborough, driving back across the North Yorks moors later in the evening to find our accommodation for the weekend in a wonderful little village only about 15 minutes from the courses over the weekend. We had a lovely evening meal and settled in early for the night as the travelling and the sea air had worked it's sleepy magic on us (OK the guinness and wine helped a little :D)

The next morning the irony of being totally grateful for smartphones whilst driving towards a course to teach us how to be more "back to nature" wasn't lost on me, when I found I had lost (in the space of 20 minutes!) the course paperwork which had the directions on it. Luckily I still had the email on my phone!

We arrived on site for the course start at 9:30 to be greeted at the gate, led down a little path and immediately made a cup of tea and whilst drinking it, a shoulder of lamb was rolled and we were shown how to put it on a spit and what kind of fire that would need - I was going to enjoy this!

There were 8 of us on the course. It was drizzling rain and already the thought of lighting fires - whilst appealing in that they would keep us warm, was worrying in that everything was wet! Not a problem (so we were told!) And indeed Chris proved with only his second strike that if the rules were followed a fire can easily be lit in the rain. - Could we do it? Turned out we could!

All that fire making had taken us rather miraculously to elevenses, so a skillet was laid on the fire and drop scones with some elderberries frozen from last autumn, were made with another cuppa....... No photos of that particular interval - they were made and gone too quickly :D

I think after this was when we wrapped some red onions in clay (naturally occurring in the soil up there - I'd have to buy, as I don't think our sandy stuff would have quite the desired effect!!) They were then put in the fire under the spit

We were then taken a little further into the wood to learn about cooking in a pit - and that fire was got ready as it would be used later to cook an afternoon snack (you can see why I liked this course can't you?)

Then it was time to finish preparing lunch - the lamb was still on the spit doing it's thing, the onions underneath it. To go with it we were to have flat breads, smoked halloumi, feta cheese wrapped in wild garlic leaves, and baba ganoush. All of them cooked on the open fires we had made around the place. Me and himself were in charge of the "cheese course!" The halloumi first was hot smoked over oak chips:

and then I wrapped cubes of feta in 2 wild garlic leaves each turned 90 deg to each other, which were secured with a couple of beautifully hand made skewer ends (well ok, MrNoo was let loose with a knife and a couple of twigs - but he did a lovely job!) which were then fried in a skillet over the fire for a few minutes, turning now and again. (Could also have been done on a toasting fork, but possibly not for 10 people in good time!) You can also see the aubergines in the bottom of the fire there ready for the baba ganoush. Meanwhile someone else was making the flatbreads, which sadly I didn't see any of because i was too much enjoying what I was doing, and also another pair were making fruit soda bread which was put on the fire after we had finished which we later had for tea.

All done, lunch looked a little like this:

Hot Smoked Halloumi

Shoulder of Lamb

Clockwise from Top: Onions still in clay jackets, Flatbreads, feta wrapped in wild garlic leaves (skewered by MrNoo's handiwork!) and natural yoghurt which we didn't cook!

Clockwise:Baba Ganoush, a little of the bare roasted onion, lamb, halloumi

Now unfortunately what didn't follow this was a short after lunch nap, oh no, we had to go back and tend to our pit and put the fish and tomatoes in, and also learn how to light a fire if we couldn't find all the bits that we'd learnt about before........ so we made feather sticks. And again lit fires and had a giggle. It had stopped raining so for the most part the lighting of the fires was a little easier, and certainly more fun without being dripped on at the same time.

All the while a marvellous kitchen fairy had been tending to the soda bread in the dutch oven, and when we had all mastered the knife art of creating feather sticks and striking fire steels we were presented with afternoon tea:

Trout and beefsteak tomatoes cooked in a pit

Fruit soda bread from the dutch oven: Served with butter!!

The course was such a great day, I can't recommend it highly enough. It was informal enough to be fun and so that we (well certainly I) didn't feel awkward asking questions, and yet structured enough that by the end of the day we had covered a remarkable amount of information. (I think I only realised that after the event!) And somewhat miraculously - I can still remember at least some of it. We learnt a little about using knives on wood (for the purpose of fire lighting!), Cooking, choosing wood, different ways of using fire and how to get the darn thing started in the first place (pretty important). A full and rewarding day! The food was amazing, the location was beautiful (even in the rain) and the company was exceptional :D

After we left the woodland we walked up the side of the White Horse just up the road (didn't realise at the bottom how many steps it would be to the top - one of those moments where you wished you'd done the joined up thinking!) But it was totally worth it. The view is incredible and armed with our binoculars we spotted a peregrine which we managed to watch for several minutes. The circular walk was a mile and a half, and despite it having been a bit of an outdoorsy day we both enjoyed it. Then - because obviously we hadn't crammed quite enough into the day, we went back to Whitby and walked around the town..... when i suddenly got quite a thing for wanting pizza (Which luckily we found in a gorgeous proper italian restaurant)......... I'm totally blaming looking at this all day:

Handmade pizza oven - another course for another weekend??

I will review the deer course another day - I think this post is long enough already ?

T'il soon ♥︎

Life is made of memories (in memory of Russell Bennett, and Margaret Lowman)

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 12:59:00 +0000

A year ago tomorrow, we sent my dear old Grandmother (Mama as named by me!) on her next journey to whatever afterlife, or not, there may be. It seemed appropriate that it happened on Bonfire/fireworks night. Always one for mischief she had often told me and my sister (and I expect my cousins too) that thunder and lightning were just parties happening in heaven for new angels, and when it was her turn we would hear a piano playing as well! As it turned out that wasn't the case (still can't understand why not!) but our journey home after her funeral was punctuated with fireworks, bangs, claps, and pretty bright lights. Not a bad send off and I think she would have appreciated that fate dictated that we will always remember her on fireworks night.

During this week my sister has somehow ended up making our family "loop de loop" (a leftover soup from a lamb roast) and I have felt compelled to make toad in the hole, complete with well mixed up yorkshire batter. Why? well, I am sure for both of us it was subconscious, and at 4 years apart our memories of our grandmother are "the same but different". I was always (but ALWAYS!) given the job of mixing the batter for puddings whenever we were at Mama's for a Sunday or Christmas dinner. - Possibly just as a way of keeping the oldest grandchild occupied, because apparently it had to be whisked with a fork ........ for hours....... (or so it seemed!). My sister's memory is of Monday mornings when, in the school holidays, we would often go to Mama's for a few hours instead of being in Mum's shop. And if Mama had a lamb roast leftover then she would be chopping, mincing, grating for the soup. So we make these dinners now, with love for our current families and with intense and wonderful memories of our past families.

I am grateful, honoured and blessed that i had a vivacious and strong grandmother in my life for 46 years. Even in the last few years, as her health deteriorated.... you wouldn't argue against her! I cannot begin to recount all the memories, of course, but they are plentiful and wonderful and there is barely a thing that happens in a day that doesn't remind me of something she taught us, or said to us, or did with us.

Last week, I went to the funeral of a far younger friend. As one post has put it "A jazz legend in his own lifetime" Russell Bennet (Russ) was only 43 and died as a result of a brain haemorrhage. We travelled to Bude for a funeral service last Friday, and there was a smaller family service on Saturday (Hallowe'en!!!!) . I stood in the pub after listening to his friends play wonderful music, and we laughed and danced, and sang together..... and as i pushed through the crowds to the ladies, or the bar, all i could hear was "I remember when....." "Were you there when......" "Do you remember that joke he told"

And here are where these two stories join.

I've known the Bennett brothers for 15 odd years. We have been to festivals, and gigs, just because these boys would be there. In those 15 years, we have taken Mama to a few of the festivals, and like the rest of us, though at the sprightly age of 85, she stayed up til sunrise at the jam sessions, she clapped and smiled and sang to the music. I watched my parents dance, and we all sang and cried and laughed at many many many of their songs. We sat on the steps of the Glenburn hotel on the Island of Bute, when there were no seats left, we stood at bars, we danced in the tiniest corners of rooms because sometimes you just can't help but jiggle. We camped with them at Dove Holes and watched them for all the past years, as they have grown, at the Preston Cross.

And the very best memory of all....... on 5th January 2014, a year and a fortnight after Mum had her brain haemorrhage, Mum, dad and I went to the Preston Cross and Mum and Dad danced - quietly and carefully in the corner of the room. And that is a sight I will never forget in all my life, and it was given to me by this band.

I will never forget that Russ is pretty much the only person I know who could make MrNoo belly laugh....... the stories, the mischievous acts, the "joie de vivre". That Russ would run across a room (or a campsite) with his arms outstretched, that he never forgot our names, (although had significant difficulty in remembering where I lived - phoning me once to see if I was "popping down" to a gig in Great Yarmouth ..... I live in Surrey!!), that almost everything was "Splendid" and that when he sang he had no idea of his own ability or presence. That he did an uncanny impression of a pigeon carrying home his fish and chips, or that he told the same jokes time after time and they were still funny.

So, Russ, and the rest of the band gave my family some of the most precious gifts we can ever have. Memories. And now my parents are both in a care home, and to be honest, their mobility suggests that we may not be going to many more jazz afternoons and it is unlikely they will be dancing in public again, but by the grace of whichever force of nature you care to believe in, we do still have all our memories. We can talk about holidays, festivals, and songs. We can sing and remember where we heard something played. We can laugh at jokes that we heard so many times we know them word perfectly. And, in the safe confines of a care home lounge, we can stand together and hold hands and dance/sway to the CD's we have collected and each of us will be in a different place in our heads, but all of us will be together.

Thank you Russ, for mending our hearts, for giving us laughter, music& dance, and our dear, beautiful man....... for the memories.

Margaret Lowman 1920-2014

Russell Bennett 1972 - 2015

The bits we don't share - Parkinson's awareness week 20-26 April 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 12:17:00 +0000

I just found this post that i had drafted in April 2015 for Parkinson's awareness week. I have no idea why I didn't publish it. Maybe I decided it was too personal? But in reading it again i have thought i would. It's about awareness, about my little journey with my daddy. And about an illness from a relative's perspective and that's what awareness weeks are about. It's not all an easy read. But it's true and from my heart. Love you daddy xxx

It's been so long since I posted here - too much to catch up on really, but this week is Parkinson's awareness week so i wanted to share a little of our lives.

Most of you who read this follow me on twitter or on Facebook, or know me through forums or ravelry or some such. You generally all know that life changed for us as a family in December 2012 when Mum had a brain haemorrhage, and generally you know that my Dad has Parkinson's. This post is hoping to be an insight into a relative's perspective.

Dad was diagnosed in 2002. He was 60 years old. It was the year my baby sister got married, the year we went to Mauritius as a large family for a holiday. The year my Mum and Dad retired. We said at the time "It could be worse" "It's not terminal" etc, etc.... Tried - and mostly succeeded to put a positive spin on it (it must be said in varying degrees - as a family we deal with things differently - from head in the sand, to unrealistic optimism, to realism..... generally we don't do a lot of pessimism, but we all took it a little differently) We all went off to our own corners of the internet to research what we could, and came back with our own interpretations of what might happen. At least I think that's what we did - because I realise now that we didn't talk about it all that much. Dad was lucky, he was pretty healthy, quite physically fit in every other way. And to begin with really it just affected his gait slightly, and little things like I remember noticing how he struggled to get money out of his pocket in shops, But generally he was quite well for quite a long time.

Mum and Dad bought their dream home - an acre of garden and a beautiful 4 bedroom home. They knew it would be unlikely that they would live there forever...... it would become unmanageable. But they wanted to enjoy what they could. And I admire them for that - and in hindsight, I'm eternally happy that they did!

Years went by, Dad got a little worse year on year - but not hugely.... and again we didn't much discuss Parkinson's. His meds were altered a little here and a little there to give him the best balance they could - a balance between being able to move freely, and not displaying too overbearing an amount of dyskinesia.

Dyskinesia - that's something they don't tell you a lot about. Remember the video ad by Michael J Fox, the actor who has Parkinson's disease, in support of Democrat Claire McCaskell and stem cell research, which was also seen online, and caused controversy when talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said Mr Fox had exaggerated his symptoms to get more sympathy? Well I can't definitively say he didn't exaggerate, but i can say with no doubt or uncertainty whatsoever that he and many Parkinson's sufferers have symptoms that bad on many many days. - And it's the drugs that cause them. I think Mr Fox commented later that he was probably over medicated. But often that's choice you have to make to get through a day - over medicate and look like you have ants in your pants or don't and run the possibility that you will freeze or tremor so violently you will fall over or spill food and drink? Either way you look like a looney to the outside world. - What a choice? Dad spends most days with that level of dyskinesia now. It's the safer alternative for him, because he falls much more if he is freezing. When freezing his feet refuse to move, but the tops of his legs, almost do - and his torso does! Before long he has literally gone head over heels. And as he gets older that's not something we want to be happening too often, the dyskinesia is the better option.

So, (I digressed didn't i?!) As time went on, dad regulated his meds mostly based on what he wanted to achieve in a day, maybe under-doing them if he wanted to sit in a chair or work at a computer, and upping them if he needed to be outside or was socialising. He had a suggested amount and he played about to live the best life he could - and by and large I think he succeeded.

In the summer of 2012 Mum told me and my sis that they had put the house on the market, that it had become just a tiny bit unmanageable for them both, and Dad was struggling to keep up the maintenance. Given the size of the garden and house, and the fact that they had no help I'm surprised that they managed as long as they did, but stubbornness and a desire to succeed will take you a long way in this life. But they had clearly reached a point - 10 years after diagnosis, when Dad was beginning to realise that he couldn't manage everything, and was struggling round this large garden.

of course at the end of 2012 Mum herself became so very ill, and my sister and i became part of the story of our parents' lives in much more of a way than we could ever have expected. I moved in to Mum and Dad's house to take Dad to visit every day. It became clear immediately, that the trauma and shock of what had happened had taken a massive toll on dad, and it has continued to do so. When Mum came home, I took care of them both.

The things they tell you about Parkinson's are that the sufferer may have tremors or freezing, may shuffle and walk with a slow gait, may struggle with buttons and zips and tight clothing, may become quiet in voice and articulate less clearly, may not show expression on their face so may be easy to mis-read their emotion or feeling, may struggle with delicate tasks as their dexterity declines and they may develop addictive personality traits.

What they don't tell you is that Parkinson's and the meds that treat it cause severe confusion and lack of focus and concentration. I can have a conversation with Dad and when he replies it is clear he has only taken in a tiny part of what I have said (and it's usually not the relevant part!). He gets confused using tech that he has used for years - even using a tv remote is now beyond him on some days.

They have little understanding of time passing so something you said 3 weeks ago may take precedence over the thing you said yesterday.

They have little or no insight, either into their own situation or other's. So they may endanger themselves more than you would expect because they don't understand their own limitations or see the bigger picture around the safety of a particular situation. Or they may endanger others because of the inability to appraise the entire situation. For many many months Dad thought it would be ok to take Mum on holiday. (it never would have been - but it was so hard to keep saying it)

They often suffer from double vision due to muscle rigidity, and their eyes not focussing at the same speed. Reading/signing papers/watching tv can all be affected.

They suffer from depression and social exclusion. As Dad's speech has become quiet I have realised he doesn't bother trying to be heard very often, so he can retreat into his own little world.

Nobody tells you that you will have to be rudely blunt and at times downright cruel to make them understand how dangerous or daft something is. Nobody tells you that you should sort a power of attorney out as soon as they are diagnosed, because at some point they will be too confused to run their household, and you might not have seen it coming until it's too late. Nobody tells you that you will be so very very frustrated at the total inability to see that walking down the middle of a country lane with a walker and a bad case of dyskinesia is dangerous - in so.many.ways! Nobody tells you that you will have to remind your father to talk to you and not to his feet, and how very very much that hurts. Nobody tells you that when you go out and people stare, how badly you will want to stand up and tell them "Our excuse is Parkinson's, what's yours?"

But what I can tell you, is that despite these little inconveniences, our daddy is still such a gentleman. That he still loves our Mum with every fibre of his being, and he shows it day after day. That although this illness is a nasty beast, we still have him with us and that is something to be truly grateful for. That he managed to fight it so very very well for the first 10 years, and they did indeed live in their dream home and milk every last bit out of it. I can tell you that you should talk about Parkinson's with all your family for now and for the future. I can tell you that no one person should take sole responsibility for care - even with a new diagnosis, because it's hard and it could destroy you and leave that person alone. That plans should be made and thoughts discussed..... in the hope and maybe belief that they will never be needed, but they should be talked about. That worst case and best case plans are in place.

And most of all, that no 2 cases of this illness will run the same course. So take the book of your life and treat every page as a new adventure, some will be crappy adventures and some will be good ones..... but live every page

Too long

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 12:08:00 +0000

It's been too long since I wrote here. And truth be told it's not good for me not to write (so it turns out). I stopped writing because life got personal and I couldn't see past that. But then, life is personal isn't it? And of course you don't all have to read about it if you don't want..... but maybe i do need to write sometimes.

Anyway there is no point going over the last year as there is way too much to talk about. Mum and Dad are now in a wonderful little residential care home in Guildford. And slowly... very, very slowly, i am beginning to get some form of a hold on our new lives. Such a massive and sudden illness has had such an effect on us all and it takes a long while (and a bit of counselling, apparently!) to come to terms with the changes and implications for all of us. Learning to support each other in different ways to anything that has gone before. Learning to deal with disability and the complications that throws up (people's ideas of having disabled access vary wildly!) Changes in relationships. Changes in our own needs, which, certainly for me, have surprised me. I thought i was coping, but I wasn't. I was just treading water whilst i needed to. And as soon as I no longer needed to, i began to drown.

That's all behind me now. I am stronger (on some days) and more aware of the days i'm not. Sometimes it is still too much and it hurts so bad. Not just because Mum got ill - that happens to millions (maybe billions?) of families every day. But it hurts because I wanted to look after them, and couldn't. It's taken me a long time to accept that it's ok that I couldn't. And maybe that's where writing what actually happened day on day might have helped. To have read back and realised what i was trying to achieve might have made it easier to accept that it would have been pretty impossible for any one person. But I didn't write - on some days I probably barely spoke!

So, anyway. Here i am! Mum and Dad have been in their new forever home for a year and a fortnight! and it feels like it's time for me to get back to doing those things that make me feel normal. (whatever normal is! LOL)

Miss Spot is still with me - although older and slower and with many old lady lumps and bumps. But can still hear her dinner biscuits being poured at a 20 yd radius! We don't walk as much as we used to, so we've both got a bit old and fat! But now the temperature is easing off a bit, walking for an old lady is a more acceptable past time.

I'm still knitting and crocheting (no shock there really) and occasionally sewing too.

So, let's see what happens. I hope i will write here often again. It feels like a strange and hard thing to do at the moment. But writing is quite cathartic, and it's good to document the good things i get up to, so the crap doesn't overwhelm. It's very easy to slip on to self pity, and from there - certainly for me, it's hard to get back up off the floor again.

T'il soon ♥

A Well earned break (if I do say so myself)

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 10:18:00 +0000

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but like everything in my life it has gotten sidetracked. That's kind of why i needed the holiday in the first place. I needed time for me!
It was a late booking and I went to trip advisor to get some ideas. I had a checklist! I wanted a sea view, and a bathtub! Possibly an odd combination, but after a year and half of living at Mum n Dad's with only showers, I wanted to wallow in hot water for as long as I chose. And as for the sea view, well I find it calming and grounding. Looking out to sea is something I often yearn for in times of stress (and yes to be fair I was stressed)
It didn't really matter where in the UK, although at then end of the week we were going to the Dove Holes Jazz festival so the far north of Scotland would have been sightly inconvenient but other than that I had no agenda.

Eventually after a bit of searching and comparing and fussing around I found this property:Parth-y-Gwyddwch, and it ticked all my boxes. Secluded, a sea view and a bath!!! The cottage is beautiful. We were met at the gatepost by a buzzard, who continued to entertain us all week. And there was a red kite now and again too. We travelled to Barmouth, Tywyn and Aberdovey in the days to have lunch (boy did we eat some amazing lunches) and settled back in our cottage in the late afternoon armed with our binoculars to watch the evening wildlife. We tried out our new Cobb oven one night and made a good effort of roast chicken, veg and potatoes. And ate more ice cream in a week than we normally would in a year. We walked, talked, stayed quiet. Sat on beaches, sat in woods, sat by rivers. Met sheep! MrNoo went fishing once or twice in the evening, and left me to the peace and quiet of the cottage, and I knitted and breathed and didn't have anyone calling my name. The week was everything I needed it to be.

Full of good food, peace and no demands. I would go back in a heartbeat.

So here, in no particular order is a brief photographical synopsis of our week.

Our home for a week.

Parth-y-Gwyddwch

Another perfect sunset

A little stroll

8am view. Fantastic

Roast dinner on the patio?

Early evening view from the cottage

Aberystwyth

Barmouth view from the welsh coastal path

Took a photo to identify this little one, beautiful song.

Best kind of neighbour

Hoodie (Craftsy Sewing with Knits Class first pattern)

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 11:53:00 +0000

*All Craftsy Links in this post are affiliated, and I may receive compensation if you click or buy from these links*

(Phew what a week we've had! - luckily as I am so far behind on the blog I don't need to tell you about it, but in summary, 2 days in A&E, 2 hospitals, 3 wards, and ITU. Mum's fine though, mostly precautionary and she's now home and resting well)

So to backtrack a little. I recently noticed that Craftsy had some sewing classes on sale. (They often have sales, they are worth hanging out for).

I signed up for the Sewing with Knits class (*ahem among others but we'll come back to them)

The reason I liked the look of this class was that it seemed quite "complete" in that I would receive a number of patterns for different weight knits and be talked through sewing each of them. Now I should add at this point that I've only got through the first garment, because mother seems to have other ideas! (See above!) but here is my review of the first few lessons.

The introduction and summary of knit fabrics is quite interesting and worth watching one evening when there is nothing better on the TV, or while you are cutting out your pattern pieces, but personally I dived straight into the hoodie lesson ;) (impatient? Moi?) The lesson was super easy to follow and I had managed to cut out all the pattern pieces before settling down. The idea of patterns in PDF form for you to print and re-print is genius! (I know many people do this now) To be able to print off another size next year or make a pattern for someone else without re-buying it is such an amazing idea. It did take me an hour or so to print it out and tape it together but in some ways it was good as I learnt a bit more about the construction of the pattern because I needed more concentration that to just hack my way through a tissue pattern.

The Hoodie is a very simple construction, only 5 pieces. Front, back, 2 x sleeves and the hood. The video walks you through the order of construction and you are given an idea of what stitch and setting to use (given that you would likely be making the hoodie out of a fleece type material)

My only criticism of the course is that a little more could be explained about zig zag stitches and how they should look and what might encourage you to change stitch width or length. As it happens the stitches suggested seemed to work fine with my fleece, but I'm not sure I really had a handle on how to adjust them if I hadn't had enough stretch or if it puckered or some such. Maybe by the time I have finished the other lessons I will have grasped the fundamentals a little better, or maybe they anticipate someone having a little more sewing experience than I do (Which would be practically none)

Anyway, in only two hours I had transformed a pile of fleece into this:

I'm thrilled with it. In fact I was so thrilled I made another ;)

The next pattern is a round neck and then v-neck tee shirt. I'm really looking forward to making them, although I'm not quite sure when that's going to fit into the schedule. I have some knit fabric which i originally bought for a pair of trousers for mum but isn't really suitable. It'll work well as a tee shirt or two though ;)

Craftsy's BIG Summer Sale: Save Up to 50% On All Online Classes!

Sewing with Mother

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Fri, 23 May 2014 14:37:00 +0000

Well OK not exactly "with her" more being told that I was doing it mostly wrongly. (For someone who is cognitively challenged, Mum is still apparently very able to correct mistakes that other people make LOL)

Firstly we have made a few pairs of pull on trousers. I got so fed up of seeing Mum in tracksuit trousers. And to be fair, she was always a very elegant dresser and moping about in trackies (whilst there is a good time for them lazing around the home) wasn't doing her self esteem any favours. So we chose a viscose and a reclaimed sari and made two pairs of wide legged, elasticated waist trousers.

The top photo is on my birthday last week when Mum wore the green pair, which are the ones made out of the sari. The paisley style above are a viscose from an Ebay seller. We have two more saris, although one may not be suitable as it seems to crease a lot. And we also have a viscose jersey, but in hindsight that may be better suited to a cowl top or tee shirt or tunic top or some such. Watch this space for what they become.

I should add that I had a little help with the cutting out of the Sari pair:

They didn't have this kind of problem on the Sewing Bee.

Next post I'll tell you about the Craftsy course "Sewing with Knits" and show you my hoodie.

T'il Soon ♥︎

Unravel 2014 (A little late!)

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Mon, 12 May 2014 21:46:00 +0000

It's been so long since I posted there's little point trying to summarise the last 4 or 5 months. There's been good and bad, ups and downs, giggles and tears. But rather than dwell on that I want to tell you about Unravel 2014 (Which was in *ahem* Febuary!) at the Farnham Maltings.

I go every year to this wonderful wool and fibre festival. And this year it was a bit special as I decided (with a couple of friends) to make a weekend of it and stay in the Travelodge at Aldershot and take a weekend away from caring for Mum.

Unravel is my favourite festival. It's pretty local to me when i'm at my house, and even from Mum n Dad's it's not too far (although it's very very close to the Aldershot Travelodge! just saying') It's full of indie dyers and shops.

I was fairly restrained:

I failed completely on Saturday - it was very crowded and I just couldn't settle to look at anything (yes the small hangover may have contributed slightly to that) So the only things I got on the Saturday were are the spindle bag (far right in the picture above and from Hill Top Cloud to protect the spindle I bought from there last year) and the T pins which I needed more of.

However we went back on the Sunday, and altho some stock was quite depleted, it was so much easier to look and concentrate and I saw loads that I just hadn't seen the day before, consequently:
BFL from Jilly bean to try to understand the concept of dividing colours and making spun yarn that doesn't look like a muddy puddle - well that's the idea - but luckily i like muddy puddles anyway so either way it's a win.:

Sparkly fluff in a batt just because it's pretty:

Fyberspates faery wings - which is more expensive than i would normally treat myself to - but it's to knit the infinity scarf song of the sea that I think we all bought (?) and i love the colours:

And altogether with Rachel's book and the spindle bag and t pins from yesterday:

It was a fabulous weekend. I laughed so much I hurt and my friends made sure that I enjoyed every minute of our time away.

I am still here

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Mon, 12 May 2014 21:21:00 +0000

Life as a carer has taken over just a little. But I am hoping to get back on track with blogging really soon. I have a lot of craft to show you, and a few little product reviews. Stick with me, I'm still here ;)

Car Safety & Security

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 09:50:00 +0000

As regular readers of my blog are now aware, my life and that of my family has changed somewhat radically in the past 9 months. I am now a full time carer for my Mum after her brain haemorrhage and to some extent for my Dad too who has Parkinson’s.

In a day to day sense I've sorted most things out – we have routine and our days are filled with as much exercise as we can manage without tiring and games to play so Mum can relearn some skills. And while I am at home that is all fine and dandy.

But I have found it very hard to go out and leave them alone, even for a few minutes. This situation will improve as Mum gets better, but at the moment I find it hard. Of course it’s totally impossible not to go out though. I need to get to the shops to buy food (lots and lots and lots of food as it happens as we are trying to build both Mum and Dad’s weight up) and also I need to get to the chemist to pick up meds quite often. And this is without even considering the need to just get out on my own for a half hour here and there to retain my own sanity, which I haven’t felt comfortable to do up until now.

So, I was thrilled when the lovely people at Tesco Compare car insurance asked me if I wanted to test and review a Tom Tom Hands Free car kit. I have never needed a car kit before as phone calls would never have been so important that they couldn't wait until I was parked or back home. But in the present circumstances I thought that it would go a long way to ease my mind to know that I could take a call immediately if needed.

The car kit itself is small and neat and comes with both dashboard mounting and windscreen mounting so you can choose exactly where you want it to go. As I already have a satnav (which I bought when we were making endless trips to hospitals all over Sussex earlier in the year), this was very useful as it meant I could pop it over on the dash well out of the way on the right hand side of my steering wheel, and without taking up half my windscreen (which is the only downside to all these gadgets). It comes with an external mic which is located on the front of the cradle and also an extension cable for that, so you can put it up on your sun visor if it’s easier or better. I haven’t found the need to extend the mic location at all, everyone has said the calls have been very clear, but I think the visor location would maybe be better if you travel on faster roads more. I was impressed that it came with the option straight out of the box. The cradle itself has two rubberised clips to hold the phone in place. They are strong and secure and there has been no wobbling around at all. I have an iphone 5 so I can’t comment on how other phones are held but they are full adjustable so I can’t see there would be any issues at all. The phone connects to the kit via Bluetooth, and located on the cradle are two buttons to answer and hang up calls. This is brilliant for short journeys when you can’t be bothered don’t’ want to rake around your handbag finding the phone. It works perfectly from somewhere in a handbag that’s thrown in the back foot well underneath three bags of shopping! There is a charger for your phone too so on longer journeys you could reach your destination with a fully charged phone (that in itself is quite something and extremely useful for the iPhone 5 which I don’t think has the best battery life in the world) I haven’t used it yet as I need to get an adapter from the micro USB which is supplied to the lightning dock that the iPhone uses. But again I am very impressed that charging facilities have been provided straight out the box.
The call quality seems very good. The speaker is great and I can hear clearly, and I've certainly had no complaints from callers at the other end so I assume the mic is good too. And really call quality is all that matters in a car kit.

There were only a few minor niggles and really they are hardly worth mentioning, but for the transparency of a review I will: Firstly if you put the phone in the cradle the two buttons for answering and hanging up a call are totally obscured. Now I assume that if you have put your phone in the cradle that you are expecting to use the phone buttons, but having the buttons accessible would be useful as touchscreens on modern smartphones are hard to use when you’re driving, a quick button press is easier. The only other little point is that within the packaging there are a plethora of little clips and tacks and adapters for attaching cables to this that and the other and extending the mic and the charger etc, but I didn't find enough detail in the user guide to understand quite what every little one is for. I've worked it out since, and as I say it’s hardly worth mentioning really.

It’s such a small gadget really, but it does make me feel so much easier knowing that I can answer a call while driving safely and never really be out of reach. It’s gone a long way to ease my mind when I need to pop out for a few minutes.

Model reviewed: Tom Tom Hands Free Car Kit for Smartphones

i Knit too!

noreply@blogger.com (Auntie Noo) — Fri, 06 Sep 2013 16:55:00 +0000

I wonder if you all even remember that i knit? I'm not sure that I do ;) Well I thought i'd show you a few things i have made during these past months. Some with a little story to tell and others just to pass the time.

These socks for example:

These were knit from sock yarn that a friend sent when they first knew mum was ill and i had no yarn with me. I made them for Mum, and they were knit during the hours/days/weeks she was in a coma and we were waiting. One of the first times she moved her hands properly was to feel this ball of yarn. (If I remember it was merino - it'd make me move out of a coma too :D)

The next thing I made was a colour affection. made for Mum for mother's day. I bought Holst Garn Supersoft for this as I wanted to try their yarn. I loved knitting with it (and it had that lovely sheepy smell that all knitters love) It's washed up lovely and soft (for a pure wool, it's not merino soft!!) and generally i'm really happy. The only thing I would change is that i think the two shades of green are too similar. (in fact in the photo you can't even really tell there are two shades of green) i'd make the shawl again.:

Then there was a Cinnamon Toast shawl made from Sparkleduck galaxy (Which does actually have a little bit of sparkle in it *squeeeee*). Now this is my favourite make of recent months. The ruffly edge gives it a real swish factor (you know like the good looking blond bombshell with the hair flick - well this is the equivalent in shawls!) and some weight which made it feel good to wear (and also alerts you to when it was falling off, which I have found to be an issue with others (maybe I fidget too much?). My row gauge seems a bit out, I did a full extra repeat on top of the full shawl depth, and still i feel it could have been deeper. But then i'm very long from shoulders to waist so maybe it's just me. I really love it though, one of my favourite ever knits.

I also made a second one in ice yarns merino viscose. This was a quick make for a weekend jazz festival. I knitted it on 5mm needles and i do actually have some yarn left so may at some point undo the ruffle and add an extra body repeat:

Finally I have a commission knit on the needles now. I needed to wait until life was more settled and I could concentrate a little, and also until the evening temperatures had eased off a little...... I've only done the back and one front so far but i do love knitting an aran. No photos yet - next on the agenda!