Kilve Beach

As I mentioned in my Sunday post, my sister and I took a mid-afternoon trip to the beach on Saturday. I took plenty of photos and they all turned out pretty nicely so I thought I'd share a few more. My little camera wasn't charged so I sported a rather hipster combination of film SLR and phone camera, I've spared you the Instagram filters though ;)
Kilve beach is a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of its exciting rock formations - there are huge pavements of rock running across at angles. The cliffs have clearly visible layers of different types, some of which are full of fossils (mostly ammonites) - a geologist's dream! We visited Kilve a lot when I was younger as it's the nearest beach to home which isn't made of mud or home to a nuclear power station. Kilve has amazing rockpools - all those layers catch the receding tide really well. I have many happy memories of hunting for crabs, and somewhat less happy ones of falling in

Steep Holm island on the right-ish, silhouettes of Welsh hills to the left

More rocklakes than rock pools, some of them

An ammonite spotted by my sister, plus a couple of barnacles and some bladderwrack

Big clouds over some industrial-looking chimneys in South Wales

Big clouds over Minehead and Exmoor too

Sunset! At about 4pm. It was much orangier in real life.

The low orangey light lit up the cliffs beautifully

Hopefully it won't be too long before I visit again, there's nothing like sea air for blowing away the cobwebs! (even if that "sea" is the rather brown Bristol channel)

Cheap Sewing & Knitting Books!

The Works is a chain of discount book shops in the UK which  actually has some quite decent books in a lot of the time. They don't run any kind of ordering service and the staff have no idea what's coming in before it arrives (I've heard them say as much) so it really is hit & miss and not terribly consistent across branches. They generally have lots of craft supplies, cheap local postcards (some amusingly out of date or miss-labelled) and lots of kids toys.
I've known for a while that The Works had the Liberty Book of Home Sewing (I got it for my birthday this year - it's so pretty!) but today I had a proper look at their craft section and look what I found:

The Liberty Book of Home Sewing (review) and granny chic - a blogger-written book!

Built by Wendy Sew-U Home Stretch, as endorsed by Winnie

  

The Knitting Book and The Sewing Book from Dorling Kindersley

Sew It Up by Ruth Singer, Homemade Gifts Vintage Style by Sarah Moore and fitted knits by Stefanie Japel

 Knitting Classic Style by Veronik Avery, What to Knit When You're Expecting by Nikki Van De Ca, Glamour Knits by Erika Wright, Knitting Vintage by Claire Montgomarie

Felt It by Maggie Pace and The Encyclopedia of Stitches

This Week

I thought I'd do a little picture-based round-up of what I've been doing recently using snaps from my phone. My One V really does take much nicer photos than any other phone I've had although I think the camera isn't as good as other models or Samsung or iPhone offerings. Anyway, here they are!

Left: Prior Park Landscape Garden in Bath. I visited with the boy and two other photo-loving friends. After making the mistake of not getting a bus up the hill we revived ourselves with lunch and spent a happy (and cold!) afternoon wandering around the valley. We took photos of autumnal trees and the fancy Palladian bridge and I even spotted a couple of herons nesting in a tree. After that we descended back into Bath and warmed up at Boston Tea Party.
Right: This is Catty, he would dearly love to come inside but isn't allowed as he doesn't belong to us. We've never fed him or (intentionally) let him in but he still sits on our doorstep meowling sadly at all hours. Poor silly cat.

Left: The nice old waiting room on platform 15 at Temple Meads, an unexpected plus side to walking all the way to the other side of the station.
Right: Trees outside my window looking decidedly winterish.

That cat, trying to come to Coventry with me.

My sister & I dropped by Cribbs Causeway Mall for some sushi on the way back from Coventry. Christmas is in full swing there with this very gaudy outdoor skating rink and copious amounts of lights which were switched on by no lesser celebrities than JLS

Stopping for a cup of tea and a brownie at the Folk House Café after a long & nerve-wracking day of flat-hunting with S. She & I are trying to move back to Bristol but thus far have been thwarted by competition and unhelpful lettings agencies.
The Folk House Café is a lovely place to go - it's in an adult education centre tucked away up a passage off Park Street. They do many sorts of tea (in lovely old mismatched china of course), lunchy-type food (with vegetarian/gluten-free/lactose-free options) and very good cake. The cafe isn't trying to be a vintage tearoom, it's a bit more straightforward than that but in a nice sort of a way.
It was wonderful to sit in the warm with tea & cake, looking out over miserable grey weather, with a gentle background hum of french radio. They also have free Wi-Fi :)

My sister & I got around to checking how the car is - it tells us the oil is ok on the dashboard but we've forgotten where on this stick it's meant to come to! We guessed that being in the crossed zone meant it's alright?

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day so we went down to Kilve beach to get some fresh air. We found a couple of ammonites and had a nice time wandering about & trying not to slip into rock pools. I might do a separate photo post as I took so many!

This morning I went outside to check on the greenhouse and was "assisted" by this beast. He wasn't quite so intent on getting in as usual, instead he rolled around in the sunshine and scratched at fence posts :)

Now I feel like I should have done one of these posts before! It makes a nice record of what I've been up to. Mostly these types of pictures get shared in person or via Facebook. I haven't joined Instagram because I don't need yet another social network to join & I'm not much of a Twittererer usually (@dichohecho if you care for it). Perhaps I'll make this a regular thing, any thoughts?

25 Before 23 - November Update

Another month has come & gone and now it's November, and it's COLD. My enjoyment of the autumnalness of it all has been rather tempered by needing to stay inside and do work, and the fact that if I do leave the house it's by car. I miss being able to take a half hour break from work to wander around leafy Bristol streets with my camera, being able to just put on my coat & shoes and cheer myself up with a walk around the block. Here there is no block - a walk is a serious commitment and the narrow lanes and lack of pavement make being run over a constant hazard. It seems like it should be the other way around, walking should be better in the countryside, but it's the ease of it that's missing.
Anyway, here's my list update.

25 Things

1. Finish my final project - deadline is 03/01/13 but I'll have to finish earlier as getting it printed & bound in late December seems unlikely
2. Get a job
   
3. Move to Bristol - My future flatmate is back in the country & we've got a viewing booked for this weekend
4. Sew a dress - I've started a Simplicity 2451 skirt and completed a Sorbetto top
5. Make 10 of my recipe bookmarks / pins - 8/10 This month I've managed to make 5 things I'd not made before! Vegetarian moussaka, a spiced courgette loaf, pumpkin pie, swiss chard pesto and a courgette & green bean chutney. Everything is a way to use up the plague of excess veg.
6. Send parcels to far-away friends - Need to make a start on the second of two scarves for my twin friends with a December birthday
7. Go to Southwold at least once
8. Get rid of my Flickr backlog - in chronological order. Currently: film - July '11, digital - March '12
9. Get a grip on my finances - I've read my bank statements... Hmm.
10. Sell my eBay pile, swap my swap pile - Put 2 dresses on eBay but they didn't sell, need to try again. Took some my huge pile to a charity shop instead.
11. Mend & alter my mending & altering piles - Probably one for Christmas time once I'm done with project
12. Read a newspaper regularly - Still reading The Week while I'm at home. A week of breakfast reading gets me through the whole thing and Mum's away so I can do the su doku!
13. Weekend away by train
14. Buy good shoes - Argh. Boots are a priority.
15. Crochet 3 items from stashed wool - 0/3 Working on two Christmas items which I bought wool for, oh dear. The scarf for #6 counts though.
16. Get a new phone - I got an HTC One V and it's exactly what I wanted, hurrah!
17. Read 3 good/classic books - Added The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon to my list. It is very long and time and fiction made me a little muddled in places. A lot happens but somehow I don't feel like it's rushed. I enjoyed this and read the last third or so in one epic session that left me semi-dazed, slightly melancholy and pajama-ed at 3.30pm.
18. Print more photos - Need to pick out some to print and keep a folder so I can do it when a good offer comes up online!
19. Watch 3 good/classic films - Already reached my target but watched Skyfall (at The Little in Bath) and You Don't Mess With The Zohan (at home with my sister) this month. Skyfall was excellent & thoroughly entertaining. I enjoyed the old Bond references and didn't immediately react in the same way as some feminists have to the fate of M or Eve, although I can see their point. I enjoyed Ben Whishaw as Q - an attractively geeky role which played off well against Daniel Craig's alpha male, I know which I prefer. Even the computer science wasn't too cringeworthy.
    You Don't Mess With The Zohan was silly and enjoyable, its predictability was forgiveable and the gentle mocking of middle eastern stereotypes just kept coming. Hummus all round.
20. Exercise regularly - Shh.
21. Scrapbook - Still not started but a bit more organised.
22. Have a picnic - Might have to have an indoor picnic
23. Visit a city farm
24. Visit my sister at university - I think I'll be leaving this one 'til after project hand-in
25. Cycle from Bristol to Bath - still need to buy a helmet

Lyte's Cary

 

Last weekend Boy came down to visit and we went to visit Lyte's Cary down in South Somerset. It is, as the nice volunteer said, "a dear little property". The house was built in the 13th century but has been restored and extended and updated over the years (proper information via the link above) and the inside of the house is decorated in Arts & Crafts style. As it was a lovely sunny day (but SO cold!) and we had our cameras we stayed mostly outside. Since we're both NT members and therefore had free entry it didn't seem too much of a waste and we can easily go back any time we want.
The garden looked lovely in the sunlight - there were still plenty of flowers in the boarders and the trees were turning all sorts of lovely coppery browns.

The garden is laid out in "rooms" which I rather enjoyed - I've always liked exploring passages and paths and hidden places. Plus we were separated from the small but vocal hoarde of children, making it easier to get people-free photos. The boy's photo taking attempts in the orchard were still frustrated however by one particularly energetic little boy and his family.
Once we'd had our fill of garden we decided to investigate the "river walk". This took you through a rather lumpy field inhabited by some cows (distant and calm, to the boy's relief) and down towards the river Cary. There was a little wooden bridge where we played Pooh Sticks (sickeningly twee yet?) and crossed over the river, which was rather more of a brook at that point. Then we walked along by the river, as advertised, until we reached the A372 at which point you have to turn back unless you fancy shimmying across a gas pipe.
Back across the bridge we went, and past a rather wild looking pond. Then the path took you along the hedgerow of the field below the house and up towards a wood. Deviating from the river walk to go through the wood was a good idea as it turned out to be full of lovely berries, teasels, and activities for children. We had the place to ourselves and I took advantage of the swing while the boy contemplated sunlit twigs

We found our way out of the wood and back towards the avenue of trees leading to the house, through another lumpy field (inhabited by sheep this time). I discovered that the lumps were in fact squishy and could be dented by forceful jumping. Several of them now have my size 9 footprints in :)
Back at the house we had another go around the garden in the late afternoon light, and with all the offending children taken home, before packing ourselves back into the car and heading back to tea and banana bread freshly baked by my sister.

Oppan Burdastyle!

Yes, it's a truly terrible post title but I couldn't resist :) I haven't made much progress on my green skirt since I've sadly got plenty of more important things to get on with. I have cut out everything that isn't my fashion fabric - waistband & pocket facing and interfacing - I just need to clear a bigger flat surface to cut into the green.
 Anyway, I thought I'd share a great charity shop purchase from last month:

Burdastyle 11/2010 and 4/2011

Two completely untouched issues of Burdastyle for 20p each! I also picked out a long purple zip for another 20p.
I know I'm a long way off managing most of the nicer clothes featured in these but I can dream, right? Most of the simpler items are a bit hideous (like that purple shiny monster above) but one of them has a pretty simple looking pencil skirt pattern. The other has one with enormous folds sticking out of the front. I wish I'd taken a photo of that now, it looks pretty strange.

Simple-ish pencil skirt?

The blazers/jackets are a bit daunting but there are some in both issues which look like they're decent shapes, something to work towards perhaps? I'd like a navy jersey blazer one day, something that looks like Kelli of True Bias's chambray one.

Nice blazers, but what's that monstrosity on the right?!

Self-flagellation with flowers?

I'm undecided on this dress - it could be really nice or it could be one of those things that'll only look good on model-shaped people. The sleeves could definitely do with toning down.

My favourite bit of either is the 11/2010 "Romantic Windswept Isle" which reminds me of the Suffolk marshes and makes me think a bit of Roobedoo's wuthering Scottish surroundings, although it's probably nothing like!

Woollen wanderings

 Images in this post were all taken by me but the magazine images are property of Burda.

Snoods, Strawberries & Skirts

Big softie by name, big softie by nature

I've been crocheting a Christmas present for my younger sister K - it's snood.
Since she asked for a snood instead of a blanket (like I've made for other people) I thought I'd go to town with the yarn.
Sirdar Big Softie is sort of thing you see snoods made out of in shops. It's very soft (51% wool, 49% acrylic) and, as it says, super chunky. I ordered my yarn from Derramores in the end as they had 20% off and carry the full range of colours. Annoyingly this colour, 324 - Fripp, turned out to be much pinker than it looked online. I'd been aiming for purple & should have picked 323 - Damson. However my other sister & I agreed that this colour will look really nice on K so on I went.
I improvised the design and it seems to be going ok thus far. It's a big loop formed by joining the ends of the foundation chain into a sort of giant magic ring. Mindful of a previous loopy crochet attempt that had been horribly twisted, I carefully flattened out the chain before joining it. It didn't work. The snood is a mobius loop. Oops.

15mm crochet hook hehe

I don't feel totally at home working with this sort of yarn instead of my usual 100% acrylic bargain basement DK. I feel a bit like I might ruin it with dirty/sweaty hands or if I have to rip back any stitches. I also don't know if loose stitches will be obvious, my tension isn't really consistent and I have a feeling that big yarn and big stitches won't give me anywhere to hide... Hmm.

Rag market strawberries

In other news the next thing in my sewing queue is probably a proper Sorbetto made of this strawberry fabric from the rag market in Birmingham. I'm still undecided on whether to use plain white bias binding, red with white polka dots, or attempt to make my own out of leftover fabric. I think perhaps I'll cut out my pieces and see how much fabric I have left!

Simplicity 2451, green cotton sheeting and a matching zip!

I'm quite excited to have a go at making Simplicity 2451. I've seen loads of great versions around, especially by So Zo, House of Pinheiro, and  Bernie & I.

Cotton sheeting probably isn't the right thing to be making it from but this will do as a muslin. I've got very little chance of getting everything right first time, especially as I've not inserted a zip or interfaced anything before.

This looks like the stuff, no?

Speaking of interfacing, my mum said I could use some of her stash before she went away. The only problem has been finding & identifying it! I think I've got the right stuff here, guidance would be much appreciated.
Does the "light" in the name have any significance? Will it affect the floppitude of my waistband much? I'm guessing the side with the dots & shiny is the gluey side...