25 Before 24 - January Update

-rant-
Something is buggered with my post editing - the text keeps jumping around and becoming indented randomly. This wasn't happening on the last post I edited so I assume it's something to do with having copy & pasted some bullet points, or the continuous re-interpretation of the html that's going on.
On the plus side I've managed to get rid of the Flickr "iframe" thing by effectively writing my own html - they'd replaced the old img tags with iframe ones which used a different photo source url on top of being bloody annoying. I can at least arrange my photos how I like from Blogger again, but it makes photo posts much slower having to re-write html for each photo rather than simply grabbing it already done from the Flickr photo page.

Oh dear, I can see why I gave up on writing this post. Anyway, December was... busy. Finishing moving, various birthdays, and Christmas. I thought going home for Christmas might be relaxing... nope. There was something familyish to do every day - no sitting about doing nothing like I'd have liked. I did see various family members and survive all of my immediate family living together for a few days fairly happily so that was a plus. Coming back to Bristol afterwards wasn't hard (apart from missing a coffee date with friends) and I had a slightly surreal single day of working from home before a very home-based NYE.

25 Things

1. Cycle to Bath
2. Visit K at RHUL
3. Go to a sewing meet
4. Make 5 items of clothing
5. Go to Cornwall and/or somewhere warm
6. Learn some Perl/Ruby/C++/SQL - C++ looking more useful
7. Keep a list of things to cook and make 2 new ones per month - oven-baked pilau rice! Vegan cake - my apple/carrot/banana cake but with flax seeds - which came joint 2nd in the office bake-off. I sabbotaged myself by voting for the winning entry. Too honest! I also made N a birthday cake - it was a recipe I'd made before but never with proper butter or actual ganache. Ganache is surprisingly easy!
8. Read twelve or more books
9. Cut down my photo-uploading backlog - On K1000 roll 5 now
10. Scrapbook - Nope. Session needed.
11. Visit 5 new towns or cities
12. Keep job/get good/become independent - Scrum mastering going ok - definitely got the basics but still not keen on speaking to large groups or leading meetings. Have been working almost independently on a project for a month or so and am getting along ok despite self-doubt.
13. Go to a pop-up restaurant or supper club
14. Finish things - Finished the baby blanket and gave it to the baby! I've seen some very cute pictures of said baby using the blanket too. I also finished a bit of crosss stitch I've been working on since September.
15. Mend/alter
16. See cousins - One set came round on Boxing Day & we did a secret santa :)
17. Go to a gig/film/... every month - Went for supper at the Watershed but lamed out of cinema. Saw some surf/ska/funk at the bar where we met for Boy's birthday. Surf-style Norwegian Wood was pretty good.
18. Walk lots - a few vague attempts but it's COLD. Went up & down the lane at home a couple of times and along a beach in Devon
19. Visit new cafés/things - Work do took in The Hophouse and The Albion, neither of which I'd visited before. Visited the new Boston Tea Party up Gloucester Road and Grounded Café even further up. We also tried out the little café/Bistro in Henleaze with visiting friends and had a pretty good and reasonably priced brunch.
20. Do something creative every week - Further bus crochet on the baby blanket, some embroidered felt stars for Christmas presents, little crocheted stars, a (wonkily) quilted stocking for Boy, a funny red accidental hat to teach me to knit in the round with double pointed needles (dpns), and the start of a pair of wristwarmers for myself.
21. Make an effort to go to things - Several coffees with groups of friends, work Christmas do, a birthday evening I organised for Boy, pre-cinema dinner (even if I didn't stay for the cinema part), Christmas dinner with school friends, an afternoon Christmassing at a friend's house, coffee with old flatmate.
22. Learn to knit properly - Definitely getting somewhere! Managed to teach myself to use dpns from How To Knit by Debbie Bliss and started on some wristwarmers from Learn To Knit Love To Knit by Anna Wilkinson (a Christmas present)
23. Listen to the radio regularly - Boy generally has it on in the evenings so yes!
24. Use stashes - Bought new fabric for Boy's stocking but otherwise everything I've made has been from my stash.
25. Find a dentist & get teeth fixed 

 Going back over this list I'm quite impressed with what I managed to cram into December. January is feeling a bit tired and full of nothing, perhaps I'll get started on this month's list early to try and encourage myself. I might do a round up of everything I made last year too - I genuinely have no idea what my craft output is. I feel like it's pretty low but could be entirely wrong.
I've been rather inspired to do some kind of year summary by all the Top 5s I've been seeing - Gillian has some excellent ideas, including the sewcialists blog.

25 Before 24 - December Update

Snowdrops in Royal Fort Gardens

Late again - but I'm all moved in with Boy now. We got all our stuff into the house pretty quickly and unpacked but have been rather exhausted by keeping all the normal things together on top of that. We were both rather looking forward to some quiet time together in the house to enjoy each other's company but busyness has held that off 'til after Christmas. Boy's birthday is just before Christmas too so I was gearing up for that.
We've not made any new year plans so hopefully it'll be a quiet one spent with some good friends, some wine, and the contents of our salad cheese drawer.
As ever I'd like to blog more regularly - I think reminding myself that I do make and do interesting "blog-worthy" things is part of the struggle. Now I have a craft room I shall hopefully be more organised in my making and not have unfinished projects lying about.

25 Things

1. Cycle to Bath - Now have a garage but it's full of car things so no space for bike yet...
2. Visit K at RHUL
3. Go to a sewing meet
4. Make 5 items of clothing - Craft room is set up & I have some lovely soft teal cord for another Simplicity 2451. It'll need lining though - new frontiers :s
5. Go to Cornwall and/or somewhere warm - we've talked about a week in the warm in Jan/Feb
6. Learn some Perl/Ruby/C++/SQL- Hmm
7. Keep a list of things to cook and make 2 new ones per month - Made a very fruity/vegetably cake twice over - once carrot, banana, apple, coconut & walnuts and once apple, banana, hazelnut & chocolate
8. Read twelve or more books  - Nope. All mine & boy's books are cohabiting merrily on proper bookshelves now
9. Cut down my photo-uploading backlog - On roll 4 of K1000 photos
10. Scrapbook - Did a little concerted scrapbooking just before I moved, currently just keeping bits together
11. Visit 5 new towns or cities - Visited different parts of London to previously... Bethnal Green, Dalston & Goldhawk Road
12. Keep job/get good/become independent - Finished the annoying thing. Now doing lots of copying & pasting. Have taken over scrum master duties which is more responsibility -> good
13. Go to a pop-up restaurant or supper club
14. Finish things - UFOs are now dwelling in a box of shame
15. Mend/alter - Did a little of this before moving, got a couple of things back into circulation
16. See cousins - Failed to see any
17. Go to a gig/film/... every month - Saw Cate Le Bon at Rise for free and Darren Hayman at The Vortex Jazz club in London. Both very good.
18. Walk lots - Now closer to *a* bus stop, but a little way from a reliable one so walking there is a better option
19. Visit new cafés/things - Went to The Breakfast Club in Shoreditch and Tap Coffee on Wardour Street in London. Both very good - I had bacon & banana french toast in the former, and good coffee and some kind of tasty cake in the latter.
20. Do something creative every week - This got rather lost in all the moving and I've been feeling the want of some craft time
21. Make an effort to go to things - Went to London! Saw a few friends who now live there
22. Learn to knit properly - I have a pattern recommended and some wool in mind for arm-warmers
23. Listen to the radio regularly - Boy's digital radio is often on in the evening
24. Use stashes
25. Find a dentist & get teeth fixed 

25 Before 24 - November Update

Edit: This was written quite a while ago but got stuck on my phone. For the sake of completeness I've not edited it.
October was the month that boy & I found a house to move to together. We've been together almost four years now and with both of us having finished all the degrees we have planned and settled into jobs, now really did seem like the time.
One of the hard parts of adapting to full time working and commuting has been not seeing him half as much as I had been used to. When I was a student, and then when I was unemployed, it was very easy to come past his office at lunch time and get a quick cuddle, or bring him lunch when he'd forgotten. Now I work a full day far outside the city centre that just isn't possible: I'm often too tired in the evening to think of going out again and too late to join him in the pub for long before we start wanting dinner and whatever else we had planned goes out of the window. We've joked that going out for dinner has replaced Photography as our shared hobby but it is rather too close to the truth.
We've payed our Subject To Contract fees and deposits and all we have left to do now is to sign the contract and get the keys. It'll be nice to be together by default, and be able to take short breaks from our respective activities for a cuddle and a coffee instead of having to choose between getting stuff done and being together. Hopefully too we'll be able to get the domestic stuff out of the way and go for days out. We both do the majority of the housework in our current houses so that should only get easier!

25 Things
1. Cycle to Bath
2. Visit K at RHUL
3. Go to a sewing meet
4. Make 5 items of clothing - I seem to have started another instead of finishing anything
5.Go to Cornwall and/or somewhere warm
6. Learn some Perl/Ruby/C++/SQL- Writing teats & exercising my Perl skills again
7. Keep a list of things to cook and make 2 new ones per month - stir fry broccoli noodles, marinated pork & slaw, apple upside down cake
8. Read twelve or more books  - Inherited lots of books
9. Cut down my photo-uploading backlog - Started on K1000 photos
10. Scrapbook - Keep scraps with book but otherwise no progress
11. Visit 5 new towns or cities - Had an evening drive to Portishead but didn't make it out of the car
12. Keep job/get good/become independent - Been stuck on one thing for ages which is quite a downer, but also got pulled off it to help with an emergency
13. Go to a pop-up restaurant or supper club
14. Finish things - Oops
15. Mend/alter
16. See cousins - going to London next week & will hopefully see some
17. Go to a gig/film/... every month
18. Walk lots
19. Visit new cafés/things - Tried the little café near work and was pleasantly surprised
20. Do something creative every week - Finished my bus crochet
21. Make an effort to go to things - Been for dinner with friends after work, to a Photosoc social
22. Learn to knit properly
23. Listen to the radio regularly - Occasionally pop it on while cooking
24. Use stashes - I have plans
25. Find a dentist & get teeth fixed

25 Before 24 - October Update

 Where did September go?! After our week in Cornwall I felt like I'd been away for ages which was lovely, but going back to getting up early wasn't so nice...
I'm struggling to remember what I did during the rest of the month! The weekend we came back from Cornwall it seemed that everyone we know was in Bristol, including those who aren't usually. We both had a pretty busy weekend of coffees, dinners, and pub visits, both together and separately; I took a day trip and marvelled at the stock in my hometown's charity shops and had coffee with friends.
Later in the month I visited my Grandmother with my sister, drove for the first time in six months, and got stuck into some gardening and cleaning. I think my remaining weekends were mostly spent resting and being domestic.

25 Things

1. Cycle to Bath
2. Visit K at RHUL
3. Go to a sewing meet
4. Make 5 items of clothing - All but skirt still half-made.
5. Go to Cornwall and/or somewhere warm
6. Learn some Perl/Ruby/C++/SQL- I should find out more about C++ as we could be doing more of it at work in the future
7. Keep a list of things to cook and make 2 new ones per month - Made lemon & rocket risotto with baked salmon, tried a new way of making coffee, improvised a rather good apple tart.
8. Read twelve or more books  - Only got non-fiction from the library
9. Cut down my photo-uploading backlog - Digital 2012 is done! And ME Super film completely done
10. Scrapbook - Stalled. Seems like a good rainy afternoon activity
11. Visit 5 new towns or cities - Stopped off at Sainsbury's in Warwick but I don't think that counts...
12. Keep job/get good/become independent - Started "tracking" i.e. taking a turn at fielding support e-mails
13. Go to a pop-up restaurant or supper club
14. Finish things - Still quite a few projects on the go but no more started...
15. Mend/alter - Had a sewing & Big Fat Quiz evening with flatmate and mended a couple of things :)
16. See cousins
17. Go to a gig/film/... every month - The Wave Pictures at The Louisiana and This Is The Kit at The Folk House, plus Rush (F1 film) at The Watershed
18. Walk lots - Got off the bus a stop early several times
19. Visit new cafés/things - 4500 Miles From Delhi which was alright if a little more expensive than other curries, The Stable which was great fun - so many ciders!
20. Do something creative every week - Lots more bus crochet
21. Make an effort to go to things - Took my day trip home
22. Learn to knit properly
    
23. Listen to the radio regularly
24. Use stashes - Gained some more crafty things from a friend's Great Aunt. Oops.
25. Find a dentist & get teeth fixed - Apparently the one near work is alright, may investigate that

25 Before 24 - September Update

At Prior Park Landscape Garden in Bath last November

Oops. I've been meaning to write this post for weeks but somehow it's fallen by the wayside. Here it is anyway.
Over the last month or so I've been on holiday, seen many different friends, watched the Balloon Fiesta Night Glow had a day on the Exmoor coast, caught the last day of the Laura Ashley exhibition with my Mum, been visited by my sister, and (joint-)won the charity bake-off at work!

25 Things

1. Cycle to Bath
2. Visit K at RHUL
3. Go to a sewing meet
4. Make 5 items of clothing - skirt, half-made Sonja, half-made Strawbetto
5. Go to Cornwall and/or somewhere warm - Cornwall again
6. Learn some Perl/Ruby/C++/SQL - I'm picking up fragments of Perl as I go along
7. Keep a list of things to cook and make 2 new ones per month - Cooked my first artichoke, made up patatas bravas, re-created itame, and experimented with overnight oats (meh)
8. Read twelve or more books  - Finished "Toast". Borrowed various non-fiction library books
9. Cut down my photo-uploading backlog - Almost finished with digital 2012! See above :)
10. Scrapbook - Almost up-to-date
11. Visit 5 new towns or cities
12. Keep job/get good/become independent - Started doing more complex code reviews
13. Go to a pop-up restaurant or supper club
14. Finish things - I've ripped the Sonja muslin apart again... it just needs re-cutting & constructing
15. Mend/alter
16. See cousins
17. Go to a gig/film/... every month - No gigs but I saw the night glow at the balloon fiesta :)
18. Walk lots
19. Visit new cafés/things - Two new cafés in Bath (Same Same But Different and one nearby whose name I don't remember), Topping & Co bookshop.
20. Do something creative every week - I've been crocheting on the bus, productive commutes are pleasing
21. Make an effort to go to things - walked to the balloon fiesta!
22. Learn to knit properly - made a moss stitch headband... and stalled
23. Listen to the radio regularly - listened at work some more
24. Use stashes - started a baby blanket for a colleague
25. Find a dentist & get teeth fixed

Lytes Cary

Lytes Cary is a lovely old National Trust property in South Somerset, just near the A370 & Somerton. Boy & I went last October when he came down to visit me. It was a very cold day but lovely and clear with sunny intervals and we were snug-ly wrapped up in coats & scarves. Of course we took full advantage of the sunshine and photographed the garden to within an inch of its life.
We walked down to the River Cary too and through a really picturesque little wood - that might appear in a later post - but didn't make it into the house. I'd like to go back and see inside, and to see the garden in another season. I love autumn for its low warm sunshine, orangey brown leaves, and crisp edge, but most  gardens really should be seen in May or so too :)

Finished: New Look 6154

I look like I'm about to jump

I made another skirt! A better one! After my Simplicity 2451 turned out too big I knew I should go down at least one size. This is New Look 6154, which I reasoned probably had the same sizing as the Simplicity skirt and in fact every pattern piece apart from the skirt front is suspiciously similar, although I haven't overlaid them to check yet. I added the first review on Pattern Review which surprised me, but then I suppose it's quite a basic pattern.
I wanted to make a couple of adjustments, namely moving the centre back zip to the side, cutting the back on the fold, and lengthening the whole thing a couple of inches. I muslined it using a second-hand Ikea bedsheet and it was a good thing I did; I added extra seam allowance at the sides but forgot to take it off the back and ended up with a seam there anyway and a foldy mess on the yoke. Lesson learned.

I don't know if the zip is this obvious without flash...

I sewed the skirt over the course of several evenings, but saved the zip insertion and hemming for the bus to work - time I can easily lose to gazing sleepily out of the window. This was intended as a very cake-y and work-appropriate garment - the summer equivalent to my favourite navy cord skirt.
The final version is made of some medium-weight navy cotton from Fabricland which leeched an incredible amount of dye in the wash (even my very bleed-y pink & red bedsheets fell victim) and shrank a little. This, I thought, was fair enough - one is meant to pre-wash - what annoyed me though is that on the first wash after wearing as a completed garment it leeched still more (thankfully I remembered the colour catcher) and shrank more! The fit is no longer what you see above, instead it sits a bit higher and moves around annoyingly. I only washed it on 40! Boo and hiss. It also wrinkles a fair bit - these photos were taken after one day of office wear and half a bottle of cider.

Failing to show off my bias binding'd hem. Why yes, that is a mop

Before the aforementioned laundry incident the skirt was very comfortable and just what I needed for work. I was even happy with my shirt tucked in. Next time (and there will be one, possibly with more of this fabric and the pockets from Simplicity 2451) I'll re-pre-wash the fabric and attempt a full bottom adjustment as I think I have a combination of that and sway-back. It's hard to tell from these exuberant photos but I don't think the side seam is quite vertical - at least it isn't now that the skirt has shrunk. Hmm.

Productive commuting

For the yoke facing I used a scrap of fabric leftover from the time a misunderstanding led my Mum to shorten a new skirt of mine, thus ruining it  - childhood trauma made good -  and a scrap of purple bias binding from her collection at the hem. I didn't attempt any levelling on the hem, just turned it up a roughly even amount all the way around. The zip is one of my 10 for £1 from the Rag Market at the Birmingham Sewists' meet, put in by hand as I don't have a zip foot and find it reasonably simple to do. It's centred as that also seems like an easy option, but perhaps not so good for a side seam? I don't know if the light blue zip is so obvious in real life. I decided that laziness could be euphemised into stash busting and didn't bother buying a navy one.
I had to re-sew the yoke facing around the top of the zip a few times as I'd got it caught up in various places which was annoying but not the end of the world. With a little more care it should be easier next time. I'm still not sure what the pattern instructions wanted me to do with the bottom of the yoke facing - it seemed to be telling me to zig-zag the edge and leave it - but I turned it under before stitching in the ditch, as you can see above.

Ta da!

More straight-up details can be found over on pattern review.

These photos come courtesy of my friend Alice who invited various of our friends around for dinner that evening and cooked us tasty bruschetta, then goats cheese, polenta & spinach parcels with roasted veg, followed by an enormous banoffee pie. There was good food, good company, a cat, a garden, and beer, wine, & cider aplenty. It was a very good evening.