Reflecting on my week #69

The snow did arrive. Sort of. But like for many in London it fell overnight and had turned to slush by the next morning, which made for a wet walk to work Friday morning. Saturday morning there was some more but by the time we arrived home on Sunday, this was all that was left.

Saturday turned into a morning of post-Christmas admin; a couple of the presents I’d ordered hadn’t arrived and so I’d asked for a refund. What could have been troublesome turned out to be pretty straightforward in the end, with two refunds already paid. One is easy to replace, it’s a monthly gin subscription so they’ll be another bottle along next month; the other less so, it was hard enough to find this in the first place!

But in the meantime there’s crochet. Both my t-shirt yarn basket and the Vintage Hearts blanket have had an airing this week. It’s the former that has me captivated though and has grown since I last shared it here. It’s fascinating to see how the t-shirt yarn, which I’m cutting up old t-shirts to make, turns out.

The latest creamy yellow stripe is actually from a bright yellow t-shirt with daisies on. It looks much more mellow here, but it’s working well I think. The pink you can see on the navy stripe is the interlocked seams. Everything I’ve seen on the internet says to use seamless t-shirts, which would have been much more useful to know many years ago when these were bought, to make your own yarn. I don’t have these and as these baskets are destined for practical storage, I’m using what I’ve got, and it seems to be going ok, although I’m not convinced it will stand up on its own.

We’ll see, or actually maybe we won’t as I’ve got quite a bit earmarked for these so I think they’re going to be pretty full so most likley won’t have the opportunity to stand up on their own in any case.

I did get that massage, and it seems to have done the trick as I’ve a lot more mobility in my lower back. It was one of those massages that’s painful, and you’re never sure when you should breathe or if moving is considering wimpish behaviour. By the end of it I was completely zonked, and dehydrated too so spent the afternoon taking it easy and drinking water.

The therapist said my back was quite knotty - not a surprise to me - and that at times she’d needed to use her elbows - yikes! No wonder at times I was wondering what was going on. Apparently I need some more, and despite the pain, I think I’ll book with the same girl again.

What it has highlighted though is that I don’t drink enough water, so I’m trying to make amends for that. I’ve discovered a new-to-me app -HabitShare - which is likely to appeal to my list keeping self, and I hope help in the longer term too.

USA 50+2?

Conversations here have turned to holidays, and I know I’ve said it before, but this year we could finally be heading off for our big States trip. And I’ve a month in mind too. There’s still a lot more planning to do, but our big holiday to celebrate our big birthday could turn into a big birthday +2 holiday, but better late than never, hey?

More homework, and planning - and perhaps even a nice new notebook - is definitely needed.

Hollywood glamour, Lavatory Project style

Today the Lavatory Project meets The Loo Series is back, with the latest set of photos from Grand Designs Live last May. Today’s design, by Outshine, is full of Hollywood glamour, and the more you look, the more you see.

There’s the obvious black and gold, but there’s also the art-deco inspired wallpaper. But look again, there’s the Oscar, the high heels, the elbow-length gold gloves and the pine tree shaped loo roll holder. That has a touch of kitsch about it, but I kind of love it all the same. That’s not even mentioning the beaded cushion behind the loo (I’m not sure why either) or the bevelled mirror tile splashback or the rose gold taps.

Even the patterned towel, just works doesn’t it? And I bet you weren’t surprised to find the champers there either, although I think there’s much better places to store that kind of item, but it works with the concept.

Even the wallpaper under the dado, has hints of art-deco patterns in the anaglypta-like covering. And every lavatory needs somewhere to hang your evening bag, and camera - especially after all that fizz.

Are you a fan of this look, or not?

Celebrating colour and craft books I've read lately

I love a good book, and I especially love a good book or two for Christmas. For me, they provide the perfect excuse to escape the washing up (it’s honest if nothing else) and provide entertainment if there’s something on the telebox that I’m not that into. So when my presents are plenty of books, there’s little chance of moving me off the sofa for the afternoon, which sounds ideal to me.

This Christmas was one of those book rich Christmases, and as well as the craft books which are later in this post, there’s a couple that celebrate colour and pattern which are quite apt for me. And to accentuate the celebration of colour I’ve photographed all of these on my new scarf, full of ‘my’ colours and handmade by my mum, who’s clearly been paying attention to my posts as it’s finished off with handmade pom poms - I told you pom poms would be big, didn’t I?

Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours

Now this is a fascinating book. As you can see on the cover it’s billed as “The book Charles Darwin used to describe colours in nature on his voyage on the HMS Beagle” - I mean, a book to help you describe colours, really. At the start of the book, which was first published in 1814, it says it has “proper coloured examples of the different tints.” And sure enough a few pages on there are proper examples of greys, blacks, blues and more with names to match.

WERNER’S NOMENCLATURE OF COLOURS

Each colour has a number and a name, as well as description of its make up. For example “No. 9. Ash Grey, is the characteristic colour of Werner’s greys; he gives no description of its component parts; it is composed of snow white, with portions of smoke and French grey, and a very little yellowish grey and carmine red.”

Now I will no longer have the excuse of knowing what colour I’m talking about. And I have the vision of myself carrying this around Michael-Portillo-like (but without the clashing outfits) while on the hunt for the perfect home decor!

Spectrum, Heritage Patterns and Colours

Not content with colour, now I’ve got pattern too. Sheer heaven!

This book, which draws on the V&A collection and comprises patterns that “simply felt exciting” though I’m sure that narrowing the selection down was even harder than choosing the photos for the year book I’ve just finished. The book aims to be “both a compendium of beautiful patterns for inspiration and a functional tool”, and really is celebration of pattern and colour and no doubt, is just a splash in the ocean of the V&A collection.

It covers patterns and colours from the 15th century through to the 21st century, and while I’ve only dipped in and out of this book, I’ve a feeling that that’s something I’ll be doing for a long while yet - I could be a while!

Ah yes - I thought you deserved to see my scarf without it being adorned with a book, fab isn’t it? Strangely though, I almost bought this wool for my wrap, that I’m going to make up as I go at some point. I thought it looked familiar, and more familiar than me just liking it and having seen it before - then it struck me, it was the same as my new scarf…

Granny Squares Weekend, Emma Varnham

I do like a Granny Square, and quite early on in my crochet adventure decided these would probably be my thing, especially for their transportability. I’ve been looking for ideas to take me beyond blankets and I think this book will do just that. I love the bag on the cover - which also reminds me of a patchwork bag I had (and could have made myself) many years ago. There’s coasters, fingerless mittens and even a bobble hat that might tempt me at some point, but not until my current project list has reduced a little.

12 Months of Crochet with Red Agape, Mandy Sullivan

Ah, just look at that creation on the cover. But what’s also great about this book is the lesson in colour which it begins with, as it seems putting colour together to look this good, isn’t that easy. The book’s also split into seasons, so if you fancy a spring project, it’s easy to find just the thing. And funny I mention spring, as the project (apart from the one on the cover) is a Spring Wreath - we’ll see, most likely not this spring, but maybe.

And the blanket on the cover, that’s called the Hexagon Starlight Dancer Blanket and is an Australian summer snowflake, which Mandy assures isn’t as hard to complete as it looks. There’s an autumn tote bag, and a crocheted bouquet. My project list really doesn’t stand a chance, does it?

Modern Quilts, Block by Block, Emily Dennis

There’s 12 quilt projects in this book, and once again i’m a goner. I’ve not even finished cutting out the quilt I started last year, nor even blinked at the ones that would follow and yet here I am planning more. My excuse, well apart from they’re lovely, is that they’re very me. If I ever get them finished my bed will look like the reverse of the Princess and the Pea, instead of sleeping on all the mattresses, it’ll be the quilts on top of me (until I get too hot, and throw them off of course!)

The challenge of course will be deciding which one, and then resisting the urge to buy material to use.  I’ve a thing at the moment for stars with quilts on.  That said my current favourite is called ‘Hopscotch’ but it’s quite likely that it’s bright colours are swaying me away from the star version, called First Place.  What else I like about this book is the project gallery at its start, which allows me to drool over and compare all of the quilts at once.  What I wish it had though, is the quilt’s names, not just the page numbers on the pictures.  I’m sure I’ll cope though.

Secret Garden, Johanna Basford

This was an inspired present choice by MOH, which is also code for he had no idea what he was buying as I put this in his Amazon basket and he paid for it.  The best kind of presents, well apart from those that come in small boxes from the jewellers.  I like Johanna’s colouring books, and you might remember I met her at an adult colouring evening with Staedtler back in 2016, and she was lovely and quite obviously very talented but totally unassuming too.

And how could I resist a garden-based colouring book, a secret one at that. I hadn’t spotted the treasure hunt element to this, and if I’m honest, I’m still undecided about that. I’m sure I’ll cope, but perhaps I need to sit down and spend some more time using it to relax me after often a frantic day at work.

Have you read any of these, or read any great craft books lately? I probably shouldn’t ask, as I’m sure you’ll tempt me to try a few more, and add even more projects to my project to do list!