May Goals - Review

My goals for May were:

• do hand/wrist exercises regularly
• eat chocolate no more than once a week
• finish the Zig Zag Blanket
• finish 5 balls of yarn
• declutter, spring clean and paint my bedroom
• practise Italian for at least 20 minutes each day
• have sheds removed from garden
• have soil delivered for planters
• complete the top of the blue and yellow quilt

The successes were that the Zig Zag Blanket has been finished. In doing so, I've finished 5 more balls of yarn. The sheds have been removed from the garden.

The partials are I have been doing hand exercises, but not enough, and there was a fairly bad flare-up as I was finishing the blanket. Less chocolate has been consumed, but too much. I have been practising my Italian, but not enough, and not consistently enough. My bedroom has been decluttered and cleaned, and one wall has been painted.

The failure has been in the garden. It is taking so long to get anything done there. People keep letting me down, and I'm getting so annoyed. I've annexed a neighbour's garden so I can grow things this year!

May Craftings

Baby Hats
Start: 26th May 2018
Finish: 28th May 2018

Zig Zag Blanket
Start: 10th March 2018
Finish: 25th May 2018

City Slickers Quilt
Start: 1st May 2018
Finish: in progress

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Items made this month
0 sewn, 2 knitted, 1 crocheted,  0 soaped

Items made this year
8 sewn, 10 knitted, 1 crocheted, 5 soaped

Yarn this month
bought: 0
finished: 5

Yarn this year
bought: 17 (950g of DK)
finished: 20

Baby Hats

Two little hats made from the leftovers from the Zig Zag Blanket. 

Yarn: Red Heart Lisa DK
Composition: 100% acrylic 

Colour: Glacier (08363)

Colour: Petrol (08195)

Pattern:  Baby Hat
Size:  newborn, 3 months

Cast on 60 (66) sts.  Join.

For the newborn size, work in 2x2 rib for 6 rounds. For the 3 months size, 7 rounds of 1x1 rib.

Knit 12 (14) rounds of stocking stitch, adding stripes if desired.

Decreases

3 months hat: (K9, k2tog) to end. Knit next round.

Both hats: 

1. (K8, k2tog) to end.

2. Knit.

3. (K7, k2tog) to end.

4. Knit.

Continue in this way until there's only 6 stitches on the needles. Cut of the yarn, leaving and end, and draw the yarn through the 6 stitches. Weave in ends. 

An alternative is to work 20 rounds of stocking stitch on the 6 stitches, and then finish it off as above. Tie the cord in a knot.

First Bed Planted/Seeded

The first annexed raised bed has been planted/sewn. Standing with my back to Cat's front door, there's a few onion sets (tops just peeking up), and in amongst the onions, there's radish seeds. Next up are butternut squash seed, and 5 lettuce plants. These ones are 'come and pick again' types. You harvest just what you need from the outer leaves, rather than taking off the head. And the last one, right in the corner is a tomato tumbler.

I suspect the bed along with garden wall will get some butternut squash, onions, and nasturtiums. The central one will become sugar pea central, and I've no idea about the last one.

It's at times like this I really enjoy the vanilla and oatmeal soap I made. The oats give it just a little edge of 'extra' to get at the dirt.

Raised Beds

My back garden is still not ready for planting. The seeds I've sewn were going to have nowhere to call home. Thankfully, a friend has allowed me to annex her garden. I am very happy to be in her garden; it hasn't received much attention over the past year (she's been away, and the lodgers promised, but didn't do it). 

The garden has raised beds, made with wooden shuttering. There is a huge amount of bending and crouching. I'm so glad that my raised beds have a top wide enough to place my bum. It's going to be so very much easier in my beds than in her's. 

The weather has been uncharacteristically hot and sunny these last two weeks, and it is set to continue for the next two. This means the weeds are not too bad, but the soil is so dry. A few onion sets have been planted, and I've been clearing weeds and forking over the soil with a hand fork. A few weeks ago, we collected some manure. This will go on C's garden rather than mine, as I don't have one just now! It will improve the soil, and help with water retention.

TT Baking Prep

During the TT Races, the Police work incredibly hard, and very long hours. Last year, I baked a load of cakes and took them to Police Headquarters as a little 'thank you' for their work.

The plan is to do the same again this year, and it's time to start planning. Here are some of the recipes that sound interesting.

Cherry Oat Squares

Peppermint Slice

Chocolate Brownies

Lemon Cake

Vanilla Sponge

Mars Bar Cake

It's Finished!

The blanket is finished! 

And I am so thankful. My wrists and hands were giving out on me. Foolishly, I pressed on, just to get it done. 

Major Progress on Zig Zag!

My wrists and hands were playing up for a while, and my crochet was set aside. And now, it's been picked up again. The central panel has almost been completed. Three more rows and it's done. I'm so happy to see an end in sight.

Five Ways I'm Reducing and Recycling

I've recently been feeling really bad that my kitchen bin is full of non-recyclable plastics.  It's things like the clear plastic wrap over a chicken, or the bag my frozen peas were in. Then it struck me, the reason my bin is full of these things is because almost everything else I used to put into it is now being dealt with elsewhere. 

Creating a greener, more eco-friendly kitchen can be done step by step. I'm not doing all I can, but I keep moving in that direction. 

1. Meal Prep When we married we had very little money. It was not an option to let food go to waste. I often make extra portions at dinner. These are then boxed up, and are either frozen for future use or they become lunches. It's homemade ready meals. They are placed right at the top of the fridge to remind people to eat them, or labelled and put in the freezer.

Our local supermarket has a range of 'take out' meals. The containers are brilliant, strong and flexible, and can go from the freezer to the microwave. They can be used again and again.

2. Eat what you buy "£13 billion of food was wasted in the UK in 2015, approximately 7.3 million tonnes. The average household lost £470 a year because of avoidable food waste" Food Waste in England This is an area where I can struggle, but I'm definitely not throwing away £9 of uneaten food each week. I'll make it a goal for next month to track my spending in this area.

3. Kerbside recycling The vast majority of things that used to be put in the kitchen bin are now recycled.

4. Composting Fruit and veg peelings, tea bags, egg shells, paper, etc all find their way to the compost bin. I'm reusing a yogurt bucket to gather food scraps, and at dinner time the bucket is emptied into the compost bin. I'm so looking forward to my first compost made in my own garden.

5. Beeswax Wraps and Stretchy Silicone Covers I've been trying to reduce the amount of cling film I use. Recently I made some beeswax wraps, and these are great for wrapping fruit and cheese. I'm currently waiting for a delivery of stretchy silicone covers.

Fire Up the Barbie!

We bought this little beauty today, a gas bbq. We decided to leave it in its box until we can get the weatherproof cover for it. Hopefully the shop will have restocked by next weekend.

The garden furniture is due to arrive this week, and more seeds have been sewn. I'll be ordering a couple of tonnes of top soil too. It's all go!

Scrap Patches

Making a quilt results in many scraps. I have tried to be very frugal in my use of fabric, just as my Mammy taught me many years ago. The goal is to make the project, whilst generating the smallest number of scraps. But scraps are created. 

The block on the right is made from 2.5" squares. The one of the left is made from even smaller bits. The crazy patchwork would look good with similar patches in different colours, with a neutral sash between them.

Loo Roll Pots

I saw the idea a while back, and decided to give it a try. Take the centre for a loo roll, make four snips in the bottom, and fold them up. This produces a little plant pot for seeds or cuttings. As they grow their roots will emerge through the cardboard, and the the cardboard will start to decompose.

On the left, there's two mint cuttings, and on the right, sugar snap pea seeds. I'll plant some more peas next week. 

The table the tray is sitting on was bought about 15 years ago, and it's been outside in all weathers. It's seen better days, and now it's been put into retirement as a gardening table. A new table and a couple of benches have been ordered. They will look rather swish in comparison. I'm also going to get some solar powered lights for the garden. There will be garland-like ones for the front and back walls. Once the raised beds have been filled with soil, I'll get some larger ones with a stake on the bottom and put them into the beds.

Blue Floaty Scarf

My first Made in May for Me thingy! It's a light, floaty summer scarf. The fabric was squared (rectangled) off, and the edges hemmed. 

I had been looking for a navy scarf for some time, just a light little thing that could be used to shield the back of my neck from the sun, or from air conditioners.

City Slicker - Sewing the Blocks Together

Last night, the lovely Mannin Quilters helped me arrange the blocks. Oh my! It's big! This morning, I started sewing them together. Ava tried to help when I laid the blocks on the floor. (That's why they're draped over chairs in the photograph.) And, now the heating element in my iron has broken! The Beloved (wonderful man that he is) will look for a new iron for me during his lunch break.

Until play re-starts, I'm going to hem a scarf, do a bit of crochet, make dinner etc.

City Slicker - All Blocks Made!

All of the blocks have been completed! The original goal was to have the top of the quilt finished by the end of the month. It's looking like I shall be able to do that tomorrow. It was all going so well, and I decided to make a push to get them finished for this evening. There's a meeting of quilters, and I'm going to take them along to have a play with arranging the blocks. 

Rummaging in My Drawers

Today's focus remains in the kitchen

• check that the things done yesterday are still done, if not re-do them
• clean hob
• clean oven
• empty each drawer in the kitchen
• declutter contents
• clean drawer
• organise contents

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The work surfaces had been lightly strewn with stuff, but it was far less than at the start of the kitchen clean-up. The dirty hob was sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the clean, tidy work surfaces. The hob has been cleaned, and it seems wrong to have a clean hob, but not a clean oven. All f the drawers have been done.

Items that have been waved goodbye to are: 4 stock cubes (I don't like the flavour), some cake sprinkles and some fondant (both out of date). This brings my total to seven.

Laxey Glen

This wonderful place is Laxey Glen. It's not too far from home, but it's absolutely beautiful. Yesterday, we had a lovely walk along the flat part of the glen. The skies were blue, the water rushing, gushing and glubbing, blue bells are just making their presence known. The sun was shining, and a very, very pleasant time was had by all, especially Ava. She loves being off the leash and having the chance to run and sniff and investigate.

The next stop was Laxey Station. A great deal of work has been done in the station area, and it's looking great. The stone paving has come from the same quarry as the paving in Castletown. The fossils and corals, and rock colours are so similar.

A group of bikers were cooing over Ava, declaring her to be beautiful. 'Beautiful' was very interested in the ice creams we had, and I shared mine with her. When eating ice cream for a little spoon she is a dog of grace and delicacy. However, when I gave her a whole scoop she wolfed it down in one!  No more ice cream by the scoop or she'll have a sore tummy.

All in all, a very pleasant little jaunt in the Manx countryside.

Ava, the New Door Mat

I appear to have a new door mat!

When I came close she raised her head and started panting. Well, yes, you will pant if you are snoozing in the sun! 

The sound of her water bowl being emptied and re-filled with cold water caused some gentle movement. And she has since decided snoozing on the back step is not the bestest place to be.

Time to Clean Up

After a week of feeling crap, I'm ready to do stuff. We have visitors coming next month, and I want the house to be clean and tidy for their arrival. (I want the house to be clean and tidy for us too.) To this end, I'll be dipping into some of the 31 Days of Spring Cleaning list, as well as re-starting the Declutter 365.

My tasks today are to:

• declutter the kitchen sink
• clean the sink
• organize the sink area
• declutter the work surfaces
• clean the work surfaces
• organise the work surfaces

Oh, and make granola. Might at well do that whilst I'm working in the kitchen.

...

All done, and one item has been properly decluttered - a fork. I don't like the shape of it. It feels odd when I put it in my mouth. 

Blerg!

I'm feeling grotty. The sort of grotty where you don't want to do anything, but stay in bed, cry a bit, and do almost nothing. Well, apart from writing a blog post about feeling grotty. Whilst looking for an image that would capture my mood, I found a rubber duckie in a bubble bath. This made me feel a little better.

Yesterday's MMM18 was a summer skirt. Today's (when I get dressed) will definitely be something warm and woolly. That's the way the weather goes on this little island.

A "To Do/Ta Da!" list is definitely required today. If I don't have one, then nothing is going to get done.

To Do

make the final outside blocks for the quilt

dry washing

put away dishes

wash floor

make dinner (chicken tagine)

empty kitchen compost collection tub

make yogurt

make granola

watch a comedy

Ta Da

make Ava's breakfast (salmon, veggies, and dried biscuits)

Sewing Day

Today's big plan was to make a wrap skirt using fabric I bought two or three years ago, or perhaps even more. I was thwarted by the idea of changing the settings on my sewing machine. Being mid-quilt, I just did not want to do it. The fabric has been laid out and is in a nice little holding pattern until the top of the quilt has been completed. When that happens I'll be making two skirts, some trousers and a scarf.

Instead, more progress was made on the quilt. There is a advantage to be had by making the block with the yellow at the centre. You don't have to worry about all the additional blocks around sides to make it symmetrical. Sixteen of the full blocks have been made, seventeen centres for the full blocks, and seventeen edge blocks. The bits of 8 other edge blocks are on the table, ready to sew tomorrow. I'll also cut and sew the remain edge blocks. Friday might well be the day to create the remaining seven centres for the full blocks, and the weekend will see the completion of all of the blocks.

My plan (it's not a cunning plan, just a plan) is to take all of the blocks along to Quilters on Tuesday evening. This will give me the space to lay out all of the blocks, and 'test drive' the placement.

Knitted Red Shawl

I wear scarves and shawls a great deal! This is another one of my shawls. Well, at the moment, it's a picture of some yarn, but the item around my neck is the finished item. 

I hadn't realised quite how stark the difference is - when it's cold I wear hand knitted woollens, and when it's warm, I wear cotton skirts. Perhaps I need to branch out a little?

MMM18 Knitwear Again

When the day is lovely and warm, and the nights cool, but not cold, my ankles struggle. They become a bit chilled and this translates to pain.

Last year, I made some grey 'yoga socks'. These are ankle socks, but without the toes and heels. The absence of the heels and toes keep my feet from overheating. Having the wool in the right places warms my ankles and removes the pain.

It seems a little strange to wear woolies when it's warm, but lack of pain can combat a great deal of 'strange'.

Isle of Man Art Festival

The May bank holiday long weekend is when the Art Festival takes place. It's an annual celebration of art on the island. There's such a variety of art and a range of styles. My joints haven't allowed me to see or do much, but today we saw some of the sights in the south.

The picture above is a "5 minute portrait" of Ava. It's a lovely little cartoon portrait of a lovely dog. It was painted by an artist who has recently moved to the island, Kim Gee. It was wonderful watching her paint Ava from a photograph on a phone. She is a talented woman.

Across the road, in another venue, was a woman who was making a Loaghtan sheep from willow and corkscrew hazel wands. The willow was fresh, but the hazel dry. When the sculpture has been finished, she will plant climbers to grow through it. The hazel will only last about two years, but it will provide enough support for the climbers to become established. These will then hold the sheep together, and give it a fine, green coat.

The Beloved was chatting with Graham Hall, a wood turner. Graham is thinking about offering courses; he Beloved's eyes lit up.  Graham's neighbour is Nicola Dixon. Nicola's passion is painting the sea, coast and the animals to be found there. We have a few of her paintings (prints unfortunately). She has recently branched out into printing on fabric. On sale were legging, cushions, aprons, little cowls and a dress. It's all in the early stages, but I know I want to buy a couple of metres of in a cotton. 

The bi-annual quilting exhibition was part of the art festival this year. It was fascinating looking at the designs of others. One block of a quilt caught my eye, a very stylised tree. I'm now imagining a similar tree, but with the names of all of the members of our family written on leaves.

Gardening Has Started!

My first real act of gardening in the back garden has happened!  We have made a new composting bin.  It was a £15 garden bin from B&Q. I marked where the holes should go, and the Beloved used the drill. After the holes had been drilled, he went over them with a sharp blade, removing any burrs. I followed with a damp, soapy cloth to remove the chalk marks.

A layer of scrunched up newspaper was placed in the bottom. Then a layer of soil from the front garden. Next was the veggie scraps I've been collecting, and it was topped off by some potting compost that has been lying around since last summer. There were a few nice, juicy worms in the mix. The soil and potting compost are both nicely moist, so I didn't water them.

We've positioned it just across from the back door. We wanted it close to the kitchen, not right beside the door (ants), but where we will see it each and every day. This will help me take good care of it.

Taking Photographs is NOT My Strong Point

Today's MMM18 item is a third shawl. And, yup, no photograph. This is getting beyond a joke. 

The shawl is a beautiful deep purple merino 4ply. It's so warm and snuggly. I love it.

Fingerless Mittens and a Scarf

I'm starting to realise I'm not too hot about ensuring I have taken pictures of my finishes projects! I must rectify this.

Today's Me Made May items are a small shawl and a pair of fingerless mittens. The shawl was made quite some time ago in a Cherry Tree Hill merino. It's in various shades of pinks, heading towards red. The shawl is a V-shape, mostly stocking stitch, with a lacy leaf edging. Each leaf has a little bead.

The fingerless mittens were added because my wrist are sore.

Me Made May18

"Me-Made-May'18 (#MMMay18 for social media interaction) is a challenge designed to encourage people who sew/knit/crochet/refashion/upcycle garments for themselves to wear and love them more. This challenge works on both a personal and community level. The participants decide the specifics of their own challenge, so that the month is appropriate and challenging for them (more on this below), and aim to fullfil that pledge for the duration of May 2018. Some participants also choose to document their challenge photographically (though this is in no way compulsory for taking part) and share them with other participants."

I only found out about this today, but I'm up for it. My challenge is to wear something I made, or adapted, each of the remaining days in May, and to make some more clothing. Items I have planned are re-working I navy linen wrap skirt, and to make a pair of summer trousers. 

Today, I'm wearing black head to toe, apart from my Sea Foam Shawl.  Looking back at previous blog posts, I can't see any photographs of the finished shawl. I'll correct this in the next few days and post it here.

Compost!

With the departure of the sheds, my mind is drifting towards composting. It would be great to have a composting thingy-do in the back garden. I had been wondering if I can re-purpose on of the large black containers. There's one out the back, and two at the front. These could be placed in the back garden, in a corner, and the one furthest into the corner could be the compost one, and the other two could be for growing stuff.

And, I've just realised why this would not work. The compost bin would need a lid, and I've no lid for the bin. Perhaps I could buy an outdoor bin with a lid, and  drill a few holes in the bottom and sides of the bin. It could still be tucked away out, but still accessible. 

Conjugations Again

Dormire - to sleep

io dormo

tu dormi

lei/lui dorme

noi dormiamo

voi dormite

loro dormono

The instructions in today's Italian class was to conjugate, conjugate, and conjugate again. 

Io dormo nella notte.

L'orso dorme nel letto.

Alle nove, Ava dorme sul divano.

I have taken to conjugating verbs whilst I walk the dog. I'm getting a dab hand at conjugating regular -are, -ere, and -ire verb in the present tense. 'To be' and 'to have' are now second nature. A few more irregulars were thrown our way in class. 'Fare' (to do/make) was one of them. My objective this week is to learn the new irregular verbs and the number 7. It's proving to troublesome.

City Slicker Quilt

Currently, there's two light blues and two dark blues attaching to each yellow. I'm pondering, would it loo better to have 4 darks on the yellow, and 4 lights on the next? This would make plus signs with a yellow centre, and would be quite a bit closer to the original design. 

I've put this out to competitive opinions on Facebook. We'll see what my friends and fellow stitchers say.

The Sheds Have Gone!

I'm utterly delighted. One of The Beloved's co-workers came to look at the shreds this evening. He decided they will suit his needs and that they would be easy to dismantle. We were able to get the sheds broken down and loaded onto his Land Rover.

We agreed on a swap, the sheds for a piece of wood we could use to attach a cleat to. Last night we put up a cleat to extend the washing line. We tried to put up a second one, but the concrete clockwork was crumbling whilst the holes were being drilled. The holes were too close together. We'll mount the cleat to the wood and the wood to the wall. This will enable us to have a clear walk from the back gate to the back door, free from threat of mild garrotting.

City Slicker Quilt in Blues and Yellow

The first block has been completed in my City Slicker quilt. It is being made from a jelly roll, various fat quarters, and some white cotton. The finished block will be 14x10".

My original intention had been to use the blues to make a Jelly Roll quilt. Every so often I take a notion of a random design, and each and every time I realise, I'm not a random person. Order and pattern, geometry and precision are the things that delight me. It was rather a labour unpicking metres and metres of sewing, but this quilt is going to be so much more to my tastes - geometric blues, whites and a pop of yellow. The pieces have finishes sizes of 2", 4", 6" and 12" - so ordered! 

Not being a person who buys patterns when they can see how to make it, I'm just making it the way I want to do it. The original has the block centred around the small square. I decided against it, and started with the four patch of blues.

My aim is to complete the top of the quilt by the end of the month. I want the quilt to be in the region of 90" by 86". This is roughly 9 blocks by 6 and a smidge. To complete the top by the end of the month I'll need to be making one and three quarters blocks per day. Perhaps two might be an easier number to manage.

May Goals

• do hand/wrist exercises regularly
• eat chocolate no more than once a week
• finish the Zig Zag Blanket
• finish 5 balls of yarn
• declutter, spring clean and paint my bedroom
• practise Italian for at least 20 minutes each day
• have sheds removed from garden
• have soil delivered for planters
• complete the top of the blue and yellow quilt