From the depths of the drafts folder [Finished Object]: The Annablanket

This post (well, the beginning of it) was buried deep in my drafts folder.  I was going to delete it, but the blanket is just so pretty and it was the first big project that I completed.  So - here you go:

The Annablanket is complete!

It's my first biggish project finished, and I'm really quite pleased with it.

The Annablanket has been with its rightful owner, Annabel, for about six months now.  I've done another blanket in this pattern for another new baby, with more reds and blues than the pinks and purples in this. 

 It's all done in pure wool (Moda Vera) to a Martha Brooks Stein pattern.  The GF suggested the extra round of white between the colour repeats, I altered the final round to add a Double V edging by Bunny Mummy.

The only real downside to this pattern is that it starts off working up so quickly, then gets slower and slower, and slower as the rounds get bigger.  It does keep your lap warm during the winter, though.

My new favourite home gadget

When I was a kid, I loved staying with an honorary aunt of mine during the school holidays.  She lived right out in the country, and there was a huge yard for me to play in and imagine all sorts of wonderful things.  She was also the local postmistress, so I could help sort and stamp the mail, and all that sort of old fashioned thing that doesn't even get done by people any more.

She was also the sort of person who had a definite routine in the mornings: specific jobs that just had to get done before we were really ready for the day.  One of those was to run the carpet sweeper over all the carpets in the house.  When I was there, that was my chore - that and making my bed - and I loved it.

Okay, so, I'm not *this* old...

 When we moved into Chez Stutters mark 2, and ran my beloved Roomba in the bedrooms for the first time, we noticed a slight problem.  The carpet is a much tighter weave than in the old place, and it has very defined ridges.  And whereas the Roomba could work easily with the old carpet, and could pick up all the dropped fluff from the flannel sheets with no problems at all, the combination of the tighter weave and the ridges combined to leave the majority of the flannel fluff on the floor.

At which point I began to muse.  "Do they still make carpet sweepers?" I wondered.  "Because that's what we need here."

Blow me down, but they do!  And it's just as good as the one I remember from my childhood - and as fun!

So although I don't sweep the carpet every morning, I really should try to do the bedroom and the big red rug in the living room at least twice a week.

Mid-month goals review (June)

It's far too easy for me to post about my goals and then forget about them until the end of the month.  So part of my process is a mid-month "how I'm going" review.

See my June goals post here.

Goal 1 - the closet purge.  Still hasn't happened.

Goal 2 - project life catch up.  Photos have been printed up to the Queen's Birthday weekend, and are all sorted by week and mostly placed in layouts.  The most recently completely finished layout is still back in April, and I don't know that I'll get entirely caught up until I have my week off work in July, but progress is being made.  I've also come up with a couple of ideas for keeping organised while running behind.

Goal 3 - set up my household file.  I've thought about it a lot, does that count?  Again, progress, but not there yet.

Goal 4 - blog about Project Life.  I've certainly kickstarted my blogging again (something I've been wanting to do since the beginning of the year) but I haven't yet got the PL blogging up and running.  I think I may make July the month of PL around here :-)

Goal 5 - the tea towel stole.  I know where it is.  In the current state of the craft room, this is an achievement.  Again, unlikely to finish it this month, but major priority for July.  It's also the top of my list for my UFO challenge (which you'll be reading about in a day or two's time.)

Goal 6 - 40% on my Goodreads challenge.  I'm at 29%, with three books at 60% finished or above.  It's not out of the realms of possibility yet.


How are you going on your goals for June?

Chez Stutters report: the cliffhangers continue

So - when we last "spoke", the dishwasher had quit, taking out all the powerpoints with it.

Thankfully, unplugging the dishwasher restored the powerpoints, and once we'd survived the weekend with my un-laws, we got in the repairperson.

Who told us the dishwasher was old, the seals were failing, and water had got into the electrics.

Long story short, we went shopping for a new dishwasher on the long weekend, and after an unfortunate run-in with the worst record-keeping system either of us have ever encountered, on Saturday (a week after we purchased it) the new dishwasher was installed, and we did two runs with it before the evening was out.

But in a newly purchased house, of course there are ongoing issues. 

And so now we're dealing with the heater.  Or lack thereof.

Last Thursday we got the repairman in, who decided what it needed to be fixed, and came back the next day.  While he was up in the roof on the second day, the GF - who was at home to let him in - heard words you never want to hear:

'It's smoking, God, it's smoking!' and the sound of coughing...

*********

(What?  I promised you another cliffhanger in the title!)


 

A new craft: rope coil basket

 I blame various websites, a mid-year sale, and the Queen's Birthday long weekend for this one.

For reasons related to post shared by friends on FB, I re-joined up to 'Household Management 101' on FB. (The frequency of posts and the way it takes over my feed is reminding me why I left the first time.) and they had at 'declutter the top of your dresser' challenge.  The top of my dresser is a mess (still is: I haven't really got to the challenge itself yet, apart from returning an overdue magazine to the library,) and with the layout of the new house, the dresser top has become the spot where I put my keys when I get home. I was already wanting some sort of vessel in which to corral my keys.  The GF and I have seen some beautiful bowls - made from telephone wire - at a local shop but they were well out of our price range. 

On Sunday, in search of yarn for a new baby blanket  for a friend who will move away well before she has the baby, we discoverd the Lincraft mid year sale, which was 30% off everything. Full rolls of cording we're marked at $5, and turned out to be around the $3 Mark with the discount. And that reminded me of Kellie Winnell's rope baskets from February this year. (Have I mentioned that Kellie is a favourite blogger of mine, and lives just two hours down the road from me! No, we haven't met in person.) 

So I bought the cording with a sort of 'someday' intention. Someday I would make one of those baskets. 

Then, on the Monday of the long weekend, I got itchy fingers. You know that feeling, if you're a crafter. You just have to DO something. I was having a quiet day while the GF kept on writing reports. I'd washed dishes, run some laundry, written long lists of all the other domestic chores that I really needed to get done, but I wanted to craft. And I thought about that dresser top, and the cording in my Lincraft bag, and soon I was looking up a non-video tutorial just to confirm my thoughts on technique, and away I went. 

I used a tutorial from The Red Thread Blog and worked on the basket for a good part of the afternoon, for an hour in the evening while the GF was watching Game of Thrones, and then again while I was attending a work meeting via Skype on Tuesday morning. (Anyone who's seen me at a church meeting knows I concentrate way better when my hands are busy. Luckily I can do the same thing in remote meetings for work: it's much harder to do in face to face work meetings unfortunately. Just imagine how much crochet I could get done then!)

 

Witness the final result - at the point of finishing, and then later, in situ on my dresser, with keys. 

 

Crochet project: a dishcloth

It's a new finished object!

Last year I was converted to the idea of crocheting my own dishcloths. I did one and started on a second (that half-finished second one is somewhere in the junk that hasn't yet been unpacked).  During the weekend I decided I needed another one.

I found a pattern I liked via Pinterest and Ravelry, and hey, presto!

It's not quite right, but I like the basic idea, and I will definitely be trying this one again, although I'll begin with Magic Loop next time, because I'm hoping that will contribute to a far neater beginning.  It also gave me quote a lot of practice with back loop DC, which is good, because I have a couple of patterns in my wish list that require BL or FL stitching, and this is good, sustained practice for that.

June Goals

First up

• That closet purge I was planning for May.  As I've mentioned before, the ailing washing machine caused problems for that little plan.  But despite two weekends away and another full of family obligations, I have every intention of getting through my closet by the end of June.
• Catch up on Project Life.  I'm nowhere near as far behind as I was, but I really would like to be properly caught up.

Now for the new stuff

• Set up my Household file.  This includes getting budgets and other routines sorted.  I want my financial routines sorted before the new financial year kicks in.
• Blog about Project Life.  Ideas include -
• Are my Monthly spreads working?
• Spreads I'm proud of
• My 'historical' projects.
• Speaking of historical projects - finish the tea towel stole.  It was supposed to be a "quick" project and I started it back in 2009, before the GF and I were even living together.  I put it together in the living room of her old flat, which is now two houses ago!

Finally,

• Goodreads tells me that I am 27% through my challenge of 90 books for 2014.  (Bonhoeffer was bound to put me behind, but I've also ended up back reading fanfic again.)  There's no way I can make 50% by the end of June (without reading picture books), but I'd like to be at 40% by the end of the month.