One of my favourite things to do on my days off work is to go out for lunch on my own. Just me on a Monday or Tuesday, and the company of a good book. Daydreaming whilst watching people busy about. There is a feeling of luxury about this, peaceful, definite 'me time'. This video from Tanya Davis and Andrea Dorfman sums up that feeling perfectly.
Speaking of alone, more guinea pig trauma. Godber passed away on Friday. Sudden, unexpected. Died of a broken heart.
So for now it is just Oscar, alone.
We shall let him settle in properly before thinking about a friend.
Every time I go to the Hunterian Art Gallery I am drawn to a painting by David Allan of The Spreull Family.
David Allan - The Spreull Family, 1793Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow
The artist David Allan (1744 - 1796) studied at the Foulis academy in Glasgow. Allan spent ten years living and painting in Italy, before returning, firstly to London and then back to Scotland. He became renowned for his genre paintings or conversation pieces, usually of families in informal settings (such as this painting). The family were the Spreull family, the father is James, graduate of Glasgow University, City Chamberlain and Superintendent of the Clyde. With his bright red hunting jacket, the vast landscape and size of the painting, this is all about James showing off his wealth and power. His wife Margaret (McCall) sits with their three eldest children (records show that they went on to have ten children in total). And to the very left of the picture, looking rather sternly, with knitting in her lap is Hannah (Park), James's mother.
Stockings were worn by everyone and without the advent of lyrca or nylon, they were made to fit the leg, narrower at the knee and ankle, and wider at the calf and thigh. Very poor people may have had stockings cut from woven cloth, rather than knitted. These would not have stretched very well, and may have been uncomfortable, so knitted stockings were preferable. Stockings could be machine knitted, as a stocking frame had been invented in 1589 by William Lee. The story is that Lee invented it to get revenge on his girlfriend who preferred to spend her time knitting rather than attending to him! By the mid-18th century machine knitted stockings were commonplace. So much so that hand knitters of stockings would, despite knitting in the round, imitate a seam by adding a line of purl stitches. Usual stitches for stockings were stockinette stitch (I assume this is were it gets its name from) or 1x or 2x rib. Fancy 'clocks' (patterns or motifs) were knitted by use of purl stitches or embroidered on to the finished stockings. I wonder what Hannah's finished stockings were like? And was she just desperate to get back to her knitting rather than posing for a painting? Note: for an 18th century stocking pattern see here.
I have lots of yarn. It is true. I get far too excited when I see some on sale or in a charity shop and I buy it. I put it away in the craft room (I mean 'spare' room) and generally forget about it. That is why knitting patches for great causes is a fantastic stash buster - plus you get the warm feeling of doing something good. So as well as at the moment knitting sqaures for Japan with Homemade Hugs, I also knitted four patches for the Post a Patch project from i heart... Knit or crochet 10cm x 10cm patches are turned in to blankets to help two fantastic charities Starter Packs Glasgow and So Go and Run Free.
As the patches are quite small they were quick and easy to do, and will be put in the post tomorrow. If you are ever trying to knit a square and unsure of how many stitches to cast on, try this method. You will get the perfect size square every time! - cast on 3
- skip 1, k1, make 1, knit to end of row
- repeat this until the side of the square is as big as you require!
- knit 2 rows straight
- skip 1, knit 2 tog, knit to end of row
- repeat this until 3 stitches remain
- cast off
Note the slip stitch at the start of each row gives a neater edge. Enjoy!
On a wee trip to Edinburgh on Saturday I stopped by at Craft House Concept. A lovely shop featuring all manner of beautiful must-haves. I spotted this amazing print by Emily MacKenzie and just had to buy it. For so many reasons...
Party rings are an old-school classic biscuit, and so hard to come by these days. Malted milks for the great little farmyard scene on them. Bourbons were a necessity during my vegan years as a chocolate fix (as most brands are vegan). The humble custard cream... I could go on and on with my love for a fine biscuit! Some great biscuit related links are a nice of tea and a sit down and the rather inspiring, if a little silly, pimp that snack. Also spotted in the capital - Royal Wedding material!
My goodness, who wouldn't want to make an rather fetching outfit out of this stuff???
I like how the different colours come from the black pen; blues, greys, purple. Now my bunnies may not be anatomically correct, but I think they look happy enough! Though maybe I should add whiskers?
Of course, I couldn't have rabbits without guinea pigs, so here is a cavy...
And yes, I realise he doesn't have any legs, but most of the time guinea pigs look like furry potatoes anyhow! Check out Carla's tutorial and share your bunnies!
So for now it is just Oscar, alone.
We shall let him settle in properly before thinking about a friend.
David Allan - The Spreull Family, 1793
As the patches are quite small they were quick and easy to do, and will be put in the post tomorrow. If you are ever trying to knit a square and unsure of how many stitches to cast on, try this method. You will get the perfect size square every time! 
Note the slip stitch at the start of each row gives a neater edge. Enjoy!
Corduroy: the cloth of geography school teachers, hard wearing and functional. With its pleasing parallel lines. Note in Denmark it is called jernbanefløjl, literally translating as railway velvet. An understated cloth.
One day whilst wearing my corduroy trousers, I lent against a wall. Nothing too sinister there you may think, however when I went to move, I realised to my horror that I now had chewing gum stuck to my trousers! 
Now chewing gum to any clothes is bad enough; but with corduroy's ridges chewing gum is its evil enemy.
Trying not to panic I followed every tip I could find to remove the gum. I froze the trousers, I chipped away at it, I washed the trousers, I added salt, I added fairy liquid - but to no avail. The gum was stuck. In a rage I cut off the offending lower leg of the trousers.
This was not a good look and one fashion trend that was just not going to happen. So I decided to turn the remains of my corduroy trousers in to a skirt. First I trimmed the other leg.
Ripped open the inner leg seams.
Trimmed any excess fabric to make a triangle shaped hole. Using some Ikea patterned fabric created two triangles to fit in front and back.
Zigzagged all the edges and sewed up. Finally I added a row of yellow stitching all around the hem of the skirt to decorate and help marry up the pattern with the plain cord. Gum fail = skirt win!
Party rings are an old-school classic biscuit, and so hard to come by these days. Malted milks for the great little farmyard scene on them. Bourbons were a necessity during my vegan years as a chocolate fix (as most brands are vegan). The humble custard cream... I could go on and on with my love for a fine biscuit! Some great biscuit related links are a nice of tea and a sit down and the rather inspiring, if a little silly, pimp that snack. Also spotted in the capital - Royal Wedding material!
My goodness, who wouldn't want to make an rather fetching outfit out of this stuff???
