A String Shopping Bag

Thank you so much for your get well mesages. I am almost back to normal now. John (poor bloke) has some antibiotics which should clear up what turned to be an ear infection. Bella is in robust health and Angus, not to be outdone, has a bit of a cough that becomes very dramatic when he has to do something he doesn't want to do, like wash his hands before a meal or eat his vegetables. We battle on!

Anyway, the bag. I think this must be one of the most satisfying crochet projects I've completed in quite some time. Two and a half big balls of parcel string, one 10 mm hook and the whole thing made in under a week.

The pattern is from the excellent book Granny Squares by Susan Pinner which I've used a lot since I bought it a couple of years ago, and most recently to make my blanket. The bag is thirteen granny squares crocheted together using the join as you go method. 

It was fun watching the bag come together and take shape. Once the main section is done you add some double crochet edging and make the handles.

It's surprisingly strong and surprisingly roomy. It stretches when it's full and carried my laptop, slippers and crochet bag when I babysat my nieces for my sister a couple of nights ago.

The only negative thing I can think of to say about this bag is that crocheting with string is not exactly soft on the fingers. And a string bag all on it's own does not make a pretty photo, so I amused myself by buying a baguette and some tulips as props. Ah, tulips. Always pretty. I never go off them.

It wont work as a handbag as things might fall through the holes, but it's already getting lots of use as a kind of hold-all for when I go over to the house and want to take decorating clothes or my camera with me. I thought it might be a good beach bag for towels and wet things, since the material is so hard wearing and the construction allows air to circulate. But I'm mainly going to use it as it was intended, for shopping, even if my purchases wont always be this photogenic.

Emerging

Oh, what a week it's been. One nasty, vicious virus has been working it's way around our household and we've all succumbed in one way all another. John is in a bad way tonight, shivering away on the sofa with a suspected sinus infection. He's off to the doctor's tomorrow. I feel better today than I did yesterday, and the day before that, but still a long way off normal. Halfhearted decorating attempts have been made, but none of us have the energy. I can't find my decorating clothes so I wore some good-ish jeans and, what do you know, got paint all over them. Oh, and I've broken out in spots which always happens when I'm ill. 

Anyway, this afternoon we met my sister and her family at the beach and walked a favourite walk. It was so good to be by the sea in the fresh air. The sun was warm and there was virtually no wind. We found a dead crab, played football, collected shells, jumped in the sand dunes and just enjoyed being outside. It was gorgeous. 

I have so much to share with you - a cake recipe, a just-finished crochet string shopping bag, an almost-finished shawl in the most beautifully soft Blue Faced Leicester yarn, paint charts...this week, I promise.

Also, I received an email from the production company behind The Great Interior Design Challenge and they are looking for amateur interior designers. How exciting! I really enjoyed the last series. So if any of you fancy getting involved the details are below:

THE GREAT INTERIOR DESIGN CHALLENGE IS BACK AND ON THE HUNT FOR BRITAIN’S BEST AMATEUR INTERIOR DESIGNERS! 

"Are you passionate about interior design? Do you have a natural flair and creativity and think you have what it takes to improve the interiors of other people’s homes? In this warm-hearted television series contestants will compete to be named the UK’s best amateur interior designer. If you think you have what it takes please call 020 3040 6853 or email designers@studiolambert.com in order to receive an application."

Seven Days

:: It's still winter out there despite the lack of snow and the arrival of daffodils everywhere.

:: An amazing, delicious Cornish pasty for lunch on a bitterly cold day. 

:: Testing tester pots. (And yes, the lounge roof does slope, it's not your eyes. Another quirky sixties design feature...)

:: They can't believe they're allowed to scoot indoors.

:: Bye bye Mickey - Bella has plans for this room.

:: Acrylic felt was a bad idea. I'm making another fox in wool felt.

:: Early morning light at Mum's.

:: Trying something new - crocheting with parcel string, to make a shopping bag.

:: Portchester village, full of charm and quirky, pretty properties.

:: A walk around Portchester Castle.

:: One up, one down.

:: Angus wishes he'd worn his wellies.

:: Bird watching.

:: Flat calm.

:: My love.

And that is what the memory card in my camera held from the last seven days. Different houses, inside, outside, exploring the local area. A bit of everything. The stuff of life. 

Home Is The Nicest Word There Is

So, famously, said Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie books, and it's a saying I'm rather fond of. I began making this wall hanging last summer and spent some time researching (ok, googling) different quotations about home and what makes home so special. There are loads.

These were considered:

Home Sweet Home.

Family gathers here.

Home is where the heart is.

This is our happy place/space.

There's no place like home.

But they were discounted for being not quite right, too Wizard of Oz, too sweet. (Taste is a funny thing - one persons cliche is another's mantra.) I very much liked this quotation, by Jane Austen, "There is nothing like staying at home, for real comfort." but it was too long. Too much sewing to do there. And so I finally fell upon the one you see above and it works - for me - because, simply, the words ring true. That's the thing about cliches, they're usually right. 

Once I'd chosen my words I traced the letters from Word onto Bondaweb (fusible interfacing) then arranged them on a piece of grey linen which I bought very cheaply in IKEA some time ago. I played around with colours and chose some nice wool/acrylic mix felt which I thought looked good against the grey.

Then I carefully cut and arranged my felt letters before ironing them in place, using a ruler and a fading ink pen to try and get the lines as straight as possible.

I chose threads to match the felt...

...and secured them using a straight stitch around each letter. I wont lie, this took a while, but I love hand sewing and found this work very therapeutic.

I'd decided to edge the words with lots of coloured triangles. I don't really know why, I think I'd just finished my Cornwall Holiday Embroidery and wanted something clean and geometric looking after all that detailed embroidery. Then I spent some time faffing around with the arrangement before putting it away for months and focusing on other things.

I got it out when we knew we definitely had the house. Suddenly, I had to finish it and after more faffing with the felt triangles, I decided on this.

Three clusters of three pointing up, and three pointing down. And yes, I know it's not perfectly straight, but it's homemade so it's allowed to be wonky, and that linen was slippery to work with!

The ones at the bottom (don't laugh) sort of represent the sea and the South Downs, which now form my local landscape.

While the ones at the top are a bit like snow-capped mountains, which is my own little joke because John and I say our house looks like a ski-chalet, with it's crazy sixties angles and slopes. Also, I am a bit obsessed with all things mountainous and Alpine lately.  Honestly, I'm dying to see what our house looks like in the snow!

It's my own way of personalising this well-known quote and making it my own, for our home. 

Finally, I hemmed the length of fabric and left gaps top and bottom to insert two lengths of wooden dowel to weigh down the linen so that it hung nicely. I wanted the wood to be visible but I recently saw this clever way of hiding the dowel at Jooles' blog Sew Sweet Violet and will bear it in mind for the future. John drilled little holes at either end through which I threaded and knotted some thin cord to hang it from.

Currently it's with us in my parents' spare room but eventually I think it will have to go in our new lounge, preferably above a wood burning stove, with a light snow falling outside and a mug of gluhwein or hot chocolate to hand.

Winter Survival Guide

Thank you so much for all your kind words and good wishes for our new house. It's really generous and lovely of you and I do appreciate it. So far, progress on the house has mainly consisted of standing around in the house talking to each other, to electricians, to plumbers and to builders, all while wearing our thickest coats. We've yet to actually take our coats off in the house but today the boiler was switched on and we have heat! Yes, heat! From the radiators! A miracle. It feels wrong to be so cold inside a house. Outside, yes. But indoors? Wrong.

*

Anyway. I was going to call this post "January Survival Guide" but I thought that seemed pretty pointless, given that we're now in February. So a winter survival guide it is, which as you can guess is basically a chance for me to show you my last three photos from my January challenge as it would really annoy me if I showed you only twenty eight and not the full thirty one. I am tidy like that. And thank you for being so nice before and saying you weren't bored. I wasn't fishing for compliments, honest.

Here are the last three days, three photos of good things about January: 

29/31: Winter maths: a glass of red + fire = cosy.

30/31: Bringing some seasonal greenery from the garden (ok, Mum's garden) into the house.

31/31: There was an hour more daylight on this day than there was a month ago. And that is worth celebrating. 

And I do declare that the secret to getting through - no, enjoying - winter are the following ingredients:

Nice food. (January is so not the month for punitive health kicks, I've decided.)

Beautiful skies - notice the colour and light whenever you see it.

Comfort and cosiness indoors.

Fresh air and exercise outdoors.

And colour.

Truly, for the first time, I am learning to love these slow winter months. Usually, about now, I'm buying daffodils and tulips and sniffing the air for the signs of spring. But it's a long way off yet and I'm enjoying the extra minutes of daylight each day, the time to read and craft (there's been a lot of that lately - I've got a lot to show you!) and bake and think. And look at paint charts.