Trying to get back in the habit...

This month has been hard. I've not had the chance for much me-made sewing, as I'm still finishing off curtains for our lounge/diner, etc. They're taking a loooong time!

Along with curtains for the lounge, I've joined in with midwinter Christmas, a shopping trip to Palmerston North (more of these later), and...

I did manage to finish my Alma for Indie pattern month, but I've not taken any photos, the weather hasn't been the most favourable when I'm at home to take them. Plus you know what it's like in the winter - you leave home for work in the dark and get back in the dark. Daylight only seems to occur during the weekends!

Plus these last few days have been especially hard. We had three earthquakes here in Wellington last weekend. The quake Sunday afternoon was the strongest around here for a while (measuring 6.5). It was certainly nothing like I've ever felt and life in the UK doesn't really prepare you for these things. The quake has given me more respect for the country I live in now. The Kiwis are amazing people and everyone I speak to seems to have bounced back so quickly, whereas I'm still really jumpy and feel like everything is permanently swaying. I know I need to get used to these, they are a way of life here in NZ, but at the moment, I'm finding it hard. Yes, life does go on. Our house survived perfectly as it is designed to do and we had no damage, no breakages. Although somehow, since then, I find it lonely in the house now and my sewing room downstairs is not as welcoming as it was. Even going downstairs is not fun in the dark.

I'm completely digressing, but I'm hoping sharing what I feel at the moment will help me to accept my life and what it throws at me. Even if it does include learning to cope with earthquakes. My life here in NZ is infinitely better than it ever was in the UK and even with the quakes, it would take a lot to make me move back. NZ is my home now.

To get back to more cheerful things - being creative...

As a small thing to keep me out of mischief in the evenings, I decided to have a go at some more knitting. Now I don't consider myself as much of a knitter and apart from a few things I kitted when I was in my early teens, all I've made since is my snood! Well I created an account on Ravelry and got searching for free patterns. That site is bad, once you get searching, you end up with far too many patterns in your library! I digress. I decided I'd like a slouchy beret, so I found this...

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/spring-beret

Well to be honest I found a few more than just this one, but once I'd looked at the patterns, I decided this one I could decifer and work out how much wool I needed.

It was not all plain sailing. I needed a circular needle - those things are a pain when there's not many stitches on the row. I got my supplies from MrsC's shop, Made on Marion on Lambton Quay. This great cream wool confused me anyway, it says 8-ply. What's this 8-ply, wool comes as 4-ply, double knitting and chunky, well it did in my brain! 8-ply is double knitting apparently. My poor brain!

Sorry it's sideways, I can't work out how to twist it!

I learned a lot. Cast on using long-tail cast on method - what is that? Make one by making "a tight backward loop using your thumb, as if to cast on the right needle." Fortunately YouTube is great for knitting nowadays. No wishing Mum/Nanna was sat by helping, just reach for your nearest Interweb connected device and go searching! :-)

I got there, even if I did have to undo the pattern three times. Yep, you heard that right. I stated it and got it wrong, ended up unpicking it and starting again. Then I went wrong again, so third time lucky it worked. Fortunately the first time I unpicked it I had the lovely Jo from Making it Well next to me. She was a star in helping me pick up the stitches and getting me going again. Thanks Jo.

Anyways, once I got into my stride the lace pattern was actually really easy and even if I found it hard to keep remembering to count, it worked and I have a beret!

Here are also a couple of the beret in action!

Have you ever tried taking a photo of the back of your head?

I'm really pleased with this. It's certainly getting lots of wear. It's even got me trying to decide on something else to knit! I can curl up on the sofa and knit, I can't curl up on the sofa with my sewing machine!

In the meantime, I'm joining in with my fellow Wellington Sewing Bloggers and taking part in our Cake party this weekend. Don't forget this Sunday is Cake day. Are you ready to party?

Cosy curtains

Having moved into a new (for us) and bigger house here in Wellington, I realised that new curtains were in order. No curtains mean very cold rooms here in NZ, since particularly rental houses have little heating, single glazing and no insulation. Cosy curtains are a must.

We brought a couple of pairs over with us from the UK. These cream curtains I made for our lounge in the UK about five years ago. It was the first time I'd used pinch pleat tape and although you can't see the tops in this photo because of the pelmet, I'm still pleased with them and like them. I'm lucky they fit one of our lounge windows here!

 They really are too long for the window, but I don't want to change the hem, I might want them longer if we move again!

I also made some cushion covers to match. At the time we had a dark red sofa and dark red accent wall, hence the red piping round the edges.

 The fabric has a kind of leaf embroidered on it

The other set we brought over were some I made donkeys years ago, I think about 15 years ago. For some reason, they didn't stay up long, then I moved and they didn't fit, so ended up packed away. I hadn't the heart to get rid of them. And I'm glad I kept them... Aren't they the most gorgeous colour? They've always been bedroom curtains for some reason, but I like them as they're dark and keep the light out when trying to sleep.

 These are also too long, but, it keeps the warmth in!

 

A close-up of the gold pattern, the flash went this time so the colour isn't as good!

So the latest addition are these which now adorn our other lounge window. I can hear some of you saying now "Oh, she's got odd curtains in her lounge, how weird!" Well actually they work well. What do you think? Does it really look that bad?

These are a rust colour and are such thick material, I had concerns for my poor machine and if it would cope, but it worked a dream and after cutting out, I think I probably put them together in about a day (albeit spread over a week!) I always line any curtains I make and these have been lined with one-pass thermal lining and we can certain feel the difference. The lounge is positively sauna-like now! Nice and toasty, hopefully we won't need the gas fire blasting out so much!

Like the colour? I think you can sort of see how thick the fabric is too. 

 

I'm really pleased how they hang. They're great. The fabric came from Fabrics Direct which is a great store here in Wellington for upholstery and curtain fabric. It was a bargain at $8 a metre. The lining cost more!

Mr N is certainly happy and particularly so because I made them up in my new sewing space! Up until now in the UK, I always had to sew in the dining room on the table, having the clear things away frequently for meals, etc. Now we have space and I've got an enormous spare room downstairs. We've bought one of the new micathermic heaters which warms up in two shakes of a whatsit and I've set myself up at one end.

Yes, that is a glass of something white made from fermented grapes! And yes, I ended up throwing the curtains on the floor in a heap, they ironed out! :-)

To end I thought I'd share what happened while I put the curtains up... I was quite happily minding my own business, it was about 10pm (well I had to hang them, I couldn't leave that bit 'til the next day). The steps are normally quite sturdy, but suddenly they moved a wee bit. I decided I'd stood on them strangely. The next day checking the GeoNet site I realised that it was one of the small tremors we experience here in Wellington. Nothing like the one that rumbled and rumbled about two weeks ago! It was certainly odd though!

Anyway, now I need to get on with some more curtains for the small bedroom... These are going to be very plain, made from the dark blue I used to make the spice holder.