Four Good Corners » Kirsty

Christmas tipples

Kirsty — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:58:52 +0000

It’s 12th December and I still haven’t had any mulled wine. This is a travesty! Where is my mulled wine? I intend to rectify this terrible oversight by the end of the weekend, hopefully whiling away a chilly Sunday afternoon in a pub with sofas. I did achieve my other favourite winter drink this afternoon; after tramping over Wimbledon Common and through Wimbledon Village (the shops of which were beautifully festive but still way out of my price range), I treated myself to a decaf skinny gingerbread latte – mmm, pointless coffee.

Although our flat is too tiny for a proper Christmas tree, I’ve been doing my best to make it look festive. My birthday orchid dropped its last flower a few weeks ago, making it the perfect hanger for a few sparkly baubles; last year’s fairy lights are still twinkling in the alcove, and my attempt at dried orange decorations are catching the light in the window. I also have a tiny poinsettia nestling in with Frank and the other cacti. Just one more present to knit and I’m ready for Christmas!

Photo: mulled wine, by briukva

Losing my blocking virginity

Kirsty — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:53:36 +0000

I have never blocked* a project before – “Tish!” thought I, “What a waste of my precious time.” I didn’t really see what difference blocking, which is just a bit of washing and stretching after all, could make to a finished piece. Having finished Clapotis, however, I just wasn’t happy with its scrunchiness and general lack of drape. “Oh crumbs!” thought I, “I spent weeks on that shawl and now it looks like a boring, tangled mess.” I grumbled a little more and then took deep breath and looked up the blocking process on t’interpipes. Submerging my precious handiwork in a bath of soapy water was fairly terrifying – what if it felts? What if the colour runs? What if it just dissolves in my hands? Thankfully, none of these things happened. Phewf. So I rolled the sodden shawl in a towel to drain out the water and then set to stretching and pinning. That bit took a while. After the first pinning, I measured the two ends and found a difference of 4cm in the width. Bums. So, I pinned it all again and re-measured. Then pinned it all again and re-measured. Then used a ruler to make sure my sides were straight (they weren’t). Eventually, all the sides were straight and it measured the same width all the way down, and now it’s sitting pinned to my rug, drying. The shawl already looks better. The dropped stitch ladders are straighter and the piece is now more rectangular. Looking at it, I already think that the drape is going to be much nicer and the stitches will lie flatter. Barring any disasters, I think that my first attempt at blocking was a success. I’m working on my very first lace project at the moment, which is looking amazing, but I’m guessing that a bit of blocking when it’s finished will make it even more spectacular.

* Blocking is the process of handwashing your finished project and then pinning it into shape to dry.

Celebrity crafting

Kirsty — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:06:43 +0000

Kirstie Allsopp and her Homemade Home series have caused some debate on this blog – our more puritan crafters have seen it as a hollow gesture towards a current fad, whilst other bloggers think that exposure of traditional and new crafts and their practitioners is positive and should be welcomed. In the series, Kirstie showcases different artisans and craftspeople who can provide interesting alternatives to the identikit flat-pack homes that other style and property programmes seem to be shoving down our throats. The intention is good, but, as with any mass media product, it could lead the way to crafting as just another fad to be bought into on mass and discarded just as quickly. Let’s think positively, though. I believe that encouraging anyone to pick up knitting needles, a paintbrush, or any tool that enables them to create something unique and rewarding is great.

I would say that, though – I work for the publishing house that is publishing the book of the series next year. Not only that, but – as the very grainy photograph attests – I am part of the reason that my particular publishing house won the bid. I’ve gained a bit of a reputation at work for being crafty and when the lovely editor was pitching for the book, she asked me to make something that she could give to Kirstie. The results of which you can just about see in the picture. I crocheted a ‘book’ with a little house on the cover and the words Home Made Home. Both Kirstie and the editor loved it and every time Kirstie’s book is mentioned now, someone will say “That’s thanks to the book that Kirsty knitted”. In the beginning, I would say “actually, it’s crocheted” but I got so many blank looks – because it’s made of yarn and you knit with yarn, what is this crochet? – that now I just agree. Either way, it’s a nice feeling to know that something I made is so appreciated. I wonder if my ‘book’ will appear in Kirstie’s book…

Birthday orchid gone crazy!

Kirsty — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:41:27 +0000

Some lovely friends bought me an orchid for my birthday back at the beginning of July. I’ve never had much luck with orchids, as much as I love them, so I thought that I’d probably be able to keep it going for a few weeks before it withered away and died. Two months later, it’s gone from three flowers to twelve and looks pretty amazing. The first flowers are still strong and there are new buds breaking through, so I might have more flowers soon. I’m not doing anything special, just watering it once a week and leaving it be. I looked on the internet for more tips, but I got so confused with the different types of orchids that it didn’t really help – some orchids you’re supposed to keep constantly moist, some you’re supposed to let completely dry out before you water them again; as I have no idea what type of orchid I have, I’m not sure which of those instructions to follow, so I’m just going for the middle ground and it seems to be working. I’ll have to get some advice when the flowers eventually fade and I have to chop it back to re-grow, but for now I’ll just be happy with my pretty blooms.

Something other than a baby blanket

Kirsty — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 09:35:29 +0000

After a month long hunt for a wire coathanger (the dry cleaner down the road gave me one for free – how sweet!), I was finally able to finish this mobile yesterday – just in time to present it to my friends, who came over for dinner, despite their little boy being due in four days’ time. I think that I’d be scared to leave the house that close to my due date, but my friend is the most super relaxed mum-to-be that I’ve ever met. She even braved my fetadews (TM), which are those spicy little pepperdew peppers stuffed with feta cheese and roasted – nommy. Anywho, I’m getting off topic. I’ve made a baby blanket for nearly every baby that has come along in the past few years and I’ve gotten a tad bored of blankets. So, I decided to make a mobile, which was fun and quite easy. It also involved minimal knitting – a bonus, as I’ve really not been in a knitting mood lately. I’ve started socks, a scarf, and a cardigan and tossed them each aside in a fit of ennui. Now that the autumn weather is setting in, perhaps I’ll feel more woolly. As is probably quite obvious from the picture, all this mobile entailed was wrapping a bent wire coathanger in material strips and ribbon and dangling a knitted bird from the middle – simple! You could get as creative as you fancied, I guess, substituting the bird for something else, or adding more to the frame. I tried to keep it quite sweet and simple, which I think has worked. I’d like to make more, but I don’t think that I can keep pestering the dry cleaner for free coat hangers!

Monster Cactus Alert!

Kirsty — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:37:09 +0000

I’m sorry, Frank, but I think that you may be a mutant. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – being of the red-haired persuasion myself, which is technically a mutated gene, I’m certainly not mutantist. I just can’t explain how bloody big you are any other way. Then again, I’ve never grown cacti before – maybe it’s that the other five are really, really small. I would have thought that plants that are a whole year old would be, well, bigger, than the five little cacti languishing around you, Frank, while you push ever skywards. Why, Frank, are you so much more ambitious than your sibling cacti seedlings? Why aren’t they spurred on by your example? You look like the kid who starts secondary school already two feet taller than all his classmates. I love you, Frank the cacti, but I can’t explain you.

Caccaccollo Crafts

Kirsty — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:49:32 +0000

Wending our way through the Sacred Valley from Cusco to Ollantaytambo, our guide made a stop at a local mountain community that was working with GAP – the men went off to carry crazy amounts of supplies along the Inca Trail, while the women stayed in the village to produce textiles, which GAP would bring their hikers to marvel over and possibly buy. The village of Caccaccollo is halfway up a mountain, connected to the world by a winding dirt track (that has become a road since GAP’s involvement). The women here raise the alpacas, spin and dye their wool and then make fabulous clothes, wall hangings, and toys, which are displayed in the village’s square. When I say ‘village square’, don’t be getting quaint notions of an English village green with a clock tower in the middle and well-kept herbaceous borders. This village square was a dirt area onto which several shacks faced, with alpacas tethered at various points and pre-school age children making mud pies. The women stood and sat at one end, spinning the yarn and exhibiting their wares.

The women of Caccaccollo spin the shorn alpaca wool into yarn using traditional drop spindles, making their work both portable and social. Noticing a child wandering out of eye range, one of the women handed her spindle to her neighbour and went to retrieve the little boy, plonking him down by the wool and taking up her spinning again. They chatted with our guide in Quechuan about their work.

There was a little hut to the side of the square for dying the yarns. The Caccaccollons (I’m not sure if this is the term, but it works for now!) use all natural dyes – plants gathered from the surrounding area and the cochineal beetle provide a whole range of colours; greens, yellows, reds, and purply greys. On its first use, the dye creates a rich, deep colour; the dye water is used repeatedly to achieve various shades. Ever conscious of water shortage, once the dye water can dye no longer, the water is recycled for cooking, washing, and feeding the animals.

The quality of the textiles was amazing and each piece was a little bit different. I really regret not having enough Sol on me to buy a wall hanging, especially as my husband, who hates wall hangings (”Rugs go on the floor, Kirsty, not on the wall” – silly boy!), was impressed enough to want one. It’s not like this is somewhere I can just pop back to, either…

Time for a cactus update

Kirsty — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:25:00 +0000

It’s been a wee while since I updated you all on Frank’s progress (hold on, isn’t that how I started my last Frank post?) – being winter and all, he was staying boringly the same size. This last few weeks, though, it’s like he’s grown every day. I measure him in ’spikes’ and he’s up to 12 rows! I’m still not sure why he’s so much huger than his brother and sister cacti; the biggest behind Frank is languishing away at three rows of spikes. All my little cacti have taken a big Spring leap this month, though, so I think the ones that we have left are going to make it to proper grown-up cactihood, which is great after losing so many in the beginning. Simon wants to plant some more this Spring (though we’re edging towards Summer – woo!), so expect plenty more cacti updates…

Photo: Frank at 10 months, by ink & keys

Reasons I’m not a professional baker #1

Kirsty — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:30:29 +0000

It’s my man’s birthday today and I spent all yesterday evening in the kitchen, slaving over… well, this. In my head, it was going to turn out better. Perfect, in fact, as things always do in my head. You see, there’s a reason I’m not a professional baker and the reason is, well, this. It’s wonky and a bit playschool, but I think it’s recognisable. Please tell me that you can tell that it’s supposed to be the Mysterious Cities of Gold (and please tell me that you remember that fabulous 80s cartoon). My husband loves this cartoon and we’re going to Peru in five weeks, so I thought that it was a very apt cake-make. I’ve spent all week sourcing yellow (tried for gold, but no luck) food colouring and thinking about the logisitics of stacking smaller and smaller squares of cake on top of each other. I’ve told everyone that I’m making the cake to end all cakes. I baked yesterday and deocrated today. I’ve done my best. If it ends up on cakewreck, I would be a little disgruntled. At least the sponge tastes amazing…

P.S. That is the Golden Condor in the corner…

One down?

Kirsty — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:07:51 +0000

So, my two crafty resolutions this year were to knit a jumper and to learn fair isle and/or intarsia. I’m intensely chuffed with this tiny little cardigan I’ve just finished for my cousin’s baby – isn’t it adorable? – but I don’t think I can count it as a tick on the resolution list. You see, I know that I’ve got the technical ability for a jumper, it’s the patience aspect that gets me. This may be the first jumper that I’ve ever completed, and the long, long rows on the frill took some willpower, but I think that I need to make a grown-up jumper for it to really count. Maybe I’ll practice with some more teeny, tiny baby clothes before I take the plunge and go full size.