2paw

By George, I Think I've Got It!!!

And by it I mean a dress that pretty much fits and looks nice when I wear it!! I saw Michelle from Buttontree Lane sew the Simplicity Amazing Fit 2247 dress and I thought I might give it a go too: patterns were half price, and the material only cost $14. I like the material because it looks, to me, a little WWII and suits the pattern.

I overestimated my size again, though I think the instructions are misleading. I think you should cut for your high and not full bust size. Still, I did sew the dress up first with the seams on the outside so I could more easily adjust and fit them myself.

There are still a few things I'd like to fix: the puffy sleeves (though MrsDrWho likes them, is she just messing with me??), the front bodice needs to be taken up about 2cm at the shoulders. I always have forward shoulder seams and as I am definitely going to be sewing this dress again I want to add 2 or 3 cm to the front shoulder seam and take it away from the back seam.

I inserted a zip by hand again, but really this dress doesn't need one, I can easily get it on and off without one. I enjoy hand picking the zip, and it is much easier than using the zipper foot on my machine, which isn't terribly helpful.

On the whole, I am very pleased: I had my nice beaded sandals to match and my new Short Scene cardigan matched perfectly too. And off I went to Afternoon Tea with my knitting friends!!!

I did have not-a-very-good go at cleaning the mirror, and of course my lovely Labrador assistants assisted me!!!

I've been lucky enough to win two prizes of late. MrsDrWho and I went to a Trivia Night with some of her colleagues and we won!! It's a nice bottle of wine and some Lindt chocolate. I already have several nice bottles of wine I received as Christmas presents that haven't been opened and I can't eat the chocolate so MrsDrWho has two prizes!!!

I didn't know I had entered Cyndi's competition, but I left a comment won a prize!! She sent me some really interesting Kanzashi flower makers. Reading the back of the packet I know it is a traditional Japanese fabric folding art, but I think of them as a kind of flowery Suffolk Puff makers. I am looking forward to be-flowering quite a few things!! She also sent some beautiful fabric, and every piece of the set has green in it, and some cuter than cute tiny 2 1/2 inch charm square packs!!

Noah the dog and Wilson the cat sent Peri and Gilly some dog biscuits. They were so very kind as to send vegetable biscuits so that they can have one almost every day and not worry about F A T.

Peri has been eating her breakfast and dinner at a higher level than Gilly. She's very clever to balance and eat quickly at the same time!!

Lorelai Gilmore has rediscovered an old toy and so there has been a big gumboot clomping about inside, and out!! She is experiencing gumboot bliss!!!

And after giving in and finally fixing the cuff of my mittens, I found the rest of the ball I had carefully put away, and so I unravelled the cuff for a third time and now it is finished. Except the mittens are so grubby after our walk. I can't believe how grubby they are!! It's been dull and rainy today so no chance for washing and drying them before tomorrow. I'll wash them tomorrow and they will have until Thursday to dry.

I am hoping nothing very much happens this week because MrsValley and I are driving of the city a little for lunch on Friday. I want to rest up and prepare. In saying that, I've had series 2 of Sherlock here since before MrsDrWho went away to Singapore. We think we'll rest Due South and watch some Sherlock one night this week. Maybe I'll sew some more cute hexagons for April's Craftsy blocks and maybe we'll sew May's blocks before June!!!

Thou Speakest Visor Than Thou Art Ware Of.

Here, As You Like It or not, are three more Star Trek felt book pages, almost complete. There's Geordi with his visor to help him see, a glove to help you Live Long and Prosper and Worf and his Bat'leth. I am very pleased, and about to start the Enterprise with the saucer section that detaches. I have made a hole in my right middle finger pad from pushing the needle through layers of felt. I am not a very nimble stitcher with a middle finger thimble though. All my life, apart from appointments and pre-determined outings, is about The Star Trek felt book.

Peri and Gilly have had some lovely play times with Sandy. At first, Peri and Sandy were both running after Gilly, but she is quick and agile and soon turned the table on them!!!

MrsHouseOf came to visit for her birthday and I gave her the skirt,

and a black top as a present and she really liked them. I'm glad she liked them!! MrsDrWho, Mrs HouseOf and I ate out. It was all very delicious. I didn't have any dessert, though I did have the Endless Cup of Green Tea.

I have some new wool. I have 10 balls of Damasco for Heirloom. It is Merino and acrylic, and I am in love with it. I am not sure which pattern to knit: I am thinking of either this, or this. I want a longer length cardigan, surprise, surprise. Twenty-three years ago when I came here to live I knitted a long sea green/teal mohair cardigan with a v-neck, pockets and a cable down each front beside the button bands. I don't plan to start right away ( Star Trek felt book anyone??) so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Then there's a skein of Ella Rae Lace Merino 4ply. I am in love with it, it is soft and has a beautiful twist. I am thinking of a scarf or a longer narrow shawl type affair.

MrsDrWho and I have caught up on February's Craftsy BOM blocks:

March's blocks use left over strips from all the fabrics and so we have decided we will be able to whip them up after blocks 19 and 20. Bear in mind it took us 2 1/2 hours to make Block 4. We are very optimistic!!

I am feeling very tired. This morning I walked with Peri and Gilly, went to the Hospital for blood tests, came home, fed The Labradors, went to Leukaemia Support Group came home, went back to The Library as my DVD was overdue, and then came home again. I had to sleep for three hours and it was 27*C.  I have to go back to see my specialist at the Holman Clinic tomorrow. I am always nervous and worried about what my results will be. It will also be 28*C.

And then (lots of elbows of excitement) in the evening MrsDrWho and I are off to the local ABC Radio station to be the audience when Miriam Margoyles is interviewed live, right there!! Somehow we both managed to NOT book tickets to see her show on Dicken's Women so this is a sop to our hopelessness!!

Is it wrong to be looking forward to a big rest next week?? I think not.

I went out the front door to get the letters and there was a parcel on the table. My mum does the That's Life competitions and every Monday when we talk I help her out with the ones she doesn't know. She put my name on the entry form and she won a prize!!!  I think she already has good outdoor lighting and I could really use these to light the path down all the steps from the car to the back door!! Mum has been on a holiday for few days on the East Coast with one of the ladies from Probus. The weather is wonderful so they will be doing lots of touristy things. It's a poor photo. Again. The new energy saving light bulbs just don't produce enough light for a proper picture when it is dark, even with a flash.

Now I need to cut out all the parts of The Star Ship Enterprise before I go to bed.

The Lovely Bones Marrow

Since it has been on the news, and you can see the video here, I feel I can talk about the awful thing that I mentioned a little while ago, which has happened to my dearest and closest friends. It is so very sad and we are all devastated. I can't donate bone marrow because mine is compromised. I wish I could.

My heart breaks regularly. I think of them every day, and send them my love.

Today was the Turning of the First Sod of our new Northern Cancer Support Centre. It cheers me no end to think that there will be much happiness for people who are able to use the centre when it is finished.

Peri and Gilly have been engaging in circus worthy activities. They are up very high. It must be the cool weather, which is so lovely, urging them to such heights.

MrsDrWho and I finished one of February's Craftsy blocks on the Cup day holiday. It was an easy block and hers looks fabulous.

Remember this material??

I dyed it chartreuse and it's almost a dress.

And now I am off to a Vietnamese restaurant for tea with my knitting friends. I''m taking the scarf and I hope to have it finished soon. It's so Autumnal I think I can pull out my cardigan in a few weeks and finish it off.

To Market, To Market, To Be At The Gig

We went to the new Harvest Farmers' Market and came home again, home again, jiggety-jig with a few bags full of produce.

Dutch Cream potatoes for $1 a kilo, the red onions, baby bok choy, radishes and a bunch of chives all for $8, a kilo of the freshest and most sweetly smelling and tasting strawberries for $8 and 6 medium zucchini for $2. I missed out on the sourdough bread, but because I know the baker's wife I have been promised a loaf at the next knitting outing. I can't stop eating the strawberries.

I have some new wool, it looks like liquid Mercury. In truth is is acrylic and viscose and I want to knit a scarf. I need a pattern with lots of stocking stitch that will show up the liquid silver sheen of the wool.

The roof of the vandalised picnic hut at the dam has been saved and moved to a grassy area. Peri thinks it is the best thing out and likes to run through the roof.

Miss Lorelai Gilmore is not so sure and though by the second day she was brave enough to go closer, when the wind made the struts sing, she was very wary.

Gilly has been playing in the paddle pool and then burying a bone. It is not good for the complexion or the eyes, but it is an enormous amount of fun and makes her very happy.

In the last nine days MrsDrWho and I have radically improved our patchwork skills. Or maybe we just concentrated and chatted less?? We made the second patches in a little over an hour and there was successful use of the rotary cutter, special ruler and not once incident of sewing the right side to the wrong side. So that's both of January's squares out of the way. We hope to get to February's before we are too far into March.

The GardyGardeners and MrsDrWho have kindly offered to replace Harki's stolen roses. There are lovely people in the world. I may have to chain the roses to the wall.

RN, the newly styled Radio National, has a changed programme this year and I have discovered In Our Time, which explores the history of ideas and I can listen on-line. I'm also enjoying First Bite, which is all about food. I can add these to my usual listening diet of The Science Show, Lingua Franca and  Background Briefing, all available to download or to listen on line.

The Oscars are coming up and so I was interested to watch a short video about The Bechdel Test. It made me think. I had already been thinking about films because it was mooted that Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy would not be shown locally. On further investigation and a lot of back pedalling on the part of the cinema, it has been confirmed for late March. The same thing happened with The King's Speech last year, and we saw neither hide nor hair of the Harry Potter Postcard where in the weeks leading up to the last film they showed the whole series on Sunday afternoons. (I am running out of puff and so there are no more film links) I had thought I might try to go more often to see films, but they just make it too hard. As do the TV stations, which is why the DVD of Sherlock season 2 is winging its way to our house!!!

Cooking from magazines is going exceptionally well, and I think by tomorrow afternoon I might have three weeks of Friday Food up my sleeve. I have some chicken baking in the oven and plums and ramekins for two more recipes all ready to go.

The weather is muggy, but cooler and drizzly and I feel a little more able to do normal things. Tomorrow there is no dog walking and so we can all sleep in and then read the paper in bed with a nice cup of tea. The Labradors would like toast as well, but crumbs are anathema. I like that, it means especially dedicated to evil, and crumbs in the bed are definitely evil. I might even read two books I have borrowed from Mrs HouseOf via MrsDrWho: The House of Silk, a new Anthony Horowitz Sherlock Holmes book and Death Comes To Pemberley by PD James, set in Austen's P&P world of course.

Oh and in other TV news, MasterChef is filming here for a week. Last year I was not so enamoured of the show, but I will definitely be watching the episodes set in our state: it was Salamanca Market today I think, so maybe they'll travel North now??? I don't know if I am anoracky enough to actually venture out to see them in person if the come.