Just a minute... in June

Scraping in at the end of the month! Here's what's been occupying my time:

Reading... less than I should. Need to find a good book to carry me through the cold weather.

Watching... free DVDs thanks to a Quickflix trial. We've had The Wackness, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Science of Sleep and Broken Flowers - all good!

Listening... to Michael Jackson and Jackson Five songs. Also discovering "Ben" was written about his pet rat.

Eating... winter warmers like soup, curry, stir-fry and porridge. Not all at once.

Knitting... slippers, slippers and more slippers.

Learning... a language! At least that's what I hope to do soon. Either pickup my French again, or start Spanish. German is another contender.

>> I'm wondering if this blog is on wind down, or if it's just a "slow phase". Haven't decided yet.

frankie ~ issue 30

The prettiest magazine in town, inside and out.

Learning to sew on a button

Out of necessity (because my jackets were falling apart) I learnt how to sew on buttons today. About time. The 5 simple steps I followed:
1. For heavy fabrics, like my jackets, use strong linen thread.
2. Cut 20cm thread and feed it through a large needle.
3. Pull through so it's doubled over, then knot the end and snip the excess.
4. Hold the button slightly away from the fabric as you loop the thread through the material then the button.
5. I did about 3 "loops" then tied off the end, and snipped the excess.

>> YouTube is helpful for knitting, sewing and crochet tips cause you can actually see what's being explained.

Progress report #3: House Slippers

I'm calling these House Slippers cause that's about the only place you'll be able to wear them, but wear them you will! Here's how I made them (hope the instructions make sense):

Stitch: garter and rib.
Needles: size #5 (5.5mm)
Yarn: 1 ball brown and 1 ball bright blue (both 8 ply acrylic, pretty sure)
Pattern: Cast on 6 stitches (brown only).
Row 1 - K 6.
Row 2 - K 6.
Row 3 - Inc 1, K 5, inc 1 (should have 8 stitches total now).
Row 4 - K 8.
Row 5 - Inc 1, K 7, inc 1 (should have 10 stitches total).
Row 6 - K 10.
Row 7 - Inc 1, K 9, inc 1 (should have 12 stitches total).
Row 8 - K 12.
Row 9 - Inc 1, K 11, inc 1 (should have 14 stitches total).
Row 10 - K 14.
Row 11 - Inc 1, K 13, inc 1 (should have 16 stitches total).
Row 12 - K 16.
Row 13 - Inc 1, K 15, inc 1 (should have 18 stitches total).
Row 14 - K 18.
Row 15 - Inc 1, K 17, inc 1 (should have 20 stitches total).
Row 16 - K 20.
Row 18 - [K 1, Inc 1] repeat to end (should have 40 stitches total).
Row 17 - Hold in second colour (eg. blue) then K 40, holding both together.
Row 19 - P 1, [K 2, P 2] repeat almost to end, P 1.
Row 20 - K 1, [P 2, K 2] repeat almost to end, K 1.
Rows 21 to 48 - Repeat rows 19 and 20 over and over (this is the ribbed section).
Row 49 - K 40.
Row 50 - Stop using the second colour (eg. blue) then K 40 (just with brown).
Row 51 - [K2tog] repeat to end (should have 20 stitches total).
Row 52 - K 20.
Row 53 - K2tog, K 16, K2tog (should have 18 stitches total).
Row 54 - K 18.
Row 55 - K2tog, K 14, K2tog (should have 16 stitches total).
Row 56 - K 16
Row 57 - K2tog, K 12, K2tog (should have 14 stitches total)
Row 58 - K 14
Row 59 - K2tog, K 10, K2tog (should have 12 stitches total)
Row 60 - K 12
Row 61 - K2tog, K 8, K2tog (should have 10 stitches total)
Row 62 - K 10
Row 63 - K2tog, K 6, K2tog (should have 8 stitches total)
Row 64 - K 8
Row 65 - K2tog, K 4, K2tog (should have 6 stitches total)
Row 66 - K 6
Row 67 - K 6
Row 68 - Cast off.

Once finished you should have one big piece that goes "small-big-small" - this is your slipper! Fold it in half, so the small ends are touching, then you'll need to stitch together in 3 places - the front, the back, and the top (the "top" is the 6 stitches at each end, which is best to join last, after the front and back).

>> Abbreviations: K=knit, P=purl, inc=increase, K2tog=knit 2 stitches together

Progress report #2: Granny Square Blanket

Another from the "why the hell haven't I finished this?" pile - my 70s style granny square blanket! The downside of having a date-stamped blog is that it's blatantly obvious how little I've achieved since my last post about this back on Monday 20 April. Oh dear.

Progress report #1: Green Fingerless Mittens

You may recognise this pattern from the last pair of fingerless mittens I made - unfortunately these ones have taken a lot longer (partly due to a number of false starts) but will still be toasty warm in time for the second half of winter!

Taking it easy

I took an unplanned break from blogging the past few weeks, I guess that'll happen. On the other hand, my tweeting has been out of control, and new love for tumbling may last for a while too. In the end we have to just do the things that make us happy, right?

Speaking of happiness, check out this post from the rockstar diaries (also known as Taza and the Prince) - it inspired this list of things that make me happy:

1. fingerless mittens
2. bon iver
3. soy chai lattes
4. anything about new york city
5. drive-in movies
6. beach holidays
7. my macbook
8. polaroid photos
9. red wine in winter
10. black boots

...I could probably go up to 100 (or 1000?) but I'll leave it there.

>> Also, if you like lists, Stuff White People Like is pretty funny.