Oxford ST and a bit more resin

Last Wednesday November 7th Oxford Street, London had their Christmas lights switched ON!
We too are  now getting into the festive spirit, I have been buying and ordering a few presents, sone of which are like this:

Three little books with ice cream ,sorbet and frozen yoghurt recipes. So instead of baking- or as well as knowing us- we will have ice cold treats this Christmas. A recipe a day or every few days in the holidays I think.

There is a superb theory in the Ben and Jerry's book that proposes that it's a really REALLY good idea to eat ice cream in COLD weather so that supports my Ice Cream Christmas plan.

JJ treated the family to one of these in September you see so it's super quick and easy now we don;t have to pre-freeze in the freezer...!!!

We have already tried some recipes from the SCOOP book as they were printed in the Telegraph in 2007!

And the Ben and Jerry book reads fabulously and had 126 reviews!

So can't wait to get started, which will be very soon only not this weekend as it's a really busy one.

And finally here are the pendants I've made with resin and how they look being worn as well. The latest one is a Ton Schulten of houses and a yellow sailing boat and I made it last night. Love it! Still need to add the top doming layer though.  If only I could make matching little square dangles for earrings? 

I could reduce the picture on the photocopier or only use a segment of it. And next time I'll cut it qith a blade and get the size a better fit. I was so keen to just do it late last night - about 1 am- that I cut it with kitchen scissors...

Bye for now I'm off to dance at the Abingdon welcome dance in Cumnor tonight.

RESIN pssst its a secret

 Here's the before- above- and AFTER- below pics of a very long overdue haircut. And I went to a totally new hairdresser today too: scary!

I did quite a bit of studying today as well as errands in Aylesbury and then I had some playtime: a new hobby, a new technique:

 I have been playing with resin from the resin8 website and I have a terrific DVD in which Clare Johns explains it all. I received the starter pack recently and I was going to book on a day course in Oxford but haven't done so as yet. Thought I'd better see how I get on first. After a slight hitch when I was sooo careful- for which read slow- so that the scales switched themselves off before I could weigh the hardener  and I had to guess at the proportions..... it went quite well?

 I was initially after a navy pendant to wear instead of my beloved lapis disc as it's getting chipped and worn out. So I did a navy postcard print and glued it into the oval. Then I did a sequin medley which was all turquoise and royal blue and then followed a blue,clear and purpley red resin composition which I let blend and run and tweaked with cocktail sticks. The latter is above.

The bracelet links were a gift and I did them in red/ purple resin with lots of pink beads.

 And as I have very small wrist which only needs 5 links I made the last 2 links into potential earrings in a blue sequin medley .

It was really GOOD FUN! The trickiest part is the quantities and the weighing and mixing.
I want to do some domed final clear layers on the above and then play with more postcards, pictures , photos and lettering to make unique gifts or pendants. Can I reduce a dachshund photo of Lucy or Pippa enough to fit  2.5 CM PENDANT???? Can I do stitched machine embroidery pictures in resin?!
Can I add motivating words like in the PIA catalogue: LOVE, LAUGH, LIVE!

Or somesuch?.......
And then I'd like to do some CASTING of resin! and make the moulds out of latex?!
Cubes, discs,stars ( for X-mas) and balls?! And have a go at cloisonnee or cold enamelling too?
There are X-mas tree moulds on the site, oh dearie me can I resist them?

Halloween, baking and dachsie crochet

Well the halloween or October half term holiday is over and the girls had a lot of rest and some recreation also, including for the first time ever: PUMPKIN CARVING!!!
I was rather impressed with Miss A 's first efforts which looked so very effective when lit with a candle as above.
We had out first open fire in the new fireplace and did a lot of cooking and baking.

 I hurriedly made a chocolate birthday cake for one of the OUSDS dancers on the Tuesday before we spent the day at the QA in Portsmouth .because mum had broken her wrist and was there.
 It was my cake day so I made marble loaves too for the dance class on the Tuesday.
Miss A made a wonderful red VELVET cake as per Hummingbird cookbook but with a slightly different recipe, woweee it was divinely delicious!

A deep glowing redness prevails, a sublime moist texture and a wild chocolatey taste, even without any icing whatsoever.

 We had an amazing lasagna on the Monday and Miss E baked a chocolate cake with peppermint candy cane icing on the Wednesday but the cake was too fresh so the icing mixed with the cake to become a choc cake crumb/icing mix and although delicious it was not exactly photogenic, besides it was eaten faster than I could photograph it! Also on the Monday I made a pile of breadpudding sticks from a waitrose recipe, adorned with many raisins and sultanas and many X-massy spices but it didn;t last long! JJ has the pics on his i-phone so they'll come along at  a later date.
Then the CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS were made yet again, as per tradition from the 7 year old waitrose recipe and steamed for 4 and 2.5 hours respectively. It took a longer time than usual not least because JJ had broken the larger pudding dish- crockery- and hadn't told anyone so I spent hours and hours searching for it! This year's in a metal one now. And we'll try to remember to EAT the smaller New Year's Eve one because I had to throw last year's out, 2-3 inches of green mould had devoured the top, a veritable penicillin factory.
Then the finale to all this baking was a Nigelissima Amaretti Plum crumble which we had last night!
It got 9 to 10 out of 10 so do google it , it's free on BBC recipes!!! Easy, quick and delicious.

This all took place while my poor thumb was trying to recover: I had hurt it in my car door on the Friday before the Oxfordshire RSCDS Annual Ball at Headington School.

Too busy thinking about all the things going on and that I still had to do so my left hand slammed the car door while my RIGHT hand was pulling a briefcase out of the car. And YES I'm right- handed. SOOO stupid.
Luckily it wasn't broken or anything and I did it at 5pm on Friday so I could phone JJ to come pick me up, after I had fainted and lain on the office floor for a while- felt very dizzy and nauseous. Shock.
Onto hapier things: the latest crochet now NORO is finished and much worn and admired already and am still deciding what kind of garment project is next.

Here's a hello and goodbye from Buttercup the dachshund made from a RICO design pattern in a Knitting magazine. I made her with Anchor magicline.
She has cocktail sticks in her front legs and fuzzy wire in her tail and hindlegs to help her stand up.
She still finds standing difficult as you can see.

Christmas? Bah Humbug NOT YET!!!It's OCTOBER

Please look at the DATE on this newspaper: yes it's only the 26 OCTOBER , not November, not December
and yet they have a Christmassy headline. Yeuch! Is that a sign of this recession?
We haven't had halloween or Guy Fawkes yet and here we are knee deep in Christmas decorations etc.
There was a time when Christmas lights in Oxford Street and Regent Street were switched on on the 5th December? And a dear friend of mine's family did not decorate their house until Christmas Eve! Now THAT's tradition for you.
Here's the Christmas decorated store of John Lewis on Oxford St:

And there was a strong theme of star wars in legoland at the entrance to the toys : you have to pass through this to go to the wool, yarn and fabric section...

 The friendly R2D2

Darth Vadar is it?

It was nice being in London and I went on the Oxford Tube , which was comfortable but did take two hours and I was home much later than if I'd caught a train to Haddenham as I then had to drive home from Oxford Park ;n Ride. A lot cheaper though, especially with my student card discount : £13 RETURN!!!
Friday felt as though it was the 13th, I stupidly got my right thumb stuck in my own car door: a d.i.y. injury so to speak but jolly painful all the same.

Had to leave the car at work, felt sick and faint for ages and missed out on an evening of jewellery making demonstrations and workshops. Then in the frost my car battery dies at work so we couldn't collect my car on Saturday but had try again today.
As you can see I still tried to crochet late Friday night but held the hook between index and middle finger instead.
The girls have carved their PUMPKINS today so when I've photographed these they'll appear tomorrow.
As it's HALLOWEEN soon and NOT Christmas yet.

Macleod's Fancy at the Oxfordshire Branch RSCDS Annual Ball

This is a dance I didn't know very well and I was mildly shocked to find there would be no recaps at the ball this year! I did remember that there were recaps last year and I also recall Mick telling me in the summer dances at Summertown that he wasn't exactly looking forward to doing the recaps so maybe that's why they decided NOT to do them this year. Although it was a good fun evening, the lack of recaps introduced an element of fear not to say terror into the proceedings and two things happened: I smiled a lot less than is usual for me - I was fearfully concentrating- and I danced less dances than I otherwise would have done.

And this is one of those, I am grateful for a lady who showed me the way to the gallery so I could video this dance from this excellent viewpoint.

 Here it is THIS is how you dance this dance.

MACLEOD'S FANCY  (J4x32)  4C set                                                                            J Drewry  RSCDS Bk 33

 1- 8     1s+4s set diagonally, 1M+4L ¾ turn RH & cast up/down own side back to place while 1L+4M cast down/up own side & ¾ turn RH back to place

 9-16    All dance reels of 4 on sides, ending as  at start of reel

17-24   2s & 3s turn 1s & 4s RH into a St Andrew's Cross, all set & turn crnrs to end 1s in 3^rd pl & 4s in 2^nd pl on own sides having passed other crnr RSh

25-32   1s & 4s set & cross over (Ladies dancing between Men) & dance ½ Fig of 8 round end couples to 3^rd/2^nd places (giving RH at top, LH at bottom)

Noro Silk Garden Jacket FINISHED

 It's a lovely slim fit on my new slim form: 8st 9 don;t you know?!!! Almost ALL my other knitwear is way big on me now. So this makes a lovely change.I think I prefer the back to the front?!!

 Lucy just HAD to claim this new blanket didn't she?

 Started this in early October and it grows very quickly despite the hook size, have adjusted the pattern in terms of stitch preference and as to gauge as I crochet loosely but could not face going down 2 hook sizes! 
So I have redone all the maths to cope with MY gauge. I'm using a 3.5mm hook and 4 skeins of Silk Garden  sock from NORO, purchased in a passionate moment from John Lewis in Oxford Street, after having attended two days of a SAGE bookkeeping course in North London. The pictures from the book and the idea of doinf the pattern had already been playing on my mind for a while and when I saw ''my'' colours in a heap of silk garden sock yarn and they were all of the same dyelot- a rare event- I went with my instincts and bought it on impulse. That was 25th September and now less than a month later I'm wearing it! It's the fastest turnaround ever for a GARMENT and with such a small hook too! ANd I'm working a 6-7 day week, with study on 2 of my days, bookkeeping at weekends and the day job as ususal, so I'mn really only crocheting at leisure evening times or on the bus etc. Quite a few small changed were made:
And I wanted long sleeves not 3/4 so I amended that also.
Second sleeve almost finished and that’s within a week .
Am loving the tweedy colour changes, but the twist tendency in the yarn make it challenging to crochet with. 
The pattern is the lime green and black version in the new book Crochet Noro which I have ordered from Amazon. 
Hey I finished the second sleeve on Friday night 12th October and today Monday 15th I have finished the entire cardigan, it fits superbly and I LOOOOOVE IT!!! 
I did wing the yoke in that I devised my own way of decreases on the raglan lines to create the yoke working from the bottom up. 
And the sleeve length is perfect! That’s very rare for me, usually they are far too long and rarely are they too short. I love the edging in the pattern but I went a bit further and added two to three more rows to get more vertical stripeyness into the front. 
And my neckline is a little higher to accomodate the classic shirts and polonecks that I’m planning to wear it with. 
And I have 50 g of the ysrn left over!

FINISHED ON 20.10.2012 and weighs 355 g.
And it’s not a personal pattern but isn’t on Ravelry yet. The project is but not the  pattern.
It’s in the NORO CROCHET book due out soon with a preview available on amazon. I have pre ordered it and it was due out in UK in November 2012 but that has now been changed to February 2013 for some reason and I COULD NOT wait that long!!!

Am so very very happy with this, but what shall I make next?