Category: Around the House

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

11 December, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

Hello Friday, are you here already?

Matches and candles - Misericordia

It feels like I’ve hardly turned around and this week had disappeared in a puff of sulphurous smoke and a rustle of wrapping paper.

Brass menorah and blue and white ware - Misericordia

Hanukkah started on Sunday evening, and Dragon announced he wanted latkes every night (shortly before deciding he didn’t like latkes). I gamely carried on for four nights, but after suffering intense salad cravings, I’m letting it slide.

The craft fairs were successful, I sold some things and got quite a few enthusiastic commission possibilities, so I’m looking forward to seeing how those shape up.

Scissors and embroidery hoop - Misericordia

I have one piece to finish up and then I’m going to devote my holiday to regaining a bit of making inspiration. I’ve been finding myself aimlessly scrolling through the moderately entertaining dross of the Interwebz instead of making, so I’m going to pull out some family projects that have been neglected of late to see if I can get my needles dancing.

Knitting and Bunhilda - Misericordia

Blessed are the cheesemakers

6 November, 2015 / Katy / 2 Comments

Do you ever buy someone a present that you really wish you could keep yourself?

Cheesemaking kit by Misericordia

We bought a cheese making kit for our cheese-obsessed friends and then, just as I thought about buying one for myself as a treat, received a kit of our very own from the lovely Liz at Mrs Whiskerson.

We finally got around to trying it out, on a particularly grumpy Sunday afternoon, so hold tight and here we go!

Eight pints of milk by Misericordia

The first problem was finding a non-reactive pan large enough for the eight pints of milk required for a full batch. After a bit of frantic work with our fridge magnet collection, I remembered the jam pan.

Pouring milk for cheesemaking by Misericordia

After that, it’s just a case of dissolving this into that, heating, stirring, allowing to sit, a bit more heating, some stirring again and pouring it all into a colander to drain.

Straining cheese curds by Misericordia

A full batch makes a very healthy wodge of cheese, so I made the firmer variety so it would last.

Pressing cheese with weights by Misericordia

The next questions was what to do with all the whey, which amounted to what felt like nine or 10 pints!

Curds and whey by Misericodia

The recipe makes sour whey, and the acidity means you shouldn’t just pour it down the sink. So far I’ve used it instead of water to cook rice, made whey pickles, and washed my hair with it. That leaves about six pints in the freezer to use up slowly! (You can use it as stock in soups, and I think it will make an appearance in my next risotto.)

Homemade crowdie cheese by Misericordia

Cheese making was a fun experiment, and one of those things I always wanted to try, but I’m not sure I’m going to quit my day job. More cheese, anyone?

Looking Ever Forward

30 October, 2015 / Katy / 2 Comments

I don’t mind planning ahead, really I don’t…

Keys, money, phone by Misericordia

But I’m starting back to teaching this week and I’ve already had to start making myself timed to-do lists of a kind I usually reserve for planning Christmas dinner.

Tatties by Misericordia

Although I intellectually appreciate that sometimes the only way to get through a day is to make dinner at 9 o’clock in the morning, I find it really throws me off. I guess it disrupts the narrative of the day.

Inktense samples by Misericordia

Completely contrary to most of the people I speak to, I really like the way autumn starts getting darker and wetter about now.

Autumn blooms by Misericordia

I’ve noticed that I’ve been burrowing into my phone a lot (due to a distinct lack of conversation that doesn’t involve Lego or why I won’t make Halloween costumes for teddies), so I’m trying to lift my gaze a little and enjoy the light.

Tangled cables by Misericordia

If I can only prevent myself from turning into a pumpkin on the sofa at the end of the day, then I’d really be on to something!

Happy pumpkin by Misericordia

Any evening efficiency tips you’d like to share?

Cooking up a Storm

23 October, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

Sometimes an idea takes a hold of me and I get a bit carried away.

So it was when I went looking for some fake food for my friend (and former Flat Buddy)’s two year old.

There wasn’t much interesting food online, so I decided to make some myself.

I had a blast, and duly sent off an always-fresh hamper of goodies. Of course, now Dragon wants his own set, so I have more to do, but it was a nice little project, and even more fun knowing that the recipient’s parents are just as likely to play with it as she is!

(Dragon took a lot of these photos while we were at his grandparents’ over half term, and that combined with an unfamiliar light profile means that it’s taking ages to edit these. I’ll keep adding them as I get through them, but consider this your amuse bouche.)

Leaving Go

9 October, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

This week has mainly been about leaving.

For the first time I left the house with two children and returned with none.

It was a very exposed, almost naked feeling (a little less so when I remembered to retrieve my house keys from the pocket of the baby carrier).

Even more emotional than leaving my children, I’m about to drop my sewing shears off to be sharpened, with the prospect of being separated from them for upwards of three weeks.

I have no idea why it feel so wrenching, perhaps because almost everything else I use is one of many (needles, threads, hoops), whereas the scissors are unique.

I’ve also had them much longer than even the Lovely Young Man (and we met 17 years ago on Wednesday) – my fabric scissors since I was a teenager, and my pinking shears were my granny’s.

But in the spirit of the week, I’ll stick emphatic name labels on them, take a deep breath and go.

The World According to Pinterest

18 September, 2015 / Katy / 2 Comments

Like about 97.3% of the people I know, I spend a lot of time on Pinterest.

It ranges from a useful source of ideas to a weirdly fascinating glimpse into other people’s interests and obsessions (from fingernails to family preparedness plans).

When we were planning our bathroom I found a lot of good ideas, but it rapidly became apparent that a lot of people were operating on a completely different plain than we were.

For instance, our classic Edinburgh bathroom is, in its entirety, the size of a small American walk-in shower. Even British bathroom fixtures have to be carefully selected to ensure there’s room for the bather to open the door without having to climb on the toilet seat.

I noticed that a fellow Edinburgh crafter was pinning some remarkably familiar images to her own bathroom board and thought I’d offer to help. She suggested I take a photo of (oh horrors) my bathroom to share and I’ve decided to be brave and do it.

In keeping with the latest gentrification chic aesthetic, I’ve left everything pretty much as it would be should you pop in for a cuppa (with the exception of a few toothpaste splatters on the mirror).

While I had the tripod out and levelled, I thought I would also show you what happens when someone vacillates between wanting to live in a Pinterest-worthy house and being unable to file their post or compost dead flowers. For the purposes of research, you understand.

New Season Projects

11 September, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

I am deep in the midst of an autumnal project-starting binge.

In addition to the next Ark Project piece, a commission and a first attempt at drafting a flattering trouser block suitable for wearing while teaching Pilates, it’s time to start Dragon’s Birthday Costume.

He has decided on a sea turtle, and I thought I’d try to be brave and make it up as I go along.

It was going very well until I realised that, for the second year in a row, I’d bought the wrong kind of zip.

Of course, as a result of all the half-started bits and pieces, the house is in a bit of a state.

But I have the perfect solution. We’ll just invite some friends over, concocting a menu is just like starting a project, except this one comes with a built in tidying up step!

Returns, Reviews and Restitutions

28 August, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

This has been an ‘..already?’ week.

Between the first proper week of school, the start of after-school classes, a mountain of life administration and trying to new homes for all the stuff that has crept into the house while my back was turned, I don’t have much finished work to show.

But I’m trying to ride the crest of the end of summer wave and get myself back into the swing of coherent existence. I’ve had a nice few months letting things slide, but now I think I want to live in a house where there are flat surfaces with nothing on them and corners which only collect cat fur.

I’ve girded my loins for another attempt to finish the Lovely Young Man’s Christmas jumper (which I started a fortnight before Christmas two years ago), and I have moderately high hopes for this attempt.

How are things shaping up around you? Have you turned up to anything a week before it was meant to start? Have you put something down only for it to vanish into a realm from which nothing can return? Do you have any good ways to store Lego and dinosaurs, safe from the curious fingers of a soon-to-be-mobile Little Lion?

Joining the Club

21 August, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

I’ve noticed that there are some interests, hobbies and products that draw people together.

My dad has a vintage Alfa Romeo, and when we went for drives, owners of similarly beautiful-but-impractical cars would nod or lift an index finger off their steering wheels in a subtle salute.

This has followed me into adulthood, although our nodding fraternity choices are a Brompton bicycle and an Ergo carrier. But as I spied a knitting needle case on the table at a recent play date, I realised that there is a similar clanship among people who make.

About 75% of my friends are makers of some sort. A reasonable percentage of those have made things since childhood, before the recent crafting boom. Interestingly, LYM’s friends from school are consistently excellent makers and top quality pals.

For that reason, we asked Liz to be Little Lion’s godmother. Not only can I rest safe in the knowledge that Lion will have a better understanding of cricket than I, she will be sure to know how to dance with decorum (even if she chooses not to) and will always, always submit her taxes well before the deadline.

In addition to these skills, Liz turns her hand to quite an enviable array of making genres from knitting to tailoring.

So when she presented Little Lion with this beautiful rabbit, we were thrilled for all sorts of reasons. It’s a gorgeous bunny, beautifully made, with a properly serious grown up expression – just a hint of Waldorf doll about it (we take our teddies very seriously in this house). But best of all it’s an entirely unique and handmade thing, which she will learn to treasure (as soon as I decide to let the bunny down off the mantelpiece, which may take a few years)!

You can read all about the bunny’s creation on Liz’s blog here!

Preparatory Position

14 August, 2015 / Katy / 0 Comments

Have you ever watched a row of people stand at a bank counter?

The high, old fashioned kind with a screen, not the new ones that look like space pods. Almost everyone will put their weight on one foot and bend their other knee to rest their toe on the floor.

There’s a similar preparatory position in ballet (but a little more turned out), you usually use it before you set off on an exercise that travels across the floor, or in the wings when you’re about to run, leap etc onto stage.

In this position there’s a little rock onto the back foot that you take before you set off. It’s a fairly small movement, but the idea is to take it a breath before the start of the music so you can start in an active state, rather than trying to catch up. Being off balance keeps you alert.

I feel like I’m waiting for the breath before the music that will set me off balance. I know the outline of our new routine, but it’s not in my body yet, it doesn’t feel natural and automatic.

So merde to everyone starting new things next week, we’ll be thinking of you.