252: what have I done for you lately?

One of the least fun things about any job these days is the performance management process, or at least the annual review bit of it. Don’t get me wrong – I have a lovely line manager, I work with a great team on a fantastic project and I’ve loved every job I’ve had in the sector, even in the tough times – and I tend to assume that if I’m doing anything disastrously wrong someone would have mentioned it. Still, every year I have several sleepless nights before the meeting and feel a terrible sense of impending doom.

For years in a previous role these reviews were a meaningless process, as I was on a spot salary so didn’t get any annual pay rises anyway. The year I did brilliantly, writing a unit for the London Curriculum and being learning advocate on a blockbuster exhibition, they actually took away the unconsolidated rise from the previous two years and gave me a 3.5% pay cut as no one was getting a rise that year. The letter telling me this was waiting for me when I got home from the glowing review meeting. It was also understood that only the people at the main site could get the coveted ‘purple’ grade – which I wasn’t. (For some reason it took this organisation a couple of years to get the Investors in People badge – can’t think why). Another year, they increased my targets by 28% and cut my budget by 32%, so we were set up to fail by a director who refused to listen to what was actually possible (think Boris Johnson in a badly fitting skirt). That director – not the team, the line manager or the job – was why I left that role.

So why, every year, do I spend several nights pre-meeting wide awake and tossing and turning with stress-related insomnia? It’s a complete mystery but I suspect its quite similar to that feeling of guilt you get when you see a policeman even though you know for a fact that you haven’t committed any crimes. Perhaps there’s something they know that you don’t, and they’re waiting to spring it on you. Perhaps there was a target no one mentioned to you and you haven’t met it as you didn’t know it was there. Paranoid? Moi?

My current job is in a small arts organisation (with big ideas) which is headed by actual humans so the review was very straightforward and positive and helpful and I still have a job. Which is nice.

I’m not sure what can really be done to improve this, really: we’re all held accountable to various standards and there has to be some way of measuring this. I think I should just be grateful that the kids haven’t cottoned onto SMART targets yet – they might start asking me to stop burning dinner or putting mushrooms in it, leave fewer random scraps of fabric and thread about the place and rationalise my books and shoes.

Other things making me happy this week

The Families in Museums Network meeting at Young V&A this week. Slightly linked to the above – where the amazing Ops team made the Front of House recruitment process radically inclusive and considerably less stressful for the applicants. However, it did make me feel that I’ve been knocking about this sector for a very long time…
Finishing my portable crochet project in time for the cold snap. It’s made of alpaca and it’s snuggly and soft. I’ve also made some progress on the blanket.
Choosing fabrics from the stash and a pattern for a quilt project (though not the one I’d been planning. Go figure, eh?) with puffins on. Here’s the ones I started with,, though not all have made the final cut. Some of them are sparkly.

Central heating – it was -7 this morning. Lulu appreciates it, I think.
Thermal socks, and cats who double as hot water bottles.

Today we’re off for an icy swim (water temp was 1.5 degrees on Saturday – considerably warmer than the air though!) and wondering why we do this to ourselves. Wonder if I can take a cat with me to keep my clothes warm?

See you next week, when I’ve defrosted…

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading

Ten Big Ones/Eleven on Top/Twelve Sharp/Lean Mean Thirteen/Fearless Fourteen – Janet Evanovich

My Animals and Other Animals – Bill Bailey

Guards! Guards! – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

247: 80% fabulous, 20%….what?

I think my brain is already in switched-off December mode while, unfortunately, it still needs to be in switched-on-work-mode for another fortnight or so. Luckily I have an interesting piece of research to be getting on with and this year’s Spotify Wrapped playlist to help me focus. Once again this round-up of the year proves that 80% of the time I have excellent taste. The other 20% of the time caused near hysteria in my friend’s teenage daughter.

The research is into illustration as a teaching and learning tool across the curriculum, with our national schools plans in mind: obviously we know illustration is all about communicating information, but I think teachers may require a little more convincing if I’m going to get the whole nation on side. ‘Because I said so’ almost never works after all.

Something else I’ve had to do this week is put all the things in my head that have to happen before we open in 2026 down on paper so other people also know them: this meant a couple of hours with a bit of A3 paper, felt-tip pens, a ruler and a nice handwriting pen creating a fabulous colour coded chart on which to download my brain. There’s a lot, but at some point I am hopeful that there will be more than 1.4 people to do some of the things as right now (like everyone else I work with) we are all trying to be several people at once. I wrote these imaginary people on my chart, anyway. Thing 2 used to do something similar: She’d scrawl something on the calendar and say it was a ‘bardi’ (party). If it was on the calendar it had to happen, in her mind – let’s see if it works for me!

On Thursday the team went out for Christmas lunch – this year we went non-traditional and headed to Islington Square for an Indian vegetarian banquet at Omnom, where you can also do yoga and stuff. We did not do yoga but we did eat until we were ready to explode, so not doing yoga was probably wise. The food was amazing, from the aloo bonda to start to the kulfi ice cream in basmati rice pudding to finish.. I had a Laal Laal Mojito with rum, lime, strawberry pomegranate syrup and soda, accessorised with an enormous sprig of mint. Their mocktails were apparently good too – one of my colleagues doesn’t drink and is often frustrated by the boring menu options. The director brought crackers and chocolate coins, bad jokes were told, and hats were worn – not by me though, as it was a damp day and the paper crown was not designed to go over my enthusiastic curls!

The office Christmas lunch was also the Secret Santa moment – we have a theme which this year was ‘baubles’, a maximum spend of £5 or handmade, and it’s lovely as everyone takes part although it’s not compulsory. My outward gift was a crocheted robin in a bobble hat, and I received a gorgeous glass Moomin bauble – they know me way too well! One of the team only joined after the Secret Santa was organised, so she had a crochet gnome as no one should be without a present on these occasions! Other gifts included knitted tortelloni for our Italian colleague, as this is a traditional Italian festive food; an intricate folded paper bauble; and much sparkle. I’ve been very lucky over my years in the sector to work with lovely people, and this bunch are among the best!

Earlier in the week I visited Kingston School of Art, where I got to meet the MA Heritage students last seen at the start of their course when they visited New River Head on their first day. They’d spent the intervening weeks using material from Recycle Archaeology to create museum-quality storage and interpretation. They’d also worked with illustration students to design activities for adults. They’d presented these pieces – ranging from potsherds to toothbrushes – at the Illustration and Heritage Conference which I hadn’t been able to attend as I was in Manchester. One student had created a cabinet of curiosities; another an adaptable display case inspired by V&A Storehouse which showcased clay pipes very cleverly. The activities were well-thought-out, and we all contributed to a comic strip showing the journey of porcelain from China to London through the dragon gate, and drawing the people who used the 17th century china objects. The objects were mudlarking finds, mainly, from the foreshore at Fulham and the bridge in Kingston. I didn’t know that objects from construction sites excavated with no context were recommended to be reburied or sent to landfill. I am hoping that we may be able to give a home to some objects that date from the same period as the New River was being constructed, for handling as well as inspiration, and am looking forward to working with this course again.

The advent (see what I did there?) of Storm Darragh on Saturday mean that Epping Christmas Market was cancelled at the last minute. This was probably a good idea as the market moved to gazebos a couple of years ago rather than the solid old-style market stalls and they’d have been making a break for freedom in the gusts outside. I have another fair today in north-west London which I am looking forward to, so hopefully public transport will behave….

Things making me happy this week

Crochet pengwings. Pegwins. Pingwins. Whatever.
Discovering that our site fox was still about and making his mark.
Coffee with Amanda and putting the world to rights before a day at work.
A meeting with someone which ended up in a local cafe where a very friendly cat made herself at home on my lap and Emily’s. Good coffee too.
The blast of rum fumes as I open the cake box to feed the Christmas cake.
No market so Thing 2 and I put the Christmas tree up and made the fireplace look pretty.

The thing not making me happy this week is Duolingo’s sudden hard push to make its free experience significantly worse. I’ve been using the app for five years now and it’s been fairly constant apart from removing the support and updates for the Welsh course and making weird learning path decisions but in the last two weeks they have removed the ability to practice to earn ‘hearts’ (lives), made it so you’re demoted a level if you don’t finish in the top five of your ‘league’, stopped the double-XP ‘chests’ you could access if you did lessons in the morning or evening and generally made it a bit rubbish if you don’t want to pay for premium. I’d consider premium if they were still developing the Welsh content – which has always been significantly underinvested, without the stories etc that other courses have – but now I’m looking for an alternative.

Right – I must get ready and start the trek to the wilds of Willesden. Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for ~~breakfast~~ dinner.

Same time next week!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Now or Never – Janet Evanovich (Audible)

The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star – Vaseem Khan

Bad Monkey – Carl Hiaasen

A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens (Audible)

Hogfather – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

The Guest Cat – Takashi Hiraide

At The End of The Matinee – Keiichiro Hirano

237: excuse me, did you see where summer went?

Well, where did it go? This week has been very rainy – indeed, torrential at times – and there’s been a definite chill in the air in the mornings and evenings. I was even forced to wear socks while working at home on Friday which seems a step too far after last week’s warm sunshine. I’ve swapped the cats so Ted and Bailey are the upstairs ones this week, as they’re pretty much guaranteed to lie on me at night and keep my feet warm. The downside of this is opening my eyes of a morning to find the pair of them glaring at me, especially if I’ve had the temerity to sleep in past 5.30am and their breakfast is late. Teddy, in particular, likes to tap-dance on my ribs to encourage me to wake up.

In the usual manner of things, of course, I can’t find the jacket that’s been hanging around all summer, and it’s still not quite cool enough for a coat. It’s also dark when I get to the bus stop in the mornings. It does mean we can look forward to crispy autumn and winter swims soon, and Thing 2 and I had fun popping conkers on the way home this afternoon. She brought me a pocketful of conkers from a walk the other day, knowing how much I love their shiny, silky shells.

I love autumn, it may be my favourite time of year, with the forest showing off its best colours – even London’s street trees get their chance to shed crunchy plane leaves all over the place, at least until the street sweepers turn up. There’s tiny pumpkins in the garden and squirrels are parkouring around the place collecting acorns and burying them so they’ll pop up as little oak saplings all over the garden next year. We* have transplanted enough of these into pots to make a small portable forest.

*Not me, obviously. My beloved, but I admire them when he’s done it and point out new ones when I spot them.

Other things making me happy this week:

Christmas crafting – making gingerbread men and yet more tiny mice
Afternoon at Jill’s for her annual Macmillan tea party. I left before the gin was cracked open…
Colleagues who recommend good books, and library ordering systems
Another cross stitch finish and a StayPuft Marshmallow Man
My job – working in an organisation genuinely committed to EDI and understanding barriers to access both internally and externally. Kindness and respect go a very long way.

Today I am off for a morning swim, and then Thing 2 and I are off to the cinema to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – I was in charge of tickets and she’s on snacks, and then we’re going to go and see TT1 and the family. And then she’s in charge of dinner, hurray!

This week is new washing machine week, as Repairman 2 wrote it off. Currently when it goes into spin it sounds like its filled with cats and rocks, neither of which should be included in laundry.

Same time next week, then?

What I’ve been reading:

Murder at the Monastery – Rev. Richard Coles

The Island God – Sarah Painter

We Are All Made Of Glue – Marina Lewycka

Tricky Twenty-Two – Janet Evanovich (Audible – and a lot of live Eddie Izzard)

Real Tigers – Mick Herron

235: red hot chillies and tiny hats

This week has seen the return of the crafty mojo after my worst craft stall ever at Copped Hall on bank holiday weekend – I sold two pairs of earrings all day, which tends to make you wonder why you’re bothering. Even the two tiny dachshund puppies I made friends with didn’t quite make up for it…it’s surprising how much impact one off day can have!

I pulled myself together enough to put in my application for a stall at Epping Christmas Market and went back to crocheting chilli peppers on the tube in the hope that the next stall will be more successful. An Italian lady who bought a pair of chilli pepper earrings told me that in Italy chilli peppers are hung up to ward off stop people gossiping about you and to bring good luck, and who doesn’t need that? Perhaps I should start hanging them over the stall.

This year’s decorations will probably not include pigs in blankets unless people ask me really nicely, but there may well be cats as Thing 2 has decided that’s what’s missing from my stall after scrutinising everyone else at the event. There will also be mince pies and mice, and probably penguins. Let’s see where they get me….

I’ve also been making a couple of cross stitch gifts but can’t share them till they’ve been handed over, so you’ll just have to wait.

Tiny twins in Sprite hats. Aren’t they adorable? Just don’t ask me which is which

And tiny baby hats in multiples of two using yarn from the stash, for Arlo and Bohdi, who I finally got to cuddle last Sunday after taking Thing 2 to the cinema to see Despicable Me 4 (we loved it). They are so, so small and so laidback, which I’m quite sure won’t last once they find their voices. We were entranced by the way they mirror each other’s movements. Thing 3 was terrified when we first handed him a baby but got quite relaxed after a while, while proud Grandad was his usual baby expert self. We know he’s proud as he accosted all the neighbours when TT1 popped round last Saturday with the words ‘Grandchildren! Look!’ which is positively effusive for him.

During the evening crafting sessions I’ve been binging the excellent Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman and the ridiculously elegant Kristin Scott Thomas. I’ve so loved the books and was assured that the series was just as good, and – for once – it is. Hopefully Apple TV’s adaptation of Carl Hiaasen’s Bad Monkey will be just as good – the soundtrack of Tom Petty covers is a good start, as is the casting of Vince Vaughn. We’ve also been watching Brassic, a Sky programme which is very ‘it’s him! from that!’ and extremely funny with it. The hims and thats in this case are Joseph Gilgun from Preacher, and Ryan Sampson from Plebs, both of which we enjoyed.

Other things making me happy this week:

Fountain pens. I have the urge to write letters to people just to write with one. I feel I should be that person, and live with the misguided hope that perhaps a beautiful pen with real ink would miraculously render my atrocious handwriting legible.
Six month health checks for Teddy and Bailey, who do not need to be wrangled into the cat basket at serious risk to my wellbeing, and who are both very doing very well. Lulu, on the other hand, requires a pincer movement, two people and ideally steel gauntlets, full armour and a welding mask. Even then you should have the first aid kit handy.
Washing machine insurance. Mine apparently requires a new drum, a new PCB (whatever one of those is), a new seal and a new front.
Early morning coffee with Amanda.
Impending autumn, with chillier mornings and not melting on the tube.
Visiting the new Islington Museum ‘People of Islington’ exhibition, celebrating local artists and makers. They have a section of elm pipe from the New River which I’m quite jealous of. I wonder if they’d miss it?
The rather elegant cat below, who I met on my way home from Islington Museum. He was waiting impatiently for someone to come home and let him in.

And that’s it from me for the week – next weekend you can find me at the British Library’s ‘Marvellous Me‘ Family Day with illustrator Beth Suzanna making paper portraits. This is the last of our pop-ups for the summer and we’ll be alongside a whole lot of other excellent organisations so do come on down.

Same time next week then!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The Skeleton Road/Out of Bounds/Broken Ground – Val McDermid

The Masquerades of Spring – Ben Aaronovitch

Murder at the Monastery – Rev. Richard Coles

That Mitchell and Webb Sound (Audible)

198: we’re going to need a bigger wardrobe

Traditionally this should be a round-up of all the things I have achieved since making my new year’s resolutions last year, but since I didn’t make any (see here) you get a round up of the last week instead.

In between things like Christmas and visiting the Timeshare Teenagers and being made to go to Westfield by Thing 2, I have managed to steal some time with the sewing machine making use of the great piles of fabric lurking in my house. One of the contracts that my Beloved’s firm manages is a clothing manufacturer who have a range of brands, and once they discovered that I make ‘stuff’, they send their samples and end of rolls home with him rather than to landfill. Some of it (anything with animal print, for example) gets passed on to a lady down the road who also makes stuff, and what she can’t use gets passed on to the secondary school that her grandson and the Things attend. I’ve been using some of the larger pieces to experiment with some new patterns this week.

The first piece was the Stitchless TV Sculptural Bucket Coat – I think I saw it in an Instagram post and loved the shape of it so thought I’d give it a go. This was the first time I have used a video tutorial to make something from a pattern, and it doesn’t really work for my learning style. I prefer a written pattern with diagrams that I can skim through before I start, and while I could watch the video through in the same way, I don’t want to sit through a half hour video before I start sewing. My first choice of fabric was a medium weight quilted stretch but whichever way I laid out the pieces there wasn’t quite enough and I didn’t have anything of a similar weight to colour-block with. However, while finding this out I discovered a digital print stretchy crepey something-or-other from the same source. There wasn’t quite enough of that one either but in another box I found a scrap of purple scuba which was just enough for the sleeves and the collar. I didn’t find my interfacing, however, which would have been useful.

The collar had to be pieced and is a total dog’s dinner as I didn’t follow the instructions properly (the video tutorial was not helpful here, it needs to be better ordered – or I need to watch it through first), and I sort of made up the finishing as it was all going on too long. I love the shape and the giant pockets that are formed by the seams, and if anyone ever asks me to a wedding I could see me making another. I really would rather have written instructions though and probably won’t make anything else from this company.

Next up was a couple of tops using my favourite Centerfield Raglan Tee by Greenstyle Patterns – the last set of these I made are looking a bit battered now as they’re my go-to for working at home and weekends. I used a plain black jersey for the sleeves and neckband, and for the front and back panels I chose a space invaders print that I picked up at the Knitting and Stitching show last spring, and a galaxy print that was going to be knickers but it was just too nice to hide (and once you’re over a certain age people get worried when you show them your new pants). These come together so quickly, especially with an overlocker and when you can’t be bothered to hem them. I hate hemming stretch fabric so I just overlocked the edges in black and called it a design feature.

I did find an alternative project for the quilted stretch fabric – Little Ragamuffin Patterns’ Doubledown Day Dress, which I’ve made before using a Moomin print, the assassin hood and thumbhole cuffs option. This time I went for sleeveless, as I only had enough fabric for one sleeve, and in the longest length. Again, this comes together really quickly with an overlocker. The fabric is a pain to cut but sews up quite well. I plan to wear it layered over a long sleeve tee. The neck still needs finishing and I may bind the armholes and hem as well, but it’s swishy and squishy and will be good for cold days.

After finishing the Hydrangea blanket last week I decided to make a scarf using the leftover yarns – following the same colour pattern but using the C2C method. Usually this makes a square but it can be turned into a rectangle with a little tweaking, and who doesn’t need another scarf at this time of year? It’s wide enough to double as a wrap in chilly meetings, too.

I have one more pattern cut out and ready to sew – in a lightweight merino blend fabric, also from the clothing manufacturer. The pattern is The Maker’s Atelier Unlined Raw Edged Coat which was an advent giveaway from The Fold Line. I like things that don’t require hemming! This will be more of a ‘shacket’ than a coat as the fabric isn’t windproof. So that’ll be my job for today….

Other things making me happy this week

A chilly swim with Sue and Jill yesterday, followed by a bacon roll and hot chocolate
Carols on the Green in Epping on Christmas Eve
Walk and coffee with Jill and Miriam
A lovely Christmas Day with my little family and some excellent presents
An equally lovely Boxing Day with the Timeshare Teenagers, and Grandthings 1 and 2
Turkey soup, once the ostrich had been dismembered

And now I have some sewing to do and breakfast to eat, so I will see you next week!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The Man in the Moss/Curfew(Crybbe)/Candlenight – Phil Rickman

Lost Christmas – David Logan (Audible)

Map Addict – Mike Parker

The Man Who Died Twice – Richard Osman (Audible)

179: did I miss something?

This week has passed by in a haze of nothing very much at all: so much so, in fact, that I have no idea what, if anything, I have achieved. It’s been a bit of a brain-fog week, where sentences have wandered off after getting lost in the middle of a conversation and things have been left half done, like making cups of tea or sorting the laundry. My butterfly brain is in full flight – the joys of menopause, eh?

I do know I went to a lovely workshop with Toya Walker at the Museum of the Order of St John where lots of families came and explored their garden of medicinal plants before learning about botanical illustration. I also had a great chat with Andrew from the Museum of Walking about one of their new projects. There’s been a lot of crocheting of tiny mice on the tube and the odd cactus, and yesterday was a jewellery making day.

This weekend I have been pet-sitting for a neighbour, and basking in the reflected glory of Bella who bears more than a passing resemblance to a TV character called Waffledog. We’ve been for some long walks around the Common and chilled out binging Chuck on Amazon Prime in between. I love Bella, as she’s always pleased to see me. Her one fault is raging jealousy of the car she lives with, so when Ziggy decided to come home at 3am after hanging out in my garden with the wildlife last night I was rudely awoken which I could have done without.

At some point I’m going to have to bring my brain around to the idea of school uniform and (oh god) shoes for Things 2 and 3, but that can wait till the week after next when I’m off.

Let’s see if next week is more memorable!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

October Man – Ben Aaronovitch (Audible)

Unseen Academicals – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

Open Sesame – Tom Holt

The Mercenary River – Nick Higham

Ellen Buxton’s Journal 1860-1864 – Ellen Buxton

175: back in my happy corner

It has been a busy couple of months, what with all that training taking up weekends and so on, and apart from the ongoing tube crochet I haven’t done a great deal of making stuff. I started a laptop bag using this free tutorial and a yellow waxed cotton to match my beloved Fjallraven backpack, and I really must finish it off just as soon as I find where I put it.

In May I answered an open call by Tauko, a Finnish/German magazine, to be part of the Make and Share community for Issue 8’s patterns. I’d bought a couple of their patterns before, as I like their aesthetic, so the opportunity to test a new design with a free pattern was pretty irresistible.

We were sent a digital proof of the magazine and asked to choose the pattern we’d like to make up, and the deadline (but a relaxed one, as tauko means to pause or take a break) was publication date on the 18th of July. I must admit it hadn’t really occurred to me how much of June’s weekends would be taken up with training, due to being deep in denial about how far 100k actually was, so in the end it was all a bit of a rush! Day one of this project was the Tuesday following the Long Walk, so I mostly did it sitting down and watching the Great British Sewing Bee.

I chose the Kindling top, designed by Shannon McCann, as I like a structured top layer. I have a habit of working in historic buildings with erratic heating so a bit of quilting never goes amiss! I liked the wide sleeve option and the side ties, and the bias bound hems.

In my stash I had a double duvet cover in 100% cotton that I’d bought in a sale, which meant I could skip a step and cut out the lining and outer fabric at the same time. You can see the top fabric above, and the reverse is a pale sage colour. Also in the stash I had some sage green bias binding, again from a sale, and some toning grosgrain ribbon that had been handed to me as part of someone else’s clear-out. As long as I wasn’t too fussy about thread matching, the only thing I needed to buy was some cotton batting for the inner layer. I bought a fairly thin 100% cotton one to avoid too much bulk, and all the scraps went to my beloved to use either in the compost or to line plant pots. The batting was opaque which made it a bit tricky to line up the layers properly – one reason why you have a lining as well as a backing in other items, and if I make this again I’ll use an additional layer. I may make a sleeveless version, as I have enough fabric left from the jumpsuit I cut out today in a dark green otter-print fabric.

I started by cutting out the pieces and quilting them with simple vertical lines – my long acrylic quilting ruler made marking the lines easy, along with a heat-erasable pen. I spaced the lines quite widely, and stitched them with a multicoloured thread. Construction after this was very straightforward, the pattern instructions are clear and thorough, and the piece is easy to size.

Once the front and back are quilted, the shoulder seams are stitched and bound with bias binding, which gives a lovely clean finish. All the seams are supposed to be bound, in fact, but I confess I didn’t bind the inside of the sleeves as I was short on time. I used a zigzag stitch to finish them instead.

Next up was binding the edges. The pattern calls for creating your own ties using the bias binding, but as I had this pretty toning ribbon I skipped that step as well and. Binding around the outside is a single straightforward step, though I did have to unpick a few times when I forgot to tuck the ribbon out of the way.

The neckline was where I nearly threw the towel in and the sewing machine out: this should have been a very quick job but my trusty Brother LS14 is badly in need of a service and the tension keeps slipping. I tried rethreading, changing the bobbin, swearing and all other known sewing tricks, but kept getting the dreaded birds nest on the reverse and having to unpick. I gave up for the day instead. As you can see from the image above, the sleeveless version is very wearable and I gave some thought to making detachable sleeves with poppers.

I was in a much better frame of mind a few days later, and the first thing I did was to wind new bobbins and rethread, which solved the birds nest issue and the neck binding went on easily. I was tempted to leave it sleeveless but I’d already cut and quilted them, so…

The sleeve hems and heads are bound and then attached to the bodice. This was the trickiest bit: I’d marked the notches with heat-erasable pen, as the snips had been bound over….and then I’d ironed it. It took a while to work out where to start and stop sewing as obviously I needed to be able to move my arms in it, but I got there in the end! Again there was a bit of unpicking where I’d pinned wrong, but the double bindings create a structured effect so worth the effort. A quick press and try on, and then it was time to nag my beloved to take photos in the garden. Apart from making a sleeveless version, if I make it again I’ll crop the sleeves and use a thicker batting, but I can see this getting a lot of wear.

In other crafts…

June updated on the Supernova – hottest June on record, apparently

The nudibranch and mushroom sprite patterns are by Crafty Intentions, and the crochet round barrel cactus is by ZoeCreates.

This week I am looking forward to a belated birthday dinner with Amanda celebrating our 50ths, and another visit to The Museum of the Order of St John.

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The Good, The Bad and The History – Jodi Taylor

Queen Charlotte – Julia Quinn & Shonda Rimes

Whispers Underground/Broken Homes – Ben Aaronovitch (Audible)

Odds and Gods/Ye Gods! – Tom Holt

The Forgotten Witch – Jessica Dodge

170: yes, but what’s it for?

For the last few weeks I’ve been merrily crocheting maths, in pretty colours and various wavy and wonderful shapes which look like corals and other undersea creatures like nudibranches. The process is pretty simple: you start with a small chain or circle of stitches and keep increasing at the same rate, and after a few rounds or rows the fabric starts to create hyperbolic geometry. Nature likes hyperbolic forms as it maximises the surface area of a life form – perfect for filter feeding organisms like corals to get the most out of their environment. Curly lettuces also have this hyperbolic geometry (or negative curvature),

In 1997 Dr Daina Taimina, a professor at Cornell University, discovered that the best way for humans to make models which demonstrate this geometry is with crochet – just by modifying the basic crochet code you can create these weird and wonderful shapes. She wrote a book about it, explaining the history and development of non-Euclidean geometry and its applications to art, music, computer science and all sorts of other clever things. It’s the only maths book I have ever read for fun, thanks to cousin Sal who needed a model made for demonstrating the concept of hyperbolic space to teenagers.

It also demonstrates exponential growth, which we all heard far too much about in the early days of this blog in the guise of the R-number. Associate Professor of biostatistics and owner of the science/knitting blog https://www.statistrikk.no/, Kathrine Frey Froslie, used the technique to create a visual version of the way Covid-19 was spreading. You can watch a video about it here.

I’m using patterns from the Crochet Coral Reef project by Christine Wertheim & Margaret Wertheim of the Institute For Figuring. “The Crochet Coral Reef is an artwork responding to climate change and also a global community-based exercise in applied mathematics and evolutionary theory.”

This makes me sound ever so clever, doesn’t it. I’m not going to pretend I understand the maths behind it all but I do understand that the process of making these is repetitive, and mindful, and while I’m trying to download a whole new job into my brain that’s exactly what I need from a project! So that’s what they’re for.

Other things making me happy this week…

This Spotify playlist – a weird and wonderful blend of music for long walks
Walking as a team yesterday – also weird and wonderful.
Orange Calippo lollies
A surprise fern from the Young V&A team in case I’d forgotten them
Getting up to date on the Temperature Supernova
Early morning walks
A day off when I got pampered by Thing 1 as part of her last assessments

Now I must go and do some dinner…

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

A Body in the Bathhouse/The Jupiter Myth/The Accusers – Lindsey Davis

Noah’s Compass/Back When We Were Grown-ups – Anne Tyler

Carpe Jugulum – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

The Mercenary River – Nick Higham

147: what the heck was that?

That was week one of 2023, apparently, which has passed in a blur of meetings, taking care of poorly child and cat (who have the same thing, it turns out) and getting back into staying awake all day. Cat had to go and have a sleepover at the vet on Thursday, where he made friends with all the staff, but they wouldn’t take Thing One. Shame, really, as getting a vet appointment is considerably easier than getting to see a doctor.

Hopefully you all heeded last week’s excellent advice and have spent the first week of 2023 thinking of nice things to do with your year. I have booked in a massage and am looking forward to next weekend’s woolly workshop and show, and to an online V&A Academy course on Tuesday.

I am not sure I managed to get the hang of last week before it was all over, quite honestly. I did manage to get as far as November in the temperature galaxy, which serves me right for not keeping up with it since August, and have finished the Mk II TARDIS (slightly bigger on the outside, at least). I made the roof more domed and outlined the windows as well as the panes, but I think I prefer the smaller one which has now gone off to a new home with a Whovian colleague who had a birthday this week. Hope she likes it!

Having said I definitely wasn’t going to do a temperature stitch this year, I went back to Climbing Goat Designs to just have a look and ended up buying this one and, after this year, I will use a larger range of colours in case of extreme temperatures again. I have also ordered some printed space fabric to stitch it on, for a change, and I might brave the glow-in-the-dark thread for the stars. I am definitely not doing one next year though.

I also did some work: planning a new session for schools and thinking about what we’re missing from the handling collection. Suddenly the six/three/one month before opening to-do lists are NOW and not a future countdown. This sense of ‘ARGH’ wasn’t helped by this Time Out article on things to do in 2023 – we are number 13. It’s all starting to get a bit real… there’s such a lot that needs to happen before we open the doors, including getting all our kit back out of the various storage spaces and catalogued, working out how to store it all in my shiny new learning centre cupboards, convincing schools that even though we’re not doing historic toy sessions any more there’s still a good reason to come and visit, and at the same time as business as usual we’re also working on the first of our paid exhibitions which opens in October.

The session I was planning this week is based on Rachel Whiteread’s Place (Villlage) installation which was one of my favourite objects in the museum, and which is being redisplayed in the new space – the problem here is that trying to create a gallery based session before the gallery is installed is a bit tricksy as it all may change down the line. I really dislike dolls*, but this collection of dolls houses is atmospheric and magical, and provides excellent potential for literacy sessions. I can’t wait to see the new installation.

We’re also planning game design sessions, architecture, storytelling, and more – it’s all very exciting, but the marketing to teachers is keeping me awake at night!

*yes, it’s been suggested that I may be in the wrong job. I am also scared of masks.

This week I am bored with…

All things royal. Every time I turn on the TV or open Google there is some new ‘revelation’ from Prince Harry’s book which was allegedly leaked this week. Enough already. Siblings fight and there’s no law that says you have to like your sibling’s choice of partner. The trick is not to tell them and hope they work it out for themselves. Also, no one likes someone who constantly whinges that it’s not fair and everyone is horrid. Grow up.
‘Train cancellations’ on the Central Line. Which appears to be yet another excuse for constant delays.
Laundry. Where does it all come from?
Work. It is cutting into my nap time.

On that note, the washing machine has finished, so I will sign off!

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

The Paper Magician/The Glass Magician/The Plastic Magician – Charlie N. Holmberg

Kill the Farm Boy – Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne

Gardens – Benedict Jacka

Thief of Time – Terry Pratchett (Audible)

Watching: Black Spot (Netflix)

146: Practically perfect in every way

Not really, of course. I have a butterfly brain, a yarn habit that requires two sheds for storage and an insatiable urge to try all sorts of new crafts, an addiction to books and shoes, a callous disregard for excessive housework, and a very strange sense of humour.

Still, it’s that time of year again when we’re supposed to kick off a new go-round of the sun by finding fault with ourselves and making resolutions to stop this, to start that, to do more of x, less of y, to be better. A quick Google tells me that New Year’s resolutions have been around for about 4000 years, thanks to the Babylonians (though they made theirs in spring when the new farming year started) and presumably people have been failing to keep them for around the same, though they had the added incentive of falling out of favour with the gods if they didn’t keep theirs and not just feeling a bit guilty. Being held accountable by someone handy with a smite or with the power to have you eaten by crocodiles or something concentrates the mind wonderfully, I expect.*

January 1st is a terrible time to make resolutions, anyway. It’s cold and dark, it’s often raining, you’re suffering from terrible indigestion after eating your own bodyweight in cheese and Quality Street and quite possibly you have a hangover from ill-advised coffee tequila shots the night before. The inevitable return to work looms large in the diary (if you’re over 30 you’ll probably still have the hangover then too), the interminable round of meetings and the long wait for January payday is ahead of you, and there’s all this expectation to be all self-improving while you’re at it. There’s an actual date in January – the third Monday of the month – called Blue Monday which some bright spark of a professor calculated was the most depressing day of the year.

I have decided that this year we should have a New Year’s Revolution, not resolution. The adaptation of the very sweet (but a bit smug) The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy tells us (or the fox does, anyway) that ‘you are enough’. Let the revolution be to be moderate, not to give up or to change your whole life. To be a bit nicer to ourselves and the people and the world around us. None of us will ever be perfect, and let’s acknowledge that rather than making grand ‘THIS is the year I….’ statements that will be profoundly depressing by the 16th bowl of overnight oats with skim milk and no golden syrup.

If you have to make a resolution, make it something you’re excited about: a new adventure for 2023, take up a new hobby (I have booked a hand-spinning workshop at the Waltham Abbey Wool Show, for example – not that I plan to take it up, but why not have a go when it’s on offer?), make a plan with friends that’s realistic. I have two more of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries to visit, so they are on the list. Set a challenge for yourself but make it one that you want to do, not one you’ll hate the idea of: I want to do a long walk, either the Essex Way or the Race to the Stones. Resolve to treat yourself once a month, to a massage or a cinema trip. We are in the middle of an energy crisis, a cost of living crisis, strikes galore (which I support wholeheartedly) and the gloomiest part of the year – give yourself something to look forward to.

Have a Happy New Year instead.

*I may be mixing up Babylon and Djelibeybi at this point.

The long dark teatime of the year

Timeshare Teenager Two and her partner presented me with five metres of Moomin fabric as a Christmas present, so I spent a day sewing this week – at the stitch show in October I bought the Folia frock pattern by Sew Different and had been looking for the right fabric for it. I also made their Scoop Pinafore in a golden cord, and have started cutting out the Sunrise Jacket in a navy twill, using a Craft Cotton Co fat quarter bundle for the sunbursts. Activity has been slightly hampered by sewing through my fingernail and out the other side, but I am soldiering on….

On the hook this week has been this TARDIS by Army of Owls – which gave me the chance to muck about with shrink plastic for the first time since we used to shrink Wheat Crunchies packets on the heater outside room C2 at Monmouth Comp. I found the door sign image on Instructables, and used felt for the windows rather than embroidering. There will be some earrings as well, as I printed some extra door signs for that reason….

And now I am off for a walk with Miriam, Jill and the hounds. You’re getting this early so you can be saved from making any unnecessary resolutions….

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Bellweather Rhapsody – Kate Racculia

1989 – Val McDermid

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms – Charlie N. Holmberg

Juniper Wiles and the Ghost Girls – Charles de Lint