Earlier this week I got three days off from being a wife and mother. Beardy Boy found he wasn’t required to work on Monday night, and so he decided, in order to give me a break, he would take Little Bean to see his parents for a few days. Three nights is the longest I’ve been apart from her since she was born, but I definitely felt ready for some rest – it’s been a long few months where we’ve all been ill several times, not had great sleep and I haven’t really had a proper break since, well, since she was born I suppose. So, on Monday morning I said goodbye to them and had until Thursday afternoon all to my self.
If this sounds a bit selfish on my part, or unfair on Beardy Boy, I feel I should point out I’ve done this a couple of times for him, although only for two nights. I’ve taken our daughter to see my parents, and he’s had a couple of nights to himself. When he gets time to himself what he mainly does is bury himself in his studio (our third bedroom) and make music at a volume he can’t when Little Bean is around, and sleep. What I mainly did was sleep, and sleep some more. Monday I took it pretty easy, although I did manage to mow the lawn, which was on its way to becoming a meadow. In my defense it’s been very wet lately so the grass has grown fast, but hasn’t been dry enough to mow. Anyway, I got an early night, had my first proper long night’s sleep since I can’t remember when and woke up some time after 8am having had over ten hours pretty much straight through.
And it felt amazing. I can’t remember the last time I had an unbroken sleep. This isn’t anyone’s fault. Little Bean can go for up to 12 hours – normally it’s more like between 10 and 11. But even when she does have a good night, factor in hat Beardy Boy works 4 nights a week and gets home between 3 and 6, which usually wakes me up, and you start to see why I struggle to get more than 5 hours of solid sleep. So ten hours was just astounding. I bounced about Tuesday and managed to get some housey stuff done that again, I’ve struggled to do with Little Bean about because it was upstairs. I wrote another 6000 words of my novel. I knitted quite a bit, read, planted a load of vegetable seeds in the greenhouse, enjoyed the luxury of having a shower when I wanted it, not when I could squeeze it in, and generally had a rather lovely break.
However, by Thursday I was pretty glad to see them both. It sounds like they’d had a good time too, and that she’d enjoyed seeing her grandparents. The only downside of it is that Little Bean’s sleeping has taken a nosedive. On Thursday night she woke up several times and each time it got harder and harder to get her back to sleep, until eventually I gave in, and when Beardy Boy came to bed at about 4:30, he found her snuggled in with me. Last night was a bit better, but she still wanted to come and sleep with Mummy. I’m hoping tonight will be better – she napped well today at least, so fingers crossed.
One of the things you get told a lot as a new parents, by well-meaning health professionals, websites and so on is to make sure you get time for yourself. In reality this can be really hard to do. You get an hour here and there when they’re sleeping and you’re not, and you find yourself getting hacked off that what you end up doing in that precious hour is scrubbing the bathroom. Maybe it’s easier if your extended family live nearby and can offer support – we don’t really have anyone living very near apart from my grandmother-in-law, who loves Little Bean very much but as she’s 80 and not in the best of health, can’t offer a great deal of practical support. Of course it’s all worth it, and I wouldn’t swap my little girl and go back to a life without her. But it’s definitely good to have a break now and again and I’m immensely grateful to my man for letting me have one.
I bought this totally on a whim and almost certainly because it was cheap, not really sure what to expect. And I absolutely loved it. It would be fair to say I haven’t enjoyed a book as much as Temeraire in ages – it had, for me, an un-put-downable something about it that meant I got really engrossed in this and couldn’t stop reading until I’d finished.
I can sum up what this is about in one sentence: the Napoleonic wars, but with added dragons. I’m not a huge fan of things like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – it’s OK for a bit of a laugh, but as a serious book to enjoy on its own merits… well, not so much. This isn’t like that. This takes the setting of the Napoleonic wars between England and France at the start of the nineteenth century and adds in dragons in a reasonably credible way. The hero, Will Laurence, starts the books as a navy captain, who captures a French vessel, which happens to be carrying a dragon egg. The basic premise of the book is that dragons exist and are enlisted in the armies of various countries. This egg was en route to the French army, a gift from the Chinese. When the dragon hatches, it immediately bonds with one person, who becomes its aviator – in this case, the dragon chooses Will, who names it Temeraire. The story then follows Will and Temeraire’s adventures as they train together and end up in battle.
I love the characters – Will and the other aviators were nicely rounded characters who I genuinely ended up caring about. What I really loved though was the dragons, especially Temeraire who is a bit like a wise child, asking Will all kinds of tricky philosophical questions that Will struggles to answer (did I mention the dragons can talk?). There are some bits that do you make you think, such as if an aviator uses his dragon to commit treason should the dragon also be punished as it is an intelligent creature but is also subject to its aviators demands. The bond that grows up between Will and Temeraire becomes really deep by the end of the book, possibly more so than the bond that many of the other aviators have with their dragons. I thought the dragons were well thought-out with the different breeds and so on, and I liked that they weren’t the standard dragons you get in a lot of books – a bit mysterious and aloof and generally a bit evil. Temeraire and the other dragons are none of these things, but are fantastic characters in their own rights.
I’m really pleased to see there’s a whole series of Temeraire books – I’ll definitely be carrying on with the series, just as soon as I’ve got through everything else on my ‘to-read’ list!
A little later than planned, I thought I’d share some photos of my finished Regency ballgown. I’ve been meaning to do this all weekend, but a combination of visiting parents, colds and flu, and IT woes have stopped me until now. Anyway, better late than never, here we are.
You can see the two layers of fabric a bit more clearly in this picture than in the half-finished ones I posted before. I decided to finish the waistline with a big burgundy velvet ribbon, which tied at the back.
The pattern I used was the Sense and Sensibility Regency Gown Pattern, very kindly loaned by my friend Rachel. It was quite an unusual pattern in that it wasn’t really exact in the way most dressmaking patterns I’ve seen are – it was more of a list of general instructions you could tweak as required. I have to confess I didn’t follow them all and made up some steps myself – such as the instructions about making a placket, which I couldn’t get my head around and so made up my own way of closing the back that seemed to work.
I was a bit sneaky with the red top layer fabric – I bought fabric that had a finished selvedge, and used this as my hem. It meant a bit of faffing about when I was attaching the skirt to the bodice, so that I could get the hem level. But I think it was worth it as the scalloped edge looked really nice, and saved me a lot of bother hemming it.
I’m not really sure what to do with the dress now – it’s hanging at the back of my wardrobe and there it’ll probably stay for some time. Still, it was fun to make, and has given me a bit of a buzz to do more dressmaking. I used to make quite a lot of clothes when I was a teenager, and I quite fancy getting back into it.
You can see a picture of Rachel and I in our dresses over on her blog. It’s interesting (to me anyway) to see two very different dresses from the same pattern.
I’m going to a party on Friday night and the theme is Regency. Two of our friends are celebrating their wedding anniversary and have hired Pittville Pump Rooms, a genuine Regency spa building, and have asked guests to dress up appropriately (with a black tie option for those who don’t fancy the Regency look). I’ve nearly finished my dress – I posted a few photos when I was halfway through last week, which you can see here – but I realised I was also going to need to make a bag. I’m planning on taking my camera, will need to take keys, and money and girl tish like spare hair grips and so on. All of this will require a bag, and all of mine are very twenty-first century. So, I got Googling and decided what I would make is a reticule, which is a little drawstring pouch. And this is it:
It was fairly simple to make, being just three pieces of fabric with points at the end to form the base (OK, six pieces as I lined it. I took the design from 1 book published in 1831, The American Girl’s Book which has lots of things for young girls of nearly two hundred years ago to make and do (you can read the whole thing for free online here). There wasn’t a paper pattern, just a drawing and written instructions, but they were fairly easy to follow. This is the image:
This was a perfect little project for this afternoon. I’ve been feeling pretty rough today, so my Beardy Boy looked after Little Bean whilst I lazed on the sofa trying not to feel sorry for myself and doing a bit of hand sewing on this. I used a soft faux suede fabric for both the inner and outer layers – it’s lovely and matches the dress but I wish I’d used something a bit lighter as the fabric doesn’t bunch that well when I pull the ribbons to close it. It’s also not as large as I thought it was going to be, but I suppose two hundred years ago ladies didn’t carry around quite so much stuff as they do today (or as this lady does anyway). It’s big enough to take the essentials though, which is the main thing!
A while ago I posted about the Cath Kidston Granny Square Cushion kit which I’d received for Christmas and made up. Since then I’ve received a few comments from people having problems with the instructions. I’ve also had messages on Ravelry from people who wanted help. I re-read the instructions and reminded myself that actually, they don’t really make that much sense. I’d made granny squares before, so knew what I was doing already, but if I’d never done any crochet at all, I think I’d be stumped.
So, in the spirit of trying to be helpful, I thought I’d video myself making a square, going through the instructions step at a time and commenting on what I thought might be wrong. My camera seems to only want to record video for a maximum of 15 minutes, so I’ve done the first two rounds only. To be honest, once you’ve got the basic idea, you just keep going on successive rounds, just changing the colour of yarn you’re using. I am, however, happy to make a video doing the extra rounds if anyone would find that useful.
This isn’t the greatest video ever, and if you haven’t got your head around the basic stitches, then it’s probably worth having a poke around YouTube first to see what you can find – when I taught myself to crochet a few years ago, that was how I did it, and I seem to remember there being some brilliant videos around, with really good, clear, close-ups. Treble crochet is the main stitch you need for these squares – note that’s British treble crochet. Americans call it double crochet, and likewise what us Brits call a double crochet, they call a single crochet. Confused yet? I hope not!
Anyway, here’s the video, I hope people find it useful:
It’s weird watching this back. Do I really sound like that? I don’t in my head! I enjoyed doing this more than I expected, and hopefully it’ll help someone struggling with this pattern, which in my opinion isn’t quite right. If anything doesn’t make sense or needs further clarifying, please comment and I’ll try and explain further.
When I made my Craft To-Do list a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I was making a Regency style dress. I’m pleased to report there’s been some progress on it this week – and I now have a bodice and sleeves, all sewn together. I still need to hem the sleeves, do the buttons up the back, and do the skirt, which sounds like a lot, but I think I’m probably over halfway through as the sleeves and the bodice have proved pretty complicated and time-consuming.
So, here it is:
I don’t think it looks that impressive on the hanger, so I’ve taken some photos of me wearing it. I’m really pleased because the back actually meets and closes (albeit with safety pins at this point) which means it’s going to fit!
I probably should have waited until Beardy Boy was around so he could take the photos for me, but I was a bit too excited with this and wanted to share right now! I’m particularly pleased with the puffball sleeves, which were rather fiddly but seem to have come out rather well.
Apologies for my half-dressed state, but obviously the skirt still needs to be attached. I think it’s looking pretty good so far, and I hope it looks as good as I think it could when it’s finished. Can you actually tell that there’s two layers of fabric – one gold, with the red mesh over the top? It doesn’t look very obvious to me in these pictures.
I need to think about what to wear with this – I’ve been doing some research and it sounds like I need some long gloves. I’m also going to need to get some shoes as I don’t think anything I currently own will look any good. And then I need to think about my hair… and a bag… (actually I have found a very simple Regency bag pattern that I might have a go at if I get time).
For ages and ages I’ve wanted to join a craft group. I tend to knit, sew, crochet etc by myself, at home, but I know it can be a social thing too, and I’ve liked the idea of this for a long time. I have quite a few friends who are also into making things – some a lot more so than I am – but because we don’t live near each other, or work different hours, or have childcare responsibilities, meeting up to make stuff together just doesn’t seem to happen. Most craft groups do seem to be during the day, I assume because they’re ran and attended by people who don’t work and have no children to run around after. I just can’t make these groups, but I have been on the look out for an evening group for some time now. So I was really pleased when I recently saw one advertised on Ravelry, on the first Tuesday of every month, in a nice pub in town. Beardy Boy agreed to stay in with Little Bean, and even put her to bed (normally my job, not that I see it as a job because I get sleepy baby snuggles, which is always a pleasure), so last night, off I went.
The turn out wasn’t great. Apparently they have a group on Wednesday afternoons that fills the room, but last night there were five of us. Still, they were nice people and we had a lovely chat – after a brief chat about ourselves, we ended up talking about all kinds of crafty stuff. I took along my Puerperium cardigan to knit, and the lady who runs the group tipped me off about a very famous knitting pattern called the ‘Baby Surprise Jacket’ by a famous knitter called Elizabeth Zimmerman (Ravelry Link). This is similar in that you knit it from the top down, doing increases, but is even more geometric than the Puerperium cardigan I’m working on. It certainly looks interesting – maybe I’ll have a try at making one for Little Bean once I’ve finished all the other projects I’m in the middle of.
It was nice to meet people interested in different crafts – there was one lady making miniature teddy bears, and her husband was sat painting a watercolour. We chatted about everything from the best local supply shops to the best way to join knitting together (no-one’s favourite job). I hope the group is on again next month, but it sounds like it might not be. As I say, I’ve had trouble finding a group that I can get to, so it seems a shame if this one is about to stop. The organiser has promised to send me a text to let me know for definite. Hopefully by the beginning of June I’ll have finished the Puerperium – I’m making it for my cousin’s baby, which is due on the 15th May. I’m probably about a third of the way there, and that’s not putting as much time into it as I could have. This is what it looks like so far:
It’s very hard to see, but the arms, front and back are all knit out of one piece, which means there’ll be minimal sewing up once it’s finished. The idea is that it’ll cross over the front of the baby and button up down the side, thus keeping them warm but removing the need to have to pull anything over the baby’s soft, fragile head. I’m using a bamboo yarn which is really, really soft and, as one of the ladies informed me at craft group, slightly antiseptic. Not only did I have a nice evening, I learned something too!
At the start of the year I signed up to the Neil Gaiman reading challenge with the intention of reading at least 12 Gaiman books during 2012. I was beginning to worry I wouldn’t have chance to read one during April – its been such a busy month that I just haven’t had time to do that much reading (but I have downloaded Anansi Boys to my Kindle, so that’ll be next). I thought I’d have to make it up later in the year until I saw Blueberry Girl at a vastly reduced price in a local music shop. I thought it might be nice to read with Little Bean so we got it.
Blueberry Girl is a short prayer that Gaiman wrote for his friend Tori Amos when she was pregnant, a list of wishes for her daughter. I say it’s a prayer but maybe a wish list is a better description because it’s not addressed to a God and doesn’t feel particularly religious. Gaiman’s words are accompanied by gorgeous watercolours by Charles Vess, which Little Bean enjoys looking at probably more than hearing me read the words – her favourite books at the moment are ones with funny rhyming patterns like Hairy Maclary or The Cat in the Hat.
I don’t know if it’s actually intended as a children’s book at all, despite the lovely pictures. Reading it as a parent of a little girl, it struck a chord with me because it captures a lot of things I want for my own daughter, wishing for her to have happy days and safe nights, to have adventures and fun and to learn wisdom and how to see the right path in front of her.
I really enjoyed this, in a slightly soppy kind of way, but I can see why there are a few less than positive reviews on its Goodreads page. I think a few Gaiman fans were disappointed that he’d written a book like this, rather than something more in line with his previous work. Which is a shame, because I don’t think authors should feel that just because they’re known for one genre, they can’t try something else if hey feel inspired to. Anyway, this is a lovely book, probably best enjoyed by parents of little girls.
Ive been playing around for the past few weeks trying to plan out the plot and characters of a fantasy novel. Writing a novel is something I’ve wanted to do for years – probably for as long as I can remember – but somehow I’ve never sat down and properly worked at it seriously. I’ve had two successful years of doing the NaNoWriMo challenge (2009 and 2010) – this is where you try to write 50000 words of a novel in 30 days. Although I hit the word count both times, I wasn’t really happy enough with what I’d done to think it was worth finishing either plot up and polishing them off. I think that the problem both times was that I didn’t plan, so ended up running out of steam and just wrote whatever I could think of to reach the word count.
This attempt is going to be different. I’ve planned it out properly – crucially, I know how it’s going to start and end and most of what’s going to happen in the middle. I’ve drawn up character profiles, descriptions of places and a rough outline of the history of the world I’ve created. I blogged about the 750 words website recently; doing this planning and preparation work I’ve managed 26 days in a row of doing at least 750 words.
So, I think I’m about ready to start. Actually, I started on Thursday and am just shy of 3000 words already. To motivate myself I’ve set myself a challenge for May – I’m aiming to write 20000 words by the end of the month, which works out to be a bit less than 750 words a day – so if I manage 750 most days I can take a few days off! This isn’t anywhere near as much as a NaNo effort, and therefore more achievable, I think. I’ll get more chance to think about what I’m writing. I’ve got some characters that I really love, a world I’ve got rather immersed in and, I think, an interesting plot. I’m really looking forward to seeing all the details develop in my head over the next few weeks.
I picked this up after reading a friend’s recommendation as I really like fantasy books and fancied something that I thought might be a bit different. Wyndano’s Cloak tells the story of Jen, a princess in the fantasy land of Aerdem whose family are attacked by their old enemy, Naryfel – actually her mother’s half-sister. Jen has to rescue her mother and master the use of the magical Wyndano’s Cloak, whilst at the same time her friends Bit and Petunia travel to another world to find someone who can save her father and brother (who is Bit’s betrothed). This is definitely a book full of strong female characters, although they all develop differently – Jen is strong from the beginning whereas Bit grows into her strength throughout the novel, as does Petunia in a different way.
I enjoyed it overall, but I can’t bring myself to give it more than 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I felt that the plot got massively sidetracked whilst Bit and Petunia were in the other world, and it got too bogged down in a storyline that didn’t sit, for me, very well with the rest of it. I also couldn’t decide if the other world was meant to be our, real world, or not, and I think I would have liked something to indicate one way or the other if this was the case. I liked the characters, especially Jen, and the boy she meets called Blue who was probably my favourite character. I definitely enjoyed the Blue and Jen chapters and storyline more than the Bit and Petunia chapters, although I liked how it all came back together at the end. I would be really interested in reading all the backstory to this as an actual book – there are a lot of references to old events that sound interesting. Everything is explained well enough in this book, but I think it would be a good read in itself.
Worth reading – yes, if you like fantasy and don’t want something too challenging. I think this is aimed at a young adult market, and I think that feels about right. There’s plenty of adventure, magic, unexpected moments and interesting characters to enjoy – just bear with some of the middle sections that seem to be going in a peculiar plot direction: it all does make sense at the end I promise!
Hi, I'm Emma, welcome to my little corner of the Internet. I'm a wife, mother, geek, bibliophile and wannabe domestic goddess. These are my adventures...
Hi, I'm Emma, welcome to my little corner of the Internet. I'm a wife, mother, geek, bibliophile and wannabe domestic goddess. These are my adventures...
