Another Laptop Sock

Last year my sister asked me to knit her a cover for her work laptop.  It came out well and she was very pleased.  However she's just got herself a new job and her new laptop is much bigger than the one she had and now the cover doesn't fit.  'Could I make her a new one?' she asked.

With some of the King Cole Glitz Chunky in platinum wool left over from last time I made a start.  This time I knitted it in the round and as it was a bit bigger I decided to add a little decoration - some cables down the front.  It took a few goes to get the pattern right, but I'm very pleased with the end result.  I think she was too, lets just hope it fits.

Note:  I've just been sent a photo and its a perfect fit! Hooray!
 

Gorgeous Cakes - part 1

Look how faded the edges are from being on the window sill!

I love to bake and 'im outdoors loves to eat cakes so this all works out pretty well.
I have quite a few cook books but seem to always end up cooking the same old stuff, so with no more Saturday runs (unless I want to) I've decided to work my way through one of my favorite books - Gorgeous Cakes by Annie Bell.

Today I made a classic victoria sponge with whisked white chocolate buttercream for 'im outdoors lunchbox this week, and some lemon cupcakes for snacking on when he gets in from work. 
As he's a coeliac it does mean I have to tweak the recipes a little so I use gluten free flour and I tend to add xanthum gum which means I have to add a little extra liquid, normal in the form of milk, too.  And instead of cooking the victoria sponge as one big cake I made two smaller cakes as I know a big one won't rise as well.  I might have also ignored the call for sugared flowers to decorate the cupcakes.

I haven't made either of these before - I normally stick to Mary Berry's victoria sponge recipe, but they both came out really well, which was a nice surprise as my cupcakes don't normally rise.
But of course the proof really is in the eating and 'im outdoors will get the final say at the end of the week.  Did they transport to work OK? Did they still taste good a week later?  Should I make them again?    


Verdict:
Lemon cupcakes: They tasted like lemon french fancies.  Lasted quite well but a little damp by the end of the week.

Victoria sponge with whisked white chocolate buttercream: Quite nice, but the buttercream didn't really stand out.  Lasted the week well. 

A Bear Jumper

For Christmas a couple of years ago I knitted my mum a bear.  I had wanted to make him a jumper too but ran out of time.
So when my parents agreed to look after Milo for the 3 nights we were in Scotland for the marathon I realised this was the time to make the bear a jumper.

Flat jumper before being sewn up

Now most people would just buy their folks some good Scottish whiskey and shortbread while they are up there, but my mum has lost loads of weight this year so she could have a knee operation (which was a grand success) so I didn't want to get them food when they have both done so well losing weight.

They also recently got themselves matching fleeces in bright orange and I loved the idea that the bear could also have a matching jumper.
Mum seemed pretty chuffed with it and put bear straight into it.  I hope it keeps him warm.

The Loch Ness Marathon - part 3

 After 16 weeks of running through heat waves and down pours it was finally time to run The Marathon.

We flew to Inverness on Friday night so we could collect my race number on Saturday and chill out a bit.

We accidentally ended up walking down the finishing straight on our way into the race village, a bit like something Chris Boardman might do before a stage of the Tour de France.

In the race village we picked up my race number, 1374, then had a mooch around the expo. Listening to the experts talk about how cold it was and how we should layer up I ended up buying a light jacket, which I was very glad of on race day.

Macaroni for lunch then we had a wander round the botanical gardens, dodging the rain showers.

On Sunday we were up early. The buses for the start left at 7.30am so we needed to be there by 7.00. Here I said good bye to ‘im outdoors and had to hope I would see him again later that afternoon. 

The middle of nowhere

The coach was nice and warm with wonderful views of Loch Ness as we made our way to the start. I’m not sure how many coaches they used but there were over 3000 runners to transport to the top of a big hill in the middle of nowhere. As you can imagine the queue for the loos was massive! 

The queue for the loo

 We had about an hour standing around before the race started, but queueing for the loos and bag drop etc filled the time and before we knew it we were off, running over the start line to the sound of a pipe band.

We were pretty lucky with the weather, mostly dry except for a few heavy down pours at miles 10/11, 15 and the last couple of miles. The wind didn’t make an appearance until much later in the day for which I was very grateful.

The scenery was beautiful, all the stuff you’d expect to see in Scotland really.

But the race was mostly in my head. The counting down of the miles. Reminding myself of how much I’ve raised for charity and the wonderful people who supported me. The little games you play with yourself to keep yourself going - I can walk for a bit at the next mile marker if I just keep going now. Trying to ignore the pain in my knees/hips/feet/ankles. 

As I came to the mile 24 marker I knew ‘im outdoors would be somewhere ahead. No walking now. I didn’t know when I’d see him but I was determined to run past him. It started raining but I kept going. This mile seemed to last forever but finally there he was smiling at me. Just a mile left. The rain was coming down and I had to keep running. My mantra “all you have to do is finish” said over and over again. With the finish line in sight I was in tears.

I couldn’t believe I’d made it, finally finished what I set out to do last January.

This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Not just the 26.2 miles but the 4 months of training leading up to it. I can’t imagine ever wanting to do that again, but I’m glad I did do it. Glad I managed to finish it and amazed at how generous everyone has been in sponsoring me.

Thank you to everyone who supported me over the last 4 months, particularly ‘im outdoors who hasn’t moaned once, even when I’ve woken him up getting up early for a training run, or asked him to sort washing or some other chore because I was too knackered. And who came and stood in the rain and smiled at me when I needed him the most. Thank you.

Paper Sun Catchers

A couple of months ago I made myself a sun catcher. It's already starting to fade, but it's still really pretty.

I liked it enough to purchase a whole book on how to make them.  Its not very big, with maybe 8 or 9 different designs, but you can make many variations just by playing with the colours.

So when I decided to leave my current role for a new job, they seemed a really pretty but quite simple thing to make for everyone as good bye gifts. 

Every single one is different although some are similar, coming from the same design but using different coloured papers. 
 

On the desk

On the window

Spread out on my desk most people couldn't work out what they were, their pretty secrets hidden, but held up to the light everyone seemed impressed.

I really enjoyed making them, its quite a repetitive process so you can let your mind wander a bit, but the end results are so impressive. It's hard in these photos to show quite how much they glow.

I've still got lots of kite paper left so I'll be making more of these sun catchers.  Might even make some white ones for Christmas, if there is time.  They really do brighten up a window.

A Brand New Bathroom

The old bathroom

When we moved in to our new house last year, I knew the bathroom would need some serious work to become a room I could love.  But the utility room and garage were far more pressing and so I had to live with a bathroom that made me cringe every time I used it.

It wasn't just the fact the toilet was squashed in a corner against the heated towel rail so you'd burn your knee every time you used it, or all the little nooks and crannies that made it difficult to clean but also the fact it had no real storage space so everything was on display the whole time.

So with Christmas all done and stuck inside due to the snow, we decided the bathroom was our next project and started drawing out some plans.

First thing to do - swap the window out to one with frosted glass and proper double glazing to give us privacy and keep us warm.  'im outdoors did this one damp cold day in February.

The new window

 A great start and we carried on, ripping out everything except the shower - something we couldn't live without, while the downstairs loo made it possible to take everything else out.

But while we thought it wouldn't take too long to complete it's actually taken about 6 months.  The main problem here was the fact we still had to use the space so couldn't really do much in the evenings before the space would need a tidy before being used again. 

A new shower

We made massive improvements over the long Easter weekend when we ripped out the shower cubicle and replaced it with a bath and wall shower.  Getting the tiles up took 2 days all by themselves, even with the 2 of us working on it, never mind fitting the bath and plumbing in the shower.

Finished!

While 'im outdoors has done most of the hard slog, I've tried to help out, making tea and cookies when needed and doing most of the painting along with sticking all those tiles.
It might have taken way longer than we'd hoped but its finished now and a huge improvement on what we started with!  It's now a joy to use, thanks Hubby.

A New Garden Bench

A couple of months ago, 'im outdoors bought home some tatty bits of metal, found in a skip and no longer wanted.  It took me a moment to realise what they were - the metal ends to a park bench.  All the wood had rotted away but the metal bits were OK, just needed a coat of paint.

So I painted them a lovely dark green, and when 'im outdoors had cut and sanded all the wood I vanished it.  Then he put it all together.  I am so chuffed with it.  Sat against the side of the house it is in shade all morning and again in the evening so perfect for sitting out in this hot weather.  And Milo likes to lay under it when we're sitting on it - the family all together.  This is up-cycling at its best.

After the Rain Jumper

I found the jumper pattern 'After the Rain' a couple of years ago.  I fell in love straight away, but I'd not knitted a jumper before (or any clothing come to that) and it is knitted in the round and to be honest looked a little scary.  But I kept looking at it and at the beginning of this year I decided, this was going to be the year I knitted a jumper.

It was a very easy pattern to follow once I'd got my head round the knitting in the round bit.  I used Stylecraft's bambino DK wool in vintage blue and sage, which is lovely and soft and a brilliant colour.
I started knitting right at the end of March and it took me about 3 months to complete.  Of course it was nothing like as hard as I'd imagined - the worst bit making sure I changed colour for the stripes at the right place.

And I'm pretty pleased with how its come out - I mean it actually looks like a jumper and it fits!  However I am thinking about making another one, but a size or so bigger, and maybe a tad longer in the body - this one is a bit snug and not as long as I like my jumpers.
I've also got some other jumper patterns that I'd like to knit now, and suddenly it doesn't seem quite so impossible.