Catch Up

So I give up the day job and I *still* don't blog! Must try harder... So what have I been doing with myself?

Well there has been a little bit of crafting. I finally finished off this little knitted dolly (It's from a Debbie Bliss pattern I think) which had been languishing in my knitting basket for an embarrassingly long time. Typical of me I had completed all the knitting ages ago but hadn't got round to sewing it together. Luckily I had the spur of my friend A having a beautiful baby daughter so I set to and dolly was neat and trim in under an hour, just in time for a visit and squidge with the newborn.

I also made myself an A-line skirt, which although I slightly bobbinsed up inserting the zip, does function in an A-line skirt capacity i.e. it fits over my hips/bum and hangs nicely to the knee. I can now state categorically that I have made socks for each member of my family, finishing off some zingy yellow and pink ones for my daughter (well received). Pics are below.

I've been indulging in all the yummy mummy cliches too. Quite a lot of yoga has been happening (I know! formal exercise!!) and I've been meeting friends for coffee/lunch as much as I can. Including meeting up with old friends, which is especially lovely.

I'm doing my best to ignore the pull of the PTA, for fear I never escape their clutches. But baking a few cakes can't do any harm can it? I mean I can stop any time I want right? Right?! I am back being a reading buddy at school and really enjoying it, and at home I'm reading some corking books with Youngest, who's just got the book bug. We recently finished Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield, which I avoided as a child due to the ballet associations (I wasn't a fan of pink), but I've discovered that it's a great book, full of working women, with the three Fossil sisters full of ambition and determined to make their way in the world.

Next on the list is to try and get some summer clothes made whilst it's still summer. But don't quote me on that...

Happiness is a new pair of socks

Quick A-line skirt

Work in Progress

Exhibit A - un-finished objects (ufo) basket

So what a weird October huh? So unseasonally warm I was almost relieved to finally dig out my woolly tights and fuck-off big boots this week. So what have I been up to? I've been offered extra hours at work during term-time, which is great in some ways, but does mean I have less time for creative stuff - boo!

Just before half term we made a magnificent family effort and created a Anglo Saxon warrior outfit for my 8 year old for a school 'wow' day. If he's not too embarrassed I will post some pics, as he did look pretty cool (although his main interest was the weaponry - he's normally a very gentle soul, honest...). Then during half term we had a big family wedding, which involved lots of travelling but was so much fun, and we now have an Official Auntie C. Managed to squeeze in a visit from my parents too, which even meant a bit of babysitting so that husband and I could go out at the weekend and watch 1930s horror films.

Eldest child (he of the Saxon warrior fame) then celebrated his exciting half term break by suddenly vomiting late on Sunday evening, just as we were all due back at school and our respective workplaces after a week off - timing could have been better. So another day off on Monday then, oh well, better use the time to tidy up the craft stuff, in between providing weak glasses of squash and dry toast of course.

Exhibit B - frog it don't slog it

I discovered quite a few unfinished projects, which I've now gathered together in one place (Exhibit A), in the hope that I might get on and finish them. There's a couple of things that are virtually finished already, so no excuse really. But one thing I've learnt about creative work, sometimes it's better to rip it up and start again, no point slogging away on putting work into something that you don't even like. Which brings me to Exhibit B, which was half a baby blanket that I just lost enthusiasm for, and then ran out of yarn, and then the baby graduated from university (sort of kidding). You know the story... So I frogged it, and now the yarn has the chance to be something lovely.

Or maybe sit in my stash for a while longer, let's not do anything hasty ;-)

Glorious Technicolour

Last weekend we had a craft group outing to The American Museum in Bath, which this year has an exhibition of Kaffe Fassett's work, the American artist who's probably best known for knitwear and his use of colour. Some of the pics are a little shaky, as no flash photography was allowed, but I just wanted to give a little glimpse of all the lovely colours.

'I'm flying high on colour' Kaffe Fassett

It was really amazing to see such a body of work together in one place, some cases included objects collected by Kaffe which had inspired particular pieces. At the centre of the exhibition space was a recreation of his studio, no white walls here! I came home itching to make quilts and stitch together scraps of contrasting colour.

I make no apologies that the rest of this post is basically 'ooh, look at the pretty colours'. I would definitely recommend a visit to this exhibition if you're anywhere near Bath. It's on until 2 November 2014, and there's more information on the American Museum website.

New Year, New Knits

So January is nearly over, how's 2014 treating you so far? I note from my stats that most people reading my blog at the moment are from the US, which surprised me a little, power of the Internetz eh?  Must tell you that my children refer to the "Pesky Americans" fairly frequently, mainly due to the fact that my husband's American colleagues often phone him at work just at the time that he's supposed to leave the office (due to time difference they're just getting going as he's clocking off). So I'm afraid the Pesky Americans get the blame for Daddy not being home in time for bedtime, sorry about that.

Socks in waiting...

Anyway, this is supposed to be a craft blog, so how about some lovely colourful photos of knitting amd yarn? Winter is all about knitting for me. Knitting and listening to The Archers early evening is especially good (I've been listening to The Archers since I was a little girl, it's full of irritating people I love to grumble about). If you *are* a US reader, then you may not know the delights of 'an everyday tale of country folk', so here's a handy wiki page.

Socks in action

I've made some lovely warm socks for me (think the yarn is a Regia Kaffe Fassett but I've lost the label). I also knitted some for the Husband before Christmas as he approached me sheepishly and said 'you've never made any socks for me'. So a suitably manly yarn with blues/greys stripes was purchased and the resulting socks have proved very popular.

My five year old daughter asked for a red hat with snowflake patterns, so I had a go at some fair isle with reasonably successful results. I'm going to write a separate blog about this as my husband wrote a little computer programme for me to produce the snowflake pattern which we'd like to make available to other crafters. I'll link to it here when it's up.

And the last little project is a gift for a friend, such lovely soft yarn...

Work in progress

Hopefully by the time I've knitted a few more pairs of socks, winter will be on its way out. In the meantime, clickety click and tum ti tum ti tumpty tum...

Goodbye Autumn

I feel a bit rusty on the whole blog front at the moment. When you haven't posted for a while it feels a bit embarrassing to get started again, consider this first paragraph me clearing my throat and taking a sip of water.

So I thought I'd put a couple of photos up instead, which I think show what's been going on Autumn-wise with me.

Apples featured heavily, as @BristolGardens invited us round on a sunny afternoon to help pick apples from his back garden. Good to see my urban urchins getting a bit of fresh air. Youngest ate so many on the day that she ended up with a raging belly ache. Both children were fascinated by getting apples from a tree rather than in a plastic bag from the supermarket.

Since then we've had countless apple crumbles, I've made huge batches of chutney, a couple of Dorset Apple cakes (the loaf cake pictured is half size version of this recipe from BBC website) and there's stewed apple in the freezer. I still have a box of cookers in the garage that apparently should keep well. Good job they're so tasty, as a whole lot of peeling has been involved.

And I've decided that I'm only knitting socks, a jumper feels like too much commitment at this point. I can finish a pair in about a fortnight and I find it soothing to wind down with an hour or two of knitting in the evening.

 In other news, I've joined the WI (well it was pretty much inevitable wasn't it...) and at some point I seem to have become a cyclist rather than just a person on a bike, as I use my bike most days and have new panniers on my Christmas list.

I have a couple of Christmas Fairs booked in, so am making a few bits an pieces for that. Will try and put some more pictures up soon.


So in summary: Autumn - apples, well mostly apples.

Rainbows Again

Just a quickie post to show off my latest completed project - rainbow wrist warmers! They're made from yarn left over from my son's socks and are lovely and snuggly warm. They're not as long as some armwarmers I've seen, but that's mainly because I knitted right up to the last scrap of yarn, and that's how much there was...

They were knitted in the round on 2.5mm double-pointed-needles. Basically just tubes with thumb holes. They're for keeping me warm whilst sewing/knitting/internet noodling on cold winter evenings. Photography credit goes to my other half, as couldn't work out a way to take a picture of both my hands and still hold a camera.

Knitting Frenzy

The arty shot is my husband trying to get a photo of me knitting on double-pointed needles. I'm fairly sure that my dad doesn't read this blog, so feel it's safe to report that I have just finished a pair of socks for his birthday on Wednesday.

The children had an inset day today so whilst I frantically knitted right up to the deadline, they made some birthday cards with varying amounts of glue and shiny stuff. Very much their own work... Then we made a special trip to the post office to send the parcel off, so things now are in the hands of the Royal Mail. Fingers crossed.

P.s. Yarn from the excellently named Sock Yarn Shop, natch.

New Year, New Projects

I hope you've had an enjoyable Christmas. We stayed at home this year and so was just the four of us, which was really lovely. For the first time it seemed that our children (now 4 and 6) were young enough to be excited about Christmas, but old enough not to be such bloody hard work.

For the past six years, broken sleep, nappies and all the day to day slogging of looking after young children sort of takes the shine off the festive period. And being woken up after a night of too much mulled wine at sparrows fart was too much to contemplate.

But this year I sat with my excited children at 6.30am on Christmas Day as they competed to show me what Father Christmas had brought in their stockings. Oldest had been asking some awkward questions about the existence of the big man, but this year was convinced as he'd got a Hexbug Nano in his stocking which apparently showed that "I think FC really knows me, because he knew I'd like a Hexbug and I hadn't even said anything". I'm not about to mess about with icing sugar footprints or any other kind of glittery shit, but I'm glad that the belief was still there, at least for this year. I can just about remember the pant-wetting excitement of feeling a lumpy stocking at the foot of the bed and just knowing that 'he's been!'.

I had a few crafty presents among my gifts and also rather excitingly, a digital radio. This will go up in the study so that I can listen to Radio 4 as I stitch - bliss! This is traditionally the time of year to think about plans for the new year, resolutions and all that jazz. I'm planning to kick off 2013 with a bit of a crafting detox. Basically I have banned myself from buying anything new in January, any projects will have to use materials already in the house. And trust me, there's plenty in the stash to be going on with...

I have a couple of birthday presents to sort for January (I think knitted gifts may feature) and I have a box of card blanks left over from Christmas so I have no excuse not to make the cards as well. I'd also like to make a little dolly bed for Youngest and am eyeing up a handy-looking shoebox. But for now my presence is demanded at the great Lego contruction (as it is of course still raining, this being Bristol and all).

Cupcakes and Bunting

Photo credit: Anna Gordon

This post has been mulling since Saturday night, when I crawled into my bed just before midnight, after spending the day at Mumsnet Blogfest.

Which incidentally was bloody marvellous!  From the opening keynote speech from Miriam González Durántez right through to Caitlin Moran's hilarious closer, and in between with useful sessions and best of all loads of other inspiring women to talk to, and later swig fizz with. It was great to put faces to internet sprites stitch this and Dillytante

I've always had an appreciation for Mumsnet, I discovered it just before I got pregnant with my first baby, seven years ago now. I felt that as 'Mum' was in the title of the site, I couldn't actually post until I got pregnant and so had a valid connection with parenthood. Luckily I got the little blue line shortly after this and jumped into an ante-natal thread where women who were due at the same time talked about pretty much everything to do with early pregnancy. I can remember ranting about my super advanced pregnancy sense of smell and the awful reek of fellow travellers on public transport. And because I was talking to other women who were going through a similar experience, I didn't have to bore any of my 'real life' friends (who weren't pregnant or mothers) with the minutiae of gestational gossip.

Since then Mumsnet has given me plenty of support on all aspects of parenthood and on a more flippant note Mumsnet is also the reason that my husband and I can't talk about Centre Parcs with a straight face... (if you're curious, google Centre Parks Mumsnet, but maybe not at work).

So apart from having a marvellous time, yakking and swigging, what did I learn from Blogfest?

1. That the best way to get better at writing is to get on and write
2. That there really is such thing as a sisterhood
3. That if you hang around talking until the bitter end when chairs are stacked on tables, they'll probably run out of goody bags... oh well

And I'm not really bothered that a certain Daily Mail columnist is scornful of my type of blog, mainly because I'm a desperately earnest woolly liberal Guardian-reading type. I like knitting, so shoot me. And cakes are tasty. Blogging is my hobby, not my life, it's just something I try to fit in with all the other things that fill my days. And my life is full, and I am grateful.

Update:
I've submitted this post to the Mumsnet Bloghop, click here to see more posts about the day.

The Weird Kid

When my son started school two years ago, my main concern was not how quickly he'd pick up phonics or get to grips with numbers. No, my main concern was that he wouldn't be the 'weird kid'. You know the one, home haircut, cord dungarees, general air of social awkwardness coupled with an embarrassingly precocious vocabulary. Yes, it was me... I was the weird kid, and occasionally I feel like I still am.

But naturally my son has surprised me by being completely socially at ease, and the fact that his school has a uniform means that fashion faux pas opportunities are thankfully limited. He has two (male) 'best' friends - the three of them have been a tight unit since they started in Reception, and he is also seemingly very popular with the girls in his class, judging by the volume of party invitations he receives...

So I think I'm safe in hand-knitting him some rainbow socks (pictured above). He chose the yarn himself and was trying them on this evening, they were pronounced 'comfy' and 'really warm'. There's a bit of room for growth in the toe area as he's shooting up alarmingly at the moment.

The only problem is that now I've finished them I have nothing to take to craft group tonight, might just have to take some Christmassy fabrics and see where that takes me.

Freewheeling

After writing about getting back on my bike, oh, ages ago, I then didn't really get on it again. The thing is, I live in Bristol, which may be a 'Cycling City'  according to Sustrans, but does go up and down a hell of a lot. Not so good for the slightly less fit among us.

But then one sunny afternoon a few weeks ago, a friend invited me for a ride along the Bristol to Bath cycle path, and what a revelation! For a start it's pretty flat, and secondly it's a whole track just for cyclists and pedestrians, so no cocks in Audis trying to force you into the gutter. Result. In fact, it's a bit like riding along a country lane should be, except nicer because you don't have crazy locals speeding round blind bends, or tractors...

So spurred on by my positive experience I decided to ride the other way today, and go into Bristol city centre. I  used the excuse of needing some stocks from the craft shop, but really I just fancied a ride on a sunny day while I had some child-free time. The cycle path isn't the most direct route into town for me, but it's certainly the most scenic. It was definitely quicker than getting the bus, and I had the pleasure of depriving First Bus of  four quid (take that - The Man). I did a few errands and then returned home the way I'd come, stopping in for a cuppa with a friend who lives conveniently close to the cycle path.  And I picked up some more double-pointed needles whilst in town, so Autumnal sock knitting can begin in earnest. Hurrah...

If you live in Bristol or Bath and haven't been on the cycle path (it's nice for a walk too), then find out more here, it's got a fancy clickable map and everything.

p.s. The frog photo has no link with the post at all, my husband took it this afternoon in the garden and I just liked it

Holiday Yarns

Summertime, and the living is easy... Well it is if you're on holiday staying with friends in sunny Nova Scotia. We're in the ridiculously picturesque town of Lunenburg, all colourful painted shingled wooden houses and tall ships. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site and everything.

Some of the older houses down in the main town have a traditional feature called a 'Widow's Walk', which is a sort of balcony/platform up on the roof where fishermen's wives could see out to see and await the return of their menfolk (or not, hence the name).

We're staying with some old friends who emigrated from Bristol a couple of years ago and are now fully rooted here with their young children. Their kids are the same age as mine, all four are sleeping in the same room (well mostly sleeping) and are having a ball. And after what seems like months of rain at home, it is hot hot hot and sunny. Big shock to the system, I've been chasing after my two with the sunblock, which hasn't played a major part in the UK summer so far.

This morning we went to the Lunenburg Farmer's Market where there was some wonderful produce for sale, including some amazing pastries. I had a massive sticky cinnamon bun thing, in true North American style it was of course enormous. There were also a couple of craft-type stalls, my husband was casting covetous glances at the woodworking stall - beautiful rocking chairs but a bit tricky to fit in the suitcase...

But a skein of hand-painted rainbow yarn slips in perfectly, hence the photo. Of course it's too hot to actually knit anything, but a little addition to the stash never hurts!

UFOs...

I seem to have a bit of a block about making things at the moment, so to try and counter it, I thought I'd have a bit of a tidy up in the spare room (which I refer to in my head as my craft room). No matter how hard I try I can't seem to keep it tidy, possibly because I know I can bolt the door on it when it gets too bad. I con myself that with the right storage I would, but I'm just kidding myself...

Anyway, in the course of tidying up I discovered an embarrassingly large number of Un-Finished Objects (that's where the UFO thing comes in, geddit?).

Some of the things I discovered, in no particular order:

• Most of a navy blue sweater for a three year old boy - it just needs a button band, collar and making up. Just a shame that the three year old boy I was knitting it for will turn six in July...
• A dismembered knitted dolly, with dress, just needs stuffing and sewing up
• A knitting bag - needs a lining and just two more seams to attach the handles, plus tidying up of ends.
• A denim handbag that I was half way through and lost enthusiasm for last year, that and I realised that I really should have used some interfacing as it's a bit floppy - can these things be retrofit?
• A lamp-base awaiting a new shade
• Patchwork cushion kit - not even started, but purchased for £1 from the Sally Army shop
• Several tapestry kits, one technically 'in progress', two others that are actually finished but are languishing in a cupboard as I haven't had them framed or made into cushion covers

That's before I started counting the things that my children want me to make (a pair of rainbow socks and a dachshund draft excluder), my secret knitting project that has stalled due to chronic miscalculation on the yarn purchasing front, oh and any number of foetal blog posts that are hanging about in the ether, just waiting for a slide down the metaphorical birth canal.

So what have I done about it? Well to start with I decided that, fuck it, the knitting bag doesn't need a lining, and immediately took to my machine and sewed two enthusiastic if slightly wonky seams to attach the handles. I shall sit in front of The Apprentice later and tidy up any loose ends.

So that's my list of shame shared - what UFOs are lurking in your house?

p.s. thanks to wikipedia for the 'purported' UFO pic

Hello Dolly

I've been craving the soothing click of knitting needles recently. And as I like projects that are quick to finish, I thought I'd try my hand at some clothes for my daughter's doll (the doll's name is apparently 'baby dolly'). The other reason that I like making things for my children is that they are still young enough to be extremely impressed by my efforts - it's rather good for the ego...

I had some lovely Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn in the stash. It was perhaps a bit decadent knitting dolly clothes with it, but it felt so lovely and soft. I started with the hat, it's knitted on the flat, a smaller version of the Where's Wally that I made for my son. The dress is all one piece, knitted from the bottom up.  It's basically a tube with holes for the arms, and a seam up the back. I reduced every three stitches to gather in the skirt.

I think it's a much nicer outfit than he/she (completely smooth down there) came in, which was a polyester dressing gown thing. Next up is a coat, as daughter has expressed misgivings about the sleeveless nature of the dress, and is concerned that 'baby dolly might get cold'.

I want to ride my bike!

I had such good intentions for this past week. I'd had a lovely weekend at my parents (without children) and came back with a long list of things to do before the children broke up for the school holidays. But on Monday I was woken by a flushed and feverish five year old, so instead the week was taken up with cooking, cleaning and soothing of brows.

By Thursday he seemed to be perking up and so trotted off back to school - he's still at that age where he's keen to go. So I took the opportunity during youngest's preschool session to do something I haven't done for an embarrassingly long time... I got on my bike.

Reader, I have a confession to make. I bought this bike brand new when I was pregnant with my oldest, so about six years ago. And then didn't ride it...

First I felt wobbly and pregnant, then after babies one and two arrived I felt vulnerable enough putting myself in traffic, let alone setting off with a tiny child on the back. But at the beginning of this year I wrote a list of things I wanted to achieve this year, and returning to cycling was on there.

I had forgotten how much fun free-wheeling down a big hill in the sunshine can be, it was pretty amazing. Climbing up the other side was not so enjoyable, and my aching legs did mean that I ended up walking for significant periods. I arrived to pick up youngest from preschool sweaty and red-faced with a bit of wheeze going on.

But I did it, and that feels good. Because tackling cycling means freedom for someone who has a driving licence but no car (and I intend to keep it that way).

And where did I go to on my cycling adventure..? Why to the wool shop of course, where else!

Sock Rocking Feets

The Sock of Doom is finally laid to rest, check out my lovely stripy new socks. My heel-turning phobia is conquered, hurrah!

They are knitted with a Regia sock yarn purchased from Pip at the Sock Yarn Shop on 2.5mm double-pointed-needles. This yarn knitted up a little more tightly than the last socks I made - although this could just be my stress levels coming through...

I confess that one of the main reasons I wanted to try making socks was that it looked really cool seeing someone knit on what looked like cocktail sticks. Non-knitters are often super impressed as they think it's very complicated, but of course the really good thing about knitting in the round is that you do continuous knit stitch to produce all that stocking stitch (of course there is a bit of purling in the heel). I learnt to knit as a child but didn't learn to purl until a few years ago. Even now I feel I have to concentrate more on a purl row, where as knit seems hard-wired somehow.

What really helped in my heel-turning endeavours was this excellent tutorial on YouTube. It makes such a difference when you can actually see someone doing it, rather than just trying to follow a book or a pattern.

I have quite a few sewing projects on the go at the moment, but my next knitting adventure will be a pair of rainbow socks as requested by my five year old son. I reckon I won't have many more years of him wanting to wear my hand-knits so happy to oblige now. And it gives me an excuse to gaze at some more yarn...

Just the Job

I haven't had a lot of time to craft recently, I have a few ideas floating around for new projects but don't seem to have the headspace to develop them. Partly this is because I've been using my child-free time to plug away at hunting for a 'proper job'. Consequently my head is full of phrases like 'excellent communication skills' and 'committed team player' gah!

I have managed to do a bit of knitting in the evenings, there's something really soothing about the action of the needles, helps me relax and stops my mind racing. I have one sock nearly done, but of course the damn things come in pairs - it is scientifically recognised as 'second sock syndrome', describing that sense of ennui and slight desperation that a knitter feels when faced with the fact that most people have two feet to be encased in yarn-based garments.

I've also been reading a lot more, including lots from the local library, as although I love my Kindle, it can get to be an expensive habit. On a recent library jaunt I picked up a slim volume called Sew & Save by Joanna Chase. It is a reproduction of a book first published in 1941. It's full of really useful information about sewing the perfect hem, making a lovely blouse out of hubby's old shirts and that sort of thing. And I'm not being sarcastic, this really is useful! I have a shelf-load of lovely craft books, which have a range of projects in, but many are up the wafty crafty end - apple cosy anyone? It's a reminder that sewing wasn't just an enjoyable past time, but a crucial skill...

Big Knits

I was babysitting for a friend last night, so took my sock of doom with me and made some steady progress. I will conquer my fear of turning a heel!

But in contrast to knitting a sock in the round on needles that remind one a little of cocktail sticks, I am also doing some BIG knitting. The mug there is for scale purposes, these needles are 20mm, pretty much the biggest you can get, and knitting with them makes me feel like they are an outsize theatre prop.

This was one of those occasions where I was seduced by some lovely yarn (it's by Sirdar from their Bohemia range) then realised I'd have to buy the needles to go with them. But they make me smile every time I see them due to their ridiculous size, and smiling is in short supply around here at the moment. And just look at those lovely blue hues... This is going to be a lovely fluffy scarf to keep out the winter chills.

And of course the best thing about knitting with super duper chunky yarn is that it knits up really fast, meaning you can finish off a scarf in an hour or two...

Sock of Doom

This is a craft blog, but I wouldn't want you to get the idea that everything I make comes out right first time, or that there isn't a considerable amount of effing and jeffing going on throughout the making process.

I give you: The Sock of Doom...

Now, I made some socks last year, and they didn't seem too tricky, and now they keep my feet perfectly toasty warm. I even adapted the pattern to make some smaller ones for my daughter. I was cocky in my sock-knitting abilities, bring on more socks I thought...

And so I purchased some more sock yarn from the Sock Yarn Shop. I'm sure you'll agree that the yarn is pretty funky. I'm easily pleased and I'm still very taken with the way that space-dyed yarn knits up into stripes before my very eyes.

But this time round I swear I am jinxed! First it took three attempts to cast on and do the ribbing (although I accept some of the blame for this, serves me right for mixing mulled wine and knitting, bad combo). Then I lost the paper pattern and after briefly searching the living room decided instead to cobble something together from the internet. Which of course led to me making a complete hash of turning the heel.

So I sighed, squared my shoulders, and unravelled the botched heel, ready to have another go. I've also borrowed a proper pattern from a friend.

Although part of me thinks it would be much less bother to just turn them into (small) leg-warmers...

It's Friday, I'm in Love

Day 16 of my self-imposed challenge and I've had a lazy day. Until recently on Fridays I was volunteering for Studio Upstairs so had arranged for the Toddler to go to a childminder whilst the Boy was at school. My husband finishes at lunchtimes on Friday so he then picks them up from childminder/school, giving me a whole working day.  Sadly, because Studio Upstairs has had to reduce its opening hours due to limited funds, they are no longer open on Fridays.

And as Fridays are the only days where my husband has any flexibility, I can't really afford any more childcare than the five hours for the Toddler that we already pay for, not for an unpaid job. But for the moment I'm keeping up the Friday arrangement, mostly because in the back of my mind I'm aware that I will need to start job-hunting again in the new year and having a relationship with a good childminder will come in handy. But also there is the (slightly luxurious) aspect that I get to have at least five hours to myself in a week.

Today I could have used the time to blitz the house before the school holidays. I could have sat up in the workroom furiously making more bits to sell on Sunday. I could have gone into town and picked up the last bits of Christmas shopping.

But none of those things seemed that important, so instead I did not very much at all. I read a trashy novel, did some knitting while listening to the radio. I flicked through Twitter. I drank coffee while it was hot and munched some biscuits without having to share them with anyone.

It was lovely...

And I'm pleased to say that one part of my normal Friday routine is still in place. I'm typing this as the delicious smell of home-cooked curry wafts out of the kitchen, and my other half is hard at work making chapatis.