Alien Spouse

Pro Love, Anti Hate.

We had a terrible time trying to find a parking space today because there is a big football game in town, but we managed to get to the library where the pro-gay marriage march was assembling in time for me to make a banner.  In the end I went with lots of red love hearts, partly inspired by the lovely necklace Jason sent to me as part of my birthday package (I also got Malteasers, cake decorations and a bag of assorted fabulous sequins!  All of it wrapped up in the most gorgeous paper!  Yay for birthday surprises!) I also wrapped a small hot pink feather boa around the handle, which helped to make it comfortable but was mainly because, hello, it was a hot pink feather boa!  That's my kind of protesting!

We marched in a circular route around the town which took about an hour and a half.  For the most part we got lots of smiles and thumbs up, with just one or two people expressing their disagreement with our views.  It was actually really quite fun!

It did start to rain towards the end, so I was glad to get home, which is when we discovered that Edith is pro gay marriage too.  She really loved my banner, and kept rubbing up against it.

Unfortunately she was so enthusiastic about the sign that she pushed it over on top of Nancy, who survived unscathed but presumably less keen on protest signs than our little fluffy radical.

Crochet Cachet.

I forgot to mention that I got my invitation to join Ravelry last week.  In case you aren't in the loop that's a social network exclusively for knitters and crocheters.  Did you see what I did there?  In the loop?  Because, you know, of looping the wool?  Fine.  I am ill here people, you can't expect my best work!

Thanks for suggesting that I apply for my invitation Megg.  I haven't explored the site fully yet but I have logged on and had a quick "Ooh!" over some of the projects and patterns.

The Polka Dot Courier Bag Has Landed!

This morning when Doc C went to check our post office box he collected three parcels, and one of them was my new courier bag.  Isn't it fab?  I am so pleased with how it turned out.  Who would have thought hole punch reinforcers and a pot of paint would work so well?

My new bag is a small standard courier bag.  Which means it's about the size of a tote bag, has one large main pocket and a further five pockets on the inside, as well as a carabiner key clip.

I know I've said it before, but honestly Courierware are the best.  Eric at Courierware encouraged me to customise the fabric exactly how I wanted to, and then made the bag for me.  So he made not only made it possible, but did it within two weeks of me shipping the painted cordura back to them and at a reasonable price.  I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Soup, Soup, A Tasty Soup, Soup.

Yesterday evening I made vegetable soup from scratch, and I made enough to have soup for lunch every day this week, because I realised that I have been eating bread based products for virtually every meal recently and I thought that was probably not a good idea. 

So then I looked at several different soup recipes and none of them were what I wanted, because I didn't want to make a potato based soup.  In the end I sort of mashed together a recipe for minestrone, with another one for lentil curry to create a spicy lentil soup.  It's really nice!  The only problem being that the cheap flask I bought didn't keep it hot, so by lunchtime it was only just warm, but still tasty!

Next week I think I'll try a roasted sweet potato soup (which is very different to potatoey potatoes, obviously), maybe with pumpkin seeds as croutons.  Yum!

Crocheted Skull and Cross Bones Scarf.

I've finished my skull and crossbones scarf!

I accidentally on purpose made it extra wide, and it took almost six balls of wool to get just about long enough, but it still looked a bit stumpy when I made the final stitch. 

So then I blocked it, which sounds really efficient and technical doesn't it?  It sounds as though you need some special piece of equipment, but it just means giving it a gentle hand wash in luke warm water, shaping it whilst damp and then leaving it to dry (You could use a steamer instead, and I might look into getting one of those, because I hear they are also great for cleaning!)  Actually the moment I took it out of the soapy water I could see that the stitches had all lengthed out slightly so the scarf is a good length now.  I wish I had done a Crazy Aunt Purl style before-and-after photo (She knitted the scarf, used a steamer and it grew a lot longer than mine.  Otherwise, same-same!), but I forgot to.

 As you can see it's a black scarf with an off white skull at one end, a pair of off white crossed bones at the other end and irregular off white stripes in between.

I sort of made this up by using two different patterns from the Stitch and Bitch Crochet book.  The Skull was mostly from from the pot holder pattern, except I made the left eye bigger and the skull shape slightly wonkier. The crossed bones were directly from the skull-and-crossbones sweater; but I didn't use the skull from that pattern because I wanted a more stylised look to it so I didn't want a lower jaw.  The stripes in between were placed randomly when I felt like they might look good.

The reason why I put the skull and bones at opposite ends was so that when you put the scarf on, the bones would hang lower than the skull and voila!  Skull and crossbones!

As I type this I am sitting on my sofa watching the Halloween specials of some of my favourite cartoons and wearing my scarf.  It's not really cold enough to justify the scarf, but I don't care.

A New Project.

I've started a new crochet project, and I got off to a really good start; but unfortunately I was a little over enthusiastic and the width really got away from me which I only noticed after about 30 rows.  If I carry on like this (which I think I probably will!), what was intended to be a scarf is going to be more like a shawl, but hey it'll still have a skull and cross bones on to that will be fine.

I started with the skull, which is what caused me to go a bit crazy, I am pleased with how it's looking so far and I think this will be an excellent project to try blocking on.  That might make all the difference.  or not.  We shall see.

Painted Polka Dots and A Striped Scarf.

It being Monday I am feeling slightly stunned that the weekend flew by so quickly, and I'm not at all convinced that was a whole 54 hours of relaxation.  I think that perhaps we should demand a recount.  Who is with me?

As my one task for this evening, I am planning to finish the third coat of paint on my polka dots.  Then I shall leave them over night to dry and then tomorrow I shall remove twenty one rows of hole re-inforcers and see how things have turned out.  Let's hope that my almost foolishly simple plan worked beautifully, or I shall be slightly peeved.

As for my other main creative project, I still have about 8 rows to go on Doc's scarf, which doesn't sound like a lot, but I am working width-wise not length-wise, so each row is 300 stitches long.  Which makes it about 7 foot long.  Umm, I suppose I may possibly have got a little bit carried away with the starting chain.

Crocheting a 7 foot long row may sound like a chore, but fortunately I like how the pattern of stripes is working up, and Doc has been making some appreciative noises too.  The book I bought recently on knitting/crocheting for men said that the main trick to getting men to wear things you have spent hours making for them is to encourage their in-put in the planning stage, long before you actually start making the garment.  In this case Doc choose all of the colours and told me what sequence of colours he wanted the stripes to go in.  He went with variations on a theme of drab, so hopefully he'll feel happy wearing it looped round his neck a couple of times when the weather turns cold.

Friday! Friday! Friday!

I cannot believe it is Friday already, this week has flown by.  Bob started driving back to Boston today, because he'll be taking a couple of days to get there; unlike our fourteen hour marathon last time we went.

This weekend I shall be getting some more wool to finish off the scarf I am crocheting for Doc C and to start off the one I've decided to make for myself.  I shall also be positioning stickers, and using them to paint polka dots on the fabric for my bag flap.  The piece of cordura arrived this morning and  extremely thoughtful people at Courierware have even chalked in guidelines for me, so that I don't polka dot anywhere that's going to be hidden.

Apart from that I am intending to sleep a lot, but I don't know if that's going to happen because I drank half a litre of coffee at this morning's breakfast meeting.  That was at 8am, and I am still feeling wired.  I drink tea every day, or I might have a latte once or twice a week, but half a litre of strong filter coffee is clearly not a good idea for me, and yet I manage to forget that and do it again every five years or so.

Note to self:  This is your brain on too much caffeine, Eeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More Polka Dots.

I am definitely on my way to owning a black-and-white polka dot courier bag.  I'm going to order a bag from a company I really like called Courierware, they make great bags to customer specifications and Doc C has been using one of their bags for six years now.  I cannot imagine him not having that bag, fortunately they are virtually indestructible and have a lifetime warranty.

One small confession I already own a large red courier bag (perfect for carry-on luggage when flying), and a small hot-pink walking bag (perfect for carrying stuff whilst walking dogs) from Courierware, but what I need a medium size bag for work. 

Hi.  My name is Jen, and I am addicted to bags.

Anyway, Courierware do offer a great range of colours in cordura, and will work with other fabrics; but what I want is a bag made from the waterproof cordura, and cordura doesn't come in polka dots.  I did some internet research, and eventually found a bike courier's forum thread that was discussing how to stencil onto cordura bags.  This is exactly what I am intending to do, so I was pleased to find that other people reported good results using gesso.  Artists use gesso paint to prepare canvases, it comes in different colours, and it's quite cheap.  Perfect.  I don't really know hard wearing it will be, but I can easily touch up the bag when needed.

We went to an art shop today, and I bought a pint of black gesso, a pint of white gesso, a paint brush, a sheet of acetate, an exacto knife and a self-healing cutting board.  I also bought a ruler and some punch hole reinforcements from the supermarket on the way home.

I've pretty much given up on finding a cheap polka dot stencil, there is one on e-bay but I've already been outbid on it and I don't fancy getting into a bidding war for the thing.  Instead I used the hole reinforcer stickers to stencil a row of three practice dots on the inside of my small walking bag, which is also made of cordura.

I'm really pleased with how the dots came out, the hole re-inforcers are really simple to position and the dots were nice and crisp.  All I need to do now is order my bag from Courierware, and then spend a few hours ruling a grid on it with tailor's chalk and positioning the stickers.

In the meantime, I'm going to be stenciling the pink bag, and this time I'll be using the acetate to make a stencil.  The original design was going to be a stylised black cat, but now I'm thinking about doing something else.  Maybe an off-center black, white and hot-pink Union Jack, but I definitely need to practice that a few times first though.  Can't have a wonky looking Union Jack.

Did It Myself.

I don't know who designed the two bookcases that Doc C and I bought on Friday, but despite the fact they look identical, the designers apparently thought it would be amusing to make the method of construction for the white bookcase slightly different to that of oak veneer bookcase.  Needless to say it was also slightly more difficult.

But I still managed to build it, with minimal swearing, and we now have a bookcase in our bedroom.

Ha!

Cookies!

It was Randy's birthday on Wednesday, and continuing the long standing birthday tradition of all both times I've done this now; I baked some R shaped cookies to take over to his house for dinner tonight.

7.00 with Crochet.

I got my book on crocheting exactly fortnight ago, then I went out to buy hooks and yarn two days after that, so I have been crocheting for exactly 12 days.  Today I am wearing my first completed crochet project!

I am not embarrassed to say that I am proud of that time frame; I think that 12 days from initial perusing of instructions to end garment is pretty good going.

Of course I will be the first to admit that I deliberately started out with a simple project that didn't require an awful lot of work, but still I did it all by myself.  I took this photo in the bathroom mirror this morning, and it's a bit blurry.

If you want the details of the t-shirt itself, I can tell you that it's a Threadless T-shirt called "7.00" but they've sold out of all the girls' sizes now (I've also bought an XXL mans size, I was thinking about making a floor cushion out of it but I'm not sure about that idea now).  I love this design, but frankly as a blonde with very pale skin, any cream T-shirt just washes me out.  I decided that changing the shape of the neckline and adding a band of green to the collar and cuffs would help with that problem and I'm pleased with the results.  It also helps that the design has a nice retro air to it, which I think goes really well with a bit of crochet.

Here's a link to the website, if you want to see the design properly click on the handy Threadless button below.

 

Anyway, the bands of crochet were based on an idea I'd seen in a book called "Tease", which has loads of different projects for de-constructing T-shirts.  Funnily enough this project in that book was designed by Debbie Stoller, the woman who put together "Stitch n' Bitch Crochet" the book I taught myself to crochet from, so it was fairly simple to follow her pattern.

Me being me, I can't just go the easy route and follow a pattern exactly; I have to tweak it.  Before I started I'd already decided that the original pattern, although lovely, was too flouncy to really go with this particular T-shirt design.  So I fiddled around with it until I reached a happy medium between what I was imagining and what the pattern directions were.  I re-did the neck line twice, and the sleeves three or four times until I'd got the crocheted elements to sit as I wanted them to.

Hopefully this will mean I wear the T-shirt more than I would have done otherwise, but even if I don't, it was very satisfying to to do.

 

I Blame Online Poker.

I'm sorry that I'm posting so late in the day, but you see Doc C played on-line poker for 16 hours straight, and out-right refused to let me have internet access.

Ok, that's not strictly true.  In fact he was writing a lecture about feminism, and he refused to let me have the computer.

Well, I suppose it's probably more accurate to say that he was writing a lecture on feminism and occasionally interrupted my enjoyment of "Law and Order" to check whether I was feeling oppressed and to ask for my opinions on the education of women and some snippets of appropriate celebrity gossip.

And if I'd asked he actually would have let me use the computer, because he is a sweetheart like that, but crocheting got away with me again.  What can I tell you?  It's absorbing, especially when paired with a good detective drama.

 

RSI. Like CSI But With Fewer Corpses.

I've finished one sleeve on the T-shirt, and changed the pattern so I actually only did three rows of crochet instead of five.  When I went to bed my right arm ached, so it took me ages to go to sleep.  Is crocheter's elbow a thing?

Yet More Crochet.

Doc C had flipped through the crochet book and found a scarf he liked so we went shopping for wool today, and he choose what the colours he wanted.  It's a stripy scarf, and in the pattern the stripes were light pink, hot pink, leaf green and white cotton; but Doc has chosen black, grey, beige and sage green wool.  It's going to be a very different scarf to what the designer had in mind, but I'm looking forward to making it.  When I spoke to Mum yesterday she said she'd got a book of crochet patterns out of the library to see what sort of thing I would be able to make, so I'm looking forward to getting some patterns and requests from her too.  I love making stuff for people!

Although before I start taking requests I'm going to work on a project for me, which is fortunately very simple I'm just adding a few rows of crochet to the sleeves and collar of a T-shirt.  I started that off this afternoon whilst watching a succession of terrible teen movies.  I mean you know it's going to be bad when Chad Michael Murray turns up in an updated version of Cinderella completely miscast in the role of Prince Charming, but somehow you just can't look away from the horror.  At least Hilary Duff got to wear a pretty dress though.

So I'm sorry that this is yet more crochet, but you know how very engrossing.it can be when you start a new hobby.

Crochet Heart and Umbrellas.

I heart crochet!

Cheesy I know, but this was the image used in the book to demonstrate tapestry crochet.  Don't worry, next time it'll be a skull and cross-bones!

This is pretty much it for the swatches I think, now it's time to actually consider which object I'm going to make first.

In the meantime I also have to make a decision about the dress fabric I bought at the weekend.  I have a plain chocolate brown fabric (made from bamboo), which is to make a loose V neck dress.  

I also bought a printed linen which was a bit of a spur of the moment purchase, and at the time I intended to make a wrap skirt from it.  The thing is that now I've got the fabric home I'm not sure it's right for a skirt.  As it happens I have the right amount to make an A-Line dress from it, so now I'm considering that but I didn't buy enough bias binding, or a zip, so now I'm confused. 

Here is a photo of the linen, as you can see it's a design of glamorous women carrying big colourful umbrellas, whilst apparently floating around Big Ben.  Like you do. 

The print is quite large, and I think it would be more wearable as a dress, maybe with black or red bias binding round the neck and some little cap sleeves.

The Inevitable Granny Square

You must have known this was coming. In fact when I said "crochet" this was the very image that word conjured up. The fact remains that the Granny Square is an important step in any young crocheters development.

Also I had a flashback to having a poncho of acrylic granny squares when I was a small child, that I think I used to accessorise with a purple cowgirl hat. Mum, is that right?  Did Fid make it for me perhaps?

Crochet Fever!

Observe all my swatches!  I am a swatching maniac!

My favourites are probably the circles, but I also really like working in the row of red shells to the white.  If you are really interested, you can click on the picture and it will take you to Flickr where there are notes telling you which swatch is which stitch.

Obviously this has been taking up a lot of my time, but fortunately Doc C has been supportive of my new hobby.  Before I actually got the book I'm learning from or any the wools or hooks, I did show him a couple of patterns for things that I could eventually make for him, and he said no, thank you, he didn't really want any of those but if he thought of something he would let me know.

Well that thought has obviously been percolating, because whilst he was watching me master the shell stitch this morning he started asking a few questions about the differences between knitting and crocheting, then got side tracked by the exciting notion of felting things and eventually, very nonchalantly, said "So, you know my very favourite hat?" and I said yes, and he said "Could you make me one exactly like that?".  As it's a plain wool felted beanie in black, yes even at this very early stage I am fairly confident that I could make that.  "With a grey stripe maybe?", yes I think so.  "And felted?" well I definitely want to learn how to do that, so yes I think so.

I love having a project!

The Hook is a Cruel Mistress

Can't blog. 

Crocheting swatches compulsively. 

About to learn how to crochet circles, may possibly go mad.

Crochet!

I believe I warned you that there would be photographic coverage of my excursions into the wild world of crochet.  Here we go with step one, which is The Swatch.

When we got home I unpacked my new yarn and crochet needles and started following the instructions in the book.  It didn't go well at first, but at about 1am whilst watching some really bizarre Japanese cartoons, I finally got the hang of it!

Then I unraveled it all, and started again from scratch this morning.

So far so good, I also had a go at the half-double stitch which went well but I'm finding the double a bit more awkward to start off.

Updates as they happen.

Bikes and Wool.

Doc C needs a bike.  He really does, and neither of the bike shops in town have anything suitable.  I need some dress making and crocheting stuff, and the yarn shop here always seems to be closed.

So this morning we have decided to go on a shopping trip to Asheville.

See you later!

Husky Viking!

When we were at brunch on Saturday with Laura, Jasmine and Randy, I mentioned that I planned eventually to buy a sewing machine.  It's something I've been talking about for at least two years now, but for various reasons I've kept putting it off.

Anyway, Laura said that they had a sewing machine I could borrow, so that when it came to buying one I would have a better idea of exactly what I wanted from it.  They dropped it off at the office today, I have so many projects that I want to try out that I really don't know where to start first.

It's a Husky 165 made by Husqvarna Viking and it has a lot of dials and settings and things.  I'm going to sit down and read the instruction manual before I do anything else.

It's all very exciting!

Austen and McVities.

Doc made these Chocolate Digestives.

I know!  I was pretty impressed.

The digestives themselves are an almost an exact match texturally to the McVities that Doc was aiming to replicate, but Doc's versions were much less sweet.  Please rest assured that we were really thorough in the interests of baking research, and we checked all of the biscuits to be certain.

The chocolate was a semi-sweet chocolate (about 55% coco), and it wasn't quite right but we have not yet pin-pointed the problem.  It's just not chocolatey enough, Doc thinks we need to go darker; I, however, really like milk chocolate digestives, so I'm voting for trying a different brand of cooking chocolate at about the same coco levels.

Whilst Doc C was making these, I was watching the 2005 film version of "Pride and Prejudice".  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, given that when it came out I felt very strongly that Keira Knightly was too young to play Elizabeth Bennet, and even more strongly that Matthew Mcfadyen was far too wooden an actor to play Mr Darcy.  As it turns out Keira was probably technically too young, but she carries it off really well and is quite charming.  Even more surprising, Mcfadyen was just wooden enough for it to come across as being emotionally repressed, so that actually worked out beautifully on this occaision.

Whilst I was watching the film I was getting a bit carried away by the plot, which the Doc simply could not understand.  He kept saying "Why are you oohing at that?  You knew that was going to happen, right?  Haven't you read the book, and watched all the other film versions?" to which the answer was, well, yes but it's still a cracking story and it's interesting to see how this production has done it.

It has to be said though that I couldn't really argue with Doc's repeated advice to Mr Darcy, "Snog her!  Snog her face off!", yelled through the kitchen hatch at pertinent points in the film.  I don't think Miss Austen would have approved, but it would certainly have saved a bit of time.

Leonard's House.

We drive past this play house every day, when I first saw it and noticed the little name plaque over the door that says "Leonard", I was delighted. 

(I'm sorry you can't read the plaque in this photo, it was shot from the passenger seat of the Mini as we were waiting at the lights.  I didn't have time to zoom in properly.  I tried zooming in using Picnik when we got home, but it's just not a clear enough image.)

I immediately pictured it to be furnished with gorgeous hand-sequined throw cushions, and that it would be home to a collection of peg dolls, dressed in historically accurate costumes as the wives of Henry VIII.  It would also be a fabulous set for an amateur production of "Calamity Jane".

Yes, I envisioned this to be the childhood fantasy of many a small gay boy: A house of their own to decorate properly.

Then I realised that Leonard was actually the name of the company that made the playhouse, and whose parking lot it stands on display next to. They put that plaque on everything they produce from tool boxes to trailers.

I prefer my version.  I think I'd get on famously with little Leonard, and I'd happily sit through the obligatory teddy bear's picnic and fashion show.

Tidal Waves of Hummus.

Occasionally the Doc lets me loose in the kitchen, and this afternoon I made hummus from scratch for the first time. 

I was following a recipe, but I didn't realise how much hummus it would produce, and it turned out to be vast quantities.

I was concerned we would all drown at one point, but it seems to be under control now.

It Really Is A Very Small World.

I was reading A Dress A Day, as I am wont to do the very second my feed reader alerts me to a new post, and today Erin was writing about a swatch of fabric she had just received.  This was especially exciting as it was a pattern that she had had custom printed, and had designed herself.

The company that offers this service is called Spoonflower, and they have a website (currently invitation only, whilst they are in the Beta phase) that allows you to upload your own fabric pattern design which they will then print for you.

I love that idea (I fully intend to sew something one day, and designing my own fabric for that would be amazing), so I clicked on the link and had a pootle around their blog.  I was delighted to find out that they are based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina!

It's so weird to me that just a couple of years ago that would have meant precisely nothing to me, and now I know exactly where they are, and I am really excited that such a creative venture is starting out in the state I live in!

The world.  It is teeny and tiny, and full of cool things.

A Deconstructured T Shirt And Drunk Co-Eds.

I bought this T-shirt from Ye Olde Carlton Arms Hotel when we were last in New York, so that's close to a year.  It's been patiently waiting for me to decide what I wanted to do with it; as it turns out I wanted to give it a slash neck, take the sleeves in and undo all of the hems to make it a long tunic top.  What were the odds on that?

Whilst I was in the middle of using a seam ripper to take out the hem stitching, there was a knock on the door.  It was about quarter to ten and we are so ashamed of our house that no-one we know has ever been invited over, so this was very odd. 

When the Doc answered the door it turned out to be a drunk blonde girl called Julie, and a disembodied voice called Brad or something.  They were just knocking on doors and saying Hi!  To meet the neighbours!  Great!  We are moving in three weeks, and, as this is student housing coming up to the end of the academic year, I bet almost every one else is too!  Julie, exactly how much of that peach schnapps did you drink?

Anyway, Doc was handling the situation rather well I thought, so I stayed on the sofa and carried on seam ripping. 

Once Julie had exhausted the Doc as a source of information and entertainment ("Hey, You have an accent!", the Boston accent being almost as much as a rarity as the British accent here) she turned to me and said "Are you sewing?" in much the same tone of voice as I'd say, "Are you making your own cheese?".  I thought about explaining that actually I was in the deconstruction phase, rather than the reconstruction phase, but it seemed simpler to say yes and then get the whole English accent thing out of the way at the same time.

Finally Doc C casually asked "So, are you guys students?", which they confirmed they were, and when they asked what he was studying said "Oh, actually I'm a professor..." Julie and Brad went next door pretty soon after that, and were there for quite a while.

Doc seemed surprised that Julie and Brad were invited in next door, until I pointed out that to a college boy a drunk blonde in pretty sun dress delivering herself to your front door is just the best thing ever.  Quite honestly the only way Julie would have been even more welcome to The-Boys-Next-Door would have been if she'd had the foresight to be carrying a bucket of chicken and a six pack of Coors Light.

Yellow Chair.

I thought I'd show you more of our neighbours' yellow reclining chair, in all it's natural glory, and the tableau in which it is a centre piece.

Let me explain what you are looking at here.  This is the balcony porch of our building, and this is the view from our front door facing the neighbours' section of the porch.

Here you can see the chair.  The red and black thing is a monster flag celebrating the University's sporting prowess (I have no idea why the flag is red and black, those are not the University team colours).  You may also be able to see a handle sticking out over the balcony railing.  The railing also has blue fairy lights wrapped round it and plugged into the exterior lightbulb socket.

If we switch now to the front shot of the balcony, you will see the nautical theme.  This is simply created by a life belt and a fish rod lashed to the railing.

And at the end of the rod?  Is a fish, of course. 

I think they butchered one of those hideous animatronic singing fish wall plaques to get it.  I think this mainly because you can still see all the cogs and wires hanging out of the side of it.

Once again let me reiterate that we cannot wait to move.

Martha's Revenge - A Discussion of the Dichotomy of a 100% Polyester Blanket with the M.S. Trademark On It.

So after I wrote the last post I was thinking how weird it is that the 100% polyester monstrosity had Martha Stewart's name on it.

I haven't seen any of Martha's TV programmes, but I have read two of her magazines and browsed her website, so certainly I wouldn't position myself as a Martha expert.  However I am convinced there is no way on earth that Martha would have a 100% polyester blanket anywhere near her bedroom.  I just don't see it.  100% cashmere sounds more like it to me.

So if I, a Martha novice, thinks it unlikely this is a product Martha herself would use, or even recommend to a friend, well then why is it out there?  I know how it ended up in our home, but presumably other people have also bought it and I bet a lot of that has to do with the Stewart brand.

Right now I can't think of a British celebrity equivalent of Martha, certainly not one who covers all the bases of cooking, crafting, decorating, entertaining, gardening and general home-making.  In fact I think there maybe a gap in the market, but then I can't imagine any one person in the UK could dictate patrician-esque style in quite the same way, particularly whilst hawking items that have nothing to do with that proscribed style. 

It seems such a dichotomy to me.  Because surely the simplest way most Americans would try to emulate Martha is by buying the products bearing her name at K Mart, and if that product clearly is not of the standard that Martha herself would expect, well then wouldn't that product essentially devalue the whole of the Martha Stewart Living brand somewhat?  Or could it be that I'm reading a teeny bit too much into the fact I really didn't like that damned blanket?

Funnily enough I've just started reading a blog which is detailing the experiences of the blogger as she lives her life entirely based on the dictates of Oprah Winfrey for a year (she's currently 3 months in, as she started at the beginning of 2008).  I may suggest she try the follow up experiment of a year of Martha, because that would be fabulous.

Doc C Presents: Home-Made Hot Cross Buns

The Simplify Bike.

I've been meaning to post this photo for months.  Every time we went to our favourite sandwich place for lunch, we would sit in the window and this bike was always there.

Mainly I would imagine because of the state of the front wheel.  Even I know that you can't ride a bike when your front wheel has a massive kink in it like that. 

I like how the bread basket has been recycled here as a pannier, and the home made sign on the back.  Simplifying is always a good thing to do

Recently I noticed the bike had actually gone, so I hope the owner was finally able to replace the wheel and is now back on the road.

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Soup of the Evening, Beautiful Soup!

I'm making Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup today, so I started by roasting the squash, the potato and the garlic. 

Usually I'd have spent ages peeling everything and then brushed all the cut sides with oil, but I found a recipe that said to simply cut them in half, brush the cut sides with oil and then put them cut side down on a roasting tray.

It worked brilliantly, after about an hour at 375, everything was cooked through.  I let it cool and them scooped the flesh away from the skin.  Well, I say scooped it mainly just fell away, so I only had to use a spoon to assist things along very occasionally.

Then I added a glug of extra virgin olive oil, enough vegetable stock to get the consistency I wanted, salt, pepper, a couple of shakes of dried chili peppers, a pinch of nutmeg and some dried ginger.  We don't currently have a blender, so I simply mashed everything together with a potato masher.

It's been the easiest soup ever so far, I'll let you know how it tastes.

***Post Script***

We tried the soup when Doc got home, and it was very nice.   All of the on-line recipes I found required cream or a similar dairy product, I didn't add any simply because we didn't have anything suitable to hand.  Fortunately I don't actually think the soup needs the cream, instead I made it quite spicy which I liked a lot. 

As a serving suggestion I can highly recommend sprinkling a handful of toasted pumpkin seeds on top, it adds a pleasantly crouton-esque crunch.

This Year's Valentine From Doc C

Yes, that is a indeed a Valentine written in red biro on a piece of paper torn from a bank statement envelope.

I think you'll find that it's the type of Valentine that money just cannot buy.

Happy Valentine's Day To Everyone!

As I mentioned in the previous post I really like to celebrate Valentine's Day, but I've always felt that it needs to be re-appropriated as a day when you can express affection for all of those around you, not necessarily just your boyf/girlf etc.  Maybe that sounds a little new-age hippy, but I honestly think it would be a much more fun holiday that way.

To this end I used to regularly make stacks of Valentines for my friends, and post them anonymously, but with fairly obvious clues as to who they were from.  One year when I was at University, my BFF Jen and I made a ton of glitter and sequin covered hearts and put them in the message drawers of people we didn't know at the art school.  A few weeks later we saw one of the more outre creations stuck on the side of the coffee machine in the canteen.  No idea how it got there, but I quite liked that.

A couple of years ago I made badges with a cushioned red flock heart, surrounded by sequins with a cupid sequin in the middle.  So you could wear your heart on your sleeve!  The badges were pretty complicated to make, so I only made ten and they had to be hand delivered because they were quite fragile.

Of course this year I don't have any of my usual card making paraphernalia to hand.  No red flock paper, no heart shaped hole punches in a variety of sizes and, as previously discussed, no sequins.  I cannot make cards for anyone at present.  sigh.

But that doesn't mean I don't love you, all of you.  So today's banner (now pictured below, as I have reverted to the normal banner image) is my warm soft-focus Valentine to all of my friends who read Alien Spouse! 

I love you guys!

See you get a scrolling marquee too.

Happy Valentine's Day Doc C!

When it comes to Valentine's Day, the Doc and I are divided because I like to celebrate it and he doesn't, he grumbles about being required to be romantic to a schedule.  Whatevs!

After much heated debate (which we continue to have again each year, starting about two weeks prior to the day itself) we have hit upon a very simple agreement to make each other cards, or something similar.  I'm not interested in the ridiculous comidification of the day, so I honestly don't want an over priced bunch of roses, or a big box of chocolates. In fact all the Doc has to do is fold a piece of scrap paper in half and draw a heart on it, and I consider that to count as my Valentine.  I am that easy to please.

So for the Doc this year I took a photo of a bag of love heart sweets whilst queueing to pay for a toasted cinnamon and raisin bagel in the university food hall, then I messed around with it on Picnik to make it look better and add in a personalised heart. Now I'm posting it up on Alien Spouse.  And that counts.

I knew this blog would come in handy...

Happy Valentines Doc C!

Smooch, smooch, smooch!

P.S. Do you see that scrolling marquee?  I learnt the HTML code to do that especially so there would be scrolling smooches.  That's the love of a geek, just for you!

Pizza + Scrabble + Cats = Happy Alien Spouse

We were invited to a friend's house to play Scrabble last night, which was really fun. 

First though we were fed delicious home-made pizza.  Now the Doc makes a very good pizza, so he's always keen to get new recipes.  Kim and Gill have a pizza stone for the oven, which means they are able to cook a lovely thin crisp base.  The Doc would very much like a pizza stone now.

We'd heard that Gill had been given a swanky new Scrabble board for Christmas, and that it was on a turntable with a special raised grid to stop letters sliding around when the board moves.  It is very nice indeed.  The dictionary proved to be very welcome, and everyone used it through out the games.  My best move was actually the last move of the evening, and I had a bingo, "Glutton", which was particularly satisfying to play as the Doc had just announced he had a bingo but couldn't find a position for it on the board.

Another important component of the evening was being able to fuss the resident cats, two of whom are the soppiest animals on the planet and the third has very strict code of protocol, which does not allow strangers to take unwarranted liberties such as stroking her or not smelling the way they should.  She did sniff us very carefully a few times, and eventually sat near me which apparently means she likes me.  The other cats were rolling around with exposed bellies, and demanding lots of attention.  Fortunately for them, I am feeling particularly cat-starved at the moment, so I was more than happy to worship the feline form.

All in all, it was a very pleasant evening.

Ground Control to Major Muffin.

We went for a walk this afternoon around one of the local lakes, and took with us two freshly baked spiced cranberry muffins and a thermos of green  tea.  It was very civilised.

I think the cupcake cases look sort of like astronaut helmets when there is something inside them, and the brushed metal of the thermos is pretty space age too.