Wibbo's Words

Christmas Market

I'll be at the Christmas Market at Cornerstone Community Centre, Hove next Saturday, December 7, from 11am to 3pm with hand dyed yarn, stitch markers and beaded jewellery. Map here.

 

New on the needles

Refraction Shawlette (rav link) knitted in my hand dyed merino 4ply. 

It's grown since I took the photograph and I've just started the third repeat of Chart B. The knitting is going very nicely - lovely clear, large charts (which is something I appreciate these days) and an intuitive, easy-to-remember stitch pattern. The designer, Chrissy Fletcher, blogs here.

Bananas!

A break with tradition today - here's a recipe from guest blogger Mairead :o)

What to do with manky bananas

When you get a banana that is 'on the turn' and about to go brown and squishy instead of chucking it, slice it up and put the slices in a freezer box and freeze. Add to the box whenever another banana goes the same way. When you have about six bananas take the box out of the freezer and allow to defrost for about 20 - 30 minutes. They still need to be mostly frozen, but just a little soft round the edges.
 
Put them in a food processor or liquidiser and tip in a punnet of raspberries. Or strawberries, or other sweet fruit that takes your fancy. Blitz. 
 
You will now have ice cream the texture of an Italian semi-freddo and you can eat it straight away. What you don't eat can go back in the freezer for another time. If it lasts that long, as being fat free it is also guilt free! 

The blanket

Random colours; mainly DK wool with a bit of mohair thrown in here and there.

Ends

I do have a bit of a problem finishing things (not work stuff which has deadlines); it's things for me that get left unfinished. These are some of the ends I darned in yesterday. It took me most of the day while listening to the first half of an unabridged audiobook (all 7 hours 24 minutes of it) to finish the ends on a ripple blanket crocheted in, gulp, 2004. Or it may have been 2003. Said blanket has featured as a photo prop (ends tucked away out of sight) and spent the last few years folded over the end of my bed (ends ditto) and I'm happy to have finished it at last.

Come back tomorrow to see the blanket in all its finished gorgeousness!

Rant of the day

Sometimes being a designer sucks. Today's snotty message on ravelry tells me that I don't write crochet instructions correctly in my books - I should watch YouTube vids to get the technique right and then my crochet blocks will look much nicer. WTF?

A postcard of the home town

 

Action sequence

 

Made Brighton

Saw lovely things for sale at Made Brighton this afternoon; it's on for another couple of days if you fancy treating yourself!

Houses for candles

A shop window full of candle holders - teeny tiny ones (not in the photo) are £18, bigger ones are from £20 up to £65. I'd like a whole village of these on my windowsill!

Books 2013

Surprisingly, 107 read/listened to this year so far; several more on order at the library. You can see the full list on Pinterest.

Very tasty

 

Just over halfway...

This blogging-every-day-business is not as easy as it looks. By the time I've posted a day's worth of Hove Daily Photo and Archive (although Archive postings are not as regular as HDP ones) I'm beginning to run out of NaBloPoMo steam. So for today, I'll leave you with this rather wonderful 1947 image of Billie Holiday.

Hold out your hands

I really like sentimental old postcards, particularly the 'hands across the sea' type like this one. It's amazing how many have survived in good condition - this one's 105 years old. I've uploaded several more to my Archive blog; you can find them here.

More pink

Wednesday's sunset again; now looking in the opposite direction from yesterday's photo.

Pink

Wednesday's sunset.

More colour

Another using-up-my-bits number - this one's for throwing round my shoulders when the weather turns chilly. The shawl is, in real life, just as luridly bright as it looks in the bottom photograph. Mainly Koigu and Jitterbug again plus some Cherry Tree Hill sock.

One of those days

I'm having one of those if-it-can-go-wrong-it-will-go-wrong sort of days. Nothing major, just a series of minor irritations not helped by Flossie who's following me round the flat getting under my feet. I may have to get out the Dyson to subdue her. ;o)

Subversive Design

Sebastian Brajkovic, Lathe v Red, 2008.  Courtesy Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Had a look round Subversive Design at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery this afternoon. The exhibition runs from 12 October 2013 to 9 March 2014 and it's well worth a visit.

Orange

The colour-matched window display in Florian, Hove. I'd love to buy flowers from this shop but the prices are rather, er, steep for my budget.