princessdeia

November 24th 2011
Filed under 101 Things, General

When I started my 101 list, one of the first things we wanted to add was Start trying to have a baby. I never really mentioned wanting a family on this blog and to be honest when I thought about mentioning it, I figured it would be one of those posts with a photo of the baby scan or positive pregnancy test, after all that is the norm isn’t it? Well it turns out my first “trying to have a baby” post isn’t going to be normal!

Last November (I can hardly believe it was a year ago it seems so much longer) in Mexico, Jason and I started trying to begin our family, and if I am to be honest we were maybe a little naive. I know some people plot and plan these things testing their ovulation or temperature, but we figured we would just do the baby making dancing a few times and nine months later we would be three.

Fast forward to just after Christmas, I had lunch with the lovely Socktopod ladies and over lunch we discussed how quickly this year was going and I suddenly realised I was late! So after lunch I popped in a chemist and brought a test, later that night when Jason came home, we did the test and sure enough I was pregnant!

So over the weekend, we were wondering around thinking about the future and maybe slightly in shock. On the Monday evening about 5 p.m. I noticed a little bleeding – worried and scared I phoned the doctor and of course consulted google. The next morning after a series of phonecalls with my doctor I was refered to the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit (EPAU).

On the Tuesday, I had my first scan and a blood test. The blood test determined I was indeed pregnant but there was no sign of the embryo on the scan, and it was deemed “pregnancy of unknown location.” The next two weeks we had a series of blood tests and another scan all which concluded the pregnancy was ectopic in the the right tube. The doctors concluded the best cause of action was a cause of Methotrexate. Less than two weeks after that I was no longer pregnant.

We spend the next few months healing (for me it was both emotionally and psychically), the doctors advised three months but we opted to a little longer. Then last month once again, I found out I was pregnant, due to our past history I was referred once again to the EPAU straight away. Once again we started the series of blood tests and scans. Both on the Friday, a blood test on the Sunday followed by another scan of the Monday. After the second scan they saw the pregnancy was once again in my right tube.

The next 24 hours are a complete blur to me (even now Jason is still filling in the blanks for me), the doctors determined the pregnancy and tube needed to be surgically removed (a salpingectomy) and due to my history they wanted to operate that day. From what I have been told, at 11 a.m. I was having my scan, at 2 p.m. they were prepping my for surgery and at 6 p.m. I was back in the ward. By lunchtime the next day I was home in my own bed (well sofa-bed, our new bed still hasn’t been delivered)!

To be honest I am still in shock (hence why it has taken me over a week to write this blog post), Jason and I are back in the limbo stage waiting for healing to begin and taking each day as it comes and trying to look to the future.

November 8th 2011
Filed under General, Making Monday

This is a little late, mainly as last night when I would have been blogging I was busy painting. Over the last few weeks things have been pretty slow in the decorating front, as we had to wait for the plaster to dry before painting the walls.

Originally, we were just going to paint all the walls blue, but whilst looking for paint I came across the Dulux Feature Wallpaper range, patterned wallpaper which coordinates with their paint. They even did one in the right shade of blue! We choose the Meadowsweet, in Soft Teal, which they suggest teaming with white and mocha, we are opting to have the furniture all in white and soft furnishings in mocha.

The biggest problem we have had with this renovation is the irregular walls, no walls are straight. The other problem was the size of the alcoves, it makes sense for us to put the wardrobes in the recesses, however we could not find decent wardrobes that were small enough (one was under 90 cm).

Over my birthday weekend, my father in law, spent a few days building us two fabulous wardrobes, and added a radiator cover to hide the ugly central heating. They just need to be primed and painted (what we were doing last night).

November 2nd 2011
Filed under General

Birthdays are a really big deal in our house, Jason’s birthday and mine are fortnight apart, so for the three weeks from the end of October we have a birthday festival. Hence why a lot of things on our Fall Bucket List revolved around celebrating birthdays.

My festivities started last Thursday with a pampering session, mani/pedi and a haircut… my pretty birthday toes, it is a shame it’s too cold to show them off!

Having my birthday on Halloween, we also make a big deal of this – decorating the house and eating a lot of halloween candy. This year we wanted to celebrate all the “holidays” over the autumn, Halloween, Guy Fawkes night and Thanksgiving (being British we were in this one just for the food!), However, we are going to a 40th Birthday party over the weekend so it looks like we won’t be able to go to any fireworks displays, not to be done out of a list item we decided to change this option to having a Halloween Afternoon Tea. We found several places in London that were doing themed Teas, but opted for the Podium @ the Hilton, Park Lane. Isn’t it cute ghost cookies, “blood” orange cupcakes and mini witches hats.

A birthday celebration needs a cocktail (or two), and the Hilton has an amazing bar on the 28th Floor overlooking Hyde Park. Unfortunately it was too dark up there to take decent photos.

No birthday is complete without some birthday treats, it seems some members of my family have been reading my blog as I was presented with what seems like most the Kate Spade shop on Monday morning.

One of the other birthday list items, was having a meal, Jason picked Inamo for my birthday dinner. I love the idea of this restaurant instead of having a waiter take your order you use the interactive tables to select your food, drinks and even the bill. Whilst you are waiting for your food you can even play games.

Finally, CAKE! Halloween Cupcakes from Beverly Hills Bakery

October 18th 2011
Filed under General

Back in May, I mentioned that I had been working on a super secret project for Alice. Well I can now reveal that I did in fact knit the Vorticity Sock from page 84 in the book. Last week, before Alice flew off to pastures new, I popped by the Socktopus studio for a catch up and Alice presented me with a signed copy of the finished book.

Obviously Alice is know as the Queen on Socks in London, first offering us an online store to buy our lovely sock yarn, then the bricks and mortar shop (that also became our knitting haven) and now also as indie dyer extraordinaire. Not to mentioned the amazing Knit Love Club (which is about to enter it’s fifth year).

This collection offers 17 different sock patterns, from a simple Vanilla Sock to the wonderfully lacy 2LuvCrew to the masculine Farmer McGregor sock. The first half of the book focuses on Sock Yarn, describing the different types of fiber (complete with some amazing artwork), piles and twists. Whereas the second half is the patterns.

I didn’t have time to scan the book to show you the lovely photos shoots included in the book (instead you have to put up with my photos of the projects). Brighton (I think) provides the perfect backdrop of carousels, eclectic stores, and the beach to showcase the socks in an environment that seems to tone with the yarn (like the green socks on the cover next to the green door).

Each pattern features a cute drawing to explain the gauge of the sock (both the circumference and leg length) and a box explaining techniques that are used in the pattern, where the technique is complicated a wonderful photo tutorial is included.

This book isn’t really aimed for a beginner (even though it includes a plain sock), some of the techniques like the snipping used in Spring Shoot can be a little daunting to a beginner, If you have knitted several pairs of socks and are looking to advance your skills this book is perfect.

Congratulations Alice on a fabulous first book – can’t wait to get knitting!

October 16th 2011
Filed under General

1. Make Pecan Coffee Cake.
2. Make Pumpkin Cheesecake or Pumpkin Spiced Muffins.
3. Find an decent autumn coffee drink from Starbucks that is available in the U.K.*
4. Decorate the house for Halloween.
5. See Ghostbusters at the cinema during the Halloween week.
6. Go for a family meal for Dee’s birthday.
7. Go for a family meal for Jason’s birthday.
8. Have Halloween Themed Afternoon Tea.
9. Go to a Football game.
10. Go for Thanksgiving Dinner in London.

October 12th 2011
Filed under General, The Things I Love

1. Kate Spade Store – N/A 1-4 Langley Court, London WC2E 9JY
   I have been a huge  of Kate Spade for years, her shops are always one of my first ports of call when we travel Stateside. So when I read she was opening two stores in London I was over the moon. So far I have only been to the Covent Garden one, but I just loved the space (I adore the way she experiments with colour), not to mention all the bags! If any members of my family are reading this, I would love the Essex Scout bag for my birthday at the end of the month.
2. Great British Bake Off – N/A, some episode still available on iPlayer.
   For the last 9 weeks every Tuesday night I have been glued to my set watching the amateur bakers, cook their way to the finals. Who would have thought the drama of a fallen cake could keep me amused. After each show I would have a look on the BBC website and see which recipe I could try at home, currently the Coffee and Walnut Batenburg is our favourite.
3. Ravelry Unread Replies - Free
   One of the great things about the Ravelry forum pages it the list of unread replies you have waiting for you at the top of the page, however what if your not on Ravelry, or you are browsing at patterns you don’t know that there is a message waiting for you, until now. This handy little code works with Chrome as displays the Ravelry logo and number of messages for you right there in the toolbar.
4. Wollmeise Lace-Garn – €35
   Okay so this is a bit of silly one, because I have been adoring Wollmeise for ages, but it is only recently I have actually started knitting with my Lace weight yarn. First my Granny Smith cardigan and now a newer navy cardigan I am planning. All I can say it I love this yarn, even more than their sock yarn, it is been an absolute pleasure to knit with.
5. What Would Emma Pilsbury Wear? – N/A
   As I have mentioned once or twice before one of my guilty pleasures is Glee. One of my favourite characters is Emma, mainly because I love here clothes. A few months ago I found the site WWEPW, which I adored, it is full of great tips about Emma’s style and advice on where to buy her clothes. I use to resist visiting the site as it does contain spoilers, but with Sky showing the epsidoes that same week as the States it is now my favourite place to go for inspiration.

October 10th 2011
Filed under General, Making Monday

I’ve been AWOL over the last few weeks, mainly due to hurting my shoulder and being unable to knit. Also we have had the builders into Chez Princessdeia, so it has been a bit of a mess! Remember at the beginning of the year I started crafting for my new bedroom? Well over the last few weeks we have been actually moving forward on getting that dream room. It took almost two days to clear out the room, remove the old furniture, dismantling the wardrobes, ripping up the old carpets. Under the flooring we found old newspapers dating back to Valentine’s Day 1971 (my parents brought this house that year), and a magazine for the 1966 Motor Show. Behind the wardrobes, we found a vintage ball band (from some acrylic yarn) and some amazing wallpaper, my mum remembers the yellow one begin in the room when they brought the house.

I know I haven’t “made” this room myself, but I feel my job as forewoman and the visionary behind the design has given me poetic licence to claim this as my Making Monday for the week

September 6th 2011
Filed under General, The Things I Love

1. Mad Men from £9.99 on Amazon.
   I am a little late to the game on this one, as I only watched the first episode last month, but my August days have been full of people smoking and drinking at work, wheeling and dealing and of course all the fabulous 1960′s clothes. I literally watched a season a week over the month of August already for season five next year. It seems I am not the only one obsessed with this show – have you seen the Mad Men collection in Banana Republic!
2. One Day by David Nicholls from £3.99 on Amazon.
   Again, I think I am a little late to this one – am I the last person to read this book? I spend all of the 1990′s in London and this book just reminded me of everything I loved about that time in my life, post-pub T.V., saving up for a Karen Millen dress (just after I got my first job),  and of course the music. This book is not only a modern day love story it is also a great trip down memory lane for anyone living in Britain in the 1990′s.
3. Crayons, available everywhere!
   This is an odd obsession, When I was finally getting around to sewing all the squares on my blanket together I drew a little diagram writing the yarn type in each square and making sure the same yarn type wasn’t touching. Well I got into a terrible mess so brought a mini pack of crayons to help me visualize the blanket. Around the same time the infamous crayon pin started appearing on Pinterest, so I did a little more hunting around for crayon crafts and I found loads (enough for a whole board).
4. 70′s Pleated Dress £17.99 on New Look.
   I know no one wants to admit it, but autumn really did arrive in London during August! So I had to start looking at the clothes in my Autumn/Winter wardrobe and being a typical woman I hated everything. So it was time to hit the high street and look for some new clothes, and again as I typical woman I hated everything out there apart from this vintage looking dress from New Look. Unfortuately I have been getting a lot of wear out of it at the moment – oh where did our summer go!
5. Foursquare - Free.
   I actually gave foursquare a shout out in my first ever Things I Love last year, but it has changed so much in the past 18 months that I think it deserves another mention. It seems to the be social networking site with a bit of a bad rep. People thing it just gives out your location allowing people to rob you. Well most of the other sites seem to do that without asking your permission! To me it is a travel guide, review site and game all in one. The recent addition of “Lists” has meant that when in a new town I can get advice of where to go from local experts or friends without hunting on numerous websites or reading guidebooks. It is all there in my pocket.

September 5th 2011
Filed under 52 in 52, General, Making Monday, Sewing

I mentioned before my mum had some old cushions on her bed that needed new covers to match her newly decorated bedroom, well she decided 4 cushions were a little too excessive for her bed. So one of them was past on to my sister (she’s been using it to prop her up in bed after her operation), but the cover was boring and again didn’t match her room. So yet again I jumped on my sewing machine and whipped up a quick cover… But how to decorate it.

A few weeks ago on Pinterest I saw this button cushion, and loved the idea, sure it would be uncomfortable to lean on but it looks so pretty! Hunting through mine and my mum’s button collection I found a few white buttons (mainly tiny shirt buttons), but ended up buying a 50g bundle from eBay.

So over the weekend, I sat down with over 100 buttons, the cover and started sewing! I quickly realized using an embroidery ring would make the whole think a lot easier and then I discovered I didn’t have enough buttons. Luckily the seller from eBay had more of the same buttons which I managed to order and hopefully I can finish the cushion cover this week.

August 26th 2011
Filed under 52 in 52, Finished Projects 2011, General

Here it is the finished Hexagon Sock Yarn Blanket, two years in the making, days worth of knitting and hours worth of seaming. It still is a little “small” for a blankets – about 42 X 42 inches wide – it really is more a lap blanket, perfect for covering your legs whilst watching TV, knitting or both.

When I look at this blanket each little hexagon reminds me of another project I have knitted, the Opal yarn from my first sock, the Chocolate Old Maiden Aunt Yarn from my Ishbel shawl or the Pink and Green from last year’s Knit Love Club (the sock I was too scared to knit). It is almost like a love letter to my past knitted projects. I will be honest I am not 100% happy with the blanket, the edges aren’t perfect, I think I will crochet a little border in grey. I’m going to leave it for a while – enjoy using the blanket rather than working on it anymore.

Whilst, I have been obsessing over my lap blanket, the rest of knitters out there are obsessing over the Beekeeper Quilt, which I do love I just can bring myself to commit to another long term project right now. I still have a little sock yarn leftover which I am willing to donate to any knitters out there who are knitting the Beekeeper Quilt.

I spend last night watching Mad Men season 4 and wrapping these mini skeins around an old notebook (25 times around is about 15 yards) putting together complimentary colours ready to send out. Some of the yarn include it Lorna Lace, Knit Witches, Knit Picks Palette, Cherry Tree Hill or Alchemy Juniper (I will include a complete list with the package).

So if you want one set of 5 mini skeins to add to your Beekeeper Quilt, all you have to do is comment below with your email address and the colours you would like. I don’t expect anything in return just remember to pay it forward!

EDIT: All the sets have now gone!