1st DIY of Christmas: Polka Dot Pom-Poms

A happy accident; I was trying to make multi coloured pom poms for my Christmas tree when the first one came out like this - a little black and white polka dot pom pom.

First things first, I find the simplest way to make pom poms is to wrap yarn around two cardboard, doughnut shaped discs but by now almost everyone has their own way of making pom poms so I won't go into that - for ease I'm doing it the disc way and only using two colours but you could make lots of different coloured dots to the pom pom by adding different coloured yarn.

So to begin, wrap your main colour around the disc until all the cardboard is completely covered.

Using the other colour wrap six lines of yarn over the white.

Now cover the whole thing in a second layer of white yarn and gently cut around the edge of the circle.

Tie a piece of string between the two pieces of cardboard to hold the yarn together and gently pull the yarn out between the holes in the centre of the card. You should have a ragged little thing that looks nothing like a polka dot pom pom. Fear not, a quick trim with the scissors should set it right.  This is just a very basic example of ways that you can play around with the yarn to make all sorts of patterned pom poms.

The 12 DIYs of Christmas

As someone who doesn't blog often this is a bit of a challenge for me but over the past few weeks I've been busy making Christmas decorations and gifts and thought as a pre-New Years resolution to myself I'd put them online before the 25th.  Throughout December I'll be gradually adding the posts. As I have a relatively short attention span expect quick and easy DIYs, nothing should take longer than half a day.

Sketching Patterns

I was stuck at home yesterday feeling unwell and ultimately feeling sorry for myself. So I found a pen and paper and sat down with a cup of milk and some Lotus biscuits (does anyone else love dipping Lotus biscuits in cold milk?) and started sketching a few patterns. I'm really looking for a simple black and white pattern that I can photocopy on to circle labels, old school style, and stick on to the back of my envelopes this Christmas. This one is a bit mangled but I like the little flaws in it so I may end up keeping it.

travels: Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik and I didn't get off to a good start; I hopped off the bus a stop too early, someone gave me wrong directions, "stay on this road, it's 15 minutes" and I ended up dragging my luggage up a hill and down a hill and back up a hill and back down a hill in temperatures over 90. An hour later I was at my apartment overlooking Stradun in the Old Town and all my troubles were forgotten.

We walked the walls, again in uncompromising sunshine, but didn't get a true understanding of the town until we took the cable car up to the top of (yet another) hill. From there you can see how the red roofed town is neatly packed inside the grey city walls. Our plans to visit Mjlet were scuppered by a tornado - an actual tornado! - that flipped over a few boats in the harbour and effectively shut the city down for 36 hours. We spent most of that time marvelling at the wind and rain and watching europop music videos in the apartment. A bottle of fig brandy mysteriously showed up in our kitchen and was promptly devoured. On the final day we were finally able to venture outside the city walls where did nothing but play cards on the jetty and follow cats to their dens. A weekend well spent I think.

I love developing an old roll of film and finding that a wonderland of memories are stored on it but every so often a photo pops out that is a complete mystery like this one.  I can't even think of what it is, let alone when I took it.

Aldwych Station

Hello.

A few photos from the closed Aldwych Station on the Strand.  

Arcade Fire

It feels like such a long time ago now; after sitting at home watching Arcade Fire at Glastonbury we made an impulsive decision to get some tickets for their Hyde Park show.  100% worth it.  It's hard to believe it is ten years since I last saw them shaking up a tiny, sweaty tent with 'Wake Up', really nothing much has changed other than the sheer size of the stage.