Wednesday 28 February 2018

Too nice to use

Chatting to a friend recently I asked her if she had a collection of notes books that are too nice to use, fortunately she did otherwise I might have sounded a bit odd.  She even confessed she couldn't write in one of her books because the pages had such beautiful watermarks she would spoil them.
You can keep what you like on your phone or your pad or whatever, but me I prefer paper.  I like to read books made of paper and jot down on paper.  But I do have note books that are far too nice to use. 
I worked once for an architect who always used Moleskines, those favoured by the famous.  His books were crammed with jottings and little sketches all done in black ink, the written pages looks beautiful.  
My writing is not great, particularly since I now write so infrequently, though I often use a fountain pen.  My Moleskine is untouched apart from being taken from the shelf to be admired.
Nice to be able to tie this one up to keep out unwanted jottings

or have a band to keep the empty notebook closed and always handy to have a place to keep your pen that will never write on the pristine pages. 

The above was a lovely gift, I've no idea what I might record in that.
The second rate note books I use are tatty, that's what happens when you use things, the get used.   
My knitting notes are falling out, 


And before you start analysing this irrational attitude, I know its not good but I feel that mostly I live a well balanced life, I just like having a few unused books.  I don't have clothes I haven't worn, ok I haven't used my newest handbag yet but its mustard yellow, its for the summer I will definitely use it and one day I might decide to use my notebooks, but don't count on it.

Monday 19 February 2018

Vanilla Latte

I like my coffee as I like my life, simple, straightforward. no fuss,  so I've never tried any of the flavoured coffees, the various milk or pseudo milk options, I don't even like latte but I am smitten by this pattern by Virginia Rose-Jeanes which is free to download on Ravelry.
I have made four pairs already, two have been gifted away but these below are still in the penthouse and Mr FF has his eye on the ones to the left

























Another pair are on the needles.
The simple pattern, just two rows to remember the second being knit, offers a lot of options, three sizes, three different heel flaps , my favourite is Eye of Partridge
and two toe finishes, rounded wedge or star, I'm using star. 
How generous is that.  The pattern seems to suit all colourways from plain to fair isle.   If I could take only one pattern to my desert island this would be my choice, I can't imagine I would ever tire of it even when I had to resort to spinning coconut husks and seaweed as my yarn supply ran out.  Thank you Virginia.

Wednesday 7 February 2018

Finished

Finally the bathroom is done, it looked like this
 Then this
 here it is now
The room is small with no window but now feels spacious and efficient

We already had the steel towel radiator which is on the wall opposite the units so difficult  to include in photos, how sharp are those tiles

Long  walk in shower with just a fixed piece of glass, big square overhead rain shower head and a small flexible hand unit on the wall, a simple black glass push button controller

The cabinet has white or warm lighting options and of course we can listen to radio 4 or music via Bluetooth
The fun part now after all the cleaning is selecting items to display on the counter top that complement the colour scheme and look beautiful, black seems to be the answer

I've filled the cupboards with things I don't want to see and not even used the cabinet as the shelves are not yet in place.  Makes me think I have plenty of room for more purchases, which is very wrong.  

Friday 2 February 2018

Cat news, its not all good

We've been concerned about the three cats we left in Italy since Christmas.  We didn't have any news from Mario who has been feeding them and thought he might not be contacting us as he didn't have good news.  We sent several emails and texts and about 10 days ago received a note to say our cat is now living at his house, at first I thought it said cats and was delighted but then realised it was cat singular.  So we sent more messages asking which cat and if there were still others at our house being fed.  Today we received a note to say Grigio one of the kittens is living with Mario and Theo the shy black older cat is at our house.  That means Crema is missing.
Crema is a beautiful friendly girl and like the others a survivor. She may have been taken by someone, I can't imagine she would willingly leave her little family.  We were told last year after Marzio who looked very much like her disappeared that people like white cats and he might have been taken. If she has a good home that's fine but we will definitely be searching the village when we return, which could be as soon as next month, to see if she is still around.
I won't post any photos, it makes me too sad,  We knew we would be upset when we got more news but we had to know and the fact that two are safe and well isn't helping much today.