Seasonal segue

Christmas came early this year when I was given a handknit jumper, knit and passed on by a friend who claimed it needed a smaller person to wear it. As someone who simply cannot part with the garments I laboriously knit in the glory days of the 80s and 90s, I value the time and work that goes into handknits and was so happy to give this one a new life. I've been wearing it often.

But on Christmas Jumper Day - Friday 13th, this year - which was set up by Save the Children as a fundraiser in 2012 and has raised over £21million, I'll be following the advice to get my xmas jumper from a charity shop. In fact one such is already to hand! This handknit woollen "Nordic" beauty has been in my cupboard for some years now - I love it - and best of all, it's not specifically "xmassy", but it is special...

We should be rethinking our xmas buying practices, says this article (and many more articles) - but why stop at xmas? "Less is more" all year round, and green isn't just for xmas.

Horror statistics are everywhere, and here are the ones that got me writing this post.

Acrylic, a plastic fibre, was found in 95% of 108 garments currently on sale from 11 high street and online retailers

Acrylic releases nearly 730,000 microfibres per wash, five times more than polyester-cotton blends, a recent study found

Two out of five Christmas jumpers are only worn once over the festive period

One in three adults under 35 buys a new Christmas jumper every year

Especially that last one. How many over-60s buy a Christmas jumper ever??

Christmas is, of course, "a time for giving". A time for buying useless stuff for people who have too much already, in my bah-humbug view. Then comes the post-xmas letdown and the darkest, coldest weather sets in and thousands of kids go to school without breakfast, not to mention all the other evils brought about by lack of, or poor distribution of, resources.

If you've got financial security, how lucky you are. This article, about someone who gives away a huge proportion of his substantial income, was a wake-up call for me. I know I can now afford to be more generous, though this is very different from the decades of frugality growing up in an immigrant (post-war to Canada) family, and then as student, wife of a student, and single mother; you get in the habit of holding on to what you've earned.

But which charities use their donations most effectively?

This article pointed out that charities with less than £5000 of income don't need to be registered - news to me! It has good information about how to assess the effectiveness of a charity, and how to find local charities.

It also points out that if you're a higher rate taxpayer, you can claim back tax on part of the gift aid added to your donation ... ah yes that's the rich taking care of the rich, bah-humbug...

Blast from the past - advice to self

Admonitions, worries, moans, doubts ... 'tis always thus!

Recto

Verso

These were probably written 15 years ago, during a low point. The two sides of the tiny bits of paper seem to relate to each other.

It's interesting to find "old stuff" like this - you do wonder if you've moved on at all, if you have different ways of coping with things, if the same problems keep occurring or if new things have arisen.

There's the surface, and there's the depths, wot?

Into the bin they go!

This morning in the home studio

Actually these headless dolls have been sitting around for a few days - they are stuffed but the openings (at the back) not sewn up. I took them off the pinboard when they got in the way, and oh my, the dust.... But after a gentle hoovering they look as good as new.

 The challenge was to use lots of little bits of microwave-dyed fabric - thank you Ann Dingsdale for showing me how to do this, so many years ago! What we did was start with big pieces and then tear them in half to overdye. At the end of the day we split each piece of fabric and thus each had half of the final output, some with several layers of colour.

My sort-of-people are based on Korean costume (hanbok), with those long, banded sleeves.

Their headless state bothered me rather, and suddenly I realised that the traditional wrapped collar, exaggerated to great heights, would look like a head

All together in a happy dance - or defensive movement - hmm not sure...

 ... make of it what you will....

 Seen from above -

 Drawn from the photo -

Fleeing!

Seen in the wild

When is a cabbage like a windowpane?

I'm not sure....

Photos of the week

You know that polite question, "What have you been up to lately?" ... it's meant to keep the conversation going but it stops me in my tracks every time. Maybe my fallback answer is "Lots of pleasant and interesting things - interesting to me, at least" - no, that's a bit snarky. Better to deflect it with a generic "well, I've seen a few exhibitions - what have you seen recently?"

Fortunately my phone camera is cooperating again - I use it as a notebook...

Monday (29 April) - Mary Quant show at V&A (till 16 Feb 2020) - who knew there would be dolls? 

 followed by a walk through Kensington and lots of wisteria

to Japan House for a talk relating to the Living Colours exhibition (till 19 May)

Tuesday 30 April - After drawing at the RAF museum, home to some peaceful afternoon sunshine -

and a walk over the hill to see the grandbaby, with another look at the tree peonies on Mountview Road -

and the surprise find of a cheval mirror left "on the wall" - it had to come home with me, I've been wanting a different view of my feet, not to mention it's great for faux-ironing of linen shirts (spray the crumpled bits with water, tug into smoothness, leave to dry) -

Wednesday 1 May - after the woodblock printing class, I wandered down Kennington Road (the A23), an area new to me -

Library!

Thursday 2 May - Hampstead Heath and Kenwood, with the azaleas and the magical Handkerchief Tree -

 its fallen firework blossoms -

 and views over the city, as the clouds moved in ...

Another chance to spend time with the grandbaby and her parents (tall parents, long baby!) -

before going to the British Library for a talk on the new Writing exhibition (till 27 August) -

taking the long way home from the tube station, past the tower going up up up...

and trying on recent purchases from charity shops, including this skirt, which I bought for the banana fabric rather than to wear -

Friday 3 May - "going for coffee" locally turned into lunch -

After which, it was "over the hill" again. The baby doesn't much care for Tummy Time but she does like looking at high-contrast things -

In the evening, a great talk at the BL about alphabet books - and yes, I couldn't resist his book about the alphabet, which is divided into chapters arranged in alphabetic order -

Saturday 4 May - an early(ish) excursion to Waitrose for a few groceries and a chance to sit with the "free" coffee and read the "free" newspaper - nice to run into an old friend and chat

Morning light on Crouch Hill

Later, back "over the hill" for a bit of gardening

Sunday 5 May - quick trip to the RA to see The Renaissance Nude (till 2 June)

The Temptation of St Anthony, c1520 (attrib to Jan Wellens de Cock)

which included a sparsely-arrowed (and "notably sensual") St Sebastian -

by Bronzino, c1533

Elsewhere in the building, a small exhibition of works on paper by Mali Morris (till 4 August), through which I find yet more ideas for woodblock printing -

 Walking towards home through Regent's Park, with chestnuts in full bloom -

 and some lovely motorbikes parked up on Camden Parkway -

And today, as the invasion of ants continues, I tried to disrupt their trails by masking them with the chemical scents of proprietary cleaners, but it seems cider vinegar is the weapon of choice -

Ready for wiping down

Ready for everyday living

How to keep them away?  Keep ALL traces for food cleaned up.....

Clean your kitchen after each meal. Ants usually only enter your home if there’s a food source there. Unfortunately, even a small amount of food can draw ants. You need to keep all traces of food cleaned up to keep the ants away.^[18]

• Don’t allow dirty dishes to sit in the sink. Wash them daily or after every meal, for best results.
• Spray down and wipe counters using soapy water, an all-purpose cleaner, or a solution of 1 part apple cider vinegar and 1 part water.
• Sweep and mop the kitchen daily to remove crumbs that could attract ants.
• If your family eats in other areas of your home, you should sweep or vacuum those areas daily.

So it's true that ants are an indicator of imperfect housework!

Parcel delivery panic warning

The message said this -

Your order from JACKSONS ART SUPPL has been despatched and will be delivered by Parcelforce Worldwide on Tuesday 26 February. If this is not convenient, please click on an alternative option below:

• Please deliver to a neighbour
• Please deliver to a local Post Office for me to collect
• Please deliver on Wednesday 27 Feb
• Please deliver on Thursday 28 Feb

... and when I clicked on "local post office" I expected AT LEAST to get a message saying "this will cost you £1.50", which it has when a parcel couldn't be delivered and a card was left. Upon going to the website that time, I chose the "local post office" option and was shown that there would be a charge.

This time, clicking on the link, up came just a message, to the effect that "we'll tell you where you can pick it up". I'm on tenterhooks - will this be the PO across the street, or will it be the depot that takes 30 minutes to get to, whether on foot or on public transport? 

There was no way to say "hey, give me some more information, willya?" - it was one of those no-reply email addresses. 

So I clicked "deliver to neighbour" and sure enough, there was no way to tell them which neighbour.

Nor was there a "leave in a safe place" option. And I can't remember if there was an "instruction for delivery" box on the company's order form - with the PO, probably not.

Neither other date would find me in. No doubt I'll get the parcel someday, and there's no real rush for it, but it's just that bit annoying to have all this uncertainty, and decisions to make, and no information or way to contact anyone.

The wisest course would have been to wait to receive "the card" and go from there. Silly me to be panicked into a quick reply! There was no need to reply to the email - the PO has contingency plans.....

Hey ho, they're trying to simplify things and save operating costs. 

But in future, I'll look out for delivery options before buying from a website, and try to avoid those using Parcelforce.