Waistcoats

You know what they say about people from Yorkshire – they don’t like to part with their money. The thing I love to hate when it comes to weddings is the cost. It’s the happiest day of your life and everyone is out to make you pay through the nose for it. So a big saving that we could make is on garments. I have a sewing machine and I know how to use it. The DIY approach also means that you get closer to the thing that you want than if you try to find it pre-made. And the participants get to keep the waistcoats afterwards.

If I made waistcoats and cravats for the key gentlemen (groom, best man, and father-of-the-bride) and asked them to wear their own suits we could save a packet.

I found a simple waistcoat pattern online: McCalls 4321. Dan and I chose the fabric. Apply the one to the other and you get…

They’ve all turned out really well. I’m pretty happy with the three I’ve made so far. And the best part is that I have enough fabric left to make a fourth waistcoat for our newly promoted usher/musicmonger.

Project: Big Read – update

So a little while ago I embarked upon a project to read all of Britain’s best-loved books. I started out having read 78 out of 200 hundred books. I’m now happy to report that I’ve reached 88 out of 200. The ten I’ve knocked off of the list are the eight books pictured above, Lady Chatterly’s Lover, and Winnie the Pooh.

Unfortunately I still haven’t gotten through Moby Dick, despite my intention to start with it. In point of fact I did start with it, I started it and I soon lost the will to continue. On occasion, between other books, I’ve gritted my teeth and ploughed another few pages on, but in general it sits like a guilt-inducing, useless lump of woodpulp on my bedside table.

Of the books that I have read most have been enjoyable. My least favourite was Lorna Doone, it was a pointless and predictable melodrama. I enjoyed The Day of the Jackal, although I had seen the movie and knew what to expect, the book kept me on tenterhooks throughout as the Jackal’s plot unfolded methodically and almost without challenge until the final moments. Others of the books I had read were spoiled my the fact I had seen the movie. In the case of Atonement because it had nothing to offer me in terms of story surprises I was left to rely upon the writing style and characterization – which I felt were lacking. For Emma, I had seen the movie Clueless, so I already knew the plot. Jane Austen’s writing style is good and engaging, but not my cup of tea. Also the heroine irritates me immensely – which was slightly distracting.

Next up: another crack at Moby Dick, and when that fails maybe Captain Corelli’s Mandolin will be next.

Project: 2 Days Later – Finished! (4 days late)

Well the film’s finally finished, and looking pretty cool. Not as awesome as I’d hoped – but I had unrealistic standards.

A huge effort was put in by our editor and director on the final weekend. Dan and I contributed music, opinions and sound effects.

Stay tuned to see how we fare in the competition.

Projects: Decking the garden 2

Uh oh.

Well we started on with the decking nice and early this morning. Prior to lunch everything was going swimmingly: we cut to size all the joists for the upper frame, got all the posts laid out and the ends sealed.

The only hiccup was with the timelapse software we were using with our webcam to capture progress – it wasn’t playing well with screensaver and the picture was almost completely whited-out no matter how far we turned down brightness and exposure.  These two problems were easily fixed: the first by disabling the screensaver and the second by cutting both the thin plastic lenses out of a pair polarising glasses we have (from seeing Beowulf in 3D) and taping them (at maximum light blocking angles) over the lens of the webcam.

This afternoon – the progress capture seems to be going perfectly well, but there’s no progress to capture. One of the first jobs to get started after lunch was the sinking of the metposts. We expected to have to break through concrete for the metpost nearest the path, but the other two we expected to be able to hammer into loose soil. That approached worked well for the first 15cm, and then no further. Quick investigation with a trowel revealed that there is even more concrete underneath what was the lawn.

Suddenly the job feels a whole lot longer…