Tuesday 9 August 2016

just 3 Shades Of Grey

Dressmaking Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Dress Pattern	Simplicity 8086 (by Cynthia Rowley)
Fabric	Grey moss crêpe Gunmetal crêpe "Silver Stars" embroidered tulle Lining
Extras	Interfacing, 12" invisible zip, button, button loop

It is not uncommon for me to be seduced in the John Lewis haberdashery. Most recently, I succumbed to this rather delicious embroidered tulle. Sparkly, sheer, tasteful. What's not to like? More than anything else, the scalloped edge had me stroking it lovingly, taking photos and checking the price tag. £32 a metre?! HA. I don't think so. I made a swift departure.

And yet, two weeks later, I found myself gazing longingly at it once again. And on this occasion, I must have been feeling more vulnerable. As long as I don't get a WHOLE metre, this fabric is not so expensive. My desperate, terrible logic. Sigh.

It then sat in my cupboard for three months while I searched for the perfect pattern.

Finally, after much Pinterest hunting, I stumbled upon this rather elegant and "on trend" Cynthia Rowley design. It's Simplicity 8086. A relatively new pattern I think. Over-excited, I was straight back down to John Lewis (Yes, it's within walking distance of my house. Very dangerous.) to buy the pattern, complimentary fabric, threads and zip.

Let's get this beauty DONE.

Oh. Steady on, Lucy. You've never worked with tulle before have you? Do you know how to sew this horribly expensive and delicate fabric? Umm.......

There followed much experimenting, learning and undoing. I think I will spare you the tedium in this particular blog post. (You're welcome.) But it involved starch. Lots and lots of lovely starch.

I made Version C of the dress, i.e. the shorter, sleeveless version with a contrast overlay.

According to the standard pattern, you have a lining for both the bodice and the overlay. But since my overlay was sheer, I didn't line that, just finished the raw edges. This didn't seem to cause too much trouble.

The waistband just peeks out under the overlay, so I decided it'd be a nice touch to make the front section of the waistband in a subtle contrast fabric. I went for a metallic grey crepe. It is my favourite thing about this dress. So happy I did it.

The scalloped edges also worked very well. Though I did have to be very careful at the back that they finished symmetrically. I just about managed it!

The main bodice fastens at the back with an invisible zip. The overlay has just one button fastening at the top, closing with a loop rather than a hole. I think you could easily add extra buttons right down the back if you wanted, or even use a zip.

The pattern wants you to make the button-loop using your fabric, but I found that it was WAY too thick. Maybe I got my seam allowances wrong? Or just doesn't work well with crepe? Who knows... Instead I wove myself a little piece of rope from my metallic silver thread (a surprisingly useful skill I picked up years and years ago at Girl Guides!)

The one other problem I found was with the shape of the bodice. It seemed a bit boxy at the shoulders for me. So I cut away at the armholes to narrow the straps on mine.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the pattern. The skirt falls beautifully and is a great length. I kind of wish it had pockets (EVERYTHING should have pockets...) but I reckon you could add them easily. The back bodice is fairly low, but I did manage to find one bra that remained hidden. So not impossible. Love the neckline. Still a little bit unsatisfied with the back of the overlay. But that's down to the fabric (damn you tulle!!). Really good fit, particularly round the waistline.

This make is now sitting proudly in my wardrobe amongst the other posh dresses. And rightly so! I shall look forward to wearing it publicly soon!

Friday 5 August 2016

Hiking in the Cairngorms - Day 4

Hiking Friday, August 05, 2016

Munros bagged:	ZERO. Sigh
Distance walked:	20km
Song stuck in head:	Lana Del Rey - Off To The Races
Celebratory meal:	A pretty disappointing burrito from Roo's Leap in Aviemore

During the night, something weird happened. Tom woke up around 1am, convinced he could hear footsteps. This is something I have terrified myself by imagining from time to time. You know, young couple, camping in the middle of nowhere, no defence, no weapons, stumbled upon by a complete psychopath who just HAPPENS to be wandering around the hills looking for someone to eat... Anyway. Tom had got himself a bit spooked, and shook it off, supposing it was just the wind in the trees.

But suddenly, a flash light came on, and there was someone - with a dog - stood right outside the tent.

And they said,

"Is that Gillian?"

Tom replied "No, sorry."

At which point, I finally woke up too. Very confused, since Tom had just shouted in my face.

But that was it. They just walked off. Tom relayed the story to me, and I felt a bit ill. Just the likelihood - we had seen one other person ALL day. And the awareness of our vulnerability was creepy too. We tried, in our disorientated, just-woken state, to come up with an explanation. We failed. (Although, upon reflection, it's obvious isn't it? They just really wanted to eat Gillian.)

So we survived the night. First thing in the morning, it pissed it down. We enjoyed bringing the wet tent down and bundling it into its bag. (Nnnott.) Then off we went, on our Munro-less trek.

To be honest, there isn't a great deal to report from the day. Just plodding our way through valleys, on paths - fairly good paths in fact - and stopping occasionally to consult the map, remove layers, or nibble some dried mango. Ha, I know, mango! We are super-posh twatty wild-campers aren't we?!

We passed the Devil's Point (which, from yesterday, we were now in the habit of pointing at, whenever we saw it. Hilarious fun. Clearly.) and the Corrour bothy beneath it. It looked very popular; we could see five or six people pottering about close by, and a tent pitched next to it.

We had a very long straight hike through the Lairig Ghru, slowly gaining a bit of height. We had to stop halfway to deal with my one and only blister of the trip. (Shout out to Compeed! The greatest plasters in the world.) And we had a nice chat with a reasonably old man who had decided to go for a tough jog through the valley. He told us he was welcoming any chance to stop and get his breath back. Indeed we saw him stop to talk to some more people just a 100m up the track!

We also saw a man with an interesting pointy hat.

We came to the beautiful Pools of Dee. Had it been warmer, and less close to the path, it would have been a fabulous swimming spot. I am still waiting for the perfect opportunity for a proper Scottish skinny-dip. It is going to happen. Definitely...

Eventually, we got to start coming back down. It had actually come out sunny too! And after 10km walking along the Lairig Ghru pass, we came to our turning. We would follow the Chalamain Gap route to take us back to Cairngorm Ski Centre.

There's a fairly long boulder field to cross. Typically it started raining just before we got to it, so I had to think about slipping as well as balance. Tut. We saw a man on top of the cliffs teaching his teenage sons to rock-climb. Cool Dad!

We were pretty chuffed to clamber down unscathed. Here is Tom's best "Man Conquers Rocks" pose.

Finally, we were on the home straight. There were trees at last!

[As a little aside: In Iceland, there's a popular hike called the Laugavegur that crosses over glaciers and very barren volcanic terrain for about 50km. It eventually ends in Þórsmörk, translated as "Thor's Wood". After a few days hiking without any greenery, you know you are reaching the end once you spot the first tree. And apparently you must shout "Mork! Mork!" in celebration, which Tom and I now dutifully do on all of our hiking trips.]

Those last couple of miles were a bit stressful though. We could SEE the Ski Centre at about 3pm, But there was a deep valley to separate us, with a wide river, and no visible crossings. Sticking to the path, we had to wind passed and away from Cairn Gorm again. We were exhausted. And annoyed. It must have been at least an hour before the path suddenly bent backwards on itself and headed steeply downhill to the river.

It was pretty, mind.

At this point, we had our hearts set on catching the 5pm bus back to Aviemore. But we had a steep climb back up out of the valley. Plus, the scenic route had been closed for maintenance, so we had to walk along the main road instead. I think we looked a bit tragic. We were feeling quite beaten at this point; my legs were stinging, there was just no energy left. We were desperately pushing uphill as fast as we could. Sweating. Gasping. But try as we might, we could NOT overtake the elderly couple strolling just a few metres ahead of us.

Sunday 31 July 2016

Hiking in the Cairngorms - Day 3

Hiking Sunday, July 31, 2016

Munros bagged:	Beinn Mheadhoin (1182m), Derry Cairngorm (1155m), Ben Macdui (1309m), Cairn a' Mhaim (1037m)
Distance walked:	22km
Song stuck in head:	Jack Johnson - Banana Pancakes
Camping cuisine:	Adventure Foods Pasta Carbonara (delicious and totally worth its £5 price-tag)

First thing in the morning, we were joined at the bothy by a chap who had cycled the rather challenging route up through the valley. This didn't bode well for my standard 8.30am morning poo. I sulked.

We started the day with a steep but short climb up to Loch Etchachan. We dropped our bags and continued up the south side of Beinn Mheadhoin. Like Ben Avon, the top is defined by massive rocks - three this time - and I climbed up onto the smallest to show willing. Tom, of course, had to immediatedly out-do me and claimed the largest. A tiny part of me anxiously wonders if this technically means I didn't successfully bag Beinn Mheadhoin... But I think I'm going to allow myself to be blissfully ignorant.

Once back at the loch, we briefly followed the main mountain path, swinging off it to the south at its shallowest point to head towards Derry Cairngorm. We dropped our bags again and hopped up the rocky side. My balance was definitely improving by this point and I moved more quickly and confidently across the rocks. Although still partial to a comedy scream whenever I stepped on a surprise wobbler!

Two Munros down by midday. Easy.

As we ate our lunch back on the main path, the wind picked up, rain began and fog closed in. We continued along southwestward, all the way up to Ben Macdui, the second highest mountain in Scotland (after Ben Nevis, obviously). It was marked on the map as a "viewpoint". Yeah alright, map. I'll take your word for it.

There was a pretty cool ruin though, that looked wonderfully bleak and mysterious in the mist. Back to using the compass, we hiked slowly down the south side. We followed a cliff edge for some way before the mountainside opened out into a gentle enough slope to continue right down into the valley. The fog suddenly cleared and we had a great view of the Carn a Mhaim ridge, and beyond it, the rather dramatic Devil's Point.

The going was slow since the whole slope was covered in boulders. After an hour or so of concentrating hard on footsteps and tensing my body to maintain balance, I was feeling really quite sick. By the time we reached the valley, I had pretty bad stomach cramps.

The plan had been to climb up and over Carn a Mhaim and camp on the far side, but it was getting late in the day. We decided to steer further down through the valley on the east side of the ridge instead. But I had my Munro-bagging mindset nagging at me. We had talked about getting this last peak the next morning, but I was concerned about time. We already had a long final day planned to get back to Cairn Gorm Ski Centre some eighteen kilometers away, and a deadline of 6pm to catch the last bus.

I put this to Tom as we approached the shallowest point on the slope up to the ridge. He wasn't super-keen to climb Carn a Mhaim today, but agreed on the premise that we would do it bag-less, and that we could camp as soon as we got back down. Deal!

It was still pretty steep in places, and also a bit slippy. There were tonnes of little frogs hopping about, and I felt it necessary to let out a gleeful girly squeal each time I spotted one. About an hour later, we reached the ridge, and the peak was just 100m or so northwards. The sky was darkening, so we quickly shoved our celebratory Nutrigrain bars in our mouths, and got the hell out.

Too late, the rain had started. Even more slippery for the downward journey! But we also got a lovely rainbow, so who can complain?

It was about 6.30pm when we arrived back at the bags, perfect time to set up camp for the night. But for some reason, I convinced Tom to continue down the valley for another half hour to make the following day easier still. Unfortunately, by the time we wanted to stop, there was absolutely nowhere to camp. We had joined a path and all of the surrounding terrain was both steep and very - erm - bushy. We set our sights on a wooded area in the distance.

At 8.30pm, we arrived at the wood, and it was still crappy camping. We spent the next 30 minutes scouting around for somewhere - not even pleasant, but just possible - to pitch the tent. It was becoming pretty stressful. There was a lot of heather around, which, for me, isn't just off-putting due to its lumpiness. It always brings back memories of an adder that a schoolfriend and I stumbled upon while hiking in the North York Moors when we were 18. Nothing happened. It's just that seeing heather reminds me that snakes exists. And that puts me off camping. Big time.

Deal with it, Lucy. We are camping in f***ing heather. End of story.

I picked the most sparse, tent-sized patch I could find, while Tom refilled our water bottles to make the now well-overdue dinner. We settled down around 10.30pm - the first time it had actually been dark before bed!

Saturday 16 July 2016

Hiking in the Cairngorms - Day 2

Hiking Saturday, July 16, 2016

Munros bagged:	Beinn a' Bhùird (1196m), Ben Avon (1171m), Beinn Bhreac (931m)
Distance walked:	26km
Song stuck in head:	Massive Attack - Teardrop (Tuuuuune!)
Camping cuisine:	Smoked trout, noodles, cupa-soup and parmesan

Up at 6.45am, Tom makes me porridge for breakfast while I pack the bedding away... Okay, I sleep a bit more. Until he asks me how I'm getting on. Then I pack the bedding away, while Tom puts coffee into our flasks to take with us. As with the evenings, the morning pack-away is now routine, with set responsibilities. However, it still always takes us at least TWO HOURS to execute!

Beinn a' Bhùird

Leaving the plateau at 800m, we had a steady climb up through a boulder field. (boulder field = annoying, slow, a lot of wobbliness)

Beinn a' Bhùird is a mountain with a wide flat top, so the peak is not particularly easy to find, especially when the whole thing is covered in mist. OUT COMES THE COMPASS! Hooray! This is our first use of the compass on one of our Scottish hiking trips. How exciting! Thankfully, Tom had done the smart thing and learnt how to use it beforehand. I didn't have a f***ing clue. In fact, it took me a long time to understand how it worked. But I didn't tell Tom that. And I think I got away with it. Ha.

We found the cairn marking the summit. Kerching, Munro #4 in the BAG. Absolutely no view to enjoy, so straight on to the next one. Ben Avon is a bit of an outlier so we had a 4km hike across quite bare sandy terrain.

Ben Avon

There is a proper nasty slippery gravel descent between the two mountains, which I believe is called The Sneck (?). We were coming back the same way, so dropped our bags at the top and worked our way down with better balance and flexibility. (I need all the help I can get!)

It's still a long walk to the top of Ben Avon. I wished I had taken more snacks. The peak is characterised by a massive rock that is exciting enough to have earned its own name: Leabaidh an Daimh Bhuidhe. Nice one. We shimmied up to the top. The mist had cleared by this point, so we enjoyed looking back over to peaks that we had climbed already.

Beinn Bhreac

As we returned to The Sneck, the wind picked up and it was ABSOLUTELY freezing. So I mummified my face with my buff. But still insisted on chatting away in muffled, numb-mouth English. And then it chucked it down. And Tom sulked because his trousers got wet (earning him the entirely affectionate nickname "Pissypants Pearson")

We had to pick up our bags and retrace our steps back over Beinn a' Bhùird, and onto the plateau where we had camped. I got excited about a friendly little bird, and we congratulated ourselves on avoiding the boulder field on the way back. Otherwise, nothing happened for two or three hours.

Our third Munro of the day, Beinn Bhreac, is on the south end of the plateau. A bit more clambering over rocks but we reached the top with relative ease.

Finally, we had to get down into the valley to the west, Glen Derry. We spent a long time hopping over bogs on the plateau and stopped briefly to marvel at a huge herd of deer running across the hillside in the distance.

The descent into the valley was unexpectedly quick and simple, and we immediately joined a well-maintained track through the valley. We could see a bothy up ahead and set our hearts on staying the night in it.

We followed the slightly waterlogged path and crossed a footbridge, arriving at the bothy at about 7.30pm.

How nice to have somewhere sheltered to sit and stand. And it was equipped with a big shovel, maltesers and fairy lights!

Sunday 10 July 2016

Hiking in the Cairngorms - Day 1

Hiking Sunday, July 10, 2016

Munros bagged:	Cairn Gorm (1244m), Bynack More (1090m), Beinn a' Chaorainn (1083m)
Distance walked:	17km
Song stuck in head:	2Pac - Until The End Of Time
Camping cuisine:	Quick-cook penne with spam, tomato puree, cream cheese and parmesan

CAIRN GORM

A 25 minutes bus journey took us from Aviemore train station up to the Ski Centre on Cairn Gorm Mountain. It felt a bit like cheating to start hiking from 650m elevation, but at least we refrained from using the funicular railway to boost us up another 500m. An obvious and popular path lead directly to the peak in just over an hour, where we were greeted by the neatest cairn I have ever seen in my life.

We headed down the eastern slope, joining a vague path as it steepened towards the bottom. I entertained myself with a classic rap mash-up of Kanye West, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and 2Pac. Tom has learnt to tolerate this under-nurtured hobby of mine.

BYNACK MORE

After reaching Loch Avon, we turned north onto the gentle climb up to Bynack More. We enjoyed a quick sandwich lunch in the sunshine, looking back on the loch.

Then up to the first clump of rocks on the main ridge, where we dropped our big bags and bounded up to the top.

Two Munros down!

Bags reclaimed, we continued down the main ridge, and then the east slope into the valley.

The most eventful part of the day was at the crossing of the River Avon. There is a little hut to peek inside - tall people NOT welcome!

Then a big river. The brave and the well-balanced can enjoy the stepping stones. I went for the less fun approach of removing shoes and socks and slowly tramping my way through the cold water, with the unwelcome added pressure of two other walkers waiting to cross in the opposite direction. Tom got to have a nice chat with them though, and revealed to me later that he had recognised them from the bus ride earlier, as he had a crush on the man's rucksack.

BEINN A' CHAORAINN

A second smaller river to cross immediately before the ascent of Beinn a' Chaorainn. I could deal with this one.

I was beginning to flag at this point. Little exercise over the last couple of months, plus a rekindled relationship with tiramisu, means that my body isn't quite at its best level of fitness currently.

We took regular breaks and I moaned plenty as we scrambled over rocky patches. It's one of those mountains where you think you're about to hit the top, and then a new higher point pops up a few hundred metres away to taunt you.

A mini celebration at the cairn. All three Munros claimed according to plan today. An unusual feat! We continued down the tame, shallow south side onto a huge plateau, where we would set up camp for the night. There is little shelter here, but weather conditions were very favourable.

We have become a well-oiled machine in the evening. Tom and I have now got through nine consecutive attempts at pitching our tent without instigating World War III. Is this a couples' record?!

I set up the "bedroom" - blow up airbeds, arrange sleeping bags, liners and pillows - while Tom filters water from a nearby stream or lochan, and cooks up the dinner.

We eat, brush teeth and then crawl into the tent with herbal tea (Twinings Winter Spice. Go and buy some, it's amazing) We consult the map for the following day, prepare sandwiches and look at photos. Then SLEEP.