Flibbertygibbet

Lessons in becoming myself

I'm watching Oprah at the moment, which really brings me back as I used to watch it when I was younger, in school, to avoid doing homework.  I also watched the Winter Olympics - all the coverage - the year I was doing my Leaving Cert, despite never having had any interest in sports up until then, and I had my mother very worried that unless the luge and the identities of the Candian ice hockey team came up in some shape or form on one of the papers, perhaps as a multi-choice quiz in the English exam, I'd fail it all.

Oprah had Ellen Burnstyn and Cheryl Crowe on, and Ellen Burnstyn's autobiography is called "Lessons in Becoming Myself".  Lately I've been thinking I need a few lessons like that.  I'm feeling a bit stuck at the moment, as there has been little progress on the home front, I should be pushing things more.  I am hankering after my own place and a 'proper' new start - complete with the wallpaper I keep banging on about.

So many friends have announced pregnancies and engagements lately. Though I am genuinely thrilled for them,  I've been moping a little - privately, obviously - about being broody. One of the things I notice about a lot of crafty blogs is that so many of the authors are mums.  And being honest, I'd hoped that I'd be a mum by now too, or that at least we'd still be trying.  Of course, I also thought that we'd still be "happily" married. Sometimes this really gets me down, but then I tell myself that it's natural and will get better, it will.  I've been reading this book today which had made me laugh more than brood about the thought of being a mum, if you're at all familiar with these delightful books, you'll appreciate Becky saying that her husband was humouring all her cravings in pregnancy, such the craving for 'pineapple and a pink cardigan'.

I'm applying for more jobs as I really want to get my financial independence back.  As well as paying for my stash and general entertainment, I want to get debt free and be able to afford a decent holiday this year. Of course, that entails doing more than just 'wanting' it, and I'm reminded of that old saw "I want never gets" - whereas "I get off my arse" tends to be more successful.

Finally the socks are done, and though they s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d dramatically to Bobo the Clown proportions when they were washed, they seem to have shrunk back ok and are now ready to be gift-wrapped and delivered, along with the custom-dyed buttons from the Button Queen in Marylebone which will adorn a vintage Jaeger suit.  So now I need to find a pattern for the next pair of socks which will be for me, me, me.  Various options have been suggested, such as the Jaywalkers or Knitty's RPMs and then I just have to choose which yarn I'm going to use, probably the Colinette Jitterbug in Florentina.  I'm also working on the tank top in the Lux, which - thankfully - actually knits up really well, somewhat more subtle than it appears in the ball. Simultaneously there will be yet another pair of the Louisa Harding mittens for my aunt - apparently she keeps nicking the pair that I made for my grandmother for Christmas.

Exercise your franchise...

Who are you going to vote for - in the craft blog award?  I think my sidebar may give away who I voted for...

As Britney would say...

No, not "Kevin, I dropped the baby!" Rather, "Whoops. I did it again."

Somehow wandered up to Liberty's haberdashery and fabrics floor before knitting.  However, m'lud, in my justification, it's 75% off now.  Plus you get another 10% off if you have a Liberty card.  So that's 77.5%, I think, with my limited maths.

That means I spent approximately £40 on this lot:

~ 1/2 metre of heraldic blues and red for "the quilt"/the accessories fabric stash
~ 1 metre of pink trees and little birdies for a summer skirt
~ 2 1/2 metres of psychedelic fruit for a summer dress - probably Simplicity 6587.  It feels like it should have buttons - buttery yellow pearls - and besides, the new machine just loooooves doing button holes!

~ Two different silks, 2 metres of each.  The first is from last night - originally £30 p/m finally reduced to a very impressive £6.75 p/m.  I'll probably use the same pattern as the black polka dot dress which I posted about back in December for this one, but with perhaps a teal silk for the upper bodice and cowl; and I'll start looking for a pattern for the orchid one, which actually arrived in the last spree, asap. It was comparatively more expensive at only 50% off, but it was all gone last night so I'm glad I splurged when I did.

~ The first print may look familiar - I bought a two metre piece of it last week, for £17.50, which was half price.  There wasn't a bolt of it on show then, but there was one there last night so I bought another 1.5 metres so that I can make a dress with a HUGE circular skirt, plus it was reduced to 75% + 10% off.  Seemed daft not to.
~ the second is a Robert Kaufmann that I bought in NYC last year, and have only just got around to washing.  Because when the inspiration to make something from it strikes, I'd hate to have the buzz killed by having to wait a day for the washing and ironing thing.

So I spent about £40 - but I calculated that I saved about £125.  Of course I would never have bought it all at anything near full price, but that's not the point.

I've realised there's a definite pinkish theme to the entire stash, and it intrigued me last week when Caroline, my shopping companion, said to me about one fabric I had chosen 'Oh, that's so you.' I often wonder what 'me' really is and it tickles me to think that others can readily recognise my tastes. But having realised how picky I am when it comes to choosing knitting patterns, perhaps there is a common theme.  I have fallen in love with most of the patterns in this book, particularly the one-button cardigan, but the silk yarn is slightly out of the price range at the moment.  However, I'm wondering if I can find something via Colourmart... cos, yeah, cashmere is always the cheapest option...

This weekend I've a freelance job to finish, some cards to make for a Swap-bot swap, some shoe bags to make for an order, I'm going to get the pattern book for the Lux tank top, and then generally hole myself in and craft, write, make, fabricate and avoid the outside world, or rather specifically two birthday parties.  I know I'm being a little hermit-like but it's time to stop posting about supplies and to start using them.  Then, I promise (myself) I'll come back out of my shell.

Lovely post!

Can you see the snow??  It's a decent dusting, all over my little garden.  It's due to snow again later on, and I'll be venturing out to try to get some better photographs. 

Hurrah, I got my first swap package today, from the lovely Amy:

Beautifully wrapped in heart-covered tissue paper, three lovely strips of rosy pinks and reds, silk thread, a great jelly thimble which fits perfectly and an extra hostess gift - a big bag of yummy raspberry filled chocolates.  I'm not going to be quite as quick off the mark as some participants, but very much looking forward to making something for ME with this lovely stuff.  Pics coming soon to the Flickr group...

The interview seemed to go well yesterday. I'm going back for practical tests.  More finger-crossing please. 

Stash!

Zach's quilt is done, well the label has to be sewn to the back and then it will be delivered to Zach's aunt, to be packaged up and sent off to America. 

I've realised that I do seem to be stash-building rather a lot this January, but I am at least buying it all in the sales.  Mostly at Liberty, it seems.

The two prints above are going to be for pretty dresses for summer: probably one in 6588, which is already in my pattern stash and I'll be looking for another one this week.

Quilting/stash fabrics from Liberty:

I've heard from a few people who've already received parcels from the fabric swap, and who are 'thrilled skinny' with what they've received!  To the point where I've been asked if I'm doing it again next month.  I think that if all continues to go well, we'll do it again in March - do let me know if you'd like to join in, leave a comment.

XH went to Berlin last week and I sent him off with a list of LYS - and he came back with ten balls of Lana Grossa.  Socks for ever! 

I was having a hell of a time turning the heel on the socks I'm working on now - and then realised, dolt that I am, that I had turned to the instructions for the 6 ply ones instead of the 4 ply ones I'm actually knitting, and had knitted the wrong number of stitches for the heel flap - 28 instead of 32.

Yes, I know that I should have twigged that I didn't have half the total stitches, yaddah yaddah.  So some frogging is in order.

I also bought ten balls of Lux in this delicious colour:

£52.50 reduced to £10.  I'm going to knit my first proper 'garment'  which is going to be a V neck tank top from one of the recent Rowan books, then do something with the masses of charcoal extra fine merino. 

Tomorrow I have a 'preliminary job interview' so wish me luck. I'm more nervous that I thought I would be and of course I'm not sure whether they'll like me or even if they have a job on offer, as the interview is as a result of a fellow knitter passing on my CV, thanks to Pauline introducing me to another knitting group.  I have said before how much knitting has done for me this year - if it could also bring the right job too, then it would truly be miraculous.  So everyone cross their fingers for me please!

My new love(s)

Seems like perhaps I've been neglecting the blog a little recently, but then again if I don't leave the house occasionally then I'm not going to have much to write about, I guess.  Lots of fun crafty stuff going on, looking for a job, reconnecting with friends. 

Finally got around to working on the quilt today, pics to come soon.  And what was I using to do the quilts...

My new favourite things.  (Though I'm utterly fickle and this may only last for a while until I get distracted by something else shiny, pretty or glittery)

A Janome 720 Gem Platinum, and a vintage Singer.  I am completely in love with both of them, for different reasons.

I used the Janome today for the quilt strips - it will make me into a very lazy sewer.  (I mean a person who sews, obviously)  It's got automatic and cruise control: literally.  There's a foot pedal but you can also simply use the Start/Stop switch,  to there's buttons to lift and lower the needle, autolock.  It's wonderful. I thought they'd be gadgets but I'm already hooked.

For everyday sewing - denim, calico bags, unholstery fabrics for the Dandy bags, I bought the Singer.  Manufactured in 1952 (according to the man who sold it to me, but from the serial number I think it was actually made in 1936, in Scotland) and still going strong, this will sew through three layers of curtain tape and a double thickness of felt.  I wouldn't try any normal modern domestic with that.  Of course it's also as heavy as hell, as it is entirely made of metal parts.  It's the workhorse and for me, it reminds me of using my grandmother's sewing machine, also a Singer, when I was a child and fancied having a machine.  It wasn't the best introduction, as I now realise that the footpedal was faulty which resulted in it doing two speeds - no speed or breakneck.  I stuck to handsewing for many years and it was only in the last couple of years when XH bought me a machine - and then a year later I went to a class and learned the basics - that I became really interested.  Soon after I joined Wardrobe Refashion and since then, I've been making my own clothes. 

I will enjoy using the Janome on 'handsfree'.  Though at the beginnng, every time I was about to sew, I would take off my shoe - because I'm kerazzy - because I'm used to the foot pedal for my old Janome, and always take off my shoe so that I've got better control, because of my leaden foot.  Perhaps for using the Singer I should be wearing heels though, as this is the very ladylike footpedal...

Any ideas?

Some treats (for more sock knitting, I'm obsessed):

Colinette Jitterbug in "Florentina"

Self-striping Lana Grossa 

I've got a ton of Jaeger extra fine merino Aran that I bought in the Liberty Sale.  So here is the question:
I've got a Jaeger book but actually I'm not mad about any of the patterns.  In fact the only pattern that I liked so far is the Tempting one in Knitty and it's all rib - and I don't get on so well with rib.  Doing an entire jumper in it might kill me.

So I'm looking for an easy pattern for a long cardi or for two garments - like a wraparound cardi, a v neck jumper... any suggestions, ladies?

Also a couple of people have promised me simple patterns for the sock yarn, but if you've any suggestions again, please do let me know!

And a little PS - anyone know of good yarn shops in Berlin, preferably as near to Charlottenstrasse as possible?

Look into my eyes

Bad Shrimp

When most people hear that, they think 'food poisoning!'  I think - bad moggy.  Shrimp is short for Shrimpton, as she and her sister Twiggy came from the Celia Hammond Animal Trust.  Firstly, she does believe that she rules the roost here.  The other evening I decided to cut out a new sewing WIP - I've never made trousers before, but I was spurred on by a knitting project* and so cleared off the kitchen table to cut.  Within 2.3 seconds:

"My table.  Mine"

Possibly because I swooshed her off there, or maybe just because she is an ornery little critter, she decided to take it out on my iPod earbuds.  Whatever they ever did to her.

What's really Bad Shrimp is that she also went for the spare pair that I had found, the ones XH doesn't use because he has posh Sennheiser ones.  Little rip, as my mother would say.  The problem is that I look at those wide eyes, and usually just laugh.  There's no feline discipline in this house.

How many months ago did I say that I'd never knit a pair of socks?  But look!

They are mainly finished due to Pauline making me - cheers my dear! - she showed me how to do Kitchener stitch and I thought I was screwing it up so wanted to do something else instead, but she set me back on the path...I really like the fact that they are similar but different, I purposely didn't start the wool at the same point. Who am I kidding, I just started knitting the second ball without a thought.  I love the different coloured heels.  Encouraged, I have started a second pair, self-striping, which were to be for me, but now will be a birthday present for a friend who's 30 at the end of the month.  It's almost like pre-planning.  However the camera has deemed them too psychedelic to be photographed (at this time of day anyway) so we'll have to wait for their completion/the start of British Summer Time to get a better shot.

Denise got her package, hurray! I meant to share photos of what was in there, but um, I forgot to take them.  I hope all you gals are having fun with your swap stuff.  I went to the Quilt Room in Dorking yesterday and was tempted by all sorts of things... I was mainly shopping for Zach's quilt, my last commission.  Here's what I picked up there:

And then I'm working on this as a stash present - there's a baby arriving in February and I want to have a boy and a girl quilt ready, so that all I have to do is the label.  I've got two boy's ones stashed - well, one completed quilt and one top, so this is the girl's one.

It's just going to be strips sewn together, might do something a bit more interesting with the quilting but I've wanted to do a 'bar' one for ages.   One of the strips in the photo will be disappearing, and the pink that you can see on top will go in instead.

I went to see a friend (who's expecting the baby in February) the other day, she's an old flatmate, and a witch.  Ok, she's not a witch, she's actually a devoted Christian, but I swear that she can see inside me, inside my head.  In fact when I sent her a card to thank her for lunch, I asked that she only ever use that particular superpower for Good.  It's quite incredible to have someone listen to you, and then fill in the blanks with all the bits that you haven't been telling everyone, because they know you so well they can look into your eyes, and see it all.  We've seen each other through various trials and tribulations during the years but she's also the most insightful person I know.  Perhaps because she's an educational psychologist? I've also been inspired to get in touch with lots of old friends that I haven't seen for ages, for various reasons, and lots of people are coming back into my life in a huge wonderful demonstration of synchronicity, as well as making lots of new friends, mainly through knitting and craftyness (thank you so much to all of you for the comments and encouragment on here) 

In a last few days of madness before the job search begins in earnest, I'm going for my own personal Knitting In Public record - Tuesday at Foyles, on the train to and and from Dorking yesterday, last night in town, today at Canary Wharf and tonight at Liberty!  I may need support bandages tomorrow...

Things that are good.

Things which are good?  A case of poor sentence construction either way? Who knows, I just work in publishing correcting other people's grammar, oh dear God.  This sort of attitude may account for the decline in literary standards that's regularly declaimed in broadsheets - well mostly in the Mail, which I don't read.  Or I could blame educational systems that allows many people to leave school without knowing enough to correct me either way, and with even less inclination to care. Mea non culpa.  I didn't actually study Latin so I don't know if that makes sense but I'd nearly bet that you didn't either, unless you're one of those very clever bods who went on to study medicine or other sciences.  Apparently in the UK there was a period in the early 80s when it was deemed that grammar wasn't really terribly important after all, and so it was dropped from the school curriculum.  This lasted about a decade.  Um, I wish that was my excuse, but I wasn't educated here...

That all sounds very grouchy.  I am learning to walk a [metaphorical - allegorical?  philosophical?] tightrope.  There is the fairly distant prospect of some balance coming into my life, because I keep telling myself that it has to, logically speaking.  I'm hugely heartened (after first crying, normally) by lovely comments I've received from people recently which made me think I should come back to blogging which I've been avoiding.  I think I hide away sometimes - in person as well on online -  if I feel I can't be cheery, and right now I am either positive, optimistic and cheerful, or a bawling wreck of a woman. There's no middle ground.  A bit like when you're on a tightrope - you're on it, or well... you're not.  You're just not. 

Perhaps if I learn to crochet, one of my ambitions for this year, my first project could be a net.

Good things.

- A package for the lovely Denise, finally entrusted to the Royal Mail, embarrassingly late, now winging its way to the US.  I wish I'd managed to see her over Christmas when we were both in the same country, but it wasn't to be. I had to return to mind the mogs, before the neighbours took off for New Year, otherwise the cats would have had to go to XMIL's house and would still be there.  A girl needs her feline companions.

- New credit cards and bank cards in my name, as I'm using my maiden name again.  In Liberty just before Christmas, my Switch card was declined, or rather they said they'd need to phone for authorisation.  After it happened again that afternoon I realised I'd need to call the bank - and it turned out my card had been cloned, or at least the details had been stolen.  So when I was in the branch arranging new cards, I admitted, albeit with a heavy heart when actually confronted with it, that it made scarce sense to have "Mrs..." cards for 2007.   It's a new year, it's time to start to get on with things even if it's scary.  God, if only I felt more like a maiden and less like a crone.  And if the cards were in credit rather than in debit, then they would be perfect things. Um, and magical...

- New bedrooms.  Finally we got the heating sorted out on the 23rd of December, just before we left to see our families, and all the bedroom bits that were previously stuffed into other rooms around the house so that the bedroom carpet could come up, could be returned to correct places. After much schlepping of furniture over the past couple of days - I am strong woman - there are two separate rooms, one for each of us while we try to agree everything. Yes, Helen, I get the bigger one with the nicer linen.  Also I realised last night that I no longer need to sleep on 'my' side.  So I starfished across a 6ft bed, like I was creating linen angels.  Today I did more reorganisation, and it's looking much better now.  I have a feeling it's going to get thorougly girlyfied by the time I'm finished, and I'm not just talking Cath Kidston duvet covers.  I'm thinking pink...

- Fabric Swap.  Apparently this sort of fabric swap - long strips - is called a 'noodle' swap.  I've set up a Flickr group for pics of things you send, you receive and anything you make.  I'm looking forward to it, I want to make myself a bedsized quilt this year, and perhaps  some of the swap fabrics will be part of it.  The office now has a sizeable craft stash too, as you can see, as well as the craft press* in the kitchen.

-  Nearly knitted socks.  They fit me rather well, but they're for him.  If they fit.  Ewww, look at those milk-bottle legs!  The sock stripes don't match, which is deliberate.  There's a couple of dropped stitches on each - you might have spotted the orange stitch marker that's holding one until I can darn it in.  God knows how they ever got this far, but I'm quite pleased with them!  Buying a second set of dpns was actually a good idea - I've taken it turns on either sock, working them to the same stage.  I think I'll do this for my pair of socks (next project!) too, to lessen the chances of OSS - Orphaned Sock Syndrome. 

 

House-keeping

Ages ago Mandy tagged me for a meme, but now I can't find her blog to tell her I've done it! 
The meme is to reveal six things about my weird self.  Gee, only six?

1.  I have always mixed up left and right.  When I was little the only way I could remember it was 'when Mum is driving us to school, we turn right at the castle'.  The fact that I 'write' with my 'right' hand didn't seem to help.

2.  My childhood nickname was Miss Mouse.  Since finding that out when we started seeing each other, XH has always called me Mouse, I guess I feel a little strange about it now.  In other moniker oddities, my given name (the one I use daily) is my middle name - my parents' idea.

3.  The first 'proper' book I read was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott when I was seven.  I borrowed it from the school library, having initially borrowed then rejected Gulliver's Travels because it was written in the first person.  To this day I haven't read the latter.

4.  I ran the London Marathon in 2000, in a faster time than Frank Bruno.  Passed him on the Embankment... (about 25.8 miles in)

5.  Cream - bleugh.  Ice cream - mmmmmm.  Which reminds me -I saw an [innocent] reference to a new ice cream flavour and had to Google it.  Found this and peed myself laughing at the other "flavours" suggested in the comments, and was intrigued by this follow on.

6.  Two years ago I got horrible bloody orthotics for my all my shoes, as I have wonky schleppy feet.  Only now am I almost ready to part with all the now-impractical but gorgeous shoes (slingbacks, mules, anything Camper with their heavy soles) that I can no longer wear.

6B. Despite normally being quite good at spelling, I still remember being kept in during breaktime at primary school to learn how to spell gorgeous properly.  I used to put a 'd' in it - gordgeous. 

I'm supposed to 'tag' six other people to do it, but I'm a little nervous about imposing.  So please feel free to do a post on your blog with your six strange things, if you feel like it, and leave me a comment here to let me know!

* the Irish word for cupboard...

A little reminder

Hello folks,

just a quick reminder that the fabric swap will be taking place soon - sign ups close on the 5th of January.  Click here for the original post with all the details.

Here are the participants so far...

Carole
Ann
Helen
Monica
Sarah
Sheila
Amy
Caroline
Lazylol
Rebecca
Jennifer
Helen

and moi!

If your name is here, I may have taken it from the original post so let me know if you're not able to join in the fun any more and I'll amend the list.  If you think your name should be here and it's not,  drop me an email.  Or if you want to sign up but haven't had the chance, well, come on down! Email or leave a comment.

Apologies for repeated editing, but the links on some participants' names keep dropping out...