Flibbertygibbet

P: Worth a thousand words

                                                      

Oh What A Beautiful Morning

Though it's due to be piddling down with rain by noontime.  But at the moment I'm home with my DH, the cats are scampering around the back garden, and all is well. 

In rather exciting news, my mum texted me out of the blue yesterday to say that they have a new puppy!  A black lab called Dusty (after Dusty Springfield, my father's idea.  This is the man who wanted to call me either Dawn or Robin - the nature vibe coming out that day, obviously).  All I want to do now is to hop on a plane home to see them all.

So as today's post is brought to you by the letter O,  it seemed doubly appropriate to open with something from Oklahoma! I think it's strange that it didn't feature in Radio 2's Top Ten Essential Musicals listing, particularly when you notice the unfathomable bias towards Andrew Lloyd Webber.  But then when you work out the show is hosted by Elaine Paige, it all makes more sense.  I think I might have to rewrite my own favourite list.  I did something naughty yesterday - I booked a ticket to go and see Wicked! here in London.  We missed seeing it in NYC for my birthday, poor planning, and I adore the book.  I'd been dallying about, trying to organise a group and realised the opportunity would just pass me by while we got numbers/dates/babysitters sorted.  So I'm going, by myself, to the matinee.  £8.75 including booking fee to sit in the nosebleed seats.  Binoculars, never mind opera glasses, may be required, but it will be such an adventure! Giddy giddy, can't wait!

I'm pretty certain that I've seen Oklahoma at some point in the dark distant past, because every child in Ireland was forcefed musicals on RTE every weekend, no doubt I saw it too.  But I don't remember a huge amount about it.  This, to me, is a gap in my social education.  (Mind you it's probably also a gap in my official education as I did a film degree - but it was more Goddard than Gigi).  So I'm going to dig it out of my musicals-on-DVD-bought-cheaply-in-the-sales pile and watch it tomorrow, snuggled up on the couch, (sofa?  couch?  whatever) while I draw out the designs for the Christmas decorations that I'm planning.  Because it's August so surely it's time to start planning for Christmas* - oy vay.  I was first taught a smattering of Yiddish by a great New York girl that I met in Maine, many years ago.  One of the great things about spending a summer up there was that most of the other green card Irish students were living it up in Cape May, and Boston, and you didn't feel like you were walking down Main St, Ireland (as another friend who lives in NY started to feel about Woodside after she'd been there for a couple of years - literally everyone from her class, the class below and the class above her at school followed her out there) but even way up in Bah Hahbah, there were two other Irish girls there - we got everywhere.  And when one of them was annoying me, I couldn't use my small selection of Irish swearwords to mutter curses to myself.  So Jessica taught me things like 'Oy vay, what a meshuggener' so that I could vent. 

A gap in the rain! It's taken me so long to write this that we've moved through a number of weather fronts.  I'm off to the market before I need wellies to get there.   

*planning and plotting is one thing - but this, I really disagree with.

Dolly

Jumpin' out of bed and stumble to the kitchen,
Pour myself a cup of ambition....

Well I'm in the kitchen alright and I do intend to have a cup of coffee very soon - the first song I heard this morning was Dolly Parton singing Nine to Five, for N day.  This is one of those songs that I remember vividly from childhood.  The movie came out in 1980, when I was only six.  But the real reason I remember it was because of my typewriter.  I had a children's pink typewriter (made by Mattel, possibly?) which was absolutely the bestest Christmas present ever, which arrived when I was nine, or perhaps eight, and the music in the TV ad used the intro and a parody of the lyrics from Dolly's' song, with the ching-chang clang of typewriter keys.  I was beyond thrilled when I opened it and it was used to bang out lots of short stories in anticipation of being a famous novelist some day.  (Don't chuckle, like most people I think I probably still believe I have "a book in me".  It just might be written in crayon and unfit for human eyes, but still.)

Only years later did I find out that it had been the subject of much heated discussion between my lovely parents.  Mum's take on it was that 'Well, this is what she asked for, so this is what we'll get.'  My dad's very sensible opinion was that 'It's essentially a toy - it won't last.  If she wants a typewriter, get her a proper one.'  Now if this or this had arrived - hell, I'd probably still have it, and see here for more wonderful pictures.  But I reckon Mum made the right call.  I don't think I would have been farseeing enough at that age to equate a real typewriter with lasting enjoyment, I would have wanted the pink plastic one. Even though it was horrendously difficult to type on.  A few years later, it was indeed forgotten - and I sold it to my mum's friend for her daughter.  They were hard to come by at that stage and I made a profit on the original price, and probably went out and spent it all on Sweet Valley High books, or was I a little past them by then.  What a productive youth.   

N is also for Nice.  Again harking back to the same time period, I had a rather strict teacher who outlawed the use of the word 'nice'.  "Nice,' she told us, "says nothing at all.  The trip was fun, or the cake was delicious, or the weather was glorious."  With a glint in her eye she declared that nice was a "lazy" word.  A lesson that I've ever forgotten, and she not only broadened our vocabularies but imbued a subtle literary snobberty that has remained.  A bad thing?  Certainly not!

Meh

Meh.  I love that expression - it encapsulates the feeling when you're so utterly unengaged by a situation that you can't even be bothered to look for the right words to express your dissatisfaction.  I kind of felt that way about posting today because the first thing that sprang to mind when I though about the letter M was Money.  It's a little lacking at the moment.  But that would be moaning - in keeping with the letter of the day, but not the spirit of things.  And really, life is good. I have everything I need, and more.  So why on earth should I moan, as John said (or was it Paul?)

So less of the Meh, and more of the Munkeepod!  which you can find out more about here, but this lovely lady's sheer excitement, as posted here below, made me think...

   

Guess what.  Guess whaaaaaaaaaaattt!!!!   

    I am officially a registered, legal, self-employed, small business owner, professional artist/crafter!!!

I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN MYSELF!!!

    ...Anyway, that's what I did today. Hope your day was as exciting as mine! I feel like I'm entering a whole new era and it's all a dream!
    *don't pinch me! lol!*

She also made the point about getting some stock ready - and I'm thinking that's a rather good idea.  I've been dallying with the idea of an Etsy shop...and some Christmas markets.  Ooooh, how exciting!  Hell, why not.  Time rich and cash poor, as I've said before.
Oh how mind-wibblingly exciting...tee hee hee hee [Flib allows small Train of Thought to shunt out of sidings and chug slowly towards the track...]

Although it's only halfway there, the top of the quilt is done.

Thank you so much to all the people who popped in to unanimously vote for the first version (if it ain't broke...) It's not perfect when you look at it closely but I'm hoping that will be overlooked.  Made with love.  If not with a huge amount of expertise.  It will be interesting to see how the actual quilting goes.  I've bought lots of large safety pins.  I should warn the neighbours to ignore the screaming later.

And the extra jewellery supplies arrived.  I have lots of plans... time to go do, rather than just letting small creative notions boil over inside my brain and explode out into the ether without capturing them for posterity, and rendering them into actual fripperies.

So it turns out after all that M may actually represent Motivation.  Momentum.  Moving on...

Life long learning

Some days I think I'm getting a little wiser as I get older - other times I feel like I know nothing at all.  Like I know that I have forgotten everything I ever knew about maths, which of course I studied in school, up to the age of eighteen - I mean, that's approximately thirteen years of education that has just evaporated! Poof!  Gone!  Actually I know I'm really stressed when I dream that I have to resit my Leaving Cert maths exams.  Luckily that doesn't happen so much anymore.

Recently I've been learning lots about new crafts and creative things - quilting, crochet, dressmaking -  or ones that are new to me, at any rate, and also about tech stuff.  For example, I found out what a permalink is.  Now I know how to refer to this post, which ostensibly would have been perfectly appropriate for the L post in Alphabet August but of course I couldn't wait - and it seems like a cheat to say "Oh well I'm just doing some of them out of sequence". I've been playing about with Flickr and I was really peeved to think that I had almost run out of space for this month after loading a small group of photos, as I can't quite justify upgrading to a Pro account (it's not a high priority for my limited budget at the moment).  Then I took the time to ferret about a bit and worked out how to resize the photos - so while the five 'Green is beautiful' shots gobbled up 35%  of my allocation, the next one I posted took only 1%.  Result!  I should be able to complete the rest of the 'Year of Color' weeks for August with my lickle slice of bandwidth.  So it's worth taking the time.  There's also joining groups, following 'conversations' where someone has replied to one of my comments etc - and I think there's a lot more stuff to be found under the 'organize' tab... and one of my most lucrative finds to date has been following links.  From lists of favourite sites and resources on blogs that I like, from people's profiles in Flickr to their own blogs, and from the lovely people who've left comments on here. (Can I just say how much I appreciate it, that you took the time? I get ludicrously excited when I get a little Typepad email saying [this great gal] left you a comment...) 

Pixie's blog is lyrical, cheerful and thought provoking.  Her post entitled 'Raewyn' made me think about loved ones and how I have some lapsed friendships, where I've let time pressures and general laziness get the better of me when it comes to meeting up with people and how sad I'd be if I found they weren't around any more to be my lunch buddy, or my email* pal, and how important it is to address this.  Coincidentally, over the past week I've called up or got in touch with four old friends that I don't see so much anymore, and of course it has been rewarding.  So dig out the address book/the email contacts/the stored numbers in the mobile and get in touch with someone you haven't seen for ages.  Just because you can. 

*Can I lament the sad demise of the letter?  Nothing makes me happier than to get 'real' post and even though I've been guilty of it myself, I've tried to start writing letters and cards again rather than using email or the phone.  Heavy stock stationery, (I can dream) a Cross fountain pen with purple ink, a postage stamp with a pretty image - how can an 'inbox' really compare...

N is for... no, wait a minute

Knitting!!! It's K day today, of course. 

I'm not a great knitter.  My mother is, but she claims she's bad at finishing so gets a bit frustrated when she knits something and the invidual pieces look great, but then the final put together garment looks like it was completed by someone wearing mittens. I think she's exaggerating.  The other difficulty she has is actually sourcing wool. All those little drapery shops that would have stocked it are long gone, and I can't convince her to get online (since their home computer got a virus and ran up the phone bill - she doesn't believe in Macs, which seem to be less targeted, or that a decent virus checker would help).

She loves to remind me about how I learned to knit in primary school (on those little coloured needles) and let's just say that I was a little impatient about the lack of progress.  I was sitting there with 'a face' on me, and when Mum asked what was wrong, she was greeted with a wail: 'But I want it to grow down!'  As you can imagine, this has popped up many times in the twenty-five odd years since. When I was buying patterns in John Lewis the other day, I got to talking with the woman beside me. She lamented the fact that nobody learns to sew these days, and I said I was taught hand-sewing, embroidery, patchwork and knitting in primary school - I didn't realise that went out years before in the UK.  She was really surprised and said that here, her daughters didn't learn anything like that.  I feel all the more grateful to Mrs. Clarke now.

So far all I've made are scarves.  Probably because they 'grow down' quickly.

 

The silver one is just miles of a now discontinued Rowan wool.  I just kept going with that it - and in fact I think I might frog it and reuse it.  But I'm not sure if it would knit up ok for a second time.The black one is velvety chenille stuff interwoven with velvet ribbon from London poshest (i.e. most glorious and correspondingly expensive) trimming shop, VV Rouleaux,   The green one is a deranged project that was sort of based on a Knitty pattern, which I knit on enormous needles, size 20 I think.  Buggers to handle.  I was going home for Christmas and decided to take it with me, to get Mum to help me finish it off (hadn't quite learned to cast off I think), and knew I'd have a problem taking the needles on the plane.   So Mum said, 'Don't worry  [Matha is heya], I've got lots of needles, just bring it home.'.  When she actually saw it, she said 'What the hell did you knit that on, broomhandles?'  So my Daddy went out and cut two willow branches, stripped the bark and made me needles, and then left them by the fire to dry out for a day.  They were fantastic, and we got it finished.  Then Dad used them to light the next day's fire - no pride in his workmanship, that man.

I'd like to knit something I can actually wear, but my problem is that I'd like something lacy, delicated, soft, fluffy - or as it's also known, 'Advanced'.  I always want to run before I can crawl.  And I'd crawl here on my hands and knees if only I had the cash to buy anything when I actually arrived.  Mind you, it would probably be quite good exercise. 

Juxtaposition.

For some reason it was really hard to come up with something for the letter J.  Partly because I was really searching for something, then I'd get distracted and forget my latest brilliant idea. (Don't be surprised if this post gets edited quite a few times.)

Juxtaposition is a word that I really like.  I probably overloaded on it in college a little, via endless discussions of juxtapositioning of character motivation in narratives, images in visuals, and sound versus pictures.  But that was a long time ago.  When I was looking for a name for my blog and my little company, I ended up with Flibbertygibbet (which is normally spelled with an i rather than a y) from a list of words that have gone out of fashion, which suits me fine.  A flibbertygibbet is, according to the OED, 'a frivolous and restless person'. Again, suits me fine.  The OED has just been declared an Icon of England, along with fish and chips, Punch and Judy, the routemaster bus, and many others.  Just some of the things I love about my adopted country.  Surely someone will nominate the tube map, and the red post box?

Again with the forgetting, I know I went to twelve22's lovely little blog to fetch something for here.  Now I can't remember what it was.  Perhaps that J is for jealous - as well as being a crafty goddess, she works for a very exciting publishing house.  Read their blog here and their thoughts on the publishing industry here - with hindsight I know that this sort of thinking is a little bit of what catapulted me out of mainstream trade publishing.  Mind you, straight into the stagnant pool of freelancing, aka unemployment, but things are bound to turn soon. 

Time to eat the frog, finish the paperwork, start piecing the quilt and then later I'll be popping down to Broadway Market for a cup of tea with a friend.  Sadly I will be avoiding Fabrications as I'm broke.  I'll also be ploshing down in the rain, from the looks of things.  Come on August - surely you can squeeze out a little more sunshine?

Incitement

I had been thinking that I would be for Inspiration.  But in fact it's for incitement.  As in 'Oh but DH, it's all thrifty knitter's fault!  Her great blog had me slavering over wool, and carding machines, and smelly fleece, and oh, I must go because I think the Alpaca delivery man is at the door...'

I love starting new things.  Therefore I have WIPs all over the house.  I'm not so good at finishing.  I'm not even going to list all the projects I want to start, and the crafts I want to try.  Well, here's a couple...

• Precious metal clay - (this also includes a torch for firing, which I could possibly use for making the earrings that are floating around in my head as a concept at the moment - waiting for the silver chain on back order from Cooksons).  I used to make a lot of jewellery from Fimo, and I would love to try remaking some of those projects in silver.  But I'm not allowing myself to do that until I make the dummies in Fimo. 
• Fimo - magnets for my mum to brighten up her kitchen.  Possibly flowers and a watering can.  Not quite sure where that came from.  But little bright scenes, I think.  But must try to avoid getting sucked into the world of miniatures, no matter how cute they are...
  
• Charlotte's quilt - as detailed in a previous post, I'm going to make my first baby quilt.  No idea what I'm doing, but hey I did some patchwork approximately twenty-three years ago.  Surely it will come back to me (ha hah hahhahahah)
• learning to crochet using The Happy Hooker.  It's certainly a bit of a challenge.  Methinks I need a class, or a friendly teacher...
• Freezer paper stencils - have the supplies.  Now need to find the right image.

Didn't get any creative stuff done yesterday, apart from rearranging the kitchen.  Now I have my own craft press! (I think that's solely an Irish usage - most people would call it a cupboard).  Looking forward to filling it to the brim, muah ha ha....

A noble pursuit?

H is for happiness.

Secrets of Adulthood.

• What you do EVERY DAY matters more than what you do ONCE IN A WHILE.
• You don't have to be good at everything.
• Soap and water removes most stains.
• It's important to be nice to EVERYONE.
• You know as much as most people.
• Over-the-counter medicines are very effective.
• Eat better, eat less, exercise more.
• What's fun for other people may not be fun for you--and vice versa.
• People actually prefer that you buy wedding gifts off their registry.
• Houseplants and photo albums are a lot of trouble.
• If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough.
• No deposit, no return.

 

G is for...

G is for Gemini.  I'm an Aries, but apparently we are supposed to be much more confident and outgoing than I generally seem to be.  I think this is because my moon rises/star ascends/car is parked in Gemini.  Duality.  Light and shade.  That makes much more sense.  But if I'd been born when I was due, I would have been a Pisces.  Not me at all.  I made myself three weeks late to get me right into Aries territory.  My poor mother.

From the last issue of Glamour:

Get over it

Our star sign can determine the one thing we constantly beat ourselves up about.  So next time you catch yourself doing it, stop - it's just your star sign messing with your head

• Aries - not doing enough
• Taurus - not earning enough
• Gemini - saying the wrong thing
• Cancer - feeling misunderstood
• Leo - lacking creativity
• Virgo - not being helpful enough
• Libra - being unpopular
• Scorpio - feeling powerless
• Sagittarius - lacking excitement in your life
• Capricorn - not being far enough up the career ladder
• Aquarius - feeling ordinary
• Pisces - not being glamorous enough

I don't take all this too seriously but I have to say that the Aries one is actually very appropriate for me.  The best horoscopes are from Jonathan Cainer.

G is for Guilty.  I'm feeling immensely guilty because my husband is the only one bringing money in at the moment.  Freelance work is sparse but I'm reluctant to go back to a fulltime job and he's quite happy with me being here to sort the house out and work on various essential admin things, like our rental property, that he doesn't have time to do.  I know that he is more than willing to provide, and I'm glad that he's just been given the promotion that he deserves, and relieved under the circumstances that it brings a large pay increase.  But that doesn't make me feel any better about spending without earning.  I've heard a lot of my friends who've given up work to have children say the same thing, as we were all brought up to have jobs, our own money, and to be independent.  But I don't have kids...

G is for Gift.  As part of keeping myself busy, I am trying to be a good housekeeper, as it were, and will be spending most of the day doing housework.  I am time rich if cash poor/credit-reliant.  I've set myself the challenge of making a quilt as a gift for a new baby girl.  Here are some pics of the fabrics I'm going to use, the 'la petite jolie fleure' is intended for the backing.  I haven't done any patchwork since I was nine.  I'm intending to machine piece it, and I'm terrified.  I can't decide whether to do random squares (in a Nine-Square pattern, probably) or make it more formal. I think I will be eliminating the blues as I think that might be too much, and the green may also be too strong.  I'm slightly dubious about using the candy striped material as it's seersucker and I'm concerned that it won't lie flat after the quilt is washed but I love the colours and it brings it all together.  If anyone can offer some email support, I'd gladly grab it...

And now I'm off to the other G - the gym.  Like I said, time rich... so I have no excuses!