Flibbertygibbet

An institution that might need to change

The old joke goes, marriage is an institution, and who wants to be in an institution.  Gah, hold my sides for me. It's not that I have anything against marriage, but I'm not so sure about the Knitting and Stitching Show, aka Ally Pally any more. If I hadn't been generally having a giggle with lovely Lucy, I think I might not have lasted so long - and we did manage to get around all of the halls.  We chose to take a day off work and head there on the Friday - and it was still relatively busy.  Were Saturday and Sunday mental?  I read some posts on Ravelry from vendors who said that they would be discounting on Sunday which makes me think that footfall was down. But at least we could get to stalls to browse.

After spending £12 to get in, I was a little disappointed  with the range of vendors.  Yes, there were some bargains to be had, such as grab bags of Jitterbug from Colinette and Koigu for a fiver from Get Knitted.  You know, yarn.  Stuff you use for knitting. Alongside it there was to be a preponderance of - well, complete crap, basically.  Nasty clothing.  Handbags that embodied the antithesis of 'handmade'.  I was utterly underwhelmed by the fabric offerings and didn't buy anything.

You could still find the odd gem, such as the Interior Anarchist cross stitch from Random Monkey Designs.  We'd been to an event he [Phil?] ran at 93 Feet East in Brick Lane a couple of Sundays ago, which was an afternoon of cupcakes, cross-stitch and cocktails.  Bless them, when we found the stall at Ally Pally, it was being manned by his lovely parents who had come over for the event (sidebar: I shudder to think how much it must be for a stall at AP) and they also reported that Phil had made all the cupcakes for the Sunday himself too.  Now that's talent.

Apparently they are hoping that Cross-stitch, Cupcakes and Cocktails will become a regular event on the first Sunday of the month. It was packed and such fun.  I have my eye on one of his kits that is about to be released - featuring a flight of ducks with one in a sniper's sight.  As we didn't fancy any of the other kits, we decided to ape his 'Bollocks' design and either go for mild profanities or epithets such as 'I'd rather be knitting'.  That was Lotta's contribution and she  had almost finished it in the time it took me to stitch out C-R-A (you can see where I was going with that) and Lucy went for a multicoloured BITCH.  There was a photographer there and when we got to AP, they had framed some of the coverage... can you see in the corner?

Lucy's work is famous! 

So it was worth it for that alone.  Plus Lucy got the perfect yarn for a very special project so that was a success.

In other news I'm trying to sort out stuff at work, get promoted and a payrise. Easy to type, slightly more to it IRL. The corsetry class continues apace and the next decision is whether to use steel boning or just Rigilene  - I think I'll probably try the former even though it's just a sample.  It's a sample because everyone in the class is making the same size, learning the techniques and I may as well learn to insert steel boning. The tutor alledges that it fitted women from sizes 8 to 14 last year but I can't see it adorning anything other than my dress form.  But it's fun.

I finished the Debonnaire beret in Posh Yarns cashmere which is fabulously elusive stuff. It's slouchy to the extreme but I'm actually really pleased with it. I'm also wearing the wrong side out because I like the pattern better.  Real knitters may shudder.  Don't look too closely.

It's all coming along nicely...

I need to get some photos to show you all - but there are a couple of little Innocent Hats ready to go off, and after week 3 of the corset class, I have my all my fabric pieces cut and next week we sew.  Scary stuff.  On Friday I'm off to Ally Pally with Lucy, then the weekend is going to be spent freelancing and quilt-making - I got a reprieve on next Saturday as the organiser kindly moved me to the later course - I knew I wouldn't have the quilt top done. I'm looking forward to three days of crafting, and trying the new toy. Hoping to get to Origin to see Ruth soon too.  Lots of projects to finish, especially knitting though quite a bit of frogging to do too.  The cashmere beret is seven shades of wrong because it's more like a helmet.  Not the slouchy thing I'd envisaged.

Finally, thank you very much to all you lovelies who have been so encouraging about the running lunacy.  The forms have gone off.  It's just fingers crossed and start the training now...

Out on the town

Last night I was invited to a corporate hospitality do at the Open Air Theatre, to see a production of Gigi.  It was suitably atmospheric, with a backdrop of trees bathed in pastel light in the darkness, and fairylights strung through the bushes (unlike the sunshine of the press photos above).  The occasional drunk who could be heard shouting in Regent's Park didn't detract...much.  From our position up in the gods it was difficult to see the performers' faces clearly, but gradually the identity of the actor  with the distinctive voice playing the uncle revealed itself - Topol, who was wonderful, as were Millicent Martin and Linda Thorson.  I found myself suffering from severe milinery envy for most of the ensemble's fabulous hats.

We all agreed that the pair playing Gigi and Gaston were somewhat irritating and everyone in the audience had a rueful chuckle at 'Thank Heaven For Little Girls'.  Can't imagine something similar coming up in the next Disney flick. 

Tonight I joined a group of Ravellers, mostly from out of town for a dinner organised by Claire, ahead of tomorrow's I Knit Day.  Great tapas, great chat.  A relatively early night to get ready for tomorrow...lots to do.  Sewing machine shop (just returning a DVD. Definitely, not buying anything...No.) Off to Victoria and then more culture tomorrow night.  And puppets...

Whatcha been up to?

Culture with Abi

I didn't say 'high culture' as of course 'high camp' is more normally associated with the Wizard.   The production  has attracted a little controversy,  and I can't say I disagree with a lot of the criticisms but yes, the dog is great and more seriously it's worth going for the music alone which is utterly spellbinding.

Baking cupcakes with friends.  Finding Laura Marling's marrow and being bemused at and amused by Les Savy Favs at Field Day.  Sadly missing other lovely people's social occasions, from knitting operas to engagement parties.  Doing London Walks with my uncle and old colleagues, catching up on gossip - gossip was quality; walk was sadly not as interesting as previous outings. Plotting my first quilt for me; and starting to think about baby presents for the entire kindergarten class that's arriving Nov-Jan.  Eating really well and doing a ton of exercise.  Intending to blog more.  Preparing to buy lots of things from here for my new pursuit this autumn. Being excited about my new local, a resurrected pub which looks very promising.  Planning for Green Man.  Obsessively checking the weather forecast to see whether I need these.  Probably  more useful than ruby slippers.

Being made {{extremely happy}} by:

Thank you so much Kirsty, you immensely talented woman.

And by Dan Hillier:

 

I have the cloud. Now show me the goddammed silver lining.

Landed at SFO safely.  Good.
In Mountain View now.  Not so good.

There have been a few 'challenges' as my too polite boss often says.

• Missed first meeting, but that's ok.  Except the guy now isn't available tomorrow at all.  Oops.
• BlackBerry is dead.  Luckily I can now get online or wouldn't know where I was going (I know, there's a lesson in that)
• Tried to get $ out using my Switch card like I always do.  But all of my cards have been declined.  There are no 24 hour HSBC numbers (that pick up) so I am hoping I can get on to them tomorrow in my AM.  Having no money and being disconnected is scary.  At least my normal mobile is working.
• Taxi driver (thankfully prebooked using credit card) did turn up.  Very sweet man. But smelled of bad bad BO.  It was a long journey in many ways.
• It's fricking hot here.  I laughed and thought the BBC website was wrong - but inland it's 100 degrees.  Not that bad here I think but definitely a little heatwave.  Pasty white Irish girl didn't think to bring sunscreen.  (I know P, I should have known after last year at RC).
• Got to hotel, no room for me.  Manager obviously forgot to 'squeeze me in' like she said.  Luckily they had a cancellation.

It's all going to be better tomorrow.  Right?  Right?!

Oh, and got almost all of the increase rows done on a Clapotis for me in Blue Sky Alpaca Silk, the yarn I bought in Purl Soho last year.  Love the colour but it's a bit splitty.  And now it feels like the RSI is flaring...gnnnnnnrughhhhhh....

The art of no craft

How do I have as many hours in a given day as anyone else and not feel productive?  I'm hoping to change that.

Last weekend my too-small-to-be-of-much-use table looked like this:

Another episode of all the gear no idea, this is me crafting such fripperies such as feathery bits for my little hat and a watch-parts pendant for White Mischief. The remainder of the feathers may end up on the wall at some point.

It strikes me that being able to solder (accurately; and at home rather than in workshop or at a course) would be very beneficial but I cannot take on any more hobbies at the moment. Or buy anything else that could be classified as 'equipment'. So superglue it is for now. There was probably as much enjoyment gleaned from taking the old watches* apart as reconstructing them.  Though I would say I'm all about whether something works, as opposed to why it works. That may explain my challenges with knitting patterns.

This weekend the table looks like this:

Proof-reading so that I can earn some cash for a mooted diving trip; but also firstly for San Francisco.  I am trying to simplify a little and I think there's a declutter coming.  For a while I've been trying to avoid acquiring 'stuff' but I'm not sure it's working so well.  Well, there's stuff ie those delectable Dan Hillier prints
(will put the photos in the last post to show off their gorgeousness) which is good for my soul - and then there's bucketloads of crap.  Magazines whose subscriptions I can't figure out how to cancel; spare bedding with nowhere to store it; and 'stuff' that doesn't have a home here yet.  I tried to make it to a yarn swap/sale last week but TFL foiled me and the bag of yarn for sale is still in the hallway.

So while these tools of the trade have occupied me most of the weekend

I've also cast on with some of the precious Debbie Bliss silk from the stash.  I really did try to do the bolero from the Pure Silk book but seriously (in pursuit of sanity) short of paying someone to write me a line by line pattern, and despite assistance from helpful Ravelry people, I have decided to try the plain shrug. I have made it to the second section (where it asks you to cast on another 38 stitches mid row - still working on that).  But the colour and the drape will be fabulous so it's worth persevering.

There's lots at my day job to keep me busy too.  My uncle is visiting the next two weekends. I am terribly behind on my laundry (putting it away - my bedroom looks like Benetton with lots of folded clothes everywhere) Need to get going on making a few extra hours in each day. I have some ideas... deleting the newly-found Stumble Upon may be the best one... (Penni, that's all your fault!)

* though of course now I am utterly suspicious of all those pre-White Mischief transactions as one of them may have been the cause of the paypal nightmare.  Latest update is that the money that was claimed from my paypal account, though not from my bank account because I'd alerted the bank about it, has now been credited back to my account.  Hence more calls to paypal to explain that now there's money in my account that isn't mine.  That really is ironic. 

As Alannis would say...

...isn't it ironic.  After saying how much I was drawing from the internet, I had a nasty experience with someone drawing quite a lot of money fraudulently from my bank account.  My paypal account got hacked.  It's been a nightmare. The bank, Paypal and the police all going around in ever decreasing circles with nobody being definitive (though the bank was great eventually)  A friend used to work at Paypal and has been able to help somewhat but I can't see me using it ever again in the future.  The suspicion is that it's something to do with some of the many small purchases I made from Ebay in the run up to White Mischief. It was almost £500 ($1000) in total over three fake transactions.  One was withdrawn almost immediately after I raised them all with Paypal.  One is still being contested and what really freaked me out was that the bastard sent me a piece of paper by UPS  on Monday morning with something rather sinister written on it - so that presumably he could 'prove' that he 'sold' me something.  It was so upsetting:  the intrusion and the deceit as much as the annoyance and the worry.

The latest development is that the third transaction has been reversed to my account; but as I shouldn't ever have had any money leave my account, it's a bit confusing.  I think that the guy who tried to take my money has now had the same amount debited from his account which gives me a credit balance. My colleagues all told me to transfer the cash to my current account - hey, it's not like I couldn't do with it but that would be very bad karma and I just want it all over.  I will not use either service again which is pissing me off because of various things I wanted to buy for friends on Etsy and other places.

The good thing is that I have a reason to be saving my pennies - and that is a work trip to San Francisco!  My boss agreed that I can go for the weekend of Renegade Craft so it's a free trip essentially (and my summer holiday though Ting and I were talking about diving in the autumn...).  Can't decide whether to work before or afterwards - I guess if it's the end of my trip that might work better for me.  So I have some questions for any of you folks that know SF:

Where to say?  It will probably be at one of these hotels and I have the option to stay in the city and take the shuttle to work, or stay in the valley and move back to the city for the weekend.  Or commute from the city all week, it's about an hour each way which I'm ok with as I won't hire a car; just have to work out what time it leaves in the evenings to return to the city.

What to do?  Apart form Renegade Craft.  I know there's more than a weekend's worth of stuff but let's not worry about that right now.

What are the 'can't miss' places or hang-outs?  Who knows the city and has recommendations?  Fabric shops, trimmings, LYSs, foodie spots, Japanese craft stores or bookshops?

Tell me all!

No pics as camera is dead - may revisit soon x

No work Wednesday

Got as far as the gym this am, then realised that the 'My head hurts because I am up early' pounding wasn't going away.  So came home and thought a nap would sort it.  Woke up at 2pm. Can't imagine getting much done today. That's probably not a bad thing.

I am trying to decide what to make for White Mischief.  I have a black corset and need a skirt.  I've got lots of silk and taffeta in my stash, in green with white spots, rose pink, black, metallic green.  It seems I've been working up to costumes for quite some time.

Something like this:

Vena Cava has lots of historical patterns.  Of course it takes a lot of fabric, and might just add a lot of bustle to my already substantial ahem 'natural bustle'.







Then there's this skirt from Vollers.  However I would have a go at making it myself as it's rather far outside my budget.  At £225 I would expect exquisite fabric and detailing. Not that I'll be able to replicate that myself but then again I won't spend that kind of money on it either.







Or then there's something like this one from Fairy Goth Mother.  Such fun!  Also would be perfect in the emerald green with white polka dots fabrics that I've got.  Lucy has kindly offered to lend me her petticoat for the night if I go down this route because I can't see me managing to get a petticoat made too. 

I think it will be the second or third options.  Any thoughts??


And just to add:  whether as a meeting point before WM or not, I want to visit here...

Whoops, just realised I didn't enable comments - the new Typepad is driving me a little mad... enabled now1

All the fun

of Carter's Steam Fair at Paradise Gardens.  Made it down there on Saturday in the sunshine, anticipating the downpours on Sunday.

I have a thing about merry-go-rounds, or 'gallopers' as they are called in Carters.  Apparently all the horses are named after members of the Carter family which I find quaint, endearing and slightly freaky all at the same time.


There were plenty of non-fairground attractions. The Central School of Speech and Drama Costume Archives exhibition showed some of their treasures.


The tea dance tent - infectious music, enthusiastic audience participation.

 
Even the staff quarters at this amazing fair are authentically retro.


A rather unusual artist called Paka, who was hilarious.  At one point he nearly barbequed a small dog at the front of the crowd. (Yes.  Those are real flames.)

Followed by Eurovision on Saturday, baking and guests on Sunday, then Hot Breath Karaoke (I'm kind of sorry I missed their Eurovision event because it looked priceless) at the Lauriston, stumbling distance home.  I love my 'hood. 

How do you spell 'Ewwww'?

 Ting, you shouldn't read this...


Ok so I am playing around with Typepad's new settings.  Now you can see in huge detail just how much I don't like my socks.  I was ok with the first one as the weirdly-dyed one because it's spiralling in a just-about-acceptable way.  This is Purl's custom colours Lorna's Laces and more fool me for not saying "um, why does it sort of fade out rather than cutting from white to purple..." when I got it in my hands in the shop - but you know how it goes, the overwhelming 'Woo-hooo I'm yarn-shopping in New York' feeling...and hell, if you get the same dyelots you're streets ahead... actually looking at the Rav stash pictures, I don't think you can see it in the hank.


Has anyone else had any problems with this?  The second one isn't even spiralling (see above, it's sort of turning into Tetris gone wrong) but I think it's not worth ripping back. Also even though they are the same dyelot, the colour is weaker on the second sock.  Bah.  The knitting girls reckon I should email Purl about it (and ask them to have someone knit the socks in the same yarn to the same point and post them back, thanks).

Getting back into sewing a little bit and have some plans for dress-making over the bank holiday weekend as long as the fabric I ordered arrives, to make something to wear to this.

Tingles, happy Lucy's birthday...it turned out to be harder than I thought to make a "blue or maybe purple but not red or green" sock bag, seems that there is a void in my stash in the colour blue ... I am sure I will be able to rectify this when I go to San Francisco.  Britex and Rare Device are on the 'must visit' list at the moment. 


There's lot of news in our little circle at the moment - as someone remarked last night, over the past month there's been [a] death, then [impending] births and now news of a marriage to come.  We're all still sad about the first, and thrilled to bits about the latter announcements.  People are writing books, starring in plays, generally taking over the world. I am constantly impressed. 

So what have you got planned for the long weekend?