Flibbertygibbet

All over, creation*

There's been much making going on around here lately.  When I am supposed to be doing something [writing] I find it only works when I can also procrastinate doing other stuff. Thankfully this time around, mostly creative stuff rather than watching TV.

In the midst of Nano, I decided that my daddy is too lovely and indeed too good to me to not get socks for Christmas.  Here's hoping he actually does like the ones he's had in the past because he's getting another pair. I asked lovely Jon of Easyknits some very silly questions about yardage trying to work out how to do my normal top-downs before finally giving in and going for toe ups.  I'm trying the Sherman heel - really, Lucy, I'm trying, I promise. Hating it.  Having lousy problems with the k enc and p enc stitches, I think I'll need a live tutorial.  The good thing is that I'm being a supercheat and these have gone up really quickly on 3.5mm needles.  Here's Dad's chocolate lime socks.

I'm casting on a second pair - in plums and custard - for the present pile.  Maybe a present to me.

I stayed up far too late on Friday night trying to work out the heel.  The next morning I was probably a bit distracted when I was packing up for the long awaited quilting course. I'd thought the sewing machine would fit in my wheelie bag, but no. So a big blue bag from the nation's favourite Swedish retailer came to the rescue.  I repacked everything and jumped on a train around to Kew Gardens.  Tikki Patchwork is a lovely little shop, worth the hour long train trip each way even if I spent the journey there screwing up the crochet cast on for the the Plums and Custard sock, just too tired. 

So I arrived on time, even after getting a little lost out the wrong side of the station.  Started unpacking and realised I'd forgotten something rather important - yup, you guessed it.  The bloody quilt top.  The tutor suggested I get my husband to run it over and it took quite the limit of my self-restraint to politely say "that's not an option". 
As for the class itself,  I had used most of the techniques before but it was a nice group of girls with some lovely projects to look at and would be great for beginners.   You can probably find most of the stuff on the internet but sometimes you need someone to show you in person (see Sherman heel above).   I don't think I picked up very much that I didn't know before but the whole point was that I spent some time on the quilt and feel inspired to do the next steps.

I trimmed, cut and basted it when I came home.  I'll give machine quilting another go.

Tiina helped me to cut the binding.  I think it's going to be very cute.

In the background of the first photo, you might see the fabric that's for another baby quilt.  I'm thrilled to say that four more beautiful bouuncing bambinos have arrived this week.  Hello to JR and Kelly (same day, in Munich and Blackpool), Mia and Sophie! All here safe now after some difficult births. Can't wait to meet them.

The other thing that sprang to life this month?  I won Nano.  My fingers are sore. But I'm happy.

*Almost the title of a novel by one of my favourite authors, Ruth Ozeki.  (she seems to have lost the middle initial between her first and second books)

Sleep-in Sunday

I kind of wish it was a sleep in day, but there's so much to do. Though it's a nasty, windy day so I'm most glad I food-shopped yesterday and don't have to go out today, even though I'd like to get a cinema trip in with Claire...

My Nano mojo sort of disappeared.  Back at work this week and was trying to settle back into it.  Also got out to see the girls on Wednesdays. On Thursday I was told that a job change/promotion that's been under discussion since June is now definitively on hold as there's a headcount freeze across the company. While I'm telling myself that I'm lucky to have a job and need to hold on to it, it irks me that they will also use this as a rationale to refuse a deserved payrise.  By now I expected as much but am still extremely disappointed and wish they'd never started discussing the promotion with me in the first place. However it has brought some clarity - I'm not saying it'll be work to rule but the beyond-the-call stuff is certainly out the window now.  Using my lunchbreak to write is a strong possibility too, so is actually taking a lunchbreak.   

Yesterday I picked up my machine (cotton caught underneath the hook race, all better) and got into the quilting ahead of next week.  I'm about halfway through the top now.  The section on the left is sewn, and the right side has been rearranged yet again since the photo was taken.  As you can tell it has been put together randomly and I think I've probably subconsciously placed the same fabrics beside each other in the strips. Would a plan have been better?  Probably.  Would that have been me?  Almost certainly not.  I'm reasonably pleased with it, as much as I ever am with something I'm making for myself. Of course the quilting, binding etc makes a big difference too.

 

There's been some knitting. 

Socks that have been on the needles for ever are just about done.  Just some Kitchener stitch required. I'd decided to give these to my grandmother for Christmas as she was thrilled with the last pair and she hasn't been very well of late. I've decided to send them on early because tiny granny feet are just as cold in early December as later on that month. 

There are other WIPs on the needles.

A:  Kusha Kusha scarf, and thanks to Thimbleanna for procuring the Habu Superfine Merino from Purl for me.

B:  Secret for the moment

C:  Those bloody bootees

This creation is still underway, I won't get it finished this term... more photos of the process when it's all done:

It's quite a small size and there's a lot of work yet to do but the process is fascinating. 

Now, I have a question for all of you.  When Thimbleanna and I met up, we were talking about the Fabric Swap, as that was how we 'met' (though I think it was Round 1) and she wondered if I was going to do it again.  So - is there anyone interested?  Details are in the link above but it would involve sending three fabric strips to two separate partners, often shipping internationally.  I'd envisage it taking place in January again, because of upcoming holidays and holiday post.  One additional rule - you have to have a blog that is regularly updated to participate.  I was burned by someone relatively well known on the last swap who turned out to be quite notorious and so I'd use my discretion this time.

Ok, almost 10:30.  Time to get typing. On nano. 

Just one more...

...week off would be lovely, thanks.  I can't quite understand how two weeks have flown past already.  I took off to Lewes for the bonfire celebrations and if I could find the UBS cable for my camera I’d show you tons of photos.  It’s calculated lunacy, complete with the random tossing of fireworks into the crowd (rook scarers thrown at your feet) and burning of the pope.  Well, not the pope.

The next few days were my start of Nanowrimo, interrupted by a weekend spent at a hen weekend (ice-skating; ice bar, dinner and a cheesy club that’s allegedly quite posh) and the commensurate hangover the next day. 

Since then it’s been a little crafting, slightly less housework, loads of writing.  I made some progress on my quilt, as long as I could work around the cat:

Frustratingly my sewing machine has developed a little hiccup and it’s pulling the main thread in around the bobbin race when the needle descends – I think it’s going to have to go away which is a bit of a pain.  I’ll have to run it over tomorrow so that it can be fixed in time for the quilting course on the 29th – of course the quilt top has to be done by then, as, largely does Nano.  Fun!

I'm making the lightning trip to Cardiff tomorrow, literally in time for the party and away home early the next morning.  I don't expect to know many people there at all, apart from the birthday boy and his wife - who are lovely -  so it's somewhat of an adventure.  But sometimes I need to get outside of my comfort zone.  All the way to Wales, it seems.

There are some knitting projects on the go too, some of which are thanks to ThimbleAnna for procuring supplies, and there are a couple of surprise things too.  It’s also time to start thinking about Christmas presents though I’m not sure there will be time for anything handmade this year, certainly not handknitted.  Any other suggestions?

Craft is king and Craft is queen*

Two new books landed on my doorstep yesterday, well, via the sorting office and a spell in the local post office, and I've been itching to be done with the world's dullest freelancing job (yes, I am supposed to be on two weeks' holidays from the day job but this extra-curricular was still hanging about) and break them out.  Ok, calling the freelancing dull is unfair, especially as part of the frustration with it is simply with the fact that I have to do it at all.  In fact, the books were timely - part of the point of this time off is to get some writing done and these books both have a strong sense of inspiration and achievement, of seizing a spark or a moment and turning it into something tangible, creative, and purposeful.

Part of the reason that I have to freelance is for extra cash, because it's either have a second job or rent out my spare room.  My spare room is filled to the rafters with craft stuff and writing reference books and I like it that way.  Crafting means lots of different things to me - it's a creative outlet, it's relaxing and it's a springboard to other things. It's social and sociable and I've met great friends through knitting and sewing and through this blog - and it all came from a conversation with a designer friend one day, on the tube home from work.  She asked me if I'd heard of craft blogs (I hadn't) and a couple of years down the line, here we are. With one thing and another,  my life is really quite different to where I started back in July '06.

It seems like something similarly synchronous both brought about and solidified A Year of Mornings by Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes [ISBN 978-1568987842] - I was really surprised to read that the authors had only actually met once when they embarked on the project. I admire their dedication in persevering in something which is ostensibly simple but demands commitment, taking a photo of their mornings each day and posting to their joint blog 3191 (the distance between their respective homes in Portland OR and Portland ME) which developed into this book.  I remember the genesis of this project though I didn't follow it during the year and now I wish I had. I will tune into A Year of Evenings and not repeat that mistake. The commentary from the authors is delightful - one of the comments that struck me that the book is about the 'art of noticing'. It makes me want to grab my camera and start diarising though I've always been more inclined to do that with words than pictures.  Princeton Architectural Press consistently impresses me with the quality of its publishing (there are a number of criteria in my incredibly idiosyncratic judgement system, including but not limited to cover, design, typography, setting, sizing, endpapers, titles) and one of my favourite things about this blook is the way they've used embossing so cleverly on the front cover.   A nice touch for a cyber object made real. As much as I am indebted to the web for opening windows to other worlds, in my mind there will always be a legacy and legitimacy attached to the physical asset that is a book and this is a particularly attractive one.

"For me, sewing, playing music,making ark and films, and even writing this book are about having control over my life.  I am making my own destiny with what I create, whether it is with the materials I pick, the colors I choose, or the words I write... our community is just beginning to grow into our roles of knitter, book binder, shoemaker, painter, seamstress, potter, etc.  We appreciate the generations of makers who came before us and from whom we draw inspiration and support."  That's a quote from Faythe Levine, the author of Handmade Nation,  [ISBN 978-1568987873] and this book sits alongside her documentary of the same name, about the rise of crafting as part of a DIY ethos in the US.   Levine wanted to capture the movement before it became too mainstream - I wonder whether the film will be screened or distributed in the UK.  Some of the crafters she interviewed are familiar to me, like Heidi Kenny and Sarah Neuburger but there are tons that I hadn't discovered yet.  You've probably already heard of this book as it's been buzzing around blogland - it's got similarities with The Crafter's Companion though this is a 'why-to' not a 'how-to' with interspersed essays. The article on the Church of Craft totally intrigued me as for some unfathomable reason I have been pondering the notion of faith recently and being slightly envious of that ability to believe.  Don't we need one in London?

Add these to your wish lists.  They're perfect gift books and yes, it's getting to that time of year again.

* quote from Andrew Wagner's essay in HN

Look who's come to stay

All the way from America.  But he's a little young to travel by himself, so Thimbleanna and TheManOfTheHouse escorted him. Abi and I met up with Anna in Waterstone's in Piccadilly, and barely caught breath as we chatted for two hours, while Anna's husband browsed downstairs.  A very happy arrangement for all I think!  We joked about how it's great to meet blog friends in real life and find out that they're not needle-wielding maniacs, hurrah!

For Halloween we went to a White Mischief event called The House of the Sandman, at 33 Portland Place.  I have to say (though without any photos to prove it, sorry) we looked bloody great, hah. I dressed as Mrs Lovett from Sweeney Todd, complete with spattered butcher's apron which proclaimed 'Lovett's Fine Pies' thanks to freezer paper stencilling, grimy [plastic] cleaver and a basket of pies.  A girl at the bar complimented the attention to detail in bringing a selection of meat products.

The event was made considerably more complicated by a drugs raid by the met.  It's difficult enough to manoeuver around the building because the only passageway to the basement toilets is down a narrow servants' staircase.  When you've got people moving along in both directions, in transit to the downstairs dance floor as well as the bathrooms, then the only option is to shimmy down hugging the wall as a slew of bodies bumble past and hope that you don't fall in the darkness, and that nobody is standing on your skirt because it's impossible lift up your hem as you might with a couple of inches' breathing room. So then when you have a bouncer shouting at you to move (so that the cops can get down the stairs) it's easy to get a little annoyed with it all. Apparently as the building is a private residence, some laws seem to apply and some don't.  Like the staff didn't seem in a hurry to ask people to stop smoking inside, yet the police still came in for a look about.  The place seems it has a sort of chequered history, if you can believe all that you read.  Partygoers were looking at the cops thinking 'what realistic costumes' and it all became a little surreal.  Even more annoyingly, when we did manage to get back upstairs we could only in one direction and got separated from everyone else.

Interruptions apart, the entertainment was the best of any of the WM events so far. The Dead Victorians, singers of fine ditties [sound!] the Puppini Sisters, [sound!] and good old Tough Love, bless them. Promoters, singers and cloakroom assistants at the end of the night. 

Today it's a disgustingly wet and cold day.  I went to Camden to the Nano meet up.  It was so packed that I scuttled off home again.  Now a friend who has locked herself out has come over to dry out here.  So it's unlikely that my nano count will rise much from 150 words - but it's a start...

What's happening

Haven't had a chance to do photos, so didn't get back on here.  Whoops. 

The corset is pinned and ready to sew.  Busk insertion will follow, as will photographs.

The first of the eleven babies has arrived - baby James, hello!  Working on his bootees (pretty sure his mum won't see this)

Bikram yoga, baby showers, watching documentaries, meeting Vashti, rashly and gleefully accepting invitations to parties in Cardiff, having fun backstage here [sound!] until silly o'clock.  Actually that was all yesterday. The extra hour in bed only helped a little.

Receiving the last no for the breast cancer fundraising places for the marathon.  Boo.  Other tentative plans are whirling away in the background.

Making knickers at the Make Lounge.
 

For me it was probably not the best idea to do an evening course as I was a bit wiped out when I got there, and it was three hours. I don't think I was tuning into everything that the tutor was saying - she was very sweet, not sure how much teaching she has done - and some elements such as measuring elastic, made more sense afterwards when I thought 'Oh, so that's where I went wrong.' I opted to use a silky fabric to practise wrangling it through the overlocker but it makes for kind of tarty pants.  Still, I will adapt the patterns that we got and will probably have another go - I have hoarded all kind of fabric scraps, including Liberty silk from various dresses.  There is potential there.

Looking forward to meeting an online friend IRL this week.  Not saying who yet!

Only a week to go until Nano.  Panicking.  Mnurgh.

Would this be a better idea?

I've had two polite rejection letters so far in response to my marathon applications.  One of the charities said they had 57 places... and 9,500 applicants.  Gulp.  Imagine reading 9,500 forms? 

There's one more to go.  I'll hear at the end of the month.

Perhaps another alternative should be sought.  I was wondering about this*, which I think is a little bit of genius - with the sponsorship for breast cancer research.

And then in the same spirit as promising to cover up my toenails, I could swear to not let anyone read it.

*did I mention I've got two weeks of holidays in November?  Is this a coincidence?  I think not.

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...

A completely ludicrous plan - aren't they the best ones?

You know, I'm a lucky girl. I'm very happy to say that there are lots of you very gorgeous people, including many of the people I link to on the right, who are good friends of mine in the real world, in my neighbourhood, my city and beyond.  Then there's some people I 'know' through cyberspace, and yet others who pop in occasionally, quietly and drift on.

One of our lovely ladies, Tash, passed away earlier this year and she's been in my thoughts a lot this week for various reasons.  Another lovely knitter friend just told me she's been diagnosed with breast cancer and it has made a decision for me.  I'm sure you're aware that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I want to do something to distract myself from thinking about why crappy things happen to good people, I want to make a financial contribution. I want to push myself, because I can.  So I intend to run the London Marathon next year to support a breast cancer charity.  It's something I've been thinking about but the sponsorship part of the whole endeavour put me off, to be honest.  It's as much of a challenge as the actual run.  The running part?  I'm not insensible enough to think it won't be really bloody hard.  But sure it wouldn't be any fun otherwise, now would it?

But I'm going to give it a go.  The first part of the challenge is actually getting a place.  You can read more over  here [Edit - comments over there were a little cranky but seem to be ok now.  Also if you'd like to link to either post from your blog, please do!] and I'm going to send the charity that link as part of my application, so it would be great if you could check it out and maybe leave me a comment - whether you're a friend, a cyber friend, a knitter, a crafter, a reader or a lurker (especially a lurker! come out!) , and you'd like to give support, advice, or good old filthy lucre - well all donations accepted*.  Go on, make me look good... the charity makes the decision around about the end of October.... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*  obviously won't be looking for pledges for actual real cash until I get a place (think positive!)