Flibbertygibbet

How it comes together

Recently I mentioned cutting: for ages I've been contemplating making a quilt for myself.  (For "contemplating" read "accumulating lots of fabric and supplies") One of the most useful things I bought was long quilter's pins - though I wouldn't recommend the online supplier I used as they only tell you after you've completed your purchase that they take 3-5 business days to ship, and in fact they take two weeks.  Harumph.

It starts here.

 

With some supervision.

I think it was Manda at Tree Fall who suggested using a fleece blanket as a 'design wall'.  I pinned folded half yards and fat quarters of fabric up there initially using the long pins, but it also works brilliantly for free form design when you have cut strips or pieces; as the fabric adheres to the fleece and you can reposition it easily (who else had Fuzzy Felt as a kid?)

This is trying to factor in neutrals.

And then I sort of abandoned that.  Now it seems like 1.5 inch strips will be the way to go.  Somehow it always comes together on the ironing board.  I realised the missing element was my most favouritest fabric ever, the Denyse Schmidt Flea Market Fancy that's hiding at the back.

Tomorrow we cut - assuming that I can repossess the cutting mat.

To live for a day

I went to the movies tonight, before this particular picture, as they used to be called, disappears from the screens. 

Miss Pettigrew lives for a Day  [beware, sound!] But the sound is one of the best elements - the music is toe-tappingly good.  I'm not sure how faithful the adaptation (terrible jacket) is.   Jen, I miss our cinema afternoons, when we were 'freelance' or in my case mostly unemployed.  Before I got a job and you moved to the other side of the world (was it something I said?  Only kidding hon.)  I really hope you've seen this movie - I think you will enjoy.

Booteeful

So many lovely people having babies at the moment - too many to link to, even!

A work colleague that I am very fond of is having a little girl (actually, of all the bumps, anyone who's found out and has revealed it is having a girl... are any of you having boys?)  I said I'd teach her to knit and make this to entice her.  Then agreed to do the second one because let's face it, with tension issues, they would probably have come out vastly different sizes.

I proceeded to knit the second one, as per the pattern - and then realised I must have knit the first one on 5mm rather than the 3mm specified in the pattern.  Oh, the pain of the irony, like an aluminium knitting needle to the heart.  But at least there's only an hour's knitting to repeat.

The other project on the needles was Roxanne Seabright's Vertical Drop Stitch Scarf in Knitwitches yarn.  Then I decided when I came home from the pub  the other night that it was a smashing idea to do a row of knitting.  The drop stitch row.  I actually fell asleep during the process.  It took a long time, as you can imagine.  And I made a mistake about a third of the way across, ending up with four stitches rather than three, which I located this morning.  Bah.  Also decided to weigh the progress and worked out that I'd end up with a shawl about 21 inches long, according to my calculations.  So I've frogged that to save the beautiful yarn for something else, and will cast on again in the sumptuous Art Fibers Tsuki that I originally bought for the project.  I mean, if it ain't broke...

Two of my favourite things

Flock paper and antlered deer.  Does it get much better than this?  Not in my little world.  I love!

After Renegade Craft last year I alluded to buying something else for the flat - the stencil.  I cut it out of  Paperchase flock paper and then went back for mock snakeskin to go behind it. The parts that I cut out may reappear later.

These prints came from this year's RC in San Francisco.  The bottom one is hung quite low - but it's the perfect height when you look across whilst curled up on the sofa. 

Last weekend I rearranged the studio.  To make room for writing which has naturally led to procrastination and displacement crafting.  Um, it's almost a win-win I guess.

Now the never-going-to-tilt-like-it-should table is accessible from both sides to facilitate cutting.  Cutting of what, you may ask...

Crapotis

Finished the first clapotis that's for me.

It's knitted in Blue Sky Alpaca Silk in a pretty plum colour.  Though I found the yarn quite splitty.

You know how when you get towards the end, you drop two stitches per row; and it's not quite so much of a novelty or gratification to be unweaving those ladders, and so you're a little more blase about it.

And so you do this.

 

Bugger.

Lucy has suggested some fixes.  Duplicating stitches, frogging.  Scary.

Typepad, I hate you.

I hate you beyond words.

You know what they say - it's called a break-up because it's broken.  Well I think it might be time for a divorce.  I've more or less given up blogging because every time I try to write a post, I lose an hour's time - like tonight when yet again it hung and then I had to refresh to get the page back to the compose interface.  This has been happening every time I've tried to post for the last two months, more or less which is why I never update here any more.  It's slow and clunky and editing is horrendous.

I am failing to see the point of paying for a service which is so far from reasonable expectations so I think it might be time to shut this blog down.  Has anyone successfully transferred their posts out of typepad to another service? Or do I just start over?

ANY advice?  Or virtual gin? Mwah mwah x

PS not being able to comment - my bad.  Fixed now.

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:

 

And life goes on

Wow, how long has it been.  Had a ton of stuff written that Typepad kept eating but it all seems to be going a bit faster now so perhaps I'll try again.

Work is mental, busy all the time and doing a lot of overtime.  It is all in a good cause, I hope, more later on that. 

What have I been doing apart from working...well what else happened in SF.  After leaving Renegade Craft, I walked around by the coastal path, around to this iconic site.  By the time I got there it was dusk.

I happened on a small tented city and it was only after I spoke to a work colleague the following week that I found out what the Avon Walk was all about, though I'd seen scores of women, mostly dressed in shades of pink, trundling around various parts of the city.  I assumed it was a fun run - well, only if you call 26 miles on the Saturday and 13 miles on the Sunday 'fun'.  Mind you once upon a time I probably would have.

I was lucky enough to find a cab to bring me back to the city and rather than go my usual thing of no-fuss supper, I asked the concierge for a recommendation for somewhere wonderful to eat.  She directed me to Boulevard, a restaurant which preceded and survived the dot.com boom and bust, which is right across the street from the hotel. San Francisco is such a foodie town that apparently it's not uncommon for people to dine alone and I thought, yes, why not.  I was really glad I did because it was fabulous and the chef's counter is the best seat in the house.  Apart from causing severe menu envy 'Ooh I wish I'd ordered that'...

Sunday was another day of exploring.  Breakfast right on to a local vintage store where I bought some pretty scarves.  I walked around the Mission district and bought some presents, then lots of window-shopping.  In the evening I walked up the City Lights bookshop and bought Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen though I never got around to starting it.  Eventually it was back to the hotel to sit on the knitting couch and toil away at another few rows of the Clapotis - not that it's a chore, as finally it's one for me.

Our company runs a shuttle up to the office which I took the next day. We passed by Noe Knits and I wish I'd made a trip there because the neighbourhood looked really cool.  One more morning at work, an eleven hour flight back, and a fortnight to start sleeping right again... It was fab-u-lous! I want to go again! 

The reason for the season[al shopping]

The next stop was Imaginknit.
 

This picture gives you some idea of the scope of the place - there's a second room that's just as filled with yarny goodness.  The search was on for Malabrigo Worsted in Azul Profundo, and that's what I came away with, along with some laceweight Malabrigo in Marron Profundo for me.  Don't those names just sound magical in Spanish. So much selection here that it was also sort of bewildering.  I was sorry on Monday that I didn't make it to Noe Knits - don't think there would have been anything very interesting there but the neighbourhood looked like fun.

After that I decided to get myself in gear and get up to Fort Mason, and the reason for scheduling my work trip for last weekend - Renegade Craft! It took me quite a while to find Fort Mason and there wasn't any signage inside the compound which was annoying.  It was much bigger than last year's foray in New York but there wasn't as much that grabbed me - or that I grabbed.

Well Typepad is playing up again (h-a-t-i-n-g it at the moment, and it's slower than hell - wondering why I'm bothering to pay the $ for it) so just losta very long post about it all but I did find some complete treasures. 

Beautiful bears from Annie Galvin, aka Wexford Girl of 3 Fish Studios (with her husband who does wicked robots), a fellow Irishwoman and really friendly.  I bought two of her handpainted postcards. But I think the bears will be on my Christmas list.

Lots of fabulous earrings from Hannah Chile at Hannahmade, I have worn these about three times already.

Ok, have lost the rest of this post for the fourth time and it's getting very frustrating.  Will leave it here, more to come.

I'm baaaaaaaack!

The logistical and technological hiccups of the first twenty-four hours got sorted out. I wish I'd been able to explore Mountain View and the surrounding area a bit more (there are some good quilting shops around apparently, though none in San Francisco) but as I won't drive... Next time I travel I will tell the bank in advance so they don't cancel all my cards again.  I will also make sure my phone service provider has set up my account correctly.  Being stranded - no money or means of communication - was not fun.  Let's just say I am not an off-grid girl.

After a couple of days of working rather too hard  (up early to work in UK time, staying late in the office to meet up with people in the US, I got to go and play!  Yes, it was fabulous.  Add San Francisco to the list of Cities I'd Most Love to Live in Following a Huge Lottery Win.  I have even chosen the house I'd like:

It's on California and Franklin.  Lots of pretty houses around there. 

On Friday we went to the Latin American Club.  These reviews are pinpoint accurate and as funny as the place itself.  We also went to Esperpento for tapas ($12 each including tip!) and I got back to my hotel pleasantly hazy.  My tip for the Lat Am club is don't drink the cocktails - they are strong as hell.

My hotel room had that essential ingredient: a knitting couch.

Yarn tourism is a great way to see a city, seeking out those specialist shops.    Art Fibers was pretty close to my hotel though I did need to use Googlemaps to find it.  Lately I am incredibly directionally challenged. 

Roxanne, the owner of this store is super friendly and though ostensibly shopping for the lovely Lucy, I did find a few things for me.  Roxanne helped me to find some treasures and also the best match for Lucy's shopping list. En route to the next yarn store I stopped at Rare Device. Ooh, I fell in love with lots of prettiness there.  Lisa Congdon, the co-owner was there, really friendly.  I wanted to tell her how much I admire her work but the old 'she'll think I'm a stalker' instinct kicked in.  I bought cards and some of Lisa's magnets:

More on the trip later...and the shopping...and RC...