Flibbertygibbet

Bueller?

Can't believe it's flown by so quickly, this weekend.  A mixture of working and socialising, and a little bit of knitting.  Yesterday I met up with two lovely ladies, Ruth and Abi.  We stopped into Loop quickly and yet it took me a suprisingly short amount of time to do a considerable amount of damage to my credit card.

I met Ruth after we'd commented on each other's blogs, a couple of years ago now, and I went up and introduced myself to her at Origin.  I then got a bit embarrassed as it occurred to me that it was perhaps a slightly stalkerish thing to do.  Similarly, Abi and I met after I mentioned I was doing a market stall, she popped by and introduced herself. Her young daughters pointed out "Mum, if we said we were going to meet someone from the internet, you wouldn't let us out.'  Fair point, well made. I'm am glad, however, that all of these introductions did take place, and which led to coffee, cake and chatting about vintage handbags yesterday. 

Here's the last knitting project that will be completed for a while:

Easy ribbed handwarmers in SkeinQueen Cashmere Silk for a friend's birthday.  One of them is very late and the other one is only a little bit late.

In Loop yesterday I asked Abi when she was going to start knitting socks and she was more than game, so left with some very lovely Jitterbug. It's her first pair of socks, and we're going to have a bit of a KnitAlong.  I'm going to try my first pair of patterned socks (well, the horrendous garter rib ones don't count because they got frogged, even though they'd met the Yarn Harlot...)

Anyone else fancy joining in?  The idea would be to do something sockish that you haven't done before - either your first pair; magic loop when you've only knit with dpns; toe-up instead of top-down or vice versa...  leave a comment if you're interested.  There's no deadline for completion - well ok, let's say the end of the year. 

I'm going to try to Bellatrix socks in the new skein of Misti Alpaca. I'm also going to cast on with Lucy's handdyed because I just can't wait, and really want to see how they come out.  Also they will be stocking stitch so I should be able to work on them in company:  the Bellatrix will take more concentration from me so I'll be able to work on them on the tube etc but probably not when out.  That should keep me busy for a while.  Two pairs of socks running concurrently is just about right for me.

The other question I wanted to float out again was the idea of running the fabric swap again as a couple of people have asked about it. Details of the last one here - again, leave a comment if you're interested!

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. 

The times - are they a changin'?

I may have implied in my last post that I was about to fall off the earth for a month.  Not so.  It's just that there wasn't much I wanted to blog about.

Then lots of pressies arrived in the post.

This was the surprise from the lovely Julie, which I showed you all wrapped up.... my very own Little Knitted Cupcake!  You won't be surprised to hear that the workmanship is just perfect.  Adorable.  As some of you probably know, I have a thing for cupcakes, like a lot of us do.  Knitted, sewn, and also...

in pincushion form!

From the lovely Tamy, along with lots of other goodness in my first swap package from Round 3, and Julie also donated yarn for the newbie knitters at the Picknit tomorrow (surely extremely good learner-knitting mojo must come from yarn used for Little Cotton Rabbits?)  Tamy sent beautiful bright fabrics and also something that will come in handy for tomorrow - will put pics on the Flickr group.

This is a belated birthday present from an old friend who I saw last week.  I have been thinking "I must get a milk jug" and then put it out of my mind along with notions like "I must change over to my summer wardrobe', 'My life would enriched by matching napkins", "Making a souffle sounds like fun" and so on.

But it's perfect. 

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on Helene's blog: a copy of Marie Claire Idees.  Yes, I know you can allegedly buy it here, but I've never actually had my hands on a copy before.  Dangerous stuff. I could convince myself that I'm buying it just to improve my French.  Pas une mauvais idee... (zut, je dois plus practiquer - ou bien apprendre encore?) and Helene sent the most marvellous package of goodies along with it - thank you so much!

I went down to Cockpit Arts today to see Ruth - lots of lovely things on show from her.  I spent a while talking to Lissie Baldwin, who is just moving out of one of the studios there, and I completely fell in love with one of her Dolly's Dollar Pin-Up works.   Lisa Marklew's ceramics are utterly whimsical and covetable.  They can both go on the 'When I Become A Patron Of The Arts' list.

I've been thinking far too much recently - mainly because tomorrow would have been my second wedding anniversary, had we lasted that long.  I got copies of the decree nisi from the solicitor on Friday and being reminded of it again, in black and white, 'adultery with unnamed woman', 'irretrievably broken down', still hurts.  Horribly.  Actually it never goes away.  The corresponding drain on confidence which ensues - which is a lasting legacy for many women, I believe - that comes back to hit you in the teeth over and over. I actually got to the point recently where I started to think that maybe it's time to hang up the towel and move home.  Like, HOME home.  Ireland. Jesus Christ almighty.

Live in the country, like this lovely pillow from MCI. 

My mother,  bless her heart said something along the lines of 'sure, come home if you want, I just think you'd be mental to do it.'  She is almost certainly right.   I am getting the fear about buying 'my' lovely little flat but Mum tells me that it will all work out ok, so I choose to believe her.

So tomorrow I'll be in Regent's Park with a six foot knitted sheep, rather than a six foot husband.  I won't be swapping cotton gifts, I'll be knitting with it.   Swapping wedding cake for cupcakes.  Better get baking.

Ups and downs and ups and down

Yesterday I was bouncy-bouncy jubilant as there were three pieces of good news to report:

a:    that I had booked my trip to New York and Washington
b:    that my decree nisi was due today
c:    that my offer on flat V had been accepted

Today I am a little closer to ground level because

a:    trip is still happening and even better, P is going to be there to play one night as well, but I'm relying on money from
b:    the settlement, which it now turns out is nowhere near my bank account.  I'm furious with XH and his frankly cretinous solicitors.  Mind you, they are all useless bastards.  Sorry, that's just been my experience to date.  They've sent back none of the paperwork which XH says was filed weeks ago and have not replied to chasers from my equally bloody useless representation
c:  there is now a potential problem with my mortgage lender, in that I can't prove last year's income because I haven't filed a tax return yet (it's due but not for another couple of months I think).  It's a bit more difficult to get a self-cert mortgage, plus it's ex-local authority in East London so a lot of lenders are sniffy.  I wish they would pull their heads out of their arses.  Just how many of them have tried to get on to the property ladder recently?  You're looking at £250k for a one bed that isn't ex-local, assuming you can get hold of one. It's incredibly infuriating.

So I'm now on the hunt for an accountant.  My dad would guarantee a mortgage but he's based in another country so that might not work either.  It's a lot to think about.  Please cross your fingers for me that this isn't going to be a stumbling block.  I feel that little flat is destined to be mine.  I just have to keep hoping that. 

And to take my mind off things, Dad's birthday socks are going well.

PS SWAP PEOPLE due to my present crapness, I did manage to buy my fabrics for my partners but I don't have them packaged up yet.  In the spirit of 'it's my party and I'll cry if I want to,' I'm extending all the deadlines by a week.  So get those packages in the post by the 22nd! 

Sveden, you woz robbed

I had a long debrief with my mum this morning about the Eurovision.  We both agreed (as was the consensus last night when I watched it with P, F and C, that Ireland deserved to come last - oh the shame - and that Sweden was robbed.  Watch them and I challenge you to not walk around humming 'Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes' all day.

I went to the London group sewing Meet Up yesterday.  Zoe, who runs it, is great and we had a mutual bag envy thing going on - so we traded!  One of my Dirty Weekend bags in pink for this beauty:

It's lined with pink gingham, then the chihuahua is stencilled on to a vintage sheet and then she sewed clear vinyl over it.  It rocks!  And it will be perfect for carrying socks to the last days of Tuesday knitting group - as I'm hoping to start working soon, Foyles may be a luxury I have to relinquish soon.  I started socks at the Dove the other day, for my Dad's birthday, in a Lana Grossa colourway that I've now decided is too girly, so it's been removed off the needles to four safety pins and I'm going for something browner.  More Daddyish.

After the Dove, and before Eurovision, C and I went back to Flat W.  Did I mention my offer was accepted?  When we left the agent, I already had a good idea of C's views, as I'd overheard one side of her phone conversation in the car as I was making small talk with the agent, when her hubby was asking what she had thought... we got out of the car and I immediately said 'So you didn't like it then?'  She explained that firstly she didn't think it was well-finished, and pointed out many things I hadn't noticed, and I'd already seen a few, and then came out with the clincher:

"I don't think it's very you".

And that's the key, really, isn't it?  I'm not blank white walls, glossy white kitchen, windowless bathroom: hell, I'm not ground floor.  I am mismatched dining room chairs, cake stands and tea-sets, flowery cushions on squishy sofas with stuffing hanging out.* 

I think I have to admit that I'm slightly more chaos than order.  Perhaps I'd been veering towards a classic trap that women exiting a long-term relationship frequently fall prey to - it's the over-riding desire to get out, out quickly. And was tempted by the first place I saw, which ticked some boxes but had just as many cons and pros. As C said of it: 'that was a ready-meal kitchen'.  The ultimate insult.

So the mogs will have to get used to a balcony rather than the run of a couple of gardens - so goes it.  So I'll have to get my renovation hat (overalls?) on again.  So be it.  C and I are going to see Flat V together tomorrow evening if I can get an appointment, so she can use her x-reay vision on it.  I fear that by tomorrow I'll be seeing more with my heart than my head, the classic trap.  Ironically Flat W was totally a head decision - it just would have been the wrong one. 
Of course it all has to go well and then I'd have to get Flat V for the right price - having done my research, it's on for far, far too much. I walked around there again today, and it felt right. But no getting excited about new kitchens and rugs and lampshades until we get a few stages further on.  Then we can start on about movers and packing and freshly painted white walls.

*For what I aspire to, see the profile on Emily Chalmers in this month's Elle Decoration.  When I is growed up.

PS if you're in the swap, you should have had an email today with your partners' details...

Are you in?

Ok, so the sign-ups are closed* for the the 3rd round of the fabric swap, you'll be getting your partners' info via email in a few days.

This is a list of all the participants:

Sarah P
Tamy
Sarah A
Sarah G
Justine
Dawn
Penny
Jane
Kristen Mary
Mary
Caroline
Steph
Ann
Tamy
Suzie
Samantha
Kerrie
Cathy
Anna
Kahne
Jade

A wonderfully talented bunch of ladies and I'm sure that the packages will fab!

If you thought you signed up for the swap, but don't see your name here, then email me asap and I'll see what I can do.  My spam filter is a bit over enthusiastic so I may have missed some emails.

*I'm a bit of a pushover.  If you read this and though 'oh no! I really meant to sign up!' then get in touch today and I'll put it in today.

Swap Round 3

Yup, it's that time again.  And we're back to me running it myself - to be honest, using Swap-Bot didn't make things any easier.  I hope that lots of you will join in, though this time there will be a limit to the amount of places in the swap to make it possible to administrate it and I am going to try to keep to the deadlines!

Here's the fine print:

• Sign-ups for the third round of the fabric swap are open now*, and to join in you need to email me, boutique [at] flibbertygibbet <dot> [co] <dot> {uk} or use the 'Email me' button above, with the following details:
  - your (real!) name
  - your postal address
  - your email address
  - your blog if you have one and would like your swap partners to be able to check it out to see what you're into.  And I'll send you the code for the great button that Justine designed, which you see in the sidebar - thank you, lovely lady!
  
• Sign-ups will close on the 7th of May, assuming that all the spots haven't already been filled before then.

• For this swap, you will send THREE co-ordinating STRIPS of 100% cotton fabric to 2 SWAP PARTNERS.  The strips should be 4 inches/ 10 centimetres wide, and the length of the fabric from selvedge to selvedge which will be approximately 42-44 inches, or 107-112 centimetres long.  Feel free to add in extras - check out the Flickr group to see what's been sent and received in the past.

• You'll receive your swap partners' postal addresses and contact details by the 12th May and you should send your packages off by the 20th May.  If you haven't received both your packages by 10th June, let me know!  This is an international swap, so please be aware that your partners may be anywhere, (most exotic locale to date - Uraguay) so you need to be happy to ship internationally.

Happy Swapping!!!

Confession time

There were a lot of rubbery arms in Liberty.  Knitterooney's arm got twisted into snaking forwards and grabbing some beautiful deep red Kidsilk Haze, amongst other bits and pieces, though it did take us a while - she was sticking to her "I have given up yarn for Lent" vow most devoutly until Dollie Daydream 'explained' that Lent wasn't about giving things up, rather it's about doing good deeds.  Being kind of karmic, you know.  Knitterooney will be out feeding stray little old ladies, watering kittens, and helping plants to cross the road for the next week (or something like that) in penance - I'm just hoping she got home in time to stash the stash before it was spotted.  I did offer to shelter it at my place for a while, till the heat dies down...

Dollie was actually very restrained in her purchases, and came back bearing a medium-to-large sized bag, I was impressed. 
Then she caved and snared the fabulous birdie fabric, hah!

I was probably the worst of the lot.  Though this morning I rationalised that I did actually stick to my budget because the biggest piece of material is actually a gift for someone else - for G's baby's dress.

I bought the piece in the middle - a Kaffe Fassett print to tie in both my Swap Strips from the January Strip (arranged around the top right/right) and the Purl Soho fabrics that Helen brought back from New York.  There's more to be liberated from the stash for this but I'm very excited about my quilt now!

Because I am obsessed by cupcakes at the moment, but resisting making two dozen for myself (though it was suggested at knitting that I shouldn't hold back, I could just go for it and then bring them into Foyle's on the Tuesday morning - which I am considering, if I can figure out a way to transport them safely) I went for this low-fat option instead:

It's going to be an apron.  I'm pretty sure of that.

Hey, question:  I'm trying to find jumbo ric rac, for the new Tie One On apron theme. I have seen the skinny stuff, in Liberty funnily enough, but I'd like to get some of the chunky one.  Does anyone know anywhere in London or any UK online sellers that stock the thicker versions?  I have seen it on US websites and that's probably where I'll end up, but if anyone knows anywhere local, please shout.  I wonder if VV Rouleaux does it...

And I'm slowly getting this crochet business on the go: I've got the yarn (see below - plus there's some cotton in the stash that might work too.)  I've got the venue (round our kitchen table).  I've got the tutor and the participants.  Now I just need to put them all together.

A trip to the post office is almost overdue, there's about eight separate things to go out - just a few more bits to put  together for the fabric swap.  Here's the sneakiest of sneak previews...

Just to remind you...

The next round of the Flibbertygibbet Fabric Swap is coming up again shortly - we've got some veterans returning, and lots of newbies.  Here's the updated blogroll*...

Jennifer
Helen
Helen
Jade
Kahne
Sheila
Abi
Annabelle
Anna
Arwen
Dawn
Amanda
Evelyn
Heidi
Renee
Eren
Paula
Evelyn
Catherine
Mika
Ann
Justine
Kristen
Diane

* have I left anyone off the list? sorry for continual updating - links dropping out...

Come on, you know you want to...

The Flibbertygibbet Fabric Swap - Round 2!

As the swap seems to have gone swimmingly, with most people having received both packages and just a few still in transit (and one missing which is being rectified) , we're going to do it again!  You can see some of the swag here and here and here and here and if Blogger was cooperating I'd be able to show you more.  Oh, and there's the Flickr group too.

Hopefully lots of you will participate again, and I know that there are a few people who missed out in January who said they'd like to play this time around. 

What:
Send three co-ordinating strips of 100% cotton fabric, 10 cm/4 inches wide, cut from selvedge to selvedge which will be between 102-112cms/40-44 inches.  It would be nice to let your swap partner know whether the fabrics are prewashed or not. Check your partner's profile page to get a little more info about them and their tastes, plus there'll be a list of participants' blogs, where applicable, on here.  But otherwise it's a Forrest Gump swap, you never know what you're gonna get, so don't be too prescriptive.

Extras are optional but of course always welcome, if you look at the Flickr group you'll see the sorts of things that people sent last time if you're so inclined.

How:
Although it was fun drawing all the names out of a hat (ok, a Liberty bag) last time, I did end up switching some around so that you received packages from different people than you were sending to and then got my little self all confused.  So we're going to do it as a private swap on Swap-bot and in order to join, you need to email me for the link and password. You will also need to sign up for a Swap-bot account if you don't have one already - it's free.

When:
Sign-ups are open now, and will close on the 1st March, which is when you get the addresses of your swap partners, and your packages should be winging their way to the lucky recipients by the 20th of March.

What else:
Please get proof of postage, insurance is optional. Enjoy!

 

PS Can anyone help me to make a button for it? Can't remember how I did it last time!