Style Files

I'm going through a mini obsession with sewing and fashion blogs at the moment. Over the past few weeks I dug out the sewing machine and pieced together a quilt top for a simple throw for the couch, bought a Japanese book of coats for men, and started planning fabrics for a new coat for myself. Meanwhile (and in part while I'm waiting for my measurements to stabilise, what with the weight loss and all) reading about sewing is almost as good as doing. To whit:

• Unsung Sewing Patterns: an archeology of home sewing. Andrea's blog documents her experiment in sewing garments from old patterns and her research into the history of home sewing. What makes her blog fascinating is her focus on the unsung more utilitarian side of things; everyday garments, children's play clothes, workwear, costumes and clothes (like nautical styled "middy" blouses) that had a context that seems obscure to us now.
  
• Colette Patterns Blog. The Colette Patterns blog is attached to the commercial Colette Patterns website and is written primarily by the company founder and designer Sarai Mitnick. What I love about this blog are the fantastic how tos, the technical articles (a recent series about fabrics was very good) but especially the excellent profiles of vintage designers. These snapshots of past designers are a great intro and springboard for further research, and I love that some of the designers are influential but perhaps not that well known.
  
• OutsaPop is an English language blog by Finish blogger Outi with a particular focus on luscious photography, young designers, sustainable fashion and remade and recycled clothing and accessories. Her "trashion" as she puts it. Outi is so insanely cool and stylish, has a great eye, and has even styled a pop band with her "trashion". We are not worthy.

The World Has Gone Mad For Yarn

At least that's how it felt today.

Yesterday I pulled a 12 hour work day, getting ready for our annual Winter yarn sale at work. We finally crawled out of the store at 9 o'clock last night, tired, a little sore (all that up and down ladders is telling on my middle aged bones) and a lot exhausted. By the time I battled the wintry night, and a drunken Friday night crowd on the train, I was well and truly ready for bed.

Except, as often happens, it took me until midnight to unwind enough to actually go to bed.

So today I was already feeling a bit worn when I arrived at work, and that was before the onslaught. Our Winter Sale is always busy. Winter for knitters is like Christmas for kids, the source of much anticipation and excitement. And socks (except in this case they're not a disappointing present from your Nan).

OMG. Busy doesn't even begin to cut it. We took our in store record for the biggest opening day of the Winter Sale and we smashed it to pieces. From 9am we didn't not have a queue at the counter. In fact at times it stretched through the store to the back door. Everyone was unfailingly polite and friendly, which made a crazy day that could have been horrendous quite fun instead. People queued, they were gracious when we apologised for the wait, they even helped each other out and let people in a hurry with small purchases go ahead. Meanwhile I was stunned when I put through a sale for over $1,600 (OF. YARN.) ad then I saw one of my co-workers put one through for over $2,000.

We officially close at 4pm on a Saturday, but we only closed the door at 5.45pm.

By the time I walked out into another cold and wet night I was completely and thoroughly knackered. Bed soon methinks.

Knitting Weather

After an Indian Summery start to Autumn, suddenly it's all rainy and dark and it feels like Winter is just around the corner. As I write this it's bucketing down outside, so hard that I've had to crank up the volume on the teev just hear to Russell's machinations on Survivor. (Sorry, Evil Russell I should say). Now I'm wishing that I was further along in the jumper I've been knitting!

Speaking of knitting, remember the piece I designed and knitted for work? I discovered today that yesterday someone was so in love with the window sample that they bought it right out of the window! We do sell our shop samples but they are really expensive. By the time we've paid a sample knitter for their time to make it, plus added in the cost of the yarn (in this case 12 balls of yarn that sell for $10.90 a pop) you're looking at an expensive garment.

In one sense it's almost a pain to sell the samples, because we have to find an available sample knitter to make another and in that time the sales of the patterns and yarns for that item usually grind to a halt. I'm dead chuffed that someone liked it enough to buy it though!

Meanwhile, back to the knitting. That jumper won't make itself.

With Heurisitic Intentions

These days my regular work week in the yarn store is Tuesday to Saturday, and one of my semi-regular Saturday afternoon gigs is to teach the knitting classes. I figure that now that I've taught my third Beginners Knitting classes, and one Intermediate Knitting class, I can accurately describe myself as a Knitting Teacher. I teach, therefore I am (one, that is).

It's tiring, as the class is 3 hours of being 'on', but we limit the class to 10 people and that's much more manageable than trying to teach a huge group. I get to spend plenty of time with each person and demonstrate the techniques one on one. Bringing the Magic of Knitting into their lives from my evangelican pulpit.

I used to teach people how to use bookkeeping software years ago, and enjoyed the one on one tutoring, but I was a little hesitant to start teaching a group. Despite indicators to the contrary (ie: blogging) I'm not normally one who enjoys the spotlight. (I prefer the Left of Centre to the Centre of Attention.)

But I'm loving it. We hand out feedback forms at the end of each class and my students have been most generous in their praise. Sometimes it pains me to see that some people struggle to get it, but hand/eye coordination is just not some people's bag. It become obvious that some have never attempted anything creative before, and are not brilliant with the fine motor skills that come with any form of art or craft.

On the other hand the rewards can be amazing. I taught my first intermediate class last weekend and 3 of my students from a previous beginners class were there. (Puffed up with pride would pretty much cover it.) Then today I had a really fun group that included one young woman who was intellectually disabled (her own description).

I met her during the week when she dropped in to show me some of her first attempt at knitting, and to discuss whether I thought she'd be able to do the class. Today she came along and she did brilliantly. She already knew the basics of the knit stitch, but I taught her how to cast-on, purl and cast off. At the end of the class she must have thanked me at least half a dozen times, and she couldn't wait to get home and show her family how much more she'd learnt.

Actually it's her I needed to thank, because it made for one of the most rewarding afternoons I've ever had at work.

A Little Piece

Nomotta yarns were right, a little piece of you does go into everything you knit!

Here's a pic of something that a lot of me went into, the 'Logan' oversized neckwarmer that I designed and sample knitted for the Autumn fashion windows at the store I work at:



It's not overly complicated, essentially just a huge tube of 2x2 rib, but I wanted it to be something that was dramatic and a real statement piece. (This is not a child's mannequin I shot this on, but a full sized adult one. This thing is BIG.)

I was inspired by some of the chunky knits that have made their way down catwalks recently, and by some of the early works of Sandra Backlund, so I worked this in 2 strands of 8ply (aka 'double knit') held double on chunky circular needles. Even with the chunky needles it soaked up the yarn like a sponge (12 balls in total) and took me quite a while to knit. Knitting to a deadline is not as much fun as knitting for pleasure, and as the deadline for the window display approached I spent much of my free time knitting this behemoth.

I was originally going to make it a bit smaller, but our in house designer suggested I really go for it dimensions wise. I was worried that it wouldn't work after I cast it off as being rib it stretches out to a HUGE size when you hold it up, but I always imagined it as something that could be twisted up dramatically like this, or pulled up as a hood. Combined with the other 4 garments in the window (all variations on this tubular neckwarmer/cowl idea or big textured wraps) it makes a really dramatic statement and is probably one of the more high fashion windows we've tried. I've noticed lots of younger women stopping to look at them, and we've already had offers to buy the samples outright (including one woman who wanted all of them).

We've had a whole second set of samples made for our Melbourne store in different colours (their "Logan" is a warm French grey), which thankfully I didn't have to knit. Tomorrow I'm catching the red eye to Melbourne to do a store visit, look at how we can improve their visual merchandising in general, and help install their version of the windows. Fun!

Except for the bit where I have to be at the airport at 6.10am...

Craft Show Shenanigans

Those of you who warned me that Thursday was going to be a long day, no matter how much planning we put into it, were right! (See my previous post.) It wasn't helped by the fact that my boss arrived a half hour early. He was supposed to pick me up at 6.30am, but when my alarm went off at 6 I noticed there was a message flashing on my phone from 5.52am. Sorry I'm late, I'll be there in 5 minutes.

What. The. Fuh?

He had gotten himself all confused, half remembered a conversation where I suggested quarter to 7 was early enough and at quarter to 6 thought he was running late. A minute later he rang as he was a little lost, while I'm throwing on clothes unshowered and uncaffeinated and cursing like a truckstop hooker.

The rest of the day went pretty well, the 2 hour drive was uneventful and I didn't get us lost, and the stall set up was smooth but long. I was the only one with a real handle on how the thing went together, so even though I gave the others plans of how it was to be merchandised of course I ended up doing most of it while the other 2 chatted, futzed, stopped me with lots of questions or got distracted. I was so tired and over it by afternoon I even snapped at my boss that he might like to unfold his arms and put some of the emptied tubs back on the transport pallet.

Ooops. Note to self, watch that acid tongue.

Thankfully he is a cool guy and later apologised for not having done all that much, and thanked me for a great job. Okay then.

We finally left at 4 in the afternoon for a 2 hour drive home, making it a 6 to 6 day. He bought me a quick dinner near my place and by 8 I was falling asleep on the couch. The show stand looked good, we learnt a few lessons about how we could improve it for next time, and had a quick look at other stands to get more ideas. A tiring but productive day.

Road Trip!

Ugh, I should have gone to bed already! Tomorrow morning I have to be up at sparrow's twit because my boss is picking me at 6.30 AM for a 2 hour road trip. We are Newcastle bound, to set up an exhibitor booth at a large craft fair. This time around the yarn store where I work decided to try something a little different, and we have created a whole new layout and merchandise for the company's stand.

At only 3m x 2m the booth is small, but we wanted to try and maximise its potential. My bosses gave me almost free reign to source fixtures, plan the layout and create packaging for a new set of kits we'll be trialling. The store has a collection of their own yarns that they have released in the past year, as well as exclusive patterns. So I've worked hard to create attractive kit packaging, and we now have a bunch of pretty cool kits of pattern + yarn in all sorts of price points. Most of which feature their own yarns, with a few that feature other popular yarns.

The fair doesn't start until Friday, but tomorrow is set-up day and we have a woman who subcontracts with us to run the booth who so far hasn't seen any of the radical revamp we've done on it. So in the morning my boss and I are heading to the location to work with her to set up the booth and lay out all the merchandise. I've packaged it, planned it to within an inch of its life, drawn planograms, packed the tubs with stock even... and now I'm pretty confident it should all come together.

Unless I navigate as badly as I did last week when my boss and I went to look at shop fixtures, and ended up about an hour out of our way and on the road to Canberra. Oops.

Guerrillas In The Midst

"Guerrilla knitting" (aka "knit tagging" or "urban knitting") and crochet has been around for a while now, but locally seems to have been back in the public eye again just recently. A guerrilla knitter was 'tagging' the columns in the ABC foyer during the ABC702 Knit-In that I wrote about recently, and on a very local level bits of guerrilla knitting have been cropping up around my 'hood of Newtown.

A new example in Camperdown Rest Park, Newtown.

The other day when I was at work in the yarn store, I sold some Australian made 'self-striping' sock wool to a woman who was heading off to the US to meet some other knitters and get her guerrilla knit on.

Tagging with a spray can or paint marker I can't support, but this kind of non damaging tagging I love. Like many things that spring up in the alt craft community, the origins are shady and various claim have been made about who had the idea first. It seems likely though that the best candidate for inventing the idea is the Knitta crew, who have been knit tagging since 2005.

Whomever it was, the idea certainly took root fast and knitted 'tags' started cropping up all over. Some international examples are the Swedes Masquerade, Knit Sea and Niclas & Jonny of KnittUps, and Chicago's The Micro-fiber Militia. Another website, The Knitted Landscape, has many great examples contributed from all over the world.

My favourites are examples where a specific and unlikely object has been wrapped, transforming it into something different. For style, colour and the sheer joy it gives me, my all time favourite piece of guerilla knitting is this maritime piece from Sweden by Masquerade. So gorgeous and unexpected.

Another tagged tree in Camperdown Rest Park, Newtown.

I find guerrilla knitting as being somewhere between graffiti style tagging, street art, murals and even performance art. The act of wrapping an object in something soft, handmade and colourful makes us look at the object differently. It's part joke, part leaving a mark to say "I was here", part civil disobedience, part advertisement for just how cool craft can be, and partly a gift of fun to the community. It's certainly non harming, and quite charming in my eyes. There is a great post on Deputy Dog which calls it the "world's most inoffensive graffiti".

Similarly, some artists have used ephemeral and community based knitting projects to great effect. Josie Schimke created the beautiful A Tree Undone at Burning Man in 2007. A 9 foot tall artificial tree was clad in hundreds of knitted leaves contributed by individual knitters, with the specific instructions that the knitting not be properly bound off. The wind, and Burning Man attendees, where then invited to unravel the leaves throughout the course of the festival. Josie has posted albums of in progress photos and one of the tree in situ. Fabulous!

If any of my local Sydney peeps see anymore guerrilla knitting about I'd love to know. Just email me the location to andrewmr(at)ihug(dot)com(dot)au!

Knitter #328, Media Whore

Early (OMG, early) on Friday morning I headed into the ABC radio and tv headquarters in Ultimo for the ABC702 Knit In. The knit in is an annual event which first began in 2002, and is a focal point for the charity Wrap With Love. 28 25cm x 25cm knitted or crocheted squares are sewn together to form single bed sized blanket 'wraps', which are given to people who would otherwise not have something warm to wrap themselves in. In Wrap With Love's own words "Cold humanity is our concern, humans caring about other humans."


I arrived shortly after 7am, just after the doors opened, and was already the 328th knitter through the doors. I had to leave about 8.20am to head off to work but by then there was something like 600+ people there. Later in the morning they set a world record for the largest number of people knitting simultaneously for 15 minutes at just under 600 people, and estimates of total attendees were at well over 970 (which was the number where the door volunteers stopped counting). In addition to the knitters there was a large group of people sitting sewing or crocheting together completed squares that had been turned in, to make finished wraps.

Some completed wraps on display.

Late yesterday afternoon I went to the monthly underwear party at my local leather bar, and as it turned out one of the guys there was at the Knit In crocheting squares together. Small world, eh?

Highlight of the morning was being asked up on stage and interviewed for the ABC702 morning radio show.

Angela Caterns and myself, grinning like a fool. Photo by James O'Brien.

James has very kindly put up an mp3 of the interview here. Listen for the bits where the male interviewer, Adam Spencer, exhibits a total lack of gaydar by asking me about a) rugby league and b) meeting chicks. Cue nervous laugh from me.

On the ABC website there is a gallery of pics from the event (which curiously I don't appear in) and a video of the news story that appeared on the ABC evening news (likewise, without me, and frankly these oversights needs to be dealt with). Later in the day I even had some knitters come into the yarn store I work in 2 days a week and mention they had heard the interview.

A fun morning, and a lovely way to share the enjoyment of your craft while doing something meaningful for others.

5 Things About The Week That Was

• Home computron still hasn't gone in for repairs yet. Working 2 jobs for 6 days a week has meant that I haven't had a chance to get into the Apple store yet. They had better really be geniuses when I get there, let me tell you.
  
• I am really enjoying working 2 days a week at the yarn store... sore feet, nutty customers and all. Yes the pay is crapola, but I've been genuinely having fun working retail again and the occasional nut adds a bit of spice to the day (and throws all the lovely customers into sharp relief). Nobody has challenged my y-chromosome based knitting authority yet, in fact I've so far made some nannas twinkle with delight, pushed the Courthouse Hotel pub knitting Sundays to some right-on sistas, and even got to serve (I wish) a truly, truly hot male knitter. Yes I have his phone number (for stock holding purposes) and no, I won't abuse the privilege. Sadly.
  
• Speaking of knitting, I've been wearing my new scarf almost constantly since I cast-off on Thursday night. Loving. It. I made this! Common sense prevailed, after a brief internal battle I decided not to wear it to bed.
  
• Hung-over today. I went to a party with young James O'Brien last night, and as the party was only 2 streets away from my favourite leather bar Manacle, of course we ended up there about 1am. Oy. (Yes the above mentioned scarf was on and looked lovely, even if 'art fag' isn't my usual Manacle look.)
  
• Of course, as you would expect my next destination is a pub, but this time for Sunday knitting. If only I could entice Hot Male Customer to join us?... and suddenly we're back at knitting, boys and booze. Such is the week that was.

Checking In, And Not Checking Out

Hey there! Computer still dead, but despite a possible, almost, no kidding it was that close brush with potential death (or at least wounding) myself, I'm still here. It has been a curious week.

Adding to my list of new experiences I was working on a file archiving project in a bank branch last Tuesday when it was held up by a guy with a sawn-off shotgun. For reals! I was working in a little office off the main banking area, so when I heard a scream, a loud crash and then all sorts of commotion, it took a little while for me to figure out what was going on. My first thought was that a car had mounted the footpath and struck the glass sliding doors at the front of the bank, but when I stuck my head out of the office and saw people cowering behind desks I decided to jump back into the office kind of sharpish. Beckoning a young couple who were standing confusedly just outside the office to come on in and join me out of the line of sight. There was commotion, confusion, a few more screams and it wasn't until the police showed up very soon after that I found out the bang was a sawn-off shotgun being fired.

Long story short, for want of anything else better to do I went back into the office and finished my work. Can you say strong work ethic? The rest of the day was a strange combination of finishing up my work, waiting around, being questioned by police, dodging the media outside the (now closed) bank and listening to the senior bank staff tell tales of other robberies. There is a particular sort of jollity, camaraderie and bravado that seems to come after a shared scary experience like this. I left after giving the particularly cute bear cub of a police officer my phone number (strictly for professional reasons, you understand) and just as the counsellor arrived to speak to all of the bank's staff.

The rest of the week was rather less dramatic and a lot more pleasant; dinner with a friend, more archiving work at some other thankfully unrobbed bank branches, some quiet nights in trying to figure out if/how/when I could claim Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (kidding!) and then a lovely weekend spent in the mountains with some knitting buddies visiting from New Zealand. The weekend was fun, gorgeous scenery, great companionship, heaps of knitting by the fire and even a sock finally cast-off! If my computer was working I'd post some pics, but until then imagine mountains, limestone caves, a bunch of us bundled against the cold and the smile of satisfaction that somes with a finished sock.

Alchemy

While I've been sitting at home with my cold, or waiting for the phone to ring with offers of highly paid and fascinating employment, I've been knitting. There is something so therapeutic about the gentle interplay of needles and thread. The rhythmic click and clack, the unwinding of some more yarn from a ball or spindle, the feel of the yarn as it slides over and through your fingers. While I've been staying in and trying to gently shepherd my precious (as in scarce!) financial resources, knitting has provided a useful barrier between me and daytime tv.

Dumb tv is only half as dumb if you're only half watching.

Even better if you hit upon a project that grows like Topsy, instant gratification knitting! Two thin Japanese threads, one a slubby silk and the other a silk wrapped stainless steel filament, held together and knitted on chunkier 5mm needles. 20 stitches wide in simple garter stitch and going like the clappers!



Knit. Turn. Knit. Turn... A long, long skinny scarf with asymmetrical ends to be wound around and around, with a beautiful drape but a curious texture and heft from the stainless steel thread. A scarf that says part art fag and part this wearer knows their Rei Kawakubo from their Yohji Yamamoto. A scarf in haiku.



Not exactly spinning straw into gold but there is some sort of alchemy at work here. Stainless steel into fabric. Who would have thought?

Catching Up

Sorry for the lack of blog posts since late last week, a combination of a very busy weekend and some technical blogging difficulties has meant that when I was at home (which wasn't much) I had trouble getting online. Annoyment! If getting online was frustrating, it was certainly offset by the rest of the weekend.

But first, the new temp job I started on Friday is ok. It's archiving files for a major bank, which entails opening the file, looking for some pertinent pieces of information, sticking the file with a barcode sticker and recording the info on a tally sheet. Rinse. Repeat (times several thousand). Not riveting work, but searching through the files for the info stops it from being an entirely dumb repetitive exercise. Small entertainments can be found in things like spotting a financial advisor named Crooks. (Very small entertainments, however.) I've always been one to find entertainment in the oddest places.

Saturday was Worldwide Knit in Public Day! My third one, which means that given that I had just started knitting when I went to the first one I have been knitting for a little over 2 years now.



The numbers were up this year, around 80 people! Fellow diners at the cafe we took over must have wondered what the hell was going on. The cafe is located in a prime tourist area, so I can just imagine some overseas visitors thinking man, these crazy Aussies must LOVE knitting!



And we also love beverages.

Saturday night I caught up with a friend for a few drinks and dinner, and tried the restaurant attached to one of the local pubs. I hadn't eaten there before, and although my meal was a little overcooked it was a real refreshing change to have an old style pub meal. Steve was meeting up with friends who were in town from interstate, and by the time midnight rolled around quite frankly I wasn't up for kicking on further. (Age shall most definitely weary them.) So we parted ways and Steve no doubt partied on to the small hours.

Sunday was kind of miserable; grey, cold and rainy. Undaunted though a small but enthusiastic group of us met at the Courthouse Hotel for knitting at the pub (as usual). Knitting and alcohol consumption may not seem a likely (or advisable) mix, but it seems like they were the 2 constants for my weekend. Afterwards I met up with my friend Christopher and we headed off to... an underwear party at my local leather bar.

Cue more alcohol consumption.

So, a big weekend. Tonight I'm understandably a tad weary and jaded, snuggled on the couch under a throw rug in my cold, cold house. It's freezing! Curse you winter. Tonight will be an early night with a book to read, probably with a hot water bottle, before another day of file flipping tomorrow.

Crafty: Or, Nanna Dodging For Beginners

I decided to use today, my last day of slacking for a while hopefully, to get my craft shopping on. First off I hoofed it over to The Fabric Remnant Warehouse shop on Botany Rd to check out their sale (turns out it was patchwork fabrics only) and grab some of the notions I needed to finish making the jacket I patterned recently. I was stoked to find proper tailor's hair canvas interfacing for $1.75 a metre, even though it's the cotton/rayon version rather than the old fashioned (and more expensive) wool/cotton/goat hair combination, it's still good value and exactly what I was looking for. (And no goaty smell.) Once I had that and the threads I needed I headed into the city to visit the Craft & Quilt Fair at Darling Harbour.

The Craft & Quilt Fair is a weird beast. I go mostly for the knitting yarns, and really there isn't all that many vendors selling yarns compared to the tchotchke/scrapbooking/patchwork/bead vendors. But the ones that are there usually have some pretty cool stuff that's hard to find elsewhere, unless you order online. Frankly, I'm a yarn fingerer... I like to walk around, kick the tyres and check under the hood, so to speak. There must be stroking and frotting before I dump my cash. Once you factor in the cost of getting into the Fair itself it's a fairly expensive way to buy yarn, but I go because it's an opportunity to get up close and personal with yarn I might not see elsewhere.

The biggest downside to the Fair (aside from endless stalls selling stuff I'm not into) is that it's kind of like shopping with a couple of elderly aunts x 300 or so. The aisles are wide but they could never be wide enough. For a start you can tell the stalls that have discount card making supplies because the crowd of elbowing nannas is 3 or 4 deep. Add in to that the slow walking pace, stopping without warning and standing in the middle of the aisle to rummage in one's bag that accompanies shopping with the elderly and it's a recipe for stop start frustration.

However, all that aside there was some pretty cool stuff and I was really pleased to see a stall with a wide range of Habu yarns. Habu is a US based company that sells amazing speciality yarns from Japan, many of which are made of things like linen 'paper', or fine stainless steel wrapped in silk or wool. I was a bit spoilt for choice, but in the end I settled on a cone of the Silk & Stainless Steel in a lovely dove grey and a cone of the Tsumugi Silkin a nubly mix of lightish greys, for a bit under $40.



The stainless steel yarn is based on a manufacturing process that was developed for industry, where a super fine filament of stainless steel wire was wrapped in a cotton covering. Amazing! This stuff is a fine as sewing thread, but when held double with another fine yarn and knit on fairly large needles you can achieve some interesting results. It handles like a fabric with quite a bit of stiffness even though it looks fine and lacy, and if 'scrunched' will hold that shape. I thought I'd have a shot at knitting these 2 yarns together to make a scarf for myself.

So, pleasant and productive day... despite the need for nanna dodging!

Project Rungay

Here's the way my mind works. I have a big, important project with a very definite short time frame - namely, job hunting. In truth I'm finding the thought of it a bit overwhelming. So of course I've been spending my time... learning pattern drafting and starting to design a jacket for myself. See how that works? La la la I'm not listening. Oh look, shiny!

(Actually I have sent off one application, and left a couple of messages with my old temp agency... but frankly I could be doing more.)

A few months back I bought a fab book Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear by Winifred Aldrich. Winifred (don't you love it?) teaches you how to use standard measurements, or your own, to design all sorts of basic pattern blocks which can then be adapted to create unique designs. Given that my own shape is a somewhat unique design (short and stocky) I decided to use my measurements and draft some basic garment blocks.



First up the 'classic casual jacket' block, a close fitting jacket block with minimal shaping. So it's slightly boxy without being oversized. The shoulders fit the natural shoulder line, and the chest and hips are fairly close fitting. I also drafted the 'basic one-piece sleeve' block, then cut them both out of some scrap cotton I had and bunged them together. The cotton is a bit lightweight and wrinkly for the job, but it's what I had on hand. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that not only did the sleeve fit the armhole like a charm, but the entire thing fits me brilliantly.



Since then I've been tinkering with different collar designs (the one above is the 'standard convertible collar'), jacket length, whether to have a button or zip closure, pockets, and even epaulets. I have a lovely lightweight navy wool and I'm thinking of making a slightly military style hip length jacket, with epaulets and possibly 4 patch pockets. Fun! Thank you Winifred.

Tomorrow, job hunting. I promise.

Fabric Mayhem!

I have fat quarters.

If someone had said that about me only a few months ago I would have assumed they were talking about my ass, but no. No! God help me but I have started buying quilting fabric. Frankly I need another craft in my life like the world economy needs another bank closure, but The Lure Of The Fabric has suckered me in.


One way they sell quilting fabric is in roughly 50cm x 50cm cut pieces that are called Fat Quarters. My favourite fabric store was having a 25% off sale yesterday, so I swung by just for a look. (The way crack addicts seek out dealers, just to keep abreast of current pricing.) At $3.75 a piece after discount, the pretty pretty fabrics had me.


I'm thinking that I might combine the blues and greens together, with lots of white in between to break it up, into one quilt. I like modern styles of quilts like this one, this one, this one, this one and pretty much every design this woman comes up with.


And I loved these charcoal and pale grey squares! I'm thinking of doing something along the lines of a freeform 'log cabin' style quilt with lots of white, some rich greys, a touch of black, and maybe a couple of spots of bright colour like an orange, a red, or maybe a fresh spring green.

See, bitten by the bug.

Therapeutic

I picked up the old sticks and string last night, after an absence of a couple of weeks. The hacking cough situation, and the lack of focus and concentration that went along with it, meant that I haven't knitted for a while. The Vinnland sock the first has consequently temporarily stalled just after I turned the heel and started on the leg.

Returned WWI soldiers knitting as therapy. The guy in the back is using a hand cranked sock knitting machine, a sophisticated version of the cotton reel with nails many kids used to make long thin knitted tubes. Only this machine even had fittings to allow a proper angled heel.

But I was spurred on to do a bit of simple knitting by the arrival of new yarn! I ordered some inexpensive, hard wearing, fine gauge wool from Bendigo Woolen Mills to tackle the crazy fun project I've had in mind for a while. Oh yes, the 1920s bathing costume will become reality. So last night I swatched, or knitted up a simple square to check that my yarn and needle size was equal to the gauge given in the pattern. (I need to go up a needle size, as it turns out.)

At a guess I think this guy is actually doing some sort finger braiding, not knitting. But still, the therapeutic quality of yarn!

And while I was swatching I was enjoying the therapeutic quality of knitting. Once you get past the cuss-worthy stage of feeling like you're about to drop ever third stitch, or you're tackling some mega-hard masochistic pattern, there's a unique thing that happens. A sort of zen space. Where you can have half your brain watching the yarn, the interplay of the needles, the feel of the stitches under your fingers, and the other half thinking/daydreaming or listening to music/the telly/conversation. The rhythm, the art of creating, the way 'muscle memory' comes into play so that your stitches get neater and easier the more you do it, well it's kind of magical really.

More WWI soldiers knitting as a group. Not dissimilar to what we do every Sunday, except we have beer. (And we don't have chenille bathrobes.)

I'm sure it's good for my blood pressure. Even if it doesn't have a physiological effect, it certainly feels calming. I'm not a very tense person, but I can't imagine being tightly wound when you're knitting. Maybe you can, but with only the half of the brain that isn't watching the process. So potentially that's half as stressed? Maybe? It's also quite possible that jittery, tense people aren't drawn to knitting at all, but then maybe they should.

Knitting, weaving, basketry were all crafts that were traditionally used as medical therapy. (I treasure a woven scarf I have that my mother wove in a sanitorium, recuperating from tuberculosis back in the 1950s.) My feeling is that it's more than just the repetitive activity, the gentle use of muscles, the soothing effect of the activity. I think it's also the act of creating. The encouragement and pleasure that comes from looking at something that you've made, even if it's just a little gauge swatch.

I Ask You In All Seriousness

It is entirely possible that I'm feverish/had one glass of red wine too many/insane, but is this little fish toy not so cute that you just want to knit it immediately?



And better yet, free pattern. Although, call me a yarn snob (no really, go on I love it), but I might not make it out of 100% acrylic yarn branded after someone who turned the letters on Wheel Of Fortune (US version, not Adriana). I'm thinking hang up a bunch for a cute baby mobile maybe, with all coloured fishies. Or put some catnip in with the fiberfill and watch your cats get their freak on.

Stitch, Bitch.

Look what I made! I like to fool myself into believing that all I need to get organised is the right stuff. Plastic tubs. Things with dividers. Compartments. Pockets!



So I made myself a little knitting needle roll. Actually, I made two because I wanted to try making one to see if I could come up with a design that might be sell-worthy in the (soon to be) Etsy shop, and then I decided to make another as a birthday gift for a friend. They took a couple of evenings to make, in part because I was figuring out the design as I go.



I decided to use a fab thickish natural linen for the outside, and a funky retro styled fabric in greens and blacks that I bought as a remnant recently. It has 11 narrow pockets to hold a variety of needles, and I made the length of the pockets graduated from short to long to go from little sock needles to big like-knitting-with-a-pair-of-dildos chunky ones.

Do we like? I couldn't be happier with them if they bought me coffee and toast in bed, and then vacuumed. Oh yeah, and for the curved corners a cocktail glass turned out to be just the right diameter. THEY ARE SO USEFUL.

Sneak Peek

I finally got around to creating an Etsy shopfront. It's a work in progress, and I haven't uploaded anything for sale yet, but here's a sneak peek of something I've been working on. (I'll post a link to my shop once I have something up for sale.)



A generous sized woman's scarf, in warm tones of chocolate. Lightweight mannish wool suiting, silk embroidery and Indian handmade beaded flowers. Yin and yang. Serious and flirty.

I'll be setting up shop with some scarves, some jewellery... and maybe later some kilts. It may not be the ideal time ask people to buy high end handmade goods, but these ideas have been bubbling away for a while and with my new sewing machine it all becomes possible. Handmade has become more and more sought after in the past few years, in this mass produced high tech world. But most of all I'm having fun, and that's as important as the $$$s really.