So where the hell have I been?

Yeah, I don't really know really. I have been off work for a couple of days with a heavy cold but the blog was already a week old by then and I do have broadband at home so that's no excuse. I guess I just got a thing about it and didn't feel like posting. You know. A Thing. Like not walking under ladders or something. Maybe.

I have been knitting non-stop since I was last here but can't show any of it because it is all destined for stockings of the great and the good, which is to say, my family and friends. I have been getting a fine bevy of post not all of which has been photographed but most of which was concerned with ATCs. Here are some that did make it to the camera....

These are ones I did for a Kinky Swap.

I've been having a bit of a crisis of confidence about them. I'm just not convinced mine are really worthy. I posted a message on the eclectic ATC group about this and it seems I'm not alone. Anyway.....

The second issue of the zine is shaping up very nicely and will be available from 1st Dec. That is to say it will be sent out from then but will actually be available to pre-order very shortly. Watch this space. Have been getting some great stuff from people to include so should be an awesome issue. In case anyone is wondering about the first issue the limited edition run of 50 has well and truly gone. Sorry to those of you who missed out.

Madwise I have experienced the 'profound shift' that therapists want their patients to have. I'm not going to go into it because part of it is having to talk about it instead of using this blog as a life noticeboard but it's good stuff and I feel whole for the first time in ages.

Today is of course remembrance sunday and I did the silence at 11am thinking about Grandpa Noah and all the others who have fallen while defending us. It makes me mad that the people who are dying now in Iraq are there for such a damn stupid reason but just because I disagree with the war doesn't mean I don't want to support the veterans. So I've decided to add The Royal British Legion to my charities that I donate to. You can make a one-off donation or set up a direct debit here.

I know I've got lots of blog news to catch up on. One more bit of news from me - I think we might be maxed out on SkipNorth but I need to check. There's definitely no more than 3 places left after a group of 4 joined up on friday. All so exciting!

Craft Porn

First off a little yarn porn.... Socks that Rock. This stuff deserves every inch of its reputation. Blissful to knit with.

Not a colour combo I would have picked out on a shelf but I am *loving* the way it is knitting up. Have done one sock already and about an inch of the second. Should serve as a reminder to think ahead to what colours will look like all merged together rather than judging them in skein form.

Now we have some ATC porn. When I got home last night I had post from all corners of the globe. 4 packages of ATCs not to mention my fave magazine.

Every time I get ATCs I am amazed with what people do. Makes me wonder what my paltry efforts are thought of.

I am still thoroughly into swapping on Swap bot and most recently completed my first ever dish/face cloth for a swap. I had always meant to do one but kept thinking they were a bit pathetic. Let me tell you - that opinion has been thoroughly kicked out the window. Look what I did in about an hour last night (my swap partner has a green and blue colour scheme on the theme of apples and chickens. Thought a chicken might be a bit beyond me!)...

It is just so cool! (modest? me?) The pattern is from knitting pattern central which is where I am heading just as soon as I finish typing this lot. I have been mucking about with soap making in my spare minutes and one of these with a handmade bar of soap as a xmas present? - yeah baby, I'm there.

In other new the second edition of the Proud to be Crafty Zine is shaping up nicely. Am having fun with fonts. Deadline for submissions is 12 Nov so email me at littlelixieathotmaildotcom if you have something you'd like to see in print.

lalalalala

You know those frumpy looking women on the tube?

Those ones who wear either all black or really clashing clothes that don't fit too well and whose trousers are normally a bit too short? They tend to be reading some sort of zany fantasy book and eating something weird. They also tend to have rosy cheeks, be slightly overweight and look like they could really do with a haircut.

They also tend to be about 28, dark haired, freckled, called Alex, reading a Terry Pratchett hardback and eating chocolate coated raisins out of a paper bad like a healthy-hobo (except no one ever really kids themselves well enough that whatever the fruit, eating it with chocolate smothering its natural form ever makes it healthy).

Yes, people. I have turned into that woman. I realised this when I was on the tube home on friday night. Now this is the first give away - going home at 7pm on a friday. Obviously going home to stroke cat or if doesn't have one to search the internet for pictures of cats. I had almost fallen over because I was completely engrossed in the new Terry Pratchett ("Wintersmith") and was also trying to eat chocolate raisins out of a paper bag and was not holding on to the post on the tube so there was a not particularly sudden stop accompanied by a moment of extreme fear that, never mind falling on a complete stranger, I might have dropped a raisin along with its precious chocolate covering. (There have been some people in my long and ghastly life who have dared to suggest that I buy chocolate covered raisins to just suck the chocolate off and then spit out the raisin. That is absurd and unfounded. I only do that with chocolate covered nuts.) I had one of those flashes of inspiration when I saw myself through the eyes of your average joe and realised what I had become. There followed many vows to exercise, never wear all black, start using eye shadow (but not zany ones), to not try to stand, eat and read on a moving tube and so on and so forth.

I present my Monday-self to you now for inspection. I am wearing black trousers and top but......a brown cardigan. Not bad eh?! I am going to the gym after work. (Yeah, well, I am all right so stop laughing.) Plus I didn't try and eat anything on the tube this morning. Although I did read the end of the Terry Pratchett. It's not soooo bad when you think about the long decline that has lead to me having dulled to a boy george sans make-up lookalike.

In knitting news....I was the luckiest person EVER to get 'socks that rock' sock yarn in the post on saturday. Curtesy of a little swap on swapbot. Oh yeah. Cast on straight away and would have been able to show progress by now if hadn't left camera at home. Suffice to say I have turned the first heel and picked out a nifty cable diamond pattern for the ankle. I also got some of the good stuff from my sister who has brought back none other that SWTC 100% soy silk in a great cherry red AND a hank of yellow and red cherry tree hill supersock plsu another ball of something good with a name like Bergerac. Oooooo, good stuff going on for me this weekend.

Anyway, I only actually logged on to blogger to put up something about this:

The deadline for submission to issue 2 of the 'ProudtobeCrafty' independantly published zine is 12 November.

1/4 page adverts can be had for £10 a time. Articles, reviews, tutorials and patterns are welcome from all comers with the editor (moi) reserving the right to edit to fit space and so on. Don't think it is just knitting either - this is all sorts of craft and will, in the next edition, wax lyrical about knitting, crochet, soap making, paper craft, bag making, bracelets, cake and much much more. If you have something you'd like me to include please email me at littlelixieathotmaildotcom with a little summary and I'll let you know if it fits in.

The second edition will go on sale on 1st Dec. There are now 3 remaining copies of the first zine available which is bound to become a collectors edition! Email me your postal address and one will be yours (UK only I'm afraid as the first edition is free).

Lastly, the pin cushion challenge from the first edition has a closing date of 12 November. Send me your photos and you will be entered to win one of three goodie bags featuring some of the good stuff. So get crafting to start winning!

Links and news

Linkwise here we have the link to the crasfter index page of bag tutorials:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=69911.0

I also wish to show those of you have not yet seen it this site of subversive cross-stitch.

The reason I want to show you that is because I am combining free fonts from www.fontfreak.com with 'draw your own graph paper' to map out an embroidery of my favourite quote, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger" a la la (la = on the left). I tried out tonnes of different fonts before settling on this one which is called 'Once in a while'. I am not sure yet whether I am going to do just the outlines or fill it in in solid of variegated colour but I have some 14 count black aida in the post and so should have the design sorted by the end of the weekend.

This weekend of course brings the mumsy and, to be thorough, the Robsy too. The schedule at the mo includes lots of good food, the rodin exhibition at the RA and possibly a boat ride on the thames. It doesn't leave me much time to be crafty but I am pondering a trip to hobbycraft. I can't quite remember why now but I shouldn't go anyway, terrible idea. Have enough stuff. Oh I remember - to get the embroidery threads and a hoop to hold it while I'm dallying. So maybe actually it isn't such a bad idea after all. Hmmm. Ponder ponder.

Now I've started thinking about having the writing as a kind of stencil over a funky abstract image like a chaos pattern or something like that. Actually something more like this rose.

Hmmm, that's making it a lot more complicated though. Plus I'm a complete splitter and will probably get bored of even the most basic version before I finish so let's stick with basic and move on from there. And although it might be a few pounds cheaper to buy from hobbycraft John Lewis has everything I need and will be a whole lot cheaper in the long run with minimal temptation!

Blog trawling

Just catching up on some blogs people and so have the usual trawl of stolen objects...

You Are 64% Evil

You are very evil. And you're too evil to care. Those who love you probably also fear you. A lot.

How Evil Are You?

Want a needle holder thing that goes on the back of my door like the one in this post:
http://goknitinyourhat.blogspot.com/2006/10/feast-your-eyes.html

I want to do bullion crochet as good as what Nickerjac can. And I want to be able to put colours together like she can and not like I do which makes it look like a hobo has vomitted.

I want to know what 'the power of jam' is as Pixeldiva has it and I want it. Probably. At least tell me what it is.

Tickers for SkipNorth

These are in the same folder they are in the files section of the SkipHolidays yahoo group. I have put these up here partly to let current good timers know what they look like but also to entice others along! We still have a few places so go to www.proudtobecrafty.co.uk if you want to join in with a group of knitting and spinning enthusiasts let loose from domestic responsibilities for three whole days!




line and sock




ladybird




car and houses




line and heart

The best bag(s) in the world

I have always wanted one of those japanese wrist bags and after an afternoon of non-work and browsing on craftster.org I came across some rather nifty links to bag tutorials. If you have not been to craftster you should go - there's a link in the list of blogs on the left. There are so many tutorials on how to make really cool stuff. I did quite a bit of printing that afternoon...

Anyway, the moment you have been waiting for..... (I'm suddenly feeling I may have hyped this up a bit too much)

I can not tell you how happy this bag makes me. I bought the fabric out of John Lewis's remnant bin about, literally, 6 years ago and have been waiting for the right project ever since. It is perfect for this. It is a really good size and feels highly natural just sitting on my arm. Yeeha for craftster!

Now this was on Friday night because you all know that I do not actually have a social life. At all. On saturday I set to with a second tutorial and the lovely fabric Pooch bought me. And this is it!

Isn't it a beauty?

That's a little pocket inside for my travelcard! Pooch is really really happy about this. I like it that he likes it too and I like using the fabric he bought me!

Meme

Just nicked this from A Mingled Yarn

48 Things You Could Care Less About

1. FIRST NAME? Alexandra

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? On Tuesday at couple therapy with Pooch.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It varies between cool and 'arty' and completely illegible. Overall I'm pretty happy with it.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Prosciotto

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I don't think so. I'd be friendly to me but I think her mood swings would bore me.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Kind of. I do have one but I don't write in it often. I did have loads of diaries going back about 8 years but threw them away as they were full of depression stuff. Kind of regret doing that now.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? If I was presented with the opportunity yes, but can't be arsed to sort it out or pay for it.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Applejacks. It's american and neon green and orange. Mmmmmm, soooooo goooooood.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? If I'm tired I do as it's too much effort to yank my feet out otherwise.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? No.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Phish Food by ben and jerry's. Artery cloggingly good.

14. SHOE SIZE? UK size 7 which I think is about 40.

5. RED OR PINK? Red to wear but pink to look at.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? The depression. And how I can write things on a blog for complete strangers to read that I can't say to Pooch face to face.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Weirdly it is a guy called Oliver Shaw who just left school after GCSEs and I never heard from him again. We used to get an well in a platonic way and I often wonder what he's up to. If anyone knows him - he'd be about 28/9 and went to school in Canterbury up til 16 - then please let me know.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I'm not going to send it to anyone - but let me know if you use it and I'll come by and read yours.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Blue jeans, handknit socks, no shoes, brown top with grey tanktop with sequins on it.

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Yorkie Bar. I boycotted them for ages because of that stupid 'they're not for girls' advertising campaign but they are unequalled.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? There is silence around me, or as silent as it gets in london when you live in a flat and the window is open. That's quite unusual for me as usually I get uncomfortable when there are no distractions around me.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Red

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Strawberry lipbalm.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Muvver.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Smile, lips, Pooch factor.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? I don't know her, but I like reading her blog. I figure we'd have a good conversation if we met up.

27. FAVORITE DRINK? Robinsons Special R Orange Squash (accept no substitutes).

28. FAVORITE SPORT? WWE. Yes it is a sport. I loathe any unnecessary physical movement and long for the day when I have a cyberman to do my bidding as he can just carry me everywhere.

29. EYE COLOR? Hazel.

30. HAT SIZE? Wow, I have no idea.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Chocolate.

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings I guess but at the end of a comedy film, not a soppy love story. Am not comfortable with emotion. Someone reading these answers could be forgiven for thinking I'm a pre-menstral dalek.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter. I like the warm weather but I feel you know where you are in winter.

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs except from Pooch x.

37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Chocolate based.

38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Am not sure. Nickerjac perhaps if she has time.

39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? My Dad.

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? 'Families and how to survive them' by John Cleese and Robyn Skynner, 'Knitting Around ' by EZ,

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad? No pad - I've got a laptop.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? Some sort of rubbish. Have completely no recollection now. Was just on in the background while I was making the coolest bag in the world.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Rain.

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Depends on the moment.

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? I am rubbish at geography but I'm guessing san francisco.

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Retaining enthusiasm for things when even an idiot would have known to give up by now (at work). At home - Pooch maintenance.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Margate, Kent. Oh yeahhhhh.

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Stole it from A Mingled Yarn

Belated ally pally round-up (photo heavy!)

I know I'm a week late but it's been a busy one so in every sense, better late than never. For those of you who have never visited the Alexandra Palace show I thought it might be nice to have a look at this, which is me walking through about a 1/10th of it.



I really did have a very lovely time and, a la Wormhead, was having trouble carrying everything on the way back at the end of the saturday. I got some really awesome things but my biggest splurge is yet to arrive - enough pukka shetland wool for the scoop neck fairisle in the most recent Vogue Knitting. Ooooooo. Anyway, from what I did get....
Hip knits silk and the new magazine on the block:

Fat quarters and beads and the like:

Handmade paper for an altered journal swap:

The cheap stuff - for a hard wearing trivial pursuits cushion and the variegated for the shawl on the fornt of the Vogue shawls book:

Lovely pure wool Twileys Whisper or something like that for either a boxy cardigan from knit1 or a jumper:

Wicked chocolate notebook with a mix of square, lined and blank paper inside plus the latest Interweave knits and a patchwork-how-to-book:

Patons washed haze (50p a ball!) for a cardi and the touch yarns merino for I don't know what but I loved the colours and it was 25% off:

Lots of little things to play with - ribbons, non-slip feet for Pooch's next handknit socks, square sequins etc etc


So what has this massive acquisition done to the yarn chest? Well, I had actually been very good before AP and during stashalong - I had a big clear out and sold a load on ebay. I also then took a huge bag of odd balls to NWKTog group and shared them out with the rest going to the charity shop. So despite having bought all this I can (just) close the war chest:


So with all that going on you'd have thought I'd be happy with my little lot and get down to some serious knitting right? No! What I did was get a cold and my mood slipped again and was quite down for a couple of days. I found myself not really in the mood for knitting so instead have been making ATCs for swaps. I rather liked these on the theme 'fall florals':


I have been feeling a bit better the last couple of days though and was even better once my end of the knitting magazine swap arrived. I got these two awesome magazines from the US:

I had never even heard of them and there were a couple of 'how have i lived without....' type items in each. Feast your eyes:






This last one is crochet and I thought I'd try it as a scarf first to see how it looks.

So there you have it. Actually you don't - I made the coolest bag in the world last night but I reckon that's enough photos for today!

Oh my god, it's tomorrow!!!

True to form I have got a cold. I feel really really achey - like I've done a cross-country run or something. And we all know how likely that is. But I struggled in to work today like a good girl and have spent a lot of the day fantacising about ally pally and rediscovering my love of strawberry shortcake. Now I'm talking about old skool, not any of this twee little thing WEARING TROUSERS!!!!!! What the hell! Anyway, calm down Byrne and remeber that opnce upon a time you used to be a feminist. True, you were 14. But still. Remember your roots.
Look at these things though!

The original little miss.

Who nowadays dares hug a duck without fearing the RSPCA?

Not a child protection officer in sight.

Not a true original charactor but so cute I had to include her. There are tonnes of website out there with loads of good stuff on (as I discovered this morning). This is just one and the graphics are rather good.

So has she actually done any knitting then or what - I hear you ask. Well, not much I must admit. I did whip out this rather nifty crocheted string bag though out of the finest mercerised cotton oddball I had to hand at the time.

I'm disproportionately pleased with this and it will be accompanying me this weekend. Inside are the goodies I recently sold on ebay and some more ATCs on their way to be swopped.

And speaking of swaps the 'whats in a purse' swap parcel arrived and it was AWESOME!

My spoiler, from Portugal, included not one but two beautiful handmade objects - a key ring and a pouch - plus sweets, lipgloss, playing cards shaped like an icercream and more. Lucky me!

Finally, I have been quite taken up with the woolly thoughts yahoo group and when I went to the 60 years of british art exhibition at the hayward (very good by the way and only a fiver if you're passing) I couldn't help but think of the bridget riley paitning that has been used on the website and on all the promo material in terms of a cusion. Garter stitch stripes with long strips sewn together. Do you see where I'm going with this? Not that I'll actually do it of course. And then I saw this:

Now look, don't hate me. I know the exhibition said no photos. And I know it reduces the quality of the work to be shown in crappy non-flash light like this rather than in the flesh which was a whole lot better. And I know it's just wrong in so many other ways. Let's leave that for now and I'll flail myself with a circular when I get home. (Not as penance though, just for fun...fnah fnah - all going a bit weird here now so back to the point.) This painting was surely designed to be freestyle crocheted. My hands are suddenly too achey from flailing at the keyboard to carry on typing so I'll just leave you with that thought and we'll see what happens.

Incidentally if anyone is at ally pally tomorrow and would care to say hello I will be at the knit and natter or knit and relax or whatever it is called this year at 11am. You have been warned! I'll be the one with the string bag. Fnah fnah.

A whole lot of crafting going on

I was rather busy at the weekend doing all sorts of crafty little things. Some were experiments for the second edition of 'ProudtobeCrafty' - your favourite crafty zine. Last few copies are still available FREE so email me with your postal address to littlelixieathotmail.com

I saw some scrapbooking letters that were 3-d and made something like this so decided to pull out the fimo and give it a go. The wire I had for the joins isn't perfect but seems to be holding together.

When I wrote before about swaps and how I'd got fed up with them my secretpal8 got upset and annoyed and I haven't heard from her since. I tried to explain by email that it was because SP8 had been so good that I'd got fed up with the paltry-by-comparison swaps at swapbot but it doesn't seem to have worked and I guess I never will receive that final parcel. It's a shame because up til now SP8 was really good for me. Anyway, one of the swaps I did before I got fed up was 'something chocolate' and my swap partner was in australia. She sent me the following really rather amazing goodies:

The cherry ones on the left were *GORGEOUS* and barely lasted the journey home from the sorting office but the koalas win the 'cute' prize. Lookie here...

Aren't they sweet. And very yummy!

The background of that picture brings me nicely on to ProudtobeCrafty project number 2 which involves using packaging. The Japanese and Americans seem to do this quite a lot but we seem to largely use the wrong sort of plastic. So I went shopping for packaging rather than food which, you can imagine, led to me coming out with a rather weird assortment of groceries. One was a pouch of raisins which turned into this.

It's a kind of large needle case/pin cusion. Details will go in the next zine along with more pics.

I haven't mentioned it so far but let us not forget that it is only FOUR FREAKIN DAYS TIL ALLY PALLY or until I get there anyway. I am like a kid on xmas eve - I just can't wait. I finally managed to get it together enough to buy 'Cushy Numbers' - mathematical knitting patterns from WoollyThoughts. Their website is a bit unreliable at the mo but you can see all the books, patterns and final objects here. Email patatwoollythoughtsdotcom to order. I am absolutely definitely going to do a curves of pursuit cushion. They have a Yahoo group too called 'woollythoughts' and there are some fun people in there.

Buttons

Here we go....


Picture at http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y193/littlelixie/wtw2.jpg


Picture at http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y193/littlelixie/wtw1.jpg