Much sewing

Oooo, it's been busy here. I've finished my postcards for the ihanna swap and sent them off. I've finished my 'ribbed for your pleasure' socks and published the pattern on ravelry as a pdf download, I've turned the ingenious heel on my first skew sock, and knocked out 2 lovely jewellery pouches. But to start, check out this woman on the bus the other day. 

That's her actual hair. 


Moving on. I saw this great tutorial on Thimble's blog to make a travel jewellery pouch. I had been meaning to make one for a few weeks and so this morning I whipped up these two in about 90 mins. The bees and chickens are for my friend Louise, who is very fond of both. The strawberry shortcake and hearts one is for me!

The tutorial is excellent - very clear. 


Pooch has been on good form this week. I tried papping him while he was in the kitchen....

....but he caught me at it....

I was really only trying to get a shot of him in his first ever sunglasses. 

Raybans no less. I've got new ones too. £6 from Next. We're very different people. 


I've been writing the talk I'm giving at my old school in a month's time. 40 minutes is really a long time to talk about yourself and it's all making me feel old. So I've been trying some more mature hair do's. French plait. 

I got 5 on it. 


In the knit arena, Skew socks. Now I have knit the baby surprise, and an adult version, and I've knit the debbie new tam and a few other weird things but never before have I had to pause so many times to check what I'm doing because I can NOT believe this is very going to be a sock. It just looks weird. But. I turned the heel this morning and I am impressed. The design is ingenius and I suspect could only have come from a twisted and warped mind. But she's probably really nice too. Behold!

That line on the right is the little seam, which I three-needle bound off instead of kitchnering, as Byrne don't kitchner. 

That's the other side of the heel with absolutely no seams, picked up stitches or anything. Amazing really. 


Finally, Pooch and I went to the Decode exhibition at the V&A yesterday. It was *amazing*. The website doesn't give an indication of how interactive it is. I'm so used to exhibitions where you go along and look at the stuff on the wall and then go away again. Not that there's anything wrong with that - but this one starts with a corridor or LED bullrushes that sparkle and make music as you brush through them. Awesome. The whole thing was brilliant in fact. I'd recommend it, and also if you have children over the age of about 4. There's one particular installation that is a mosaic of about 24 videos and you can record yourself on whichever of the squares you choose. It's just a 3 second clip on each screen and it repeats over and over. There was a dad with 2 young boys who had been on it before us and they had filled every screen with one or more of them doing something and it was such a happy thing to look at. Pooch and I recorded some too and generally had a great time. 

Pooch's germ transmission methods

Pooch is frequently ill, as I have often remarked before. Usually, I don;t get what he has, but sometimes he manages to spread it around. In the past he has tried various methods including smearing germs on the lid of his laptop so I caught them when I licked it, but I can not work out how he has managed to do it this time. Whatever, the method, I have now got his cold so spent the day shivering at home. On the plus side it gave me a chance to finish the button band and block my radiation cardigan. It's drying now so the only thing left to decide on is buttons. I delved deep into my collection and have two possibilities. 

 

The green are 1950s and the white are 1970s plastic. The white have got the radiation type pattern on them but the green are very sweet. Will have to ponder it a few more days. 

Having got the cardigan done I can get on with the wedding blanket for my best friend who got married ...... in august. Slightly late but it's not like it's been cold enough for it or anything. Um. And the snow yesterday only settled for a few hours. Anyway, I finished the Man Utd square. 

The next one is the flared jeans. 

I've just been on ravelry because the knitty surprises were announced and one of them is an interestingly constructed pair of socks that just had to be queued. While there I saw this. 

I've never before seen a cat look ok about being made to wear something. It's just too cute.

Quilts

My love affair with Flickr continues. Ah flickr, how do I love thee? Today, I have been looking at Quilts.

1. Detail of "Spot On" Circle Quilt, 2. WIP Zig Zag Quilt, 3. hex progress, 4. The Gobstopper Quilt

The reason for this is because I have done more on my own dotty quilt.

Mmmmm. I love my quilt. It's not perfect, and I can not sew curved seams to save my life, but then that's what zig zag stitch and an applique like turn of mind was invented for. Sadly bending forward over the sewing machine makes my back hurt so I can only do a little at a time.

I finallt gave in and bought series 1 of Lie to Me on dvd. Which brings us to Lixie's Crush of the Week (which should have a theme tune like Harry Hill's segments always do). It is, of course, Tim Roth. 

This is my first time having a crush on someone noticably older with me (17 years) but even so he's still got that bad boy thing going on and.... it's all good. I know what those of you who know me are thinking - bad boy...yeah, just like pooch. But you know, a girl can dream. 

I went to see the physio on thursday and put on the hated shorts. Instant muffin. Lying down I speculated whether the clothes or the woman maketh the muffin. At which point David poked me in the relevant area and said "What? You mean this?" I think that is a sign that it's time to lose a little weight. 16 pounds is perhaps a tad ambitious as that will see me down to 10 stone, so maybe I'll change that to 9. Then I'll be back where I was before I went totally mental, which will be nice.

 

Just finally, it was of course Les's funeral yesterday. It was short and to the point, but wonderfully personal and very moving. His sons spoke very nicely about their dad and the whole family was there for Tess. Nic, Yvonne and I acquitted ourselves very respectfully as representatives of all of you who knew him or met him at fairs. Gone, but definitely not forgotten.

Unexpected Fairisle

Having completed a chunky baby tam jacket a few weeks ago I decided to go 4-ply and fairisle. The start was not promising.

Ghastly mess. But I have hung on in there and here is where I am now.

Not amazing but looking ok. In retrospect I would have started the fairisle later to get some more increases out of the way, and also would use a plain white rather than the dotty one which I used for some socks last year, but it's all using up stash so is all good. Looking forward to seeing it done.

I was crusing the web the other day looking for a UK equivalent of ReproDepot and came across SeamStar. I will so be going back there. I ordered on monday and today....

How fricking cute are those cats? I need to think of something to do justice to them. I want to have them in front of me all the time. I'm not into plushy type things though, so what to do?

I do declare

A declaration is the pentecostal equivalent of a christening, I now know. And yesterday was the declaration of my ickle nephew, Alfie. This is him with one of his other aunties - lucky thing has 3 - and my sister-in-law.

Look at his little outfit! Waistcoat, tie, shirt, trousers and braces! Those really made me think of Les, which I guess is quite suitable as in the whole cycle of life. I hope Alfie turns out to be as nice a guy as Les was.

There was a buffet afterwards and if there's one thing this church did well it was the buffet. Mmmm, mmm. I've got three words for you - key lime pie. Pooch says I am now '2 slices byrne', which is nice. The other grandma made it and she got the recipe from a Carnation condensed milk tin, and I got it from their website. Soooooo unhealthy but my god it was good. I bought a lift out bottom cake tin today especially for the purpose. So easy to make too.

Pooch has been working very hard recently on all his hush hush things. This was the view I had of him for most of the weekend.

Hard at work, although I later realised he was mostly reading articles about football.

Quack!

Chez Byrne has an awesome new shower curtain.

Hard not to feel happy when you've seen that.

I've been knitting away on the same old radiation cardigan from Knitty. I started this in October but had to rip back after the yoke was too shallow. pattern says 6 inches but I found I needed 10.

I had a similar problem with my Henley Cardigan, which I just happen to be wearing now. Starting to think I just have mental shoulders. I've also made the sleeves long and bell shaped. It's the way I roll.

I've signed up for ihanna's postcard swap which should be pretty good. It's mixed media so anything goes. So far I've done a paper weave and printed some photos onto fabric and embroidered one. Even printing and embroidering fabric I tend towards one subject.

Sign ups are open til Feb 7th so hope along there to get involved.

I've been pondering my life over the last week since I've been asked to give the 2010 annual lecture to my old school's sixth form. The topic is my career, secrets of my success etc and it's all supposed to be motivational. There's a suggestion you should also include some pithy stuff about being a woman since it is a girls' school. In among all these thoughts I was reminded of a fragility of life when I heard Les from Silkwood had passed away last week. Les was such a lovely man. He taught himself to crochet and produced beautiful shawls amongst other things, all while wearing dazzling sets of braces. It became a running joke between us and I ended up calling him 'Braces'. I really wish I'd seen him and Tess recently - I think the last time was at IKnit last summer the day my back went south. Whenever it was he'll be remembered with love xx

Tam Jacket

I finally cast on something from the amazing 'Unexpected Knitting' book at the weekend. I deliberately chose chunky yarn so it went quickly.

I really like it! I sewed back the corners of the front to make it look like a little collar.

Next time a baby comes along I'll make one of these in fairisle. Should look beautiful.

I've finally got around to taking some decent pictures of the stitchmarkers I got last year. I had been emailing the creator and asked whether he ever did personalised ones of people's faces - children, partners etc. The conversation developed and I sent him a pic of the Pooch. And look at this!

Isn't that amazing? I also bought a pig, rabbit and black sheep at the same time. He is amazingly talented and the finishing is awesome.

So cute!

Now Pooch and I have a fairly entertaining relationship. There are certain disagreements but they rarely last too long. Tonight, for instance, he wouldn't give me any of his chocolate yoghurt, so I took his glasses and hid them. He went and found his old pair and when I went onto Ravelry this is what I saw.

..............Hmph. Next time I take his glasses, I'm going to take the spare pair too.

More Kanzashi, and a crush returns

I love crushes. I had a couple when I was younger - Ed Lewis and Matt Andrews, ah, where are they now....probably bald... - but having them as an adult is so much more fun. You know it's a crush and you know it's fantasy, and you know you're not actually going to meet them, but it doesn't matter. It's just fun. So as the second series of Being Human has started I can get back into my crush on Aidan Turner. He who must be adored.

Phew. My crush for him after series 1 was great enough to get me to watch several episodes of the weird romantic painter thing in BBC where he played Rosetti with an english accent. Judging by the first episode of series 2 he's buffed up a bit. Promises gratuitous body shots later on in the series. It's only a matter of time before he gets onto GaySpy. Being Human also offers Russel Tovey, frequently completely naked, which is also very nice.

Some of you may now be wondering what GaySpy is. Click on that link. Honestly, it's fine. Your microsoft safesearch is not going to pop up with a warning. It's something young-gay-about-town at work put me on to. I can only assume that I have different taste to young gay men as too many of them are what I think of as sinewy. Like Ronaldo. Never mind all the airbrushing on his face - I just do not think there is one attractive thing about his body. But then there are some verrrrrrry nice ones on there too. David Boreanaz, one of my personal favourites, was on there in his boxers a week or so ago. He's on the list, and if anything he's 1 and Aidan is 2. I tell Pooch he is 3. But he's not really. Just don't tell him that.

Anyway, Kanzashi.

I made the brown one to go with the dress I made - it's the same fabric - and the red one just because red polka dots are brilliant. I wore the dress to the private view of an astonishing exhibition that's on in Ealing Broadway at the moment. It is called "Beware of Embroidery". I've been bigging it up on Ravelry as it really was brilliant. Well worth a visit if you are down that way.

I've also been doing a bit of Debbie New knitting on one of her Tam Jackets. I've been thinking about making something for my physio's impending arrival and so thought I'd try this out. It would work brilliantly with fairisle. This is it pre folding. In the garter stitch version you make 2 of these.

As with all these types of patterns it's really hard to work out how it is going to work until you fold it just right. And when you do you get this:

I should have it finished tonight.

Kanzashitastic

I am so pleased I finally got on with it and bought the Kanzashi in Bloom book. I've had it queued on Amazon since it came out and finally did it. It arrived this afternoon and now I'm waiting for the glue to dry on my first one. Ta daaaaaaa!

I would strongly recommend this book. The how-to is brilliant - perfectly written and photographed. Much *much* better than the other tutorials I've looked at online. Plus you've probably guessed from my comment about glue, there's only one small step with a needle and thread so you don;t need to be able to sew to make them. There's a website supporting the book and a Flickr group of other people's projects. Just take a look at some of these:

1. Kanzashi Hair Clips, 2. KanzashiDetail,

3. lilac and dark pink hair pin, 4. polka dot kanzashi brooch

Soooooo beautiful. I definitely want to make more. I'll be walking around soon with a bouquet's worth on my head.

My first ever french plait

I've impressed myself with how shiny my hair looks.

Sadly it doesn't look anywhere near that good in real life. C'est la vie.

To cover up my offending hair I've knit myself a new hat today. I daresay most knitters in the UK have been knitting hats, scarves, mittens, gloves, pule warmers, thick socks, extra jumpers and more in the last few days. I had been wearing a beret I made a few years ago but it wasn;t warm enough. in 2008 I made the Jughead hat from Domiknitrix's book and really liked it. So finally I've got one of my own.

It's made from three strands of sock yarn leftovers held together. They were all blue shades so it works pretty well. I only needed 5 segments to get the right size. Should help keep me snug next time I venture out. You can't really see it from the photo but the hem is zig zag and turns up. Like a crown! Princess Me!

Pooch is in flight as I type and will shortly land in the States for his 5 towns in 8 days tour of Sony offices. Bless him. At least it means lots more air miles for our potential holiday. I got a wedding invite today for a friend of ours in australia who is having a castle themed wedding. I should have taken a photo of it. It's really detailed with aged paper with burnt edges and a wax seal. The wedding is 'castle' themed and everyone has to dress up. In one way this is bad as it guarantees Pooch won't go. But on the other hand it seems like great fun. There just aren't enough opportunities in my life for dressing up.

Pooch being away gives me a chance to get my stash out and have a spring clean. I also need to finish the jumper I was making over xmas, illness allowing. (My gastric flu lasted til the 2nd and I was in bed by 10 on new year's eve.) I swatched, I ripped out once because it was too big, I tried it on half way, but no. It's too small. I don;t have enough yarn to make it bigger and it is vintage from the KCG mountain so no chance of anymore.

It's very pretty, although I would maybe do it raglan without the neck cables if I were to do it again.

I love the effect on the hem and cuffs.

To top it off the Radiate Cardigan I was knitting has had to be ripped back to the yoke as I didn't try it on til too late and the armholes were much too shallow. Ah well. Chin Up. At least all this wool will keep me snug.

2009 Round-Up

I've been having my usual look at how 2009 has gone, knit-wise. I've added another 43 finished projects to Ravelry. These have included 10 pairs of socks, 3 adult cardigans and nine presents for babies. I've also got 8 WIPs, 226 things queued and 187 yarns stashed. Quite a few of those are 50g balls but still, that's a lot of yarn. Probably just as well I haven't been able to get to the sales at all.

My greatest triumph was definitely my Kauni which I have been wearing frequently since I finished it. The buttons were definitely a good choice.

I learnt a huge amount from making this and loved it all.

I've also really loved my Kai Mei socks and the malabrigo they were made in.

Even David, the anti-knitting physio, has admired these.

Up until christmas eve I would have said that back-aside, I had had a healthy year. The black dog has been kept at bay even though I changed my anti-d in the summer. Even my back - now that the sciatica is just a painful memory - is on the up. The exercises I've been given and the physio are all helping and the operation itself really couldn't have gone any better than it did. I was lucky I had the healthcare to pay for such a good surgeon.

So what does 2010 hold? For a start it will hopefully hold the completion of my physio and the return of full mobility to my leg. It should also contain some good knitting events with SkipNorth, the London one at UCL and (for others) KnitCamp in Stirling. Personally I have definitely decided against it. It's too far and too much just to get to and stay there, never mind classes or shopping. But if it is run elsewhere in 2011 or 12 maybe I'll make the trek depending on how much further south it goes.

One thing I know for certain is coming up in Feb is a Knicker Workshop at the Make Lounge as this was Pooch's christmas present for me. Expect to see some absolutely scintillating underwear being blogged about when that comes round.

(By Stella McCartney. Pretty cool.)

Back, and 6lbs lighter

I had decided to try to drop another half a stone in 2010. I didn't think I'd be doing it in the last couple of days. And I find it hard to believe that anyone has ever visited my MIL's house and left lighter than when they arrived. I seem to have had what I can only describe as gastric flu and have barely eaten a thing since the 23rd. Rather annoying since this year saw a record haul of chocolate and I haven't been able to even think about opening any of it. I also haven't knitted a stitch since xmas day. There. Now you believe I'm ill, don't you. This was me last night on the train home. And this was before it was delayed for an hour.

Fortunately I am feeling a bit better now. As lovely as it is to see my in-laws, it is always so much more comfortable to be ill at home and when we got back last night I nose dived straight into my bed, with my duvet, my pillows, my crocheted blanket. Mmmmmm. Nothing like it.

Before my yuck came on our little nephew, Alfie, spent the day at his grandmas with his mum and dad. He really is beautiful. Such a chubby little face! And he was wonderfully behaved the whole time. Happy to be held by different people and smiley too. Pooch was very good with him although he never looks totally at ease when holding a baby.

I've come back to sad news - Woolly Wokshop is closing. Very sad. I've been using and recommending them for years. My final recommendation is that you get over there for a 25% off closing sale. They have denise needle sets and luxury sock wool as well as clover accessories and your more everyday things so something for everyone.

Neeeeeeoooooooowwwwwww

High speed blog post. I've been horribly busy the last week and no chance to do anything properly other than eat - so now look a bit like I've swallowed a balloon. I was in company with my mum's cat who had had food left out for her when they went away for a weekend. The neighbour was supposed to dish it out and mum had left twice as much as was usual 'just in case'. The neighbour gave the cat all of it and 'pear shaped' would be a polite comment on her shape. She's always been fairly svelte but she's in a new class in the beauty parade now.

Anyway....I am soon to be published in the online magazine SlashStroke.

I made these pulse warmers for their second issue so I'll link here when the pattern goes up. They were very simple with a bit of intarsia but the team behind it are not familiar with knitting and so were pleasurably amazed. Apparently there was a scuffle over who got to keep them after the photoshoot, which is afterall what every knitter wants to hear about their finished objects.

I've also finished my estonian button socks.

The yarn is by Nickerjac on Folksy (nothing at the mo but bookmark for updates) and is really glorious. I have completely failed to get a decent photo of it but I absolutely adore it. I've gone off pure wool sock yarn recently having had a few go before their time at the heels. This has just the right amount of nylon to strengthen it and I look forward to wearing these for years to come.

To finish, I leave you with the most amazing alternative-to-a-nativity I've seen this year. To be found in the lobby of the Luttrel Arms in Dunster.

I'm off to the in-laws today and back on the 27th. May all your pies be mincey.

Christmas Spirit

I have been trying to feel a bit christmassier (is that even a word - it looks weird). So I have invested in a christmas hits album from i-tunes AND I've put the christmas tree up AND I made some decorations. When putting the tree up I came across the two sequin baubles Nic and I made last year and so I made another one this evening.

So christmassy! I love making these. The others one I made were a tesco kit and have come out surprisingly well.

It's all done with glue - no sewing at any point - so I'm not sure how they'll hold up but they should be fine for this year at least.

Two of them star the Pooch, who is as I type freezing his nads off in the Arctic Circle. It's not some sort of penance - it was his choice and one I gladly opted out of. Sadly Norway with 30 mins daylight per day is not turning out to be as entertaining as he hoped but on the plus side there are at least two knitting shops so hopefully father christmas will have lots to haul my way this year!

I finally met up with Nic again today and had a good catch up on news. I was sad to hear Stash has closed. We also had a good chat about forthcoming knitting festivals and holidays, including SkipNorth, mightiest of them all. She also gave me the most AMAZING christmas presents. This is the most wonderful...Meet, Penelope.

Beeaaauuutiful! I absolutely love her. Nic made her herself. I have completely forgotten the name of the pattern designer but she is a genius. Nic also gave me this amazing Bargello book, a lucet making thingamybob and accessories and these gorgeous ceramic buttons.

All of the things are brilliant! I am one lucky bunny.

Flickr as a Resource

I think a lot of people just use Flickr to host photos and don't realise what an amazing resource it is. If I ever had to stop knitting, embroidery would be my next thing. These are just a few of my 'favourites'. Anyone can type in 'vintage embroidery' or 'banana' or anything and find images others have done. There are also groups for sharing. I love "Hoop Love Vintage Transfers" and "Vintage Embroidery Patterns". And of course if I get the urge to do some embroidery all I need is a printer and an iron-on transfer pencil and I'm away.

Here are a few of my current faves.



1. WB 003 d, 2. Daphne, 3. Monarch 206 - cat pattern, 4. Super sewing girl! in progress, 5. girl and duck, 6. Untitled, 7. RobotSpring, 8. Birthday Owl Fabric postcard, 9. Y-Yarn, 10. The Acorn Fairy, 11. WB 2-945 e, 12. pink on yellow splat bird