Istanbul here I come!

Pooch and I are off for a blissful week in Istanbul. We have 3 nights in a traditional place and 3 nights in a very swish modern one. Both have wifi so I may blog if I have a minute. I've got a map of a great knitting shop, curtusy of the Istanbul knitting group on Ravelry and Pooch's agreement that up to an hour will be spent there and in the haberdashery shops nearby. Awesome.

I got it into my head that I *must* make a bag to use while there. So regard! Possibly the jobiest bag in the world!

The best thing about it is the kitten fabric on the inside. I love that fabric. Not sure if I'll actually take it with me but may do just for the fun of it.

Before I vanish allow me to direct you to Nics Knots. Gorgeous knitting bags in gorgeous fabrics. I do like the sheep designs, and the skull and crossbones, but the Laura Ashley poppies is the winner. So elegant.

If I do not get a cat soon I'll......I'll......

I have been asking Pooch to get me a cat for my birthday. He keeps saying 'no' but I won't give up. Meanwhile I torture myself....

In February I spotted a picture of a cat wearing a devil hat. Too cute. Then on Ravelry I spotted the designer has a new pattern out for a unicorn cat-hat. That one didn't appeal to me especially....but the bear ears? Oh boy. So I have shamelessly nicked her photos from Ravelry in the belief she won;t mind in return for this plug - all the patterns are available on Ravelry here or on Etsy here and are only about $4 each. So if you have a cat, and it needs a hat, you know where to go.

Bear Cat

Frog Cat

Party Cat (Pooch did point out that in this one the cat looks like he's had enough hats for one day, but still)

Monster Cat

And then just in case you are deranged like me in your desire for cats, but your hateful husband has deliberately set out to be allergic to them, she has cat patterns too.

Meow!

Finally, just so you know I don't exaggerate about my working conditions....

And I'm the one in the middle. Although I'm hoping that was clear and didn't really need saying.

Slow Week

Pretty slow week at work so far. New boy started yesterday and has so far born up well to the torrent of abuse that passes for our team dynamism. He just took a picture of me and two of my colleagues with our bellies' exposed and a 4th colleague's name written on the aforementioned exposed bellies. So as I type I have a big 'A' hidden under my t-shirt. He's still managed to eat lunch too. I guess it's only tuesday though, so goodness knows what horror will strike in the next few days.

Life outside work has been pretty exciting though. You don't end up like this by playing it safe you know.

(It's the inner side of my elbow on my right arm - I know the angles look weird but it is - trust me on this.)

I went to give blood. I really should stop doing that but it was World Blood Day and they'd sent me a postcard saying the blood stocks always plummeted during a World Cup so I thought I would. Plus they had a big cake. It was good. I got through the iron test and listing current meds with flying colours and she found a vein straight away too. Possibly over confident following my assurances that something usually goes terribly wrong she said "Here we go.......................Um...............................SHE'S BRUISING!!!!!!! SOMEONE GET ME A SWAB!!!!!". I took great pains not to look, since that's what lead to my fainting last time I went. It doesn't actually hurt but I have to wait four weeks for it to heal and then they'll try again.

Do you give blood? The two main disqualifications are being a gay man (so backward but there you go) and having had a blood transfusion since about 1980. If neither of those apply to you then you really should. Click here to find your nearest donation point. There might be cake.

So apart from that....I've become mildly obsessed with the look of my blog and with having weird dreams. I've really got to write down that one about the crab. It's not even like I've been eating cheese. I have been compiling tutorials for crafty goodness and have added another page to this blog to keep track of them. I was thinking about this in the bath last night and got quite annoyed with Pooch for not earning enough to make it possible for me to sit at home crafting more often. But then he came in and said something sweet and I remembered he was ok again.

Blog pimping, again

Darling Blogger, how you do aim to please. Blogger have just introduced a new template editor which is amazingly simple to use and highly configurable. So as you can see I have changed my look - for today at least. I went with books to suit the sexy librarian theme. But who knows what tomorrow will bring!

I'm also going down the advertising route so if you are a LYS, an etsy/folksy seller, a budding author, or just have something to say I have a blog for you to do it on. I know it's a bit commerical but I really want to be able to stop scrimping to save for a deposit - and every penny from ads will help that happen sooner.

I'm a sexy librarian.

Although the boys at work say I'm more like that old lady librarian ghost from Ghostbusters.

Well what a weekend. Having dismally drawn England in the office sweepstake I am now semi-obliged to take an interest in their inevitable downfall. It was probably just as well since we were having a roomful of people round to watch their first game yesterday. I made key lime pie using this amazingly simple recipe. Pooch made chilli. Everyone was happy basically. Apart from that goal keeper. Ah well.

Of course no evening with Pooch is complete without a laptop. And in this case it was used so that one of his mates on the otherside of london who was looking after his baby girl could be with us in spirit via Skype videocall. Skype really is amazing technology - and on top of that it is free. So we were able to keep an eye on each others' reactions and to share analysis at half-time. You can see him circled in red here.

Just to balance things out and make sure no one thinks I'm actually supporting england long-term or anything, I have placed my first ever bet with a bookmaker. £5 on Germany to win the whole thing. And they've just scored twice in their first game so I'm feeling good about it. It might make the next few weeks slightly more bearable too.

On the craft side it is still all about the hexagons. So not much to show. However, I did take a break long enough to whip this up.

It ties around the door handles of the front room. The door never stays shut when a window is open because of the throughdraft and it bangs and scrapes where the catch is. So now it deliberately doesn't shut, and the padding inside it stops the banging. I is genius.

Perfect Sunday

Heart-shaped cherry crumble!

Om nom nom nom. Got cornish cream ice-cream to eat it with...and I still have a husband to eat it with, although it was a narrow thing. This is him hanging out of a window.

He'd decided that his england flag (goddamnworldcup) was blowing about too much and so should be stuck down with sellotape.

Nutter.

The rest of the day has been a mixture of knitting, patchwork and tidying. I've started on the flower top from the front of Norah Gaugan's fourth berocco collection. The yarn my SP sent me was perfect for it so I couldn't resist casting on and am onto the 3rd section of the back already. Going to be lovely.

Dalston - place of mystery and intrigue

The reopening of the East London line has opened up several not-so-far-flung corners of London. I had a long-standing appt to meet a friend there and it took a mere 20 mins to get straight to the heart of the area, and the delights that contains. For a start there is a huuuuuuuuge market. More fruit, veg, fish, clothes, shoes, bags, cooking pots etc than you can shake an incense stick at. That's where I scored this massive amount of cherries from - just £2.

Then there are all the stalls with fabric on. And not just stalls. My visit had a dual purpose and the first was to visit Dalston Mill, which really has to be seen to be believed. (The website just doesn't do it justice.) This gives you a rough idea:

Floor to ceiling fabric bolts. So that's 3 stories high of fabric. Then there is all the floor space stacked with rolls. Then there are the back rooms. It was pretty amazing. I asked them how they got the the rolls off the top tiers and the lovely lady helping us said they hook them down. Then if the customer doesn't like the fabric close up they have to put it back! There was also yarn - all acrylic but a good variety, tonnes of buttons and a room of haberdashery. Nice. I was amazingly restrained. A metre of this beautiful cotton.

And I couldn't resist one of these beautiful buttons - so gorgeous.

The other reason for going was to see another Louise Riley exhibition. Her stuff is just so amazing. This is my all time favourite piece:

The exhibition was on in Dalston Superstore. I'd not been there before and it was great - brilliant food and a great way to see the art. This is a new one and really amazing.

Bernie and I had a great lunch, under another amazing piece.

I so want to be Louise Riley. Woe.

But who am I? I am Auntie Alex, wife of Uncle Grumpy. Who finally handed over this photo.

And I patchwork like a demon.

Mosaic Magic

Love Flickr Mosaics.

Embroidery

1. TAST 07- 6 Algerian Eye Stitch, 2. Book4 detail, 3. "Archer" embroidery for Beefranck, 4. Daisy experiment, 5. Whore Island Tote close up, 6. Imagen 101, 7. MadDog., 8. Crafty Buttons, 9. Murder Presents!, 10. Tree, hoop shot, 11. Little Tiger's Orangey Celebration embroidery, 12. stitching girl pattern from doe-c-doe

Patchwork

1. Orange Scrap Pouch Detail, 2. Oz hexagons, 3. Challenging...and finished...At LAST, 4. pot-holder , 5. detail, 6. squares, 7. Spider web quilt closeup, 8. I Spy finshed, 9. sixteen string blocks, 10. Scrappy string quilt, 11. Fruit Pastilles, 12. Hexagon Swap

Embroidery Transfers

1. NI 016 g, 2. gatinhos, 3. hearthside baby sample, 4. Sailing Kitty, 5. Design 7443-Bluebird DOW Wednesday 01, 6. Monday kitty, 7. wb kitten 1, 8. hearthside embroidery pattern co. logo, 9. puppy sewing

And then just gorgeous stuff!

1. Ah mas eu estou rindo à toa!!!!!!, 2. Bloo (sold), 3. bunny, 4. memo monsieur brooches, 5. YELLOW HEDGEHOG FABRIC UNISEX BABY BOOTIES, 6. Emma Brooch - Handmade Embroidered Felt Brooch - Accessories, 7. Meggie the Gnome, 8. Crafting 365/121 Fimo stacker bead bracelet, 9. City living - stitched and printed canvas , 10. play, 11. I agree with Nick badge, 12. green and iron bowl

Yay for secret pal!

I love secret pal. This round is a bit weird but I'm still having fun. I got my first parcel from my pal today. Yippeee!

300g of lovely soft cotton in that divine dark purple, 4 big buttons to match, 2 BEAUTIFUL heart=shaped ceramic buttons, nail varnish in the exact same shade as the yarn (!) AND a massive block of delicious chocolate that is about.....half gone already. Om nom nom nom. Thank you secret pal! I am very very happy. I am thinking this maybe for the yarn, as a short sleeved version. But I think I can wing the pattern without paying since it looks like the estonian button stitch from these socks on the body, and I can do the yoke no prob. No wait....this. Yeah baby.

Work has been as zany as ever recently. The boys have been on fine form, and never more so than when my free sample frames arrived from Glasses Direct. Very impressed with them, but that's by the by. I tried on my frames and have gone for these ones:

Which left the boys with the other three pairs to play with.

From left to right is Sam, Jac and Steve. They're the ones who spent an hour debating which should donate their sperm to me. Sweeties.

I've long been a fan of vintage necklaces and have amassed quite a few. But for the last few years I haven't worn that many since they have, ahem, shrunk (i.e. fat neck) or broken. Here is the sorry spectacle of those needing attention.

I bought some chain the last time I was at a bead shop and some slip rings later we have...these 5 extended.

And these three fixed.

Some of them really are beautiful.

Apart from all that I have finally started stitching the patchwork flowers together. I have gone for the rainbow, against your collective advice. So whites first (apologies for sounding like a BNP supporter). I think they're looking rather lovely.

The cutest bowling ball in creation

This is Pooch with our beefy nephew.

 

He's 7 months but already into 9-12 month clothes and is one of the best-natured children I've ever come across (possibly almost as lovely as Nickerjac's Pete was at that age). We had a lovely weekend up North with my in-laws and had far more food than is good for anyone as well as great company. I also scored Wrestlemania 21 in a charity shop and you don;t get much better than that.

I knitted like a demon while i was up there. Mostly because I do not like knitting socks with the sockenwolle stuff.

It looks nice enough with the long colour changes but it is just too woolly for me. So I knit like a monkey to get them over with, and surely they were. I think I'll put these by as a christmas present for someone. Finishing these meant I could try an experiment with some self-striping regia I got in a swap. I love the appearance of slip stitches and I love zig zags. So the Impasta Shawlette in Interweave was always going to be a winner. But I don;t really use shawls so I went for socks and was hoping it would make a self-striping yarn look like zigzags.

As you can see no discernable effect but I think if the stripes were narrower it might work ok. These socks will be going to Pooch at some point, if he deserves them. He got a stonking bonus last week and as yet no presents have appeared chez byrne so we'll see.

My fingers are sore today but not because of the knitting. It is pater's bday today and as he is such a keen bird watcher I decided to get a hat and personalise it.

The quote says "My favourite weather is bird-chirping weather". In retrospect I am hoping this isn't a euphemism but it was on a bird watching website so fingers crossed I am ok!

My last point for this post concerns blue and green and grey. I love the colour combinations you see between green fields and blue skies, especially as the sun is going down or when the weather is turning. I snapped these from the train on the way back from Manchester.

If you know of yarns in these colours let me know!

Tutorials

I love tutorials. So inspiring. These are just some I've spotted this week.

1. Pot Holders (I'd like these for placemats though)
2. Amazing illustrations
3. Button Bouquets. Not a new idea, but reinvented here with the addition of paper!
4. Making Bias Tape (via Craftzine)
5. Visual Tricks with felt-tips
6. Macaroon recipe - must try for Pooch!

What a difference a day makes

The last few weeks have been really busy at work as I've been running 90 oral exams in 2 locations over three days using about 30 examiners. So I took today off and have had a really wonderful time. It makes me wish a 4-day week lay somewhere in my near future. But sadly not. Weekend first though - went down to muvvers in Somerset and had a wonderful time. Blissful weather, very relaxing, lots of time in the garden, great food, and a cat you can't help but love....

We were hanging out - not something we usually do since she is a prolific hunter and barely spends more than an hour a day at the house during the summer.

Of course my favouritest animal was also there.

He was on excellent form. He got to eat crab, and got driven around by me in the custard car - the brightest yellow car you ever saw which belongs to my sister.

We had lunch with my parents at a beautiful house with an amazing garden. I adore poppies.

So beautiful.

And it meant I had a lot of time to knit while I was relaxing. This is my old shale pattern cardi which I'm doing bottom-up in Ty-Dy cotton.

So that brings me to today and my wonderful day off. I headed straight to the V&A Quilts Exhibition. On Nickerjac's recommendation I got the iPhone app for it and I'm very glad I did as it was really handy. Not only do you get the commentary, you also have the option to look at some details on the screen as the nature of the quilts means that they're too delicate to get too close to. This is one of my favourites which luckily they had a postcard of.

Union jacks made out of liberty prints. So clever and so beautiful.

After that I headed off to Covent Garden and Artbox. I love that shop. You can buy online too. This was my haul.

Little ankle socks with ducks on. Awesome. And then a little something from the Bead Shop.

And then Cyber Candy was just round the corner so it would have been silly not to get some Cherry Ripe bars. Goddamn I love those things. If only they'd make them in the UK. Although considering my waistline it's probably best they don't. 

Days off rule!