The Art of Choosing Your Audience

Recently I posted about my uncertainty about giving handmade gifts and the reception they might attract. I received some fabulous feedback, insightful commentry and lots of cyber hugs. It was swell.

But I've moved on. My best audience is right in front of me and there is no better recipient of a handmade gift than a nearly 3 year old Smurf.

He pestered these mittens right off the needles.


Then wore his new hat around all afternoon despite being inside on a rainy day and then insisted it replace his much cherished pink beanie (also a well received knit) on daily outings.


Stats:
Hat - like these
Mittens - fudged by me and based on 'Later Gator Mitten' measurements in Stitch n Bitch Nation

On the Ways of the Op Shop

Did I tell you the one about how good the Op Shop Gods have already been to me in Canberra?

I mostly gave up op shopping in Sydney, other than occassionally popping in, with no expectations, to my local Vinnies and the Tempe tip.

Op shopping wasn't exactly on my mind when we moved to Canberra...until we discovered that when you wear coats every day a coat rack is in order*. So, I began stalking my old hunting grounds only to find they are as fertile as I remembered (we've lived here before).

It's been mostly about the usual discoveries. I found clothes - great clothes, the (plastic) tins above (hello $2 for the set), a gorgeous vintage Mikasa plate and various smurfy treasures.

But how about a knitting machine,



complete with ribber** and



knit radar***



In immaculate complete condition, about 26 punch cards****, full instruction booklets,



machine knitting newsletter from 1973 - still in original addressed envelopes and a wool winder for oh, gee say $40?

And I'm not even keeping it (but I am keeping the wool winder). I conspired with my now-machine-knitting-obsessed partner in knitting machine hunting. And I couldn't be happier to live vicariously through her adventures. Besides, while dragging Mum about on my crazy KM adventures, she revealed to me that I in fact have a knitting machine (it belonged to Sadie). Whoop!

Op Shop Gods I kneal down before you and give thanks.

*Still waiting to find the right coat rack
**Didn't know what that was before the KM adventure
***That either
****Nup nor that. Lucky my partner got straight into obsessive research and could enlighten me.

A weekend of craft indulgence

Photos courtesy of our resident photographer, Tutti Fruiti

Just a sample...1. hub of activity, 2. B + C, 3. J working on her liberty blouse, 4. F cutting out her bag pieces, 5. J + B, 6. Time to leave, 7. New hood, 8. bubbles, 9. happy hour

A whole weekend
For pure crafting pleasure
Great friends
Fantastic food
The best styled cheese platters ever seen by anyone
Personal sewing instructors - there were two of them!
Lots of laughing
Great company

I managed (with the aid of my personal instructors) a fully lined, hooded jacket (pattern: Ottobre 2007/3 Summer Hooded Jacket - sewn in mid weight cotton, lined with flanelette)


complete with pink sleeve lining (a special secret surprise for my little pink loving Smurf)


Some PJ pants using Curly Pops ace 70's pants pattern


As well as some knitting, crochet, a softie and a still to be tinkered with top for me - oh and a delicious dinner (if I do say so myself).

Can't wait for the next one.

On knit one, knit one, knit one

In un-me like fashion I finished this little number well in advance of the arrival of my latest nephew. I even had time to make very considered choices about buttons. It was delightful to be able to prance about the button shop getting the assistant's opinion and not feeling pressured to purchase the first button that seemed suitable because they needed to be sewn on in the car on the way to meet the bundle of joy (don't ask).

I bought three different types and settled on the first choice in the end anyway. The colour's a bit weird in that photo up there, but in real life the combo works. No, really it does.

The cardy is a Debbie Bliss pattern, garter stitch and knit in one piece (the only way to go I'm convinced). The wool is divine Grignasco Bambini. Most of the knitting was completed in the car.

OK, ready to cast on the next one. I think I'm going to buy some Bendy wool this time...to match the buttons of course. I've got another nephew/neice arriving in January so I can now knit a cardy to go with the remaining buttons.

Mittens, Oh My!

Well, technically just the one mitten, oh my.

This project snuck in between the crochet addiction. Equally addictive because it was in the round, I knew it would be off the needles quick-smart and it was more interesting than the garter stitch baby cardy I'm also knitting at the moment.



If the enjoyment continues I may even have a second mitten to show.

Pattern found on ravelry. I think I'll shorten the finger section next time.

Don't panic

There is craft. It's a little bit limited but I assure you there's craft. It's currently of the knitting variety and you may be interested to know it's knitting from the stash. Pardon me while I engage in a bit of self congratulatory patting on my back.

Craft aside, excitement levels are sky high here. We're spending tonight watching The Bushfire Relief concerts (on the teev, days gone by we would have been there with a line up like that) and hands up who can't wait for Midnight Oil or Split Enz. Whoop!

Whoops

Whoops I lost the phone cable for uploading photos and on top of that I couldn't be arsed charging the camera batteries. Both photo outputting sources not outputting.

So here's a couple of the craft-related happenings that occurred during the time lost since I lost the cable/battery charging motivation.


Mr S+L, the knitting and I went for an outing to the tattoo shop. We stalked Sydney's best Sailor Jerry tattooist for weeks to work out when we could get in to see him. Don't freak, that one you see in the flash book above is not the one purchased. Oh and this time round it was his turn, not mine.

There was more first bday party action. The quilt top magically turned into an actual, real, no-fooling quilt (with the aid of a very late night, several beers and some last minute stitching while burning down the highway). Due to the stitching while burning down the highway, finished product photo opportunities were limited. So some evidence of the quilting (by machine) and the binding (my first ever proper binding, cause I've been a cheater till now):


The backing fabric (love this), oh and my hips (oolala) and the morning coffee


And a bit of the hand stitching to cover that fark up I was talking about (3 solid pieces all sewn up next to each other, despite endless testing of layouts on the floor)


OK, now I promise to be less half arsed about charging the batteries etc for a while at least.

PS I'm in a glam rock band!

Feeling a little bit knitty

The other day one of those crafty bitches* was telling me how she has project sensations. You know obsessive sock knitter then a baby quilt maker extraordinaire then nothing but fetchings for weeks. I have these waves too and at the moment I'm on the cusp of falling heavily into a beanie frenzy.


The pattern is the same one Sadie used but I decided the knob and ties were unnecessary.


I suspect though that the main instigator of my joyous knit-a-thon is the luscious JJ's wool combined with my 4mm clovers. What ever it's a slippery slope and I'm well on my way down.

* I love my crafty bitches - she's not one of those types of crafty bitches.

When all else fails outsource it

Outsourcing, especially to bloggy friends, is a clever thing to do in life I have decided. I was never going to get the time to finish a knitted hat for the Smurf in time to keep his head warm when he actually needs it (like now). So I outsourced to a lovely lady (with questionable taste in football teams) who I wished I managed to actually meet in person when we lived in the same state.



It was also a clever use of outsourcing on my behalf because look what delights accompanied the head warmer. And she's quick, a matter of days for a custom order, quick sticks indeed! So if you need some knitting assistance you too can outsource to her: http://www.sheepsclothingknits.blogspot.com/

Slowly slowly slowly said the sloth

I had every intention of finishing this cardy by the time my nephew was born.

I didn't finish by the time I originally hoped but I am pleased to tell you that I finished almost exactly 9 months before his first birthday. Yay me.

Details

Pattern: from an old Women's Weekly baby knitting book given to me last year by Ingrid. I can't show you it or tell you the name because I copied the pattern into my notebook and then packed the book away into storage. It's a great book full of nice knits made with bad eighties colours and yarns.

Yarn: Naturally Haven. 4 ply 100% NZ Merino. 2 and a tiny bit balls. I had to dial into Clegs to get me another ball to finish the hood. I contemplated many avoidance tactics (hello AADC!) in lieu of buying another ball of wool...smaller hood, no hood, give up etc...but in the end I bit the bullet and bought the extra ball.

Sticks: My favouritest of favourite sticks. Sadie's Mum's tortoiseshell sticks. I deliberately seek out patterns that require these sticks just so I can knit with them.

Time: Umm I already told you that, don't embarrass me by making me say it again!

What I learnt:
- Some people are excellent assistant button selectors.
- I should just suck it and get on with knitting when I'm working on these projects.
- I can finish a knitted garment AND give it as a gift. (This is the very first knitted garment I have finished and actually been happy enough with to give it away. I have, despite my ADC tendencies, finished other garments but have always felt they were too inferior to gift. I also usually then find them in amongst the stash months later and wonder what the hell I was thinking)

She Gets Around

Yes I get around this time to Canberra. You might have seen that The Toy Society was at work


But we took the trip down the highway


to escort our little happy clapper to his first footy match. I did a spot of knitting on the way (a Tea Cosy to be) and controlling the ipod.


The Smurf was very excited at the prospect of his first footy match and practised his cheering all the way to the ground


Although it's fair to say that Daddy was more excited about the singing of the team song in front of the banner


But it all turned bad when Mummy's team won. Poor little Smurf.

Fishing

Some fishermans rib for the Smurf from Great Grandma Sadie.

It was a semi DIY gift as I had to sew the buttons on as it was a bit hard for Grandma to see them but I don't mind. Grandma supervised me closely and gave me some gentle suggestion that the buttons should all face the same way - and they do

...well they do if I twist them all in the same direction! And did you know that there is a boy way to front flaps on cardy's? No, I had no idea either! This one is obviously a boy one as the Smurf is afterall a boy - so left over right for boys and vice versa for the girls.

Here's the Smurf spending some fun time with Great Grandma Sadie

Thanks Grandma we love it and can't wait till it gets a bit chilly so the Smurf can wear it.

The Mojo

Thanks for the mojo vibes, it worked a treat along with a Friday morning outing to meet with some Sydney crafty bloggers . We chatted craft, Japan (extensively!), fabric, knitting, and serious craft world current affairs. it was so great to put a face to a blog and also great to be included in the Sydney blog scene so quickly. You gals are alright! We all brought a little gift to swap and I scored a gorgeous gift from Belinda



I left with a massive smile on my face and my mojo in my sights. I capitalised on my newfound energies and suggested a little gathering of others on Sunday. Lo and behold I managed to knit 10 rows and that was even with the Smurf as my date! Only when I picked up my knitting later last night I realised I stuffed up on the new section. Usually under these circumstances I would quietly put the project away and pretend it's not there till I next see the knitting gurus. But no not this time, not me! I taught myself how to pick up stitches and frogged back to the bit I made the mistake and away I went again. I surprise even myself!

There was also a small matter of a gift voucher bday present that may also have contributed to the return of my mojo!


I should be able to implement most of your suggestions for my mojo returning with this baby.

Happy Chocoholiday

This is my creation


Dar as if you didn't guess I'd be using the Smurf for that one. Immensly unoriginal there. Anyway my little Murphy Pie is 6 months old now. He laughs when tickled, spits out real food like a critic at a bad restaurant and has 2 teeth that could cut through metal (or my nipples, either or). My Smurf is growing up.

I've had a lovely week to balance out a shittier last week. I've met up with some sweet craft girls (you 2 Brown Pants) for stitching and bitching

These crafty ladies have a sweet tradition of show and tell at the beginning of each "meet". In the space of 2 weeks I have managed to fondle some Malabrigo (ooolala) and socks that rock all as part of show and tell. Yay me. I chose to be submissive and brought sewing things to show and tell this week, The Bend The Rules Sewing book and some linen trims etc. Naughty naughty! These ladies are also handy at helping me figure out simple spots in my knitting pattern that I can't figure out. Aren't they sweet. No photos of my current knitting yet, maybe soon?

And I've been for some walks in places like this

I lie, it was only one walk, it was today but the photo is really where I walked.

Now, I'm off on Easter holidays tomorrow - woo hoo. May the Easter Bunny find me and find me good (oh and you too if you like). What are you doing for your holidays?

She's SO last year

I got my obligatory New Year post over and done with but I'm going briefly back in time to Christmas to show you the stockings hung across Mum and Dad's fireplace.

Congrats to Rose Red who was the first to guess that I am Petal (my childhood nickname). Monster is my Sister, Yogi is what we call my sisters bun in the oven and Kimbo is my Mum...I think that covers most of the guesses. Just for interest, Marky is Dad, Matthew is Mr S+L, Deano is my Brother in Law and Murphy well you know that one already.

We had a lovely time north of the border. I essentially became just a set of boobs as the Grandparents fussed over and entertained the smurf. It was a lovely first christmas for our little family.

We ended the holiday with breakkie at this little gem of a place on Narrabeen Lake. The food was nothing to talk about but the view was yummy


Just before we headed up to the cafe I received a package from the Knittery (thanks to a recommendation). Maybe the excitement of opening it up to see my new silk merino made the whole breakfast experience all the more sweeter?

Each of these skeins are destined for clapotis greatness. One knitted by me and one knitted by Sadie (Grandma).

I see Red

In my non craft life I'm seeing red at the moment - a lazy builder who I've come home early from work to meet 2 days in a row without him showing, bastards (of all genders) who won't offer me a seat on the stinking hot overcrowded tram - despite their eye contact and secret peak at my belly (interestingly mostly young women wearing ipods - or maybe that's eyepods? Darling just cause you've got earphones plugging your hearing holes doesn't mean I can't see you looking at me - may the karma goddess hit you with her pointy stick if you ever need a seat on a tram when you're 7 months up the duff), and meanie bobeanies at work who despite being high powered successful women are acting like a pack of high school girls bitches.

In my craft life however I seem to be seeing pink...

Umbilical hat from Stitch n Bitch (not for my bump). And I've cast this on again in another shade of pink for a different girl bump.


A beautiful cotton beanie from Sam at Wizz Me together with her ace pattern for a baby beanie in 4 ply cotton that I can't wait to try out (just need the right size needles) - sent in response to my weak pleas for help. Oh and Sam I was overly excited by the duck shaped paper clip. Sam has an etsy shop by the way.

At least the pink can cheer me up and I have been right into the pinks lately- even though I'm not a pink girl. Ingrid and I were discussing over email how the bun in my oven may be trying to send me some signals. Maybe but we'll all have to wait another 10 or so weeks to find out. Shit 10 weeks, really??!

Oh and this too can cheer me up - I forgot all about it and found it in my pile of bday cards (surprise bday bash I never told you about way back in March).

Care of Brownpants who can jump on my bed any time! I think I will get a proper frame for this and put it on the wall over our bed.

Oh and did you hear the Up the Duff bug is going around?

Stop hogging bloglines

I jumped on bloglines this morning and it seems the site is busy and I can't get anything to show up properly, just half loaded photos and sometimes even weird code. Same with blogger. So I kindly ask that you all get your arses out of bloglines and blogger so I can get my fix please.

It would seem that after receiving my ultimatum of choosing only a couple of projects for the move I've had a spurt of craftenergy, mostly directed in the way of knitting.



*
And of course the clap is also progressing nicely as the tram only project. I will celebrate tomorrow on the tram with a little dancing on the inside as I finally make my way into the decreasing section. Of course others are putting me to shame with their prolific knitterly ways, but I don't mind. No photos for show and tell yet.

And there's a small bit of energy being directed towards the sewing machine for this


and another ongoing project that contains strips and strips of fabric.

And I found the perfect pouch for carting around smal projects on double points

I love this pouch. It was from Justine at 62 Cherry as part of the Melbourne blog meet up in February. I can't put my finger on why I love it so much, it's just one of those things.

Now I'm buggering off to the sewing machine while Mr S+L packs another box of books - by the way pregnancy (and it's crazy ailments like random wierd hip pain that make it next to impossible to walk up and down the 2 sets of stairs in your house) are perfect excuses for getting out of packing to move house. Highly recommend it to you for next time you move.

*I'm sorry Brownpants I know I asked you to knit a pair of these for me only a matter of weeks ago cause I thought I'd never get to finish them before winter finished. But it turns out some Debbie Bliss crossed my path and I couldn't resist the urge to get these suckers on the needles and off again asap. It seems a similar DB Cashmerino Aran might have strayed into your path too? Maybe even in the exact same colour even???