Christmas-related Stress

Stress seems to make me knit more. Mhm, hm. Yup, that must be it.

I haven't had time to post, because I've been -

Finishing the Moss Stitch Baby Set. I decided I probably had just enough wool left to make a scarf to go with the hat. And I did! I was half-way through it when I decided to rip it. I knew I wouldn't have enough wool to go the distance, so I reduced the width from 11 stitches to 7 and eked a bit more. Was a pain in the arse at first, but then I got into the rythym, and it was done in no a little bit of time. Here they are:

Modelled by Janie
I bought a baby doll and a barbie from the Salvos to model my baby and doll clothes on. I'm sure you'll see Plastic-Panties-Petunia in a future post.

[If you think that's strange, I named my new fridge Matilda :P ]

Starting a Series of Barbie Clothes. I've had the idea in my mind for a while to make some doll's clothes. After some research on Etsy, I've decided to make some Barbie clothes. I'm not cool enough to make Blythe clothes, let alone afford to buy a Blythe doll to model them on. P. P. Petunia, on the other hand, was only a buck-seventy-five.

Barbie is tolerably kitschy, so I thought, who gives a flying fuck what anyone thinks? (So I was a bit drunk at the time, ok?) I had an idea to make a series of Barbie outfits - skirts, pants, party dresses, with accessories of course! And if I could get my hands on some barbie shoes, then I could offer them for free with the outfits. Then they could be complete. And that's essential for a well-dressed fashion icon, oui? (Ok, so I'm a bit drunk now, wanna make something of it?)

I started with a jumper from the book Knitting in the Round that I had borrowed from the library:

Rather clinical in the plastic bag, no?
I couldn't be bothered getting it out of the bag, let alone taking more than one photo, so you get to see the grey Preppy Skirt behind it. It's mostly finished, except for weaving in the ends (to which I'm slowly becoming reconciled). I'd like to decorate it with a white felt and sequinned flower, circa 1954. I'm also making a mohair scarf, which you can see in the foreground of the pic. I'm making it using I-cord, and I'm not 100% happy with the way it's turning out. I'd rather it was more flat and less tube-y, but I can't be bothered ripping it out. Not after the Baby Scarf. What is it with scarf issues at the moment? Perhaps it's the fact that it's thirty-fucking-seven degrees out there. Those of you who know it will excuse the language.

Yet this morning, just when I had decided that yarn-based crafts where done with for the summer (not to mention moving at all), I was inspired by - and I'm pretty embarrassed by this - a Scooby Doo cartoon. The original was purple and taller than a man, but in response I created my own ... Left-Handed Monster:

The Makings of Another Nightmare
And, no, that safety pin on the front is not to mark where his penis goes! :P He had shorts on in the cartoon! The main gist of it is that the monster has both arms on the same side. I'm also using it as a chance to experiment with making the limbs bent (the left leg in the picture has a slight 'knee') and eventually different forms of decoration. I plan to poke it with sharp needles, folks! I ordered a needle-felting kit on Ebay and I'm just itching for it to come (damned public holidays!). Basically, it's a way to felt wool and attach it to things by poking it over and over with a really sharp needle. It's easy to do at home, with no boiling soapy water, no mess and no fuss. Just a slight risk that you might pierce yourself with an extremely sharp, barbed needle. I have not told my boyfriend yet. Wait, he reads this.... D'oh!

Ah well, real blood is more authentic, right?

Moving right along

In the past few days I finished the Baby Tunic:

I'm quite proud of this one! Because - A) I designed it myself. B) It helped me get over my fear of Moss Stitch (I'm still scared of doing it on impossibly small needles though a la the Bootee nightmare. C) The sleeves are attached so it seemed like less of a massive undertaking to make it (only two pieces instead of four, or even a spine-chilling six!). D) I kind of fuggered-up and made the back longer than the front, but when I sewed it up I managed to do a bit of bunching and stretching and covered it up quite well. E) I just started it one day as if it wasn't a big deal, and then I just finished it in much the same frame of mind. As if it wasn't going to be a huge effort and take 6 months. Bear in mind we're talking about a GARMENT here, people!!


Then today I finished one that'd been hanging around cause I couldn't find the other ball of wool for it - the Skinny Nature Scarf:

It goes (or not) with the hat I made a few weeks ago. Gosh-durnit, I love working with this wool! It's so luffly and eksotic, dahling. I'll be sad when it's all used up. (Just four-fifths of a ball to go, but I'm thinking of another scarf already.)

I found the wool when I was transferring all my wool from the wardrobe (and the shelf and the floor in front of the wardrobe!) to my new cupboards in the hobby room. Well, some of it, anyway. Ahem. (And yes, that was cupboards).

No more wool-buying for me. Really. Seriously, now. I don't care how cheap it is. You've gotta draw the line somewhere. I haven't even started pulling my fabric out of the wardrobe yet. Now there's another kettle of fish entirely....

What else? My copy of Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair arrived the other day. Yessss!!!! I just finished it earlier this afternoon. (Hence no posts in the last few days ;) ) It's the story of Crazy Aunt Purl, who's had a knitting (and everything else!) blog for a few years now, which I've enjoyed reading immensely. The book isn't as spontaneous as the blog, but why would you expect it to be? It still made me laugh out loud many a time, causing my boyfriend to give me paranoid looks every five minutes. Basically, the subtitle of the book sums it all up: "the True Misadventures of a 30-Something who learned to Knit after he Split". It's not all about knitting, though. It's also about moping, eating, dating, having lots of cats, drinking copious amounts of wine and how fantastic friends are. I loved it!
There are also some knitting patterns at the back, some designed by Crazy Aunt Purl, and some by her friends (most of whom are famous in the knitting world). They're more of an additional bonus to the story, not the focus of the book. Most of them are accompanied by a suggested drink. I like her style! This is one book I'll definitely pick up again in a year or two.

[Impromptu book review over]

SHOP STUFF
I added the Skinny Nature Scarf to my shop today. Since the first heady rash of selling fever, I've been checking my email every half an hour (literally, actually) to see if I've sold anything else. Not to be. (Yet??)
However, today I was listed in a Treasury! The Treasury is a slightly strange concept where users of Etsy make up lists of items that they like on themes (or completely randomly if they wish). The catch is that there can be only 222 lists at a time, and they last on the site for a random amount of time between 1 and 3 days. Then they expire to make way for more lists. The only way to make a list is to wait patiently until the number of lists drops below 222 and the "make a list" button appears, and then click on it as fast as your hot little fingers possibly can! So not only is it a hard-worked-for privilege to make a list, but just as much to have one of your items listed on one! And one of mine was!! Eeeeeeeeeeee!

Here is the link, even though it'll only last until sometime on Tuesday 11th December.

I'm sure I've done other stuff, but I can't remember right now. Oh well, I'm sure it'll come back to me while I'm knitting away compulsively....

*wanders off*

What a big week!

Just a quick update - of the things I vowed to finish in my last post, I did manage to finish the Bootees and Mittens:

Awwwwww!

the Firey Scarf:

Nicely trimmed

and the Deformedest Little Monster:

Euuuuwwwww!

But just in case I didn't have enough to work on, I started two other projects! A baby tunic:

I made it up myself

and another toy, Frankenstein's Toyster:

He'll be even uglier when I'm done!

I'm planning to sew the pieces together with really red, chunky, gory wool, with large stitches, and make his arms and legs from different yarns, and make him look as cobbled together as possible. In a really cool and artistically valid way, of course!

I haven't done much knitting because it's been too hot, and my hands get all sweaty and I feel like drawing instead. Here's an example of the type of theme I seem to return to a lot, a kind of half-abstract swirling design:

I bought a really cool book online called Altered Books Workshop. Basically, you take an old book, and you rip out half the pages, and paint all over the rest and stick shit all over it and basically bugger it up completely. I was horrified yet fascinated at the same time. Even if the book is about parliamentary process in 19th century Albania, surely some one, somewhere might want to read it?
I managed to find a children's board book with such ugly pictures and useless text that I could bear to ruin it. (It's called Colours and the complete text is: "pink orange green red purple". I think I could cope.) Anyway.

SHOP STUFF

My online shop is finally open, as of 28th November!!! Wooohooooo!! I'm really excited, and really scared at the same time. The capitalist money-grubbing side of me wants to sell lots of things and make lots of money, and surprisingly I'm having no pangs at the thought of letting the things I've made go. On the other hand, for every photo that I posted, a voice in my head went, "gee, that's shit. Everything else on this website is beautiful art, and that's a pile of amateur crap."

Damned voice!

But then somebody bought something!! And it wasn't even what I considered to be one of my best things, I have to admit. I really hope she likes it and isn't disappointed when she opens the package. I sent her a free bookmark that I painted. What I considered to be my best bookmark of the batch I made. Shoulda scanned it first. Durnit. I guess it's even more of a gift if it can't be reproduced and sold to someone else. ;)

It's funny, making stuff for myself has become completely boring and useless all of a sudden. I keep having ideas, but not for myself. I had an idea for a crocheted scarf today. I want to try them out, and then do something useful with them instead of having them languish in my bedroom. This really is a good thing for me. It's not really about making money. I've spent a lot more than I've made so far, and I probably will for some time to come! But knowing that what I make is (hopefully) going to be transferred to someone else and will be of some use to them is inspiring my urge to create.

*yawns* all this philosophical rambling is making me sleepy

Gett Off aka I >>HEART<< MY Ipod

Directions:
1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.


1 Are you a male or female?

Safety Dance - Men Without Hats

2 Describe yourself?

Smoke It - The Dandy Warhols

3 How do you feel about yourself?

Mothership Reconnected (Daft Punk Remix) - Scott Grooves

4 Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend:

My Hump - Black Eyed Peas

5 Describe your current partner.

Ringo - Custard

6 Describe your current location

Tainted Love (Extended Mix) - Soft Cell

7 Describe what you want to be:

Flawless - The Ones

8 Describe your best friend:

Song Formerly Known As - Regurgitator

9 Your favorite color is:

Love Comes Quickly - Pet Shop Boys

10 You know that:

Shining Star - Earth, Wind & Fire

11 What is the weather like?

Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners

12 If your life was a television show, what would it be called?

Crash - Gwen Stefani

13 What is life to you?

Barbie Girl - Aqua

14 What is the best advice you have to give?

Fucken Awesome - Spiderbait

15 Describe your love life:

Song 2 - Blur

16 How are you going to die?

Do What You Wanna (Verve Remix) - Ramsay Lewis

17 If you could change your name, what would you change it to?

Crystal - New Order

18 What do your friends think of you?

When I Come Around - Green Day

19 What is your funeral song going to be?

Mary - Supergrass

20 What are you going to repost this as?

Gett Off - Prince

Back to work for you!

Play time is over, kiddies! It's back to work for me. After a couple of days of nail-biting after signing up for a temp agency, the lovely lady called me - about once every five minutes! (Not complaining, though!) Apparently I'm hot stuff, and I have a pretty good-sounding gig to keep me going full-time for at least the next month.

I wasn't sitting around twiddling my thumbs on my time off though, oh no! I was furiously knitting and crocheting and sewing and drawing away. I made this on Cup Day:

Don't worry, I stopped to watch the race!

I also finished the Creamy Scarf on the same day:

So fluffy!

Then I felt like more of a challenge, so I worked for a while on the Heirloom Baby Blanket:

Bad, bad, evil picture!

I know it's hard to make out, but I think it'll be wonderful in the end. I'm making it for Sarah and Adrian. I decided that I wanted to make something a bit more special, well, heirloom, basically, instead of churning out acrylic gew-gaws all the time. I started it a while ago, but it was in the back of the cupboard for a while. I get it out when I feel like something a little more brain-worthy.
The stitch markers on it are from an amazing Etsy shop called Hide and Sheep. It has beautiful accessories for knitting; I wanted to use something special instead of just bits of wool like I normally do.

Then, I got out my sewing machine and whipped up some pouch-type things to keep my knitting in:

So much nicer than a plastic bag, no?

I also started a couple that are more like handbags, with handles at the top, in blue corduroy. Then the light bulb on the sewing machine conked out, and it started chewing up the fabric, which I took as a sign to do some crocheting instead.

I got inspired by the sequins that I'd crocheted onto the pouch, and I decided I wanted to do a wool embroidery. I'm not showing it here because I can't decide if it's naive and quirky, or just plain hideous. It does have a crocheted 'frame' which is actually quite good though. Maybe next post.

Then, I felt like amigurumi-ing it up, so I started a creature. I wanted to make it as unsymmetrical and strange as possible, and I may have just succeeded. I call him The Deformedest Little Monster. He's almost finished, so I think I might wait until I've gone all the way (ahem) before I take a photo.

Speaking of finishing stuff, I have a real problem. I always told myself that I'd have no more than 12 projects on the go at any one time. I currently have 17. And that doesn't include the AIDS Baby Vest which I decided not to count as it's a charity project. (Sneaky, huh?) So I had a look at my projects, and I vow to finish the following projects within the next week:

- iPod Cozy
- Skinny Nature Scarf
- The Deformedest Little Monster
- Boo-tay & Mi-Uh
- Firey Scarf (It just needs the fringe trimmed, for fuck's sake!!)
- Flower Facewashers (This one might kill me - all the weaving in.... nooooo!)

- Not to mention the two bags that I'm half-way through sewing
- and the embroidery which I still have to neaten up

Aieeeee!

SHOP STUFF - Knitting Machine

SHOP STUFF

All right! Yesterday I churned out not one, but two items!
Here they are in progress (finished pics later):

Hat made with Katrine pure wool.

I made this because I wanted to work with a wool that's interesting, and I think this fits the bill!

Creamy, sparkly scarf.

I had been planning to make a neutral-coloured version of the firey scarf for a while, and I thought, what the heck! It's narrower than Firey, but I didn't have as many matching colours to work with. I think that's fine, though.

I'm, like, a knitting machine! No, hang on, somebody already thought of that.

I'm going to sell both of these in my shop. When it opens. Don't ask.
Boy downloaded a pirated copy of MYOB for me, so I can just generally teach myself how to use it (for my own betterment and stuff), as well as seeing if it'll be good to use for the shop. I think it's too complicated. Why do I need a payroll?? I'm not gonna have staff! Actually, a masseur might be good.....

A whole lotta thinking

THINGS I HAVE LOST
- my nephew
- my job


THINGS I HAVE GAINED
- freedom
- determination
- about 15kgs*


Still trying to figure out if it balances...

Everything got put on hold for a while - a few things happened that needed all my attention, and I had to make a few decisions. Even knitting just didn't seem the right thing to do to calm me down and help me think. Some things were way more important - like comforting my family after the premature birth of our AJ. Other things seemed an unimportant 'no-brainer' decision - like weighing up whether to keep putting up with the stresses of my job, or quit and face uncertainty, but also freedom to follow my goals.

I knew this was the right decision the day after I handed in my resignation letter, when I realised that I'd spent the whole evening drawing and painting, and I'd slept better than I have in about 6 months. My boyfriend had to wake me up! Whereas normally I would wake up at about 5.30am and just lie there with my eyes shut for a couple of hours, trying not to think about work.

Yeah, I know, I used the 'G' word up there - scary huh? Just a few years ago, "goals" was a dirty word to me. Who had time to think about the future? I spent all my time doing as little work as possible and trying to be content with having as little money as possible. :)
I always had goals, really, I just told myself they were 'things I wanted to do one day'. Over time, as I got more confidence, they slowly started turning into, 'things I'm going to do one day', and then 'things I'm going to do soon'.

Anyhoo, the upshot of all this is that I'm going to open an online shop on Etsy. Now, I know that when I read a blog, and they wang on all the time about their online shop and try and get you to buy stuff from it, it's unbelievably boring and just makes you want to never read it again. So I'm going to try and keep that to a minimum. Perhaps I'll put it in a separate section at the bottom of my posts so you can just click off it if your eyes start to glaze over.

I did start making a little thing last night however:

It's an iPod cozy! I just got some cotton out and started working away with not much plan. I'm thinking I might embroider it with some yellow flowers or something once it's done. Only one snag however - before I got a chance to finish it, I broke my crochet hook!!
Guess I don't know my own strength! Before you start thinking I have superpowers all of a sudden, it was actually a bamboo one, not metal. I now have a new rule for the purchase of crafting tools though -

CRAFTING RULE #239:
Don't buy any bamboo tools unless they are thicker than your little finger.
Otherwise - SNAP!

---

* that's 15kgs I've gained since the start of the year, not since my last post!!