This is what I am working on today.
Why oh why do people insist on selling me yarn in skeins? I am hopeless with them. The yarn is absolutely gorgeous though.
In other news, I have finished a project. Pics to follow when it has finished blocking. And I have just purchased a vintage yarnwinder thingamajig on Ebay at vast expense.
Holly at Decor8 has been writing a fabulous series about unleashing your creativity, which has made me decide that this is the year I learn to crochet.
I have a couple of super scary projects I’m contemplating (to be discussed when they’ve percolated a bit more) but have told myself that I can’t buy the yarn for anything big until I’ve finished the incredibly tedious blanket of doom. In the meantime I’m attempting a few simple projects, so I can see what this crocheting lark is all about and whether it really is for me.
My first project was a cover for the orchid the Minx gave me for Valentines Day. I adapted Erika Knight’s bottle covers from Simple Crochet and used some string I found in our useful drawer and a length of fine chartreuse ribbon I found at the bottom of my knitting bag which I must have bought for some project I can no longer remember.
It wasn’t difficult, though string and ribbon are not the most forgiving of media, and has encouraged me to persevere, though the Husband did take one look at the finished article and said, “Isn’t that all a bit macrame’?” and I couldn’t really disagree.
Here’s some crochet that actually looks good. Found via the Style Files and available here if you can read Dutch, these are all crocheted in polyester so are good for outdoors. I’d love some for the deck.
More details in my Ravelry notebook. Come and find me there.
When we were talking paint colours recently (still dithering about that and waiting on a couple of samples) a couple of you mentioned my little Matte Stephens painting, which I picked up when Matte gave his talk at the Lab last year. It was originally intended for the Minx’s room, but I’ve decided that I love it far too much to waste it on her.
I bought the picture because, although it’s supposed to be a picture of Matte’s wife Vivienne, it reminds me of the Minx, and the fir trees and umbrella are just SO Seattle.
Those of you who spend a lot of time in the American blogosphere will certainly have seen Matte’s work before – much of his talk at the Lab was about how he had been quietly plodding along with his art for years, before becoming something of an overnight sensation, with lots of interesting projects in the works.
However, for those of you who don’t know him so well he has an Etsy shop here full of prints, and a blog here. You can also buy original works here at Velocity. And as of today he is giving away these three new pillows on his blog.
I hope you appreciate how much I love you, as by telling you this I am severely impacting my own chances of winning.
Here’s Matte and Vivienne at the Lab last year
Just updating to say that, just in case you’re not lucky enough to win, the pillows are on sale at Urban Outfitters at a very reasonable price.
As someone who is in the process of knitting thousands of interminable small stitches for my blanket, I do hope this video was made by some sort of camera trickery, and not by someone knitting every frame.
Oh please, London readers, tell me you saw these. What were they like? How did they make you feel? Did you kidnap one and take it home with you? (Despite the grey skies and general doom and gloom coming out of the UK, they made me very nostalgic for London today).
London artist Stuart Semple wanted to cheer people up, so he released 2057 pink smiley faced clouds made of helium, biodegradable soap and vegetable dye into the sky. After 30 minutes they dissolved in the air. More deets here.
The wonderful lampshades in the house featured below are handmade by Seattle-based designer Jill Smith, owner of Insatiable Studios.
The shades are all meticulously crafted using a papier-mâché process and then decorated with found papers. Her lampshades are available to buy online and her work also adorns several commercial spaces, such as PCC and the Dahlia Lounge here in Seattle and Nordstroms in Chicago.
I really want one for the lucite lamp base I found on Ebay last year which is currently adorned by a VERY dull Ikea lampshade. It’s going to have to wait a bit though as I’ve just had a nasty bill for camera repairs.
I’ve recently, and very belatedly, signed up to the very fabulous knitting site Ravelry, which is not only an incredibly useful resource, it is also very inspirational. As a result I’ve been knitting up a storm in recent weeks, though I’m sure this will soon pass, cursed as I am with butterfly-mindedness.
But in the spirit of making knitting while the sun shines here’s what I’ve been working on recently.
Firstly, the socks from hell continue to drive me nuts, though I’ve managed to get as far as the heel on the second sock, so I should be finished soon. The pattern is not difficult but it is complicated, and so not compatible with watching telly, which is when I usually knit. I blame Jon Stewart entirely.
I also accidentally started knitting some socks for the Minx. I took her to the playground last week, forgot to take my existing sock knitting and so had to pop into the local yarn shop so that I didn’t explode with boredom. I’ve been promising to make the Minx a pair of socks for a long time and she has become sweetly fascinated by the process. I wonder if you can guess who chose the (very fluffy and splitty) yarn?
Finally I’ve been sorting through all the knitting stuff I brought over from the UK and am thinking about reviving the blanket I started knitting for the Minx before she was born. I was astonished to find that I’d actually completed eleven out of sixteen interminable squares, knit entirely in tiny stocking stitch and I really feel like I ought to continue it. Unfortunately I’m not so sure I like the colour very much any more (why on earth did I choose BEIGE?) but I will persevere, despite it being desperately boring to knit. It’s probably the project I should turn to when I’m ogling Jon Stewart.
I am determined to have only three ‘Works In Progress’ on the go at any one time. So please yell if I show you something else before I’ve finished any of these.
All details of yarn etc. are in my Ravelry notebook. My user name is ‘mirrormirror’. Please come and find me on there.
Tula alerted me to this fun project down in LA where local artists are trying to enhance the community through art and architecture.
Artist Alexandra Grant wants to create this giant Love structure on a family home and is selling necklaces to raise funds for the project. The necklace is available in both gold and silver here.
Living very close to the Fremont area of Seattle, which prides itself on its many quirky works of public art, I know very well how much they can engender a sense of local pride and just raise a smile on a grey day.
As you know from Matthew Williamson’s house, I do love a bit of neon, though I’ve got none in the house and I’m not entirely sure how I could get it to work in a turn-of-the-century craftsman (though it would be fun to try with the multicolored lamp below).
So I made a note to write about neon artist Roger Borg when I saw his lamps on Kanye’s blog (yes, I LIKE Kanye’s blog) and was delighted when the man himself then contacted me.
Here’s the person to call when you need a huge neon installation in your stairwell.
My new toy arrived at the weekend and I got busy felting my little bowls.
And it’s fab. I threw my knitted bowls in (sorry, forgot to take before pics) added some hot water from the tap and a tiny bit of Woolite and then turned on my electric bucket. About fifteen minutes later (twenty for the larger bowl) this is what came out.
The felt is thicker and hairier than the hand felted bowl and they’re a more straight-sided in shape for some reason but I can’t believe how quick and easy it all was. The Wonder Washer gives you precise control over the amount of water you use, the temperature of the water (I topped up from the kettle for the larger bowl); and the amount of time (you can check as often as you want). When they’re done all you need to do is rinse and leave to dry. And all the fibres and lint stay in the bucket, and won’t clog up your washing machine.
And for those of you who don’t have a basement full of junk in which to store it, the base unit fits neatly inside the bucket, so it doesn’t even take up much space.
{my new BFF}
I am so enamoured that I even put it on the ‘gentle’ setting and did all the handwashing that has been languishing at the bottom of the laundry basket for months. My next adventure in felt will, I think, be the Aran sweater.
