A Stitch In Time

Blue, Blue, I Love You!

Here is some loveliness to make up for my gloomy last post:



The gorgeous postcards are from Jane's Apron, check out her blog and etsy shop, it has lots of vintage inspired, beautifully crafted goodies.

I bought the yarn from ebay after going to a Debbie Bliss lecture last week with my friend Marilyn. I was really intrigued to learn more about her design process and the life of a knitwear designer.

Which isn't as cushy as I had envisioned. She still works from a bedroom in her house (I'd imagined a loft-ish studio with lots of staff), and at one point she said she couldn't do a photo shoot in the location of her choice as the budget wouldn't stretch to cover it. It was only in Scotland, so not exactly pushing the exotic boat out! I suppose I had assumed that once one's reached her level of success that these kind of financial considerations wouldn't be a big issue. But then I think it's much harder to make a living as a designer than in a lot of other professions, especially if you are seen as a craft-based designer.



Her working life was pretty enviable though. The life of a designer sounds so very appealing. She gets to spend a lot of her time creating yarn or garment designs and then one of her knitters will work out how to write the pattern and do all the dull, technical bits. She also told us about visiting yarn/knitwear shows in Italy where she sees predictions for future colour and style trends. And creating a 'story' for a new range, encompassing the yarn, garments, the style of the models, the location, the theme for the book... I guess the creative satisfaction must more than make up for the relatively-limited financial rewards.

I was really impressed with how down to earth she was. She clearly knows her craft inside out having spent her working life in textiles and the fashion industry. She has an absolutely intuitive understanding of how yarn and different fibres work, speaking about the yarn 'talking' to her about how to use it. And she spoke about body shapes and how tailoring can enhance certain figures, something which was clearly important to her. She'd brought some of her sketch book pages with her which were beautifully detailed and bursting with a wealth of designs, a bag of beautiful swatches and plenty of garments for us to try on.

Her lecture was so inspiring, I'm bursting with ideas for future projects now. It lead to my friend and I having a conversation about inspiration, where it comes from and what to do when it's absent.  And how it's easy to feel guilty about spending time reading books/magasines and visiting galleries/shows when you feel you should be 'working'. But I reckon spending the time gaining inspiration and viewing other people's work is a really important part of the creative process. Or at least that's what I like to think after a few hours visiting other people's blogs!

This is the design I'm planning to knit:



It's from her Pure Silk book. It'll be good to take a break from the blanket and actually finish something!  Watch this space for the results!

Details Part Two

(Details from La Pedrera and Parc Guell)

'God is in the Details' Part One

(Lace Curtain in La Pedrera)



(Pavement outside La Pedrera)

Hola!

I'm back! I had an absolutely fabulous time: It was hot and sunny; the landscape, art and architecture were stunningly beautiful; the ice cream was gooood.

But best of all, I got to spend four whole days with my sister, just lazing on the beach, in and out of the sea, getting to know her girlfriend and where they live, seeing breathtaking sights together, enjoying each other's company.

It was good to come back to the girls and David and our home though, really good.

It's just a shame it's so damn cold here. I'm off to put the heating on, brrrrr!

Little Bird

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments on the apron post... the winner is:

Congratulations Thimbleanna!!!
I'm leaving, in a round about way, (via Annie's school, Eliza's Nanny's house and my parent's), for Barcelona in an hour, so I'll send it off when I return.

Before I go here's a little more avian appreciation:

I ordered this lovely pin cushion from minori design (it was very reasonably priced and came very quickly).
It's so beautiful I haven't been able to stick a pin in it yet!

Well, adiós amigos, I'll be back next Thursday, hopefully bringing sunshine with me!

Novelty Yarn

So I am still plodding on with the blanket.  I'd put it to one side for the 'Summer' as I find knitting uncomfortable in hot weather. But we're having none of that here: It's cold and very, very wet so I've been inspired to pick it up again. And when I popped into John Lewis for lining fabric I spotted a sale in their yarn department. 
I usually avoid novelty yarns as I prefer natural fibres and a smooth, clean look. But these had 50% off and I need some kind of excitement to keep my interest going in this extra-long term project. And they were the perfect colours.


(Rowan Holiday Samphir)

This one looks more like braid than yarn:

(Rowan Cotton Braid Degas)

I love the way they knit up:



The pink yarn looks so gnarled and tangled that I can barely make out the stitches.

The green looks like fisherman's rope.

So my passion for knitting is renewed!

On Thursday I am off to Barcelona for a few days to stay with my sister (do you think that in light of the recent terrorist activity I'll be allowed to take my knitting with me? I'd hate to have it confiscated). I want to take a good look at the Gaudi buildings and also spend a day lounging on the beach. But if anyone has any other suggestions they would be gratefully received!

I haven't forgotten about the apron draw, there's still time to enter by leaving a comment on the post below. I'll post the winner's name here on Thursday morning.

Shop til you drop, then pick yourself up and shop some more!

We went to Liberty (thanks to Rirral and Ali):

Which was just beautiful: Not just the haberdashery and fabric departments, but the whole shop. It's filled with beautiful, gorgeous, unique lovelies. (Not the staff though, the ones I encountered were haughty and aloof).

Then we took a cab to VV Rouleaux (following  Ali's advice again), stopping on the way when we spotted an unexpected treasure: The Button Queen

We leapt out and bought some little gems before heading on up the street to this trimming palace:

Which is just so, so gorgeous. I can't describe how lovely it is, you have to just trust me and resolve to go if you ever get the chance. (And the staff here were just lovely; enviably young and stylish but also friendly and enthusiastic).

Thank you so much to you all for the lovely birthday wishes and ideas for places to go in London. (Raspberry made an almost identical trip a couple of months ago which I discovered after I got back- spooky!) I followed bits of everyone's advice, except Small Fox's that is, as I'm not so excited about the idea of seeing "Harry Potter's wang" as she is!!! 

Although David made a sterling effort and gave the best impression I've ever seen of someone who lives for fabric, buttons and trim, we didn't just shop!

We also went to The White Cube gallery to see this:

Which was both dazzling and breath-taking. There's been a lot of criticism in the media of this piece of work with particular focus on the issue of plagiarism. I have nothing enlightening to add to this and I don't feel I know enough about all the facts to be able to offer an opinion, but I would advise anyone who has the chance to go and see this work to do so because it's a unique experience, regardless of whose idea it was first.

We also fitted in a visit to the Natural History Museum to look at dinosaur skeletons and found time to eat in Covent Garden.

David and I had such an excellent day, so thank you again bloggy friends for all the excellent ideas and advice.

I'll be back next week with my finished bird-pocketed apron featuring some of my London booty... watch this space!

Procrastinating

Remember this post? The one where I resolved to blog once a week  for the benefit of my family and home?  If you do, you're probably thinking, hmmmm, two posts in one week, what's going on here???

Well, we finally moved the contents of David's house here this week and so I am surrounded by furniture looking for a home, boxes, boxes and more boxes, a mountain of ironing, a weeks worth of washing up and an incredibly minging home.

I don't want to tackle any of those jobs, so I am using blogging as an avoidance technique. It's very effective.

I bought this pattern and fabric from u-hanbag.com this week, to give me something more interesting to do than house-work.

And I got these vintage handkerchiefs from Ebay. I'm thinking of using them to make a blind for my ugly bathroom window, or maybe just to blow my hay-fever-cursed nose on


On Saturday we're going to London for the day. As it's an outing to celebrate my birthday, I get to choose where we go. David's even fully prepared to spend a few hours looking in fabric shops (although he may not be so keen when he sees what I've managed not to do today!).

The thing is though, I have no idea where to go. So this is a plea for help... If you know of any good fabric, yarn, button or textile magasine shops in central London, or of any unmissable shows/exhibitions that are on or great places for lunch/dinner, please let me know!

OK, so I really have to go and do something now, I'm picking Eliza up in an hour so I could make a dent in the ironing pile in that time, or maybe unpack... or I could have a coffee and browse a few blogs, or cut out my skirt...

...And after!

What a difference a week makes (168 little hours!):

It may be much cleaner and tidier, but it does also feel a little like we've moved out! David is finally moving in with his three cats and another houseful of stuff, in a couple of weeks when his house sale is completed so it won't be like this for long. Which is good because the hollow echo created in such an empty room is starting to make me feel very small!
On a semi-serious note, thank you so much for all your lovely messages after last weeks post, they reminded me  why I love blogging and made me want to get straight back into it! I managed to restrain myself though and we had a lovely computer-free family weekend.

Apart from tidying the dining room (the rest of the house is still in the same state, but one step at a time, hey?!), I decorated some T-shirts for Annie and Eliza with their initials.

They lurrrve them! I was thinking of writing a tutorial if anyone's interested because they're so easy and they got such a joyful response from the girls. I'm having to wash them every night  so they can wear them again the next day!

I've also been fabric shopping and have amassed the following fabric stock for the bird in a tree apron:

And beautiful, multi-tonal thread:

Much to David's bemusement as I already own all of these:

They're obviously not the same though, are they...?!

I also bought Invisible Machine Applique by Dawn Cameron-Dick to try out on the apron.

As we all know, there are two distinct types of crafting books, the beautiful, eye candy, lust after type like Amy Butler, Lotta Jansdotter and the quintessential example of this type; Japanese crafting books, all inspirational style but no English instructions! And then there's the informative, educational, show-you-how type. This book falls into the second category, I'm not particularly moved by any of the projects, they're just not me. But the technical info is amazing. I sat with this book for hours on Sunday evening ooohing and ahhhing and saying, "well, I didn't know that", "Ohhh, I see", "well I never!" (all very irritating for David who was trying to concentrate on Lost and 24). It's very well-written; the instructions are so clear and simple I feel really confident about trying her technique out.
Sounds like famous last words.... I'll update you next week with some samples hopefully.

Until then, blogging friends, happy crafting and have a good week!

Mini Splurges

I've been doing a little on-line shopping lately, nothing terribly expensive or flashy, but deeply satisfying nonetheless! I thought I'd share a few lovelies:



These are from paper and string's ebay shop. They cost next to nothing but are so bright and cheerful and oh, so cute! I thought I might make some decorations for the Easter tree or maybe an Easter garland with this set.
I also bought these felt beauties from the same shop:

I can feel a child-orientated gift developing from them.

I love the packaging; when a seller puts so much effort into perfect packaging I feel they care more about the quality of their product and their customer's happiness!



These also came beautifully packaged, in pink gingham tissue paper sealed with lovely vintage stickers:



From needlebook's on-line etsy store. The cards are so beautifully drawn and painted.

Another reason to love the postman is this little bundle of kindness which Ann sent me a little while back:



I feel well and truly spoilt!