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Friday, September 26

i, Tif, do solemnly swear ...

hello hello, its official, i have become allergic to my inbox and colin the computer. just the thought of being online has me breaking out in a rash and a cold sweat. i am wondering with breathing exercises and the right medication if i will ever get my allergy under control. 


since i last tippity tapped, i have become a whole year wiser. i told myself all the right things one tells oneself when one is very grown up, but still i could not help but be gripped by an inner panic it is all going way too fast for my liking.

i have been knitting my february lady sweater and working at Tolt yarn shop and also working on their autumn window display.


i have done all this with a terrible case of 'avoidance' which has now left me down to the wire with my very nitty gritty important deadlines. i am quite cross with myself, i have asked myself why time and again i do such a thing to the point where i lie awake at night fretting. i need to get a grip.

my february lady sweater does not look like the thousands of other lady sweaters on ravelry and i have discovered why. apparently i do not 'yarn over' like others yarn over and thus, no holey lace pattern is appearing.


Veronika suggested i could rip it back and start again, i laughed and laughed at such a silly notion having calculated just the few repeat pattern rows achieved had taken the best part of twenty hours. therefore i have declared my lady sweater most suited to chilly days for there are no pesky holes to let in cold air. i would like to put all this on my ravelry page but so far have been unable, due to my aforementioned allergies 

Our #1 is visiting till monday, she has been here since the 15th and it has been rather jolly to have her around.


she has done a very sensible job of drawing up a calendar and filling it in with all my 'must dos' so i can see what i have to do each day to reach my looming deadlines. even she remarked i needed a small miracle. thus i started praying 4 days ago

this afternoon i am having my tattoo finished off.


Wayne (my trusty tattoo buddy) says it will only take an hour, i am thankful for this as the last time it took four and a half and at least a week for my arm to forgive me. did you know there are 'collectors of tattoos' out there? i did not know this term existed till a few weeks back. having six now i am wondering if i am part of the pack or if true collectors of tattoos would take one glance at my 5 'nineties' ink and laugh out loud. 

i am moving colin the computer. i have come to the conclusion living in the 'manly quarters' of our mossy shed is draining him and me of any creativity. we are surrounded by posters of Star Wars, Halo, World of Warcraft, Borderlands and many other things i have no idea what, where or who they are, which loom down upon us. we have both come to the conclusion that it is near on impossible for us to find our creative grove when not a floral is in sight. i am hopeful this move will happen pronto and then perhaps my allergic symptoms will lessen

i found a coat in the thrift store last week, so perfectly perfect in its tweedy goodness i am crocheting a scarf to make it feel welcome.


however i should not be crocheting, nor knitting, nor staring at posters of strange worlds, i should be frock pattern and sample making, yes, Miss Ethel is rusty and dusty, yes, my frock making knee socks have turned into ankle socks and yes, i have no one to blame but myself and Mr Procrastinator.

i, Tif, do solemnly swear
i will stop wandering around in despair,
claiming i have mislaid my time
and my frazzled mind.
i will pull up my crafty knee socks,
whilst jolly well getting on with making some frocks.
i do pinky promise with fingers crossed
and my mind no longer lost
from this day forth for the next four weeks or more
i will live by my newly made up law.
"inbox, blog, make
only then can you take a break"



Thursday, September 11

this & that, that & this ... and a this

hello hello,

this:
recently i have noted a number of baskets are finding me. i am not looking for baskets and yet there they are, popping up in front of my thrift store path. yesterday Our #4 asked if i would like to go to the thrift store with him. i could not help but smile at the reversal of roles. i agreed if only he drove, he muttered and mumbled and then got his permit. i have never known such a reluctant driver. well i have, but it was many many moons ago and it was me. 
and so this little basket found me. i liked her very muchly, 


i am pondering my next move. 
for i am thinking bling and i am thinking selling 

that: 
Our #4 officially became an Eagle Scout last night, this is tres nothing short of a miracle. according to him, only 4% of scouts become Eagles and it is the tippity top recognition. i could not help but feel proud, thus i felt it worthy of a proud mother moment, to mention it

that:
i have cast on a cardi. yes sirree! i am taking my phobia of sleeves and laughing in the face of it. i have a feeling i could have made knitty life a lot easier upon myself if i had found a pattern in my size, but alas the one i fell for was, and i quote, for 'grown-ass women'. alas and alack, i am lacking such a thing so with the help of my lovely yarny buddy Veronika, we plotted and we planned. 


i am now launching into the lace knit bit. i must confess i have launched into it several times only to rip it back again and again. does not matter how much i keep my beady eye on things, after a row or two a pesky 'yarn over' plays hooky and my stitch count goes awry. as of yet i have not thrown in the towel, for now i will continue upon my lace knit cardi ways for i am determined this vomity mustard gold colored cardi and i will be the besty best of friends in the end, that is if i have not been carted off to the funny farm...

this:
i have been busy pondering fabrics for the sample frocks i need to stitch for my frock pattern. it is quite one thing to see a fabric in passing, have it talk to you and rustle up a frock. quite the other thing when you must find a fabric, or two or three, which talk to you and will rustle up nicely into 3 frocks of differing looks. it is also quite one thing to zippity zap merrily along with no care of when it gets finished and quite another to zippity zap along with a deadline and knowing another is waiting upon you.

and a this:
i have cut down my several years old sanita fleecy clog boots. 


it was in a moment of madness when i wondered as one does when one is procrastinating and avoiding other things, "i wonder what they would be like if i removed their boot bit and made them into little fleecy clog booties". 

i am most happy that i did, 


for they are like little clippity cloppy moccasins. and i do so very muchly like how they remind me of those fleecy suede little winter booties you see grannies wearing when chilly days come to play. actually i think they wear them all year round as they tend to feel the cold in their toes and fingers despite warm weather. 


Friday, September 5

peachy frock news ...

i have some peachy frock news 
but alas i cannot share all the nitty gritty.
"boo Tif, boo"
however i can share a few things



thing one:
i have been fine tuning my original dottie angel frock pattern,
(i call it my original merely because it was the first one i created
my other frock patterns have come along since 
but this sweetie was originally the first, 
thus she is called original)
i fine tuned her using several yards of a fabby rowan fabric 
i stumbled across on clearance 



and another little ditsy number which caught my eye.



i also fine tuned her with a vintage bed spread 
which caused my knees to go weak.
when the knee weakening fabric arrived upon my doorstep 
i had plans to make window dressings.
however it did not take long for my friend to tell me 
she wished to be a frock.
i noted some clever bit of trickier would be required 
as the width was not there.
so i went with the flow, original bed seams and all


and i must confess,
this is my fabby favourite frock to date.


thing two:
alas and alack i must confess yet another confession.
 things did not go according to plan
and i will not have a frock update this fall in my shop
"boo Tif, boo"

thing three:
however i am rather giddy to share,
if all goes according to my cunning plan
and the plan of another,
there will be a dottie angel 'original' frock pattern
released for spring 2015
for every man, dog and granny chic frock wearer to make.
"hurrah Tif, hooray"

copyrighted image courtesy of Anna Dianich of Tolt Yarn and Wool

my thoughts exactly dearest reader ...


Thursday, September 4

saggy baggy knee socks ...

summer has come to an end, school is back in and the morning alarm is causing the shadows under my eyes to appear again. i must confess to having achieved very little in the way of anything the past few days.


i have gone to work. 
i have stayed at home.
i have avoided my inbox because it frightens me. 
i have grocery shopped.
i have stared at the walls.
i have cooked too much food
for too few mouths.
i have noted the chilly morns and eves.
i have put my knee socks on
and tried without success to keep them pulled up.
i have started knitting a cardigan,
only to rip it back hours later.
i have stared at the walls again.
and
i have dabbled with my 'woolly waifs'

mainly it has been button changing for my 'woolly waifs', 


however i did go to town on the little green shrug. if you recall i called him a bolero but fortunately a facebook dearie reminded me of the word shrug and yes, i do believe that is what my little found green cardi without a body is. 
or was. 
for i did a bit of sewing surgery. 
i gave him elbow patches 


and a new body from an old cardi. 


then i did a bit of natty sewing with some lace doilies, 


i did the lace bit yesterday.

today i have no idea what to make of my patched and pieced green and mustard woolly friend. 
i am going to ponder if we have a life together whilst continuing to stare at the walls, avoid my inbox, cook too much food, all whilst wearing baggy saggy knee socks. i will also remind myself that my thoughts of today are where i will be tomorrow thus i must pull myself together, find some energies and start polishing my little light, less his flicker disappears altogether...

Monday, September 1

and then there was one ...


Our #3 flew the nest today


seems like only yesterday 
he was just a little laddie


three have now flown in four years.
there is only one left...


i thought i was good at it by now,
however i was sorely wrong.

so i will plot and i will plan,
(whilst pulling up my saggy baggy knee socks),
how i can happen to find myself 
across the pond early next year.
for i am thinking,
 waiting till next summer to see him again
is just a tad too long
for me