rambling elsewhere today...

i am not here today, 

i am over there instead. 

i know i said i would not talk about yarn this week, 

however i am thinking it does not count

 as i am not talking about it here,

but over there...

yet more yarny-ness {"really Tif? there's a surprise"}

i have taken the plunge and i purchased the corally reddy orange tweedy yarn yesterday at work. i was wavering i must confess, for a lovely little tweedy green number kept whispering my name. however it was declared by the dearies at work i am always wearing green and i must branch out. 

so i did 

upon arrival home, Little Olive inspected the colour closely and declared it was tres jolly and most suited to a crochet knitty sweater vest. that is the grand thing about critters, they are always on your side and always optimistic about things. we could learn a lot from little critters i am thinking

i sat down and quite frighteningly did the maths (maths not being my forte), i checked it thrice, not twice. i pondered the arm holes and the neckline, after some pondering and a bit of planning, decided that will come later, for now the most important thing was to cast on the correct amount of stitches to make the rib work out (and fit my bod) and then the crochet stitch pattern i wished to do, fit also with the number of stitches of rib (and fit my bod).

again i wavered... i noted Mr Doubter in the corner, smiling happily to himself, i told him, "not today Mr Doubter, no sirree!" and i plunged again, the second time in one day, into casting on my stitches

as the rows grew, so did my doubt, i noted Mr Doubter had moved a little closer. my man then exclaimed upon arrival home, "are you working on hair band?" alarmed by this question, i told him what it was to become, he looked a little doubtful and asked "will it fit?" i then decided to ignore both him and Mr Doubter and told myself their knowledge on yarny matters was quite sketchy and i must trust my inner crafty soul and that the yarny gods were guiding me wisely.

this morn i have high hopes the waistband will fit, i have banished Mr Doubter once and for all and as soon as the rib is finished and Mr Hook comes into play i will be able to try it on. although half of me does not wish to, for if it does not fit i will have to go back to square one and i do not wish to do so. i tell myself only a fool of the utmost kind would think such a thing, surely it is better to rip back and start again now rather than ending up with a crochet knitty sweater vest suitable only for a small being or little critter

footynote: next week i will be rambling on about other things than yarn, "about time too!" i hear you cry, "point taken," says i

Granny Chic in Japan...

i do not think i mention my printed books tres often, in fact i am quite sure i am a publisher's worst sort of author as i tend to stay quite quiet about them. however yesterday afternoon the mail man knocked on the door, the constant canine companions went quite batty and there on the mat was a package from the UK. within its paper outters lay 2 copies of Granny Chic in Japanese.

i could not help but marvel at the book in my mitts. Japanese craft books were a huge part in the journey i took when first starting out with dottie angel and i still cannot quite believe upon the bookshelves in Japan, since last year my dottie angel book has sat and now, Granny Chic which i co-wrote with my granny chic partner in crime, Rachelle will be along side of it.

i do not think i mentioned either that earlier last year Granny Chic, just a few months after being published in the UK, was published in Dutch and German. quite remarkable really.

i have proudly popped my Japanese version of Granny Chic on the book shelf next to my other books, where it will stay as a reminder to myself.. of this unknown crafty journey of mine i started 7 years ago, the things which have been and the things of which are still to come.

footynote: the fabby photos in Granny Chic were taken by Catherine Gratwicke and it was published originally by Kyle Books