Thursday, October 9

on the Mr lurgy knitting thrifty fruit flies blogging front...

on the lurgy front, the best thing about Mr Lurgy leading you a merry dance is when he buggers off to find another partner and you are left to your own quiet thoughts, a renewed sense of energy and enthusiasm for getting things done comes along. 


alas his presence distracted me from my deadline path for frock sample making, however as of today i am back on track and even better than that, i am actually enjoying the track rather than dreading it. 
i have high hopes i will be sending off my samples and pattern ahead of time, (said in a whisper as not wishing to tempt fate) and this would be a grand feeling indeedy!

on the knitting front i must confess i have second sleeve syndrome. i fear sleeves and i will never be friends. can one rock the one sleeved look i am wondering?! 


i think the only way i am going to get past my sleeve phobia is to knit them flat and deal with my purl phobia. for the wonder of knitting in the round is you just knitty knit knit to your hearts content without a purly bod in sight. but knitting flat the purly bods are unavoidable and as my purling is actually rather dodgy due to me using my right knitting pin like a hook, it all becomes quite the drama. it could be i may have to learn the magic loop for i have an allergy to double point needles and my 12" circular needle is leaving my fingers all gnarly and witchy like.

on the thrifty woolly waif front things are going tremendously i cannot lie. i cannot decide if i live in a small area of woolly cast offs or if this is the norm across the whole of this big land. i now have a hanging rail full of warm fellows in a multitude of grolly sludgy colours, some i have changed buttons, some i have added felted elbow patches too and some i am thinking require knitted pockets. i have even dared to branch out from my cardigan loving ways and embraced two sweaters i happened upon. both made of wool. one in a lovely grolly green zizzy yarn with a giant roll neck and sleeves which flare at the end. it is rather tight fitting and as i struggled to get it over my head in the thrift store yesterday and haul it down over my layered frock ensemble, i marveled at two things.


 firstly how it did look quite the treat layered upon layers and secondly, i would no doubt be kept very warm and cozy if i were to wear this peachy friend. i also fleetingly thought about the possibility of a hot flush gripping me when in this tight little knitted number and a panic attack would surely follow as i tried to remove said friend in a speedy manner. a vision of getting stuck in the roll neck, flaying around madly, never to see the light of day again flashed across my mind where upon i dismissed the thoughts pronto and reminded myself i was not going to have a hot flush ever again because i had promised myself a while back and i could not go back on my word.

on the fruit fly party front in our mossy shed. thank you muchly for the all fabby and wise words folks sent me on my continuing infestation of the pesky fellows. things were starting to clear up nicely, Twig Pig received a bath and a serious hair cut by my man and i paid special attention to leftover dishes and glasses, until i fell pray to Mr Lurgy that is. word must have got out, two and a half days in bed with the fellow and the fruit flies are back i note, taking advantage of a sickly middle aged woman really isn't 'a-okay'.  

on the blogging front, each and ever day i blog inside of my head and yet it rarely finds its self tippity tapped out on colin the computer. i am pondering this event which has been going on for a while, i am pondering how when i had four children under the roof i was a prolific blogger/crafter and now i have just but one left, i appear to be unable to achieve half of the things i used to do in a day. i have pondered and pondered and i will ponder no more. that was then, this is now. i find myself at a place where i am happy more often than i am not (it took a while to reach this place) and thus i am thinking, there is no point in wishing for what has been but every point in wishing to find the happy in the every day presence and the things to come. and less i forget, the back of the toilet door can always reminds me





Wednesday, October 1

fruit flies, fiber & florals ...

fruit flies

we are under siege, it started quite harmlessly with a piece of fruit here and there, past its best. before we knew it, our little pesky friends had had a party, got a little frisky, had lots of fruity babies and now we are under daily attack. 
alas and alack, 


Mister Muchly and his trusty sidekick Twiglet Piglet are permanently entertaining them in their abode despite Our #4's best attempts at 'snozzling' them up every eve before bed. (that would be the fruit flies and not the piggies, for one should never ever vacuum a little piggie). somtimes when you are sitting ever so quietly, perhaps with peppermint tea close by and knitty goodness in hand you are lulled into thinking they have buggered off and moved to another nest. this false sense of security disappears the moment you have to get off your derriere and realize they were there all along, close by, resting a while in your 'up do'. i am beginning to feel somewhat like pigpen from peanuts. i am hoping the chilly weather will send them packing

fiber

tomorrow we set up a Tolt Yarn and Wool stall at the Nordic Knitting Conference in seattle. i am tres giddy about this. i will be helping set up and then working behind the stall on saturday. my cunning plan to be there was hatched when i asked my manager if i could work the stall, for i wished to not only visit the space which is the museum but catch glimpses of knits, nordic style. now the time is near i fear my lack of nordic knowledge may let me down and those around me. but fear not on my behalf dear reader for i have hatched another cunning plan, i will wear my icelandic cardigan i was given for my birthday, (so very kindly picked up by Our #1 on her way through iceland a few weeks back) thus blending in quite nicely i feel, whilst giving me an air of one who knows what she is about. 


i have done a test run in it for i was not sure the lopi yarn and myself would get on due to its itchy ways but i am delighted to report i lasted a whole day in it and without a rash a sight. my cardi is a children's size thus it is more fitted and the sleeves become delightful three quarter length little numbers. i am pondering a button change, i am thinking wood, i cannot think of anything else when it comes to buttons these days. wood buttons and woolly knits are a match made in warm weather wear heaven, if you ask me.

florals

i finished up my floral ink last friday, t'was a question of shading needing to be done on one of the roses and now it is finito. 


i had been thinking for over a year or two about this ink, for it is not a thing to do on a whim. one of my biggest ponderings was considering when i was wrinkly and crinkly, then i pondered further and decided if i live to a ripe old age to witness my bod and my tattoo looking all wrinkly and crinkly then quite honestly, i will count myself to be most fortunate.


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"