a festive frock of sorts...

tomorrow is the Makers Market,

today i am gathering everything together and setting up my stall

yesterday i was relatively blasé 

and the day before,

well the day before,

me and my numpty bangs were stopped in their laid back 'makers market' tracks

when i happened upon a most lovely piece of retro barkcloth fabric

laying forlorn in my studio

(found whilst browsing the aisles of etsy

and promptly put to one side upon arrival on my doorstep)

tis the most festive of gleeful prints

and i must confess, upon purchasing it

i had not an inkling just what a sprinkling of joy

the fabric would bring.

surely upon all surelies i said to myself

if ever there was a fabric made for a festive frock

then this is it!

however upon my stumbling ways

amongst all the piles and heaps

(once again breeding in my studio)

i gasped a gasp

oh me and my 'no need to panic, everything is done' ways

were now not done ways in the least.

for there was several yards of neglected festive fabric

and a gleeful frock nowhere in sight.

how could i have forgotten my plan,

my 'oh so marvelous festive frock' plan for the Makers Market.

so wednesday,

with numpty bangs mocking me from above

i started to snippity snip

i held my breath for this fabric was a tres tricky beastie.

geometric patterns have a habit of slanting

when slanting is not what one wishes for.

after a close inspection

greatly aided by my numpty bangs being short

i was relieved there would be no wayward geometric festive frock 

on my watch today.

and off i went on my merry festive frock making ways.

only to realize a little while later, 

no matter my high hope ways

there were not enough hours 

for a full festive frock to be made.

so i pondered and i paused over my shell of a frock,

knowing fiddly ties and jolly pockets

were never going to get done.

within a trice,

my cogs gave me the advice

and off i went again, merrily and festively on my way.

a natty little bit of gathering upon the front

and a natty bit of gathering on the side seams

and i had myself

a festive frock of sorts.

upon trying it on, i was most pleasantly surprised

to note my glorified festive potato sack

looked mighty gleeful indeedy!

come tomorrow, 

me, 

my numpty bangs 

and 

my festive frock of sorts

will be happily and quite merrily 

at the Makers Market from 10 til 6

and i am muchly and quite giddily

looking forward to it

knitty news & numpty bangs...

numpty bangs:

yesterday i went and got the old gray pesky roots sorted out. i threw caution to the wind and channeled my inner Gudrun Sjoden asking for a short choppy fringe. 

i came home with numpty bangs. 

for the rest of the day my numpty bangs taunted me from above. 

my man looked at me when home he came.

he paused, 

he pondered 

and then he inquired

"did you get your hair done today?"

to which i answered

"yes i did"

to which he was stumped

and changed the subject

it was suggested by my adopted auntie that i pin them back,

i told her, they do not pull back for they are numpty bangs and have a mind of their numpty own, and if Gudrun passed me in the street she would mock me and my numpty bangs and have to cross the road.

my adopted auntie asked me to send her a pic, so she may see for herself, i told her no pics allowed of numpty folks and their numpty bangs...

later that day, i could not think straight as i made my gleeful frock smock sack due to numpty bangs hanging around above me. i fretted if i went to work the next day perhaps they would ask me to leave. politely saying 'no numpty bangs' allowed here. or worse still, my numpty bangs would put folks off coming to my market stall on saturday!

this morn i arose, me and my numpty bangs and decided perhaps they were not quite so numpty after all and indeed if someone were to say "Tif, you do look nice today" i would proudly say "oh thank you, yes it must be my new numpty bangs" and go about my day quite happily, numpty bangs and all

knitty news:

at stitch circle on tuesday night i cast on another hat. this time a 'man hat' no less! for Our #3 has requested a knitted hat, not too bulky, not too saggy, not too itchy, not too tight, no sirree! he wishes for a knitted hat just right. so off i go again on my joyful hat knitting ways, 

with a 'what will be will be' attitude for i did not wish to swatch, although i am told by my yarny buddy Veronika (who is a knitter of the utmost kind) that not swatching will be my down fall. i know she is wise, i know she knows best and i know one day, not too far away when i make my first cardigan, and i get to the point where i try it on and either i cannot get my arm in the sleeve or i can fit my whole body in one sleeve, Veronika's wise words will come back to haunt me. and from that day on, a swatcher i will be, until then though, i am merrily happily living and laughing with my none swatching knitting ways

footynote:

* more knitty news, oh hurrah hooray! today is our first holiday one skein project over at the yarn store's blog. me and my Erika Knight doily mats are featured, however please note my numpty bangs are not... and do you see my badge! how thrilling is that, my very own name badge to wear at work!

* little olive is on the mend! hip hip hooray! still a ways off from being a 100 percento, but on the mend she is 

* okay okay, numpty bangs which are now growing on me :)

things to note on a monday...

note one:

the shed is quiet again after 8 whole days of having 3/4 of my clan together again

note two:

we have noted Used Dog's lumpy bump is taking hold again. it has been 2 whole years since we had the massive tumor removed and at the time they told us chances were high it would return within months. we have been blessed to have way more time then that, she is without a doubt a true miracle dog who keeps on keeping on and although this time we are told she is not strong enough to undergo surgery, as long as she is happily keeping on keeping on, then we will continue to enjoy each and every miracle day we have been given with her

note three:

the makers market is just but a few days away. i have been beavering away on crafty elf duties as and when i can. today i am gathering and standing back and taking stock and then will announce, no matter what, "hurrah, you are done Tif" and pack everything up ready for set up on friday

note four:

did i mention i like my new job?

note five:

yes i did

note six:

my hat hacking worked! i am so happy beyond all happy knitty thoughts. in the end i used the increase and decrease rows from the original pattern and then made the rest up myself and hurrah hooray! it worked out just how i wished it to be. because of this wonderfulness, i bravely took my green knitted hat and pulled it right back to the moss stitch band, tres carefully, more careful then ever before, i picked up all the itty bitty stitches and merrily went on my knitty way. so now i have not 1 but 2 knitty hats of which i am most delighted

note seven:

where oh where to begin... our sweet pesky Little Olive got herself into a spot of bother friday afternoon with an AA battery. it was rather horrid if truth be told and resulted in a dash to the nearest vet, them doing their best and now me playing florence nightingale. she received some rather nasty burns to her tongue and inside of her lower jaw. the first 48 hours were the trickiest but i am happy to say, she is now comfortable and today this morn, i heard just the inkling of a woof, not much, but it was one and that in itself tells me she must be feeling a tad less sad and in pain. tomorrow we find out how she is healing and all fingers, toes, paws and claws are crossed that surgery will not be needed

note eight:

Mister Muchly is beyond delighted with his Black Friday find. he is spending way too many hours reclining on his new plushy bed, 

i have told him he must be most careful not to give up all forms of exercise as the holiday season is upon us and expanding waist lines can be tres tricky to lose in the new year. he appears to not take much notice of me or anyone else and merrily goes about his day doing as he pleases in his own little guinea pig way. apparently he tells me, he is busy with his '12 days of muchly-mas' over at his home on instagram and therefore cannot possibly listen to me waffling on...

note nine:

as we are not home here for the holidays but home over the pond, i am doing but a sprinkling of joy and glee around the shed, whilst channeling my inner peace...