Season’s Greetings
Just sending you all some knitty love and wishing you all a very Merry Christmas x x x
see you in 2010
1 comment December 25, 2009
I made banana loaf
I made banana loaf – it’s delicious – enough said really.
And whilst I am eating it, it’s reminding me of last week and yellow things and cake and knitting and how I never got home at a reasonable time any night (not because of tripping the light fantastic but work and meetings and openings, although the openings are good). I wish I could come home at a good time one night this week, just the one at least but I know it’s a rollercoaster of a week. Then I remember that 3 weeks from today I’ll be packing to go and visit Mae and Pai with thing 1 and thing 2 and a suitcase of yarn to make up projects, and some christmassy things.
This is them, my Mae and Pai looking younger and we are all looking very yellow loving in our home made dresses. I’m the one not looking at the camera.
My gorgeous younger brother is not in the picture, he wasn’t even born then, he arrived with orange hair when I was 9. I know he’s been reading things I witter on about here and there as he asked what he was getting for Christmas (I had mentioned if you were female and related it would be knitted) well last night I got him a handmade present, not by me but handmade so that counts right?
Back to last weekend, which was a parents evening followed by X Factor Dress Rehearsal and then with the knitters at the afternoon tea party. Ysolda was launching her new book and the outcasts were the hostesses. Skeinqueen and the talented Emma Bradbury were showing their wares too. There are more photos here courtesy of Ysolda and even more here .
Then Sunday night was lovely, knitting with company who also were knitting and chatting and staying up way too late for the week that was to follow. I’m all for an 8 day week then I might have a chance of doing everything I want too – the week that followed contained workshops deliveries, covering someone else’s workshop, meetings, teaching at knit class, two exhibition openings and working on two projects, sunship and Open for Art. Open for Art is nearly ready to reveal…
I’ve one commission to finish this weekend, before on to a major knit commission for someone and some test knitting (hopefully photos next week). So I’ll sign off and think of yellow things whilst the sky is grey outside.
4 comments November 21, 2009
paper dolls, teachers reports and the judges view
So the paper dolls is finished, it was very quick to knit and was just evening time easy knitting slotted in round everything else but I had a target that I wanted to wear it to thing 1 & thing 2’s first parents evening at their new school. Not sure why, maybe to take the teachers off their guard or as a kind of apology for their madness by showing it’s their genetic stock? But it made me feel good, many people commented on it and it kept me chirpy during a long evening. The other half wasn’t there for the first 2 hours, he was building something for Parliament and it was hard juggling twins and teachers and slotting everyone in. My downfall came when one teacher was running substantially late…. anyway, we were home eventually at 9.30!!
So that is done and this morning I have been up preparing for our house guests, Ysolda and Sarah. The launch of Ysolda’s book tomorrow is at jelly and I have been baking fairy cakes and banana loaf, tidying the house, changing round the sleeping arrangements – it all seems a bit rushed this morning an dthat is becuase we are out today and I’m worried that I’ll never catch up.
We’re off to the dress rehearsal for X Factor, my other half works on the show and we’ve never gone (in fact there are many shows we never see that he works on). The X Factor is incredibly over subscribed so there is a more chance of flying pigs then for us getting tickets but today we are going to the dress rehearsal. This is significant that we will all see my OH (sometimes I see him when the children are at school), we don’t get to see him often in daylight….
So we will see the rehearsal, have a chat with the OH then have the excitement of tomorrow to contemplate too.
4 comments November 14, 2009
new kits, new week, new aspirations
So I couldn’t make a choice and above is a picture of my paper dolls, as referred too here, I made the gorgeous Poppy from the knit a poppy for Remembrance Day project, did another 13 rows on my unfortunately large snicket blanket and began work on one of the commissions. By the way, this is all free time knitting as my working life is quite chaotic at the moment. I have been involved in an organisation for the past 16 years of my life (I am the founder) and at the moment the workload is heavy.
I don’t want to fill up what is my personal/ knitting/ other life blog with info about the things that are going around and around in my head but I am finding that the surplus of projects on the needles is helping me have some thinking time out of the *office*. Part of the problem is that the organisation and me are so intertwined and I have a sense of responsibility but like many arts organisations (we are not alone in Reading where we are based) we are facing uncertainty and if we will have a home.
We are just about to launch some empty shop window projects at the same time as knowing that our present landlord wants the office/ workshop space back in March so our project delivery and the other arts organisations we look after including arjeea21, outcasts, The Voice Studio, hang-on artists and various individuals who we support will no longer have a physical bricks and mortar building that we can all grow from.
This takes up so much of my thinking time, how the organisation will look, how we can safeguard the other groups that we work with, how can we continue to deliver our education and one to one work whilst at the same time delivering activities and providing a positive buzz. One of my fellow artists n the town has just posted an interesting question on the hang-on forum (I’m not sure if you’ll be able to read as a non-member but here is the link).
When I set up jelly it was to show my work as an artist, work with other artists in a co-operative way and the jelly has always been a non profit-making organisation. What do we need? A benefactor would be wonderful but we have always survived on the goodwill and commitment from fellow artists, who like myself do this because we believe in it, it is not a paid job. The immediate future? – today I will be delivering one-to-one workshops with adults with special needs, then organising the artists to go into the 3 empty units and working on the press release and copy, followed by covering the after school art club and then an evening strategy meeting ~ a light day in the office then. (office is a loose word as where I work is more a creative workshop, with yarn, colour, glitter, art, paper, paint…).
Some of the best things about jelly? Meeting other artists and being able to provide opportunities for other artists and events. So a few days from now we will be prepping for the book launch on Sunday with Ysolda, Skeinqueen and the outcasts and thinking about painting walls next week and installing three shows.
It is because of jelly that the outcasts came about, that I got to meet skeinqueen and the fabulous kurlyknits who designed our labels for our kits. Below is the newest kit to join the family, it is for the johnny rotten handwarmers (anarchy in the UK) ~ the pattern is viewable here and in the kits we provide you with the hand dyed yarn and full instructions.
I am excited every time I see someone making a pair on Ravelry or at knit night – it feels odd to see someone making something that you have designed, odd in a good turning of your tummy exciting butterflies way and even better when they are finished. The outcasts were fame-moose this week, in December’s edition of Knitting Magazine and also Skeinqueen and my Mitten Kits were in their essential Christmas Gift Guide, as one of the 18 best kits knitting has to offer. That made me smile.
Random other magazine moment, my family are in Cosmopolitan Bride Dec/Jan – amazing you may think but it is my gorgeous Sister-in-Law and her beautiful wedding this summer – you may remember, the Sari wearing one.
2 comments November 9, 2009
mini skein adventure
It’s been a yarn winding adventure, suddenly the Wemake Christmas Fair is looming with my aspirations of how much would be knit slipping out of the window as am I lured into the delights of knitting big projects and Christmas presents.
I can’t tell you what I’ve made because my family read this now and again but let’s say if you’re female and related to me you will almost certainly be receiving a handmade item – to be fair that’s nothing new there so no surprises revealed. So all Christmas presents are done now and now I find myself (since last Tuesday) making my Paper Dolls jumper.
I know another distraction… but there is a strange link here as I bought the yarn from the lovely Susan Crawford at Iknit (I always think *Susan Crawford* sounds so very glam and she is) – lovely Jamieson & Smith 2 ply jumper yarn, in grey, orange and blue… and now I have been distracted again by Susan’s knit a poppy for Remembrance Day project. At the point of writing this, by selling £2 patterns she has raised so far £1748.
So now I have a dilemma, what to do ~ the two custom orders for Etsy? finish my paper dolls? make my poppy (although that will look tres smart on my paper dolls, so that only really counts as one project really??) or finish my unfortunately large snicket blanket in time for Ysolda and Sarah’s sleepover at my place?
Skeinqueen has been very busy dyeing up the yarn for our shops and wemake for the Johnny Rotten Handwarmer kits, another kit! My part of the deal was that I would reskein the large skeins into mini skeins, I love yarn but this was slightly maybe overdose? My Ravelry friends kept me entertained yesterday talking about their OH’s (no names will be made public here, but you know who you are…..). I was giggling so much whilst obviously winding yarn that I relayed some info to my OH and he admitted to some of those faults himself. He then decided to use the niddy-noddy and help me out. A large rush of guilty conscience there so I just want to say thanks to the Ravelry Squeenies for making me a new man x x x x x
So I bet you’re dying to ask why Ysolda and Sarah are coming for a sleepover here ~ Ysolda is launching her new book at jelly on Sunday 15th November and you are all invited.
See below the SQueens invite she has made ~ hopefully see you all there : )
5 comments November 4, 2009
art days
The children are on holiday and I am working but inbetween my work involves things they can do too. So we went on a trip to The Affordable Art Fair in Battersea, normally I am working there and it was very bizarre to see someone else on *my stand*. The fair is 10 years old and this is the first year that we have not gone, it was great to see old friends, look at art but a relief that I wasn’t working it and a delight that for the first time ever I could take the children. They loved it, we left inspired.
It was the perfect day for walking in the park and only wish that we could have had May with us but one of the friends that came with us has a severe pet allergy so the toss up between a lovely walk in the park without dog or a trip with dog that ends at a&e, well the answer is obvious really.
We ate a picnic, they scrambled around the playground and then we walked back towards the fair so that I could drop the friends home to their respective families when we came upon this amazing wall.
And then just as quick as we’d found it, it suddenly went.
Things feel like that a lot round here at the moment, I am entering the half term workshop programme at work, the term time sessions are having a break and the knit class has ended. The knit class was only 3 weeks long, the idea being that with one skein, the participants would finish a project with support but it turned out on the main to be a knit surgery where each week new works were produced from bags that needed some help. Time is going by so quickly but I have finished my Christmas knitting, unbelievable but true – the photo above shows 3 of the pieces I have made: swallowtail, in sunsilk by sunshine yarns, and two damsons, one in damson and one in winter sky (cashmere) all hand dyed by skeinqueen. Now onto knitting for wemake……
2 comments October 24, 2009
competitions make me happy
So here I am sat here, feeling sorry for myself after a few hard weeks at work ~ there has been no time to breathe or knit and last week every night saw me arrive home after 10pm. Long hard days followed by the kids birthdays this weekend. In my sights I had this coming Thursday when I had managed to slice myself a quiet afternoon before class no 2 of the one skein knit class.
That was the plan anyway until 6.30 this morning when I landed thud thud thud at the bottom of the narrow steep stairs, banging head on the door into the next room so here I am, OH’s laptop on knee, said swollen foot raised and strapped and instructions to rest up for a few days ~ I’m not very good at that but it looks like I won’t be going anywhere very fast at all.
This photo was yesterday, our early morning walk in the sunshine… so I am off that duty for a few days.
The mad mabels convened yesterday via the worldwideweb and voted for the winners of the mad mabel competition. All the entries made me chortle, we all nominated our top three answers and there was just one vote between the winner and second place!
So an honorary second place goes to Kurly for this story.
I have a mabelish sister – does that count? When I was a few days postnatal with 2nd babe, and a tot in tow too, my sister (young graduate, ’slim’ and childfree) popped in all suited up on way to city job to coo at children. I was barely awake, washing draped over every radiator, pjs on inside out, breast pads in disarray … so barely awake that I didn’t notice that she’d brushed her shoulder bag against the radiator and it’s velcro tab had attached itself to an ‘item of laundry’.
A man in the queue at the newsagents did try to tell her that ’something was hanging from her bag’ but nearly got a rap on the knuckles for trying to retrieve it for her so he smiled and left her to it. In fact lots of people were probably smiling at her that morning, but it wasn’t until after she got settled on the Paddington commuter train and removed her bag from her shoulder – she said she let out a muffled squeal when saw the uber pair of maternity panties that were hanging from her bag. I so nearly bust a stitch when she told me.
and the winner is….
Anna!!!
here is the winning entry
i’m sure i do loads of bonkers stuff, but i sure can’t think of anything now that i need to… hmm, can i tell you about my grandparents instead? although maybe the fact they’re genuinely old gives them all permissions to be as mad as hatters (i love them dearly by the way, but they are in their 90s)… anyhoo, for years they left the plastic wrapping on their dining chairs so that they didn’t get them dirty…they keep old calendars for years until the dates are accurate again and they can re-use them… they have owned countless video recorders, buying the new one because they couldn’t figure out the old one… my grandpa used to eat the red bit off edam cheese, until we told him it was actually wax, and he used to wash his hair in the water from boiled up stinging nettles (although i’m led to believe that this is actually quite ok!). my mum smiles quietly to herself of course because seeing as they’re my dad’s parents, she’s the only one not genetically related to them. but in all fairness, they’re still fiercely independent and have lived amazing lives. my grandma was a genius knitter too, we got new jumpers every year, and we wore them too!
Thank you everyone that took part, I am still giggling today : )
3 comments October 13, 2009
I love a competition
It’s been a crazy few weeks, lots to do, lots got done and now I am feeling in need of some respite/ laughter.
There is nothing as good as hearing other people’s funny stories and that is exactly what I feel like I need to hear right now (I know I am impatient). Is it really really only me that mad things happen too ~ in fact I could fill up days and days of pages on here, rambling on with mad stories, cringey stories, stories that make you laugh so much you would cry ~ yes that is my mad life and partly the inspiration of the name Mad Mabel.
mabel is mad
So Mad Mabel came about as I was relaying a story to my lovely knitty friends, amongst them the SQ and saying how I feel like I am in my early 20’s, with a smile on my face and funny, charming and sweet but the reality is that the *young people* look at me as if I am a bag lady, slightly loopy (that’s probably about right) and definitely not young. Is it the fast approaching old age that makes me slightly cuckoo, I feel like I always have been but am now thinking maybe I am more crazy then ever??
Please don’t make me feel alone, think of this as your project to rescue someone from craziness by saying *it’ll be okay, dear*. What I really want to hear are stories from you (please leave them here in my comments section) of crazy things you have done, funny things and especially the cringey stuff. I’ve organised a little meeting of some of the finest mad minds and on Monday 12th October at 6pm BST, we will pick an honorary Mad Mabel (or Malcolm) and they will duly be sent a pair of Mad Mabel Sock Blockers and maybe even another little surprise….
slightly crazed offspring
If you want to be mad and not tell the world why, you can buy moustaches from Lupin or sock blockers from Skein Queen, Mad Mabel or me!
8 comments September 25, 2009
Johnny Rotten Mitts Kit
At last, they are here!
johnny rotten kit
There are only 10 available at the moment and only in the Johnny Rotten Mitt set but by the time we are at Wemake in December there should be the option of the anarchy kit or the johnny rotten handwarmers too! The kits are retailing at £20 each plus p+p.
contents of the johnny rotten mitt kit
You can either buy via my etsy shop and Skein Queen will be listing her stock soon too, or you can click and buy right here, right now. A complete kit ready for you to make your own Johnny Rotten Mittens.
These gloves were originally hand knitted by me (Alabama Whirly) from my own pattern whilst listening all the while to her Fidelity old record player. These Union Jack gloves are a homage to The Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten and God Save the Queen (the record).
The kit comprises of 50g of Rebel Red, 50g of Naked Anarchy and 50g Bolshy Blue hand dyed by Skein Queen and a full colour pattern including charts to make your own Johnny Rotten Mittens all in a fairtrade newspaper bag for complete anarchy.
There is sufficient yarn in the kits to make even the largest size and have some left over for matching wristbands maybe?
4 comments September 18, 2009
