go, leave this place

Have a look around and see what you can see.

I wish I'd thought of this....

http://inspirationboards.blogspot.com/

I like the idea of this....

http://www.mrxstitch.com/

I want to be a part of this....

http://www.ukdiycraft.blogspot.com/

stuffed

I saw these magnificent creatures in the summer at Legoland Windsor. I often look at objects and wonder about the people who have been involved in their design and manufacture.

Who sat down, where and decided that 4 foot long sharks were to be created in orange fake fur with eyes as big as saucers and an intrigued expression?

Who, then, agreed with them and gave them the money for the fabric and the threads and the machinists to make such creatures? How did those machinists wrestle with the beasts once they were fully stuffed, fully realised? Did the designer check that work, question the machinists interpretation of the design?

Why do we have such objects in our world at all?

I fully support the notion that want and desire for beautiful objects are as valid as need for functionality but why on earth are there 4ft sharks at Legoland?

out on the wild, windy moors

I belong to a book group....yes, I admit it.

This month we are mostly reading 'Wuthering Heights' which I am finding impossible to peruse without Kate Bush singing in my head alongside the confusing and, frankly, blustery narrative.

I tried to read WH at school although I can't remember whether it was for an exam or not. I remember getting confused by the families and who belonged where. I have just finished chapter seven and I'm confused already. It doesn't take much.

I do like the wildness of the moors though, the bleak, windy, muddiness of it all. It's made a change from the Ralph-Lauren styled 'Bodysurfing' which was last month's choice. It was all a bit New England and driftwood for my liking. I like a family that really rows and shouts and hurls wild dogs around.

I got Kate Atkinson's latest from the library and I'm keen to get on with that really. I've loved her work ever since the museum book. The house reminded me of my nan's place. Is that a good thing? Not sure.

As I am starting my part-time job shortly my amazon wishlist is growing ever-longer and ever more craft-geek-like. I have, however, resisted the checkout. I am going to be good and wait until my first payslip arrives before pressing the button of creative inspiration.

Top of my list should be a book about making your blog more interesting. How do people make those lovely lists and link to books and things? It's a mystery.

spreading the word....

I've been lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to run knitting workshops for local parents (it has to be said, mums) through our local childrens' centres. Tuesday mornings are spent with a group of mums and their toddlers, learning the basics and mastering the mysteries of knit and purl. Today was our second session and, I have to say, all my expectations have been surpassed. Everyone knitted at some point in between our sessions. And everyone knitted today.

We're just about to get started on individual projects and already most of them are finding the basics manageable and enjoyable. I get such pleasure from seeing people's confidence grow and find it amazing that 2 sticks and some yarn create something else as well as a square or a teddy scarf.

One lady seems to have started up her very own knitting group since our first session and now has her neighbours, family and daughter taking up the needles or starting again. It's just fantastic.

Now, though, I'm already starting to lose my own personal knitting time (PKT). I can see it shrinking between workshops, writing and part-time work. I need to do what I advise my new knitters to do. I need to find some yarn that I love and a pattern I'm itching to try and work my way through it. I fancy a shrug or a kind of loose, wraparound cardigan that will keep me cosy in the spring, perhaps in a beautiful high-end yarn - a treat knit, a luxury knit.

Ideas please?

late in the day

It's 10pm. Not a good time to be blogging. It may be my advancing years but I find that if I use the computer for too long just before I go to bed my sleep patterns simply fizz. A little like using organza on the embellisher (ha! you see my link there?!)

Can you see how it sheers and wrinkles. My embellishing experiments have been limited to pre-prepared felt, organza and sheer, pretend satin with a wee bit of yarn thrown in for good measure.

This isn't the best photo, a little fuzzy, but I like the way the surface fabric mutates as it's pushed and pulled through the linen underneath. It's all a bit wave-like.

I experimented this weekend with shapes, trying to do some illustrative samples. I did the usual - a house, a bird, a rabbit (bizarrely) and made some simple egg cosy forms. I need to buy some wool roving/tops/whatever they are called as I'm quite interested in creating brand new fabrics.

I am starting to question, however, what I'm doing? Why am I doing it? What is it for? I'm asking myself all the questions I dismiss when other people ask me what I'm doing, what is it for etc! That self-critical voice is emerging. I plan to visit a friend who I suspect has a library of inspirational textile-based books. That should shut self-crit up in no time.

haphazardity

Is that a word? I'm not so sure.

I am, at the moment, haphazard. I often find that I become less methodical, less ordered when I try to impose a set of rules or priorities. I think it's a symptom of stubbornness.

As soon as I make a statement 'I will do x, y, or z', x, y and z become slightly less interesting.

This may be why, since my attempt at themed days, I seem only to be able to manage the first two before going away, or getting distracted or simply just having to do other things.

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When I had the opportunity to do my art course, I spent quite a lot of time discussing intention with my tutor. I like to work as I think, developing ideas as they come to me. His argument was that artists, mostly, think first, decide upon their intention and the execution of that intention is a vital part of their work.

Personally, I love a happy accident and, if I knew more about it, I could probably cite examples of artists who work with no planning, no thought, no agenda.

I enjoy looking at works by Pollock and by Twombly for their vast randomness and their exuberance and vitality. I often think elements of their work could be stitched and I'm sure there are textile artists who work in a similar way, choosing their materials, their palette and letting the work flow.

virtual craft and beautiful cinema

I love books.

I've always loved books.

I'd love to write books.

Most of all I love books about the stuff I'm interested in, the stuff I'd like to do, make, create.

Reading books about the stuff I love makes me feel I've done the stuff I love.

Seeing the amazing accomplishments and the creativity fuels my own ambitions but, often, not enough to make me find the paints, the pencils, the paper, the yarn, the fabric, the tools.

I used to do the same with gardening, even with cooking. I have phases of reading cookery books like novels. I love the Ns, Nigel Slater for his descriptions and Nigella for her fancy-pants phrasing. She can make an oxo cube sound like just the right thing. I've just got Rose Prince's 'The English Table' from the library. I have (or my friend, who has borrowed it, has) her last book, 'The New English Kitchen' which, like, Masterchef for so many others...changed my life. How's that for a book?

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I went to see 'The Reader' last night. It was the second time in recent history that I'd planned a cinema trip with friends only to find that the proposed film, in this case 'Australia' was full or (embarassingly) on at a different cinema. The first time this happened we saw 'Brokeback Mountain'. It made me cry.

Last night 'The Reader' made me cry. It was so beautiful and so horrific. It was exhausting and strengthening. The film-makers had captured each period in its 50-odd year timeline perfectly. There was post-war Germany, flaking and covered in dust, being rebuilt and families swathed in knits (who made them?), and it moved seamlessly through the fashions and the buildings of the 60s and 70s through to the late 1990s. There wasn't a jarring moment and it was so naturalistic, it absorbed me into the story.

I wonder if we'll see 'Australia' next week? It was good to see the cinema so busy (cheap night, admittedly) and there seem to be so many films on that seem to be worth a look.

Another tiny sample.

I do like a horizontal heart.

Hearts always look to me as if they should topple over anyway.

I like the punchedness of this heart, I can see almost every needlepoint as I've reworked the edges over and over again. I'm using fabrics that I already have but thought I'd go for the sugary, pastel colours to get me a little warmed up for Valentine's day.

I'm enjoying creating more graphic effects with the embellisher. I like the layering and would like to experiment more with building up height. This has obvious limitations, the height of the foot, the width of each strip of potential joining material.

I have committed to starting a part-time day job which I think will begin much sooner than I anticipated. It's an exciting job though with lots of potential for creativity and some time left over for my own projects. I won't get to do that BA in Fine Art yet, but I'm going to continue to develop work and project ideas for textiles and the knitting I love so much.

I think my perennial and, so far, inexhausted appetite for useless telly is going to have to be reduced.

Time for another time review.

art inspiration list

Here are few things/words that inspire me at the moment:

- future
- comfort
- pairing
- mending
- fixing
- fusing

Whilst at college I read a lot about Louise Bourgeois whom I can't even find the words to describe.

I read some of her writings where she talks about her family, her father's behaviour and her mother's attempts to protect her family whilst working in the family tapestry business.

Bourgeois' parents competed for her her attention by buying her couture garments. Their whole family life was determined by stitch and textiles and repair.

I need to find some new exhibitions to visit in order to sustain the interest I have in stitching as metaphor and expression of family and relationships. Having stopped studying and realised that I am unlikely to be able to continue, it is going to be difficult, I think, to continue that interest. Exposure to working artists and their ideas is vital.

Like any other world, the worlds of stitching and textiles are layered themselves with different groups and cliques. Working part-time and fitting in the odd exhibition are not going to be enough to get immersed in them.

But I can visit, I expect.

One day, when I'm a proper stitcher, I would like to create something inspired by this.....





From a wild Cornish beach, clinging, shiny and striped.



Oh, yes, and this.....



I'm thinking, embellished strips of irregular fibres, maybe a patchwork?

it's arrived

No, not spring (despite the daffs), I bought 'The Knitter' this week. It's very glossy and it's £5.99. I've had to hide it. It's a bold, optimistic move in the face of the current financial situation - go Future!

It has been billed as the knitter's magazine, targeted at those who knit properly and are experienced. I'm not sure I'm in their demographic.

I've been subscribing to 'Simply Knitting' (http://www.simplyknitting.co.uk/) but, well, I don't seem to be in their demographic either. As much as I appreciate the skill and patience that goes into making an entire mouse circus (including strong man) I will never, never, embark on such a project.

I get the occasional 'Let's Knit' (http://www.letsknit.co.uk/) and although it featured a bizarre double mitten this month as a kind of 'lovemake', I like it as it's chatty, there's lots of information and it provides just enough of a read to feel I've had my money's worth. And they give away giveaways, which I know is wrong and unenvironmental, but I can honestly say I've used every single one or found someone who can.

I have to say though my favourite is Yarn Forward (http://yarnforwardmagazine.co.uk/). I'm a relatively recent convert but it's got a sense of knitting knowledge that many of the magazines just don't have. I love Sew Hip (http://www.sewhip.co.uk/) and I believe there will be a crochet magazine soon too. All from the same publishers and a great resource for we crafty people.

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I would love to be clever and add pictures of the wee bits and bobs I'm telling you about but, frankly, I can't. Any offers of help from my wide readership would, of course, be welcomed.

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On the blog front, I keep coming across amazing people and places. This week, I'm particularly partial to:

6.5 stitches (http://sixandahalfstitches.typepad.com/), beautiful, minimalist photos but with a healthy dose of domesticity

feeling stitchy (http://www.feelingstitchy.com/), embroidery, sewing and more

heather ross journal (http://heatherross.squarespace.com/journal/) because I love the idea of ladies making patchwork in deepest, darkest Manhattan

You will note that these blogs are all of the american persuasion. I know there are UK blogs of great beauty and gorgeousness, they just seem a little harder to find somehow. I've got a feeling they're there but I haven't stumbled across them yet.

tales of the unexpected...

I made a knitty resolution and announced it for all of Ravelry to see (http://www.ravelry.com/).

Project first, yarn second.

I failed.

I took a trip to the Yarn Barn in Portsmouth with my mother-in-law at the weekend (http://www.theyarnbarnltd.co.uk/) which was more of a small shop than a barn, but hey. MIL bought 4 ply baby yarn for assorted hat production and I was tempted by some Patons Shadow Tweed which I've never seen before and am unlikely to see again. It wasn't expensive, it wasn't organic, it was just chunky and soft with flecks of colour throughout. It's becoming a beanie hat (as many of my impulse purchases do).

The trip was also notable as my daughter chose her first skein of yarn. It's pink and blue and shiny. She is planning a slinky skinny scarf, much like the one below I think but a little more party-friendly.

Alongside my hat, I have started to practice log cabin knitting as espoused by the Mason-Dixon ladies. My first attempt? It's a little hilly....

The second attempt is proving to be a little more successful (well, flatter). I am using oddments of sock wool to practice and am already thinking why, oh, why, can't I make a beautifully colour-co-ordinated blanket? My technique obviously needs work and I like the way I don't really have to count stitches with this, just concentrate on how it 'sits'. I took it to a new knitting group I started last night and got some advice re picking up stitches - trickier than it looks.

layers and panels

I am determined to follow my own path with the embellisher. I want to resist the urge to search out books and techniques (as valuable as they are in their own right). It will take some time to work out the processes involved but, for once, I want to allow myself the freedom of being led by my own investigations rather than trying to copy or replicate techniques I have seen.

I first used an embellisher at a friend's house and then at college.

I learned several things.

I learned that:
* different fabrics react quite differently to being stabbed with needles and can be manipulated to form textures and lines quite easily
* repeatedly working the fabrics together can create shape as well as texture
* I need to invest in some fibres

I've had my own machine now for three weeks. I've managed a few experimental plays. So far, I have three impulses:
* to make an object, a box, a house, a book
* to create panels of unique fabric
* to develop drawing skills with the machine

I've decided that I haven't the time to be able to commit to another 10 week textile course so I'm really on my own. One of the significant benefits of attending courses is being in the company of like-minded people (especially if you're a bit textiley). Those not drawn to the yarnside do not appreciate my enthusiasm for what is, essentially, pieces of felt layered with other fabrics and fibres.

I suppose that's partly what this blog is about - a bit of personal show and tell!

i've started....

...now I must go away for a few days. Back Monday. Have a look here for now....

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/

The original, and the best (?) knitting blogger? Should keep you going until I get back!

therapeutic knitting

I discovered sock knitting about 12 months ago and although I don't really understand why sock knitting is believed to be more addictive than other projects, I really enjoy making them.

I've only ever made socks from the basic pattern that comes with the ball from Get Knitted (http://www.getknitted.com/) in Bristol but I love them for their simplicity and the fact that having completed 5 pairs now, I pretty much have the pattern in my head.

I knitted these just after my father died in October and I call them my therapy socks. They've been to south west France and to Cornwall and their pebbly, seaside colours remind me of the washed out beaches and seascapes we saw there. I had planned to give them as a present but couldn't bear to part with them so I wore them on Christmas day with my festive frock and my new almost-ugg slippers (M&S, improved fur this year).

Sock knitting is something I'd like to do more of but I find I get left with quite a lot of yarn. I received one of the Mason-Dixon knitting books for Christmas, the first one I think and in there is a pattern for log-cabin knitting. My latest project is to use my left over sock wool to practice this technique. It looks a lot trickier than it seems in the book but it's an enjoyable process. I think, however, that I shall be aiming for a cushion cover rather than a blanket. We shall see.

The Mason-Dixon blog is at http://www.masondixonknitting.com/ and details of their books can be found there. Another knitty inspiration.

as promised

Here are my first attempts and samples with my lovely embellishing machine. It's a Creative SP1000 whch is an older model (I think) made by Babylock and presented with much love to me by my husband for Christmas.

Above, a fuzzy spiral of yarn on a crimson felt background.

Strips of yarn and felt and organza.





My particular favourite, a sort of pebbley, layered, eye thingy.....

10 things I love about embellishing/needle felting:

* it's quick

* it's tactile

* it's effective

* it makes new fabric

* it lets me play with colour

* it's making me want to make sketchbooks

* it can be abstract or figurative

* it can be organic or planned

* I can have the machine set up and do five minutes or fifty minutes

* it's all so newwwww to me!!!

newsflash

She knits....she knits...I offered some wooden 4mms, some pink wool and she has sat knitting by my side for the last couple of hours. 12 stitches are being carefully worked. I admit I cast on for her.

Who she? My daughter, E. My daughter, E aged 8, who has spent the last 2 years telling me that in no way, no how, no never would I ever get her to knit.

I asked her if she would like me to knit her something for her birthday in November, her response? 'Mum, you knit enough'.

She has been known to drag me away from very important knitting conversations. She has asked me not to knit in public. I was resigned to a life of non-intergenerational yarn shopping but now, in the last few hours, my knitting life has been transformed!

Now - she knits! Admittedly she may not knit again but I am hoping that after this little post I will return to the living room to see her knitting still. A mother can only hope.

Ha ha! Heee Heeee!!! But don't tell her I told you so. She won't let me take a photo and I'm not sure she wants her friends to know but, I have to say, she's rather good. She's obviously been watching.