six and a half stitches

READY STEADY - GO!!!

Are you ready?

Are you steady?

(drum roll please......)

Then GO!

Back-tack is now officially up and running at the back-tack website. Thankyou to everyone who has shown an interest, and to the comments and emails we've recieved! We're excited to be doing this, and hope you guys have a lot of fun being a part of it too. So make your way over to the website, read through the fine print, and if you're still interested, follow the instructions and sign up by sending your details to backtackATgmailDOTcom. Now let's have some fun!

SEW ALONG WITH US!

Recently Nicole and I have been scheming about setting up a little swap thing related to sewing and crafting, and we think we've got something pretty nifty, and a bit different to other swaps sorted out. We've been enjoying receiving hand made stuff from each other for a while, and thought it would be nice to open that up to everyone.

So the concept is this: You send to someone a package of material and other things you think would be necessary to make a sewing notions holder. As a bare minimum you would send the material, but you could also send buttons, ribbon, press studs, zippers etc. Someone will send you material as well. Once you have your material, you make a sewing notions holder - I have a pattern for something I did a little while ago as a guide that I would make available, but you can use your imagination and do whatever you want, it just has to be specifically for holding sewing/knitting/crafting stuff. You then send this on to someone else, and you will in turn receive from someone else again. We would encourage you all to fill the sewing notion holder with cute things - a tape measure, buttons, ribbon, thimbles, sweets etc as well just to make it special. So it's a little like a 'secret pal'/gifty/swap idea all rolled into one.

Interested? We're kind of keen to get this up and running fairly quickly, and if there's enough interest we'll post more info with more details later this week. Email me (address in left sidebar under archives) or post a comment, and lets get the ball rolling!!

ENABLERS

One should never underestimate the generosity of people. While sometimes people can dumbfound you with their sheer self absorption, sometimes, a little shining angel comes along and lets you know there is good in everyone.

Meet Belinda. Convince her to start a blog. She really should start a blog. She does nice things. Nice knitting, and nice enabling. An essential ingredient in any blog life, is to be a good enabler. Actually, she's an excellent enabler.

This past month, Belinda has been negotiating her way through japanese dictionaries, and emails, and bank transfers, to enable us to purchase from the very delectable Cotton Bow Wow in Tokyo. I'm still not sure why the japanese connect material and sewing with dogs so much, but this is a weird and wonderful site, with amazingly gorgeous fabrics on one side, and dog stuff on the other. Anyway, back to the real stuff. Above are photos of the fabrics I received this week. A load of Nani Iro stuff which I love love love, and some great patterned canvas for toys with little owls, and elephants, and stripes, and apples....yep, you guessed it, quite possibly there will be more bunnies hopping along soon.

But I said Belinda was an excellent enabler, and that suggests more. She came, and we met in person at SSK this Saturday (so lovely to meet internet people in the flesh!!), and she had with her a Manos del Uruguay scarf. Do I even have to tell you what comes next. No? You know already? Manos will soon be with me, for the same scarf because it Just Looked Bloody Great.

DROPPED

Just as well I got the jacket and bunny done - impending motherhood part 2 impended 2 weeks early, and little eyes got sewn very quickly.

Oh my, but how I had forgotton what a little wee tiny newborn babe feels like in my arms. Am I clucky? Am I ever.

MORE PROOF I CANNOT BE TRUSTED

Yet again I've lied to you all. It's starting to become slightly serial lying. Remember I said I'd be taking a wee break from knitting needles because my fingers and arms have been aching? Well, they still ache, and the hypochondriac in me thinks I have athritis, but I've meddled through this last week and finished off some things to help relieve the pressure of needing to perform and knit copiously (ok. I realise that last bit doesn't make any sense - you knit copiously to stop knitting copiously...). You've seen the kitty, which in fairness is a sewn object but if you've ever sewn that small, it's hard on the fingers. There's been Clapotis, which despite it being quite a nifty pattern, I had grown bored of (my excuse is it's the second one I've done) mainly due to the size of needle I was working with which I hate using - I'm not good with anything over 5mm - and the number of stitchmarkers hitting against my finger tips. And then there's the little baby jacket I needed to churn out quickly for impending motherhood part 2 for a friend.

The end result: A two part mix of Jo Sharp DK wool in a colour I can't recall, mixed with a Martas Yarn hand dyed green/blue wool. The pattern is Red Set Go by Monkeysuits, and while it's cute, it's not inspirational, but then, yes I would make it again because it's quick and I love moss stitch. To go with the jacket is another Kate Gilbert bunny, this time in a matching Jo Sharp dk wool in dark turquoise which will again be felted.

This leaves on the needles, the Norske Project of A Lifetime and the little cable jumper for Max. Both much easier on my fingers, and able to be finished without pressure.

JUST IN TIME FOR AUTUMN

I finally finished the second Clapotis, and to say it's gorgeous is an understatement. You'll just have to take my word for it.

The yarn is from Axelle and trully it is luscious. It's the Japanese Maple colourway and there's so many subtle little colour tones in there, along with slashes of dark browns, that the colour will never be dull. I love it, and her, and her yarn. And her packaging. I'm so sorry that she's not doing the merino wool anymore. But damn her silks look just as nice. I digress. The Clap is large, and will be puurfect for winter here, and abroad. It wraps nicely, it drapes nicely. Everyone should have one.

SKITTYKITTYCINO

A little palm sized kitty cat pattern from a japanese craft book. The kitty is made from wool felt - which is really too thick for such a small object - and cotton dress. The cotton dress is a floral number with a matching light green gingham lining, and green velvet ribbon straps held on with green buttons. Her ears also have an inlay of cream and green floral fabric. She's about 7cms tall, and she likes kittycinos (a variation on  a babycino except with loads more froth and cat crunchies on top) and mini m+m's.