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Focus. Need to find some, along with some perspective.
Time. Need to adjust my concept of time and it's use.
Finish. Need to wrap up a load of things and cross them off my list.
Begin. Need to put the finishing touches to a new beginning, to be unveiled soon.
Now. It all needs to happen now. So for the next little while, I will be much quieter while I reorganise my life and take a few deep breathes and release some pressure.
Piles of + fabric+wool+books+magazines+dirty dishes+used tissues+dirty clothes+clean clothes waiting to be put away+train track pieces+parcels waiting to go out+ribbons+pattern pieces to be sewed+pens+birthday presents to be wrapped and given away+frames waiting to be hung+paperwork+more paperwork+snot+sand (sand? why are there little piles of sand all through the house - Max....)+notebooks+toy cars+screenprint sketches+jersey knits in various colours+ baking trays+cupcake patty cases+used tissue boxes+black plant pots
A different commission piece. Rowan 4ply Tweed. 3x2 rib. And some fabric, later.
Well at least I can speak out loud today, and I made it out of bed. That's a good start.
I want to thank everyone for such wonderful comments about Sumidity. Really, you cannot know how much they mean. I will be writing the pattern up, I will be distributing it, and I will be looking at a grown up version. A couple of people have offered to test knit it in some of the other yarns, and I am very touched by their offers, and can't wait to see them made up. I need some time to do all that, so hang on, and I'll make sure there is plenty of notice of it's availability.
This week is about getting rid of backlog - for too long I've been either doing things for my children or doing things for other people, and I need to do some things for me. The Bleach Scarf was a start, the socks (over the heel now, powering I tell you) are getting there, slowly, but I have a couple of lovely Habu items waiting to be done, just for me. You have no idea how decadent that is right now. I digress. The topic was backlog - commission pieces I really need to finish, and move on their way. Pieces where I can focus again on details, and those little touches which make things unique.
We're all sick here, and looking for some comfort. Looking to be swathed in soft fabrics, sew soothing hems and knit with luscious wools while hoping our heads don't explode. The wool - hand dyed sock yarn from my favourite Etsy seller RubySapphire Yarns in Avril colour, Tenderfoot yarn. I can't say enough good things about this yarn (oooh, I just saw they're going to do a sock club...). The socks - Roza's Socks by Grumperina from Interweave I started ages ago and am finally getting past the toe of as I slowly snatch time on them through the evenings. The fabric - a slubby woven wool with a bleached/underdyed portion that I bought a while ago, that has become a simple folded scarf with the asymetric postioning of a button hole and a long oblong button. Scarves always have a lovely opening/closure element to them, a nice 'made' hole, so to speak. Add a neat little buttonhole and a feature button, offset at different edges, and you manipulate the fold to drape and close around the neck.
Soft envelopes all, for a sore throat, feet and head.
I've been wanting to post this for a little while - it's been up at flickr for a few months, but got carried away with other things and other projects. But I love this little project, and it's so fresh and clean, that I figured I might just get away with it for todays Vessel Wednesday. Apologies Carson for lack of designer vessel. Instead you get 3 vessels, all slightly veiled and hidden. A white bowl full of crisp green apples and pears. A basket bag made for Jo - well I needed to out the green pom pom trim in something didn't I. The bag is a vessel, honest, because inside is a pincushion which nestles in the bottom.
And a hidden bowl of lemon cantucci. Which would go down very nicely right now with the new Interweave Knits and a cup of tea. I think these photos will go very nicely with *Charlotte's photo this week - there's a definite green theme going on.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
[Insert relieved and very satisfied sigh of pleasure]
When I started this folded top in March, I truly believed it would take a while to finish. I knew how many hours in a day there are (not enough) and I know I don't always have the chance - or energy - to knit for considerable periods of time to make inroads on things made with minute threads. Despite the fineness and fragility (in appearance only, it's actually quite robust as a material) of the yarns, this knit up quickly + 1 thread Habu Merino in charcoal, and 1 thread Habu Ramie in Sumi Charcoal, on 2.75mm needles. This piece looks deceptively simple, but does actually have a lot of subtle and exact shaping, particularly to the front fold and lower hem lines. Getting a small fold (remember this is to fit a 12-18month old baby) like this to sit and work precisely is harder than it seems. I've talked before about the asymmetry which runs around the bottom hems, the neckline and through the folded section, and I love that the finished piece has those very diminutive shapes to them.
Deliberate, yet coincidental.
What I would love to see is this knit in other fibres and colours + a smokey laceweight alpaca, a variegated Lornas Lace Helen's Lace, a natural linen, a watermelon coloured silk (thanks for putting that colour in my head Di!) and I am very much coveting that idea completely, or a lavender cashmere or maybe even a light weight tweed.
The origami nature of folded fabrics has become a small ritualistic diversion for me which I really have been enjoying immensely. There is a calmness and serenity to simple forms structured from behind or within. I likened my schematic pattern sketches to joinery drawings, and the process of making and pattern writing has been very similar to the construction manufacture of small pieces of furniture, albeit for the body. I love folds, I love the hidden nature of them, the reveal, and the containment. I can't help wondering through this project, about the voids and shadows left over by the folds, which led me as I sewed this up, to wonder about holes - wide open gaping holes and small intense holes to hide within. Deliberate holes, and coincidental holes. Stay tuned, for after I'm finished with folding, I'd like to explore pockets, holes, openings, buttonholes, and closures.
The beginning of the last sleeve. I want to finish, to sew it all up, to press it, to show you all the fold, and the little button holding it together.
Soon.
Close.
I was very serious about dying the socks. 2 pairs of a nice warm deep charcoal, remarkably similar in tonal value to Sumidity, purely by coincidence. They're not the best socks, but as an experiment in a) dying, and b) how far I'm prepared to go, they're great. The elastane didn't take the colour, so there are little bits of white showing through on the cuffs and heel, but other than that, the colour worked well. This was done just with Dylon cold fabric dye, and I threw in some cotton as well (underneath the socks) to see how that would come out. I am always intrigued by the way different fibres take colour - that on some the colour comes out intensely, and on others it comes out faded and ethereal. I'm not sure what I'll do with the material - I sat thinking about it this morning and thought maybe I'd screenprint it and make something with it: another dark charcoal print on the grey fabric could be nice. I have some more colours, which I might need to experiment with as well.
Cascade 220 Red
Rowan Kid Classic Charcoal
Cari's Acorn Hat Pattern. What a gorgeous pattern - quick and easy and ever so adorable! Knit over two nights it knits up fast and is neat and full of texture and shape and can use left over bits of wool. I love it! I did miss off the earflaps as we're not big strap people in this house, and it is still a little big for her, but that's ok because she doesn't need it just yet. And Pia is wearing the little grey kimono top (sweeten by Rowan Babies) too.
