so very edwardian, don't you think?

i love it. i feel like julia margaret cameron (alright, she was victorian; and i don't take photos of naked children... but i could have a salon in the country in this top).


it's the Built By Wendy Simplicity 4111. made out of a beautiful voile i found at spotlight. i went back today for more, but it had all sold out. the red bias binding on the facing (my own touch) is 'vintage' (stolen from my mum's sewing stash). i had to take out some of the elastic in the arms, and the back is too wide for me (not that i did anything about it).

some people have had problems with the armholes on this. they are small, but certainly fit me. i think they are drafted small so that the garment is quite fitted around the shoulders, to prevent it looking like a sack.

i have bought more voile, to make another of these (i am determined to get better at sewing). this time it's black and white stripes, and (i nearly passed out with joy when i found this) tartan bias binding. tartan! floral would have been better, but still. a pattern!

i christened the floral top by taking it to see Marie Antoinette. i was much disappointed, but the costumes have led me to wonder whether a layer of soft tulle ruffles could be inserted on the inside of the neckline of this top.

ballwinding

it's an upturned dirty washing basket. and it seemed like an excellent way to handwind my skein. except that that's an hour's worth of winding. it's laceweight. there's 1.4 kilometres there... i'm going to make myself get my hands on a borrowed ball winder. but i still think the upturned basket shows promise for regular, smaller skeins.

anticipation

i was rootling round at my mum's place today and found some crafty stuff that i bought overseas last year that had been temporarily lost. sadly, my camera and my internet connection are not yet in the same place. but as soon as the two converge i will post pictures. promise. because who doesn't love moroccan sewing supplies?

iMoved

thus the temporary silence.
my new place is nice. there are quite a few little bugs, because the place has been vacant for a couple of months; but on the upside i have a really lovely new bedspread and a very ginormous bookcase (it very nearly didn't make it, because it didn't fit inside the horse float we were using to move things).
despite the nearly-dead garden there are lots of little birds twittering about in the trees outside (or making that deafening squawking noise in the case of the galahs). which is also a bit nice. i have plans for a herb garden, and some zucchini plants.

i am planning on turning my old clothes into a knitted rag rug to cover over the terrible lino (please, can someone explain how one actually covers lino in small, deep, black cuts (when the rest of the lino is cream)?). so pictures of that once i get started.

Baby E - the noro entrelac scarf

Ingredients
- 3 skeins Noro Silk Garden (colourway 211 if you wanna be just like me). I used up just shy of three balls. I worked out I could cut out the boring grey bits of the end of the third ball and still have a long enough scarf. You can see the amount I didn't use in the pic at the end of this post.
- 4.5mm bamboo needles

Dimensions/ Specifications
5 inches/ 13cm wide; 66 inches/ 166 cm long
(X) = 5. That is, I each block was five stitches wide.

Template
I have chosen to write this pattern out with some flexibility, because when learning new techniques (like entrelac) I have difficulty separating what parts/ numbers of stitches are specific to the pattern, and what parts belong to the actual stitch pattern/ technique. So, this is intended for someone who might want to make their entrelac squares a different size, despite having never entrelac'ed before.

What remains constant is that this is three blocks wide. So for a scarf that is five blocks wide, cast on 3 x (X) stitches, etc.

Because of all that totally complex maths, you might like to copy this into Word and replace all the (X)es with the number you actually intend to use.

Set Up Triangles
Cast on 3 x (X) stitches.

P2, turn.
K2, turn.
P3, turn.
K3, turn.
Continue until you P (X). Do not turn.

Ignore what you've already made (a little funny curled up triangle) and repeat again:

P2, turn.
K2, turn.
Continue until you P (X). Do not turn.

P2, turn.
K2, turn.
Continue until you P(X). You've finished all the stitches on the left-hand needle, right? (If you cast on more than 3 x (X) you'll have to repeat the above instructions again/ more times).

Pass 1 - the one with the half-blocks.
K2, turn.
P2, turn.
K into the front and back of first stitch (Kfb), SSK, turn.
P3, turn.
Kfb, K1, SSK, turn.
P4, turn.
Continue until you Kfb; K (X - 2); SSK. Do not turn.

Pick up and knit (X) stitches from the side of the set-up triangle that is stretched between your needles right now.
*P(X), turn.
K (X - 1); SSK, turn.*
Repeat ** (X - 1) more times. You'll 'use up' a group of stitches (X number of stitches) that were on your left-hand needle. After the last knit row, do not turn.

Pick up and knit (X) stitches from the side of the set-up triangle that is stretched between your needles right now.
*P(X), turn.
K (X - 1); SSK, turn.*
Repeat ** (X - 1) more times. After the last knit row, do not turn.

You've used up all the stitches on the left-hand needle. Now, pick up and knit (X) stitches from the diagonal that is hanging down from your needle. Turn.
P2 together, P (X-2), turn.
K(x-1), turn.
P2 together, P(X-3), turn.
K(X-2), turn.
Continue until you P2tog and have no more stitches (in that little group). That remaining stitch will become part of the second pass.

The Second Pass - the one with the whole blocks.
You already have one stitch on the right-hand needle. Pick up and purl (X-2) stitches, turn.
*K(X), turn.
P(x-1), P2tog, turn.*
Repeat ** (X-1) more times.

Pick up and purl (X) stitches from the block stretched between your needles.
Repeat ** (X) times.

Pick up and purl (X) stitches from the block stretched between your needles.
Repeat ** (X) times.

Continue!
Do Pass 1 and Pass 2 over and over until your scarf is a nice scarfy length. Your last row before finishing must be a Pass 1.

Finishing.
You have one stitch on the right-hand needle. Pick up and purl (X-1) stitches, turn.
*K(X), turn.
P2tog, K(X-3), P2tog, turn.
K(X-1), turn.
P2tog, K(X-4), P2tog, turn.

Continue until you K2, turn.
P1, P2tog, turn.
K2, turn.
P3tog.*

Pick up and purl (X-1) stitches, turn. Repeat **; then pick up and purl (X-1) stitches again. Repeat **.

Cast off the one remaining stitch on the needle.

on fresh starts

it seems that in blogland everyone is all for the resolutions and the recappings of years. i'm not so much that kind. i rolled over in bed last night (several days late) to tell badly coloured boy that my new years resolution was to manage stress better. not to stress less, see, because i am hardwired for that and have little control in that respect. but this year instead of absolutely freezing up in panic over the fact that, say, i have a dissertation due in october (yes, i have already freaked out over the 'nearness' of that date) i am going to say to myself 'duh. that's actually quite a long time away. relax'.

oh, okay, also i vow this year to not let the shower get all gross and mouldy. i always neglect cleaning the shower until it's too late.

i do also promise to photograph and type up the pattern for the Baby E Noro Entrelac Scarf. I've finished it, but it needs blocking.

i got a little distracted by a trip to combined mecca spotlight/ ikea today. spotlight never have the nice patterns in the pattern books, so just to torture myself i asked them to find me a built by wendy pattern.... which they had! it caught me totally off guard, and i couldn't decide whether i actually wanted it! but i found some very nice black and cream sort of florence broadhurst/ bold liberty print voile which sealed the deal. now i wish i'd asked about this one too... it wouldn't hurt to go back tomorrow and found out, would it? given that there's a half-price sale on patterns right now...

socks/etsy yarn

raam pondering my first socks (let's not count what i unfondly call the chorizo-socks (because that's what they made my feet look like)). Can't decide between Jaywalkers and the Falling Leave Socks. Opinions, anyone? I can't dye my yarn until I've decided, because if I make Jaywalkers I'll dye it self-striping, and if I make Falling Leaves I'll dye it pretty much solid. I say 'pretty much' to cover the inevitable irregularities that will come from the fact that I am an inexperienced and haphazard dyer.


in other news, my etsy purchase arrived. too late for christmas, so i guess i'll have to keep it. too bad, huh? It was from Mystical Creations Yarn. The yarn is a great price, and beautifully dyed. The actual fibre quality isn't *fantastic*, but for the price I'll certainly cope. It's a single ply, and feels a little bit rough and inclined to felting. Kind of how Noro feels, but not scratchy. Sort of sticky? You can kind of see from the photo the way it clumps together. My ball also has an odd thread of brown wool that was spun in, but I chose it because I liked it. It looked like seaweed. Including postage this wool/ silk blend was about $20 Australian. Plus I got a voucher for a discount on another purchase (which I'd be happy to make).

christmases

that was the view i woke up to on christmas morning. no white christmases here, nuh-uh. went down south to spend the day with badly coloured boy's families. unlike my own family, which has turkey and ham and hot roast vegetables every year, there was seafood present at both the christmas meals we had (one christmas day, one boxing day). oysters featured prominently at both, which was a bit odd for me, as i haven't encountered them since i was about ten. here are some of the oysters naturale hanging about the in the fridge.


they were also served kilpatrick and rockefeller, and were accompanied by The Walrus and the Carpenter poem on Boxing Day. I still don't enjoy them very much, but I do like the way they smell of the sea. boxing day involved crayfish tails too, something else I haven't eaten in a decade or so. yum. I can kind of see why people do seafood for Christmas now.

christmas afternoon i went bareback riding at the beach, on one of badly coloured boy's mum's horses. actually, while i was technically on the horse's back, someone else held the bridle for me... i've only ridden a couple of times before in my life. i enjoyed the barebackness alot though. easier than balancing on a saddle, i think. there would have been photos of me and Psycho Bob (the horse. ironically named because he so reliable), but i forgot to take my camera to the beach. i managed to be the only person stung by a jellyfish, and given that i was in the water for a mere five minutes, and others spent hours down there, that didn't feel very fair.

oh, and just because I can, here is my fabulous weekender bag, and the book I took down for some light holiday reading. The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs Beeton. A most fascinating read, though the author isn't quite as skilled a writer as Antonia Fraser.


My only craft-related Christmas gift (and what a gift it was!) was a set of five fat quarters of Moda Fabric (thanks to Miss Meshell for identifying it!) Anyway, they're all complementary colours (luckily the store packages them up. Badly Coloured Boy is colourblind (hence his name), so picked out a package with a print I'd said I liked, assuming the rest of the bundle was nice too. Polka dots on green, the alphabet on green, two colourways of little ribbon flowers, and tape measure print (my favourite). Most will go towards a Glamourous Needle Roll, the scraps will go towards my chair cushion.

see the sucker

remember that seersucker that was drying on the line? well, this is what it became:

or, more clearly, this:
(can you believe that in the entire ginormous house i am babysitting there is not a single full-length mirror? i honestly wonder how the women of the house can go outside, utterly confident that their shoes match their eyeshadow, without having seen them both together).

a dress! for christmas! and there's enough left over to make a matching cushion for the $10 chair in the new year. it's butterick 4790. i made a red and blue one already, but this one fits alot better because i'm getting better at sewing. i pinned the darts really carefully this time, so no angular bust. and i had to resew the shoulders, much lower down, to suit my narrow bookish shoulders. mum showed me how to stretch the bias binding to go round curves, so that looks much neater too.

the pattern calls for 'three packets' of bias binding. i don't know how that stuff is sold in the states, but here that equates to twelve metres. i bought six and had five inches to spare; but i did need five and half metres of fabric, rather than the four and half the pattern calls for (last minute dash to spotlight for more seersucker, yes).

christmas things

these are the free inserts in the weekend papers in england. my housemate posted them to me. second package of these that i've received. she posts them because she knows i'm obsessed. i just can't believe that these things are free. free! they're the equivalent of our STM magazine in the sunday times, but really it's like comparing woman's day to vogue. i've had a little peek through Style (my favourite), but haven't had time to open the rest. they're like an early christmas present. speaking of which...


my stitch'n'bitch had a kris kringle last night, and santa brought me some rather delicious washable merino in fingering weight and a most hand-dyeable shade of cream. a hint to get started on some socks, do you think? we were not allowed to know who our secret santas were, but i have my suspicions. shan't name names though. that would ruin the fun. and further below you can see all my wrapped chrissie pressies. as i have no tree in the house i am house-sitting they are elegantly propped against the dresser (i must take a picture of me mam's tree. it's deliciously foresty). the brightly coloured wraps are from my work. the embroidered white paper is a scrap left from the wrapping of a gift my housemate got. the brown paper is from ikea, and the red organza was on clearance from spotlight at 10cm a metre (i took the whole roll). one stack of books is not actually wrapped (though it has a birdie tied to it) because they are proof copies. these are advanced copies that book reps give to stores. they tend to build up in our back room (particularly the fluffier, middle-aged lady ones) so for the past couple of christmases i have liberated a stack for mum. not quite a 'real' present, so no real wrapping. i'm also quite pleased with the little box with the brown and red ribbon. it's actually an old chocolate box, with a tray that slides out from the cover like a matchbox. i wrapped the cover only, leaving the dark brown tray visible at each end (not that you can see it).


my plans for christmas are thus (pity the bookpimp child of a broken home and the lover of a country boy): friday: christmas at my mother's with both of my parents. christmas eve: work until i am allowed to go home, go straight to my mother's to swap our gifts. badly coloured boy meets us there after he finishes work, and we drive straight to his father's place in bunbury (some two hours away). christmas day: drive another hour to his mother's place, have christmas day there. drive back to bunbury that evening to spend boxing day with his father. 6.30am on the 27th i catch the train back to perth to go after christmas sales shopping with my mother.

we are giving gemma (the tempting gloves recipient) a lift down south too, which should make the car ride a bit more fun and festive. a crowd is always cheerier.