What's your style? Dress Me Up!

It's been a long couple of weeks, and will continue to be a long a couple of weeks in the lead up to the events I organise every July. There's not enough hours in every day for all the things I need to do, and all the things I want to do. Each and every day has become a blur of knitting, changing nappies, feeds, spinning, emails, photographs, making lunch, taking kids where they need to go, sewing, phonecalls, THINK OF SOMETHING FOR DINNER!, quotes, forms, and list making. Always with the list making. 

In amongst all this has been a fair bit of design, some dreaming, motivating and motivation. Ideas growing, being bounced around and built upon. There's been some hard things to face, some interesting points come to, and many things still marinating in my head, as they tend to do. 

For a start - on the lighter end of the spectrum - I'm coming to terms with a 'new normal' post pregnancy. Not only did I lose ten kilos while pregnant (I know, I know - I'm not bitching about it) - but my entire body shape has also changed as well. This means that 90% of my wardrobe no longer fits. Either things look like a sack, or they cling to all the bits I don't want them to cling to. Throw into this mix the fact that we have a wedding to go to in early August as well as two parties between here and then and you have a recipe for panic. 

Enter the fabric stash. The stash I periodically add to by buying decent metreage of interesting things I find on sale. 

Butterick have re released a range of their vintage patterns and I like many of the 1950's styles, so I bought a couple of patterns. One I am still waiting on to arrive on backorder, but the other one came home with me, pattern B5032.

After a dive in the fabric stash I came up with some nice cotton sateen I bought on clearance for about $5 a metre about a year ago. There was not enough for the full skirted version (which I would have liked) but there was definitely enough for the straight version. This is how it turned out:

I quite like it. I added a sash out of red dupion silk, because I felt it needed it, and because I am a sucker for silk. Red silk, to be specific. If I make the same pattern again (and I probably will) I will probably go down a few bust sizes on the top, as I found it to be very loose and I had to do a few tricks to get it to tighten up some. Perhaps I've lost more in the bust than I measured?

This is the pattern I am waiting on the arrival of though:

and I have another dress pattern and the fabric for it sitting down in the studio, just waiting to be cut and sewn. In between, you know, everything else. 

There is progress at least - the mammoth spin is less than 100g of spinning away from being DONE. Which will be nice because I am 100% DONE WITH IT. There's a reason I don't spin more than about 200g of the same colours very often. It's called the sort of boredom that makes me want gouge my own eyes out for fun. I also have a matching set of mitts and a scarf soaking in a bucket waiting to be blocked and photographed before they get popped in a parcel pack to be sent off as a gift. In the same bucket there's also a wee cabled vest for Master BJ to wear to the wedding - he at least already has a button up shirt and nice pants to wear under it (conveniently given as a gift by the same person who's wedding we are attending! - thanks Coll!). A new dress pattern for Miss Chaos arrived today, from which I will make her a new dress to wear to it too.. and that of course means more fabric shopping. All together now.. aww.. yes yes I know, smallest violin in the world playing just for me. Master Mayhem and all of his too - short - in - the - leg - socks - showing - like - michael - jackson pants has not been forgotten either. There's an Ottobre Design mag on the way with a nice vest pattern in it, and I bought a metre and a half of a fabulous tartan fabric the other day to make him some seriously groovy wide legged punky pants from. I'm wondering if it is possible to get pants for him, and a skirt for Miss Chaos out of the one metre and a half of fabric. I'm going to give it a bash anyways!

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It's 1am right now. I had more to say in this blog post. So many thoughts. But again, I am out of time - story of my life right now.  The one question I keep coming back to at the moment however is this - Am I who I want to be? And I think the answer is yes. But I think it's important to note that the question is WHO and not WHAT. Which are the most important things to me, that I allow myself to be defined by? There's a list in that there question. Always with the lists. But for now, I'm just going to leave this here for anyone pondering the same question. 

Take it away, Ms Fucking Palmer. 

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The List and The Toadstools (Giraffe Cameo!)

I used to be well known for having an excellent memory. For the most part, I still do, but the reason for my good memory is because of The List. Yep. All capitals. 

The List is something I think many people have but in me it seems to reach ridiculous proportions. The List is a real thing you see, something in my head that hums along constantly, much like the fridge in the kitchen. Most of the time it hums along quietly in the background, flicking through it's main folder of 'this year' and then the subfolders of 'this month', 'this week', 'today' and now with the addition of a baby to to the household 'THIS FREAKING MINUTE!' (because a hungry baby waits for no bastard).

The List frequently keeps me awake at night with it's cacophony of things that need to be done, places that need to be visited, things that need to be purchased - even tiny events like getting dressed and dressing the kids. From huge events to the most mundane it's a never ending ticking cycle. Once my mind gets to the end of The List it starts at the start again, immediately. I'm frequently heard to say 'I'll add it to The List' and as such it has become a tangible thing, something that features in the day to day running of the house and lives. Even the kids know about it. (Miss Chaos said to me just this morning 'where is fixing my cardigan on The List?)

Where was I? Oh yeah. Most of the time The List is manageable and quite a handy thing. But sometimes, at certain times of the year (generally preceeding large events) it becomes.. well, a beast quite frankly. The more things that are added to The List, the more unmanageable it becomes, like juggling, until I start dropping balls. It's always the little things I drop. In my haste to clear things off The List to make it easier to handle, I forget small things along the way. Like.. eating. Drinking. Going to the toilet before kidney explosion becomes imminent. 

Currently the list is becoming unwieldy. One month from now is the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show, and at the same time the Ravelry Event(s) I organise annually. This year I was kind to myself. Knowing I would have a wee baby at the time, I limited myself to one event - a Friday night Dinner. I dropped the traditional Saturday morning breakfast. It's still a lot of organising though, so there are balls being dropped left right and centre here at the moment. I nearly reached critical kidneys this afternoon and couldn't work out why I felt so uncomfortable. The cat meowed at me incessantly for an hour this morning before I realised his water bowl needed filling. The front porch - something I normally keep very well maintained for some reason - has tumbleweeds inhabiting it. So if you are a Ravelry member and you don't know what the hell I am on about, do a search for 'Bendi Baa' among the groups, and you should find all the info you need. 

Meanwhile in between all this organising there has been stuff created. Every body gotta have some down time. I have a scarf and mitts set for a gift which is not quite ready to be photographed, I'm back at the spinning wheel making headway on finishing up a custom spin. But there's been sewing, too. A pair of new pyjama pants for both Master Mayhem and Miss Chaos have been produced, and tested by them. They passed if you are interested, Master Mayhem proclaiming them 'warm and comfy WITH TRAINS ON!'. Priorities. He has them. 

A couple of months ago though while browsing through a local opshop I uncovered some vintage / retro kids sheets. And they were AWESOME. High quality cotton, already washed and worn in though not TOO worn in. There was quite a bit there, a matching bunk bed set of two pillowcases, two flat sheets and two fitted sheets. I bought everything they had, and will be sending half of the haul to a friend. My half has been sitting, languishing in the fabric cupboard for a while. Miss Chaos' wardrobe is somewhat lacking though, given I have difficulty finding clothes I like for her. Everything seems to be OMG SO PINK!!!!! Or makes her look like the star of a movie that might be called 'The littlest LapDancer'. 

So I upsized a pattern I had kicking around for a wee A-line / mod type dress. (Heh. I keep calling her Queen of the ModKids.. and if you haven't watched that episode of the Mighty Boosh with the King of The ModWolves, you won't get that reference so I'll shuddup)

She quite likes it, which is the main thing - 'I LOVE GIRAFFES! AND IT HAS GIRAFFES!!'. It looks excellent with her new ass-kicking boots too, and I like her in it. No whore outfits on a five year old here, no sir. 

as an added bonus I had the perfect buttons, already sitting around waiting to be used. I love buttons. Have I mentioned that before? I really do. 

She was so pleased to wear it to kinder yesterday. Her teachers commented on it. I love it. 

<3

We've also rearranged the studios. I have a better creative space now. I'm very pleased but photos of that will have to wait until next time. 

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Return of the Crazy.

So, I am back. For those playing at home this means I am now either no longer pregnant, or made up the whole thing to take an extended break from the business and the blog. Given I've not had issue with taking a blog break before for no reason other than not feeling particularly chatty (also known as Can't Be Fu.. uhh.. Motivated), and also given I actually love doing what I do, I guess it has to be the case that I now have a really good Finished Object to show off? And indeed I do. 

I won't say he's the BEST finished object ever, because to do so would be kinda rude to Mr Mayhem and Miss Chaos, but he's definitely in the top 3 :p

Fresh from a bath at one day old.

BJ wound up being born on the 29th of April at 5.18am via emergency ceasar after a failed induction. Little bugger snoozed through labour, and refused to descend any further. Thankfully, this ceasar went far FAR better than the last one, and was not so much of a rushed emergency as a 'well, ok we are doing this now' type of emergency. 

He weighed 6lb 10 oz at birth and now at 3 weeks and 3 days old has gained half a kilo on his birthweight already. He is a cruisy baby, never terribly stressed UNLESS that horrible thing happens. 

That horrible thing? Getting cold. 

Lucky his mam's a knitter then, eh?

Two weeks 6 days old

There has been a fair bit of knitting going on. At this stage, I can't spin due to the ceasar making me ache a bit if I try but I should be back at the wheel soon. I've not been sewing either, because the sewing studio is BLOODY FREEZING - a situation which will hopefully be rectified this week when I buy a small fan heater for it. So in the end, the only crafty pursuit left to me at the moment is knitting. I'm glad to have something to just pick up in between feeds and bum changes, book reading, sandwich making, picture drawing, drink getting and laundry washing. 

The 'Oceans and Islands' socks were finished a bit over a week ago now. The first sock heel was turned while I was in labour with BJ, and they came along fairly quick from that point really. Hospital provides good knitting opportunity. The pattern is Traffic Island Socks by Redscot (Ravelry link) and the yarn is Malabrigo Sock Yarn I got in a swapsie with the lovely SunriseSister. Great pattern which is very easy to memorise and gives a nice chevron look that I love. This is my second pair of these, the first went to my mother in law as a christmas gift. It's rare for me to like a pattern enough to do it twice!

Since finishing these I have also busted out a much petted skein of 5ply/sport weight 100% cashmere in a lovely spring green and knit a scarf. It is finished but photos will have to wait until after it is blocked, as it is currently soaking in a bucket. 

Mentally I am feeling far more back on board than I have in a while (surprise surprise) and I have been plotting and planning - Ravelry events, new stuff for the store, new projects, new colour combinations, new things to see, do and share. It's all happening folks! Somehow the whirlwind in the brain that I never thought I would miss is back, and its return is welcome. Full steam ahead! (well. as much the body will allow)

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Idle hands? Hells no.

So, I am still here, and still currently intact at 37 weeks and 5 days. It's been a slow couple of weeks - I'm rather round now, and while I have been rather quiet, I've still managed to be quite productive. Craft - wise, at any rate! Sitting around twiddling my thumbs would drive me insane so I've continued to create. 

Time management (or an attempt at it) is a friend of mine at the moment - with so many other babies due in my circle of friends I need to get the jump on things now! Given I liked the set I did for my own new baby so much, I decided to make a second set as part of a gift for a friends bub, due a few months after me. 

The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn, some left overs I had from a pair of knee high socks I made for Miss Mayhem a few months ago. So bright and funky!

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I also pulled out some Bendigo Woolen Mills Luxury 10 ply I had floating around whipped up this cute little Owlie Snuggle Sack for the new one. 

It was a relatively quick and satisfying knit, ecspecially being in 10 ply. It's like a wee woolen sleeping bag! But with cute little owlish cables :p

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In the interests of practicality and remaining busy and multicraftual, I've also been back at the sewing machine, not quilting this time but something a little more.. well.. mundane. 

1.5 metres of froggy print flanelette, and 1.5 metres of jungle print flanelette combined together gave me 4 nappy squares (to be used as nappies or random cleaner-uppers, whichever seems more urgent at the time!) and also 18 double sided cloth wipes from the offcuts of making the nappies. I bought the fabric at spotlight a couple of weeks ago when it was on sale for $4.50 per metre (got to love a good special!)

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And lastly but certainly not leastly, there's been spinning too - I'm steadily treadling away at a mammoth spin as part of a swap. The going is slow, as the baby is generally pretty damn unimpressed with the way I sit when I spin (or when I sit AT ALL for that matter) so I can only do short bursts at a time. But I am getting there! This pic shows progression from fibre, to spun singles, to finished and plied skein. 

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So that's how I keep busy while waiting for things to happen. I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter Festivities, took advantage of a super long easter break, and commemorated Anzac Day in the way in which they saw fit. I sure did! Productivity for the win!

I get the feeling it might be a little while before I blog again, so I will just say at this point.. BRB ;)

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They call me mellow yellow..

We all have our favourite colours don't we? Anyone who knows me knows red is my favourite. When I was a teenager I loved purple - but I think most teenage girls go through a fairly big purple phase. I also have very specific favourite colour tones across the spectrum though - my favourite red is Candyapple Red, but I have faves in all the other colours too. Duck Egg Blue. Eggplant Purple. Acid Green (which I sometimes call Soylent Green just for kicks - it's people! Soylent Green is people!!! the perfect green of a good Midori Illusion. There's a food theme here, have you noticed?) and Egg Yolk Yellow. 

There's been a fair bit of yellow around here recently. My favourite necklace is yellow. I bought Miss Mayhem a new yellow shirt the other day. BigMac surprised me the other week with a bunch of my favourite yellow roses (and I didn't even give birth in order to get them! Shock!). My current spin in process features a deep golden colour, almost a mustard.  Yellow is one of those colours that people either love or hate I think. I love it. Most colour shades of it too, through from a deep yolky yellow to a light delicate lemon. I think yellow is a warm colour - it's comforting and gives the illusion of cozy-ness. 

This week I finished up a playrug sized quilt for the new baby which I have been working hard on (more on that later) and I needed a gift for a friends new baby, too. I decided on a pram sized quilt which was MADNESS given I decided this on the Thursday, and the baby shower where I would be gifting it was on the Sunday. In my usual style however, I decided to bite off more than I could chew, and chew like mad. 

First up, while catching up on regular blog reading, and links around I discovered this tutorial over at 'a cuppa and a catch up' for a quilt as you go strip quilt. Made in less than a day, I figured it was just the ticket, and off to spotlight I headed where I was drawn to the yellows... 

I paired them with a couple different types of grey, and a black, found some glorious variegated thread and headed home to begin. 

It WOULD have gone according to plan and been finished in less than 24 hours, had my brain not started throwing out what I call 'unauthorised ideas'. You know the ones. The additions that make a 'nice' piece into something 'special', but which take more time and more effort. In other areas they would be known as budget blowout, but when your time is your budget, they are one and the same really. Problem is, once you have seen them in your head? You know you aren't really 'finished' until they have been included.

 So in the end, it was more like 36 hours, with a very late night in there, and some frantic panicking when the colours ran in the wash (dylon colour run remover, I love you so!) BUT - it was complete, washed, dried and ready in time to be gifted. (just.)

Don't tell anyone but I cheated and did the binding with the machine on this one. Two reasons - 1 - there was just not enough time for me to do it by hand, as I am seriously S.L.O.W. at binding by hand and 2- I wanted to continue to show off that variegated thread of glorious yellowyness. 

'Bird On A Wire' Quilt

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Earlier in the week I finished another quilt - this one a bit larger - as a playrug for the new baby. As one might be able to tell I'm not really the worlds biggest fan of pastels - I prefer bright, bold funky colours, yes, even for tiny babies. There's SO MUCH powder blue and baby pink around that at times, it can kinda feel like there's not much other option - I remember being so frustrated when I was having Miss Chaos that every single thing seemed to soft baby pink. I'm not a huge fan of pink, it's the only colour I DON'T have a favourite shade of, and when it's all the exact same pink? Ugh. 

When you are choosing fabric yourself though, and making an item yourself - the only limit is in the fabric shops you are sourcing from. And thankfully around here, the fabric shops have PLENTY to choose from!

The main three fabrics on the centre blocks are (I think?) a Michael Miller fabric, all part of the same range. I bought a three pack of fat quarters when a local quilt shop sadly closed down, and they had been sitting in the stash for quite a while, waiting for the 'right' project. The black and silver swirly fabric on the outer border is some fabric I picked up at spotlight ages ago, and the red and FABULOUS acidic yellow borders are both moda marbles fabric. 

This will be used mostly as something to pop down on our hardwood flooring during playtime, a blanket to pop in the car, or pop down under the wee one at other peoples houses when we go visiting. Master Mayhem was a severely refluxy baby and I can't tell you the amount of times I wound up desperately trying to clean spew out of someone elses carpet. Ewwwww. Much easier to just have something you can throw in the wash!

'Surf's Up' Playquilt

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So now the countdown begins. As of Thursday it's four weeks till my due date to have this babe. I'm frantically trying to get prepared and there is more sewing and knitting to be done, preferably before that happens. One word:

MEEP!

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Of pixies and autumn...

So, now sitting at 34 (and a bit) weeks pregnant, the finished objects are picking up the pace in my own desperate attempts to clear the decks, and keep everyone who needs to be warm, toasty. We're definitely into my favourite season now, I love the smells and colours of Autumn. The leaves on the trees change to glorious oranges, browns and reds, the days are mild and just perfect for throwing on a light cardigan or shawl for a bit of extra warmth. Of an evening, when the chill comes down people all over town start turning on heaters and lighting woodfires, and the sweet smelling smoke fills the air and hangs low to the ground. I love it all, it's a sensory overload!

The other thing I love about autumn is the food that is in season. You can get away with (and crave) more substantial meals and the fact that pumpkin is in season and cheap helps with that! In the last week I have made pumpkin scones, and pumpkin soup. We had toasted pumpkin bread with marinated goats cheese for breakfast today, and tonights dinner is a hearty chicken and mushroom casserole with rice which we cooked all day in the slow cooker. to the end of preparation for the arrival of the babe, I am taking advantage of the ability to cook without sweltering, and trying to stock the freezer with quick, easy, and healthy meals that we can just reheat on those blurry first couple of weeks with a newborn. So far there's a few litres of pumpkin soup in there, the remainders of tonights chicken and mushroom casserole will go in there too. There's an entire lasagne in the oven, cooling down and getting ready to be sliced before freezing, and garlic bread to go with it. Still to come is mexican chicken meatballs, and a steak and onion pie. 

The house is a frenzy of activity, different people preparing for different things. Both kids are about to have their last week at kinder before going on school holidays, and I am being yammerred at endlessly every day about how the Easter Bunny cometh soon! Big Mac has a new job, so every evening is spent preparing for the next day ahead, mapping his route out (the work involves travel) and making lunches for the kids and himself. And I am spending my days trying to keep up with the kids, while buying what needs to be bought, and making what needs to be made. 

This week I have a couple of hats which have been finished off. The first is made from leftover Dream In Colour Smooshy sock yarn. I made my dad a pair of socks from it for christmas, and had a fair bit leftover. The hat is newborn sized and deliciously soft too. Not to mention cute!

The second hat is a case of wingin' it in every aspect. I had some Ewe Give Me the Knits merino / carbonized bamboo in a pastel kind of rainbow. It reminded me a lot of fruit tingles, and was nice, but  was not a colourway I would of worn myself. I started spinning it and deicded that for a change, I just wanted to throw the fibre at the wheel instead of spinning it ultra fine. So I did. The end result was a super soft bulky weighted two ply yarn that was VERY squishy! 

Because Miss Chaos for some reason looks like a hobo in every beanie I put her in, I wanted to make her a bit of a different hat to keep her warm. So I improvised and the result is what I am calling the 'Pixi Hoodlum'. 

Soft, warm and snuggly, it suits her down to the ground and she loves it. I also think I might need to be making something similar for myself before winter hits properly!

There's plenty more to come though. At the moment i have a mammoth spin in progress, on the needles I have a cute and funky pair of booties for a wee baby girl who is due after my babe, and the brightly coloured baby quilt I am making has had it's top finished and now needs to be 'sandwiched' (quilted) and bound. The hours are ticking by at an alarming rate every day, with much to be done, but slowly and surely, it's all happening. 

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Finally a new shawl for me.

Despite the number of shawls I knit in an almost habitual manner, the last shawl I actually knit FOR MYSELF was the huge Stormy Wings Alpaca Shawl. Which was almost two years ago now. When I knit that one, I had some lovely silver grey Moggy and Me yarn, and I decided I was going to knit that baby till the yarn ran out. So I did. And then I blocked it, and as alpaca tends to do - it grew. A lot. 

The final result was that that particular shawl is over 7 foot wide - which makes it (on my 5 foot 4 frame) less of a shawl, and more of a blanket. Which is fine, if it's freezing cold, but when it's just a bit chilly and I just want something pretty to throw around my neck for a little extra warmth (as opposed to my own personal alpaca furnace) it kind of leaves me shit out of luck. 

This week, I knit myself a shawlette - the perfect size for a little something extra when the wind picks up some. And it's in just my colours too. 

The pattern is the 'Holden Shawlette' (Rav link) by Mindy Wilkes. The yarn is Wollmeise 100% in 'Spice Market WD'. (Wollmeise is a highly sought after yarn from Germany. It is high sought after mostly because of it's colours, which are super rich. Spice Market is my favourite colourway of theirs, and the WD stands for 'We're Different'. Which means it's a mis-dye - this particular batch has none of the pistachio green this colourway normally has, which doesn't bother me in the slightest. I love it's rustiness anyways.) 

The knitting of the shawl took me a little under two weeks. I have had the yarn sitting there for well over six months, and I was just waiting till it told me what it wanted to be. 

And then I received a parcel in the mail from Mum and Dad for my birthday, and I am not ashamed to say, the shawl virtually knit itself, to match the contents of the parcel. 

They go together so nicely! That's a carved piece of Amber in the end there. I love it, and I love the shawl with it, too. Perfect match and all in the lovely autumny colours I adore. 

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