I wasn't overly impressed with that dress when I saw it on television.
But then I saw some pictures in Hello (in the dentist waiting room): close up seeing the details of the lace it is stunning.
Fascinating article about it on the BBC. They had to wash their hands every 30 minutes (I suppose it made sure they had a break to move around), and changed needles every three hours.
Altough I do find this commentary rather amusing...
Happy Easter: enjoy your Easter eggs, church services, local festivals, craft fairs, picnics or lounging in the garden (delete as appropriate).
I was really looking forward to this afternoon: the second part of the shibori course I hadn't blogged about.
I'd attended the first part of the course, I'd done the sewing and now I was ready for the new experience bit, the part where I dyed the things I had sewn. Because I have never ever, not even at school, dyed anything ever.
I'd got the material, and the rubber gloves, and the dye, and the jug, and the teaspoon, and the string, and all the other bits and pieces. And carried the bags to the car, and my eye was drawn to the wheel.
Or rather the tyre. And the tyre was flat: there was no way I was going out to do some dying (my first dying ever, I was so looking forward to it).
So I came inside, and I rang up the AA, and was a bit surprised to be told the mechanic would be with me sometime between now and 45 minutes time. And then he turned up and he changed the wheel. And he showed me the cause: a pointy bit of gravel that had got stuck in the nearly new tyre and punctured it. But he also said he thought it could be repaired, so after he went, I rang up the nearest tyre place and they thought they could repair it, so I drove it slowly in on the temporary spare, and they said yes they could repair it.
So the nasty sharp bit of gravel (which for some reason I want to keep) cost me 'only' £14.20, when a new tyre would have been lots more.
But I still didn't go dying.
And having frogged sleeve one of Lovelace and reknitted it, I discovered that I'd missed an increase in sleeve two, and had to frog that back as well.
I think the problem with my Lovelace sleeve is self evident...
Next time, use stitchmarkers as suggested by the pattern...
Imagine Lovelace knitted with Rowan felted Tweed Chunky, in a colour which is probably described as cranberry. With 14 rows to 10cm it is not surprising that I have knitted most of the body in just over a week. (Wool bought Monday a week ago, needles bought Tuesday a week ago etc.)
I finally got round to taking some photos of Lovelace, but then today turned into a very long day and I'm too worn out to find the camera and upload them.
A minor bit of excitement, that makes me feel cool in a nerdy sort of way. Or is it nerdy, in a cool sort of way
This afternoon, I was rung up by someone from the BBC, asking me (yes, me!) about ushahidi, because I'd mentioned it here.
That's it really. But it is a bit cool.
(Ushahidi is a geographical data mapping tool used by some websites.)
Who could resist posting, with a date like today's. Especially as I haven't posted all year.
Post New Year crafting is concentrating on Pax Vobiscum.
However, bad blogger (or bad photographer) that I am, I am haven't taken before and after pictures. In words, I have finished the round bit of the 'P' of Pax, done the purple of the 'x' and legs of the hunting dog.
With no pictures, I might as well have used usenet, not a blog.
I also signed up for a dying workshop at Threads and Patches in Fenny Stratford. It's split into two sessions, two weeks apart. I just need to buy some white cotton to use. In an amazing feat of self-restraint while I was there, I just bought one skein of DMC and the TIAG "Blackberry Jam" chart.
As a postscript, best wishes to the people in Queensland. In my childhood, we had an Australian game called Squatter, about sheep stations. Your sheep station could face draught for several turns: being flooded would not break the draught. But now it is real people, real lives.
At long last, I have reached a major milestone in the leaf quilt.
I have hand-quilted the very last leaf.
The gaps were machine quilted some time ago, by Ferret.
It took a long time for me to handquilt each of the 33 leaves.
Actually, it wasn't too bad - 33 leaves, 36 months, slightly less then one a month. That's quite respectable progress. (Although the making of it started before I started the blog.) The advantage of having a blog, I suppose, a way to measure my progress against myself.
The next step will be to work out how to do the borders, and cut out the material and bind it (hand or machine?) and then photograph it, and post it. Hopefully before we redecorate the sitting room, which it is supposed to grace when it is finished.
The other big story of Christmas 2010 is the slight lack of heating.
Our oil boiler ceased to function on Christmas Eve morning, and although we managed - by dint of ringing every number in the phone book - to get someone out to see it in the afternoon, the news was not good. A major part had failed, the kind of part that costs hundreds to fix. However as the boiler itself is about 30 years old, and needed to be replaced soon anyway, we have decided that we won't bother with a repair. Of course, with bank holidays and the like, we haven't even had a chance to talk to possible installers yet (I'm hoping they don't shut up shop for the entire Christmas/New Year break).
On the other hand, we have budgeted for a new boiler, we don't have to worry about the cost of emergency purchase of electric heaters, we are not hungry, or thirsty, or oppressed, or afraid, or any of the other problems that afflict people this year.
And when I left the Church after going to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, the snow in the churchyard made it look like a Christmas card picture. It's sad to see it melting today.
I have much to be grateful for, as 2010 draws to a close.
And having got the Tree we bought last year out of the garage, I am reminded that it is one of these new-fangled affairs with integrated lights, and a transformer at the base which can't be covered. Hmmm, no tree skirts this year then.
However, someone tweeted earlier: sgwarnog Tomorrow is an auspicious day: Full Moon (08:13) Total Lunar Eclipse (08:16) Sunrise (08:23) Sunset (15:47) December Solstice (23:38) (GMT)
It's taken a while to start thinking about Christmas in anything but a vague "at the end of December, something usually happens" way.
But now it's nearly that time. Preparations started late this year, but on Friday, I recognised the junction I was driving past as being near the Bramble Patch quilt shop. So I parked and had a look round the shop. And I decided I liked the look of the hexagonal tree skirt, but the material from the square tree skirt, and they agreed to let me swop the patterns round, and I came home with a very nice set of material to make a tree skirt. Of course, the whole idea behind buying a kit was so I could just come home and make it, without thought, so why did I then search through my fabric looking for my other Christmas fabric? And then work out the trigonometry of exactly how long each of the strips needed to be. Material is now gathered, but uncut...
Today, our sitting room was tidied. And dusted. And hoovered. (Just like we do every day (hahaha).) And then the Christmas Tree was found in the garage, and the tinsel and the decorations, and the sitting room was decorated, and I am starting to feel like the Yuletide celebrations will soon be starting.
And after supper, I got out my little tin of needlework kits, and started on Bethlehem, from County Needlecraft.
