watermill

A watermill sounds a bit like a certain point in a washing machine's cycle.

Just saying...

A new kit

I really hadn't meant to buy a new embroidery kit yesterday, but it was so pretty I couldn't resist.

The price - £1.50, reduced from £2.25 - suggested it had been in the shop for some years, especially is it also has the slightly gritty feeling which secondhand books sometimes have. I haven't been able to find any reference to the kit on line, or even the range, which confirms my suspicion that is pretty old.

A bit of progress last night.

Wordless Wednesday - 15th June

Nearly finished - just some crosses to put in round the centre.

That Dress

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!

Happy Easter: enjoy your Easter eggs, church services, local festivals, craft fairs, picnics or lounging in the garden (delete as appropriate).

Dying died

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.

Very lovelorn Lovelace

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.

Lovelorn Lovelace

I think the problem with my Lovelace sleeve is self evident...



Next time, use stitchmarkers as suggested by the pattern...

Lovelace

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.

Cool, in a nerdy sort of way

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.)

11.1.11

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.