I was appalled to read this morning about how Tesco ripped off one of Little Cotton Rabbit’s adorable bunny egg cosies. I’ve admired Julie’s work from afar, and been delighted by her sweet creations, many of which she shares the patterns for, for free! For a corporate giant like Tesco to so blatantly copy her work is depressing, and I hope that this will be brought to the attention of the media. Update: Julie has taken the original post down, as it had attracted too much attention. Perhaps it would be a more meaningful silent protest for us knitters to knit one of her bunnies instead.
I’ve been meaning to participate in Abby’s Five Senses Friday for a while now, so here’s a little sensual insight into my day:
Smelling: Body Shop Tea Rose Perfume. Mmm. I’m not even sure what a tea rose is, but it certainly smells pretty. The (now sadly discontinued) Kidsilk Spray colour ‘tea rose’ is rather tempting too!
Hearing: J.J. Cale, ‘Money Talks’. Rockingest man around!
Tasting: Shiraz.
Seeing: John Seymour’s The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency on the table.
Touching: RYC Silk Cotton in ‘bloom’. Hmm, wonder what this will be? ;)
16 April, 2009 |
Downloads,
Houselock,
Writing |
tags: easter,
eggs,
houses,
knitting free,
Life,
podcasts,
review,
slipover.
I had a lovely Easter weekend, full of amazing food, flowers, fun, sunshine, boating & bunnies. I’ve loved seeing all the Chick Egg Cosies popping up on Ravelry during Easter. Eight-year-old Rose Red made a very sweet yellow chick, chia777 didn’t have any felt, so she beaded the beak, clockworkpurple made some with googly eyes (if I ever get my hands on some googly eyes, I’m going to make some that look like Pacman ghosts, with zig-zag edges!), smartcinderella made some cosies that are laced up corset-like, and theknittedcupcake knit some amazing multi-coloured chicklets. All so clever & crafty! If you haven’t knit any yet, remember, chicks and eggs aren’t just for Easter! :) 
Also very lovely was seeing Vetiverknits’s finished Houses Slipover in gorgeous merino cashmere from The Knittery. Just nothing more exciting and satisfying than seeing people enjoying knitting from your patterns. Thank you all!
I’ve been knitting too, of course, and fiercely designing. I have too much inspiration for two hands, as always! But in addition to the knitting, I’m also very excited to be writing reviews for Cast On! I’m somewhat ashamed to say that I had never listened to Cast On until a few weeks ago; have I been living under a knitted rock? I remember last year a fellow knitter (Julia, who I met on Ravelry) and I were sitting in Aberystwyth Arts Centre drinking coffee and she told me I should really go listen to some knitting podcasts. She then whisked me off to a dance lesson and in between trying to remember the steps to the cha cha and the waltz I completely forgot about this excellent piece of advice. Well, I have now finished Series 5 of Cast On and I’m hooked on Brenda’s lovely voice, and in particular her weekly sweaters. My first review as a Knit Review Minion is for Simple Style, from the same series as Interweave’s Lace Style, Folk Style, and Wrap Style. I hope you have a read and let me know what you think, if only for my somewhat silly, rhyming bio!
The first postcard set is now available for purchase! There are 5 postcards in the set entitled warm wool heart, and I’m so so pleased with them. There are small motifs that thread through the images and pull them together: hearts, curls, folds, snows & greys. I also think one could construct a timeline of the life of the knitted garment from these photos: the yarn in a foetal ball, the cast on, the ‘live’ stage, the finished fabric, and the leftovers. The more I look at the postcards, the most I realise how many memories I have attached to them, and… how wonderful all these memories are! This one winter of working on Laylock; all tentative beginnings, slow beginnings, false starts & restarts, Welsh snow, Turkish snow, the metre-deep, draughty windowsills of this small cottage, days alone with my camera, wrapped in shawls & wearing many skirts, crackly cricket on LW, birdsong. Honestly, I can’t say how they all sneaked in there…
Well, if you feel even a fraction of what I do about this set of postcards, I thought you might like to send them as gifts. To this end, there are instructions here, and here’s a peek at the envelopes, and one of the ‘wrappers’ that I designed. Thank you once more for all your support. :)
Speaking of packaging, I requisitioned my free Graze box to keep buttons & bits in. If you’re in the UK, I strongly recommend you give them a try. You can get a free box using this code: V2M17XB, and a selection of yummy healthy snacks will be delivered to you by Royal Mail, in a handy box that’s small enough to fit through your letter box. Just remember to cancel the next delivery if you don’t want to receive any more.
I hope you’re celebrating by casting on.
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(by the way, do you spy a double decrease?)
Last night I was sitting on the sofa by a lovely roaring fire, typing away at my blog post. My boyfriend had gone down to the pub with his friend, and I was all alone in the small Welsh cottage. As I got up to get myself a mug of tea, I glanced at the woodburner and noticed that the candle that had been left on top of it (note use of passive) looked a bit lopsided, so I thought I’d better take it off there and put it to one side. The saucer was full of hot melted wax though, so it was rather tricky to do, and I noticed that the flames were licking away at that side of the burner, making it even hotter. Not knowing a whole lot about fires, I opened the woodburner door to try to rearrange the logs. Woosh! The flames licked out of the hinge and one side of the woodburner caught fire. It finally clicked that there was hot hot wax dripping down that entire side of the woodburner. In a few brief moments, many thoughts ran through my head:
- My God, the fire is outside the woodburner.
- Maybe if I leave it, it’ll just burn up.
- I can’t call my boyfriend.
- How am I going to tell him I burnt his house down?
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