As you can see I've managed to borrow a digital camera for a bit and have been busy snapping some of my FOs and some of my unfinished projects too. Sorry about the image quality, I'm not the best photographer in the world. I'll sort it out in PaintShop tomorrow but for the moment this is my latest project. A scarf from Skacel Sunburst bought from The Yarn Co. when I was in NYC. Sadly I only bought one ball of this and need two more so I'm not sure when this will be finished. Plenty of time though since right now it's too warm for a scarf.
posted by Marie Irshad at 1:03 AM

I have been looking for an easy loose net sweater pattern for a while and found a great v-necked one in the latest issue of Burda's Anna magazine. It's on page 36 and uses a ribbon yarn called Venus but of course I'm hoping to subsitute another ribbon. I don't know when I'll get around to knitting it but the pattern looks very easy. I think I'd like to have it in a couple of colours.

I bought a few balls of Rowan Cotton DK in black today for my patchwork cardigan but had to control myself when I saw the Summer Tweed. Can't get that for sometime! :-)
posted by Marie Irshad at 11:39 PM

Inspired by other blogers tales of knitting at their desks during quiet times I knit a few rows of a patch during my lunch break. However I was soon distracted by reading blogs. I can't quite manage the whole knitting while reading thing yet.
posted by Marie Irshad at 11:47 PM

It's pay day and I really want to buy some more yarn but I don't need it.
Not sure I really should spluge just yet either since I have a lot of outgoings this month. Should wait until next month when I might be in Paris for my b-day. Could buy some cool European yarn but that's four weeks away! Darn.
posted by Marie Irshad at 11:44 PM

Sounds like Bonne Marie had a bitch of a day yesterday at the hands of a producer. I've worked with my share of good and bad producers and am happy to say that I currently have the pleasure of working with a really great team of people. I work on a topical radio programme and some days, ok most days!, can be very hectic. But that's one of the reasons why I love it and I expect Bonne Marie feels the same.

Sadly I'm the only crafty person in my team. Fortunately I don't get the "Why bother when you can buy it in the shops" line from them but "Oh no I couldn't do that, it looks far too difficult." Maybe one day they'll have a go for themselves and see just how easy and rewarding crafting is. I won't get the "Oh you're so clever" comments then but I can live with that! :-)

I'm wearing my clogs and although the right one is bit bigger than the left they're very comfy and cosy. Just like wearing a thick pair of socks really. They're not amazingly attractive to loook at though because they creased up during the spin cycle of the washing machine. I'm hoping that they'll fall out during wearing.

I may be reduced to sneaking around and updatig this blog at work for a few days. We've had problems with the fan on the computer and it may have to go to the repair shop for a bit. I'm dreading it, I'm so dependent on the computer and internet. It's sad really but there's always so much to see and read - other knitting blogs, pattern sites, magazine sites, stores, I could go on. If the computer is away I'll be behind in my email so please don't get mad if you don't get a reply for a while.

I'm still working on the patchwork cardi, deciding if my black contrast will be from wool or cotton. My patches are a bit of both. I think if I'm careful with it it shouldn't be a problem.

Any Mitch Pileggi from the X Files fans out there? If so, you might want to check out Thank You Mitch. The people behind the tribute ad in The Hollywood Reporter have three online stores where you can buy items with the ad logo. All the money from sales goes to charity and the store closes at the end of May.
posted by Marie Irshad at 9:25 PM

Well the clogs are about as felted as they're going to get. One is a good fit the other is still a bit large but wearable. I'll just have to be careful not to run down the stairs etc. in them. Not sure what I'm going to do about the soles yet, whether I'll put a non slip coating on them or buy proper leather soles or iron on the anti-slip sock things that I bought in the Regia section of Wollywood. Whatever I do will wait until the second clog is a better fit.

Sewing wise the new issue of Threads magazine arrived for me today. Lots of interesting projects and ideas including bead embroidered dragonflies - which I'm going to put on a linen skirt that I made last year and still haven't worn - and garden chair covers. We have two cane chairs in our 'conservatory' - an area by the side of our house that's got a perpex roof - and they've roughed up by the cats since last summer. Some covers would definately make them more attractive to sit in. Not that you'd know it was summer here - we seem to have a week of rain ahead of us!
posted by Marie Irshad at 7:22 PM

I'm really tired so this is going to be short. Yesterday we went to IKEA so that I could become more organised! God bless IKEA! I bought some amazing and cheap shelves for my ever growing video collection - when you're a scifi/cult tv fan that goes with the territory! - they're IVAN Multimedia shelves, and a couple of IVAN cupboards for my craft room.

Anyway we put them up today and I've just stopped myself from doing any more tidying because my poor bod just can't take any more.

I have an almost knitting FO - my Fibertrends clogs! I finished them on Thursday and have been felting them since last evening. I've been washing them at 60 degrees to be on the safe side. In the UK most of us have front loading washing machines so can't stop mid-cycle and check. I washed them four times yesterday and they're on the first wash of today. Currently they're about one or two sizes too big for me. I'm hoping that one or two washes will be all that they'll need.

Since I finished one knitting project I've allowed myself to begin another. I'm making a patchwork cardigan from my Catherine Ham book. It's fairly basic, knitting 3"x4" patches and then sewing them together until you get the size that you want. It'll be a little boxy but I don't mind. It gives me a chance to use up all of those fabulous single skeins that I bought in NYC so I get to work with many textures. I'm keeping it all to one colour group - purples at the mo - and will combine with some black I think.

Now I'm off to have some dinner and watch tv!


posted by Marie Irshad at 7:36 PM

I've been feeling very guilty recently because I haven't been doing much craft work. Why? Because of that darn Playstation. I was feeling like a bad crafty person until I read that the fabulous Spinning Ginn is also a gamer!

Despite the gaming I was able to make a crystal and Bali type silver pendant to match earrings that I'd made a while ago and on Thursday night I finally made my turquoise doughnut necklace! I used turquoise colour lined Japanese 11/0 seed beads, tiny sterling silver beads plus turquoise stone moon and star shaped beads that I bought from eBay a year ago along with the large turquoise stone doughnut (a stone ring shape). It's completely different from the necklace that Tara wore in Buffy which had inspired me but it's currently my favorite piece of jewellery. I will try and see if it will scan later.

I love turquoise plus it's a very now look. I don't normally like anything that Britney wears but I'm very taken with the jewellery that she wore on an Entertainment Weekly cover back in March. I hope to make something similar sometime.

Knittingwise I'm taking timeout from the Noro vest and my other unfinished projects and came across some Noro Big Bebe that I bought from eBay. I have 13 skeins of it in colour number 7 (mostly magenta colours off the top of my head) and am not sure what to make. It's a wool/cotton/ramie mix with a little nylon, each skein is 50g, 25 metres and knits on 8 - 10 mm needles. Any suggestions? I looked at a Big Bebe pattern book on the net but wasn't that inspired by what I saw.

On the Rowan front my latest Rowan International newsletter arrived yesterday - they have an interesting looking book on sewing projects for the home - plus today my 15mm and 20mm circular needles arrived today! I bought them from Rowan directly at a much lower price than if I'd bought them in NYC when I was there. But they're for future projects - this weekend is a long one because Monday is a public holiday or bank holiday as they're called over here (yes they were originally days when Banks had a holiday! And they still do) so I should put down Wipeout and Spiderman enough to do something creative. perhaps I'll look at the Black linen jacket again or finally finish the soles on my clogs and have a go at scary felting! Or perhaps I'll look at my various stashes and procrastinate!

posted by Marie Irshad at 10:35 AM

Haven't got as much crafty stuff done as I'd have liked recently. This is due to a number of things, one being that I've done a fair bit of gardening recently. A fair bit of pruning - had to get it done before May - and planting summer bedding. Sadly it's all store bought this year I never seem to remember to sow the seeds early enough to grow my own bedding plants. Really want to get some more Nicotianna plants this year. Not sure if I've spelt that name correctly but the common name for it is Tobacco Flower. You may have seen The Body Shop's Tobacco flower range. The flowers have a wonderful scent which is only released in the evening. This is a fab plant for growing where ever you like to sit in your garden, yard or balcony etc. so you can smell it in the evening.

I'm still waiting for my Vogue pattern to arrive, I hope it gets here before Autumn! Also still working on my Journey Jacket in black linen. Think I mentioned it in this blog. Meant to finidh it over the weekend but I just bought a used Playstation on eBay and have been playing too many games! I'll get it finished before we go away in June though.

Knitting wise I'm 50% done on my Noro vest and of course I choose now to consider frogging it in favour of this pattern instead. It's more my style than the pattern I'm knitting, I think I'd wear it a lot more in the Just One More Row design. Ah well, better see if I can knit the mitered blocks first before I frog.
posted by Marie Irshad at 12:05 AM