Yesterday I worked on an outside broadcast from an agricultural show called The Royal Welsh Show. It was the first time I'd ever been on an OB or at the Royal Welsh. It's a huge four-day event, over 45,000 people attended just on Monday, with lots of stuff happening. In addition to sheep shearing contests and the like there are many craft stalls and products. I did see a couple of yarn stalls - some space dyed hanks and organic natural coloured wool - but I was very good and didn't buy any. It wasn't that difficult because I thought that the dyed hanks were a bit dull and wasn't keen on the natural colours.

I did a bit of work on my Silk Garden scarf during the drive to the show but wasn't able to knit as much as I'd hoped. I get travel sick knitting, the same happens if I read in a car. It helps if pause between rows but even then I can't knit for more than 30 mins or so.

In the evening I finished my Liberty print peasant top - because it's made from cotton it was a lot easier to sew than the other peasant top that I've left half finished. One day I'll go back to all of those "left in disgust" projects and finish them. I do finish the odd one every so often.
posted by Marie Irshad at 10:56 PM

I've just ordered a kit for a short sleeved patchwork top from 21st Century Yarns. They have some wonderful designs and yarns. I only wish that their shade cards were online. I know that colours differ from monitor to monitor but it would have been nice to see them all the same. I've taken a chance and ordered the top in their peacock colourway. I hope I'll like it!
posted by Marie Irshad at 1:02 AM

Yesterday I managed to screw up some french seams on the Liberty print top so some of this evening was spent unpicking them. I've also been looking through the catalogue of PJ Minerals trying to decide what to order. I'll probably end up spending too much money whatever I choose!
posted by Marie Irshad at 12:24 AM

I seem to be on a memory wire bracelet roll. I'm currently on my third in less than 24 hours. They're just so easy and almost anything looks wonderful. I've been making them with semi-precious stones like rock crystal and fluorite and can't wait to wear them.

Sewing wise - I'm working on a peasant top made from a Liberty print that I bought in London last month. I've put the other one aside because it's very difficult to press the hems down. I'll try and work on them together later in the week.

eQuilter has some fabulous Laurel Burchcat fabic in stock. I've ordered six half yards. Not sure what I'll make just yet but I just had to have the fabric!
posted by Marie Irshad at 12:21 AM

This is my Noro Silk Garden scarf in box stitch. We bought a little digital camera today and are still getting used to it. The scarf is in SG colour #8 but it photographed it a little dully so we had to brighten it a bit. The green background is my cutting board.

It's my friend Karen's birthday tomorrow and we went out tonight to celebrate. I had hoped to make a top to wear but it wasn't ready in time. It's a peasant top and in a very nice but easily frayed material from an Asian shop. I decided to have a go at French Seams instead of overcasting. It was the first time that I'd ever attempted them and I'm really pleased with the results. It takes a bit longer because essentially you're sewing the seams twice but it looks so elegant and professional.

Basically you start by sewing a 1/4" seam with the wrong sides of your fabric together. You're sewing directly onto the right side of the fabric. You then iron the seam open and turn the garment inside out, press the seam down towards the garment and pin. Now sew a 1/2" seam. Your first seam will be enclosed in the second one. I'm sorry if my describe isn't that clear. Next time I make a French Seam I'll photograph the process and write a tutorial.
posted by Marie Irshad at 1:35 AM

My first subscription copy of Vogue arrived today. Their Fall catwalk report states that chunky knits are in again and includes a picture of an obscenely chunky skirt and tank top by Russell Sage (Pic is in bottom right-hand corner). I can't believe how chunky this is, the needles must have been bigger than rolling pins to knit this. There's also an ad for a really interesting Missoni hat. I can't find it on their website but it has some amazing textures and colours. Very inspiring! Update - I think this might be the hat. It's being worn by the model in the blue suit. You may also find this link easier to access than the Flash photo gallery on the official Missoni website. I really hate Flash, it just screws things up and it's terrible if you have a slow connection. I have a cable modem and even then it still takes an age to load.

Found that I had just enough fabric left over from my unsuccessful one hour dress to make a short sleeved top. I'll have to give the back of the top a seam, it's supposed to be only made from one piece of fabric, to do it but this means that I could just turn the dress into a skirt instead.
posted by Marie Irshad at 12:39 AM

Since the one-hour dress didn't work out like I'd hoped I've decided to see if I can make both a top and a skirt out of 2.5 meters (2.73 yards) of fabric. At least until the Barcelona Dress pattern arrives that is. I've been looking at Simplicity pattern 9827 which features a two-hour top and skirt. The skirt can be cut on the bias but I'm not sure if I'll have enough fabric for that.

I've also been admiring beaded dragonflies from the July/August 2000 issue of Beadwork magazine.

Speaking of magazines, I've begun wondering if I subscribe to too many -
Sew News
Beadwork
Bead and Button
Threads
Belle Armoire
Interweave Knits
Knitters
Knit and Style
Vogue
Fiber Arts

Wow! That's ten magazines and it doesn't include the others that I pick up regularly like Burda and Anna (also a Burda mag) and the magazines that I want to subscribe to like Bust and Art Quilts. The only ones that I'd consider dropping would be Knit and Style and Fiber Arts and even then I'm not sure. Do I read them all? Mostly. Do make all of the patterns, ideas? No. But they're always there for inspiration should I need them. It's just another stash really.

posted by Marie Irshad at 10:00 PM

We weighed our cats recently knowing that two of them were.......ahem, how do I put this? Fat(!) Here are their weights -

Jake (blue and white cat) One stone (14 pounds)
Sabre (black cat) 14 pounds
Pushkin (light tabby) 9 pounds
Clyde (dark tabby) 6 pounds

We're not too sure how to get Jake and Sabre back into shape, personally I don't think Jake has ever been in shape! I've thought of feeding them separately but Andy thinks it would be too cruel. They have whiskers sachets a few times a day and dry food is left out for them all day. I think I need a cat sized hamster wheel or something! :-)
posted by Marie Irshad at 12:25 AM

My first day at work after a few days off and the start of a new shift pattern really tired me out. The new shift starts at 8.30, my bus brought me to an empty office at 8.10. Thankfully I can catch a slightly later bus the next time I do this shift since people would rather I was a few mins late than too early. I work with a nice team of people. Previous colleagues wouldn't have given me the option.

After work I wasn't up to any sewing so I made some bracelets from a string of turquoise stone chips that I hadn't got around to using. I made two with a third partly done and will still have enough left over for a necklace.

It's back to more normal hours tomorrow so I might be able to do some more work on Andy's shirts in the evening.

I came across a site yesterday that I had bookmarked and forgotten about. It's a massive sewing resource guide compiled by Lily Abello.
posted by Marie Irshad at 11:32 PM

Well I did finish that shirt in time and he wore it to the gig. However, it now stinks of smoke so he has to wash it before he can wear it again!

I spent last night working on the one hour dress in batik rayon and am not that happy with the end result. It's a bit shapeless and I'm clueless when it comes to making darts and things so it seems that a belt is the only answer. I had hoped that the drape of the rayon would compensate for this. The search for the can't-do-without-dress-pattern goes on.

I found this great site during my travels today - Not Without My Handbag is owned by a wonderful San Francisco based designer who makes handbags out of old LP covers. Always wanted a Barbara Streisland and Bette Midler handbag? This is the place to go.


posted by Marie Irshad at 10:57 PM

I had hoped that Andy would be able to wear a new shirt for our anniversary dinner but despite having worked on one since 11am yesterday it wasn't ready in time. I was very disappointed with myself, I had thought that it would be easier to make them but it's a very time consuming process. Now I know why I put them off for so long.

The one shirt that I concentrated on (beautiful batik rayon from eQuilter) needs about an hour and a half's more work before it's ready. At least he'll be able to wear it tonight for a jazz gig. I'm more determined than ever now to finish the other four so that I can make something for myself again. I think I'll try the one hour dress (Simplicity 8136) in one of my batik rayons from The Batik Butik. It'll be nice to work on something quick and simple again!

Batik Butik recently had a massive sale and I've stocked up on some lovely rayons at half price. I've had them shipped via surface mail since 10 meters of rayon is pretty heavy. I ordered 2.5 meters of four fabrics which gives me many options on what to make from them.

Speaking of shipping my order from Passion Knit in Canada arrived the other day. I'd asked for surface mail but they sent it airmail for me at no extra cost. What great people! That was really kind of them and very unexpected.


posted by Marie Irshad at 12:06 PM

Well I've knitted a test swatch and my La Droguerie yarn is a very teeny seven stitches to the inch on size 3mm needles. This is the smallest gauge I've ever dealt with and I fear that a cardi from this yarn won't be completed until next summer. :-( Hmmm I just don't know, perhaps if it was my only knitting project I could get it finished in a couple of months.

I'm still shirt making and boy am a sucker for punishment having decided to make Andy another shirt for our anniversary as well as the Noro Iro scarf. Since our anniversary is tomorrow obviously it won't be ready for a while but I could make a birthday shirt at the same time so it wouldn't be so bad. In case you're wondering I use Simplicity pattern No. 9203. It's a great buy because it includes a pattern for a women's Hawaiian style shirt as well as a men's. There's also a hat pattern in there but I'm not too fussed about that.
posted by Marie Irshad at 10:17 PM

My first day off and I had intended to spend it working on the shirts but instead I -

Watched a couple of episodes from my new CSI DVD which arrived this morning, I love really good crime dramas, and knit some of Andy's anniversary present scarf (box stitch in Noro Iro) thinking I'd start shirt making in the afternoon. Then my friend Karen rang to say she was free for the afternoon and arrived baring gifts of bagels and orange and treacle pie. We spent four hours watching Spiderman cartoons and talking about crafting.

By the time she left it was 4.30 and too late to start shirt making since Andy would be home at 5.15 and we were having an early dinner. So I watched another ep of CSI and knit some more rows on the scarf. I was planning to do something with the shirts tonight but watched more CSI and did a little surfing instead. Ah well, there's always tomorrow and Friday.

I had a look at the cotton/linen blend I bought in Paris and it's fairly fine guage for me. At least a 4mm if not less will be needed for it. I'm looking for a fairly simple basic cardigan pattern, trying to avoid having to figure out my own pattern. I've seen instructions on Bonne Marie's page but I was never very good at maths and am a little freaked out at the idea. Hopefully I'll find a good pattern on the net.
posted by Marie Irshad at 8:58 PM

I'm taking a short break from shirt making and thought that I'd share some of my favorite online stores. Eventually these will be on my crafty links page but until then -

Equilter - Possibly the most fabulous online fabric store and not just for quilting. They have an enormous selection and the staff are very friendly. You'll find everything here from cat themed fabrics and oriental prints to batik rayon. But don't blame me if you get carpal tunnel from all that clicking!

Purrfection - Dana Bontrager's site has many interesting crafty things plus her wonderful Paw Prints pattern line. I made her To Dye For Duster in blue and black velvet and just love it. I was nervous about making a coat, this was two years ago, but the pattern was very easy to follow. Nice prints, fabric paints, buttons, fabrics, you name it.

Eclectic Etcetera - This is the only online bead store that I regularly buy from. One reason is because they always pop a couple of sweets in with your order! But they do have a nice collection of beads and findings and don't force you to buy huge numbers of one thing if you only want a few. Very nice people.

The Knitter - Judy is always very friendly and has a good selection of yarns including my current favorite Noro.

Colourway - Originally based in London this store has now moved to Carmarthen in Wales. Very good selection of Rowan and Jaeger yarns. They may carry all those companies yarns actually I'm not sure. Very friendly, helpful staff.

Colinette Yarns - Owned by the amazing Colinette Sansbury. So many wonderful colour combinations, I don't know how she does it. I hope to visit the mill shop in person soon but until then I'll settle with their mail order. NB. Colinette Yarns do not ship to all countries, check her mill shop page on the site to see if you can order. Certain countries, like the United States, may only order items on that page. The rest of us can happily shop from all of her site. Everyone can buy her gorgeous pallet packs however.


posted by Marie Irshad at 9:40 PM

I'm still sewing Andy's shirts and at least one will be ready by the end of the week! :-) I'm also knitting a box stitch scarf from Noro Silk Garden shade number 8 - purples, greens and blues. I am so in love with this yarn, it's beautiful. I've just stocked up on some from Up Country in order to make the Stained Glass cardigan from the Winter 01/02 issue of Interweave Knits.

This pattern also calls for Mondial Artico in shade 200 black which I had thought that I wouldn't be able to get hold of. However I bought some from the wonderful Passion Knit in Canada. I dealt with a lovely lady called Deborah via email and phone and found that not only was I her first overseas customer but her brother and niece live in a small seaside town called Penarth that's five miles from Cardiff. Very small world.

I don't know if any Jazz fans read this but you may be interested in a radio show that Andy presents called Jazz Connection. It's a mix of classic tracks, new releases and the latest news about the jazz scene in Wales. It's on from 7-8pm BST that's 2-3pm EST on Tuesdays. You can find out more including a play list at the Jazz Connection site.
posted by Marie Irshad at 11:23 PM