May 31, 2005
Bank Holiday weekend

The weekend got off to a bad start on Friday lunchtime when I was walking through Liverpool St station on my way back from WH Smiths to buy the new Simply Knitting (which they didn't have) and I happened to notice that all the trains going in my direction home were either delayed or cancelled. I went back to work hoping that this would be better before it was time to go home. Friday was the hottest May day in London for 50 years according to the radio. Also being the Friday before a long weekend meant that everyone in the city wanted to be home early - a recipe for disaster on the trains.

Apparantly the unexpected heat had damaged some part of the overhead lines (leaves on the track, wrong kind of snow - is there any weather that doesn't bring our infrastructure system to a standstill in this country?) and most of the trains out of Liverpool St were either cancelled or delayed. Cue my 15 minute train ride to where my car was parked taking an hour and a half squashed with a million other people on the hottest day of the year. It was not nice.

Saturday morning we decided to go to a wildlife park near us, the weather was hot but windy and although I remembered to put lots and lots of sun cream on the kids every 5 minutes I forgot about me and came home with one of the worst cases of sunburn I've ever had. My shoulders are still red and sore this morning - how stupid am I?

The weekend did get better though. Cameron said his first 2 words which was lovely! He loves his teddy bear and on Sunday morning I found him sitting in his cot, patting the teddy and saying bear over and over again. Its his latest trick, he says it all the time now! He is a really cuddly baby and will climb on to your knee, snuggle his head into your lap and say "aaahhh" when he wants a hug. Seeing him hug his teddy and say aaah, bear over and over again is just the cutest... Then on Sunday afternoon he looked at his sister and shouted Br Br at her. Brooke was a little put out that he wasn't saying her full name but I think its cute that he is even attempting to say Brooke. Bless him!! The boy is growing up so quickly, he is trying to take his first steps, saying his first words. My baby is not so much of a baby any more. Time for another one maybe?!

Watching Brooke walk up the slope to Waterloo yesterday morning, pulling her little suitcase behind her and holding onto my sisters hand as she waved goodbye to me made me realise just how grown up she is. Its her May half term holiday and she is safely in EuroDisney, having breakfast with Mickey Mouse and getting lots of autographs. I heard from her late last night but couldn't make out much in the haze of excitement, just that she had been on the teacups, bought a balloon had met Pluto and didn't want to ever come home.. That was just Jenna, I think Brooke and mum are having a good time too though!

Finally, West Ham won the playoff finals last night and were promoted to the Championship. That's one happy Wayne and therefore one happy Kerrie! See, the weekend did get better as it went along...

Posted by Kerrie at 07:08 AM
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May 30, 2005
Sew Pretty....

Sewpretty.magknits.com is where you will soon be able to find the new sewing magazine that I will be putting together every quarter starting from October 1st this year. I decided to make it a subdomain of Magknits for a number of reasons, partly for logistics and costs - to save me having to buy a new domain name and partly to take advantage in some way of the name MagKnits is getting for itself in the online community. Lots of work is going on behind the scenes at the moment, keep checking back as more and more will be added to the site over the next few weeks.

In the meantime here is some information..

Who...

Bought to you by Kerrie Allman (founder and editor of MagKnits.com) and a team of gifted with a sewing needle designers.

What...

In short, free sewing patterns. For the long answer please see the designer submission guidelines below.

When...

On the first day of October, January, April and July, new editions of SewPretty will be launched online.

Why...

There seems to be a lack of fun, free sewing patterns in one place on-line. In her hunt around the web, Kerrie has found a few sites that collect links to free sewing patterns but none that match the fresh, modern, fun-ness of some of the online knitting magazines. It seemed like the logical step for her to set one up..

Want to submit designs to SewPretty?

We are looking for all kinds of sewing projects, from simple to advanced. Below are a list of ideas that we've had so far but this is just to give you an idea. DOn't be limited by our ideas, send us in your own!

Bags
Purses
Toys
Dolls
Games
Hats
Pincushions
Cushions
Curtains
Quilts
Tablecloths
Clothes *

* Clothes patterns are going to be a challenge for us to publish, but you know what? We LOVE a challenge. Depending on the complexity of the pattern we will either provide easy peasy directions and schematics with measurements for you to copy yourself or a chart that you can print out real size or print out and enlarge. Designers - we can talk about how to manage this in your submissions. You can provide the artwork of your patterns in many different formats (hand drawn or computer generated, scanned in or photographed etc) and as long as it is simple for readers to replicate we'll be happy. We aim to put the hard work on our designers rather than our readers. Kerrie will help designers as much as she can so if you have an idea to submit but you are not sure how to make the pattern pieces available, just ask her!

Other Information :

Our patterns will be offered as tutorials with step by step instructions and pictures showing you how to make the designs.

Fabric donations may be possible for designers, please ask Kerrie for more details.

No payment can be offered to designers at present. However, your design will be showcased in a worldwide forum where we expect to generate a large number of visits per day. You may provide a link to your website in your bio and it may be possible for us to arrange to have your materials provided to you.

Deadlines

As with MagKnits we will have an ideas and a completed deadline. October issue - ideas by end of June and completed projects by end of August. January issue - ideas by end of September and completed projects by end of November. April issue - ideas by end of December and completed projects by end of February. July issue - ideas by end of March and completed projects by end of May.

Posted by Kerrie at 08:37 AM
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May 28, 2005
MagKnits advertising

The advertising pages for MagKnits are up. Read about the guidelines, prices etc here on the main advertise page. The submissions guidelines have also been updated to include details of remuneration for designers.

Some of the advert spaces have sold out already which is great news and I'm getting lots of email enquiries which should now be answered by the above pages. They are not currently linked from the main MagKnits page yet but will be later on this evening.

Posted by Kerrie at 08:31 PM
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May 27, 2005
Graphic sleeves

fluffysleeves.jpg

I finished both the sleeves from the Adriafill Graphic last weekend, I used exactly one skein for each but looking at them now I can see that one of them is a couple of rows longer than the other. Doh! I'll be fixing that soon!

Now I'm not sure what to do about the body. I was thinking about working it in a contrasting / complimentary yarn but I'm not convinced. The colours in the Graphic yarn are so soft and pretty and I really love the texture so I think I will go back to Spitalfields today and pick up some more yarn. I can see it being a beautiful autumnal jacket if I make the body almost down to knee length and include a hood and patch pockets.

I really do like this yarn, I only bought it because it looked like fun and was a reasonable price but now I'm hooked. I love it, its just so textural and has gorgeous colours in it.. It is definitely a winter yarn though so I think after I've bought the extra balls it will have to get moved to the bottom of the pile for the next few months, there is summery stuff to be made!

Posted by Kerrie at 07:35 AM
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May 26, 2005
May Flowers

flowerboard.jpg

This is my notice board covered with lots of little inspirational ideas for the May Flowers Month of Softies project. I love my notice board, I used some Amy Butler Temple Flowers fabric to cover a plain corkboard and now it looks so much nicer than before.

I'm still not totally sure how I'm going to play May Flowers. I have some small felt flowers with buttons in the centre, some gorgeous floral fabric and some Amy Butler fabric cut into floral shapes. I just need to think about it a little longer and decide where to go with all of these flowery things!

PS - the wool cupboard was tidied up in honour of being photographed. It isn't always that tidy!!

Posted by Kerrie at 06:46 AM
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May 25, 2005
The Wool Cupboard

Especially for Polly here is a little guided tour around the wool cupboard. Jen, it is the same one that I showed you around except it is a LOT tidier and I've used up / given away most of the yarn...

Here is the door to the cupboard.

woolcupboarddoor.jpg

Its not actually as big as it looks, see? Its only a half height cupboard but the full sized door makes it look nicer from the hall.

As you look into the cupboard the first thing you see is this corner. That's a basket full of needles, cotton, ribbon, fabric paints and other random stuff that really needs sorting out. Underneath that is a box of Wayne's records and some boxes of tissue paper, plastic bags etc. The tall brown box to the left of the basket is an ebay purchased knitting machine! Never even taken it out of the cardboard, but I will get around to it one day. You can also just about see the top of my sewing machine at the front.

woolcupboard.jpg

To the left of the notions and stuff are some shelves. The top row is for fabric (1 box of fleece and wadding, 1 of cotton and 1 of other stuff). The middle row is for books and magazines and the bottom row is for yarn (2 boxes) and a pile of half knitted projects, swatches, designs in progress and samples.

woolcupboardbooksandfabric.jpg

woolcupboardyarnshelf.jpg

To the far left of the shelves are another 4 boxes of yarn and my mannequin. That's all the yarn I have, its nowhere near as much as I thought it was, I'm sure I used to have way way more than that.

woolcupboardboxesofyarn.jpg

I'll admit to having a suitcase full of ready made stuff which is to sell. That is kept in the garage. There are also a couple of bags around the house of stuff that I'm working on but that's all. I used to be a lot worse at having it scattered all over the house until I realised how much it really annoyed Wayne and now I do make more of an effort.

Posted by Kerrie at 05:31 AM
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May 24, 2005
Plait night

plaitweave.jpg

Sunday night is plait night in our house. Brooke's hair gets unpicked sometime on Saturday and washed Sunday morning (if all goes according to plan) She is allowed to have it BIG all day Sunday and then Sunday evening after dinner we sit in front of the TV while I plait. Sometimes it takes 30 minutes, sometimes it takes over an hour depending on how adventurous I'm being and how many times I change my mind and start over! The plaits then stay in until the following Saturday making getting ready for school nice and easy in the mornings!

This Sunday I saw a little girl with her hair all plaited in cane row that weaved in and out of each other. Inspired enough to stalk her around the store that we were in so that I could get close enough to see how it was done (yes, I have been known to stop people and ask them just how they did that to their daughter's hair but on this occasion just sneaked a look) I then decided to try and copy it on Brooke's head.

plaitweave2.jpg

I made a few mistakes, didn't think it through as well as I will next time. I love it though, and I also love how still she sits while I'm plaiting and how Mr Cameron wants to get involved. He climbs up on us, plays with the hair bands and comb, holds on to the hair grease and generally gets in the way as much as he can. (look how well he is doing, standing up on his own though! I'm so proud of him...) I think Wayne and I are going to go for the long hair plaited look for him instead of the short short hair so he can join in our Sunday evening plaiting sessions soon enough. Now all I need is to get Wayne to grow his hair and then I can get a production line going!

Posted by Kerrie at 06:48 AM
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May 23, 2005
New Kim Hargreaves

Kim's new Winter Blooms collection is up on her site. I'm falling in love with it! I liked the out of the shadows collection but winter blooms has just reminded me of why I love winter so much. All those chunky yarns, bright colours and simple shapes are just screaming out to me. I will learn how to crochet well enough to make Flourish and I think Fragrance is another must knit. I think I actually like these designs enough to buy them in kit format, are you shocked at that? I know I was. Its a good job I have a birthday coming up soon isn't it? Hint Hint Wayne and dad!!

Posted by Kerrie at 09:42 PM
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Inevitable

You didn't really think I was going to turn around and say "nah, I don't think I'll do it." Did you? Do you know me at all?

The most pressing point I have at the moment is coming up with a name. After that, its going to be fairly plain sailing. I already have a few ideas about how it will work in mind and I've been emailing people to make sure I can get enough contributors for the first couple of issues. There are still lots of details to work out though, you can expect more details when I actually have a name and a site and somewhere to start hosting all the stuff..

Here's the scoop :

* New online sewing magazine with free patterns. (details to be confirmed)
* Published 4 times a year. (Oct, Jan, April, July)
* First issue on 1st October 2005.
* Emails to KerrieATmagknitsDOTcom for now, until I get the domain sorted out.

Sleep? Who needs sleep?

I did have some photos to share with you, stories to tell you and other bits and bobs that I was planning for today but I left my camera at home and without that there is nothing left really. You'll have to wait until tomorrow..

Posted by Kerrie at 06:46 AM
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May 21, 2005
Sewing patterns

I've been thinking about sewing more and more recently. There are not that many free sewing patterns out there, and I'm including everything in that. I'd love to make more toys, dolls, clothes, bags, purses, quilts and countless other things. Inspiration comes from seeing other people's works in progress or finished sewing projects but I find it difficult to track down patterns that I like.

Is this because it is too difficult to offer sewing patterns online? I don't think so. SOme of the more complicated clothes patterns would be hard to size, hard to offer online and probably not that easy to design either but there are hundreds of nice simple shapes and designs that could be offered. I guess the patterns could be similar to tutorials, showing step by step how to make the items, what size to cut out the fabric etc..

Can you see where I'm going with this? Online sewing magazine anyone? I really don't need to take on any extra commitments right now but it is so so tempting. I think I'll start making a few enquiries and plans and thinking of a good name for it. Any suggestions?

What do you think? If there was such a resource out there do you think it would be useful? Would you submit designs to it?

Posted by Kerrie at 05:54 PM
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May 20, 2005
MagKnits news

I have been thinking long and hard about MagKnits recently and I’ve decided to make a few significant changes. From August we will be publishing monthly with as many patterns as we can. Realistically there will probably be only around 5 per month but that is OK I think. There are over 25 patterns in my hands at the moment so if I allow 5 per month there should be enough for August through to December. (some of them are from well known and published designers so that is also pretty exciting!)

The next big announcement is that I will also be allowing advertising on the site which will allow me to pay designers for their work. Woo Hoo! This is a big gamble and a lot of extra work for me considering I am the only member of the MagKnits team but I think it will be worth it. I am really excited about this and I hope you will all be excited for me.

Details will follow of ad prices, formats etc. Also I need to update the submission guidelines with details of new deadlines / fees etc. Please be patient with me, I'm going to get all of this done as fast as I can.

You'll see little piece of news cropping up about MagKnits in the knitting world, here for instance on the UK Handknitters site. There will also be a little piece in one of the UK knitting magazines shortly and I'm working on some other interviews and stuff right now. Everything is going MagKnits!

Posted by Kerrie at 07:25 AM
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May 19, 2005
Good things are happening.

Yesterday was a good day. For lots of reasons, most of which I can't go into here until contracts are signed and things start to happen. Trust me, as soon as I can tell you I will tell you. It was one of those days that made me smile, that made me glad to be me and glad to be a knitter. I can tell you about a few of the good things, firstly I got to speak to Kate (hi Kate!) I email so many hundreds of people a week it was good to actually speak to someone for a change and Kate is lovely. She has lots of news as well at the moment but you'll hear more about that later.

I'm constantly surprised at the generosity and kindness of knitters. Have I mentioned that before? I've been making more and more "cold calls" on behalf of MagKnits and the response I get from Knitters all around the world is Fantastic. I'm so honoured to be part of this community and it makes me feel all warm inside to be on the receiving end of all of the kindness and best wishes that have been floating around for the last couple of days..

pinwheeldone.jpg

On another note, here is the finished Pinwheel. I used exactly 2 skeins of Koigu and it blocked out nicely to measure 26 inches across. I think the extra skein would have moved it over to around 31 inches but I'm happy with the size that it is. Amazing Ally * is also impressed with it and if Ally is happy, then I'm happy, and if I'm happy then you should be happy too. Because I said so.

Can you see the mistakes in it? It looks as though I moved almost a whole row of eyelets one stitch over at some point. That's what you get for drinking wine and knitting in the dark because you are too lazy to get up and turn on the lights. The only thing the old house had going for it in comparison to this one was remote controlled lights. Sigh. Oh, and it is actually round. I think it must be an odd picture that makes it look funny shaped. You'll have to belive me (and Ally) when we tell you that it is round. OK?

A lot of people are saying that the beginning few rows here are difficult. I do not knit on dpns so took the Kerrie option and knitted the first 20 rows or so flat and the seamed it. Can you see the seam? Nope, I didn't think so. Or at least, I hope not! It took a little fudging of the pattern but it worked out well. I'd do the same next time..

* AKA Annoying Ally. This doll is the worst. I took its batteries out in an attempt to shut it up and now whenever you touch her she says in a fake US accent (no offence intended to all you readers over the other side of the pond, she really does sound mechanical and fake) "My batteries are low. Please change my AA batteries" No, they are not low, they are removed!

Posted by Kerrie at 06:22 AM
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May 18, 2005
Spitalfields

I took a walk to Spitalfields market last week with a friend from work. Who knew it was so close to me at work and sold such cool stuff? I bought a bag to carry my laptop around in and also some yarn from Buzz Stokes at her stand. Did you read the article in the Rowan newsletter about her? She was also one of the people who I saw at Country Living Spring fair and loved so that was very cool to find her again.

I picked up a couple of skeins of Rowan braid in pink (I love that yarn so much) and also 2 skeins of adriafill graphic in colour 89, shade 2. I had no idea what I wanted to do with this but it is such pretty colours and has a surprisingly high wool content (75%) that I couldn't resist. Now that I've started knitting with it I realise that I need to pick up at least 2 more skeins of it in order to do what I want to do.

I started an arm. I couldn't get a non fuzzy picture of it, maybe that has something to do with the texture which is really bobbly and slubby. I love it. I'm thinking if I can get the arms done I may use a contrast yarn for the body of a Brooke sweater, not sure what would look right though.

graphic.jpg

PS - pinwheel is blocking right now. Pictures tomorrow!

Posted by Kerrie at 07:47 AM
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May 17, 2005
We slumber well*

Blackout Blinds 3 - Cameron Allman 0.

Oh yes, since buying the blackout blinds for Cameron's room at the weekend his wide awake and ready to party before 5am routine has come to a halt. Thank goodness for that! Sunday he woke up at 7.30, yesterday it was around 6.30 and I'm not sure what time it was today other than knowing that he was fast asleep when I left the house at 6.15. Bless him!

We had a quiet weekend, the kids and I went to mum and dad's while Wayne went to football and out with his mates. I slept a lot and felt pretty ill for most of it which ended up with me spening yesterday at home in bed sleeping all day. After a whole day of sleep I feel almost human again and I'm back at work today..

Knitting? Oh yes. I've cast off the pinwheel baby blanket, I used EXACTLY 2 skeins of Koigu and worked 5 rows in moss stitch as the border. I need to block it tonight and see how it goes, I'm not sure how big it will be in the end but I think it will be just about big enough for a baby blanket. 3 skeins would have been better but I only had 2 in the same colourway and didn't want a contrasting border.

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Remember the cotton rope? Its so quick to knit up that the tank is taking shape already.. This is a Cameron sized tank so that's not too much of a shock is it?

* I'm currently reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and the last words I read this morning on the train were "I slumbered not" Those words were going around in my head and while I'm quickly writing this and eating my peanut butter on toast they were the first words that I thought of for a title.

Posted by Kerrie at 07:31 AM
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May 13, 2005
Admin

MagKnits admin :

- Ideas for the next issue are due this weekend. I've been surprised at the number that have come through in the last week or so, I now have over 20 designs signed up for the next issue - many of them using donated yarn. How exciting is that?
- The deadline for completed items for the next issue is end of June. If you don't make the ideas deadline you are still very welcome to send through completed stuff for the end of June.

More MagKnits news next week.

Pinwheel blanket admin :

How big is it now? I measured it last night and when it is stretched out it measures 13 inches from edge to edge. That's with about 3/4 skein of Koigu.

How big do you think it will be? I'm hoping that 3 skeins will be enough to bring it up to about 30 inches. Maybe. I'm not great at estimating these things but that's what I feel.

How many am I going to make? More than 1, that's for sure. I'm loving it so far..

Other admin :

Polly - photos of the wool cupboard next week sometime after I've had a major tidy up.

I keep meaning to say that I LOVE reading all the comments I get from new people these days. A few months ago I could probably have told you the names of people who would comment here without even looking, now I love the fact that there are new people coming over to say hi (as well as all the regular readers as well!). It really makes my day to read your comments!

Weekend plans? First pair of shoes for Mr C (can you believe that he is 9 months old now and walks around the house holding Brooke's hands or pushing a pram / pushchair / other masculine (?) type toy in front of him? He hasn't mastered standing up without holding on to anything but I see him sneakily let go of the sofa every now and again so it won't be long. He is growing up tooooo quickly for me!

Posted by Kerrie at 08:07 AM
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May 12, 2005
P P P P Pinwheel Progress

Pinwheel blankets = addictive. This is the restult of around 1/2 a skein of Koigu and a couple of hours in front of the TV.

pinwheel1.jpg

Its very floppy at the moment but the lace pattern does look pretty when its all stretched out. Judith made a point in the comments yesterday that her one became difficult to manage as it got larger, I can see how true that is already! I'm up to 20 stitches between the eyelets now (knitted a bit more this morning after the photo was taken) and its already nicely filling my circular needle. I think I'm going to use 2 skeins of Koigu in the same shade for the blanket and a contrasting one for some kind of edging. Not sure what edging to use yet, that's my next decision!

Posted by Kerrie at 07:28 AM
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May 11, 2005
Somebody stop me...

I don't need any new knitting projects thank you very much. I know I have a whole cupboard full of yarn and fabric* that needs to become something but really, I have enough half finished projects on the needles at the moment. Really.

I think I need to stop looking at other people's blogs. After reading Hello Yarn last night, now I want to make one of these pinwheel baby blankets. How cool is that? I keep thinking about the Koigu that I have in my stash and how it would love to be a pinwheel baby blanket. Not that I know anyone who is having a baby any time soon. Oh wait a minute, yes I do. Hmmmm, can you guess what I'm going to do tonight? I'm trouble..

* Affectionately known as the wool cupboard. Brooke was heard last weekend speaking to some of Wayne's friends that had come to the new house for the first time and insisting that they looked in mummy's wool cupboard. I cannot believe that Wayne missed it off their guided tour, I mean, you'd all love to see in the wool cupboard wouldn't you?

Posted by Kerrie at 06:59 AM
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May 10, 2005
Inspiration all around us...

I'm feeling totally inspired by Oilily at the moment. Here are a few of my favourite finds :

Upside down tulip dress
Onion Apron
Random striped sweatshirt
Cute critter pants
Cat Bag

Its a shame that they are firstly so EXPENSIVE and secondly so hard to find in the UK...

Oh yes, and another intersting site that I found recently is Baileys Home and Garden. I'm going to order one of their catalogues even though their knitted toys on this page are blatently crochet! Still, I won't hold that against them..

Edited to add :
While we are talking about inspiration check out the work of Cari Borja I have fallen in love with her Royal Collection Did you ever see such gorgeous children's clothes?

Posted by Kerrie at 05:47 AM
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May 09, 2005
May Knitting plans...

I thought it was about time I shared with you some of the bits that are on my needles at the moment.

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Rowan Cotton Rope. Remember how much I love this yarn? The colours are so bright and beautiful, I just love them. These balls are going to be a tank top, I'm thinking stripes and squares. When its done, the pattern will be a free one here.

maya.jpg

This is some Debbie Bliss Maya. Sue from Get Knitted sent me 6 skeins for a MagKnits design, 3 blue and 3 green. I cannot wait for you to see what I'm making with it. So, so, so excited. She also sent me a skein of Kaalund expressions for another MagKnits project. I haven't started that one yet but its going to be good. You'll have to wait until August / September for those ones though..

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Next we have some Debbi Bliss Cathay. This yarn is just so soft and gorgeous. This is for a design comissioned by Simply Knitting magazine. I'm working on a few bits for them, think the first one is going to be in the July issue as long as the deadlines work out. I'll let you know for sure when I know.. That's pretty exciting, isn't it?

Lots of knitting and lots of plans. I'll show you swatches and progress as and when I get a chance.

Posted by Kerrie at 06:50 AM
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May 07, 2005
Quick Quilt

Question : What do you do when you realise you have about 2 hours before your parents arrive to collect your daughter to take her to a family christening and you don't have a gift?

Answer : sort through your fabric stash and find 2 beautiful Amy Butler fabrics and a piece of wadding that is approx cot sized. Sew together wrongs sides facing, turn right side out and close gap and tie in the middle of random circles on the pale blue side..

quickquilt.jpg

Phew. If I'd had more time (or been a little more organised) I would have attempted to bind this one, that's something I've never done with a quilt. I'd also have liked to make the top more interesting instead of just using 1 piece of fabric for each side but I really like the way it came out. It even looked quite respectable when it was wrapped up.

Posted by Kerrie at 05:07 PM
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May 06, 2005
Did I ever show you my painting?

painting.jpg

I thought I did shown this before but I can't find it in the archives so maybe I didn't. Who knows? I made this for Wayne for Christmas. It is based on a photo of the 2 of us on honeymoon wearing snuggly dressing gowns and kissing. (that's odd. When I tried to type kissing my fingers typed knitting without me realising it. To clarify. We kissed on honeymoon. We did not knit.)

It now sits above our desk in the study so its something I spend a lot of time looking at. I'm pretty pleased with it which is good, maybe I'll try and do another one someday soon.. I discovered that although I enjoy painting its not something that I can do easily. Like the sewing machine it requires a good chunk of time with no interruptions. Not something that I have in large quantities right now!

Posted by Kerrie at 10:48 AM
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A little bit of politics

I was just reading the BBC election blog and I saw this exchange between George Galloway and Jeremy Paxman. Interesting interview...

If you missed it last night you can play it back from the above link.

Posted by Kerrie at 08:25 AM
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May 05, 2005
Done, and still to do

So, Woolfest? I heard about that a while back but can't remember where. Now that Emma has pointed it out I think I have to go! Not only is it in a beautiful part of the world but it is the weekend after my birthday and Emma is going to be there. That has sold it for me. Emma is one of the most lovely knitters I've ever met, if it means I get a hug and gossip with her on the day then it just has to be worth it. Pah, who needs Maryland! ;)

As promised, here are a couple of things that I've already finished and a few things that I'm going to make.

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I'm SURE that I took photos of Cameron wearing these trousers but can I find it anywhere? No. That would be way too simple. So here they are laid out on our living room floor. They are made from Rowan Kaffe Fasset fabric and I basically just traced an existing pair of his trousers, cut them out and added some elastic through the waist.

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These are my new PJs. Made from Amy Butler flannel fabric (which is just gorgeous, if you haven't tried it already then go buy some. I give you permission, so that makes it OK doesn't it?) Again I just traced a pair of my PJ botoms and went for it. I love them. They are so comfy and soft. I made Brooke a matching pair, hee hee. I just haven't got around to sewing hers yet, I'll do that soon. Maybe then I'll show you a photo of us both wearing them.. I bought 2 metres which was enough to make PJ bottoms for Brooke and I with a little left over. I was thinking about buying some plain white T shirts and using the left over fabric to applique something in the middle. Maybe...

So they are the done. What about the to do?

seersucker.jpg

First we have these cotton stripe seersucker (I love that word, don't you. Seersucker. Seersucker. I love it!) fabrics. Pink for Brooke and Blue for Cameron (bet you didn't guess that did you?) I'm thinking trousers. Or shorts. Or 3/4 lengths for Brooke.

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This cotton print fabric is going to be a skirt for me. Inspired by the long skirt that Mariko showed the other week I'm hoping to make something similar. It is 140cm wide and I bought 1 metre of it. It seems like it will be enough...

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Finally, we have this pretty pinky fabric is just going to be a wrap. Its 50cm wide and 1.5 metres long. I'm just going to hem the ends and voila. Nice and easy. What do you think, that should keep me busy for a while don't you think? I'll show you some current knitting projects tomorrow..

Posted by Kerrie at 02:32 PM
Posted by Kerrie | Comments (1)

May 04, 2005
Real Life 1 - Maryland Sheep and Wool 0

For reasons that I won't go into here I'm not going to be able to make it to Maryland Sheep and Wool this weekend. Gutted? Yes. Wondering what to do with the dollars I'd saved up for spends? Yes, but not for long I'm sure. Furious that I don't get to meet Leigh and everyone else that was going to be there? Need you ask?

I hope everyone that does make it has a fantastic time and I want to see lots of pictures and purchases from everyone really soon. OK? Now I'm not going to talk about it any more. Off to take some cute photos of new knitted and sewed thingys. I'll share them tomorrow to spite that aeroplane that will be missing me from its passenger inventory.

Posted by Kerrie at 07:11 PM
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May 03, 2005
Summer, maybe?

The last few weekends have been just gorgeous. Beautiful warm weather and lots of relaxing. Cameron has learned not to be afraid of the feeling of grass underneath his hands and feet, you should have seen him when he first crawled off the blanket at mum and dad's house! Now he quite cheerfully crawls around the garden, he hasn't tried to eat the grass yet but its only a matter of time.

So at mum and dad's house, Brooke learned to bounce.

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While Cameron learned to drive a tractor.

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Then Brooke gave Cameron his bedtime bottle before they fell asleep in the car on the way home. The whole weekend was too cute for words..

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There has been knitting, and sewing but no photo taking. I'm turning into a real slacker, I know. I'll promise you some photos tomorrow and then I'm off to maryland so I'll have lots to show you and talk about next week. Woo Hoo, I just cannot wait!!

Posted by Kerrie at 09:29 PM
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