 May 21, 2006
Radioactive girl
Was it really only last Wednesday that I posted here and said that I wasn't feeling too well? It seems like forever ago. Thursday morning I woke up with some seemingly innocent aches and pains and by Thursday evening I was settled into a ward in our local hospital having had too many needles poked into me and waiting for a radioactive scan on Friday to rule out a Pulmonery Embolism. Blood clots in your lungs for those of us who don't speak doctor. A far cry from what I had thought was a cricked neck and an achy side. Its sobering to visit the doctor and find yourself walking out of the surgery with a referral to the hospital and even more sobering to walk in to a packed casualty department, hand over your letter to the receptionist and settle in for a big wait only to have your name called 30 seconds later. I've never been code red in a casualty before, I didn't dare read the definition of a code red patient - I didn't think it would be something I wanted to know. Do you like my wristband above? I want to keep it on all the time even though I'm not radioactive any more. It was only for 24 hours that I couldn't hug the kids although it felt like a lot longer. You don't realise how much you want to hug them until you know that you can't. I'm home now with lots of lovely drugs and under strict instructions to rest for a week or 2. So you won't be seeing me here at all, I'll be the one on the sofa in my PJs knitting, reading, watching daytime TV and dozing lots. HipKnits and MagKnits will survive without me, orders will still be shipped and email queries will be answered but bear with us please, it may be a little slower than normal. If I owe you an email I'll get to it, but my priorities are more with making sure I don't have to spend any more nights in an uncomfortable hospital bed than with replying to emails. I know you all understand. If you are one of the few people who has my home phone number, ring me. There's only so much daytime TV a girl can take!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:23 PM
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May 17, 2006
Knitting at knitting night
Last night we actually knitted at knitting night. Well, 3 out of the 4 us did - Laura crocheted another bag but we still let her stay! I made some good progress on a silk triangle shawl I'm working on, this in the chocolate cherries colour and its always been one of my favourites. I'm beginning to feel that this week is too much for me. I never like mornings but today I could have quite happily stayed in bed and just ignored Cameron calling "mummy, daddy, Brooke, where are you" from his cot. I'm relying on the gentle knitting of this shawl to keep me sane over the next couple of days. My teeth are still giving me lots of trouble, work work is a pain and I'm so tired and headachy all the time. Its time for a rest I think, thank goodness we have half term in a couple of weeks - that's a good excuse to take a few days away from everything isn't it?
Posted by Kerrie at 08:03 AM
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May 16, 2006
Want kits?
Then go here. Shawl kits are up as well as flower kits and dye your own sock yarn kits. See the beautiful shawl that Eirwen made for me, isn't it gorgeous? Don't you just want one? I know I wish it wasn't as warm here as it is at the moment just so that I could wrap myself in the fluffy goodness of a shawl.
Posted by Kerrie at 09:53 AM
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May 15, 2006
Submission guidelines
It looks like Amy from Knitty must have been going through her mailbox over the last week or so, making some decisions on which designs to accept for summer knitty. What makes me say this? Well, my MagKnits mailbox has been filled up over the weekend with people sending me patterns that Knitty rejected that they hope I will publish in MagKnits. Most of them are written up in the Knitty template and some people even forwarded the email that they sent to Amy on to me. How's that for making someone feel like second best? Here's a little tip for anyone submitting design ideas to any magazine, both online and in real life. Don't start your letter / email of introduction with "I'm really gutted that SOME OTHER MAGAZINE didn't want this so I thought I'd send it to you" That is not the best way to go about selling your idea to an editor. To be honest, it makes me not want to read the email any further. Everyone likes to feel special and that they were your first choice of publication. If you are serious about submitting to a magazine then take a few minutes to read their submission guidelines and send them a brand new proposal / finished pattern or whatever they ask for. I know that I have published some designs on MagKnits that have been previously turned down by Knitty but I can guarantee you that these ones didn't start off with a sob story about how they had been rejected once already. I like to make up my mind what I'll publish based on the design itself and not start off with any kind of bitter feelings about who else the designer offered it to first. As someone who works on both sides of the design submission fence, I thought I'd share some advice with you. Here are a few pointers from me about how to submit your designs for publication. These are just my own opinion about what has worked for me both in getting my designs published by other people and accepting designs for MagKnits. 1 - Know your audience. Find out a little about the publication that you are thinking of submitting to. Do they have any themes coming up? From looking through their past publications can you spot the kind of designs that they are looking for? If they only publish adults garments the chances are that you won't have a great chance of getting your fun fur child's scarf pattern published with them. Do a bit of research. 2 - Make sure that you follow any submission guidelines that are laid out. Not all publications have strict submission guidelines and not all of them will make public any that they do have. If in doubt then a phone call or email to the appropriate person just asking them how they like to receive submissions is a great place to start. 3 - Introduce yourself when you submit your design. This can take the form of a couple of sentences explaining about your design history or an entire bio / resume depending on where you are submitting to. Take guidance from the type of submission that you have been asked to send over. If the editor wants an email submission with description and photos of a swatch then a couple of sentences about yourself will be just fine. If they have asked for a full proposal with swatches etc to be posted to them, then you are probably better off with a more formal introduction. 4 - Don't nag. Its OK to ask for confirmation of receipt of your submission and its also reasonable to expect to have some idea about how long the publisher is going to take to decide yes or no. Regular emails or phone calls asking "have you decided yet" are not going to make you popular. In my experience a phone call or email within a week or so of submitting the idea is a good one, just to make sure it has been received. Then another email or phone call AFTER the alloted decision making time has passed to see if there is any news is also OK. Publishers are busy people and do forget to get back to people sometimes. A friendly reminder is OK but regular contact asking the same question over and over again is not. If the publishers do not get back to you within the time that they said they would and do not respond to your polite chasing enquiries then I think its safe to assume that they are not interested in publishing your design. You should also wonder whether an organisation like this is one that you want to work with, everyone deserves either a yes or a polite no. 5 - This is a tricky one. I would say that you should not submit your design to more than one place at a time. I know that you will be keen to get your design published and may feel that if you send the submission off to 2 online magazines and 3 print magazines at the same time that you'll have a better chance of achieving this but I'd suggest that you don't. There is nothing more frustrating from a publishers point of view of accepting a submission only to be told that "oh, sorry. Someone else accepted that yesterday" Not good news for the designer / publisher relationship going forwards. Now, what happens if your design is accepted for publication somewhere? Apart from the obvious celebrations and lots of hard work that is? I'm sure I can think of some tips to cover that but not right now, I've typed enough for one morning and need a cup of tea!
Posted by Kerrie at 10:09 AM
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May 12, 2006
I'm a big big girl, in a big big world
Its funny how sometimes you get a song stuck in your head. This is the one that I am singing over and over again at the moment, Emilia's Im a big big girl. I was singing it yesterday morning to the kids and Brooke picked it up quite quickly and joined in. Cam was not impressed and ran between us putting his hands over our mouths to stop us from singing. After I dropped them both off at school I turned on the radio in the car to hear it playing on Capital. How's that for spooky? We've got a busy weekend ahead of us, lots of plans including Mr Allman watching West Ham in the cup final. The kids and I are going to give that one a miss and find something much more interesting to do. I'll leave you with the words of my stuck in my head song at the moment, have a great weekend. I'll be back next week with some lovely HipKnits updates including the shawl kits. I'm a big big girl I can see the first leaf falling I'm a big big girl Outside it's now raining I'm a big big girl I have your arms around me ooooh like fire I'm a big big girl
Posted by Kerrie at 06:51 AM
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May 10, 2006
Swatches
Do swatches count as finished items or am I pushing my luck here? I did most of these on Saturday morning in Borders with Anna whilst we drank coffee, knitted and gossiped. This one was a Koigu KPPM experiment for a piece that fits into a cardigan I'm working on for the handpainted yarns book : This one is a Lorna's Laces practice at bramble stitch, I've since made lots more little bramble bobble swatches, I really love them! Finally this one is a HipKnits silk in penguin long skinny swatch which started off as a way for me to mindlessly knit while gossiping and has ended up being a critical part of a project that I'm working on. The colours may give you a clue about what it is but I'm not saying any more!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:49 AM
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Silk Scarves
More in the long list of things that you can make with 1 skein of aran weight silk. This scarf used up just 80g and is knitted in a very simple lace stitch pattern.
Whereas this one is another Amy Indigirl crochet pattern that used less than 40g of silk! See how there are little flowers all over the scarf / necklace? I LOVE it and plan to wear it all day today. La la la, is it wrong to ask people to make store samples and then want to wear them? Maybe. Laura was kind enough to crochet this for me and she also modelled it last night (see, I told you that I'd chop off your head!) at the end of knitting club. We were the only knitting group where not one person picked up their needles and knitted last night. Instead we ate curry, drank wine and gossiped. Must get back to the knitting next week though! PS - I bowed to the pressure, see? There are only a couple left though...
Posted by Kerrie at 06:42 AM
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May 09, 2006
Crochet with Cashmere
This is a scarf that was made from 50g of aran weight cashmere using one of Amy Indigirls amazing patterns that we sell at HipKnits and distribute in the UK. I'll be getting the patterns up on the site this week, they are already selling well in the shop, and may make up some kits as well. Laura from our Tuesday night knitting group made this for me, I think it only took her a couple of hours (after she went home and I stopped distracting her with tea and gossip that is!) and its such a fun lightweight scarf for summer. I love it! It measures approx 66 inches long and 8 inches wide.. If it wasn't supposed to be a shop sample I'd be wearing it all the time. Trust me! I didn't say that they would all be MY finished objects did I? Tomorrow either a beaded bracelet, a silk thing for Brooke or a finished shawl kit shawl..
Posted by Kerrie at 04:26 PM
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May 08, 2006
Get Knitted!
Our first lot of yarn is up at Get Knitted! with more to come in a couple of days when package number 2 gets there. Thanks Sue! For those of you who were looking at the Bouquet yarn that I dyed the other week this is the place to get it. I won't be dyeing any for HipKnits in the near future so anyone who emailed me asking for some should click that link and buy some from Get Knitted.
Posted by Kerrie at 05:14 PM
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Sari silk hat
OK, no more politics from me for a while. I've decided that this week is going to be about finished items. I'm aiming for one a day although we all know that is unlikely to happen but its good to have a stretch target, don't you find? For today we have this simple top down sari silk hat, made from just over 100g of sari silk. As a special bonus, I even wrote up the pattern and decided to share it here with you all. This will also be available on HipKnits as a free pattern, along with lots more patterns including a new one from Stef in the next couple of weeks. Using 7mm straight needles and using approx 100g of yarn this hat is quick and easy to make. Knit from the top down it is easy to customise the width and the length of the hat. Gauge approx 12 stitches to 10 cm Size this hat will fit an average adult head. To make a larger or smaller hat simply work more or less increase rows at the beginning of the pattern. Using 7mm needles and sari silk cast on 8 stitches. Continue to work in stocking stitch until hat measures approx 8 inches from cast on edge. Cast off. Seam and wear! Copyright Kerrie Allman for HipKnits 2006
Posted by Kerrie at 05:38 AM
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May 05, 2006
Sad day for East London
I had all kinds of cheerful things to tell you about this morning but then as I was driving into work this morning and heard about yesterdays London election results I dont want to talk about any of them. Never have I been so glad to say that I no longer live in the borough of Barking and Dagenham as I am right now. To hear that the BNP took 13 new seats in East London yesterday, 11 of them in our old borough is just sickening to me. Listening to the Dagenham woman interviewed on the radio this morning who said something along the lines of that she voted for them so that all those foreign people who are taking over around here can go away and leave the real English people to get what they deserve almost made me cry. Yes, I hope the people who voted for the BNP get what they deserve, but I have a different idea about what they deserve than she does I think. I fail to understand why people can not see them for what they are, a deeply racist right wing extremist group. When we lived in Dagenham the political leaflets that would come through the door from them contained such thinly veiled racism that Wayne and I honestly believed that everyone would see them for who they really are. This says a lot about how badly let down people are by the big political parties in East London, if a racist far right party can come along with a few buzz words about controlling immigration and be voted for just like that. Last local elections the turnout rate to vote in B&D was around 22%. This time it was over 38%. I remember walking down the street before chatting to all our neighbours as usual and wondering which of them had voted BNP. If I was to do that today it would be a hell of a lot more of them, that's for sure. I cannot believe that people are unable to differentiate between genuine concerns about immigration and blatant racism. I am so angry and upset about this that I cant even rant here too much about it. Although I am glad that we no longer live there and that our children are not growing up in such a neighbourhood I am sad for friends and family who still live there and really concerned about what will happen to the area. It almost makes me nervous to watch the news and see how the situation is going to develop.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:11 AM
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May 04, 2006
Teeth and plants *
I can't talk much this morning as I've had a dental disaster. I have TOTAL dental phobia, its embarrassing really. I had to go this morning for an emergency appointment and I spent a good half an hour in the waiting room fighting back tears and the urge to get up and walk out which is something I've done far too many times before. It was only the thought of not getting my poor broken tooth fixed that made me stay. The dentist was lovely and today was relatively painless (that is not to say that I didn't shake and cry all the way through it) but next week's 2 hour appointment while she works out if she can save the tooth or will need to extract it will not be so nice. Its at 10am so I don't even have the option to down a couple of bottles of Baileys before the appointment. Gulp. Anyway, enough talk of dentists - I'm getting all nervous and shaky again! Look what Wayne, Brooke and I did last night. This is a very big deal for us, it is the first time ever that we have gone mad in Homebase with the excitement of planting some hanging baskets and pots. The normal gardening practice around here is that mum and dad bring us beautiful pots of flowers, we forget to water them, they take back the dead plants and replace them with new ones which we then forget to water. See how it goes? Anyway, this year we got all excited about buying some little plants and trying not to kill them. I also splashed out and bought a raspberry plant which Brooke and I have big plans for! Cheesecakes, jam, ice cream - we have a lot of hopes for that little stick of a plant!
Lets hope it can live up to our expectations! We filled one pot :
and 2 of these basket type things to go on the wall of the garage : OK so they are not actually on the garage wall yet but they will be. Soon. See the water on the floor around the pots? That's where I watered them this morning. Are you proud of me? So am I. It may not last though. In fact Wayne and I had a conversation last night about not admitting that we had bought plants to anyone until we were more confident of not killing them. Whoops, think I've just ruined that plan. Don't you? I'm pretty sure that we placed an order with the "mum and dad" garden centre for some rhubarb, brocolli and other bits so our garden may well look very impressive indeed this year. Of course, we haven't gotten around to actually planting anything in the garden yet, we are still working on pots. The garden looks exactly the same as it did when we moved into the brand new house nearly 2 years ago. Except with more toys! * and if that doesn't remind those of you who were into that TV series last year about the Alien invasion of the episode where they found Alien teeth with plants then I don't know what will. I may even remember the name of the TV show in a while. If you're lucky!
Posted by Kerrie at 11:14 AM
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May 03, 2006
Project update
I think its time I did a little round up of what I have on the needles right now : 1 - shawl kit. I knitted more on this last night at knitting group and we decided that I need at least another 10 inches or so before its done. So I may finish that next week if I don't gossip so much! 2 - Reid. Yeah. Not much more progress here. I did start the front but not enough to show any pics. I should pick this one up again soon, the weather is just gorgeous enough to get Brooke wearing little lace cardigans again. 3 - random thing done in HipKnits silk. This will be finished tonight. Woo Hoo. 4 - cashmere cardigan for me. Yes. It still looks exactly like it did in this photo. Slap. I did seam it but realised that I'd made a mistake in the neck shaping so folded it back up and put it away in disgust. I don't take failure well! 5 - chunky wool thing. Done. Woo Hoo! Need to talk to Tess about this one and see what she wants me to do with the pattern, I may be able to show you it later in the week. 6 - ankle socks for me in Lornas Laces Knit happens colourway. The first one is done and the second one is cast on but that's it. Must pick these up again, its almost ankle sock weather over here! 7 - lace shawl from HipKnits laceweight silk. Groan. I know why I haven't picked this up for a while, I knitted it until the mini ball of yarn that I wound from the skein was finished and then haven't been motivated to wind up any more. I hate winding yarn from skein to ball but I know a woman who doesn't mind it. Perhaps I'll pop the skein in the post to mum.. Since I made the Earth Faire bracelet I've been thinking of beading this shawl. What do you think, a silk beaded shawl sounds good to me. 8 - Angelica. We don't ever talk about Angelica. OK? 9 - There isn't a 9? There has to be. I've never known myself to have less than 10 things on the needles at any one time. Hang on a sec, let me rack my brains and get back to you later..
Posted by Kerrie at 10:29 AM
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May 02, 2006
Sockapaloooza socks are here!
Oooh, you'll never guess what I received in the post this morning? My sockapaloooza socks from the lovely Colleen over at Subway Knitter. Aren't they just gorgeous? As I was trying them on with my jeans rolled up to my knees standing in front of the mirror downstairs in the study trying to take a pic my neighbour rang the doorbell. There was no use pretending I hadn't heard, she could see me through the window so I answered the door looking like this. I'm sure she thinks I am even more crazy than she did before especially as I was able to rattle off the phone numbers for local doctor, dentist and school without having to look them up. Way to go looking like a freak with your new neighbours Kerrie!
Posted by Kerrie at 11:49 AM
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May 01, 2006
Reading
Psst - the new MagKnits is up. Go check it out. With my new commute into work being a car drive instead of a train journey I've noticed that I'm not reading as much as I used to. I love to read and mainly get through horror, psycological thrillers, mystery stories as well as the odd bit of chick-lit trash. Last week I was in the mood for something a bit more grown up so I bought The Icarus Girl. It is the story of Jess, a troubled half and half child born of a Nigerian mother and a white English father. Throughout the book Jess struggles with her identity, she doesn't know who she is or who she should be. Whilst on a trip to Nigeria she meets Tilly Tilly and the book twists and turns its way through Jess's mind until the terrible conclusion at the end. I was fascinated with the subject of the book and really enjoyed the journey with Jess. I couldn't help but feel that her parents were not making her life any easier, they seemed to only make her more disconnected from the real world. I was slightly frustrated at not understanding the ending as much as I hoped I would and feel slightly disconnected in a way from realising what was happening. I need to go back and re-read the last few chapters I think. On the whole though, it was a really thought provoking and interesting read. Then yesterday morning I picked up The sound of us while I was eating breakfast. This book is AMAZING. The story of a 48 year old woman who suddenly decides to be a foster mother had me hooked. I read the book all day, while cooking dinner, watching the kids in the bath, sitting in the garden watching them play and I finished it before going to bed last night. I laughed out loud a few times and almost cried as many times as I laughed. It didn't end the way that I wanted it to although I knew it was coming right from the start. Having read 2 good books recently I'm reluctant to pick up anything else in case it isn't as good. However, I have this new Jodi Picoult book in line and she doesn't usually disappoint.
Posted by Kerrie at 09:15 AM
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