Sunday 25 May 2008

A little here, a little there

The scaly iPod case is my current commuting knitting and I'm about half-way through it. I really only get about 1/4 hour of knitting a week now, as the train part of my commute is only about 15 minutes and I rarely get to sit down. I get most of my knitting done standing on the station waiting for the train. I'm not complaining about the shorter commute, though. Not at all.


scaly iPod bag half knitted

Scaly and protective of iPods

The case is turning out pretty well and I'm pleased. I'm toying with the idea of textured i-cord for the cord, but I suspect by the time I finish knitting the main body I will desperately want to finish it off with a twisted cord. Maybe in black for contrast. The main colour is darker red than the photo would indicate.

I played with much of the fabric I washed and dried a few weeks ago. I drafted the pattern of a shoulder bag I want to make and cut out some if it, but the plain blue cotton I bought was such terrible quality that I need to buy something to replace it. It doesn't make sense to put a lot of work into something and use materials which will give me no pleasure at all.

The hemp tea towels are cut and the edge seams ironed, I just need to sew them. The hemp-cotton pillowcases have been cut to size, but I need to edge and embellish them before taking an existing pillowcase and figuring out how to fold the fabric in order to sew it up. I have plans of using black linen thread for both the tea towel edges and the pillowcase embellishment. We will see.

I've been reading lots of blogs where people spin, so I bought a spindle (from
Caroline) which came with some corriedale and made my first handspun. It's pretty bad - I think the singles are overspun and I under-plied, but I look forward to doing better. I understand why people like spinning wheels, but I can't justify it right now. Maybe some year in the future...

first handspun

Over-spun and under-plied.

Today I am unpacking some of the boxes of things from Britain which have been sitting unpacked in our living room since they arrived, since we have nowhere to put the contents. I get to unpack all my indian fabric! I haven't seen any of it since before Christmas, so I am planning to take my time enjoying it. That's why I have these things.

Tuesday 6 May 2008

Why is it May so soon?

This year is going far too fast.
It's whistling by and I seem to be running to catch up on all fronts. So far I have managed precisely one creative thing: in January I knitted and fulled an i-Pod case for one of my partner's friends. I finally got around to sewing it up on the Easter weekend. This weekend I took a photo of it and hopefully I can send it winging on its way to Britain. If we get our collective act together and write its accompanying letter.
Next weekend I have a 'me' weekend booked, so this weekend was spent doing some prep: washing and drying fabric for a couple of sewing projects, and getting some knitting projects set up.

Firstly, I fulled a sample of Karaoke (two-row stripes in Copper and Intensity) in order to calculate the specifications for a replacement PSP case (the hastily-put-together polar fleece one is getting rather ratty).


Secondly, I knitted a swatch of 'tiny scales' from the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary volume one in Jo Sharp Classic DK, Scarlet. This will become an i-Pod cover for my other half, who chose the stitch pattern herself and requested it, so I need to measure it up and cast on.


Karaoke swatch specifications:
Stitch: Stocking
Needles: 4.5 mm addi turbo
Pre-fulling: 10 stitches: 5.5 cm, 10 rows: 3.8 cm
Post-fulling: 10 stitches: 5 cm , 10 rows: 3 cm

PSP in hard case is 24 cm in circumference widthways and 42cm in circumference lengthways. Finished fulled fabric should be 27 - 30 cm x 42 cm. I'm thinking vertical stripes could be the way to go, with maybe a two-color twisted cord.

JS Classic DK specifications
Stitch: tiny scales
Needles: 3.5 mm unbranded bamboo
10 stitches: 4 cm
10 rows: 3.2 cm

i-Pod is 16 cm in circumference widthways and 24 cm in circumference lengthways. I need a piece of fabric 18 - 20 cm x 24 cm, and then a twisted cord. I may do this like a simple toe-up sock: no finishing to speak of, then. Casting on 40 stitches sounds about right if knitting in the round.

And thirdly, I washed and dried (but did not necessarily get around to measuring).

Hemp Gallery Mid weight canvas - 705
Pre-washing: 0.96 x 1.01 m
Post-washing:

Hemp Gallery Hemp / organic cotton sheeting - 02
Pre-washing: 2.87 x 1.05 m
Post-washing:

White Muslin
Pre-washing: 1.51 x 2.74
Post-washing:

Cotton wadding:
Pre-washing: 1.54 x 1.33 m
Post-washing:

Plain blue cotton:
Pre-washing: 1.10 x 2.20 m
Post-washing:

Blue and white printed cotton:
Pre-washing: 1.13 x 1.08 m
Post-washing:

Orange indian cotton:
Pre-washing: 1.17 x 1.54 m
Post-washing:
Blue striped indian cotton:
Pre-washing: 1.24 x 2.70 m
Post-washing:

Mottled grey flannel:
Pre-washing: 1.20 x 3.46 m
Post-washing:

In household news, my partner and I have decided to commit to staying in the current abode and buying my parents out. We discovered that the only place we could afford a house was the Blue Mountains, and while we both love the idea, the practicalities of commuting to North Ryde and Redfern would mean that we would never see the house in question in daylight, except on the weekends, when we would spend most of our time sleeping, anyway. There would be severe and prolonged grumpiness, which is not exactly the idea.
And then I stand on the front balcony on a day like this Sunday and think we've got it pretty good:

balcony view 1


balcony view 1

We have both taken deep breaths and given each other major concessions: I have decided that the living room can become her gaming space and can be decorated with small comic-book-character figurines, dragons etc. She likes to game socially, so it make sense. She has conceded that the double bed can be stored in the garage and the small bedroom can become my workroom plus clothes storage (both of us would prefer less furniture in the main bedroom). It will take a while (over a year, I imagine), but I should eventually have a dedicated room for textile activities! I already have my eye on an expensive (but obtainable) sit-stand table which should help my back and make it possible to carry out a number of different activities in comfort.

Meanwhile, I need to go and see a solicitor to figure out how to get us both owning this property outright.