new home...

this blog has moved, as the web address no longer reflected what I tend to blog about. head on over to www.CatInnaHat@blogspot.com to keep up-to-date with what's going on!

inside the lair...

It has been a while, so I thought I would share elements of my most treasured asset, my Craft room. This is where I get to plonk all my crafty junk and get a bit of space to think and work. Hopefully also looking at what I have in there and putting it on "show" will encourage me to get a bit tidier and maybe even get rid of or use some of the stuff I keep for "just in case", like toilet roll tubes, and old debit cards!!!

I am blessed to have a house which, at the moment, has a spare room for me to use in this way. it is about 10x20 foot (ish), and has poor storage at the moment, a good reflection on the whole house.

The door stays SHUT. The children do not enter without me, so I can leave pins and sewing machines and books open all over the place safely. down side is I am the only one who cleans it, or remembers to close/open windows/adjust the radiator. The postcard on the door helps get me in the "mood" for creating, a favorite quote of mine, from Goethe.

If we open the door and take a peek inside(which is enough for most people), you see the array of bags of knitting projects ready to grab, recycling system(paper, yarn, fabric and rubbish), yarn stash in it's mothproof tupperwares and the Passap knitting machine, which I have yet to master. the window sill has become a shelf for bottles full of buttons, and tins of knitting needles, so when I approach the house from the street I can see my haven and smile!

Inside the room(which I DID NOT decorate, by the way) you are assulted by stacks of banana boxes of fabric, plastic tubs of fleece, worktable, rocking chair, sewing machines everywhere and just stuff, I am sorry to say. It just barely fits two people working in there, but then you can't get around at all!

So, there is an overview of what it is like in my Craft room. I hope to update on the specifics in greater detail, as it can be interesting to see what makes a difference to people in the way they craft.

P3tog broke my needles!

In my craft room I have about 1/5 of the total floor space available. This is because I hoard. 18 months ago the 4 of us where living in a flat with 1 bedroom and a kitchen/diner/sitting room. I am not complaining-we rented from a lovely family we are still very close to, who lived in the rest of the house, I am just making a comparison. Now we have a 4 bedroom 1930's(ish) ex-council terraced house, and it was full of "stuff" within 2 months....

Anyway, I have identified that my stash of yarn, fabric and magazines are all unnecessarily large, and in an attempt to cut down, I plan to knit one pattern out of each magazine I own, incorporating at least one ball of "stash". I should also be making more clothes for my family, but that is a more intense activity, and the results are more frequently turned down.

But back to the knit. After a successful dinosaur who is a fine present for any of the many young people turning 3 this year I am acquainted with, I have moved onto the more stylish Sorbet pattern from Yarn Forward magazine 17, a child's cardie with ruffled bottom edge, striping and eyelet patterning between. choosing to forgo the traditional "girly" colours, and acrylic yarn suggestion, I have gone for jewel toned 100% cotton, which I shall say now was a suggested alternative!

starting at the bottom, I cast on an unreasonable amount of stitches on rather small needles. my 3.25mm knit pro straights are needles of choice at the moment, but I have short ones, so after a bit of faff, I transferred the stitches onto a circular. at the end of the ruffle section, the pattern called for an ass-load of p3tog's to reduce at the top of the ruffle. now I have found "3togs" a strain at the best of times, but P3tog, 100% cotton yarn and tight gauge resulted in my second knit pro symphony breakage, Boo-hoo! Split along the grain, so blatantly my fault, no manufacturing problem (last time Alison at p2tog sent me a new pair really promptly, excellent service). I plan to get the Man to glue the beast back together this time, as the mend he did on the straights a child stood on was fantastic! It is a rather convenient coupling really, the knitter/spinner and the carpenter...
before/after photos of the needle to follow, when I have earned enough Man-points to broach the subject of the job...

in the beginning there was a word...

HI