Look Look Look!

AC from AC Engineered Knits has given me a blogger of substance award!

I am very excited, indeed I am so excited I have decided to spare you my usual tirade about how I never normally win anything, particularly as it then leads inevitably to the anecdote about the time I won a mixed grill (raw, in a tray, including black pudding) at Bingo, and this annoys my brother as he says it was actually his mixed grill and I am stealing his memories. Anyway, these are the rules of acceptance:

Thank the blogger who bestowed you with the award.
This one was not hard. Thank you, AC, it’s very kind of you! Actually not only am I pleased to have got the award, I’m pleased to have discovered your blog, I like it very much. Although I have got a confession for you: I only ever use two methods of casting on. And one of them is not really a proper method.

Sum up your blogging experience, philosophy and motivation in five (5) words.
This one was hard, because, well, do I strike you as a woman who is concise of expression? I thought not. OK. Here goes. Learning, enjoyment, connections, structure, exploration.

Nominate 10 deserving bloggers
And this one was absolutely agonising. I read loads of blogs and I love them all. They’re like having a glimpse into other people’s lives and you learn so much. So, you know, if I’ve not tagged you below don’t think I’m not reading your blog like a stalker because I very likely am. You don’t escape that easily ;-)

Ok then,

Ialheg of I Spy With My Altered Eye
Unbought Delicacies
Resa of Discovering Asterisms
Mumma Troll of Chronicles of the Troll Family
Colour It Green
The Absinthe Fairy
A Sulky Cat
Silver of Quicksilver Crafter
Oh Miss West
Au Fil Des Laines

Consider yourselves nominated! ;-)

Les Animaux

I am a furry grey Pussycat. I luxuriate in the coruscating intensity of my grey furriness on this unpromising-looking random Cambridge step. In my dreams I am charging through the African Savanna in pursuit of a Gazelle. In reality I shall trot off indoors shortly and 'encourage' someone to dish up the Gourmet Pearl.

But wait. A faint clicking: it has disturbed my dreams. The Gazelle: it flees, it flees. Might there be someone there with a camera? Go, person clicking their camera at me! You are Stealing my Soul.

I don't know how I forgot to say this (this is me again, not the grey cat) because I am excited. Colour It Green put my rainbow bag in an etsy treasury! Go look (there are some very nice rainbow things.) Colour it Green on etsy sells wool directly from sheep. I understand (from CIG's blog), that one of the sheep is called Sharona. If you can think of anything cooler than wool from a sheep called Sharona, then you have a better imagination than I do.

Making Jordan look like an Urban Minimalist

Well, it certainly dyed it pink.

I’ve put more about making this dress on Wardrobe Refashion (don’t feel pressured to go and read, I just don’t want anyone to have to read about it twice, so I won't say it all again!). I’ve trimmed the threads, and it’s ready to go. I can’t say I’m sold on the pink (although I wonder if a bit more of a red tinge to make it a true fuschia might have looked quite attractive), but I’ve got to admit, I do quite like the dress, and I might experiment with making some more and with different colours. If it was black I think I would actually wear this. Perhaps I’ll overdye it when the race is over?

I’m leaning towards some kind of makeup to go with it: something like this, maybe? I should go and dig through my makeup bag and see what I’ve got. I haven’t worn makeup in a year. What’s the worst that can happen if you use old eyeshadow? Botulism? Ha. Much better than spending £1.49 on a pot of eyeshadow from Collection 2000. (That’s a joke. Obviously good eyeshadow hygiene is always practiced meticulously in this household.)

Following my post yesterday...

My dress is in the washing machine being dyed fuschia. I am sitting biting my nails nervously. Will it come out in one piece? Will it all dye (roughly) the same colour? Will my washing machine dye all subsequent washing fuschia forever, or can I trust the Dylon packet which tells me very sternly that This Will Not Happen? Will I look like a more haggard, cynical and flatter chested version of Jordan when I wear my dress? These are questions that can only be answered by time.

Also, my mother says I can say on my blog that she too has had cancer (she is now recovered) and that lots of women in our family have also had either breast or ovarian cancer, so it is quite a big issue for us. This is true. And I can honestly say that my mother having cancer taught me many things. The main one is that arranging to have all the windows in your house replaced the day after you come out of hospital is perhaps not the best scheduling decision you could possibly make in the world. Another one is that you will be quite tired after your operation, so if, having had all your windows replaced, you decide to throw a big party a few days afterwards, you may wish to conserve your energy and not use it up on, for example, taking all the things out of the kitchen cupboards, dusting them, and then putting them back in again. Also that there are many fine exercises to keep your lymph glands in working order, but sitting in a pub and flapping your elbows up and down to look like a Funky Chicken is not one of them. You see, it was very instructive. I shall go now and reconstruct a shirt because sitting worrying about my washing machine is getting us nowhere: I have never yet been able to affect the wash cycle by the Power Of My Mind.

Race for Life

My grandmother – Nana Bessie – died when I was about 14, of ovarian cancer. At the funeral, the vicar, who I don't think had ever met her, concluded the service with the throwaway line, apropos of nothing at all, 'And Bessie enjoyed sewing and knitting.' I think it might have been in his arsenal of things to say at old lady funerals, and he probably rotated it with 'and x enjoyed going to Bingo' and 'and x was very fond of her grandchildren/ dog/ neighbours'. However. Nana Bessie was not just a person who enjoyed sewing and knitting. She was hardcore. She was an upcycler before there was upcycling. She was a person who brought up three children on I suspect not much a week, made all her own bread and meals, and made clothes for her, my grandad (who was very confused when she died to discover that knitting socks was not a common skill and he would have to buy them from shops) and any passing grandchildren. The only ready meal I ever saw her buy was fish and chips when we went on holiday (she famously sulked for the entire evening in a caravan in Skegness when Grandad brought back haddock instead of cod) and a Sally Lunn loaf once a week for Saturday teatime. She also made quilts, which were put into instant use, and used for years. This is one:

It's made from leftovers from all the clothes she made for herself and my aunts. It contains fabric that any quilt book you read tells you shouldn't be mixed with cotton – slippy dress fabrics and lace. She pegged rugs from the leftover loops of sanitary towels which my aunt's friend, who worked in the sanitary towel factory, used to sneak out for her in a carrier bag. Whenever you went to visit she always had something cooking: bread, pie, boiled beetroot, tripe. She worried I was too fat, so she used to tell me I needed to diet and hand me a chocolate bar at the same time. She was quite a woman. Whenever people call things 'not your grandma's craft/ knitting/ sewing whatever' I think, what a load of nonsense. I'd give my eye teeth to be as good at thrift, sewing and recycling as Nana was.

Anyway, yes, ovarian cancer. So, because of this and various brushes our family has had with cancer, this year I am doing Race for Life this Sunday in Chesterfield. If anyone would like to sponsor me I have a button at the top right, there, you can see it (I have set up the page so it doesn't show amounts pledged, so if you only want to sponsor me 2p you can do and I will be excessively grateful!). I am not running. I am walking with my mother and my Aunty Kath, and I don't fancy our joint chances of getting round quickly (indeed I strongly suspect my mother thinks she can pop into Marks and Spencers in the middle). So I thought, given that I am not running, what shall I do that is a bit of an effort and special to give people something to sponsor. I know, I thought, I will make a costume (!). So here we are, I have made a start. This is very much a work in progress, you can see I have not moved it anywhere attractive to take the photo and there are threads dangling everywhere:

It's made from 4 of my mother's old tshirts, and it's been lots of fun to make (and easy – when it's finished I'll tell you how I made it just in case anyone else wants a mad dress.) I couldn't face rethreading my serger (I know, I'm a bad person) so it's mostly zig zag stitched, but look, I'm not going to be wearing it afterwards, it only has to hold together for a day. Tomorrow I'm going out to buy some pink dye and I'm going to dye it, and perhaps embellish it a bit with lace. If I had the first clue about how to make fairy wings I'd be making some too. I'm wondering if I should get some sparkly makeup. I think I've still got some green glitter eyeshadow but the last time I wore it it didn't come off for a week and green glitter eyeshadow is not a good look the morning after.

Anyway, if anyone has any bright ideas for a costume/ embellishing this dress, don't be backward in coming forward - I'd love suggestions! The race is on Sunday, so I've got until then.

Open Studios Reprise

Yesterday we did Cambridge Open Studios, which I have mentioned before. And do you know what?

It was great, we had a really nice time. All the artists we met were really friendly and nice, and it was really inspiring seeing things that other people make. I did discover that my mother has one speed, and it is not marching-around-Cambridge speed, it is ambling-round-Meadowhall-looking-for-a-bargain speed: but, after she pulled herself together with an effort of will and managed not to collapse on the corner of Stretten Avenue, which would have been awkward, we managed fine.

Houses that are taking part in Open Studios have signs like this outside. This is so you don't inadvertently wander in on someone who isn't an artist and surprise them while they are sitting munching their croissant and reading the Saturday Guardian. And then when you get inside you see things like these:

This man made lovely glass hangings and engraved plates and things. I love glass and sometimes I contemplate lampworking, but I don't think I can entirely be trusted with a heat source.

I can't pretend to you that I came away from Open Studios without acquiring anything at all, a couple of things did come home with me:

Aren't they pretty? The glass pendant is by the man above, and the ring is by this woman, who was making some lovely, very wearable things. I don't know if you can see properly from the photograph but the outside is textured, a little bit like tree bark. I once (very briefly) did a jewellery class, which involved making a ring from scratch. After that experience I have quite a lot of respect for anyone who makes rings, which is a feat of skill rather like putting a jelly in a test tube. I like my ring very much, and I am wearing it now.

And there were lots of artists (in the sense of people who made pictures). Here are some of the postcards I collected, from left to right:

These paintings were on handmade paper, and there was also one that was gold leaf on I think linen. I thought that was particularly nice.
These paintings were amazing. I love bold, I love portraits, and I love slightly surreal. If I still had a job (cue very small violin) I would have bought one, even though they were enormous, and worried about where to put it later.
Colour wash drawings of Cambridge and France. I liked these, even though one of the shops in one of the street scenes was the one that sacked me just after my postgrad. Never mind though, I don't bear grudges.
These were landscapes made of a kind of delicate felt, they were very clever, and it was an interesting use of the medium. I once tried making a felt bead, but it came out looking like buttocks and I was discouraged. Who wants a necklace made of beads like that? Possibly I should have tried something flat, although who knows what inappropriate body part that would have ended up resembling.
I really loved the colour combinations in these paintings.
These were lovely too, delicate watercolours, although I am afraid what impressed me most from this studio was a very inscrutable-looking cat which had wrapped itself around a woman's handbag and wouldn't let her have it back. In fact practically every house we went in had a cat prowling about, thinking, hmm, we have a lot of visitors today, I hope they are not after my Gourmet Pearl or in competition for the litter tray.

Well today, as you can imagine, I have been quite tired, so all I have done is try to make a fairy dress out of old tshirts. Why would a woman of 35 who has very mixed feelings about post-feminism be wanting to dress as a fairy, you may be thinking? I shall reveal all tomorrow, if I have a moment after I have tracked down some lace and fuschia dye (funnily enough they didn't sell either in Tesco. No fuschia dye, no Borax. Who on earth are they catering to?)

4 months of thrilling austerity and creativity

I have taken the pledge. Not the no alcohol one (can you still do this?) although I might was well do, because these days half a glass of shandy and I’m anybody’s at all. I have no tolerance. No, I have taken the Wardrobe Refashion pledge for 4 months.


The Pledge

I, Susie, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 4 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed, Susie.

(You see how I personalised it? I put my name in!)

I’ve tried to do this before (I’ve not tried to do it officially through Wardrobe Refashion, but I’ve tried not to buy new clothes for a set amount of time), but I’ve always failed. I remembered this and thought, God that doesn’t bode well, but on considering further I think this was because when I was in my job and working long hours, I didn’t have a lot of time or energy for creative pursuits: buying clothes and putting looks together was pretty much all I could manage. So, although not buying clothes doesn’t sound like a big thing, in reality it cut me off from the only creative act I was up to at that point. Since my job went to hell in a handcart in an impressively dramatic fashion, however, I’ve had lots of time to be as creative as I’ve wanted to be, and I haven’t felt the urge to buy clothes as much: in fact, I haven’t felt the urge to buy clothes at all. That’s because capitalism sells us back our own repressed creative urges so we can be kept in a state of wanting something undefined. Not to be political. Anyway, I have lots of ideas for upcycling things, we’ll see how many I’m able to get off my bum and do!