Ruby's Button Tin

Knitting again??!?!

I don't know why, but I'm just obsessed with knitting right now.  Sometimes crafts grab you and won't let go.  Every so often I'll have a splurge on needlepoint, then a few months of fanatical patchwork, but now it's knitting.                      

 

 

 

As you can see ...

 

 

I was leafing through this book (Derek Jarman's Garden) and came across a fabulous close up of a gorgeous pinky mauve poppy.  So I'm starting to experiment with knitting one. Why?  Dunno.  It's the knitting madness.  You start looking at apples and red peppers and thinking 'how would I knit that?'.  As well as looking at boring lamp posts and thinking 'Hmm, imagine that covered in knitting'.  Do you think there are pills to treat this condition? 

Could it be catching?

Treats and more nattering about knitting

I treated myself to a couple of goodies the other day.  One was Knit1, a lovely magazine with some really interesting patterns and features in it, including ones on Freddie Robins and Diva Zappa.  It always feels very indulgent to spend money on magazines - this one was £4.95, but you need a treat now and again, don't you? 

The other goodie I bought was a book of Julie Arkell's work.  She's such an inspiring artist, and her work appears simple and naive but it's actually rather sophisticated - and definately beautiful.  I'm looking forward to putting aside some time to read the book thoroughly.

 

I've also been knitting some odds and ends like this little piece with plain and purl rows of stripes. 

There're 3 buttons to fasten this around an unsuspecting lamp post or street sign post.  Just gotta be sneaky and fix it in place ...

 

 

Is that a cabbage I see before me?

I bought 'Knitorama' about 6 months ago, Rachael Matthews zany book of '25 Great & Glam Things to Knit'.  If you haven't come across it, the book features such fab projects as knitted fried egg earmuffs, ham sandwiches, even a knitted hand grenade.  I rustled up a couple of knitted cabbages, and have been wondering what to do with 'em ever since!                                                                 

Here you can just about make out a mini cabbage nestling among the rocket and thyme on the windowsill. 

 

Anyway, with my new interest in 'yarn bombing' I had an idea: I'm going to attach them to the noticeboard at the allotments where I've got my plot.  I thought that was an appropriate home for them.  Allotments always look eccentric anyway, with their bathtubs for rainwater and cobbled together sheds and bird scarers that consist of CDs strung on lines of string.  I reckon my cabbages should fit in beautifully!

Nattering about knitting ...

I've been thinking for ages about a knitting project I'd like to do, and finally the idea's coming together.  I love the whole 'urban knitting' movement, 'yarn bombing', 'guerilla knitting' or whatever you care to call it.  Also, I love knitting but it's more the process of knitting than the end result I like.  It's the stitches, the choice of colours and different textures.  I like making simple shapes like rectangles or long strips of wildly clashing yarns.

So anyway, I've decided to be a big, brave girlie and put some knitting out there in the urban landscape.  Probably as part of the Totterdown art trail which happens in - I think - November this year.  I took part last year, selling felt food softies, but fancy doing something a bit different this time.

 

So I've been knitting pieces with button fastenings to wrap around fence posts or traffic sign posts.  Here are some that I've draped around my arm to show you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

And here's another piece. 

I want to attach labels to these pieces, and I really like the idea of the label having a piece of text written on it - a paragraph from a novel or a poem.  I want to just pick pieces at random from various authors, from different genres, so people move from one knitted cosy to another reading the labels.  So one might have an excerpt from a Georgette Heyer novel attached to it, another might have a bit from Dickens, another could use a quote from Agatha Christie. 

Well, that's the plan so far.  Let's see how I get on!!

It seems only yesterday you were a little courgette ...

I had a day off work today, so after a morning of chores I got to spend a little time sewing.  I made this needlepoint piece up into a cushion cover, and it's just waiting to get a cushion pad stuffed inside it now.  It's an Easter design of bunnies and Easter eggs, so I should've got my act together earlier in the year!  I deliberately used quite a restricted palette of colours as I was thinking about creating the design for a kit or a magazine pattern.  Not that I've seen many needlepoint magazines.  Craft magazines tend to be about cross stitch or card making. 

 

I was rather pleased with these bunnies.  They're nicely plump!  If I was making another cushion in this design I'd use a brighter pink as the background one is too dusty a shade. 

Apart from crafty stuff I read a little more of Amy Tan's 'The Bonesetter's Daughter' which I'm still enjoying, and had a couple of hours on the allotment where - holy moly! - what only a day ago appeared to be a courgette has suddenly grown into a huge marrow.  You can't turn for back on a veggie patch for 5 minutes, can you?

 

Now ... what am I going to cook with you, Mr Marrow? 

 

 

While at the allotment I also collected up some poppy heads, and shook their seeds out all over the gravel 'garden' at the front of my flat.  Hopefully next year the arid gravel will be transformed into a sea of elegant poppies.  It's amazing how many seeds there are in one of these poppy heads.  No wonder they're so good at self seeding. 

 

 

Oops, I did it again ...

Yup, I've bought yet more fabric to add to my stash.  I'd need to sew patchwork quilts 24-7 to use up all the material I've got ... but it's such a vibrant shade of green.                

 

 

 

Here it is on the left, along with various rosettes all waiting to be made up into a granny's flower garden pattern. 

 

Now, I'm off to have a browse around Flickr.  I do love seeing the amazing creativity that's out there, all the wonderful embroidery and knitting, crochet, quilting - I'm constantly staggered by the talent that's on display.  Please feel free to stop by - I'm listed as rubykittyruby (No, I don't know why either!).  Here's a mosaic of some needlepoint designs, softies, etc I've got posted there.

First Aid & Fire King

It's been a good week.  (As long as you don't count my dieting - that failed miserably.  I ate and ate ... oh well, back to rocket salad and Ryvita from Monday onwards ...)  I did a four day First Aid course, which was extremely valuable, very enlightening.  I can now do CPR and put people in the recovery position and bandage wounds and all sorts!  That was time very well spent.  On the crafty front I haven't got too much done, it's just been catching up on half completed needlepoint projects and quilts.  On the thrifty front, I bought these apricot coloured dishes yesterday.  I umhed and ahhed over them, debated whether I had any more cupboard space for yet more dishes, but in the end bought them.  At £2.95 for 1 large dish and 4 small ones I couldn't quibble with that price, could I? 

The mark on the base of the large dish says 'Anchor Hocking Fire King Dinnerware, made in USA'.  That's not a brand I'm familiar with, but they are pretty dishes, so I can see their appeal.  Anyone know anything about Fire King?  Have you got your own collection?  Do tell. 

Bunny and books

This is a (not very good) photo of little lapin, a simple bunny with fabric ears and a slightly baffled expression. 

You might just be able to make out  the bunny picture in the background, from a magazine which gave me the idea for making this.  Selvedge is the magazine in question.  It's a publication I love, but I always feel a twinge of guilt buying it.  £8.50 is a lot of money for fritter away, but the artwork in it is so gorgeous and there's always something that sparks off creativity in its pages.  The bunny in the picture is wider, with a ribbon tie and embroidery detail on the body.  My version: the ears are a floral fabric on one side and linen on the other, and on the reverse side he has an embroidered fluffy tail.  With a bit of tweaking I reckon he could be a good child's toy as he's the right size for a small hand to grasp. 

Apart from sewing I've also been catching up on some reading.  Still going with Amitav Ghosh's superb 'Sea of Poppies' which is highly readable and so accomplished.  Plus just getting into Amy Tan's 'The Bonesetter's Daughter' which is quick to read and there's an intrigue about the main character's mother and her background which really makes you want to find out more.  I'd recommend both for these long summer days. 

 

It's summer and it's hot!

The English are always surprised by sunny weather in summer time, especially when Wimbledon's on.  That's usually a signal for downpours.  I love these sunny days, but not while I'm working - mainly 'cause the air conditioning at work is - well - not doing much.  It's baking.  I feel like I'm oven ready!

I'm making slow progress on this needlepoint cushion, which isn't helped by having started a knitted bag.  So, yet another work-in-progress. I really, really ought to finish something before I start the next thing.  But when do crafters ever do that?  We get carried away by enhusiasm for our next Big Idea.