pretty, pretty hooky pouches!

These have been really popular. I should have 9 or 10 of them available.

I’ve also been restocking the sock pouches with some new owly fabrics. And others, obviously. But mostly gorgeous owls.

Sock it to me, baby

I’m making some rather lovely new giant pouches too.

Owls, owls, everywhere but not a drop to drink

Last but not least, I’ve been making some new longer length needle envelopes. I’ve made loads of these as custom orders lately and since it seems there is a demand for them, never let it be said I don’t listen!

Shiny robots

The new look envelopes can hold a longer length of DPNs as well as circular needles. They also have a handy little zippered pocket, tucked in behind the circular needle pockets, perfect for holding stoppers, cable needles, stitch markers, needle gauges… You get the picture.

Mouth watering juicy orange linings.

The new batch of lining fabric I got is awesome. Really nice crisp feel to it and the colours are as zingy as ever.

I’ve also been making stitch markers galore and there’ll be a wide range of those on offer as well. Haven’t had time to make up any of the other new designs buzzing in my head but who knows? Maybe between now and Friday I’ll get a chance to whip something up!

Must be the weather.

Why, yes, our snowman has a banana for a nose. What of it?

In any case, the trip home was wonderful. The flight out wasn’t too brutal, apart from Esme hurling on both planes. The kids didn’t get sick with any hideous bugs and got over the jetlag really quickly. And I spent the first two weeks on antibiotics with a chest infection, a lovely hangover from our months and months of chronic and recurrent illnesses in the Owl household. Deep joy resounding.

But it was just such a lovely time. I get to see my family only once every couple of years, due to the constraints of living in a different hemisphere so it’s a huge thing to be home at all, let alone over Christmas and New Year. It was the first time all six of us grown up kids have been in the same place in about ten years or so. Every time I’ve headed back in recent years, someone else has been away overseas so this was a real treat.

Watching the girls play with their cousins and bond with their aunts, uncle and grandparents was immensely precious.

And seeing Elias with my Mum and Dad was amazing. He really bonded with my Mum and would hold his arms out to her to be picked up.

Our Christmas was intense and very special, all 6 of us siblings and various offspring were there, we all cooked and cleaned and feasted together and it was a totally fabulous day.

Post Christmas, every one started to drift off and it was very hard to bid my various siblings farewell. It’s particularly difficult saying goodbye as I never know when we’ll next get the chance to all be in the same room together again.

We headed up to Queensland for New Year’s, to go see Alex and Scott for a Bothered Owl Reunion. The kids had a fab time , playing on the beach, going to Australia Zoo

and generally being spoiled rotten. And I had a chance to sit and have a cup of tea with Alex and catch up a bit.

New Year’s Eve was spent at a big family event down on Mooloolabah Beach. The main shopping area and the beach were cordoned off and they had food stalls, music, children’s acts, even a mini-Ferris Wheel.

We headed down early in the evening and the event culminated at 8.30pm with fireworks, let off from a boat just off the beach. They repeat the whole thing at midnight for the adults. The early part of the evening is totally alcohol free and very family friendly and then once the kids are all in bed, it’s a more grown up affair.

The best part of the evening was watching the girls playing with Jake on the beach.

We bought them each a light sabre and they had a blast, chasing him around and sword fighting with him, running in and out of the little waves at the edge of the water and shrieking with laughter.

A totally magical evening.

The last week of the trip went all too quickly and before we knew it, we were landing back at Heathrow.

I must say, none of us really felt much like coming home. Spending the first week or so in and out of hospital with Elias having picked up a nasty chest infection really didn’t help. He spent the first week home limp, moaning and miserable with a high fever that just wouldn’t break. Then both Orlaith and Esme got ill in quick succession and it really felt like we were back on the miserable merry go round again.

So I guess it’s not too surprising that I haven’t really felt much like writing or even like sewing. I’ve been taking things fairly easy, even with the build up for Unravel in a few weeks. I’m ticking on with custom orders, I’m doing a little stock building but it’s not the same urgent, hectic pace that it’s been in the past. Although I have been creeping back to the bad habit of keeping ridiculous hours. I’ve been doing a lot of knitting, a lot of cleaning and general tidying up of my ridiculously messy house and trying hard to focus on the kids, spending some time with Jake and so forth. It’s been nice. Seeing Jake with the kids, so relaxed and not in work mode has been wonderful.

And, that’s about it. I really must get to bed, it being 2am and all.

And it was worth the wait.

I haven’t blocked it yet so all the photos are of the shawl in its raw state.  They’re not the greatest pictures in the world as I’m not really used to photographing shawls, this being only the third ‘proper’ shawl I’ve ever made.

Things I love about this design: I’m a sucker for curcurbitas. My favourite thing about squashes and pumpkins is watching the leaves unfurl in the spring and summer. So the beautiful spreading leaves on this shawl gave me so much pleasure. I loved knitting the mist drops more than I expected to! They fit so beautifully into the curve of the leaf.

I was really worried about knitting the edging, being a bit of a newbie to shawl knitting. I thought the lace was going to be a lot more challenging but once you get past the fact that you’re working across three charts, the lace is actually fairly easy. And the charts are really simple to follow.  In combination with Anna’s written instructions, I think it’s fairly hard to go wrong.

And the yarn! Oh, the yarn! Eleanor of Solstice Yarns custom dyed me some solid skeins to go with a gorgeous variegated one she’d done. And it was just so lovely to knit with. Soft, squishy, saturated with perfect Autumny, harvesty, pumpkiny colours. The gold thread running through the whole thing just adds that finishing touch. I don’t normally go for sparkle, but this just sang to me.

Best of all, I have enough leftover to knit another one!

If you want to get your hands on the pattern you can find it here. Or come see us at Unravel in a few weeks and check it out in person.

Just breaking the slightly lengthier than usual silence with a sort of public service announcement. I’ll post later with details about the trip home and what we’ve been up to and so forth but this is more important.

You may have noticed it’s bloody freezing at the moment and there’s a lot of people who aren’t lucky enough, for one reason and another, to have a roof over their heads. St Mungo’s, one of the excellent organisations that works with homeless people, are busy trying to help as many people as they can through their emergency shelter programmes. But they can always us extra funding and I thought it might be nice to give a hand.

Here’s where you come in. I have a ticket for Unravel up for grabs. To win it, here’s what you need to do:

1. Go here: St Mungo’s and make a secure donation. I don’t care how much you donate. Give what you can according to your ability etcetera. Everything helps.

2. Email me your receipt and name so I can enter you in the draw.

That’s it! Competition closes next Thursday at midnight, winner will be drawn randomly by an owlet, possibly from a knitted fish hat, on Friday. I’ll post the ticket to the winner straight away.

Having now broken my hush, I promise I’ll provide some actual content soon. Go forth and enter the competition, my pretties.

ETA: Since there were no entries for the draw, I shall have to find something else to do with the ticket

But I am just about to get on a plane and go away on holidays, away from my stash. My need for emergency holiday knitting choice trumps my need to keep my WIPs streamlined. But, oh dear, how do I choose what to take?

I am in the unusual (for me) position of actually having more than one project on the go at the moment. Horrors, I know. Having just declared myself a monogamous knitter, here I am revealing myself as being untrue to my one true project. Dreadful, but I have had such a case of start-itis.

So the first things in my bag are Orlaith’s owl jumper and a pair of mittens I just started for her. I made a pair for Esme (blog post on that is in the works, with a kind of ‘how to’ and everything!) and feel ridiculously guilty that poor Orlaith has been languishing in the desert of the unknitted for.

Then there is my Tubey. Poor poor Tubey. I finished it, not long after Esme was born actually. And then realised that having knitted it in lovely soft cotton meant that it stretched like lovely soft cotton. Not a good look on a jumper that is meant to be fitted and sexy, when it droops to your knees.

Truncated Tubey

She has languished for over a year in the bottom of my work basket as there was no way I was re-knitting her whilst shaped like an unusually bumpy egg. I figure there’s no harm taking her with me and knit 3 purl 1 ribbing is a delightfully relaxing stitch. I’m going to chuck in some waist shaping by dropping down a needle size for a bit and I’m hoping that might help with the whole ‘wearing an enormous shapeless sack’ look I had going on for a while there.

It's too orangey for crows...

And of course I am taking my Pumpkin Patch shawl.

It continues to grow apace, although it has been sadly neglected whilst I’ve been ill. I haven’t had the concentration it requires to knit anything more complicated than stocking or garter stitch over the last week or two, hence mittens. I continue to love the yarn/pattern combination A LOT. A knitting marriage made in a non-religiously specific idea of a perfect place.

So that’s all my guilty little WIP secrets in the suitcase. But what about when I finish those? Or findmyself at the mercy of knitterly ennui? I will be trapped in Australia with NO YARN STASH, oh dear lord, noooooo.

Ahem.

Fear not for my sanity, for as has been stated before I always have emergency stash with me. Whether it’s a traffic jam or a trip home to see the family, I am eternally prepared for woolly meltdowns.

A smattering of the emergency supplies I will be carrying with me for the inevitable moment when Zombie Armageddon breaks out and all the sheep get consumed by the ravening hordes of the undead:

Little soul, big world - Firefly themed Deeply Wicked

Intended to become a shawl to really show off the colours. I love this very much because I am a massive Firefly fan and Safe is one of my favourite episodes.

More Deeply Wicked and a gorgeous skein from Solstice Yarns

Not entirely sure what I want to do with these two yet. The Deeply Wicked was originally intended to become a River of Blood shawl but I am not irretrievably wedded to that idea yet. And the gorgeous, gothicky Solistice Yarns skein is sock yarn but I almost don’t want to ‘waste’ something so perfectly beautiful on my feet!

In addition I’m taking a bunch of leftovers that aren’t quite enough to make a whole adult pair of socks but which will do very well for simple stocking stitch socks for the kids, or even *gasp* odd socks for me. I am trying to acclimatise myself to the idea of deliberately knitting mismatched socks for myself. THis might be the way to do it.

This'll all fit in my suitcase, right? Easy peasy.

It’s totally normal to take this much stuff with me, right? Sure it is, fellow obsessive yarn addicts, sure it is.

Other things that will be in my suitcase:

Gothic cowgirl is in, baby. It's very hip, very now.

A girl can never have too many items of clothes covered in skellingtons.

I ran these up on Sunday/Monday (can’t quite remember which) because my answer to insane levels of stress is to retreat into crafting. The second one took me about an hour, possibly less. I can’t make a dress that fits me but I kick arse at skirts.

I am not even going to attempt to stash knitting or needles or even yarn in my plane bag because, well, this:

They call him the Yarn Stalker

Given the havoc he wreaks on my stash on a daily basis without being on a plane, I’m giving up before I even start.

But at least I know, when I get there, I will be one well equipped, suavely dressed knitter!

Actually, come to think of it, I might just see if I can squeeze in a few extra skeins. Just in case.

However I want to give a plug to the Brockley Christmas Market this coming Saturday where my friend Caroline will be running a stall to raise funds for our beloved preschool, Rodett St Mary’s.

Rodett’s  is a very very special place. Orlaith went there, Esme adores it and Elias will go there in his turn. I wouldn’t send them anywhere else!  The kids absolutely blossom under the care of their teachers and there’s just a really wonderful feeling of community amongst the parents as well. The kids and I have made some great friends during our time there and we want to be able to give something back by raising some much needed extra money for equipment and improvements.

Caroline and a few others, including myself, have been hard at work making some gorgeous treasures and tidbits to tempt you. I wanted to show you a brief glimpse of what you could nab on Saturday, safe in the knowledge that every penny raised will be going to help carry on the good work at the preschool.

This is just a small smattering of what will be available on the day and there will be  a huge variety of other crafts people out and about with their various wares. It’s a really lovely market, I attended as a trader last year. Lovely atmosphere, lovely bunch of stall holders and a good opportunity to get your hands on some really lovely bits and pieces for Christmas. Definitely worth popping along for a browse.

Details of the market are as follows:

Saturday 10th December 2011

12pm until 7pm

Coulgate Street, Brockley

There’ll be music, carols, more than 40 stalls to have a look at and of course, you can all swing by the Rodett’s stall and pick up something beautiful and handmade and help us keep our fantastic preschool fabulous!

(If you happen to be local and have small children in need of a preschool place, just ask Caroline for details!)

Due to holiday stuff (as in, actually taking one!) the shop’s going to be closed from Monday night.  So if you’ve been musing a Christmas purchase and telling yourself you’ve plenty of time before the dreaded C looms down upon us, sorry! All orders need to be in by Monday, to give me time to pack and send them on Ruesday because after that I will be busy doing my scheduled pre-flight panicking chicken routine.

If you are after a custom order, you need to get those into me by Friday, as in this Friday the 2nd of November.That gives me time to make things up for you over the weekend and get them posted on Monday or Tuesday.

I know it’s the busiest time of the year and it’s probably a crazy time to be shutting up shop, but I’m going home to spend Christmas with my family! First time in ten years that all six of us kids will be at my parents’ place at the same time. I.Cannot.Wait.

I will still be in email and Twitter contact over the holiday period and I may even have a blog post or two up my sleeve. (Because what visit to my parents’ is complete without me spending hours swearing at the computer as I upload photos.) But I suspect my Mum may have either hidden or possibly burned her sewing machine in order to prevent me from sitting at it obsessively, like last time I went home. Heh.

I digress.

The shop will re-open on my return and our first show of the new year will be…..UNRAVEL! So very very excited. Alex and I went to the very first one of these as my birthday present a few years ago and it was lovely. I missed out on going with The Bothered Owl last year, due to being (extremely) large with child. So I am phenominally excited about being an exhibitor in 2012.

Consider yourselves informed! Now, I shall bustle about the rest of my business for the day. I have a very special needle envelope to cut out for a friend!

But the payoff is that I can show you the beautiful things I have bought for your delectation. And I can get started on cutting out a custom order I didn’t think I’d get to until mid-Week!

I’m trying hard to be good and not buy too much at the moment. I have a huge amount of fabric in the stash – mostly unphotographed too, which I will endeavour to rectify anon- and I don’t exactly need any new fabric but the fabric world moves pretty quickly with new designs and new trends coming out all the time.

Enough of my paltry attempts at justifying my pack rat fabric hoarding. I’ll make with the pretties now.

The first thing that caught my eye was this:

Owls in trees

I love this fabric. I love the slightly washed out ethereal colours. I love the little birds and the delicate tracery of the tree branches. It reminds me of one of my favourite Joan Aiken stories, The Land of Trees And Heroes.  It’s like a ghost orchard in the moonlight.

I was window shopping on Fabric Rehab when I was smitten by this one and once bitten by the fabric buying bug, it’s like a compulsion. I have to put things in my basket. It’s dreadful!

So it was inevitable that the next two items were going to ‘fall’ into my shopping basket.

Well met by moonlight, fair Owl-tania

Cute naive little owlybirds

I am a sucker for anything with owls on it. (It’s not narcissism, none of these owls look quite like me. ) And if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last year or so, it’s that you lot feel much the same way. Bags with owls on tend not to stay in stock for long.

See, prudent, carefully planned out purchasing. I’m a good girl really.

And finally (see, restraint. I only bought four things. I’m practically a miser.) this:

Lime green, turquoise and purple ALPACAS.

Yes. Yes. Those are indeed alpacas. Al-freaking-pacas. How could I possibly NOT buy this fabric? There is pretty much no way this fabric could be more perfect. The alpacas are adorable and it’s all linen-y and oh, just so beautiful.

Vanessa (AKA Alpacaaddict AKA possibly my best customer of all time) has already ordered a couple of bags in it, so you’d best get your orders in if you want something because it won’t stay in my stash for long!

But that’s okay. I can always buy more.

I’m the kind of knitter that always has at least one emergency skein in their bag. Even if that skein (oh, alright, it’s usually two, sometimes three.) is not yet wound into a yarncake and I’m halfway through another project. What if I finish the project I’m working on and get stuck on the Tube or in traffic and the baby is asleep and I have nothing to doooooooo?

So I like to have every pair of double pointed needles and circulars that I could possibly need in a pinch, right there, in my bag. And I need them to be packed up small and tight. I have so much Mum Stuff in my bag that there’s not really a lot of room for my own stuff, so being able to fit my needles into such a small space is grand.

Anyway. I have been wanting to re-work the envelopes for a while because there was something missing from the design.  I couldn’t figure out how to make it work better. Until Emma got in touch and asked me whether I could make one with a zippered compartment for storing the keys and stoppers from her interchangeable needle set.

Bingo! That was what was missing!

It took me a bit of fiddling about to work out how to do it so it wouldn’t sag or add bulk or interfere with the lines of the design but here it is:

I think if I say the word pockets many more times I may break into song a la Dr Seuss. (Although ‘pocket’ is fairly hard to rhyme with. Rocket? Sprocket? Ta-pocketty-knocket? Oh dear Lord.)

In any case,this’ll be in the post in the morning and I may have to make a few more of these for Unravel.

Ahem.

Right. Esme’s Owlet jumper is all done.

Folded. I didn't knit half a jumper and pretend it was all done. Promise.

I finished it the other day and then she forced me to wash it in conditioner because  it was All Itchy.

Esme's just told me that she thinks they're bunny rabbits, not owls.

So I did that. And she agreed, grudgingly, to put it on again and model it so I could take a picture. And pronounced that it was Still Too Itchy.

This jumper's lame. And itchy. Whatever.

Secretly, I think she likes to taunt me by pretending she hates the things I make her. I got Orlaith to try it on too.

Proud to say I made the skirt as well.

Esme was very cross and said Orlaith can’t have her jumper. So she loves it really.

Interesting to see the jumper fitted on two totally different body shapes and sizes. It fits both of them reasonably well. Which gives me a slight dilemna with the one I’m making for Orlaith, as I could probably get away with making the same size as I’ve done for Esme. Better to make it slightly bigger though and get more than one season’s wear from it. These two grow like weeds.

This is the second one of these I’ve knitted and I have to say I like the pattern more and more. I’ve cast on for another for Orlaith, again in New Lanark yarn, in a lovely bright red which Orlaith chose for herself. She’s just given it a squeeze and says it is not too itchy, so here’s hoping at least one of these two will get worn. The Boy Owlet wears his all the time, but he is too small to voice his complaints coherently.

The other thing I want to show you is the beautiful shawl I cast on for the other day. It’s a Pumpkin Patch. 

I’m using some glorious Solstice Yarns‘ Moondust. Eleanor was kind enough to dye some skeins to match one that I’d just bought from her. So I present you

Circle Dance

It has the most wonderfully Autumnly harvesty shades of orange, red, brown. With the thread of Stellina running through it, it kind of feels like knitting Autumn leaves that have been touched with sunset. But, you know, really insanely soft and squishy Autumn leaves that you’d want to wrap yourself up in.

The two colours Eleanor dyed to match are called Paprika and Toasted Cinnamon.

I've just started blending in the Circle Dance, hence the little touches of red starting to creep in.

I love it. I wasn’t sure how I would go with striping it together, but it blends perfectly from one to the other so I’m not too worried about looking like Dennis the Menace when it’s finished.

I’m up to Chart C on the pattern already and really enjoying knitting it. This pattern pretty much walked off the stand at Fibre Flurry. I’m looking forward to finishing it and swishing around in it.