A knitty sort of Sunday

On Sunday, I had a mostly-kid-free day.  My initial thoughts were that there was a lot that I could do to make the most of the time without distraction.  

Instead of doing any sort of catch-up on things, I made a conscious decision to ignore the impulse to do anything that I felt that I should.... and do exactly what I needed to do. 

RELAX... (knit)

 I caught up with lovely friends for coffee and cake and then spent the afternoon with my knitting machine and an audio-book. 

Heaven. 

I could feel my tired, over-stuffed brain defragging.

There was even time to linger in another little slice of (textile) heaven....

 I'm a bit besotted with my new book.  Teresa Dair's design aesthetic is so completely up my alley, I sighed and pored over every one of this book's silky, matt pages.

Yes... I can totally see me swanning about in all of it, too.... feeling fabulous and textural and ever-so-clever because I made it myself...

 Of course, I haven't made any of it yet....
...but that's hardly the point of a gorgeous and inspiring book, is it...?

And until I can justify any more yarn purchases, I won't have any of the amazing Dairing yarn to create the textures needed for the full effect.  In the meantime, I have pure wool.  LOTS of pure wool.

 I took inspiration and went a bit freestyle with this idea....

As I wait for it to dry, instead of blocking it smoothly, I'm stretching and distressing the edges... messing things up a bit.  There is no steel in the yarn to hold the memory of this torture, but it's creating a lovely drapey shape with tendrilly corner bits.

You'll no doubt be treated to much swanning and poncing when I finally get my body into this one. 

I'm looking forward to seeing Teresa ... and her yarn... (WHO SAID THAT?) at Grampians Texture next year.  She'll be teaching workshops there too.

In the meantime, if you don't hear from me, I'll be knitting furiously, to make room in that yarn stash of mine....

The next phase

Yes, I know.. it's very unlike me to fill sketchbooks or write notes and lists....

But the usual, "let's see what we can make from this chaos of ideas and half-started projects" attitude doesn't cut it with craft book publishers... and there have been talks with publishers (nothing is set in stone).  We're at the pre-aquisitions planning and list-writing stage, so there's no way this free-forming non-list-writing chick can avoid it. 

And the funny thing is, I'm enjoying it.  It means endless hours spent watching slideshows on Style.com, playing with design ideas, playing cutting-and-pasting, and calling it "work".

Today, since the wee girl has a little friend over to play, I'm hoping to steal odd moments to play with fabric and patterns, too.   I'm breaking out of the usual mold and about to explore a wider range of fabrics for bag-making....

I have a very interesting roll of all sorts of millinery fabrics from Torb&Reiner to play with.  Collaboration and fun times ahead... I love the opportunity to branch out and learn new things.  New materials and a lack of comfort-zone habits present new curve balls, and usually result in Great Leaps Forward.  I love Great Leaps Forward.

Rather serendipitously, I've also been invited to teach at next year's Grampians Texture retreat, where I'll get to put all the above "work" into practise in some workshops.  My workshops will have a focus on bag-making techniques, using unconventional or handmade textiles...

Looking at the programme of events and the callibre of the tutors, I'm actually wishing I was able to go as a paying guest... It looks like Textile Heaven!

And quite aside from all this overlapping of skills and note-writing and whatnot, I can't stop thinking about something completely unrelated.

I've borrowed my sewing buddie's (Japanese) Pattern Drafting Vol III book (borrowed, because I can't seem to find my own copy for less than $150, these days!).  It was published in 1972, so the silhouettes are inspiring a healthy dose of nostalgia for the things that I wore as a kid, and the illustrations are an absolute delight.

Also inspired to make clothing patterns, is the smallest designer in the building.  Here's her nightie design and related pattern pieces... to inspire me.... (I love those collar pieces..).

Right at this moment, the playdate that's going on here is involving one little girl teaching another to sew (super-cute), using my machine.  I guess that means that my opportunity to sew was spent writing this blog post, and I'll have to get back to my lists and sketchbooks for a bit longer.