Discontinued stock sale ....and Oh, I finished the socks!

The studio showroom was a-buzz and a-rustle today, as stock was rearranged and red stickers were stuck.... 

I want my shelf space back, so we're going to have a serious clearance of all the left-over online shop stock.

That's a 40% off everything with a red sticker sort of serious. 

It includes Clover brand bias tape makers (tutorial HERE), fabric markers and yo-yo-makers (video tutorial below, by yours-truly).

The sale also includes self-cover buttons (school fete coming up, anyone?... hair-ties needed?), zipper pulls, rajah cloths and bag handles.  We're also putting out whatever patterns we have in OLD PACKAGING (old branding) at 40% off, including purse kits and there are some large wire-formed o-rings.

We'll be continuing the sale until next Thursday (6th September) so you'll have time to make arrangements to get in to Northcote.  It's in-store only (you'll find us HERE).

In other news, I finished the socks I've been knitting (for what feels like three years)....

...and they're too big for me.  Rather serendipitously, I was planning to visit my Dad for Father's Day and hadn't otherwise organised a present....  

How thoughtful.... hand-knitted socks.

So.... another week whizzed by.

Fancy that.
I took some photos, but haven't had much time to write.

Last week I taught a few workshops at the Design And Technology Teacher's Association conference.  One of the workshops was in simple, effective embellishments.  My preparation for the class reminded me how much I enjoy scribbling with stitches.  These photos are both of details on A-Line Skirts, but I now also have lots of scribbly bag bits in progress, which I hope to turn into bags.

I also taught another couple of Bag in a Day classes.  We had lots of proud pocket moments on Saturday.  And pannetone and mince tarts. 

 We also saw some of the new-and-improved pattern instructions in action.  I must say, I think that the hellish job that the recent overhaul has proved to be, is absolutely worth it. 

 And I finished my winter woolly socks.....

...just in time for summer.  (Although, this is Melbourne I'm talking about - you never know what the weather might do.  I may just need them mid-January.)

The blueberry bush (thanks, Tanya) on the back porch is teasing me with the promise of fruit.  Each morning, as I water it with the remnants of the coffee pot, I WILL those berries to ripen.  So far, we still have green berries (and coffee grounds all over the leaves).

I'm afraid I don't have many words to share lately, and little time for blog reading or writing.  Real life stuff stuff keeps getting in the way.

I hope that by the end of the week, there will be a bit more order about the place, and some dust will settle after all the upheaval.   The new patterns are starting to go out to shops and fill our shelves. 

This time next week, family will begin to gather from around the country and the globe and we'll celebrate the time we have left as a complete family.  I hope to be reporting about trite small moments of Chrismas preparation happiness.  Until then, it's back to the patterns, for me.

A little bit of what I fancy....

I'll have to live to 187 to fit in all the things I want to learn, read, see and do.
Lately, I'm working 6 days a week and spending the other day doing family stuff (mostly family LAUNDRY and family CLEANING.... occasionally visiting elderly parents or attending a children's party or two).

I decided that the answer was to capture more leisure time in the little bits of in-between.....
I've been itching to make itty-bitty ruby slippers since buying this book early in the year. In between errands in the city this week, I found myself back at Morris and Sons, and bought this DIVINE "Paddington" 6-ply 80%bamboo - 20% merino.

Last night, in between episodes of productive instruction-writing and complete brain-fry, I squeezed in a spot of slipper-knitting with it. I'm onto the other slipper now (in between page loads).

At work yesterday, in the few minutes between my brain blowing a CAD-diagram-drawing fuse and home-time, I cut up cute kiddie fabric.
Tonight before I left work, I made those scraps into bias binding and sewed a few garment seams.

I'll finish these few little baby outfits tomorrow, in between the end of the Bag In A Day class and a semi-reasonable time to go home ...and hopefully in time to give to some tiny new people on Sunday.
In between an appointment time and the actual time of said appointment this week, I learned to knit socks 2-at-a-time. I used scrap acrylic yarn, and had every intention of making the full practise-socks..... but I wanted to play with nice yarn, so ripped these off the needles.
It's all about the yarn, isn't it?
The one-at-a-time socks were finished in Post Office queues and during swimming lessons, hairdresser visits and various waiting-for-kid times. (If you ask the wee girl, "They took THREE gymnastics to make!")
In between getting the girl and bloke out the door to school/work and getting myself dressed for work, I'm fitting in a swim every second day. Yep, I'm feeling SO MUCH BETTER for the exercise, the breathing space and the think time.... and feeling a bit more like the me of old.
I've even managed to squeeze in a few early nights and a bit of reading. Love a good cracking-read potted history, me.... And I think I may have mentioned my love of costume-dramas, before...
My Sunday night viewing of late is as many episodes of Downton Abbey as my eyes can take. My head is positively swimming with Edwardian collar and pocket details.

It's amazing how many little in-between times there are, and how much can be fitted in, when it's the stuff that I love to do. Not surprisingly, in making these things a priority, I haven't spent as much time online. I think that's a good thing. I feel like I'm DOING stuff.

I'm reminded of a story a friend told me,
about a friend of hers who met an old man in Ireland
who had hand-built an extraordinarily beautiful boat.
When asked how long it took to make,
the old man said casually "Nine years"...
The friend was astounded.
The old man said, matter of factly,
"Sure, it would have taken just as long
NOT to build it."

Now....If only I could fit in the finishing of umpteen half-developed Nicole Mallalieu Design patterns, a re-working of the wholesale pricelist and a website update....

Socka to me....

I love this yarn - wool, cotton and a little hint of poly-something-in-Italian (nylon?). Warm, soft and (I assume) hard-wearing, it knits just as if I'd thought about the striped pattern it makes all by itself.
I'm really enjoying my adventures in The Land of Sock-Knitting. I'm a long way from flawless double-moss stitch and perfect tension ....and we won't mention my kitchener stitch.... but I love working within a new form, learning new things. I love that I can feel my brain sparking up new connections as my knitting repertoire expands. But mostly, I think I'm in love with making fabric from yarn.... and I love that sock fabric takes shape pretty quickly, especially when the socks are for a small girl. Of course, I should be doing something about meeting a looming magazine deadline, but after a couple of frustrating sewing days, I'm in need of a bit of stitch-by-stitch meditation and therapy.

The satisfaction of seeing something coming together (instead of seeing something being unpicked more than it's sewed and having to photograph every step 65 times from each angle...and then having to unpick again.... and re-shoot....) is where's it's at, man.

(Just sayin'....)