Can you tell I got a badge maker?

Salvaged badges

Bits of embroidery saved from a very sweet but rather stained vintage apron that I found at Milnerton market. I'll be listing them in my shop this weekend, once I've decided which one I'm keeping for myself!

Kamersvol Geskenke

I worked a shift at Kamersvol Geskenke today, and remembered to take my camera. The road there:


Lots of flowers on show...

Jewelery and accessories...

Toys...


By the time my shift finished, all the food was sold out, except for these very good olives.


The road back...

...with Paarl mountain in the distance.

Treasuries

My Etsy shop's been included in two lovely treasuries recently. So "Thank you!" to Ariandmayadesigns, who make beautiful jewelery, as well as these nifty jotters:

Jotter by Ariandmayadesigns

And "Thank you!" to 3GIRLSandagoat, who makes exquisite gift tags and envelopes:

Gift tags by 3GIRLSandagoat

Labels

Oops! Didn't mean to be gone for so long... last week was very busy.


I've been illustrating two books, as well as getting stock ready for Kamersvol Geskenke. I wasn't sure how I'd get through this month, so in desperation I drew up a timetable, splitting my days into drawing time and crafting time. (I didn't budget enough time for daily blog reading, there's serious catching up to do....) So far it's worked incredibly well: while I'm drawing I'm concentrating on that, and when I put the books aside I'm focused on printing or sewing. I've given myself time for errands, and - sheer luxury! - a lunch hour, when I also take the dog for a walk. In the last three weeks I've done more work than I thought possible; it seems study timetables aren't just for exams.

Packaging for Kamersvol was a daunting task; every single item had to be tagged and priced. Luckily, I had a bit of a revelation about packaging and labeling after reading this post by The Wren.

My name, contact details, product information, the price code, and the price have to be on each thing, because I won't be there to talk to customers. For someone who equates packaging with advertising, and has (I think) a healthy distrust of both, I had a surprising amount of fun!

Pretty

Photo by McHats

Another hat pattern from the brilliant McHats. And she's trimmed it with some of my ribbon. I think it looks lovely! You can find this pattern and others right here.

This hat from McHats has seen a bit of use, and it's worth mentioning that, because of it's shape, it stays on my head in the windiest weather. Quite important in Cape Town at this time of year.

Bustling

Along with hordes of other craftspersons, I'm getting ready for Kamersvol Geskenke next week. Blogging might be a bit thin while I get everything priced and tagged....

Random pet photo

Yay! Nearly weekend, time to lie around on the couch!

Other things to do this weekend include going to the opening of Gabby Raaf and Tamsyn Lancaster's exhibition at these four walls, checking out the Natural and Organics Expo at the Cape Town Convention Center, and last but not least, knitting for a few blissful hours at The Book Lounge on Saturday afternoon.

It's also time to say thank you for all the mentions of my work in the last while. Beware; if you follow these links you might spend the whole weekend at your pc...

Rachel Simonsen, shelterrific, Creature Comforts, and Bricolage and Butter are all brilliant at finding loads of beautiful things (including Etsy picks) that will have you locking your credit card away. Perfectbound is full of lovely photos. renovate + decorate is all about home decor.

If you don't know Scoutie Girl, flowerpress, and painted fish studio yet, you should have a look. (And head on over to their shops, too)

Hanies mentioned my stamp pad tut, and then took things a few steps further testing inks for stamping on an umbrella - very tempting to try!

And My adventure is your advantage inspired my little pet photography episode today (scroll down, if you can ignore all the great links, to the Schnauzer photo...)

New ceramics

One of the lovely things about putting transfers on ceramics is that everything gets sent away for a day or two to be fired. By the time it comes back I've almost forgotten what I've done, and unpacking the boxes feels a bit like unwrapping presents.

More photos of the new batch on my Flickr page.

Technically, this is older than I am

Pattern from Stitchcraft, August 1965. The pattern requires Patons Cameo Crepe. I found bucketloads of Patons Bluebell Crepe at a charity shop, and guessed that it was similar. Vintage yarn calls for a vintage pattern.

(But not tiny zips at the back of the neck, so I cast off before the neck shaping.)

Crepe yarn is wonderful to work with, and wears really well - this has been worn a lot, and hasn't pilled at all. It's a complete mystery to me that crepe isn't readily available any more.

Very Useful Black Thing

This one's a few years old now, but I'm on the subject of knitting (and my wardrobe) so... a basic polo neck raglan that I wear all the time. Usually back to front, with the collar folded in.

It used to be a huge floppy machine-knit v-neck raglan, and belonged to a boyfriend. He left it behind when he left, and I suppose he couldn't gather up the courage to ask for it back or something. It hung around in my cupboard for a while, until one evening when I was in need of something to knit.

The thin acrylic it was made from was really crinkly, and there's no way I know of to get the kinks out. But it gave 5 x 5 rib a surprisingly lovely texture! No need to steam and stretch yarn anymore.


And no abandoned items of clothing in my cupboard that belonged to other people.

Months in the making

From a Vogue Knitting pattern* (the original had long sleeves). Made with Mystery Yarn: very thin, on a cone, used double, and made in the 70s if the label is anything to go by. Why so long? Let's see... the right front had to be done twice because I forgot to change needles after the ribbing, one of the sleeves had to be done twice because I forgot how the decreases on the armholes had been done and made up my own, and after sewing up the body was too long and I had to chop off the ribbing and knit it again. Oh, and the button band was done a few times: once in the car on the way to a wedding (emergency winter wedding wear) and it came out too wide and therefore frilly, once because I'd chopped off the ribbing, and then once again because the buttonholes were too big. I suspect I've used these buttons upside down, but the backs are nicer than the fronts.


I'm not entirely sold on the bobbles that run all the way down the sleeves, but this thing took so long to make that I'm going to wear it anyway. And my niece likes trying to pull them off!

*Vogue Knitting Winter 2005/06, an Anna Sui design.

Books

New notebooks, and a new cushion cover. All today's photos of the cushion are a weird colour (damn that orange pine floor!) and now the light is fading, so I'll try again tomorrow. I'll have it all listed in my shop by Sunday.

Update: the cushion and a selection of books are in my shop.

Vintage knit

This could be the easiest thing I've ever knitted... I simply cast on, followed the pattern, and it fits! The sleeves are the same length, I'm just standing funny. 'Short-sleeved striped cotton sweater' from Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas. (Actually, it's that pattern, but I used the stripe pattern from another one in the same book, and made the body one stripe longer.)

Whole Food

Some illustrations I did for The Whole Food Almanac by Michelle Matthews of Cookie (Not Cheffy), which was launched last night.
It's a guide for the Western Cape, listing producers and sellers of healthy food; apart from being useful, it's also a guidebook that could send you on a bit of an adventure, tasting food you've never tasted before, and visiting places you've never been.
A few days ago I read this article about Jamie Oliver's new cooking show, just before I went to the shop to buy lunch. Staring at the ham, deciding between a bit of meat costing R6 and a bit costing R8, I noticed the sliced polony. R2 would buy you enough for a good solid sarmie. It's hard to argue with that.
(These last 2 drawings weren't used in the book.)

Simple?

The simpler the object, the harder it seems to be to photograph. Hats off to people who manage to take interesting shots of cushions! (This one's finally in the shop.)

Shine!

Heart pins by Frieda Luhl

Shine! is a jewellery show, opening on Wednesday night at Curious, Whetstone and Frankley. And ooh, look! You can win stuff on opening night!

I think that's it!

Possibly (probably) the last of the swatches...

From Cicada Daydream:

From Venetian Blue:


I couldn't resist laying everything out to have a look. Thank you to everyone who sent me swatches!


This is by no means the final layout - that's going to take a good few days. Aesthetic decisions aside, I also have to start thinking about how to put this together. 'Gather materials' ... hmmm... does anyone with quilting experience have any suggestions? Backing fabric and batting come to mind - what else?

Etsy in South Africa

Etsy is taking off in South Africa - look at all the things you can buy online!



From left to right, top to bottom: scootah's egg cozies; MayBeMe's creatures; mama4earth's cute animals; mytile's tiles; FreshlyFound's glove cushions; TheSteamerTrunk's vintage patterns; sofiakemm's jewellery; redreflector's rings; and christyannebestwick's jewellery.

(Shameless lies from me yesterday - no new cushions in my shop today, because I have no new photos of them, because I've been doing a spot of illustration work. Maybe tomorrow...)