Sackboy Debate Continues...

To date I have received some lovely emails (and one or two slightly demanding ones!), from people looking to see if I have a pattern for my Sackboy's.

We all know that Sackboy is copyright material, and we cant sell the patterns or the toys, but the debate on whether or not we can give out the patterns for free is still raging.

Personally, I dont think it should be a problem, I'd love to give away my pattern. Its the first proper pattern I have ever written, and its been lovely having people say they like my Sackboy and Sackgirl and would like to make it. But, personaly, I am not willing to take on the Wrath of Sony. We've all heard about the Dr Who scarf incident....

Here are some suggestions of what I think they should do...

• Post officially approved patterns and links on the LBG blog/website
• Have a competition for the best patterns.
  
• Have a competition for the best Sackboys and auction them off for charity
• Give a silent nod that even if we wont get official approval to giving away patterns, we wont be hunted down...
• Make everyone who wants to give away a pattern write something on their patterns to say they cant be sold in anyway

If you have made a Sackboy or would like inspiration check out the Home-made Sackboy group on Flickr

Feedback on The Rant, Infectious Air of Unease (and not enough wool talk)

Thanks to anyone who commented or got in touch about my little Rant. Instead of feeling like I have been left out, I now feel like I am being drawn in. And that's a good thing! I always believed there was a huge gap between Art and Craft, even between Textiles and other Craft. But I now have come to believe there is a huge silent (and not-so-silent, as I discovered) gap among the Yarny Types. A snobbery between the Traditionalists and the Activists, between Yarn types - are you natural or synthetic, even techniques...

There are quite a few of us tender souls who have been pecked at in some way, and we feel bad about it. But sometimes we need a little disagreement to realise what it is exactly we are doing. . Anyone that knows me personally will know a little disagreement only spurs me on. So, as politically correct as I usually try to be, I think its time to have a Father Ted moment and say FECK!

Feck ya boring old sods, who cant get a giggle from a woman who has nothing better to do than drive round Mexico in a Crochet Covered Bus.

So, if you have ever had a negative feedback to anything you innocently said, (I don't mean to anything political/religious/moral, I am not getting into that...), here is my Irish advice, say "Feck ya anyway", dust yourself off. Under no circumstance should you feel bad or pushed out of a group you enjoy being in. Go forth and multiply your rows, wrap it around buses and lamp-posts, put up links to it everywhere...

Anyway enough with the banter, wheres the woolly stuff, this is supposed to be a woolly blog...

This week there has been very little woolly time unfortunately. My Etsy shop has been abandoned until after Xmas, my stuff for the Christmas Craft Fair lies ends hanging out, unlabeled in bags. Yesterday I spent the whole day cleaning the garden because I was told a lorry load of topsoil was arriving, and I have nowhere to put it, as the the raised beds aren't built. Thankfully it didn't arrive, but it could today. I've lost all the notes from the organic gardening course I am doing, and I have to hand in my folder... As well as trying to grow my own veg, I am trying to start a dye garden, and have spent the week reading up on plants to grow, but nothing is sinking in, because very few of them are suited to miserable Irish weather, and they don't have pictures, I need pictures, bright glossy ones. At the moment life is chaos, downright good old fashioned chaos. I haven't felt this over-whelmed since trying to come up with a good excuse for not doing my homework to a particularly nasty teacher... So, its time for calm, calm.....

I blame the economic situation. Every time you listen to the news, the paper, queue in the bank, its all doom and gloom. There is such an infectious air of unease around, its getting to me whether I like it or not. I haven't been affected that much, I've been poor for years, I'm used to tightening the belt. Oh, speaking of belts, I need to get a my 10 or so inkle looms back from Galway, I promised poor C. I would collect them months ago. Sorry!!! Its on my list, back to my list....where is the list....

World Beach Project

I finally got it together to go out to the beach to arrange some stones and take some photos for the World Beach Project. Not the nicest beach, but the nearest to me. It was late afternoon and already the sun was starting to set so I did a very simple, not very original, stones on top of each other set up.

Kilfenora, Fenit, Co. Kerry

Ravelry Bubble is Bursting...oh and lots of Toast talk

I have been on Ravelry for some months now (ahem..a good few months), in fact I owe my blog, and all other Internet activity to Ravelry. Before that I was an Internet virgin. I just thought it was a vast telephone directory, and why would I be bothered with it. I had a great social life, I had a fantastic social life. But with meeting a man, settling down, too much age, beer and toast. My first blog was nearly going to be a toast blog, such is my devotion to the Irish Sliced Pan, Toast recipes for the poor, drunk or just cant get anything else together. I'm talking about it now because I have been off the bread bin for two days now and am feeling it. Stop, stop thinking of creamy butter and melted cheese over tomatoes with a sprinkle of basil....

...So, as I said with too much age and too little money I have slowly turned into a..a.. as my boyfriend snorts, my girlfriend the blogger! Something he never thought he'd see. (I know you secretly read my blog, so this rant is especially for you, because you read those ranty kind of blogs and also for the toast part as i know your missing it too!!)

So, since becoming a Blogger, Raveler, and general computer chair potato, I have been revelling in Ravelry, the be all and end all of Crochet and Knitting communities. I have found wonderful
people and patterns and ideas. Oh it has been a woolly nirvana, but today I sadly had my bubble slightly deflated. Like the beginning of a slow puncture, you cant quite see, but you know its there. I know its probably just a reaction to the withdrawal of white bread, don't laugh, white bread is an Irish institution, it forms the foundation of every meal. Toast for breakfast, roll for a snack, maybe soup with bread for lunch, a slice folded over with dinner, chip butties for a late night snack...back to the topic at hand...

It will probably seem so trivial to most people but I got a negative reaction to something I posted. My first one. I have seen them in other threads, and have just glazed over them, but today, it was to something I posted. I wasn't sure quite what the etiquette was on how to react. What is the etiquette, is there one, or do you all just rant off and rant back whenever you feel like it? My view was always if you saw someone expressing views you didn't like just ignore it, or neutralise it. The one thing I have strong opinions on is the right of every individual to Keep their opinions to themselves!! It wasn't like I was discussing some moral topic like war or religion, it was an article on a knitted bus in Mexico. What I was remarking on was that most of it was actually crocheted not on the rights and wrongs of graffiti, or the damage to public property by putting a knitted leg warmer on a pole, the mess and danger of fraying wool...

I dont know why it annoyed me so much but it did, so I thought I'd have a good old rant about it here in my blog where no-one can answer back negatively. Well you can, but if you do, I'll delete your comment. I haven't done much ranting on this blog, my apologies if you come here for the usual woolly banter. If you are new to me and this post annoys you, it isnt my usual line. You see, I cant even rant on my own blog without apologising, and trying to keep the peace...

Oh dont worry I did give a big old rant back at them. They wont cross my threads again!!
Here's the link to the article as I think its interesting, and I wish I was in Mexico on that damn bus with an extra large toasted sandwich...

World Beach Project

Just came across a lovely project on the V&A website about the World Beach Project.

The World Beach Project is a global art project open to anybody, anywhere, of any age. Building on the experience many of us have of making patterns on beaches and shorelines, this project combines the simplicity of making patterns with stones with the complexities of shape, size, colour, tone, composition, similarity and difference.

Simply, go to a local beach, make some sort of design with stones , take a photo and add it to the online gallery. Couldn't be simpler!

There only seems to be about 7 Irish entries, which is a bit poor considering we're not short of a few stones and we have a vast coastline. So, use it as an excuse to get out for a walk, play for a few mins.

My Books

I have owned and lost some beautiful books over the years. Some were borrowed and never returned, some simply vanished between various moves across the country. Mostly its my fault, for some reason I hate asking people to return things, maybe its an Irish guilt thing. Maybe its because I hate feeling attached to things, things that can be lost, and pretend I dont need or want them.

My first real book trauma, was when I moved from Dublin to Dingle, Co. Kerry. I ended up selling about 6/7 cardboard boxes of books to a bookshop for €50, because he was the only one who would collect them. I hadn't read all of them, but I had read a fair few of them. I had no choice, as all I could take with me had to fit into my mums car, (which at the time was a small Fiat Uno). Duvets, clothes and music also had to fit in there as well.

But I actually miss some of my lost craft books. The Japanese Macrame one, where the illustrations are so good, you don't need to be able to read Japanese (gone at least 10 years). The beautiful, History of Beads, with pull out timeline, and amazing pictures, (also gone 10 years ago). The Directory of Crochet Stitches, which had how to do Aran crochet (prob gone about 7 years). I suppose if I trawled though the net I could find these books again, but I cant remember the name, publisher, etc. Since I get most of my books second-hand, I feel they will come back to me again that way, also I just cant afford to buy them all.

But, since settling down (sort of, I've been in the same house for nearly 3 years, huge achievement on my part), I have created what I think is a fantastic craft library, and I'm going to be possessive and not lose them! I have now developed an upstairs/downstairs system with my books. Downstairs, in the sitting room, I mostly keep novels, reference, etc. Books I don't mind lending out, that I don't mind not coming back. Upstairs, I keep my prized possessions, my craft books, and my favourites, mostly children's illustrated books. Honoured guests can be brought upstairs to admire, discuss but not borrow...

So, just incase I do, stupidly lend one of my beloved craft books, and not ask for it back, I'm going to create a book list, with name, publisher, ISBN, etc...I will be editing this page continuously as I go through all my books, and slowly create a catalogue. If there is any book on the list you covet, (be honest, you covet one or two of them, I did, that's why I bought it!), feel free to ask about it.

Updated to say a big Thank you to Lauria for leaving a comment, and telling me about Librarything. I have been a bit scared of joining Library type things online for fear of seeing too many books I like, but this place is fantastic! If they have my recent purchase of Viking Age Headcoverings from Dublin in their data banks, well, then they must be good.... Here is my new Librarything page
(I am currently looking at the books beside me and adding them in, this could take me all night when I'm supposed to be making a tea-cosy. I know that sounds like a cliche, but I am actually making a granny square tea-cosy. So, I'm going to do a shelf every few nights, first shelf now added!!)

Crazy week, crazy life

As I said, I had a crazy week last week, but every day gets crazier. I'm taking a break at the moment from trying to get a photography class together. I'm not a photographer, but my friend asked me to teach a photography class with her local ICA group tomorrow night. (For those of you who don't know about the ICA, its the Irish Countrywomen's Association, the oldest women's group in Ireland. Politically it used to hold a lot of clout but today it is renowned for its grannies, baking and of course, knitting). She wants a very basic class, not in the workings of a digital camera but how to take photos. I take photos, a lot of photos, even before I went digital. I have 4 old suitcases of photos under my sons bed. He's not old enough to complain about it yet, thankfully. I take photos for me, not anyone else, for colour and texture. But now I have to go into a class of elderly women (bar my friend) and explain how to take photos? When I came back from Finland with 35 rolls of film, my sister just said, no way, make a photo album of the best or I wont look at any. (She still never got through the album). Its funny, because its not something I ever really thought about before. I'm trying to get it finished tonight so I can sleep, because I wont sleep until I have it done. It makes me wish I had a Flickr Pro account with all my photos organised into Compositional Folders, of Perspectives and Rule of Thirds... instead of oddments, textiles and crochet!!

So, why do you take photos, and what do you do with them?

What a Week!

So much has happened in the last week, its hard to know where to start. The highlight was the Knitting and Stitching Show, in the RDS, Dublin. I flew up on Thursday, very early, and headed straight out to the RDS, where I got to meet the lovely Denise, and finally cast my eyes of the Hyperbolic Crocheted Coral Reef! (Yes, the one I have been going on and on and on about...). The show itself was great, but I was happy enough just sitting, doing some crochet, yapping to anyone that will listen. It was great to catch up with fellow Ravelers, and put faces to avatars. It was also great to also meet with old friends and teachers. I suppose a picture says a thousand words, so here's the beloved Coral Reef!!

Photos just don't do it justice, but if you want to see more, check out Flickr. Now, normally the Knit and Stitch brings out the hoarder in all of us, in fact, I still have some threads and things I bought many years ago. But since I went on a little book ordering spree before the weekend, I made the decision to keep the spending fairly low-key. and I actually managed to succeed. All I bought at this years Knitting and Stitching show, were...new crochet hooks!!

I won't bore you with the details, but theres a bamboo, size 12, and 4 Clover hooks in various sizes. I have never used these Clover Hooks before, but I got to test them out while doing crochet demonstrations, and I found them great to work with. Oh sorry, just bored you with details....

With a bad hangover, on Saturday morning, I decided to go for a stroll around town, before heading home, might as well make this a full-on cultural outing! I was worried about my new crochet hooks, and decided not to take the risk with airport security, and went down to the GPO, and posted them to myself. I shouldn't have bothered, as they didn't even find the small pair of scissors I didn't know were in my bag!!

So, cultural outing no 2 (the Knit and Stitch being the 1st): A visit to the LAB gallery to see a lovely exhibition Krickle Krackle, of crochet by Dorothy Ann Daly. The venue is quite nice but a pity about the lack of signs, the junk left in the hallway, and the 2 lads at reception who didn't seem to know anything.

Cultural outing no 3: Walking past the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Trinity, I had a quick peek to see what was on. Skipping past the bad paintings, I discovered, tucked in a small room was an exhibition of Japanese Tea Bowls. Not a big deal if you are not into Japanese Tea Bowls, and personally I'm not really into Japanese Tea Bowls, but I'm interested in the whole aesthetic behind Japanese Tea Bowls. The whole thing about Japanese Tea bowls is they, to use the blurb,
looked at from another perspective, the best of them possess great depth, beauty, and integrity. When I was trying to get my final pieces together for my diploma, I was struggling to get the necessary thoughts into words. I wanted to create something from nothing, ugly from beauty, and of course in typical me fashion, something completely non-functional!! I came across a book in a 2nd hand shop called Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren. This book, I can say changed my whole outlook on art and life, and certainly my diploma show!! It is about the aesthetic behind the beauty of these Tea bowls. There was actually a copy of the book in the gallery, and I haven't thought of it in ages so it was a beautiful reminder.

Cultural Outing no 4: Usually I go to the Chester Beatty Library whenever I'm in Dublin, but a wonderful conversation with Anita Bruce who had visited the Museum, made me feel like going there. I haven't been there in years. It seemed appropriate since I'm currently reading Dress in Ireland by Mairead Dunlevy, and since I had only read the 1st two chapters, most of which is displayed at the National Museum, it was great to see the actual pieces she was talking about. I was very proud of the fact I didn't spend too much money at the Knit and Stitch Show. But, alas, my thriftiness was short lived. Its like a trap going into the Museum, you have to walk through the shop to go inside, and I thought I'd just take a quick look at the books. Needless to say, I ended up spending a few €'s. I'm sorry but could you resist a book on Viking Headscarves from Fishamble Street! While I was there I also did a few sketches, much to the amusement of the French students milling about. The museum is bigger than I remember, I definitely didn't see the Bog Bodies section before, which is a little bit creepy..

Outings over, it was time to go home. An uneventful flight home (thank god), a tired Sunday and a mad dash to get some Celebrity Designed Hats made for the Big Knit. Monday, brought all the goodies I have been waiting for, (and the reason I was thrifty at the Knit and Stitch).

But that's a story for another day....

Innocent Smoothie Big Knit Day

Just a quickie to remind everyone that the Innocent smoothies Hats go on sale on the 5th November, in Topez stations across the country.