Good God, I've sewn a Tea Cosy!!

There are a few things in my life I said I would never do, bungee jumping, waitressing, and sewing a tea cosy, to name a few...Not that I have anything against anyone that bungee jumps, or waitresses, they just aren't for me. I have issues with tea-cosy's, namely because of having done several disastrous craft fairs, where no one wanted to buy my hats, but made requests for teacosys. So, it became an issue. Just the same as the knitting thing before crochet became uber-cool, I don’t knit and I don’t make tea cosy’s, repeated at craft fairs like a mantra.

I was reminded recently of my poor Aunt, who asked 2 years ago for a tea cosy. That was before Rachel Allan, and that fish-cooking lady with the frilly apron, were around, and all things traditional and frilly could be found. It was hard to get a simple traditional tea cosy that didn’t cost €50 in Avoca. But I have a bad history with sewing; it involves black smoke, flying electric cord, broken needles, to name but a few. And I kept putting it off...

Still fresh from my sewing weekend in Cork, and as part of the withdrawal programme, I felt it was time to tackle the tea cosy. After browsing through a few blogs, websites, YouTube videos, I settled on the simple, clear instructions on The Rusty Bobbin website...

A bit of tweaking and cursing, I managed to produce not one tea cosy, but two!! For both my teapots. The fabric I used is left over duvet from making last year’s Electric Picnic Bananas, and the edging is some scrap fabric I salvaged a long time ago. So, I now feel ready to make the Aunties tea cosy. Thought this time I am going to go all out, and use a patchwork of Irish linen, and crochet the edging. Might take another year yet to make it...

Washing Handspun Yarn

Lady spinning at Museum of Folk Life, Co. Mayo

I spent ages searching for my hand spinning book, and couldn't find it. I am so nervous of washing my hand-spun yarn, that I always need reassurance I am doing it right. Thankfully I blogged about washing my first hand-spun yarn last year, but it was rather a long-winded affair.

Recent Purchases...

Before I started my withdrawal programme, I made a few purchases. These were all very necessary, to prepare for a Freeform Crochet workshop I am doing in June. (Good excuse more like!!). Firstly were a few magazines from lado.etsy.com. These magazines may not be my usual cup of tea, a bit too windy down here in Kerry for these frocks, but what they are doing with crochet, and Irish Crochet Lace at the moment is phenomenal. AND the price of 4 Duplet magazines coming from the Ukraine, cost the same as buying 2 mediocre crochet magazines from Easons... I highly recommend them.

No, you don't have to speak the language! Thankfully they have all the patterns in international crochet symbols. A language I've yet to master, I must admit, but they really are incredible resources. The patterns themselves are beautiful to look at. I am tempted to just draw the patterns and not bother crocheting them at all...



So, I have the books and magazines, what about the yarn? I had just about run out of the cotton thread I bought at last year's workshops, so I needed to get more. I never realised until browsing through folks lace projects on Ravelry, that there was so many types of crochet cotton thread available. Coats, DMC, Clea, Venus, etc... So I did a browse online, and discovered a few places and brands, and here's what I bought.

Eldorado made by Coats from Willow Fabrics. No. 10 - suitable for 1.5mm-1.75mm hook. It came with a free pattern as well, on making little lace bags and edgings.

I've never done any coloured crochet lace, so I thought I'd have to dabble. A range of Coats Anchor variegated pearl cotton (no. 8) from Thread-Mill on EBay, who gave me some lovely free beads as well...

And now to my favourite discovery, Yarnstick. UK based, Yarnstick is an online shop dedicated totally to crochet!! That has to be a first for this part of the world. She had so many brands and ranges of size, I couldn't decide which ones to buy. So, I picked out a few, and very cheekily asked for a few samples, which the lovely Lalana, kindly did. The large ball, Clea, is very good value, and is quite soft. It is suitable for 1.25mm hook. I can see myself getting purchases from there again, once my withdrawal programme is over...

St. Patricks Day Parade, Dingle 2010

Tadhg

The Marching bands and stuff...

It's an Irish Parade, you gotta have trucks, tractors and boats!!

Our favourite - Bugsy Malone!!

I missed my calling in life!!

The child is asleep, unusual for mid-day, so I thought I would browse online. Something I'm not really allowed to do at the moment, but it was more trying to catch up with people than sign up to crazy textile projects!! I came across Colour Career Counsillor, The Dewey Color System® is now the world's most accurate career testing instrument, blah, blah, and it gave me a great laugh. Apparently I missed my calling in life. I should have been an accountant!!

You're an ORGANIZER

Keywords

Self-Control, Practical, Self-Contained, Orderly, Systematic, Precise, and Accurate

These conservative appearing, plotting-types enjoy organizing, data systems, accounting, detail, and accuracy. They often enjoy mathematics and data management activities such as accounting and investment management. Persistence and patience allows them to do detailed paperwork, operate office machines, write business reports, and make charts and graphs.

ORGANIZER CAREERS
Suggested careers are Administrator, Secretary, Printer, Paralegal, Building Inspector, Bank Cashier, Private Secretary, Statistician, Operations Manager, Financial Analyst, Bookkeeper, Medical Records Technician, Developer of Business or Computer Systems, Clerical Worker, Proofreader, Accountant, Administrative Assistant, Banker, Certified Public Accountant, Credit Manager, Store Salesperson, Actuary, Dental Assistant, Business Education Teacher, Food Service Manager, IRS Agent, Budget Analyst, and Underwriter.

ORGANIZER WORKPLACES
Your very careful, conscientious, conservative nature gives others the confidence to trust you with handling money and material possessions. Structured organizations that have well-ordered chains of command work best for you. Suggested Organizer workplaces are large corporations, business offices, financial lending institutions, banks, insurance companies, accounting firms, and quality control and inspection departments.

OK, I get some of it, the plotting, the persistance, but jesus, they could at least have said Bank Manager, not bank cashier. What's with all the Assistant stuff? Operate office machines?

Well, even if I was thinking of a change of career (em, a career!!), I dont think the whole bank/accountant thing is the way to go, at the moment. I think this is a conspiracy, to try persuade us all to be ants, do your job, as a dental assistant and be happy at the well, near the bottom of the Well-ordered chain of command. Whose behind this website? Have they every seen my house! There is absolutely nothing Self-Control, Practical, Self-Contained, Orderly, Systematic, Precise, and Accurate, in a yarnaholics house. We all know that...

10 STEP Yarnaholics Withdrawal Programme.

I mentioned in my previous post, well, hinted at my 10 step Yarnaholics Withdrawal Programme.

I am not doing this as a joke, I am deadly serious! I have a yarn problem. I sign up to more groups, events and projects than I can handle, I can't say no. I have way to much yarn and textile tools, I never have enough time to work on my own projects, and I can't go throughout the day without thinking I need some yarn time... Here's an example, there is a few movies in the cinema, I'd like to see, for some you kind of have, the 3D ones. And I don't go, because that's wasted stitching time. I have things I said I would make for people, oh, going on years now, and I haven't gotten round to it. I have deadlines that I need to work on, but I don't. Get the Picture!

So here is my own personal programme, to get myself together... I am on Day 5 of my programme, and it is working OK so far. I come up with a new Rule every other day, so I only have 3 rules so far. Over the next month, I will have assembled 10 Rules, 10 steps, and be a reformed person.

RULE 1: JUST SAY NO!
No more signing up to events, projects, groups, no more crazy community textile projects.

RULE NO 2: DON'T BROWSE ONLINE
I am going to turn off the computer by 9pm every night. Just an hour of work, catch up, then, turn it off. (This is harder than you think.) This is supposed to stop me finding out about interesting projects, buying any more yarn and equipment, and getting me to spend some time working instead..

RULE NO 3: Dig out all WIP and frogged projects and finish them before starting any other. Found a few very old projects under the couch today. Spun yarn waiting to be washed, bag and blanket waiting to be felted, bag needs lining, etc...


So far so good. I'm going to edit this page as I think of more rules. There could be some positive ones as well, but they are harder to think of at the moment.

Cork Textiles Network Workshop

Detail of Hand and Machine Embroidered Sample

Just a brief about the Cork Textiles Network Conference Colour and Form in Textiles.

There was talks from 3 very different textile artists, Connections with Colour with Ruth Issett, Process and Form with Angela O'Kelly, and Flights of Discovery with Nicola Henley.

Catching Up with Myself

I am a bit behind in my thoughts and typings. So here is briefly the Dublin trip: Lugged up a few bags of coral to the Science Gallery, a lovely collection from myself, and fellow crocheters from the Kerry area. (Special thanks to Jan, who helped gather them all up...)

I did my usual trip to the Chester Betty Library, my favourite museum, and saw a fantastic exhibition on Narrative and Figure Drawings 15th-20thCentury from the Shanghai Museum. I spent ages looking at the beautiful drawings, the skill in the costumes, the delicate patterns, folds, flow of the fabric. I have always been drawn to this style of artwork, not just because a lot of them were painted on silk, but because of the layout, the simplicity, the presence in just a few lines of ink. And what is great, is that for the first time the Library also has an online exhibition of all of the works, so you can enjoy it too!! Visit www.cbl.ie/china/



I paid a visit to Chapters Bookstore, and was amazed at how many crochet books were for sale!! Too many for my purse, so I just bought one book Finishing Techniques for Crochet. After that I whizzed into the Hugh Lane Gallery to see the Francis Bacon exhibition. Now, he has never really been my cup of tea, (too much angst, I have enough of that already, thanks!), but I wanted to finally see The Studio. There is a fantastic story behind it, which I will give very briefly...

Hugh Lane was an art collector of a lot of Impressionist paintings, and other arty stuff. He was going to leave everything to the Irish State, on condition that they would be housed in a purpose built gallery. Irish politicians being what they are, didn't get it together, so Hugh said he would leave everything to the Tate Gallery in the UK. Then the Irish got it together, said they would build a gallery, and before Hugh had time to re-write his will, he popped his clogs, drowned on the Lusitania. So, dilemma, morally all his stuff belongs to the Irish, but technically they belong to the Tate. So, a lot of paintings are actually just on lone from the Tate, making it a curatorial nightmare. Anyway, back to Bacon, who was Irish, but well, hated Ireland, lived in the UK, he popped his clogs, and well I'm not 100% sure whether he left his studio to Ireland, but his lover who was now holidaying in Thailand, said, the Hugh Lane could take the lot. So, well, they took the lot, the whole studio, including the stairs!! The Tate hearing that the Irish were about to bag the Bacon studio, tried to get a preservation order on the Studio, Reece Mews. Before the Brits had time to say whatdaf***, the Irish had moved in a team of Archaeologists, and disassembled the whole studio, dirty rags and all. Even found an unknown painting buried in the pile!! So, now the Studio resides in the Hugh Lane, and it well, just looks like a messy art studio. Don't know what all the fuss was about. But I like the story. Tate Vs Hugh Lane, one all so far. Interesting to see what happens next..

Please note this is my version of events, the Huge Lane and Tate will probably deny all rumours of a rift..

Disasters and Silly Pictures

I seem to always start my posts, messages, emails, etc, with apologies about things being hectic. But I'm sorry, they have been hectic again, and again. Just seems to be the way my life is at the moment. So, I have stuck in a silly picture at the start and the end of the post to, well, brighten up a post about disasters...I've had a few disasters lately, one kinda major, one not so major, and one oh well....

Disasters

The not so major disaster, was me having a hard time making a scarf for my swopee, part of a St. Patricks Day Swop organised on Ravelry. My swopee was vacrocheter, who, has read my blog (and is probably reading it now) so she knows I have many disasters when it comes to following a pattern. Long story about not enough yarn, ripping back and etc etc. Anyway, it worked out fine, and she is happy with it!! Or maybe she is just being polite...

Scarf for vacrocheter

The kinda major disaster happened while I was trying to take photos of all the crocheted coral that I had made, and that I have gathered from others, to bring to Dublin. Another long story made short, my neighbours kids decided to use my car as a blackboard, using stones instead of chalk... oh, will probably cost about a grand to get it resprayed... wont go there...I will post the few photos I got of the coral, and about my Dublin trip some other day.

My oh well disaster, was me having to bow out of the Ravelympics 2010, simply because I was too tired to take and upload the photos. Yes, I was that tired yesterday, I actually declined to take part in something yarny and ridiculous...I let down Team Ireland, but that was the price I had to pay for taking on too much...

So, here is another silly picture, to brighten up what could have been a glum post...