Thursday 2 November 2006

Craft Porn

First off a little yarn porn.... Socks that Rock. This stuff deserves every inch of its reputation. Blissful to knit with.
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Not a colour combo I would have picked out on a shelf but I am *loving* the way it is knitting up. Have done one sock already and about an inch of the second. Should serve as a reminder to think ahead to what colours will look like all merged together rather than judging them in skein form.

Now we have some ATC porn. When I got home last night I had post from all corners of the globe. 4 packages of ATCs not to mention my fave magazine.
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Every time I get ATCs I am amazed with what people do. Makes me wonder what my paltry efforts are thought of.

I am still thoroughly into swapping on Swap bot and most recently completed my first ever dish/face cloth for a swap. I had always meant to do one but kept thinking they were a bit pathetic. Let me tell you - that opinion has been thoroughly kicked out the window. Look what I did in about an hour last night (my swap partner has a green and blue colour scheme on the theme of apples and chickens. Thought a chicken might be a bit beyond me!)...
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It is just so cool! (modest? me?) The pattern is from knitting pattern central which is where I am heading just as soon as I finish typing this lot. I have been mucking about with soap making in my spare minutes and one of these with a handmade bar of soap as a xmas present? - yeah baby, I'm there.

In other new the second edition of the Proud to be Crafty Zine is shaping up nicely. Am having fun with fonts. Deadline for submissions is 12 Nov so email me at littlelixieathotmaildotcom if you have something you'd like to see in print.

lalalalala

Monday 30 October 2006

You know those frumpy looking women on the tube?

Those ones who wear either all black or really clashing clothes that don't fit too well and whose trousers are normally a bit too short? They tend to be reading some sort of zany fantasy book and eating something weird. They also tend to have rosy cheeks, be slightly overweight and look like they could really do with a haircut.

They also tend to be about 28, dark haired, freckled, called Alex, reading a Terry Pratchett hardback and eating chocolate coated raisins out of a paper bad like a healthy-hobo (except no one ever really kids themselves well enough that whatever the fruit, eating it with chocolate smothering its natural form ever makes it healthy).

Yes, people. I have turned into that woman. I realised this when I was on the tube home on friday night. Now this is the first give away - going home at 7pm on a friday. Obviously going home to stroke cat or if doesn't have one to search the internet for pictures of cats. I had almost fallen over because I was completely engrossed in the new Terry Pratchett ("Wintersmith") and was also trying to eat chocolate raisins out of a paper bag and was not holding on to the post on the tube so there was a not particularly sudden stop accompanied by a moment of extreme fear that, never mind falling on a complete stranger, I might have dropped a raisin along with its precious chocolate covering. (There have been some people in my long and ghastly life who have dared to suggest that I buy chocolate covered raisins to just suck the chocolate off and then spit out the raisin. That is absurd and unfounded. I only do that with chocolate covered nuts.) I had one of those flashes of inspiration when I saw myself through the eyes of your average joe and realised what I had become. There followed many vows to exercise, never wear all black, start using eye shadow (but not zany ones), to not try to stand, eat and read on a moving tube and so on and so forth.

I present my Monday-self to you now for inspection. I am wearing black trousers and top but......a brown cardigan. Not bad eh?! I am going to the gym after work. (Yeah, well, I am all right so stop laughing.) Plus I didn't try and eat anything on the tube this morning. Although I did read the end of the Terry Pratchett. It's not soooo bad when you think about the long decline that has lead to me having dulled to a boy george sans make-up lookalike.

In knitting news....I was the luckiest person EVER to get 'socks that rock' sock yarn in the post on saturday. Curtesy of a little swap on swapbot. Oh yeah. Cast on straight away and would have been able to show progress by now if hadn't left camera at home. Suffice to say I have turned the first heel and picked out a nifty cable diamond pattern for the ankle. I also got some of the good stuff from my sister who has brought back none other that SWTC 100% soy silk in a great cherry red AND a hank of yellow and red cherry tree hill supersock plsu another ball of something good with a name like Bergerac. Oooooo, good stuff going on for me this weekend.

Anyway, I only actually logged on to blogger to put up something about this:

The deadline for submission to issue 2 of the 'ProudtobeCrafty' independantly published zine is 12 November.
1/4 page adverts can be had for £10 a time. Articles, reviews, tutorials and patterns are welcome from all comers with the editor (moi) reserving the right to edit to fit space and so on. Don't think it is just knitting either - this is all sorts of craft and will, in the next edition, wax lyrical about knitting, crochet, soap making, paper craft, bag making, bracelets, cake and much much more. If you have something you'd like me to include please email me at littlelixieathotmaildotcom with a little summary and I'll let you know if it fits in.

The second edition will go on sale on 1st Dec. There are now 3 remaining copies of the first zine available which is bound to become a collectors edition! Email me your postal address and one will be yours (UK only I'm afraid as the first edition is free).

Lastly, the pin cushion challenge from the first edition has a closing date of 12 November. Send me your photos and you will be entered to win one of three goodie bags featuring some of the good stuff. So get crafting to start winning!