I know that most people here don’t like long-winded diatribes about personal life so I’ll just say that my father has been gravely ill since mid-May and I was in the States with him and my mom at various hospitals and assisted living facilities (he’s still in the Army and they didn’t let him come home – even to visit – until after I had to get back to the UK :/ So we had to go to him.)  As I said earlier I got to go to Convergence which was awesome and has gotten me to take up weaving on paper looms (no space for proper ones at this time maybe looking for an inkle soon tho).  And due to the stress of the situation (Daddy was really touch and go for a while there in and out of ICUs) we did a ton of retail therapy in an attempt to keep ourselves half-sane and so I now have a starter supply of scrapooking and card making stuff.

I did get to go to I Knit Day, but sadly missed seeing most of y’all who were there.  But I have proof that I went! (In my totally non-goth, non-steampunk look I’ve been sporting all summer as my mom hates goth so I’ve reverted to neohippy )

I’ve done a ton of craft projects over the summer but most are not yet photographed.  I’m still completely exhausted both physically and mentally and am not really up to dealing with people still so have not been reading blogs. I am sorry and I hope to get back to it as soon as I am able. But right now my priority is my health which is why my husband is whisking me away for a short break at the (all-too-chilly) seaside for a few days for us to relax and chill out before preparing for the next hurdle: him having to go home to *his* ill father and me having to fend for myself for two weeks.  That’s so scary I can barely think about it yet (and haven’t the health or wealth to go with him). All I know is that I am going to have a lot of people over to craft with me in the evenings so if you are going to be in the London area in mid to late October and want to come play let me know  But I have several hats and a mini scrapbook to make before he leaves so when I get back I have to get a move on! )

I’m also planning to be at The Big Stamp & Scrap Show next weekend and the Knitting & Stitching show on the 9th and 12th of October, both at Ally Pally, if anyone is going to either of those.  I hope to be able to catch up with people I missed at I Knit due to being in a delightful haze of fiber-buying

Well, I am going to go finish packing and wait for the boi to wake up and give me presents.  Wheee!

I’ll try to post more of my summer projects next week if I have any energy left

I’ve started making thank-you cards.  Not quite satisfied with the design yet but I’m still working on it.

I’m also starting to make my packing list for my trip.  I’m trying to be minimal about what craft supplies I take — tools only — but when dealing with things like hand carders and jewelry pliers it’s starting to stack up :/  I need to be less than one suitcase on the way over and will bring three home but one of those will be mostly magazines and the two small quilts we plan to make, plus I’m stocking up on pillows as I can’t get the ones I like over here.  I vacuum seal them but it’s still a lot of bulk.

Homestead Wool and Gift Farm got another batch of new fibers today so I finally placed an order. Several pounds of fiber, about half raw and the other half roving.  That should keep me for most of the summer for spinning and felting, I don’t know when I will find time to dye, quilt and embroider! My beading stuff is mostly going over to do the annual repairs on mom’s substantial collection, including re-knotting all of the pearls this year.  

But I’m worried that we may spend a few weeks in Florida in the hospital if my dad doesn’t get better.  He has a mass that is squashing his intestines that they don’t know what it is yet. I think it’s a hematoma like Helen has, but there’s a chance it may be cancerous  Anyway I may also be stranded in NC when I first arrive as Mom may be down in Florida with Daddy. (Remember he’s only in Florida because of the Army, he’s due to retire any day now but they are keeping him down in Florida until this health crisis is over which may be many more months. So Mom goes to visit as much as she can.)  So I need a lot to keep me busy as my looms may not be in by then!

I also have a ton of beading work to do for her before I go. I don’t want to take beads over if I can help it, so all of the stuff I have bought to make things for her needs to get done next week, ideally.

Plus I have two swaps to do (already started on both but need to finish) and two care packages to send out (Project Superstar and Purlpower).

So I am a very busy bunny the next few weeks!  But unfortunately my body has other ideas and is making me rest a lot so I’m just going to have to prioritize.  But just right now I have cards to make and emails that need writing, so I’d better be off!

I’ll leave you with a picture of some of the fiber I have ordered, a beautiful white baby alpaca…I bought a pound but there is still more for others!

So this beauty is mine:

Click here for more info about the yarn.

I don’t yet know what I will do with it, if I will make something for Project Superstar or just make something for myself as a memento of Project Superstar. It’s being sent to my US address so I’ll have to wait until I get there to see it and decide if I love it too much to give it away — a distinct possibility! I’ll keep you posted about the yarn and my eventual project when it happens!

I strongly suspect that I will be ordering more from the Unwind Yarn Company (craftygirl83 on Etsy and Ravellry) — there are so many yummy colourways that I simply must have, like See Rock City, Riverwalk and more. I also love that she uses her local area (Chattanooga) as inspiration. I’ve been there many a time when I lived in Tennessee during my formulative years.

This week I attempted to crochet:

I didn’t get very far, I’m still having difficulty with the second row issue, but I got lots of tips last night (which I shall blog about in a minute) so I think I shall give it a go again this week with hopefully better luck.  Buthey, at least I did get stitches made in a second row!

I also made a partial gauge swatch:

I was supposed to knit a 4 inch swatch but by three inches in I knew that I didn’t want to use this yarn for that project.  I did get gauge though, so I am chuffed about that  I will use this yarn on a felting project, probably a laptop cover.  But it (Debbie Bliss Soho) is just too scratch for a hat and I don’t really want to have to line it.

Also in the photo is my new temporary wedding ring, I think I have blogged about it but not sure :/  (Brain is sooo not what it used to be, thanks fibro!)  My real one doesn’t fit at the moment but as I *have* to lose weight because of the diabetes I didn’t want to get it resized so I got a temporary one from the same place as t’s wedding ring and he is getting one to match (but wearing it on a different finger, it’s been backordered for a while though ).  I couldn’t wear rings at all for about five years because my fingers swell a lot during the day but that is lessened now and also I don’t need to use two sticks quite as much, I can make do with one, so that makes it easier to wear a ring on my left hand.  It’s just so nice to have *any* wedding ring  Plus I can wear this one on a different finger once I do lose the weight.

My gothpoints are utterly in decline as once again I bought really bright colours  I even considered several blacks and then thought “Well what would I make with that?” (as I haven’t tackled fair isle yet to do the piratey things).  But in my defense, many of these yarns will be used for presents for children and I think children need eyepopping hot pink, right?

For some reason this blog is the top Google hit for Malabrigo Cotton.  How odd.  I’m sure I will lose that status in the future as others come to know and love this yarn, but for now I felt obliged to order two skeins of the organic. I plan to crochet a bag out of it.  Guess I’d best get cracking practicing my crochet first!

I do believe in using organic cotton as much as I can afford to.  It’s hard when the price tag is up to ten times more than non-organic (considering that I have a mill that is localish to me in the States that at least hits my low-airmiles button, which most organics do not).  It’s not so much about the environmental aspects in an altruistic sense but because I believe that the widespread use of pesticides is part of the reason why fibromyalgia and other neurological disorders are so much more common nowadays. (Remember to sponsor me for my walk for Fibro research!) Cotton growing accounts for 50% of the world’s pesticides which is why it is most important to buy organic cotton to prove to the rest of the industry that it can be done. But, I guess the lack of pesticides reduces the yield which accounts for part of the increased cost, although I am sure the rest of it is just the organic fad, alas. But Malabrigo is a higher-priced brand anyway and is fair trade as well as organic and these yarns have only natural dyes.  Pity about the airmiles though

So with looms, swap goodies and now yarn coming my way, I think May 25 is going to be a lot like Christmas  I can’t wait to get there and see all of my stuff.  But first, several projects to finish and a swap package to make!

I finished the bracelets (3 each for the girls in plastic beads on elastic cording, one for mom that is glass beads combining the girls’ favourite colours and a silver awareness ribbon charm on silver-plated Beadlon) but I’m still feeling a bit rough so I haven’t set up the lightbox to photograph them properly.

Now I just have three cards to make and can finally send off this package!  I’ll be sure to get pictures of everything before they go out. The hats are already on my Flickr and havebeen for a while now but I will post about them properly when the package is sent.  There’s also Playmobil, Hello Kitty, stickers, books and cutie (machine washable!) rat stuffies from IKEA and stuff for the mom.  OK so I got a bit crazy!  (Their dad got left out, as I had no idea what to get him…)

I’ve also been doing a bit of spinning with my uber-cheap spindle and the leftover drumcarded (but a bit mangled after carding) merino that was leftover from my felting class.  It’s super ugly but hey it’s only for practice and the fiber was just going to be thrown out otherwise.  I have two people who have offered me a little raw fleece from the UKKarma group on Ravelry so I am really looking forward to getting those packages!   Plus I mega-envy everyone at Wonderwool Wales this weekend.

Well, I have to go put away the beading supplies so that our guest tomorrow has somewhere to sit and eat!

Day 1: Galaries Lafayette

We were staying quite near the “Grands Magasins” (big department stores) so on our first day we went to our quasi-favourite*, Galaries Layfayette.  The craft department is a respectable size but I didn’t like any of their yarn.  I did, however, find a delightful set of stamps from a French company:

I didn’t take photos of the store as we’ve been there a dozen times but t has loads of photos, although you may have to search a while as he has sooo many photos from this trip!  I also bought socks and leggings there but I’m only showing the crafty stuff in this blog.

* our actual favourite is Samaritaine but it’s closed for remodelling

Day 2: Flea Markets (Les Puces)

Because it’s not very wheelchair-friendly, I walked this day — with many rest stops of course!  We saw so many wonderful things, but alas our budget was limited. I do somewhat regret not buying the wooden hat block that was only 40 Euros, but it was so old that I think I would have to baby it and I’d rather a sturdy new one, even if that means a plastic one.

We saw:  We bought:  

Again, a lot more pictures in t’s Flickr (see above)

Day 3: Closed shops on Rue Saint Denis

Unfortunately, it was Sunday and these shops were closed.  We never did get a chance to come back to them, but they looked interesting.

Knitting shop: Button Shop:

Day 4: Shop-a-rama!

We made it a point on this day to hit as many craft stores as we could.

L’Art du Papier: a paper goods store with stamps, scrapbooking supplies and lots of journals. This was my favourite craft store from the trip!

I bought a Fleur-de-Lys seal, an Eiffel Tower stamp and a nice “J” stamp

La Drougerie: Famous for its knitting patterns, I found the yarn selection pretty poor, the beads plain but the trims were mind-blowing! I didn’t buy anything as I don’t have any sewing projects at the moment and I couldn’t get the attention of any of the shop assistants as it was packed in there.

Bazaar du Hotel de Ville (BHV): I’d heard great things about this store (a department store with a very large arts and crafts department) but was disappointed as a lot of the material seemed to be American imports. Which is fine, if you’re not able to shop in the US, but as I’m spending most of the summer abroad I only bought a few things (erasable disposable fountain pens by my favourite brand). Their hardware section rocks though and we spent a huge amount of time there, I bought some washers for beading projects and a wooden wheel to make a spindle out of once I find a decent dowel for the stick.

Day 5: Montmartre, at the base of Sacre Coeur

This is fabric store heaven, with several very large establishments to choose from. Unfortunately, many are too crowded to get the wheelchair into so we chose Tissus Reine (Fabric Queen) and got some lovely stuff: upholstery fabric to make a bag, iron-on crystals and pirate patches. They had fantastic wool very suitable for re-enactment gear but it started at 17Euro a meter so was out of my price range.

Diagonally opposite Tissus Reine was a knitting shop that seems to be named “Laines” (“Wool”) that carries a lot of lovely Spanish yarn. I indulged just a wee bit

We saw a really cool shop in lower Montmartre, near the Place de Clichy, called Tombees du Cambion. It sells all kinds of antique bric-a-brac and ephemera. We didn’t buy anything as it was a little bit overpriced but man, they had great taste!  (Creepiness of the photos aside, t was just playing when taking them.)

Last but certainly not least, I finally found some craft magazines at the train station on the way home. The Marie Claire Idees is pretty beaten up as it was the last copy and I found it was nice but I’m not gushing over it. It’s sort of a very girly/romantic version of Martha Stewart and that’s not my thing. The Idees Magazine, on the other hand, is exactly my sort of thing, especially as this is the black and white issue — my favourite!  There were several other mags to choose from but as my French is still pretty limited I decided not to buy any more.

I’m sure I will eventually get plenty more looms — I’m especially hoping that Duxall Inarow (love that name!) will resume producing her stunning rakes soon.

I’m also going to try my hand at crocheting dishcloths this summer as I’m feeling a lot more confident wielding a hook now after using it so much for casting on and finishing things on the loom. I sooo need a light-up hook for the road trip, methinks (Oh yeah, forgot to mention we’re driving to PA — I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be many quilt stores on our route!)

Sorry I’ve taken so long with getting all of the Paris and spinning class stuff written up but t and I have a stomach virus right now so we’re behind on everything — except our tv watching

I failed to finish my afghan for Tricot du Coeur. I let other things (Thing-a-day and Project Superstar) take precedence and then in the three weeks I had left — which should have been enough — I was too poorly to do much knitting. Where I normally could do about 2 feet per day I was barely managing five inches. So that just sucks.

I really hate disappointing people. I also hate letting myself down and not being healthy enough to finish things in the amount of timethat normal people could do them in. t has made me promise not to craft to deadlines any more. I really exhausted myself trying to do this and now I’m really overstretched and our vacation is this week.

I’ve got to conserve what energy I have so that I will be alert and not a total drag for our week in Paris! I’m going to give the blanket to the girls of Project Superstar when I finish it. I think I will be able to finish it (except for sewing up) whilst away so I can just add it to whatever I buy for them there. SO it’s still going to a good cause, even if not the one I had intended.

I still feel crappy about it though

But before I say more about what has been going on, here are some piccies for your entertainment:

That is a scarf that I made for my mother last December, didn’t photograph until February and am only managing to post about today. It was made using Trendsetter Yarns Blossom using the Alternating rib stitch (5 rows each direction) on the Knifty Knitter long yellow loom. At least, this is how it looked before I washed it and sadly it is far more anaemic looking now I’ll try to photograph it again to show the difference. t says he can’t tell and looking at the scrap yarn I can’t tell differences in the strands individually, but it just looks less fluffy I’m very mad at myself for chancing a machine wash (delicate cycle) on a handwash yarn, even though I know my mom will only machine wash it anyway. I feel like I screwed up US$45 worth of lovely yarn and am really beating myself up about it

Beating myself up about things is sort of the theme lately, as that’s part of what happens in my depression cycle. The big D is what has been making life  miserable lately (mentally and physically as it increases pain levels). I’m not really going to talk about it much here as I know people don’t like hearing about that very much and so I’d rather save your illness attention spans for when I may need it in the future But I’ll just say that it has been the worst episode ever but finally my meds are adjusted and things seem to be on an even keel again. I still don’t feel that my meds are quite right, but I plan to study the meditation course for the prevention of depression relaspe so hopefully the meds will become less important in time.

The big news is that I have decided to go to America for a while this year. Normally this wouldn’t be news as I spend between 5 and 10 weeks a year there but I had actually been planning to *not* go over this year and have my parents come visit me instead. But my dad got sick (another reason I have been silent online is being stressed over him being in the hospital, etc.) and can’t do a long haul flight for a while and now my health problems are just getting to be more than t can handle. We’re going to have to look into getting me a carer but to do that I need to get disability benefits and that’s going to take several months so the temporary answer is that I will be going to the US to stay with my mom for two months to give t a break, then she will come over here for a few weeks to get some stuff organized so that we’re in a better position for the future.

SO: I’m going to be going to North Carolina from late May (ish) to the end of July (ish), with stops in Pittsburgh (and maybe Philly) and Tampa to see my dad (and maybe Disneyworld, that would rock!). I’m going to work on my knitting, practice spinning and maybe do some re-enacting. Also probably doing some scrapbooking and maybe a bit of quilting (Mom’s a big time quilt freak). And buying craft supplies. Oh yes, the best part!

All that comes after our trip to Paris next week though

I have more to talk about but I must rest my hands, my spinning class is tomorrow so I can’t afford to be crampy! I’ll try to post again soon, really!