First things first; I thought I’d open on a note both lovely and interesting, my mother wearing a creation made by her. Mum knitted her top, the Jo Sharp sideways ribbed top using Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK Cotton in col. Pennant. The whole top is knitted, or actually I should say ribbed? in one piece. You cast on one sleeve end, rib the whole thing sideways all the way along to the end of the opposite sleeve. An interesting and effective design idea! Thank you so much Mum, for letting me share your gorgeous creation here.
Next; I have been invited by Yoshimi and Sara to join in the blog-writing blog hop. Thank you very much to Yoshimi and Sara!
1. Why do you write?
I have no idea! since I’m not very good at it. I got middling marks for writing at school. In spite of that I still enjoy writing, just quietly and for myself. I even wrote a novel once. Don’t worry, the world will never ever be subjected to that particular load of nonsense! It was a detective/murder mystery. A pretty bad one.
I started keeping a blog to document all my handmade things, when I realised at one point that I had sewn/knitted/whatever, tonnes of things that had been made, loved, worn with pride until they wore out and then got tossed, things that lived in my memory alone, never photographed. I felt a bit sad about that. I must have talked about it with my sister-in-law because she mentioned that she planned to give me a photo album for a birthday present, in which I could keep a visual record of my handmade things with a short description. She was searching for a suitable one, and in the meantime I commenced taking photos of the handmade things I still had. I can’t remember what happened next, I think she couldn’t find a good album, then I discovered a few daily outfit fashion blogs which I really enjoyed and decided to start something similar about my sewing and how it related to my personal style. It was just a quiet and playful thing for me, like a diary, and for ages I barely knew any other sewing blogs existed! I wrote about many silly trivial things that amused me at the time. Discovering and joining Wardrobe Refashion was a huge turning point. I signed up for three months, then six months, then For Life. That big BIG pledge to never buy ready to wear clothes, ever again. Hehe, I made that pledge so carefree-ly and lightly and it’s taken me a few years to realise how huge it was! Obviously I then became a lot more serious and intentional in my sewing.
Lately my writing mojo has dropped off a bit. My sewing mojo and knitting mojo is going as strong as ever but I am struggling to write posts. It’s silly, because I can write quite freely and easily if I know no one is going to read it. Sometimes I ask my husband and he says to just not write anything if I don’t want, and just have the pictures. I’ve got to admit, it’s tempting.
2. How is your blog different to others of the same genre
I think my blog is quite plain and ordinary, and I am perfectly comfortable with its plainness. It has nothing that makes it stand out at all. However maybe it is also unique, in the same sense that everyone’s blog is a unique expression of their own particular self? Stating the obvious, there.
I don’t know. I do my own thing and don’t really follow the pack.
Ok, I thought of something! Parentheses are almost non-existent in my blog. Because excessive and unnecessary use of parentheses is a secret pet hate.
O I know. Lame.
3. What are you working on right now
Usually I am pretty disciplined about only working on one thing at a time, in an organised manner, finishing and dutifully cleaning up before allowing myself to start on the next thing. Currently I happen to be working on two things, but one is knitting, one is sewing so that’s kind of OK in my mind. I pick up the knitting and churn out a couple rows in spare moments, whereas the sewing project is a bit more intensive and requires Proper Undivided Attention, ahem.
OK, so. The knitting project, that is very different and interesting, in my opinion, a patchwork design that I happened upon while knitting the boys’ Icelandic jumpers, fell in love, and I just had to get some wool and start on it. Even though summer is just around the corner. Hehe. Totally illogical!
In sewing, well I have recently finished a sundress to be photographed and blogged about very very soon, and am now partway through drafting and muslining a rather challenging and very interesting dress. When/if I finish it, then I Shall Reveal. *said with maximum drama* Of course it may well be so disastrous that I decide to not waste real fabric on it… in which case I will move onto any one of the next few things on my mental list, a pretty summer blouse, this year’s bathers, a big pfouffy skirt, or an Issey Miyake ensemble.
4. What is your writing process
Oh dear. Writing process? I just sit down and start, usually very awkwardly in some clumsy clunky opening sentence that later gets deleted in self-disgust. I write a bit more, then a bit more, then loosen up and manage to be slightly less clunky, freely associate, get on a bit of a writing roll. Writing a tonne of silly nonsense that all gets deleted later. Actually, upon reflection, I will usually delete and/or re-write maybe 80% of what I have written before hitting “publish”.
I proofread for spelling and grammar like a maniac and often will obsessively go back to correct things like a typo, an errant comma or an extra space; after publishing.
Primarily, I really try to be factual, informative and fair, and for my blog to be something that I would like to read.
Now I am passing the blog hop baton onto Sue, of fadanista, and to Megan of create with wild abandon, two other sewing bloggers also from Perth. I’m looking forward to reading their answers to the same questions!
Oh, one more thing! I just want to say, a big Thank You So Much to whoever nominated me for Burda’s 50 best blogs list, and also to everyone who voted for me.
Thank you thank you so very much! I was totally thrilled to be notified that my blog is on the list. I’m so happy that people like it, and am so very honoured to have received your votes of confidence! 🙂
With impeccable timing I have finished a toasty warm little knitted jacket. Yeaah, just in time for these really hot hot summer days ahead, hehe… I’m a bit sad about having to pack it away for a while, but that’s my own silly fault for starting my new winter cardi during winter. 😉 It is the shorter (version 1) Garter Jacket from Jo Sharp Knit 6… As soon as I laid eyes on this design I loved the boxy shape and interesting stitch arrangement but when I saw an actual made-up example in real life I thought it was a bit bulky and a bit big in the body for my tastes. So I took a punt that using a finer gauge yarn could work out quite good…. and I think it did! Basically instead of using the thicker gauge Aran Tweed recommended in the instructions I used the thinner DK Tweed, knitted up to its own recommended tension (not the one in the pattern instructions for the thicker yarn) and I also knitted up the very smallest size. I still followed all the instructions for number of stitches and rows etc… but the smaller scale gauge of the thinner yarn resulted in a smaller and finer cardi; not too thick and just right in my opinion. Another bonus to this approach was that I needed only 9 balls, as opposed to the 11 balls required in the thicker yarn.
