Davy Jones' Overlocker

Making Muppets

2011-02-09T11:04:00.000+11:00

look at this 1969 video of Jum Henson Making Muppets!

(via Craftzine)

February Cometh.

2011-02-02T11:45:00.000+11:00

I made this shirt!

Like a densist, the recipient did not wish to show his head on the internet. However, that could be because of my uncanny ability to take dreadful photographs of people. I can assure you that he's very pleased to have a replacement for the shirt that was eaten by his housemate's puppy.

January was a fairly quiet month for me on the sewing front but I've been making steady progress on the cardigan that I'm knitting, done some small mending jobs, spent lots of time outside tending to the garden, cooking with the produce and adding to our household with four Wyandotte chickens.

Zippers and the antiquated practice of sample sewing.

2011-01-04T14:29:00.000+11:00

A million years ago, I studied fashion. I was barely eighteen at the time and, as a sewing portfolio was part of the entry criteria, I was a little affronted that the first thing we were asked to sew was not clothing it was seams.

Straight seams. Joining two pieces of calico with a straight seam. then differently finished straight seams - overlocked, pinked, bound, flat-felled, french. Then we moved onto curved seams, sewn corners, hems and facings, a dozen different collars were sewn onto necklines, we sewed cuffs and pockets and set in zips using more techniques than I'd previously thought of.

By the end of that first year, we each had a burgeoning folder of sewn samples of dressmaking techniques to which we could refer. That folder represented a toolkit of techniques that we now had at our disposal.

It was this I was reminded of when I saw this pocket sampler quilt in my RSS feed this morning. The author's even included links to a tutorial for each pocket type.

Anecdotally, a lot of people have ~~Teh Fear ^TM~~ trouble sewing in zippers. For what it's worth, I'd recommend starting out on a sample sewing exercise.

A look through the Fashion Incubator archives will bring up a boatload of tutorials (including for zippers - centered, lapped, invisible, with a welted pocket) This fly-front zipper tutorial from Sew True provides a bunch of pictures and this one shows you how with the magic of video.

I still, from time-to-time and many years later, refer to that folder. And zippers? I can sew them in blind-folded and they still look neat. But that's practice.

interlude

2010-10-11T18:31:00.006+11:00

Here I am.

Most days I'm glad about it. I like my life and I like keeping busy, pottering about at home and doing domestic things. Crafting and making are a huge and important part of my life. For the past few years, off and on, I've suffered from bouts of depression. Making offers me respite when my brain is persisting in telling me really dumb and unproductive stuff. The simple meditation in the making of stitches, mindfulness of the simple steps of the task at hand, turning raw materials into beautiful things.

I've been feeling better with the turn of the seasons. Melbourne's seemingly interminable winter grey has given into the clear blue skies of spring. The whole city feels lighter. But maybe that's just me.

I had a lovely weekend, I hope you did too. Here's some of mine.

Buttons! Oh my!

2010-10-06T10:29:00.005+11:00

Lionel Nichol made, by hand, buttons for couturiers for two decades during the glory days of couture.

There are some truly exquisite buttons, and I'm going to confess to acquiring two sets of buttons (neither of which are pictured below, though the third row of the second also tempted me sorely).

Just look at the detail on those peaches in the second button from the left.

or these, the third row buttons are only seven millimetres long!

Not that I have a particular use for the buttons but they are just too pretty.

Go and have a look at the rest of them, some will leave you breathless. Nichols Buttons

Knitting Scouts

2010-07-02T09:34:00.004+10:00

So anyway, I've just 'joined' the Knitting Scouts and I'm claiming earnership (do you like my new word?) of the following merit badges:

Macguyver level 1:

The recipient must demonstrate clever use of a non-knitting tool in a knitting-related scenario. For instance, recipient has used paper clips as stitch markers, or successfully whittled and then utilized bamboo skewers as dpns.

To earn this badge I have,

used a pen as a cable needle, and

used string from the bottom of my handbag as stitch markers.

I Will Crush You With My Math Prowess:

The recipient has applied the principles of higher mathematics to knitting including, but not limited to hyperbolic planes, Fibonacci sequences, Klein bottles, Moebius strips, fractals and Flying Spaghetti Monster hats.

To earn this badge I have,

knitted a scarf using the fibonaci sequence as the striping pattern, and

knited an fsm.

Knitting Under the Influence:

This applies to both actual knitting under the influence, as well as achieving moments of stunning intellectual clarity about ones knitting under the influence. Presumes talking about knitting whilst under the influence a given.

To earn this badge I have,

knitted under the influence.

Dear Magical_M,

2010-05-06T07:13:00.002+10:00

congratulations!

If you would like to email me at elainethepirate @ gmail dot com and send me your address, one blue stripey visor will be headed your way.

I'm off to Morocco (!!) on Tuesday so before then would be great!

hurrah!

love,

elaine

Sun visors

2010-04-27T19:51:00.002+10:00

Sun visors, originally uploaded by elaine the pirate.

Why hello.

Long time, no see.

It's not you, it's me. etc. no really, that's true. Anyways, I made these a couple of weeks ago. two super fun sun-visors made from stripey canvas I picked up in the Cleggs remnant sale a year or so back.

Leave a comment if you want one (and your preference for the pink or the blue)! (considering the readership of this neglected blog your odds are pretty good!) I'll draw names out of a hat on Sunday (that's the 2nd of May).

Davy Jones' Overlocker Central

2009-12-11T12:41:00.001+11:00

my new bungalow, originally uploaded by elaine the pirate.

This picure, taken in the late afternoon, sort-of explains my absence (has it really been that long, how did that happen etc.).

I moved house, I found a new day job (starting in January), my current day job is out-of-control busy (think doing two peoples work during an already busy time plus being told to take SIX DAYS out of the office to do irrelevant training - training I would have been glad to do at another time just not NOW).

Anyways, this is my new bungalow aka Davy Jones' Overlocker Central. When we moved into the house, the bungalow had been empty for a long time. And prior to that, had been lived in by a heavy smoker. I know this because I cleaned the walls and ceiling. Were yellow. Now white. It was EWWWWW-worthy.

But it's clean now (aside from the windows - hey! I'm getting to it). I reassembled my table. and you can see lined up in the evening light some the many projects I have underway.

Not included in the photograph are the Bollywood themed Christmas decorations that my family and I have been working on. That's right, our decorations this year for Christmas Day are Bollywood inspired. I mean, how dull is a Christmas themed Christmas when one can have the glitz of the sub-continent?

things you never thought about

2009-10-14T15:17:00.002+11:00

and if you did think about them, it was probably only in passing.

Here's a cute and simple animated gif that shows how a standard sewing machine makes the stitches.

via swiss-miss

Hot and Not

2009-10-08T09:59:00.004+11:00

I'm joining in with Melbourne's OG crafter Loobylu's new meme.

Hot

Listening to the Sookie Stackhouse Audiobooks whilst knitting.
Suffering withdrawls after the end of Season 2 of TrueBlood, I got myself a copy of the Audiobooks. Audiobooks are new to me and I'm in love.

Spring. I love winter food but Melbourne winters are a depressingly grey and dreary time, the people stay in and are surlier but come spring and a touch of blue in the sky and my much loved city stirs into a much more outwardly focussed place. People go out, they smile, they talk to strangers. There is a lightness to Melbourne in the warmer weather.

Lola. Always. She and I are family.

Making, creating, fingers busy and watching something coming into being.

+ Not

The increasingly common usage of verbs made from nouns. Gifted is top of my list. There is a perfectly excellent word: GAVE. A gift is a present, a noun. One wouldn't say I appled you when handing over a piece of fruit so why do it with a gift? Down the list are others such as tasked. Grrrr.

Looking for a new home. I'm looking forward to moving and having more space - somewhere I can leave my sewing table out, somewhere I can hang my stuff on the walls and use my kitchenware. It's the process - attending open for inspections (without a car), schmoozing the estate agent, the dearth of good rental properties etc. etc. NOT HOT.

Racism and sexism. The Hey Hey debacle, the xenophobia I hear every day at my dayjob ("They are aren't Australian, they're muslim." yes, I hear this. headdesk), the way we are treated as women in what is, at least chronologically, the 21st century. I swear I feel like we're in the 1950's so much of the time. I thought I had traditional values; I want a family, I'd like to stay home with my children until they are old enough to go to school. In my life, I haven't had the choice to do this and yet, as a 35 year old woman, I am judged on not having done this almost every day. At the same time, I want other women to have the right to choose what is best for them. I want men to have the option of staying home with the kids if that is what works for his relationship just as I want women to not have to define themselves as breeding machines first. Sadly, I can't see this changing - it's getting worse not better.

Oh look!

2009-10-01T14:25:00.004+10:00

look at that! it's one of the new items available for sale in my etsy store.

currently there are three different designs (with more to come) and you can choose whether you want them in red, green or black.

I wear a pair myself, there's something that is no now about crochet, don't you think? In that granny chic way.

Knitting on Public Taansport

2009-09-08T12:16:00.002+10:00

Untitled-2, originally uploaded by Paul Borg Artist.

I came across this sketch artist today. Paul Borg commutes from St Albans to the city every day and since 2007 he has been sketching these studies of his fellow commuters.

This one shows a commuter knitting.

A selection of drawings are on his flickr photstream.

I haven't been but I may just check out the exhibition that is showing at Showcase Gallery, 300 Flinders St, Melbourne until 25 September.

It's always lovely to see people making creative use of their commute.

here's one I prepared earlier

2009-09-02T13:36:00.005+10:00

This past week, a short film - The Outskirts - has been filmed. I was commissioned to make a spacesuit for one of the characters in the film. I designed and made this stylised version of a cosmonaut suit. It was fun going shopping at the local hardware for bits and bobs to add to the costume.

This picture is a still from the set.

the finished quilt (plus Lola and mouse)

2009-08-28T12:17:00.002+10:00

the quilt plus Lola and mouse, originally uploaded by elaine the pirate.

I never did post pictures of this, did I?

until now.

Remember I was banging on about making a quilt? This is the finished item.

I'm rather pleased with it.

Here is a wider view for you

The back side is one large square surrounded by the off-white and then the orange binding.

So there you are!

Thursday Likes on time for a miracle.

2009-08-27T10:04:00.002+10:00

gin and tonic sorbet, originally uploaded by elaine the pirate.

You know what I like?

I like cooking. I also like gin.

On Saturday last, I had a Ginner Party.

Three courses. All dishes involved a matched gin.

Entree - Tanqueray cured red snapper
Main - Old Raj, lemon and saffron risotto with my special roast chicken (I slice chorizo and stuff this and butter between the skin and the meat prior to cooking).
Dessert- Hendrick's and tonic sorbet. served in gin and tonic.

There were five different bottles of quality gin in my house. The food was pretty great. My house was populated with some of my favourite people.

What's not to like?

sneak peek

2009-08-20T13:25:00.003+10:00

crochet, originally uploaded by elaine the pirate.

Here is a peek at one of my current projects. Available for purchase soon over at my etsy store.

Dear Amy

2009-08-18T22:27:00.002+10:00

postcard 1907, originally uploaded by elaine the pirate.

My father inherited half of a wheat farm last year. It is a completely Dickensian tale.

My father's first cousin, Cedric, and his wife, Alice, were childless. Cedric died some time ago and Alice followed last year. Out of the blue, my father receives a phone call, Alice had died, leaving the estate in equal share to my father, his brother, and the one other first cousin. My uncle passed away a while ago so the estate was to be split 50/50 between my father and his spinster second cousin. A dear lady straight from the pages of Dickens or Austen. 60 years old, still lives at home with her elderly mother, never married, lived a very small and confined life.

So now we have a farm.

This postcard, the first in a series spanning over 30 years, to Amy from Aunt Gwen is dated 5 April 1907.

It got me to thinking about how future generations will find out about us. We send text messages and email that is deleted. We deride people for putting their personal details up on the internet. But it used to be commonplace. A photograph of ones self or ones children are put on card and written on the back for all and sundry to see in the delivery system. So long live things like blogs and flickr and twitter. Its banality is the best reason for its existence.

And perhaps more importantly, back then girls loved their kitty cats too.

like!

2009-08-14T15:25:00.000+10:00

today I love this cartoon.

Happiness is

2009-08-05T09:21:00.003+10:00

This is how I've spent the past couple of evenings and it makes me so very many types of happy.

Bed. Under the quilt. Lola on my lap. Knitting. Watching films/True Blood.

My new favourite craft

2009-08-03T09:58:00.005+10:00

is crochet.

Yep. I have come a long way in a few short weeks.

From a mangled looking almost granny square to hooking away on crowded trains. I've been making teeny tiny crochet things. Prototypes, one may call them. Sort of like these but smaller. And different in design.

One of the things I like so much is that I can tuck a ball of yarn in my coat pocket and happily crochet in a crowded train carriage rather than standing bored for the 30 minutes or so. It maked commuting a bit more fun. Hurrah!

Thursday is for liking things

2009-07-24T09:58:00.007+10:00

hello!

only a teensy bit late. I used to be all on time and stuff. I'm not so much any more. Except for appointments (casual and business and medical and etc.) and I'm still early for those or I get anxious.

so what am I going to tell you about my likes this week?

I like Turkish Delight.

The soft rosewater sweetness of traditional turkish delight is one of my few sweet weaknesses. I'll sometimes eat the one in the pink wrapper from the supermarket but I REALLY can't go past these soft squishy no chocolate morsels. NOM.

super cute refashion

2009-07-22T16:11:00.006+10:00

How cute is this refashioned men's shirt into a summer top by my mama made it?

This is a rhetorical question, in case you wondered.

I think one of these is in my future.

what i've been up to Plus Thurdsay Likes.

2009-07-16T10:27:00.007+10:00

Well!

I finished the quilt and it is just what I wanted. Hurrah! I'm going to put together a mini tutorial for it on the weekend, so stay tuned for that.

After seeing her curtains project stall, I asked Melba if she wanted a hand and she took me up on the offer. On Sunday afternoon, Clokes dropped her off for a few hours of curtain making. We put together the first of the curtains, I showed her how to do it all (inlcuding the tricky corner bits) and she was very diligent about writing it all down. She says she's not a natural at sewing but she's a VERY GOOD student. Plus, I haven't seen her in the flesh for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages so it was super to see her. She even paid me for my time, which I wasn't expecting. I was just glad to see her.

I wrote some time ago about how I could never for the life of me work out how to make a granny square. Well, this week I HAVE CONQUERED! I can granny! It's doubleplusexciting. My first attempt is very very wonky but I'll stick up a photo in a day or so (evenings are dark and not good for photography). I feel rather fond of it even though it's a bit demented.

I found that it got much easier very quickly and after working carefully carefully through three or so they are passable. I'm sure that blocking will help with that.

I've been engrossed in Le Tour (I swear these late nights are going to kill me bofore July is out) and when Lola is not monopolising my lap I have been knitting my argyle vest.

I've been thinking a lot, too. About how much I like things. I've had a really difficult past couple of years personally and was very, very depressed. clinically not whingingly. I am much, much better now and am really appreciating the things I have; friends and family and Lola and a secure job. I have come to remember that my natural disposition is to LIKE things and people and boy do I like a lot of things; big things and little things.

In celebration of this, I'm going to start up a new weekly session: Thursday Likes.

One of the things I like most of all is my Lolacat.

As you can see, she's very helpful when it comes to knitting. She has exquisite taste for quality yarns and I have to lock up my unopened balls because she will go bag or box diving to find unopened balls with which to play. and in a bag of odds and ends she will always pick out a ball in its wrapper and the most expensive ball at that.

Join in if you like! leave a comment below if you want to tell me about something that YOU like.

wardrobe refashioning

2009-06-29T11:27:00.003+10:00

In a concerted effort to kick myself into ~~any shape or form of~~ blog posting productivity, I have decided to sign up to Wardrobe Refashion.

From 1 July 2009 for a period of two months

I, elaine, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 ~~/ 4 / 6~~ months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

Signed, elaine

So look out for my creations!

In my stash at home, ready for making for quite some time I have some lovely orange wool knit that needs to be fashioned into a cardigan/jumper and a piece of wool gaberdine that needs to be tailored into a winter jacket. In the course of the two months, I am going to endeavour to only use fabrics from my stash when sewing for myself. The regular exception here is interfacing. I'm also going to give myself a 'get out of stash use free' card to find the right lining for the above mentioned winter jacket. That sucker is going to be in my wardrobe for some years so I want to make it perfect.

So here I go!

Phew!

2009-06-24T23:44:00.014+10:00

so here i am. trying in vain to get myself organised. back from iran. you know, it's both interesting and heartbreaking to be watching the fallout from the recent stolen election and its coverage in the media. Go read some Robert Fisk. i guess i've got a lot of views about that. about what iran is and isn't. and how iranians are just people. like you and me but a heck of a lot nicer. i have never felt such an overarching sense of hospitability. and you know what, we as the west have spent a lot of time trying to manipulate iranian politics both openly and underhandedly so really we should just stop the fuck interfering for once whilst making clear that abuses of human rights are just not ok (and get our own house into order on that, yeah?).

but that's not what this blog is about. this blog is about making stuff. currently a million and two things including designing a space-suit for an up coming short film and making some shorts for the guy, dino, who makes me coffee of a morning. for myself, a new jacket - not a coat but warm, still going with the deep vee argyle vest, and, as not-so-recently discussed, a quilt. and i'm loving the shit out of it. excuse my french.

i'm so glad i made no concrete decisions or fabric purchases in relation to it before i went. i was surrounded by gorgeous gorgeousness of islamic architecture. the tile work! the bling! almost overwhelming in its detail. but when you focus on a tiny part of it it's just mind-boggling.

(i kind of loved iran - in case you couldn't tell)

so i was in esfahan, roaming the immam mosque and i noticed the following detail in the tile-work.

and i had one of those moments: that is going to make a brilliant patchwork block.

and the next day in the old and crumbly and new but not so impressive in the face of immam mosque feeling vaguely disrespectful because i could see why jameh mosque is so important and i must have been attuned for it, or maybe it made sense they were both in esfahan but for whatever reason i saw this next similar one.

and now i am. i'm doing a square frame thingy of those two blocks. twelve of each alternating. on an off-white background. i love orange and i had been given the yellow fabric with the hearts and flowers by my lovely friend ~h. so i trundled down to GJs in East Brunswick - their selection of quilting fabrics is tremendous.

as an aside, when i was there i picked up the last panel and some co-ordinating print and made a floor mat for my friends' imminently to be born daughter of the very hungry catterpillar. because i am entirely crap there are no photographs of said object.

and i bought these fabrics. pretty, huh?

and i got really bored cutting all the pieces out. but i did it. i made it through. and i made organiser mats as recommended by oh fransson. i must say, that i've chosen a not easy to construct design. i like to challenge myself that way from time to time. either that or i just refused to compromise on design. i don't need to, it's just straight lines and a bit of care, right?.

and here is the first block. i'm really loving this so far. what do you reckon?

Preparing for some quilting

2009-04-30T15:32:00.003+10:00

I'm not quite sure where it has come from but I have developed a mad desire to make a patchwork quilt.

I KNOW!

Absurd, eh? But before you wrinkle up your noses, I'll let you know that I'm definitely not thinking about this

sort of thing. I am thinking of something fresh and clean and, well, modern.

I'm not really so fond of fussy sewing (you know, frills and flounces and fluff) so I want a design that is fairly simple. Whether that be deceptively or actually is not important. I quite like the feel of the quilting projects on The Purl Bee - bright colours contrasted by white.

What I don't like in this quilt is the 'stitch in the ditch' quilting i.e. the sewing of all the layers in the final steps are along the seam lines as contrasted to 'free-motion' quilting which, to my eye looks messy.

What I'd do is something like this from Wee Wonderfuls

See the nice zig-zaggy quilting?

The other thing that I found (how I love the internest!) is this wonderful quiltalong by Oh, Fransson! I reckon that will be useful to a quilting n00b.

Anyways. This isn't going to happen before I come back from Iran. So look forward to works-in-progress in June!

I Saw

2009-04-02T14:16:00.002+11:00

a little shop front/house for rent and boy is it tempting.

mirror mirror on the wall
should my wares hang on the ,er, walls?

pros:
it's in a pretty good location, where i would like to live as well as somewhere a shop would do well.
it's a suitable price
the shop space and dwelling space are both good

cons:
it's not good timing. i'm going away in May and so the opeing of the shop would not be able to happen until july thusly leading to me bleeding money (YIKES!)
it's not such a great time to be starting a retail busines.

Secret Desire

2009-04-01T16:20:00.002+11:00

I would love to stumble across one of these whilst walking the streets of London one day.

Little People

you read it here first.

2009-03-31T10:45:00.004+11:00

We've had deer, swallows and currently owls.

My prediction for the next animal theme is the very cute dachshund aka sausage dog. The above amigurumi dachshund is a free pattern over at Lion Yarns

This has (see Sub, I know some things about art. Are you proud?) Art Cred (capitalisation intentional) with the futurist painter Giacomo Balla painting these lovely fellows (see the below) AND they lend themselves to crafty type endeavours; easily recognised in a few simple shapes/lines, easy to stylise, transferable across many different crafts etc.

See! look at this dachshund embroidery over at Orange You Lucky.

Just wait and see!

I told you I've been making!

2009-03-19T14:51:00.003+11:00

Why hello.

Up there, that's a hoodie that I recently finished for my friend h~'s lovely little one. It is from knitting pure and simple (ravelry link) and in Paton's feathersoft 8ply. It's coming toward Winter here and by then A will be needing larger warm things so I knit it for a 12 month old.

and next up; I made two of these, one for a newborn, one for a one year old. These are a trial run. I'm going to get my baby friends to be guinea pigs for Davy Jones' Overlocker pirate-baby range. The fabric was purchased at The Cloth Shop on a random, spontaneous visit a fortnight ago.

and these last, very cute newborn leg-warmers. These knit up in next to no time in Cleckheaton maby merino on 3.75mm dpns.

As well as this, I'm attempting to get my brother photographed in his shorts and I'll see if I can find someone to photograph me in my new jeans. Hooray for new jeans! In making the pattern, I took the leg measurements from my current jeans which are starting to wear thin.

Hmmm, what else has been happening? I'm looking forward to a trip to Iran in May and before that an Easter escape to Vanuatu. Learning Spanish. Loving up my beautiful kitty and talking to the Lady in my local petshop about developing a range of covers for pet beds.

All pictures are on my flickr photostream

orange flickr fun

2009-02-25T14:17:00.006+11:00

The words aren't doing so well at the moment. I start to write but the words that come appear like reflections in what was once a Roman domilla's mirror that has been buried for centuries and dug up in an archaeological excavation. I do, however, want to become better at keeping this place alive. For this reason I thought I'd do a bit of a flickr trawl.

My favourite colour is orange and here are some images I like. Hurrah!

1. by sunira 2. by hobo

3. by Karoline 4. by me

in progress

2009-02-16T11:34:00.003+11:00

Oh look. Here is a something! It's Eunny Jang's deep v argyle vest. Being Summer, the knitting has stalled but the sewing is great.

For Chrismas I made my sister a one piece swimsuit. And for myself a cute playsuit, a green corduroy kasia skirt and a button through frock (dark navy with a grey print of mini skulls and cross-bones, thankyouverymuch!).

Maybe one day, when I stop flinching from the camera, I will post pics of those things.

Dinner

2009-01-13T11:28:00.005+11:00

I know where the time has gone. I'm not going to comment on it. Instead, I'm going to talk about my dinner.

The pre-cheese serving:

And after parmesan:

I like parmesan. A lot. I like most cheese. A life without cheese is not a life.

This was my lazy Saturday night dinner.

2-4 cloves of organic and/or Australian garlic, depending on size, minced. Anyone who uses the bulk bleached Chinese $1 a bag garlic is silly as it is practically flavourless.
one tin of diced Italian tomato
4 anchovies
one small tin of tuna in springwater, drained. I use sirena.
a large handful of beans fresh from the garden, tipped and cut into 4cm lengths
dried chilli to taste and about 2 teaspoons of dried mixed herbs (there was no basil)

Heat olive oil in a fry-pan, add garlic and chilli and herbs. I add the chilli and herbs at this stage as it flavours the oil. When the garlic is softened but not brown, add the tin of diced tomatoes. Turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and add the anchovies whole. Let this cook away for a while as you smoke a cigarette and pour yourself a glass of wine (if not done already).

Put well-salted water on to boil. When at a rolling boil, add your preferred pasta. I used fetuccini as the other pasta in the cupboard was all gluten free. Stir the tuna through the sauce.

About 5 minutes before the pasta will be ready, stir the beans through the sauce. This short cooking time means that the cellulose in the beans softens and the raw taste is cooked out but the beans stay crunchy and fresh tasting. season to taste.

When the pasta is al dente, transfer it to the frying pan straight from the cooking pot. I use tongs and stir it through the sauce as I go.

Serve with parmesan. Since moving back in with the folks, I have discovered the joy of the Microplane grater: light, fluffy parmesan straight to your pasta/risotto/other cheese requiring foods.

Nom.

Gosh!

2008-10-10T22:55:00.002+11:00

I've been pretty busy.

I move house tomorrow, back in with the folks for a stint. Me and Lola are going to be much happier there.

I'm wary this time of the false elation that one tends to get when one changes one's living arrangements. This time is a time of...reflection, I guess. I had a bit of a wake up call about my life recently and, where I want to avoid this becoming the confessional style blog that I seem to fall so naturally into, making changes in me and in my life that will allow me to be an authentic me. To get back to what is important to me and to what makes me happiest.

There will be much more making in my life.

As I said the other week to my dad and mum over lunch, I don't give a fuck about a career. I just want to make stuff.

So that's what I'm going to do.

This is what I've been working on

2008-10-06T11:23:00.003+11:00

The bride's frock. My lovely friend was married on Saturday to a man who complements her perfectly. I had the honour of helping her dress the way she wanted.

The day was perfect, a cloudy drizzly morning gave way to sunshine half an hour before the ceremony which was simple and beautiful.

Congratulations and much love, my lady. May you spend many happy years and grow old with each other.

By the way, nice boobs.

This is...

2008-08-12T09:08:00.005+10:00

my trade secret

My Lola is there to help me out with all my craft endeavours.

Quite frankly, I'm not sure how I ever managed without her assistance. She is a great help to me and oversees all the fine details. You see her here examining the quality of the interfacing I am about to use.

Checking on the correct layout of pattern pieces. This is not really her forte, she gets a little distracted by the tape measure and trying to eat the pattern paper.

Hard at work at the sewing machine.

Knitting is an especial favourite activity. She is very particular about yarns and quiality testing. The ball above had not been in the house three hours.

My trade secret is Lola. She is the creative powerhouse behind this crafty munchkin.

high seas adventures ahoy!

2008-08-08T12:33:00.003+10:00

This little pirate is planning some adventures.

Come November, I am packing up my life (by which I mean packing some clothes and my sewing machine) and doing what I should have done 10 years ago. Leaving this claustrophobic town to stretch my wings and see what is possible in the big wide world.

Davy Jones' Overlocker will be creating from London and gathering inspiration from Morocco and Spain and Pompeii and Berlin. The grey drizzle will inspire me to brighten my life with new and bright and shiny creations.

And If I come back, it will be to create.

It's a rashly made decision but a good one.

There have been creations.

2008-07-03T23:11:00.004+10:00

Lots of knitting. And sewing.

A trip to the land of the Viet mans where much silk was bought at scandalously low prices.

I'm procrastinating my way back into this. swears.

I even have a proper camera now, as the difference between the following two images shows.

Here is a picture of the finished Amigurumi Octopus to show my belated love.

And some knitted, catnip stuffed sushi for kittycat joy.

conquering crochet

2008-04-06T08:31:00.004+10:00

I have avoided crochet for a long time. Whilst everyone tells me that it is far, far easier than knitting and that I should start with granny squares I have NEVER been able to work them out. And let me tell you I have tried. I have been avoiding crochet as it has made me feel like a failure of a crafter.

It has taken love to make me try again.

My lover has an, er, penchant for octopuses and recently came across these uber cute star wars amigurumi.

(more on flickr).

Oh, he is also a big geek. I should have said.

So I thought I would give crochet ONE LAST CHANCE. I headed down to Cleggs and bought a ball of yarn and a 4.5mm crochet hook. I found an easy looking octopus amigurumi pattern on ravelry and sat down to have a go.

Anyways. Here is the head.

And here is a tentacle in progress.

More when I'm finished.

On Creativity...

2008-03-24T14:00:00.002+11:00

I have never really thought of myself as an Artist, or a Writer, or an Artisan though I have spent my entire life creating, writing (for myself, always) and making. Thinking and feeling the end products of my making. Is this what an artist is? I still don't know. Though I do know that there are people of my acquaintance who think, act, communicate and make less creatively than I do who call themselves 'creatives' or artists.

Perhaps this is a reflection of my own insecurities. I am never truly satisfied with the things I make. I always know where I could have done better, where my 'allah marks' are (the imperfections in the finished item - as only allah is perfect - imperfections that nobody else notices but which I know exist), the corners I can and have cut, that the leg-seam should have been pressed over 5 cm further down/up or that there is a crack in the paint where I didn't let the first coat dry long enough. The list goes on. Maybe all artists feel this way, I don't know.

All I know is that I am only ever truly at peace when I am making. Cooking, sewing, knitting, gardening, painting, gluing, whatever. And I am slowly coming around to the idea that this makes me 'creative'. That there is some primal urge within me to make 'somethings' from 'nothings'. Not for other people to admire but for my own sanity.

Perhaps this is the true measure of creativity. Not whether someone calls themselves creative but the carry through, the action that actually creates. By this measure I am creative.

It is time to call myself so.

I have slowly budding ideas, in time I shall flesh them out and in the meanwhile I will keep making.

happenings and finished things.

2008-03-16T15:59:00.002+11:00

I guess it's well overdue that I posted a pic of my cardigan. I'm rather pleased with the way it turned out, aktuly. Lola loves knitting. Rather, she loves it when I knit because she noms on the ends of the needles as they knit and tries her hardest to destroy new balls of yarn. Anyway, here is my crappy phone camera picture of the finished thing.

The other thing I finished just today is a bag for myself. I joined the gym a week or so back and have started going after work. It's great, I get to perve on my amour as he squats and dead-lifts large masses of iron. Phwoar. *fans self* As well as getting fit and losing the weight I put on last year. Thus, I take my gym clothes to work. (oh, I was going to get more sports socks this weekend but forgot). I have been using my roll-it-up-really-small-very-light shopping bag but that isn't really great because it means I have nothing to put groceries in. Neither is it the right shape.

I modified the pattern for one of the bags I made for my etsy shop to be a little wider at the top so my runners will fit into it.

It's about the nicest gym bag I've seen. If I do say so myself!

It's reversible too. Just because I could.

Other notable happening: I have moved house thanks to the old landlord wanting to put the property up for sale - I don't think they'll get what the agents would have told them they would. It needs re-stumping urgently and the interest rate keep going up. Anyway, I like my new home better. I have an entire warehouse area type thing and a large corner to myself for spreading my crafting endeavours. It's wonderful.

NOM NOM NOM

2007-12-27T09:13:00.001+11:00

OMG!

2007-12-23T08:26:00.000+11:00

davy jones' overlocker TOTALLY has an Etsy Shop!

Here are two of my currently listed items. Hurrah!

Youse should buy my bags.

(I also will make to order. If you want something in a specific colour scheme I will make it for you)

knitting on public transport

2007-11-22T14:16:00.000+11:00

Oh dear. I did promise, didn't I?

Knitting season came and went. There were scarves and beanies and baby things and some mittens for matty b which I still haven't given to him.

I've been one of the masses of irritating bloggers who has deserted for crackbook and I even started a group there. Join it if you want and you knit on public transport!

So anyway. I have been doing just that. I stopped knitting in lieu of sewing season but haven't been sewing inspired. Considering that I go a bit insane if I'm not working on something I have started up a cardigan in a gorgeous red mercerised cotton.

Here is the start of one of the fronts:

The twisted rib comes from the knitty pattern ivy. It's quite nice, doncha think?

In the way of being inspired/uninspired, inspiration comes when you're busy and doing so naturally I have had ideas for sewing stuff. More on that soon*.

*at least that's my intention. It may well be later than sooner considering my output here.

hello, yes I still exist

2007-05-29T10:58:00.000+10:00

The thing I love about the onset of winter is that it becomes Knitting Season.

I'm invariably disappointed with things I knit for myself (stupid perfectionist tendencies...) unless it's small things like scarves where the imperfections don't show but love to knit for other people.

It's baby season right now (one recent birth and about 4 others to come) so I've a fair few things to be knitted in the near future for those birth presents and my housemate is soon to be the recipient of a beanie to cover his newly shorn head.

I might even have time to squeeze in a scarf or so for myself...

work almost in progress

2006-10-19T21:48:00.001+10:00

I went wandering at lunch time today. Sometimes I just get itchy feet and need to escape and fantasize about an alternate reality where I can make enough to scrape by on and a little more (for fun, y'know) by utilising my itchy fingers.

The making process is a funny one for me and I think by understanding it you'll understand me a little better. Maybe that's all art is. The difference between the good and the bad is nothing more than how well we can articulate and execute how and what we're feeling and thinking and relating.

So, I get itchy feet and often the first place I'll go to dream is the Job Warehouse. It's lost a lot of its charm since the old man died. His son's just aren't as... exacting. I have so many lovely memories of the Job Warehouse. My favourite is when I was looking to buy some red corduroy in the autumn of 1993. The fabric for an a-line mini for my friend Shannon-Kate, to go with the blue body-shirt I'd made her a month or so earlier. The old man glared disapprovingly at me, trembling voice (and trembling head to toe) I asked if he had any red wide wale corduroy. Come, he motioned, Vee haf some in ze varehouse. So I followed him out the front door, round the side of the building past Paperback Books and down Crossley Street. He fumbled with a lock in a quite-frankly disgusting door. Up the stairs we went, feet picking over the detritus of years, nose wrinkled against the stench of stale urine. Creeping up behind the old man, we climbed to the top. It seemed like forever upwards.

I entered into a huge once open space, though the dusty piles and bolts of fabrics of every description stacked high to the roof had long since ensured you could but pick your way through. And you know what? The old man knew exactly where he needed to look. As we wove through the warehouse he would touch a peice of fabric her and another there, pointing out: zis iss a nice piece of cloth. When he located the cord, it was better than I thought I could get my hands on - primary red with alternating wide and thin wale. I would bet my life that fabric had been sitting up there since the 70's. And he knew exactly where it was. That room made me dream. It still does.

I have friends, and not just one or two, who have told me that they were never allowed in the door. The old man would take one look at them and shoo them: Go avay. you cannot enter. And he meant it. They're allowed in now that the old man is no longer guardian.

I bought this piece of fabric at the Job Warehouse today. I couldn't decide at first whether it was to be a kind of pinnie/frock or a swimsuit. You can't tell too well in this picture, but it's a thickish not-very stretchy knit (Hmmm... technical description there, you'd never guess I took four semesters of textile specifications) of finely sriped white and orange. Yeah, I have a bit of a thing for orange.

But I think it has to be a swimsuit. Bikini, of course and a bit retro inspired.

coming soon...

2006-08-21T15:11:00.000+10:00

swears.

I even have something for you.