newspapers and kitchen tables

I can't believe how sore my shoulders are from lugging dyepots around. Stiff and sore.
The breeze has picked up and there are clouds coming in so maybe the cool change is coming in a little early.
17ºC forecast tomorrow so I am blatantly plugging angora fingerless gloves, fine wool jumpers and cushions and quilts to snuggle up to and under.
I need a project to keep my hands busy in the shop today. I can't decide what to do, perhaps I'll just crochet cords for our necklaces. I normally like to get in a smidge of newspaper reading in the late afternoon but last week the papers sat unread. I am one of those types that has to read Saturday's newspapers on a Saturday, I get confused otherwise. Back in the days when I had leisurely Saturdays I loved sitting at the table in my old kitchen, reading the papers, drinking buckets of tea and fielding visits from friends. The kitchen here is the size of a shoebox (one day I will have a big kitchen again) and although the old kitchen table is upstairs in the big room it is always piled so high with work there is never a clear space to spread the papers out (one day I will have a clean table).
Better scoot and get the shop ready.

my little helper

(Please excuse the gratuitous Jethro photo but he spent most of the day helping me dye gloves. Normally a weekday for this kitty means a huge daytime nap. Not today though, he has added 'dyehouse assistant' to his job description. When not keeping an eye on me from the thunderbox outside, he sat on the washing machine, in the trough, had a nap in the dryer, lay on the stainless steel bench squashed between the window and the heat press, climbed into the storage boxes, lay on the floor right in the middle of the kitchen..... such a fabulous little helper....)
After spending the day dyeing I've spent this evening trimming and pressing gloves, tomorrow I'll finish tagging them and pack them away in their storage boxes. I've put out the new colours in the shop display baskets and I'm starting to feel happier about the way the colours are coming together. There seems to be a few too many blues and greens but range looks so pretty at the moment.  I've dyed up a batch of the extra strength turquoise which we haven't had for ages and there are new reds and a really lovely rose pink. I'll have to re-do the window display on Sunday and hang the gloves as we do each Winter tumbling down from the ceiling. I also need to get around to photographing them all so that I can start the on-line shop up again.
I seem to be surrounded by a riot of colour at the moment- the new blanket quilts, woollen jumpers and cardis, the Welsh blanket cushions, the crocheted cushions and baskets and bowls of angora gloves. Looks like Winter is going to be very bright this year.

cushy

I was a good girl today. I sat at my sewing machine and stitched. I made a new batch of '4 Square' crocheted cushions and I made stripey crochet cushions.

Then I got out some new-old-vintage Welsh blankets and made some new cushions. Welsh blankets always make me happy.

The last part of the day was spent drafting a couple of new pattern adaptions. See, I'm so much happier when I'm creating. Of course when I think of all the other jobs I need to do I feel a little week at the knees. It's a balancing act, walking the fine line of overwhelming workloads. Tomorrow it will be me and the dyepots, lots of gloves to boil up.
I need a good night's sleep though. The furry housemate is still on Daylight Saving Time and spends an hour and a half every morning playing on the bed, under the bed, around the bed and making little 'memmm' noises as he plays. His latest trick is walking along the metal bedhead and looking down on me then sitting amongst of piles of books on the bedside table and slowly pushing them onto the floor. I'd really like that extra hour of sleep.....

(Sarah Jane! I have your winnings from the doily tape competition here- should I mail the package or wait for the Other Penelope to drop by? Let me know lovely lady!)

compare the pear

My middle name is 'Procrastination'.
One of the fluorescent lights in the studio has been dying for about 3 months, I thought I would see how long it took to die, gradually that section of the studio has got darker and darker. I've been feeling a distinct loathing for being in the studio lately and this morning I wondered if it may have had something to do with this creeping darkness. Then I started to think perhaps my own creeping darkness was the reason for me not replacing the light tube. So I went to the supermarket, bought the new tube for $4, climbed to the top of the ladder and replaced the damn thing. That section of the studio is now covered in a  glaring retina burning  glow and strangely I feel a little better about the studio.
Being a creative soul means that when I not making work I feel quite out of sorts and when I am out of sorts I find it very difficult to positively, productively creative. Today I tried to work through this, to 'break through the pain barrier' if you like sporting metaphors. I made a huge batch of our hottie wheat bags, pressed up new afghan scarves, prepped denim for cushion backs and Dell helped me put out the new batch of pure wool cardis and sweaters. I tried to get my head into a better state, to feel a bit less like procrastinating.
Whilst procrastination can be conjured up at any time I am seriously prone to it in April. That long Autumn light triggering memories of getting out of hospital after a month full of tubes and drips and how incredibly blue the sky was, how amazing the sunlight, that year is far away but memories are always close. Now I try to fill Autumn up with the best of the harvest, Fuji apples from Harcourt, Beurre Bosc pears and getting ready for Winter.

sofa sitting

I had forgotten how nice it is to have a couch with room to sit on.
I dumped all the piles of crap that was piled on it somewhere else and washed the quilt and cover and spent Sunday night sitting in the middle of the seat (rather than jammed up on one corner) luxuriating in the illusion of space. It was rather nice last night, too, when I sat crocheting the edges around a couple of afghan scarves and enjoying the evening being dark and a little cool.
And yes I sometimes wear glasses. My eyesight at the moment for doing close up stuff is atrocious and I really need to get a new prescription. After a few weeks of the new glasses I know my eyes won't be quite so bad as they are at the moment. I have to admit I am tempted to go to Big W and buy an el cheapo pair there.... but I know I will probably end up at I Spex and spend a small fortune on a 'groovy' pair (I have my heart set on a hot pink style by Cutler and Gross I saw in Lula magazine..... I am so far from being an 'I-want-that' magazine reader but once in a blue moon something will take my fancy...).
Anyway I am off to the dentist now...... groan.

pea and potato

I like the Sunday when Daylight Savings finishes. That extra hour just begs to be wasted. I didn't get to sleep in as my furry housemate decided to use this morning for hyper-energy hi-jinks. I did get to lounge in bed with tea and devoured a whole book in a morning. There is really so much to do around here (cleaning, sorting, dyeing) but really who can be bothered? This afternoon I did roll the old rug up and unrolled the Axminster, much to Jethro's excitement, and stripped the cover and quilt off the couch and gave them a good wash. There is boxes of stuff everywhere now, nothing put away but I have yummy mash and peas in my tummy (single girl's empty fridge Autumn dinner) and have kept my hands busy with a bit of crochet. Bed soon and a day in the studio tomorrow.

breakfast of champignons

OK so perhaps not the most healthy of breakfasts but who can go passed a cannellé straight from the oven?
(Just realised the settings on the camera are all out so they don't look quite so eggy yellow as they should... and having just scoffed one I can't re-do the photo. Of course I could have re-shot it with two and you would have been none the wiser..... oh dear there is only one left now....)
I went to the studio yesterday, the first time in a week, and had to put blinkers one to avoid the piles of mess everywhere from the last few weeks market preparation. I really should have spent the day cleaning but that would have just made me feel a bit flat and bored so instead I had a play with some new stuff I'm working on. Not perfect but I have now put the 'blank page' issue that looms over new projects to one side and hopefully will feel a little more confident when I really focus on it.
Having had last Saturday 'off' from the shop I am once again shopgirl today. Hence the need for cannellé treats! I am so looking forward to a big sleep in tomorrow. Doesn't the end of daylight savings mean an extra hour to lie in?