shop face

This week has been an absolute bugger. A week of ups and downs and frustrations all round.
Perfect conditions to make me a bear with a sore head. I am looking forward to a quiet day tomorrow, shutting the door on everyone and pottering about. Perhaps even making some sense in the kitchen and picking up all the clothes that carpet the bedroom floor. Collecting together all the tapestries that are stashed everywhere might also be a grand plan.
I have a thousand things that need to get started/finished next week and I really hope that I can get some things done. It might make me feel less 'grrrrrrr' if I can see some progress happening. I need to open all the windows and doors and air the house out, literally and metaphorically.
I also need to move or unpack all the cardboard boxes that are stacked in the shop, stuffed under the cushion bunk, under the table, stacked in the store cupboard, piled in the hallway. Dell said yesterday when I commented on the boxes that at least the 'Op Shop Guide' box was almost empty. She was making with the funnies there, it is the smallest box of all, barely 25cm square. Ha ha and yes we will have to order more of those soon too.
In shop news we have a selection of 18" pianola shades back in, a whole baby bath full of Hookturn cups (including the red ones) and of course all the fabulous Northern Queens of Craft stock.
Anyway it's time to vacuum and get my 'shop face' on.

mobius return

Our angora yarn isn't like the stuff you buy off the shelf in wool shops. It's thin, it looks kind of coarse and boring, the colour is a bit wrong and it smells but then the magic happens. You knit it up and wash it and it turns into a cloud of creamy fluffy goodness. That is alchemy, lead into gold, sow's ear into a silk purse.
Which brings me to the point of this post, the Mobius Loop Shrugs are back in store!
I love how soft the angora lambswool yarn knits up. It drapes and falls in gentle folds and straight from the dryer last night (they are processed by being washed in hot water then tumble dried to fluff them up) I could have snuggled under the pile of angora-y goodness.

I'm off to the studio now to finish a cardigan sample that, if it works, might just be in the shop tomorrow. At the moment the knit panels look a lot like a cross between a berber carpet and a Starsky jacket in colour. The washing is the thing that will pull it all together I think (I hope).

crazy crochet critter cause chaos at cottage!*

I had one of those mornings that sunk into a black hole. I was waiting for our lampshade maker to come but she got stuck in traffic for 3/4 of an hour and whilst I should have used the time to perhaps write a post, eat breakfast, answer emails, I instead sat on an ottoman in the shop and played tickling games with Jethro.
I did spend the rest of the day at the knitting division of PenCorp (the bit of the studio that all the knitting machines and wool are piled in) and managed to get some knitting done. Yay for me! Huh.

If you pop over to The Thousands you can be in the draw to win a place at Nikki's Workshop #1 here at the Cottage. Got to be in it to win it! And I know you all love a freebie!

I love the close up photos of Ann's tea cosies, they look like weird triffid-y underwater monsters*.
And I love a bit of bad alliteration.
And were you watching the ABC news last Friday night? First report of the night about the bribery scandal at Securrency? Bribery spelt 'bribary' emblazoned behind newsreader..... good one national broadcaster! Standards really are slipping, probably outsourced the captioning to save money, my suggestion is for them to go with IMT.

workshop update! change of date! more big wooli balls have arrived!

I've just had word from Nikki that we need to change the date of the workshops here at the Cottage. Hope this doesn't stuff people around!
So instead of the workshops happening on the 24th of July they are now going to be on the 31st of July. Everything else is the same, times, place, cake, etc.
The Queens of Craft has been updated and I will be sending out an email as soon as a get a moment.
I also picked up the shipment of 200gm Wooli balls that Nikki has sent through so we have all the colours back in stock again. We sold out of the last batch pretty quickly but we have a nice big basket of them sitting out now.
Of course this now gives you a few more days to sort out your diary and make a booking to attend!

nqoc

Those Northern Queens of Craft have been hard at it again and just in time for this freezing winter weather that has just blown in. We have new handknitted beanies and some crocheted berets, a few more pairs of handknitted kid's mittens and we've got more of Maree's fabulous alpaca grown up hats and baby bonnets and booties. Marnie has been hard at work knitting mice of various species and the really gorgeous Miss Mousie is back in stock after selling out (that's her and her and her and her and her in the top photo). Kerry's hedgepigs are back again, along with her mice and ladybirds, these all make the cutest pocket toys for little ones (and cats and grown ups).

Ann and her daughters Paula and Tanya have excelled themselves again and we have a bumper batch of crochet afghan throws in. As Ann pulled them out of the car to show me I was going 'ooohhh!' and 'aaahhh!'. I've put a stunning bright yellows and black one in the window, don't even think 'hmmm Richmond football colours', it is beautiful and glows warmly on such a cold day! Ann's also made us some more tea cosies and I'll be putting them out into the shop as the day progresses. She made a batch of the fabulous 'coral' tea cosy, the pattern is from the 1930s and she inherited it from her mum, it's made up of rows of scalloping crochet and has twisted tassels on the top (I will photograph one soon).
Well, I'm off to run errands and unpack more stock.
Oh! And remember the Cottage loves winter so there is lots of snuggly hats, gloves, scarves and blankets here to warm the cockles of your heart.

over hill and dale

You may not have noticed but I've been off up country for the last couple of day. We went north to collect handmade work created by the Northern Queens of Craft (more on that later). It was cold, mild, sunny, cloudy, dry, rainy and full of amazing views.

As well as seeing the NQoC we also dropped in to see Miss Charlotte, to deliver some bits and pieces and to do a small bit of doily-ism on a lichen-y tree outside the country hall she will be celebrating her wedding reception in. The views across the valley were just spectacular and it is going to be a very fine shindig. I would have liked to do more doilies on the tree but time was running out and my fingers started to freeze, I couldn't feel the needle so dexterity was down to about zero. Perhaps more will appear between now and the wedding day.

Sadly op shopping was a wash out, too late, wrong day, nothing worth buying. It can be like that sometimes.

of notes to self, living in a village in a city and being amused by a cat

Sometimes I need to leave notes for myself. Especially if I am not in the studio for a few days and as the first thing I do when I get to the studio is to turn the iron on, so I left this note to self on the ironing board for next week.
Going up to the bakery this morning I went by the park, you can tell it is mid-winter because you can see right through the trees all the way to the farthest edge. The light was long and low and the sun glowing through lazy foggy wraiths. I'm back home with bombolino and tea and feeling dozy and half-arsed. It's one of those mornings were everything is quiet and echo-y and I am astounded that I live barely a kilometre from the city, a country town couldn't be quieter.
I'm still getting used to the new sewing machine but I did manage to make a big batch of lavender bags (accompanied by much sneezing as I filled them) this week and I have finished more of the quilted 'Clementine' patchwork skirts. We only had one left from the last small batch. I sat on the couch last night and hand stitched the hems.
I really need to get the vacuum cleaner upstairs, the floor is a mess of wood dust, bits of tape, wool and thread. Jethro tried to eat a pile of wood dust the other evening, when he realised the taste was dreadful he then spent the rest of the evening playing with it, pushing little piles about with his paws and swishing his tail through it. Ever since he was a kitten he has loved fetching glove offcuts from when I make the owlette toys. He's even been known for breaking into bags to steal bits of angora gloves. He's upped the ante now by fetching whole gloves. Not good ones from out of the baskets in the shop but sad lost blotchy dyed ones. It is pretty funny to see him carrying a long glove in his mouth, mewing as he goes and tripping over it. I woke up this morning to this.......

And before I forget we have a new very lovely vintage lampbase in store. I love it. 1920-30s, dark wood, quite tall, simple but very stylish, would fit in anywhere..... sounds like my dream man......