Getting Organised..

I used to have a craft room.

My very own craft room.

The space was all mine - and I didn't have to share it with anyone.

All my goodies were in the same room - and I knew where to find things...

MOST of the time.

Then...

Along came baby number four - and we needed the space for a nursery.

Bye-bye crafting paradise. Hello Baby!

Since then, I've been in a jumbled mess with my supplies.

But I've found a new way to store them... it's in the middle of our Family Room... which is not ideal - but it's neat, organised and most of all INSPIRING...

Now if only I had another three of these shelving units!

And my own room.

Easily Amused...

I'll admit it... I'm easily amused.

Sometimes it's the smallest and simplest thing that makes me laugh...

For example:

One of my Ravelry friends has the username "seaburke".

We've met up at quite a number of crochet meets over the years, so I also know her by her first name... Catherine.

Last week, I discovered that her last name is Burke.

And all of a sudden the penny dropped!

"Seaburke" is "C. Burke"

(Which had apparently dawned on everyone else in the group YONKS ago, but not me)

And I'm still giggling about it now...

Much the same as when I discovered that "mareeknowscraft" did not just choose that name because she is Maree and she Knows Craft... but it is a play on the word Merino, as in the exquisite breed of sheep with glorious wool!

Anyway...

My latest source of amusement is also yarn related.

I spotted this Esther yarn at Lincraft the other day, and was having a little ponder about what a pretty name it was, and wondering how yarn companies choose the names for their yarn.

And when I turned the label around, I saw that it was 100% Polyester!!!

Esther is 100% Polyester!

So - YES - if you spotted a mad woman giggling uncontrollably in the yarn section of Lincraft on Monday afternoon, it was most certainly me.

I did warn you that I was easily amused.

.

What became of the Dreadlocked Yarn?

You might remember that the original jumper looked like this:



And when it was unraveled, the yarn looked like this:

 

But then I washed it in the machine on the wrong cycle, and it came out all matted:



Well...

I managed to separate it...
It was slow and tedious work....
And took longer than unraveling the jumper in the first place!!!

Never mind.

I'm now crocheting some of the "pre-felted yarn" into a beanie, and it's incredibly warm...

And another Oops!

So last week I was busy unraveling this jumper...

It came apart beautifully, and I was loving the variation in the colour.

Then I washed it.

I was feeling lazy, so I popped it into the washing machine.

I made sure that the skeins were tied in plenty of places, so there would be NO tangling...

But then I must have had a vague moment - and I put it through the wash on a regular cycle.




Not GENTLE.

Not DELICATES.

Not the WOOL cycle.

Just regular.



And you know what happened, don't you?

It felted. Oh YES. It felted.

BIG TIME!

(and I might have said a rude word when I opened the washing machine)

Storage

I love this photo.

It's a shot of my stash, taken back in February 2009 - I blogged about it here

Everything was so neat and tidy, and easy to access. I could see what I had at a very brief glance. It was easy to put things away - and I was always motivated to put them away, because it all looked SO PRETTY...

WELL.

Sadly,  it doesn't look like that anymore.

In fact - it makes me a little sad and wistful for the Good Ol' Days when I look at this photo...

Because I'm having a big UGH with my craft storage at the moment...


Too much stuff.

Too much mess.

Not enough order.

Too fiddly to get to.

Not inspiring.

In general - UGH!

So what happened to change that Beautiful Wall O' Yarn?

Well, for starters - I lost my craft room - it became a bedroom for Little Miss Charlotte. That was kind of the beginning of the end... We moved all my goodies to the main living area downstairs, but then MICE attacked my open storage of yarn!!! So everything had to go into large plastic tubs which could be sealed tight. Practical but ugly. And not at all inspiring.

Plus I've accumulated too much stuff again. Nothing fancy or particularly valuable, just a big stockpile of garments and manchester to recycle. More than I will ever get to in a lifetime.

It's time for a cull, and a re-structure...

Deep breaths - and off I go!

Awwww... Mr Goldfish!

I am spoiled!

As some of you already know, I had been planning to go to the Australian Sheep and Wool Show last Friday...

But Little Miss Charlotte was miserably sick - so I had to give it a miss.

(insert sad face here)

I first heard about the show FOUR years ago - and I've been trying to get there ever since!

But there were always other commitments which prevented me going...

Then I thought I had it all sorted for this year - and Charlotte got sick...

Aaaaarghhhhhh!

But after dinner on Saturday night Mr Goldfish took the kiddies (well, three of them anyway) to Grandma's house... and declared we would be making an early start for Bendigo in the morning!

And he took me to the Show!!!

YAY.



Do you know that I've never ever ever ever ever bought fancy yarn before?

Not exaggerating.I have not bought hand dyed yarn before now.

Well.... almost all of what I use is recycled...

Lately I've been purchasing some acrylics for my toy designs - because when I'm pattern writing, I need to be using a consistent yarn throughout the project... (I'd rather not - but when your offering a pattern, people need to be able to replicate what you have designed, so I do.)

But that it all I use.

Recycleds and some new acrylics.

I'm not complaining - I love my recycleds... they always amaze and inspire me. Like that scrappy blanket I made - I have been blown away by the feedback I've received on that blanket - people are in awe of it - but it's just scraps!!!! How cool is that?

Anyway, lately I've felt the urge to make some 2ply laceweight scarves. And my experience of recycling laceweight yarns is not good. It's just too fine, which leads to so many breakages, and insane frustration!

So I headed off to The Show with a firm shopping list. Looking for three skeins of 2ply laceweight yarn. A green colourway and a deep red colourway for gifts I will be making... and  dark purple colourway just for me...



And I did it.

ALMOST.

Just couldn't find a deep red (probably because it was the Sunday afternoon, and the show was almost over) which I loved in a 2ply laceweight. So I've gone a little thicker and chosen a beautifully dyed 4ply fingering weight instead.



So the laceweights are a 45% Wool, 55% Silk... and the fingering weight is 100% Merino. Desperately excited to see how they work up, but I'm trying to restrain myself and finish a few other projects first. Like the design I am working on for the AUGUST CHALLENGE... you are going to love him! He is soooooo incredibly adorable. But I need to finish sewing the limbs on - and write up the pattern for you...

Back to the yarns for a minute. They were all purchased from the one fabulous vendor, Jane of Moseley Park. And I have to say... I LOVED EVERYTHING she had on offer! Her colourways are so wonderfully exquisite - I wanted one of everything... and the service was the friendliest we had. Jane also has an online store if you'd like to take a peek.

The AJ Project continues...

So, last week it was a jacket... Remember?

The seams were perfect for separating, and it came apart into pieces beautifully...

 

The yarn itself is pretty kinky, and I don't expect it to be much straighter after I wash it.

Some people like to add weights to their yarn as it is drying, in order to straighten it out more.

The curls don't really bother me. Plus I tend to think that weighting stretches the yarn, which I'd rather avoid...

Meanwhile, I just look at this pile of kinks and curls, and think MERMAID hair...

Now to give it a good wash and soak.