November 2012 – Page 2 – polka-dots & sparkles

I was always taught pride comes before a fall. Mostly through Enid Blyton novels, and Sunday School.

After feeling so chuffed with myself, for thinking I may have been able to make a pair of socks in a week, I failed.
Not just made a tiny correctable mistake, I failed.

I didn’t follow the pattern correctly and had too few stitches in the toe.
To compensate I increased randomly in the foot of the sock. In hindsight this is where I should have started the gusset.
So I started the gusset massively late.
When I tried it on to start the heel I started early (again to compensate). Stuffed up my maths with turning the heel which meant I had one really lopsided heel.

And when I tried it on it was about an inch too big.

So the project got flung across the room and a few expletives hurled at it.

I frogged it back to the toe and started again from there.
6 rounds in I realised that it still looked wrong and I gave up.

The next day I started again from scratch.

Just when I thought I was getting the hang of this and getting cocky I realise the value of slowing down and reading instructions.

When I was in primary school (and occasionally in high school) there was a test. It consisted of a page or 2 of instructions. The first instruction was to read through all the instructions and then follow the instructions.
Usually the instructions were things like ‘stand on your chair’, ‘say or sing something out loud’, ‘turn around 3 times’, but the last instruction always read ‘now that you’ve read all the instructions, sit down quietly and don’t so anything’.

It was meant to be an exercise in following instructions. It inevitably turned into people sitting smugly, watching other people making fools of themselves.

By the 2nd time a well meaning teacher instituted this test, my first action was to skip to the end and read the last instruction.

Obviously I was a smart arse and should have paid attention to the actual lesson.
It may have resulted in a finished sock instead of a frogged* sock.

*for those non-knitters who are utterly confused, ‘to frog’ is to unravel a piece of knitting, or rip-it (ribbit) back.

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Every so often I have a conversation with someone who reminds me that I spend a lot of my life on the internet.

A joke about drinking out of mason jars and pintrest weddings fell absolutely flat. Explaining pintrest weddings also fell on confused ears.

The phrase “that would make a great tumblr”, also crashed and burnt.

And because I’ve been excited about my etsy store (which is still coming, but soon), I’ve been talking to people and I’ve been genuinely surprised at the people who just say “huh?”.

And it’s in those moment where I show people my handbag, show them my bracelets, and my necklace, basically show them my etsy purchases which I carry with me all the time.

This delightful brooch is a product of the oh-so-talented Amanda Whitelaw.

Who I followed on instagram (search hungrydesigns), which led to me buying a tote for my friend last Christmas, and then this brooch for myself.

Her designs are whimsical, edgy, sometimes dark, but always witty. And they’re one of a kind.

Her etsy shop has all kinds of delightful illustrations which are made into brooches, postcards, pocket mirrors, and I think I heard a whisper about tea cups.

The tea cups have me particularly excited.

I particularly love this kitchen aid brooch. How cute would this look on an apron!

But this is the brooch that adorns my bag. Since I bought my new camera I’ve been taking it around with me as much as possible, so I’ve turned into a bag person.
I love it! It turns an ordinary Rubi bag into something unique.
I love the whimsy of the baloons. It often distracts me thinking about the places she can go, or has been. All the things she has seen whilst drifting around on baloons.
I wish we could travel by baloon more.