Of all yesterday’s #knitting songs, Knitting (on the sock of the bay) has been the one that’s been playing in my head.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra have done a really good cover version.
But it’s hard to go past a bit of Otis.
The finishing touches FO#14
My modern garden cardigan is finally properly finished. It has buttons and everything.
And now it has buttons you can clearly see that I messed up the button holes.
I may research ways to insert a button hole, I may also just try to force it. Or I may just leave well enough alone. I haven’t decided yet.
I sewed the buttons on with matching embroidery thread. The buttons are from spotlight and I still have 3 left so I may make a matching hat.
Again I haven’t really decided yet.
Apart from the button hole lapse in concentration I’m super chuffed that I made this.
I do always feel a little bit self conscious wearing things I’ve made. In primary school wearing home made clothes put a target on your back which I haven’t altogether forgotten. I think things have changed though. More people see home made items as a hobby rather than a sign of lack of wealth.
Plus I burst out laughing any time someone insinuates knitting your own clothing is cheaper.
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I knew I kept things for a reason
I’ve had these jeans for ages. After a month of wear they developed a tear in the crotch.
And yet for some reason I kept them.
It’s a family trait. We don’t like wasting things and so reusing scraps or repurposing material was something I was brought up to do.
Obviously these pants were waiting for me to have a really stiff neck. I was lieing away, trying to sleep when the idea came to me.
The pant leg is the perfect size for a heat bag, long enough to drape around my neck but not fall off.
The finished product isn’t exactly pretty or well finished, but it is practical.
First start by draping the pant leg around your neck to determine the optimal length.
Cut the pants.
Sew up the leg on one end. Sew about half way along the other opening. You need enough room so you can turn it inside out.
Using a funnel, start filling the tube.
Fill it a bit and then sew it up to create segments. I divided mine into 3 (so I did this bit twice).
Using the sewing machine with rice already in it was tricky, but it did work.
Once it’s all full, sew up the end
I had a great idea to use contrast embroidery thread, before remembering that my hand stitching is pretty terrible.
So it’s not going to win any beauty pageants. But it does the job.
Put it in the microwave for 2 minutes and put on neck.
Heat packs are wonderful things.
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Stuck In My Head – Portishead (+barely contained rage)
This week has been pretty shitty and I’m going to talk about it.
These are my ineloquent views, so please don’t think for a second that I’m saying that these should be your views or are your views. I have been called an extremist, feminist, and an atheist sometimes all in the same sentence and I am happy with those labels.
Reading the news has left me tired, sad, and undervalued as a member of society.
As a lady in a committed relationship, who doesn’t want children, and who knits I couldn’t help but feel sorry for another lady in a committed relationship, who doesn’t want children, and who knits, and who also happens to be Prime Minister of Australia.
I have always believed I was fortunate enough to live in a time where I could choose my own destiny.
Without having a husband I own property, I have a credit card, I have a degree, and I can vote. Yet I have shockjocks on the radio saying that there are people that might assume my partner is homosexual – as though there is something wrong with that.
As though there is something wrong with the way I choose to live my life.
I am strong enough now to not care about opinions of people who don’t matter to me. However I do care that while this is in the media, people in the lunchrooms and in the pubs feel entitled to criticize and comment on my life choices. Whether they’re doing that intentionally or not, when they’re talking about a lady in a committed relationship, who isn’t married, doesn’t want kids (I believe deliberately barren is the phrase), and who knits, they may think they’re talking about the PM but they are also talking about me. This week the world has told me that I am not a “real woman” because I don’t see marriage or children in my future.
In the same week, we’ve seen a high profile domestic abuse case. I was prepared to hear victim blaming opinions from the people in the lunchrooms and in the pubs but I was seriously shocked when this was the only live discussion I’ve heard (I’m excluding online as I have a lovely online bubble where no one would even consider this comment). The comment was about how bad she looked without wearing makeup, and how she is pretty on tv, but not on the cover of a newspaper.
SHE WAS JUST ABUSED! Seriously, her appearance is so low on the available topics regarding domestic abuse it doesn’t even warrant a mention. And yet it’s the only conversation I’ve heard about the whole thing. This week the world has told me that even if I’ve just been strangled in public, I am still obliged to meet a beauty standard.
It would be easy for me to untwist my knickers* and retreat back into my own sheltered world where every person is equal, everyone can choose how they want to live their life, and as long as it’s safe and consensual no choice is better than any other.
But I just can’t do that at the moment. And I don’t just want to talk. There are ways to contribute. There is gofundme.com where you can donate straight to real people and causes. (I’m sure at some point we will see news reports about scams, but I feel the risk is justified.) I recently donated to help cover the living expenses of a sex worker who needed money to be able to prosecute her rapist. There is a getup campaign to steer the conversation away from personal attacks and to the very real consequences of being born a woman.
I don’t usually talk about these things on my blog. But when it came to choose this weeks song, I couldn’t think for all the opinions and thoughts in my head.
If it seems glib to be talking about domestic violence, and then music in the one post please excuse me but I’m starting to think instead of talking about these difficult issues in hushed tones, they should be open and everyday conversations.
I want my niece, and every other young lady out there to find a world where they’re not financially worse off as soon as they come out of the womb, be it through tampons being taxed as a luxury item, not being paid for equal work, and not having adequate superannuation. I want my niece to be able to go to work and be asked “if she wants to get married and have children”, not asked “when” as though it’s a foregone conclusion that because she is female she must have a husband and babies to be complete.
I want my niece to choose her own path in life, whatever that may be. And I want society to accept that choice.
Maybe I’m dreaming of a perfect world, but the only ways that I can think to achieve change is to talk about it and give my time and money.
How can any song possible make its way through all of this clutter? Well there was really only one choice.
In many ways it’s not relevant to this conversation, but it’s the song which is giving me the strength to write these thoughts instead of leaving it solely to the proper writers who explain themselves more eloquently than I do. See articles here, here, and here.
http://open.spotify.com/local/Portishead/Dummy/Glory+Box/308
*Is “got your knickers in a twist” a common colloquialism outside of Australia? If not I know it to mean get worked up about something you have no control over.
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It’s Friday!
Firstly some housekeeping.
I have recently changed my ravelry name. Instead of rainruinedclothes I am now known as bekswhoknits.
It makes my rav name the same as my twitter name plus means I don’t have to explain about rainruinedclothes (Editors lyrics from the song The Big Exit).
I’ve also recently updated my about page. I hadn’t updated my old one since I started this blog and it was out of date, and a little old.
I’ve also been mushy and sappy and given my partner in crime a new code name – HeWhoFishes.
He is such a big part of my real life and a tiny little part of my blog and I want to fix that. Giving him his own persona will hopefully help.
Secondly I have to share a recipe with you. Ian Hewittson is an Australian TV chef who is a bit of a Ron Swanson type.
Hewhofishes and I watched this just before going to bed last night and we were in hysterics.
With the focus of many TV chefs these days being healthy but tasty food, Huey has stayed true to the food he’s been cooking on TV for 20 years.
So for some unknown reason we can’t help but find it amusing when Huey adds a bit more butter, or sprays a mixture of butter, cheese, and breadcrumbs with olive oil spray for good measure.
So this breakfast just spoke to us. The final straw was when he served it with iceberg lettuce and mustard dressing, the mustard dressing including a cup of vegetable oil. And then he called it a ‘light breakfast’
And he is probably the only TV show I know that if you post a stamped self address envelope to their address, they will post you back the recipes. Its a delightful pre-internet concept.
Huey’s Light Breakfast
Brown onion and bacon. Add chopped sausages.
Top with cheese and breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.
Make a indent and break eggs on top.
Add more cheese and breadcrumbs.
Spray with olive oil
Bake in a hot oven for 20minutes or until golden.
Sounds delicious.
On the knitting front, I have had a bad case of cast-on-itis. Where nothing I already have on my needles seems right so in casting on something new. This one in particular I love the yarn, love the pattern, but not the combination. But I don’t know whether to frog or continue.
While I think about that decision I started a crochet cowl.
I don’t know what I’ve done, I think I’ve unintentionally increased on the first row, to create a curve. And I’m not sure if I like it or not.
While I think about that decision I cast on a hat. This I do like.
Although it’s a pain to knit as I’m holding two strands together and haven’t compensated enough with the needle size. So I’m pushing pretty hard on the needles. Hopefully it’s quick enough to finish so it won’t annoy me.
Has anyone got a cure for cast-on-itis? How do you decide if something’s worth frogging and starting again.
How cute is this frogging poster!!! For those curious, when I talk about frogging I’m talking about ripping back my knitting and starting again. Rip it, Rip it – like a frog.
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Stuck in my head – Supergrass & Arcade Fire
Does anyone else ever get two different songs, swimming around in their heads and eventually blending??
I’m explaining this badly. I’ll try again.
Does anyone else’s brain switch between two different songs, playing the chorus of one then the chorus of another before switching back to the verse of the first? Almost like two songs become one psuedo mash up?
Well these two songs do this to me all the time.
I punched the air on Monday morning when I heard Supergrass – Mary on my local radio station.
I have had that hook in my head for so so long without knowing what song it was.
I have even posted the “lyrics” on twitter in an attempt for someone to tell me what it is.
(Ooh oh oh oh ooh oh oh oh aye yae yaeee)
I heard it in a local pub but the song ended before I could Shazam it.
(If you don’t know Shazam, it’s an app which listens to a song and then tells you what it is. It gets used a lot.)
So I finally know.
And for some inexplicable reason I keep singing the hook from Mary with the chorus from The Suburbs.
It’s ok. You can call me crazy. I don’t really mind.
(Unfortunately arcade fire aren’t on spotify any more)
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odds and ends
I’ve picked up my ten stitch blanket. I’m thinking that when I get to the next corner I might make a video to demonstrate how to turn the corner. I’ve shown it to some one in real life, and have had a few questions.
I’m now half regretting making it in sock weight yarn. Its now over a year old, and looks like its 3 more years away from being a decent size.
I also did some work on my gentle waves afghan. I showed you this in my video blog for Knit & Crochet blog week, but I’ve actually taken some photos now. It took me a few trys to start. I’m not that good at reading crochet instructions yet. But now that it’s established, its pretty mindless. Which was good because I’m still dieing loudly and building blanket forts.
I have managed to watch 6 seasons of 30 rock in 3 weeks from my blanket fort. I now need to find a new sitcom to fill that void. With Arrested Development being a netflix only production, and netflix being unavailable in australia, I was very happy to find a workaround .
Since then I’ve been discovering all that netflix has to offer. (And will quite happily take recommendations!)
I’ve been trying to not spend money on etsy. There are so many lovely things that I want. I think I have about 8 items in my cart that I’m pondering. Metal stamped cuff with yarn trinket? Yes Please!
There was no decent football to watch this weekend, as my team had a bye week. That always feels a bit weird.
So everything is a bit all over the place. But at some point it will all sort itself out again.
But finally I was cleaning out my spam comments and found this gem.
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The site with the litter location is vital. Your at first”
And last but not least – Knitnrun4sanity, you are the lucky winner of my favourite tea! I’ve emailed you this morning. Please let me know if you didn’t receive the email. Congrats hun!!
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Shh. Its a secret.
So I’m not going to share the 3 things I finished this week.
They’re all gifts so the recipients should be the first ones to see them. Then I’ll share them with the interwebs.
So instead I’m going to show you a present I made for my best friend’s birthday last year, and didn’t blog about it.
Instead it’s been sitting in drafts for ages.
It would be an understatement to say that midnite moose is my favourite girl in the world.
We woo together, watch sport together, and one night we drank vodka premix straight out of the bag together and dubbed ourself ‘classy bitches’.
There could only be one present to make to sum up our relationship.
A double sided cushion with “Woo” on one side and “we be classy bitches” on the other.
On polkadot fabric naturally.
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Stuck in my head – Faker
I have a CD collection. I was given my first CD when I was 12 (Tina Arena – Chains) and since then I’ve accumulated many more.
There are all sorts of CDs in there. Some I play more than others. Some are only there because I hate throwing things away, particularly if I paid good money for them at one point (even more so if I was young and $30 meant a lot more back when I was at school).
I still buy CDs mostly because I really like the album format. I’ll buy a cd, sit down with the album artwork, listen to the music and hear it start to finish.
Plus I like my money were I can see it- on my walls and in my stash.
(It’s metallic silver paint and Ikea CD/DVD racks. One of my favourite things in my apartment)
My Bloke’s CD collection is also quite impressive. Although we haven’t merged the two, we have decided that we’re committed enough to not both buy the same CD. It has been 5 years.
I organise mine alphabetically by artist name then album name (ignoring any ‘the’ prefixes).
My Bloke organises his alphabetically by artist and then in order of album release date earliest to latest.
This argument is expected to last until we’re in retirement.
So my song for this week is my go-to song for whenever I’m tired and at work. After 4 days in bed watching 30 Rock, I am out of my pajamas and a sleepwalking member of society once again.
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500 Posts!!! – Giveaway now closed
I don’t quite know how I got here, but obviously I’ve talked for 500 posts worth.
So I’m celebrating with a tea giveaway.
I have a wonderful tea shop which tempts me on my walk to the train station every day.
And I’m giving some away to a lucky reader.
I’ll ship anywhere so please enter.
To enter click on either of the above links and *hopefully* it will all work perfectly.
This is my first time using rafflecopter – hopefully no one will have any problems, but it took quite a bit of work to use it with wordpress.
If any one has any problems, leave me a comment and I’ll try and help. I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible.
So congratulations to me.
And congratulations to knitnrun4sanity – the winner of this giveaway.
Cheers!
(Excuse the bed side table. I have a cough and the sniffles so obviously I’m dieing. But it’s nothing that a day in bed, a 30 rock marathon, and lots and lots of tea won’t cure)
(Seriously I figured out how to get Netflix even though I’m in Australia. I am now on season 3 of 30 rock and have watched all of the new Arrested Development. This streaming thing is pretty awesome.)
polka-dots & sparkles 