I have a new box of stuff to make Artist trading cards (something I’ve never done before but thought I’d try out for the Kyle Cassidy Challenge).  However, it’s sitting there mocking me, and rather than looking at doing something about it I’m thinking of multiple ways of doing other stuff.   I saw a Debbie Bliss book in the shops yesterday and of course want to knit something from there, depite not being a strong knitter.  I was in Monsoon the same day, and whilst I love their clothes (especially the kids clothes), the thought “I do have a sewing machine at home, why not……” keeps flicking through my head, despite me not having made any piece of clothing since about 1981.

Meanwhile back to one of my 5 cross stitch wips !

I’ve found another way of wasting my time – I’m now on Ravelry.  Damn

I’m annoyed, because somehow I’ve lost the key to the Hickmott “Balloons” pattern and dont know how to get another copy.  I belong to a number of cross stitch groups, and may put a plea out to them, but hold out little hope. I still have the pattern mind and a half completed kit, so dont really want to buy another pattern.

Meanwhile I’ve been doing some knitting of a scarf that I will send over to Ireland when I have a couple more done.  The sales are on at the moment so I’ve been able to pick up some wool really cheaply!

I’ve also been working on the L&L “The Wedding” and making some progress there, which is good and I’ll post up pictures when i’ve pressed it.

I’ve heard a load of raves over the last few weeks over Ralvery, a site primarily for knitters that is still in beta testing. Those who already have a logon have no bad thing to say about the site.  The biggest complaint about those who DONT have a logon, is that they DONT have a logon, and therefore cant get to see what those who DO are all raving about!

The owners seem to have some level of common sense – first of all, they are restricting membership to beta testers at the moment, to build the site from the ground up.  The second advantage (little auld cynical me!), is that by restricting access, but generating buzz, more people will want to join in.

Me?  As someone who is not a huge knitter, I’m not in a rush to use it for knitting purposes, and I probably wouldnt use all the functionality, so would be a crappy beta tester.  I can wait for a logon.  I would however like to go in and have the chance to go “ooooooh!” over the wool etc and what other people are doing.  I am very much a tactile person when it comes to things like this (along with paper, leather and yes, towels!), so enjoy things like this.

I have loads of potential projects that I seem to be stuck doing nothing!

I’ve done more stitching of the balloons today. However, I was in a local cheap shop today (looking for stash I have to admit!) and found 4 balls of wool at a pound each. Bah! Now I’m itching to start knitting some scarves, knowing that they wont actually take that long, but I have to stop myself! I really cant have another project on the go. The wedding sampler is still sitting in the corner of the room and I need to go back to it soon if I stand a chance of remembering what I need to unpick.

I have a long weekend this week, which should help me get some decent daylight doing stuff, but once again, I woke up this morning with a sore throat and a slightly bunged up nose. I hope I havent caught a cold from my boss and have to spend the time in bed instead of doing something productive!

Friends have started talking about doing The Artist’s way and I’ve avoided it so far, but I may be sucked in! Another project I dont need!

Well, yes I am still out there!

Not an awful lot of crafting going on recently and certainly nothing to show for myself, at least today.

I’ve nearly completed my second balloon on the Hickmott design, and will be posting a photo soon. I did start knitting a scarf for the Simon community in Galway, but decided that the wool/needle combination wasnt good enough to produce something warm and wearing enough, so I ripped it out. I may go looking for other wool on the weekend to see if I can find anything more appropriate. I have needles up to 5mm, so can take something quite chunky I think.

Found the following blogs recently Tanglledangel and Teaandcakes both from women on Stitchnbitchie. I am so jealous of the stashes they get!

My ipod died the other week, and I replaced it with a video ipod. Still on the look out for decent podcasts, and Isobel for one has a list of Knitting podcasts that I might check out. Always still on the lookout for cross stitch ones though!

wip0028, originally uploaded by Nordie.

How far I’ve got in the last week or so on the Hickmott “Balloon” kit. Only a couple of froggings, from where I’m not paying attention, but we’ll get there.

Meanwhile, I’ve had to stop myself getting too excited and dropping all current WIPS in favour of knitting a couple of scarves! At the moment, scarves are all I can knit, but there is a charity drive that the Irish Stitchnbitch crew are starting to take part in on behalf of the Simon community, who are one of the charities to look after the homeless in Ireland.

Another round of tab closing….

I found a copy of “The Art of Embroidery: Inspirational Stitches, Textures and Surfaces” at a website called The Book Depository. UK based, many of the books are cheaper than the equivalent on Amazon.co.uk (they also do a comparison with Amazon), as well as offering free P&P. At £15.00, it’s a good £9 cheaper than Amazon are selling it for!

Cameoroze has a stitching blog here. I’m sure I’ve come across her years ago, but cant remember where – I think perhaps over at About.com. She also has a Stitcher’s Studio.

Speaking of about.com, I really did enjoy being on there – at least I used to. I even considered applying to be one of their editors back in the day. However, I spent some time there doing some research a few years ago, and my spam rate shot up like nobody’s business. I backed away from about.com, and after a few months and some hard work with the spam filters, the spam rate dropped back down again. Coincidence? mebbie. mebbie not. I haven’t spent an awful lot of time on about.com since, just the odd click or two, but I back away again as soon as I know where I am. I certainly don’t post there or do much navigation around the site, which is a shame as there is a lot of stuff there, including free charts.

I’ve found another podcast called CraftSanity, which has an associated blog. Each edition has decent length interviews with people within the Crafting world.

Episode 43 is an interview with Melissa Alvarado and Hope Meng who, along with their friend Melissa Rannels, co-own Stitch Lounge.

Episode 49 is an interview with Heather Holland-Daly, a cross stitch designer. She has her own website Monsterbubbles, and I was particularly interested in seeing how she presented her work, especially in light of the “How Much?” post I made last week. I found the website to be very pale – pink and green, whilst good for a logo (and I like the logo!), I think is a bit wishywashy. Her “Gallery” and “Stuff” is cluttered and out of date, and the pictures of her stuff makes me want to buy either the completed item, or the kit to do it with, I cant see any option of how to buy direct from her, or which internet/Bricks and Mortar shop I need to go to. (And the thumbnails in the gallery – just plain annoying! grrrr!)

Episode 53 has an interview with Carol Sauvion, the executive director of “Craft in America” which was shown on PBS recently. I’ve heard decent things about it, and wonder if it’s ever going to be shown outside of the US. (I see the DVD is available from PBS’s website – and, unfortunately perhaps for PBS – at Amazon.com for $8 cheaper).

Before I left Ireland, I set up StitchNBitchIe, the Irish Yahoo group for Stitch N Bitch. On the weekend, they took part in the World Wide Knit In Public day, and a summary (with pictures!) can be found here, thanks to Lien (who I’ve never met!)

Right, think that’s enough from me for the mo! (I’m getting tired and making more and more mistakes!)