Starting the new year

Not particularly well. I didn’t complete any of the other four things over the break:

• The mend bag lining is underway. I gave up on trying to figure out the best way to do it, and just started on it.


• The wire baskets do have covers, but need lids before they can move to the top of the shelves to collect dust/expand my storage area.


• I did think about the mermaid story, but didn’t go beyond the thinking about it stage.


• Didn’t even touch the clanger.

And on my first commute of the year, though I have a new knitting project to start (link found via whip-up), I decided to not fill my bag with yarn so I could do some shopping today instead. This is the year I’ll turn 40, and I’d like to do lots of stuff to mark that, but at the moment I’m still feeling worn down, even after 10 days off work.

But it is a new year, still fresh, so to avoid whining any more, I’ll point out that it’s the year of the rabbit (thanks for the info Maki), and a friend at the office shared this with me before we broke up for Christmas. She’s going through a lightning obsession with paper models. She gave me a printout which I saw again this morning, so I’ve finally taken it home to play with.

Happy New Year!

Secret project revealed: Pac-Man Ghost T

It does look good. Unfortunately, the project is actually a failure. It doesn't matter how good a shirt looks if it doesn't fit. Either I need to invent a shrink ray and test it on my man (which would be inconvenient as I use him to reach the top kitchen shelf) or I need to remove the applique and put it on a slightly larger shirt. Both seem equally improbable at the moment.

The idea had been in my head for a long time, inspired by the tile graffiti by Invader. The project only really got started when I gave up on trying to figure out an easy way to do it and just started in on it using the English paper patchwork technique. Seeing the work at the V&A show was probably the tipping point into using hand working techniques.

The squares were made around 1.6 cm wide squares of thick paper, I'm guessing 90-100 gsm. I did do some maths early in the project and figured 1.5 to 2 cm would work, but the exact 1.6 came about because I bought a square hole punch that cuts to that size. Just lucky there. Because I knew the paper would be removed, and because I wanted it to stand up to working on the bus, I opted to use thick paper rather than tissue and it worked fine. If you try something like this, do remember to mark the fabric grain on the back of each paper square.

It was a slow project, mostly because I was keeping it a secret. On a good day, 2-3 squares would be sewn on during the commute, and I'd make up 2-3 more squares on my lunch break. I couldn't manage to baste the fabric onto the paper squares on the bus, but sewing them together was fine. The biggest problem was rethreading the needle- I'd wait until the bus was at a stop.

After months of working on it, it was really gutting to have it not fit. P is really sweet and said it was nice anyway, but I'm still irked by it. I know I should just get another t-shirt, make sure it does fit, then carefully remove the applique and put it onto the new shirt. I know it won't be that hard. But I'm still disappointed.

My prerogative, or something like that

On the bus this morning, a kid was teaching his younger brother how to spell ‘apple’:

Elder: Ah-puh-puh-luh-eh,
Younger: Puh-,
Elder: No, Ah-puh-puh-luh-eh
Younger (eventually):  Ah-puh-puh-luh-eh
Elder: That’s right, Ah-puh-puh-luh-eh.
Younger:  Can you spell tangerine?
Elder (after a pause): Well, no.

I thought it was hilarious.

My patching idea for the Make-do-and-Mend bag has changed a bit. I did some darning on two corners, which I’m really not good at. And now, I’ve started a patch on a third, but not with fabric from the old friend’s umbrella. I had thought it would be nice to use a fabric that had a personal meaning. Like an old-timey patchwork quilt, where every fabric had a different story. But that umbrella has a powerful floral pattern, and I've got a lot of mixed feelings about losing that friendship. It all just made me reticent.

That's actually a phrase from that friendship. I can't remember how it originated with us, and it probably involved a few other friends, but if there was something we knew we ought to do, but didn't want to, and couldn't quite put into words why we felt that way, we'd just say, "I'm reticent." So much fancier than saying "lazy".

Anyway, I'm using scraps from a plain black umbrella instead. (Someday, I'll explain to the world about Manchester and umbrellas, but not today.) My issues with lost friendships can stay on the shelf for now.

Extra Gift

When I picked up my shirt at the Mending Project it came with an extra gift: a saftey pin that was holding the name label to it. A nice, reusable exta! Lee Mingwei's mending was also much admired in the office on Monday.

On the way to Liverpool I was working on another secret project (yes, that does mean the other secret project is done!). It struck me that my fellow passangers who were using their phones had much the same pose as me, attention focused on small movements of their hands. Interesting.

Once this second secret project is done, it's back to mending the Made Do and Mend bag. Then it will be the mermaid story. Both before the holiday break. I feel tired already.

there is another

Another embroiderer on the 192!

Heading home from work, I saw her get off the bus at my stop. I did a bit of a double take, registering that yes, that was an embroidery hoop she was carrying, and there was a needle in her other hand. A quick chat and a nosey: She said other people knit on the bus, so she embroiders, and the piece she's working on isn't suposed to look perfect, so the occasional odd size stitch doesn't bother her. Her work was in mostly long and short stitch (I think), I think the dark border was finished, and a scatter of stars, but there was a figure and some foliage still to do. I wished her "Happy stitching" and scurried onto the bus.

slow poke

The Manchester to Leeds train takes 55 mins. On the round  trip I completed 3 parsnips.

The plastic lining on my Parsnips bag (the replacement of the not yet mended Make do and Mend bag) was tearing away at the top. A bit of duck tape nearly solved the problem, but it didn't stick in the bits where the lining had come completely away from the fabric. Obviously, this was a situation for a bit of embroidery. Some green fly stitch and straight stitch, with a white detatched crossed chain stitch laced through. It looks enough like a pasnip to satisfy me. But I am a bit surprised that it takes me so long to stich them.

Oh, and yes, embroidering through duck tape does leave sticky stuff on the needle, but it scrapes off easily. What a useful thing to know!

dark evenings and magic lantern review

Because of the tilt of the Earth’s axis plus the country changing the clocks back, it’s a bit dark to do needlework on the bus home. So now I work on the secret project in the morning, and in the evening I read about how to manage anger and irritability. It’s hard for me to get my head around thinking more “helpfully” about things that make me angry, but I’m just not going to get upset about that.

Yesterday, we went to a brilliant Magic Lantern by Professor Heard at the John Rylands Library. Fantastic colours! Stuff that was painted 200 yrs ago looked so clear and vibrant. The slides were all hand painted, though some use early photo techniques to make a black and white image to be painted over. The professor has seen photos of the painting being done, mostly by women and he had never seen one with a magnifying glass. Consider that a 2cm painted angel was projected to 1m on the screen, and you’ll understand how skilful these slide painters were. The machine itself looked really cool, too, with all the shiny brass knobs and lenses like cannons.

Am I now wishing for a Magic Lantern, you may ask? Well, no. They are cool, but as the Professor pointed out, they are used for a performance before a live audience. Not something I want to do. But I am curious about combining them with shadow puppets.

Also saw a little exhibit on early photography at the library, including what I think was a Holmes type stereoscope. Now I would like to try that- two pictures taken from a left and right eye standpoint, then put in a viewer that held them so each eye saw only the appropriate image to give a 3D effect. It seems like the perfect way to show off dolls and such. I wonder if there are any plans for them available on the interwebs?