Mess, scarves and water babies

Here's my latest crochet experiment. I'm trying to teach myself and it's very much a learning experience. I formed this scarf into a tube and you can pop your hands into the furry ends, so to speak. Made me think about muffs particularly as I was taken for hurl in an open topped car the other day. A muff that lives in the car would be useful for cold days.




You can't create in a vacuum, nor with a vacuum...
I'm having a day off tomorrow with the express purpose of getting into the nightmare that is my workroom and making it a calm space suitable for creative invention. In other words, I'll put everything away in order to haul it all out again. This is the preparation for the earnest beginning of my schools project. Please note the mock up of the life sized collage puppet hanging on the back of the door looking as if someone were to wave a magic wand, she could do the tidying up. I wish.









Shades of Charles Kingsley?
This is a work in progress which I noticed when I paid a visit to messy workroom recently. It's heading for an exhibition in April and is next on my to do list. It began life with the idea of Fry's Five Boy's chocolate, a confection from my youth.
It was going to be the same baby's head given five different treatments but it ground to halt after two. These are some background ideas. Now it has a distinct water babies feel to me.

A Dave Webster original

My bro sent me a painting for Christmas with which I was well pleased. Nice sunny colours. I hung it where I can see it every morning.

My next creative venture begins Jan 9th when I'll be making some life sized puppets with a class of primary kids. Beginning to feel a bit apprehensive. These things always involve a lot of preparation but I can't even get near that until I have tackled the dump that is my workroom. If it's in a real bad mess I use the 'ten thing' clear up technique. I tell myself I'm just going to pick up and put away the first ten things that come to hand. By the time you've done that, you're into it. If not, just pick up ten more, and ten more....
This is a mock up of the kind of paper cut out puppet I'm going to make with the kids. At the moment I'm trying to collect lots of copies of the Financial Times (not my usual bedtime reading) which makes great skin (all the kids involved white). Colour supplements will make the clothes and stuff. They are going to be jumping jacks, the kind of puppets that wave their arms and legs the air when you pull a string.

Fine day for a sail

What does it mean if you look out of your kitchen window and see the words Caledonian McBrane? It means you have ferries at the bottom of your garden. Sadly this isn't the view from my kitchen window. We took a little sail to the neighbouring island of Bute today and had a walk up the hills. Very calm and lovely. The perfect way to pass Boxing Day.

Ten Green Bottles.....

Phew! Hard slog today in grumpy shopkeeper land. They were queued six deep at times. Here's a queue of a different kind. A collage of some children sitting on a wall that I made during a recent creative break. The idea was to remake it in fabric, but why, for what reason? That's the only thing about saying you work in textiles. You then feel obliged to . Paper feels like cheating somehow. May do a touchy feely fabic version next year. Who knows, who cares.

In the meantime its nose to the grindstone for the Christmas Eve stampede.

It's tradition!

This is the true meaning of Christmas in Scotland. Drink, drink and more drink. I hate drink and drunks. Was frightened by one as a child and have never recovered. I have made serious efforts over the years to join them rather than beat them but I have no aptitude for alcohol. So I sit there, arms folded and mouth looking like it's just sucked a lemon, sending out the disapproving vibes. Everyone else is having a ball, loving people they hate, hating people they love and having no memory of it the following morning. I can see the attraction, I just don't have the spirit.

By the way, the illustration is a cartoon I stitched on the sewing machine. Often come back to this as subject matter....So it's not all bad news then. Cheers!

Call that a scarf?

Have changed my mind about giving skinny scarf to friend in case we both wear them on Christmas day. Shades of 'Call that a scarf? THIS is a scarf!' Think I'll give her a crochet hook instead. To paraphrase the old Chinese proverb......

crochet a scarf for a woman and her neck will be warm for a day, give her a crochet hook and she'll fling it in the back of a drawer muttering 'her and her bloody crafts. I was only being polite about the damn scarf!'

All I want for Christmas

Finished the emergency Christmas scarf and then decided it was too lovely to part with. You should never give fabulous, hand made Christmas gifts. You're just setting yourself impossibly high standard for the following year.

Did decided the unfortunate gift recipient can have a lower key version I made a few weeks ago. I'm not a perfume wearer so it's not too ponggy of me. Hope I get away with it!

The Grinch was right

A few days before Christmas and even the k-ching of the cash register can't get me out of grumpy shopkeeper mode. To stay sane I've been indulging in a little crochet. Friend admired a recently completed scarf last night so I have now given myself a two day deadline to create one for her. Nothing like piling on the unnecessary pressure.