Pre-preview

Fingerless evening gloves, cashmere & vintage glass buttons by L.Nichols, 2006.

I have targets, schedule, two lists of things to do and three kids driving me to distraction.

The big news is that the evening gloves are ready - drying in the study this very moment - waiting to be photographed tomorrow.

Finished BEFORE estimated completion time. Yes. And on this account I went to bed in the wee hours of new days about three times. I cannot remembetr being so silly in a long, long time!

I so loved making these gloves. The yarn is just amazing to work with. I listened to king Arthur stories through the easy bits and changed design slightly as I went along. They look rather sleek and small changes I made give them more aerodynamic and modern feel.

Bear with me Sarah - I will have the pics up on the site tomorrow :)

That's more like it!

Having a Muse for a boss doesn't make one's job easy. I can vouch for that.

Everything was running smoothly (actually, it still is) and I was very chuffed to be so on top of everything. My simple plan of doing something every day towards fully ticked off list turned out to be just the thing.

Last weekend Nick and I went on a bike ride that was designed to take us by a yarn shop, and that's where I spotted this: Jade Sapphire 4-ply hand-dyed Mongolian cashmere.

I bought two skeins and didn't think much of it (do I need to mention that it wasn't even on my list), except that it was without a doubt the softest yarn on Earth.

I woke up a couple of days later struck by the idea of fingerless evening gloves. I took another look at the yarn and I held it and let it 'speak to me'. And it surely did. It told me to find the finest possible set of double pointed needles in the house, which turned out to be 2mm and to start winding a ball.

By that point I was completely under its influence.

This is the terrible bit where I get to neglect my children by means of sitting them down on a sofa in the study (having first led them to think that watching 'Incredibles' is the very thing they most desire in the world. Oliver sound asleep) I run downstairs to pick up the needles and cast on the gauge test.

Pencils, sharpener, pad, calculator and measuring tape all come out of their various hiding places and sketching is in full swing. I plunge into my library of patterns. Forget all the fine foods in the fridge. Pasta for dinner again.

Two days later I cast on the first glove and get cracking. And you will never ever guess what happens?! One of the fine Oso Lanoso Monkey Sticks otherwise known as rosewood needles snaps under my gentle touch.

I promise, I handled them with utmost care and I now do realise that it was a very impractical idea to buy such fine needles in such delicate wood. It's about quarter past midnight. Can't speak to anyone as it's too late (unless they live in States but that's no use) to get the new set via fastest possible delivery method. Stomp off to bed myself. BTW, Luciana at Foreign Strand was most helpful, emphathised and promised a replacement set of my choice when I spoke to her next morning. Thank you Luciana - if you're reading this.

Loop comes to the rescue and furnishes a lovely set of 2mm bamboo needles. All on track again, as of yesterday.

Last night was very productive...

...and although I went to bed at precisely 1am I woke up fresh and full of energy this morning. I am really looking forward to the next session. I have a Master Plan, which should hopefully deliver two fingerless evening gloves for the ELDS exhibition. Support structure embodied as my husband is ever so life-saving!

This brings me back to the first paragraph. Living on the edge is what I seem to be about. Things get too cosy and I wake up with a vision and it will not let me go/I will not let it go (or both?). And my noticing is that I take these challenges on rather willingly. I am loving the experience and I do think that it helps me to surpass my own limitations.

The thing I love most about this project is that it is very much like climbing by its nature (for benefit of those of you who haven't known me 10 years ago, I used to climb). Mistakes are fatal. The yarn and the needles so fine, pattern so intricate - it requires constant focus and attention.

Goodbye easy peasy.

On instant gratification pieces

Time is a precious commodity what with all the preparations for the show and raising 3 kids. This is a good and a bad thing. Good because I have a perfectly sound excuse not to do a number of things that - frankly - I cannot get excited about (i.e. clean the fridge). It is also very bad, as my knitting time is at a real low and that really distresses me. Don't misunderstand me. I DO KNIT, but the nature of current projects is not as ambitious as I would wish them to be.

Hence I have a huge pile of various yarns, as I cannot keep up with my voratious appetite for fibre. I store my yarns (I am not sure if I should disclose such intimate details of my existence) ...let's say I store them in a secret place in my house. In fact, I have been storing some of them for years. For some time now I have been promising myself to re-visit the depths of the aforementioned hiding place to refresh my memory and to make a list of yarns for future reference.

Yesterday I bit the bullet and went throught all the storage boxes brimming up with exquisite yarns. Oh, some of those gorgeous yarns at the bottom of the bottom-most boxes I didn't even remember I had! As I rumaged through the boxes I recalled what projects I had in mind when buying them and allowed myself a few moments of pure fantasy thinking about the most beautiful sweaters and cardis I have no time to knit at the mo. Pure torture. Especially when it came to putting all the 'sorted' boxes away.

These days I channel my creative energy into knitted pendants. Just like the ones pictured below.

Again, I wish to be very clear: I am not saying that they are unworthy projects. I am merely pointing out that in comparison with a Kaffe Fassett's cardi that I am planning to make at some point in the future (you know, to hone the colourwork skills I posses) they come up fairly faint. Oh yeah, did I mention that I would OBVIOUSLY turn the Kaffe Fassett cardi seamless just to add more excitement to the game.

PS: Actually, I have to say some of the distractions that take my attention away from knitting are just fabulous. This weekend was just perfect (I did squeeze a few rows of knitting into it and a trip to my favourite local yarn shop). The most memorable thing was a bike ride with Nick and a lovely stop for a coffee and a snack at one of those cute cafs overlooking the green. Needless to say, we talked mostly of knitting related ideas. He loves me a lot, I think - to have so much patience for his obsessed wife!

Dreams come true

Back in the days when I had a 'regular job' I secretly cherished this vision of a workplace, which was better suited to my personality - that of a home-loving creature with a great need to be super-flexible at times and with fondness for crafts.

Alas, I have landed myself in this dream place by means of my unwavering intention.

And I like it a lot.

And there is a sense of perfect timing.

And I am bringing to it all the skills and the insight that are 'regular job"s legacy.

This is what it looks like:

And I do have my little helpers:

And the best thing of all is that I get to drink a lot of gorgeous coffee prepared with ritual-like attention, rather than a cuppa made in a hurry. It aligns with my belief that there must be beauty and quality in everything I do or make.

Forgotten treasures

In the spirit of conscienciousness I was going through the piles of my creations, with an intention of selecting the finest pieces for the show. That's when I stumbled upon this...




The very cosy sweater that Clara detested when she first got it!

Sculpting the fibre

I have been consumed totally by the preparations for the East London Design Show and thus neglecting Stitchville, house chores and my nails. Actually, a vibrant social life resurected by joint effort of myself and Nick proved to be a distraction also. A rather delightful one. With a smile I glanced this morning at our recycling box overflowing with empty wine bottles. It's so good to have friends around!

The trouble with being a designer/maker is such that it is unavoidable having to spend some of the time doing boring admin and other business-like things, which all have a major fault and it is that you can't use needles and yarn to do them.

Yesterday, when I looked at this week's work and realised how much of the boring stuff I got done I thought I deserved a treat time and made a start on a scarf (which is fun part of preparations for ELDS). I so love knitting! I'm afraid I will have to go now and make most of this quiet time to indulge in some more of it...

Oh, BTW, my profile is up on the ELDS site now, if you're curious to find out more. If you would like an invite just e-mail me at malgosia@blueyonder.co.uk with your postal details and I'll send you one.