orange … amongst other things

I love orange.  So often, when I’m choosing fabric, or wool, or clothes, I find myself thinking oh look, there’s orange, I love orange and never choose it.  This happens so often, that when I fossick through the stash, look through my wardrobe, there’s a lot of orange.

Julian and I have fallen into the habit of going to bed very late - frequently after midnight - setting the alarm for 6am and then being utterly incapable of waking up properly. We bump that “10 more minutes button” over and over and finally stagger out to the kitchen at 7 to participate in a frantic rush to school and work.  Yes, it’s a cheerful, frantic rush with plenty of love and laughter, but it’s so contrary to how we should be starting our day - refreshed!

In an effort to improve, Julian and I went to bed last night at a nice and early 9.15pm.  Yeah, I might miss out on a couple of hours of possible needlework but usually, after the clock has struck 9.30pm, I am slumped prone and tired on the sofa, watching something on the television or browsing the internet.  They are not fruitful hours.  So to bed - we chatted, we read and then drifted off to sleep.  And when that alarm went off at 6am, I sat up in bed, awake, energised and ready for the day.  Oh it felt good! I made Abby and I our morning cup of tea and we didn’t have to gulp it.  We ate our breakfast slowly and with pleasure.  I ironed everybody’s clothes for the day and made the lunches.  Julian and Abby left for school and work and I still had two hours before I had to catch the tram to work.  Two glorious hours.

It was a cold morning so I put the kettle back on, savoured a cup of Ecco (peculiar Italian cereal beverage that I have loved for many years) and finally finished my scarf.

I knitted it last year in Brisbane, but frankly, it was never cold enough to wear it, and thus I had never woven the ends in.  Well this morning I did.

And wore it to work ’cause it was darn chilly.  I swear the wind gusting in from the south west was express from the Antarctic!

Ah it was such a good morning.  Slow, peaceful, happy and productive and full of my favourite orange.  It’s amazing what a few extra hours of needed sleep can provide.

comfort stitching

It is well documented that sitting in a cosy armchair, in your flannel jammies doing some handstitching with your muma and dada sitting across from you with their books, and your puppies snoozing lazily on the sofa is the best medicine for the angst that can accompany a day at high school.

Oh my sweet Abby - she does struggle sometimes with the social minefield that is a school of girls - I would once have said teenage girls, but now know that it starts WAY earlier than that.  And my Abby, she’s a quiet, shy soul.  When she settles into her niche, she is cheerful, witty and well-loved.  Until she finds that spot, she is a wee bit fragile, easily buffeted, nervous in new social situations.  And today was one of those days.

As per our new routine, Abby hops off the train from school, walks up the street to say hello to us in the bookstore, has a browse to see what new titles have arrived, drops into Aviv’s (the most awesome bakery) next door for afternoon tea, then heads home.  Today, there were a few tears so I suggested as a soothing balm for a morning’s awkwardness, she design and stitch a new outfit for Dollie.  I arrived home shortly after to find a very cheerful, very relaxed, very satisfied girl.

My girl creates such prettiness with her needle and felt - I am in awe of the wonderful designs she comes up with.  I’m especially pleased that when our world needs some righting, we have learnt to turn to soul nourishing things - a family game, stitching, reading, cooking together, re-building bikes, snuggling up on the sofa, cuddling the doggles.

And this dear little creature is what I found nestled into my pillow on the morning of my birthday last week - my heart sang.

a handsome princeling

The nice thing about needlepoint is that once you’ve got it underway, it pretty much looks after itself.  All it needs is a few hours of film or audio book each night and merrily it rolls along, no matter how sleepy or slow I feel.  Which is usually how I feel after dinner and dishes and child to bed.

So whilst the sun is out, the light is good, energy and brain levels high, and the kitchen table is not needed for anything else, there’s a little portrait I want to capture …

I love the portraits of old - especially those of children.  They so rarely look at ease or cheerful.  Mostly, they look a bit stricken and stiff!  I love the symbolism - the careful placement of the artefacts that will reveal to the sitter’s importance, history, wealth, and passions.  As for the costumes, I’m always so amazed at the clothes these poor people are shoved into!  The layers upon layers of detail and decoration.  Again, especially the children.  My goodness, this poor little soul looks like he couldn’t move his arms if he tried!

Yep - it’s a he.  The offspring of King Charles I and his wife Henrietta Maria - Prince Charles.  What a handsome princeling!  Flipping through the exquisite pages of my latest “The World of Interiors” I came across this wonderful portrait - you can’t see Big Charles - he’s way off at the other end of the table.  Hmmmm … what is that saying about his tolerance for family life?  I could just see a Little Charles in felt - pink and white felt with this dear little piece of ladybug fabric.

The way I put these felt and embroidery pictures together is very ad-hoc.  I start with the wooden hoop and a piece of paper.  I outline the hoop on the paper and then draw my picture inside the outline.  Once I’m happy with the composition, I trace the elements onto vlisefix, cut out each element, iron it onto the wrong side of my fabric, cut it out, and then starting at the bottom layer, carefully add each piece, ironing as I go, until the picture is completed.

Then I begin the embroidery.  Each element is whip stitched around its edge and then I embellish it.  I don’t plan on what I”m going to do - I just see what looks nice and how much something needs.  I cheerfully rip out what doesn’t work and will often go back and add more detail later.  I often become terribly excited about the details of a particular element and then, whilst working on them, think of what to do to another part of the picture.  I know from experience to stop what I’m doing and just get stuck into the next bit - then I don’t forget my ideas.  After the initial drawing, I don’t put anything down on paper.  It just happens on the fabric.

As I worked away at Little Charles today - Abby thinks ’cause we’ve dressed him in pink, we really need to accept he’s a girl and rename him - it dawned on me that he was kind of suspended in mid air.  This was a wee bit distressing, but I reminded myself that things usually work out - if I just relax and enjoy the stitching something will come to me.  And it did - there’s a simple repeat pattern wallpaper in the offing, followed by a richly decorated rug for the royal bottom.

I’m pleased with the curtain - that took a few hours - the first tie back was revolting and had to be ripped out - made tricky by all the stitching that was done post tie back, thus wodging the dodgy stitches in place.  And Little Charles looks nicely stiff and worried - he must have had a premonition about his father’s execution.

Oooh and Abby - I’ve just read about Oak Apple Day - it was once celebrated on the 29th May - Little Charle’s birthday - as a commemoration of the oak tree he hid in during the civil war.  Now here’s a day we could celebrate in Melbourne and strangely enough, we could tweak it to be seasonally appropriate - the oaks will be shedding the last of their leaves, with which to decorate the table, and the apple season will be drawing to a close with all the apples picked and ready for pies and crumbles.  Too silly!

scratching an itch

It’s been an AGE since I have done any needlepoint - actually cannot remember what I last picked up - and whilst there are many, many projects - all pretty and worthy and waiting in my needlepoint bag - to be finished, I had such an itch to start something new.  Just something little, a repeating geometric design, no pattern, just make it up as I go along with colours left over from older projects.  I need two little rectangles to sit atop some new-to-us speakers.

[ there's a mirror under the bit where the needle goes 'cause I had to take a photo of it and send it to the needle shop so they knew which kind of needle to send me ... hee! hee! hee! ... I'm so excited about it arriving - I've waited so long for this!]

What more perfect time to start a wee project than a long weekend.

Especially when it’s rainy outside …

Cosy and dry inside inside …

[ glory be!  this is the first home I've ever lived in - seriously - that I don't have to worry about our belongings getting wet when it rains!  This is truly liberating and makes that rain sound oh so sweet! ]

There are new season apples by my side …

[ two words - Vic Market ]

Bundles of lovely colour scattered throughout the house …

And a well lit corner in the kitchen, in which to sit and stitch, and stitch and stitch and stitch …

I’m having trouble stopping.  My bottom is sore from so much sitting and stitching.  But after fretting over the colours last night,  I’m so loving how my little carpet is growing.

I don’t think I’m coming to bed tonight Julian.  There’s too much to do.  Hoping you’re having a lovely weekend at home with a quiet corner and some satisfying handwork :-)

shawl love

I must confess, I’m quite addicted to knitting shawls.  It all started this time last year with a few balls of Noro (the wrong ones, I might add) and this simple pattern.

Ahhh - so pretty.  But it flew off to warm the shoulders of a dear friend in the US.  So onto shawl number 2.  Different wool, different pattern, so pretty.  But on a cold and breezy day, it found its way onto old Nanny’s shoulders.

Now here I am in Melbourne and I know there is shawl weather just around the corner - time to finish the shawl I started late last year whilst still living in hot steamy Brisbane.  Yes I looked a bit of a goat sitting on the back porch with my lap piled with mountains of thick wool.  But knitting shawls is sooooooo good.

I used two different yarns for the shawl - some Patons Jet that I bought for $4 at a thrift store in a small country town in South East Queensland - Boonah.  Half of it had been knitted into a cardigan but there was no pattern in the bag and the sleeves were very small and tight so some frogging was in order.  Old Nanny - a prolific knitter and seller of yarn in the 1970s - says she hasn’t seen this particular Paton’s yarn label since the 1960s, so it could be at least 40 years old, perhaps a bit older.  The other yarn is a Noro Silk Garden.

It’s so magical to think of someone - most likely a lady - sitting somewhere comfy all those years ago, knitting a cardigan.  And now, her wool has stitched its way into my shawl, sitting side by side with the Japanese Noro, and fringed with a mix of Noro, dark brown Eco Wool leftover from my Nimbus (still not sewn up), and a glorious purple alpaca I bought from a dear little village on the Southern New South Wales coast during our summer drive to Melbourne.  She would never have imagined it!  I wouldn’t!

One wee downside is that the frogged wool knitted up a bit wonky.  I haven’t had this happen before and I thought the yarn would eventually relax, especially after blocking, but it didn’t.  Never mind - it will always serve as a reminder of the shawl’s provenance.  :-)

The fringe makes me laugh.  Often, when reading about the use of Noro’s Silk Garden, a knitter is advised to take wool from several parts of the ball in order to get an even spread of colour.  I consistently fail to do this - too lazy, too impatient - so the fringe on my shawl starts with a dark grey/brown, moves into a VIVID pink and then finishes with a soft grey/lilac.  Silly lily!

Oh well, it’s now resting, in all its thick, huge, snug glory on the sofa awaiting a chilly night when I shall wrap it round my shoulders and settle with some handwork. It covers all the way down to the small of my back and layers so nicely around my arms.  I like my shawls big.

Is there another shawl on the needles?  Of course!  I’m knitting one for my mum, so that when she visits in winter, she’ll be as snug as me!  Presently, she scorns a shawl as the ultimate old lady accessory (must be her age!) but I know, when the wind is whining, and the night frosty, she will gladly don the red, grey and French navy wool, laying in my basket. :-)