My Month of Sundays

This Sunday was the first in five weeks that I didn’t spend in Dublin City Centre.

My first attempt at spinning

Inside the Crafty Market

It started with the February Spin-in on 28th February on the balcony of Powerscourt Townhouse. Claire and I grabbed a gorgeous sandwich and coffee from Lemon, down the road, before proceedings got underway.

The following Sunday, 7th March, I went to the Crafty Market with Swords Knitting Buddies . We enjoyed a delicious lunch afterwards at Mermaid Cafe.

Sunday 14th March was Mother’s Day and we brought my mother to a family concert by Kodo  (pictured above) in the National Concert Hall. We had a beautiful buffet lunch in the Conrad Hotel across the road afterwards. My mother and I both received a goody-bag from the hotel as we were leaving. I thought there was a recession on?!?!

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, Ground Floor installation

Last Sunday, 21st March, I took the kids into the Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin to see the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef. Our lunch afterwards this time was in Café di Napoli for pizza portions for kids and a most exquisite panini for me. The coffee was nice too, if a little cold but the kids couldn’t hack the flavour of Chinnotto so I ended up drinking their drinks too.

So after such a fine list of Sundays – being all crafty, cultured and cullinary – I’ve had to plod through domestic chores today. ‘Sonly fair!

Speaking of Sundays… don’t forget: next Sunday is Easter Sunday and I’m running a Treasure-hunt around my blog and you could win these great prizes. 

Watch out for the first clue which will be posted on Saturday.

Send your answers to me in a Ravely Private Message before 18:00GMT on Monday 5th April (I’ve extended the time from noon).

F.O. Rainbow Rush

The skein I dyed, based on the colours of my local beach, grew up to be Rainbow Socks in no time at all.

I really enjoyed this pattern. The repeating sections of short-rows were as completely addictive to do as any lace pattern. They start with only two or three stitches, so you’re very easily enticed into starting another section. Then you add another four stitches each row before you turn again and, before you know it, you’re working over almost all of the stitches of the sock circumference.

I wore them for the first time on St. Patrick’s Day, last week, and got DH to take the above centre snap for my entry in the St. Patrick’s Day Celebration Competition on Ravelry: –

• make something with an Irish theme, and take a photo of it on St. Patricks Day;
• post the photo in the competition thread for the group and
• everyone has until 6pm (Irish time) March 27th, 2010, to vote for their favourite by clicking the love button for that post in the thread.

If you’d like to show my entry some love go to the thread and click on my love button. In the interest of fairness to all the competition entries (and for fear canvassing would disqualify me!) make sure you also vote for any other entries that tickle your taste pallette. There are some fantastic pieces entered. Mine are a more subtle and abstact interpretation of an Irish Theme, it has to be said!

I am a WIP

Yes, I said I am a WIP not wimp! Considering I had the cahoonas (or bare-faced cheek) to tell Annie Modesitt that we’d love to see her when I saw her tweet that she was coming to Ireland. Turns out: she’d love to see us too and she’ll be here from 1st to 23rd May. She then sent me a “DM” with her email address so I replied. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens but it pretty-much made my week!

I’m a Work-In-Progress. The older you get the more you realise how true this is. I am ever-changing, ever-evolving, ever-maturing, ever-mellowing. The more I learn the more I understand how little I know. I rarely talk about work here. In part it’s because Ireland is a small pool and – as my old boss was fond of saying – everything you write is “discoverable” (He was referring to the Freedom of Information Act in Ireland but it’s sage advice re the InterWebs too – one you’d wish more people would take heed of!) These days I don’t feel like talking about work because lately it’s just “Shitty-shitty-Crap-Crap”.

One thing I know about myself is that a high proportion of my self-esteem is tied up with how much job-satisfaction I’m getting. And the big-thing that gives me job-satisfaction is getting my job done well and being acknowledged for it. The latter only comes very rarely  – most managers forget to say thanks or to even notice if you pulled out all the stops – so you make do with what little you get. Lately, I’m getting nada, zip, zilch. The former – getting to do my job well – has been made nigh-on impossible for me lately, by the powers that be. I’m at the point where I’m throwing up my hands and I’m dangerously close to throwing in the towel altogether.

I’m trying to flag as clearly as possible that certain tasks, which have been requested by our clients, will not get done unless we put staff against them. I’m being really clear in my language too. A recent, direct quote from me: “the priorities in this team are arse-over-tit!” You couldn’t get clearer than that. What do I get in return? A vague promise that Architect F will be assigned to X-project in the future, whenever he finishes the project he’s currently working on. Has that happened three weeks later? No. What am I doing about it? Well, ranting here… at DH… at my Knitting Buddies… at my close work-friends… and otherwise simmering just below boiling point.

And it’s not just having the rug pulled out from under me regarding X-project, which is – by the way – an extension for a family who are living in dire conditions of over-crowding and with a severely debilitated grand-mother (hence my vitriol about the skewed priorities in the team). I’ve recently realised it’s pointless to draw-up a work-plan for my own week’s work because of the amount of fire-fighting my boss (oops, nearly typed “superior” – HA!) likes to engage in. Picture yourself and how you behave in a recently-stocked yarn-shop. Everything’s shiny and distracting and squee and you dart from one squeeze of squishy to the next. Imagine now, trying to have a debriefing with someone who will answer any phone that rings, start reading any email that flashes up, engage with anyone who comes up to his door to ask him a question and who is quite likely to get up and walk away to deal with their query instead.

With my old boss, I’d bring him a list of queries; we’d run down through them and he’d give me a steer, guidance or advice on each item. I’d be out of his office after ten minutes and ready to work my way through my list, acting on his advice. I’ve given up bringing a list of queries to my new boss because I get as far as item one and he’ll lift the phone to try to deal with the whole issue there and then. One word I’d love for him to get to grips with is “Delegation”. That, and “Focus!”

Another thing I know about myself is that I won’t put up with crap for very long. “Grin and bear it” just doesn’t wash with me. In the past I’ve jumped ship altogether and I’m already considering a few options in that regard. In the meantime, in a move to do something constructive and positive about the situation, I started seeing the counsellor that my workplace provides. I had my first session with her this week and it was really useful to talk to someone who – unlike DH or my knitting buddies – knows some of the characters involved and has an insight into the environment that a public sector job entails. At the same time it’s not like talking with my work friends about the situation because that usually just turns into a bitch-fest about the main “villains” of the piece: a rewarding activity but not necessarily productive.

I’m having another session with her in two weeks so it’s a Work-In-Progress. Who knows how it will finish up. Now, aren’t you glad I rarely talk about my work?

A Hyperbolic Muse

hy·per·bol·ic

haɪpərˈbɒlɪk [hahy-per-bol-ik] –adjective

1. having the nature of hyperbole; exaggerated.
2. using hyperbole; exaggerating.
3. Mathematics. a) of or pertaining to a hyperbola. b) derived from a hyperbola, as a hyperbolic function.

I went in to the Science Gallery in Dublin City Centre yesterday to see the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef. I brought the three crazies with me, partially because DH wanted to rip up carpet and floorboards in the house in some crazed DIY frenzy but mainly because recently Thing 1 and Thing 2 have been glued to “Scooby Doo and the Great Barrier Reef” and have been quizzing each other on what they know about coral and the Barrier Reef. I thought the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef might serve as a “cross-over” medium for them; certainly it was a confluence of their interests and mine.

I’ve been hearing about the Crochet Coral reef from Crafters I follow on Twitter and elsewhere online, mainly people such as BionicLaura, Irene Lundgaard  and StitchLily (agus lucht eigin as gaeilge). Certainly, my curiosity was piqued. I was not disappointed by what I saw. Some astonishing displays of creativity and craftmanship, I must say.  

Model of Hyperbolic geometry in Crochet by Dr Daina Taimina

By all accounts, it all started in 1997 when Dr Daina Taimina “discovered it was possible to model hyperbolic space using crochet, an innovation that surprised the mathematical world.” The photo of the purple blobbiness on the right is one of her crochet models – also on dispaly – and the yellow tacking shows how parallel lines behave in hyperbolic space. Instead of staying an equal distant apart, as in Euclidian geomety; or converging at the poles as they do in spherical geometry; they diverge – getting further and further apart. It’s fascinating. It also made me wonder if Daina Taimina and Debbie New have ever met.

In coral reefs the endless whimsical diversity of forms – loopy kelps, fringed anemones, crenallated corals or curlicued sponges – are all variations within the mathematical structure of hyperbolic space. Due to global warming and pollutants these fragile marvels such as The Great Barrier Reef – an acknowledged wonder of the natural world – and other reefs face devastation. 

“In homage to these disappearing treasures, Austrailian sisters Christine and Margaret Wertheim, instigated a project to crochet a handmade reef.” The Wertheim twins have spent the past five years building on Dr Taimina’s techniques, through elaborations of her original crochet code; and “developed an ever-evolving taxonomy of reef life-forms”.

In cities where the “Core Reef” is shown, the Wertheim twins work with local communities to make their own “Satelite Reef” and the Irish Reef is the newest addition to this. The display for the Irish Contribution gets its own designated area – on the upper floor of the Science Gallery. I picked out the coral (shown in the photo on the right below) for special attention, deliberately with my knitting buddy Clarabel in mind. The fringe is done in the same green novelty yarn that she despaired of me owning, let alone using, last December!

Some “Irish Reefers” also contributed to the “Ladies Silurian Atoll” which the exhibition catalogue describes as being “made by a small and intimate group of the Reef’s most dedicated contributors.” Indeed the exhibition catalogue makes many references to some “favourite” contributors being particularly “expert” or masterly in their knowledge of the craft or of materials and I was a little uneasy with the hierarchical notions this smacks of. It doesn’t take from the overall effect of brilliant, collaborative creativity, however.

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, Ground Floor installation

The scientist and mathematician in me was very much intrigued and delighted by what I saw. The Escher “Circle Limit” woodcuts were almost by-the-by, however – more could have been made, in their display, out how mind-blowing they are.

The environmentalist in me would have liked to have seen more graphics about the background to “The Toxic Reef” and “The Bleached Bone Reef” – it was a missed opportunity to lay it on with a trowel how terrible it is that man has made an island of plastic in the Pacific that is twice the size of Texas.

Excerpt from The Toxic Reef

The crafter in me was a little troubled, however. I went because I knew – albeit online-ly – some of the contributors. There are no tags to say who has contributed what. So while some contributors are feted in the catalogue others’ work is piled in together. I think I’m jealous/ resentful on behalf of those that I know that have contributed a lot of their time and effort. For example, while I was on the second floor, I recognised a kindred crafter and was able to deduce from her that yes, she had contributed but no, she couldn’t find her work on display. My worry was that, due to limitations of space in the Science Gallery, that her work was not put on display at all. Because of this, perhaps unfairly, the crafter in me – an exhibitionist at the best of times – would not be swayed towards contibuting towards the Coral Reef in the future despite how much I may be chided by the mathematical, scientific or environmentalist sides of my brain.

However, I have to add, this is the perspective of someone who wasn’t involved in the process and perhaps just being involved in creating this fantastic work of art is reward enough.

 

Here come de-stash!

E’en tho’ the yarn yet lies beside me as I write and is not sent yonder to deserving arms…

Translation: Despite not yet sending off Karen’s parcel in the post…

E’en still I plot and ponder how I may reliquish more unto those who yearn.

…the time has come to reveal my aforementioned devious and cunning plan for destashing:

Easter Sunday Treasure Hunt for Egg-heads

My plan is to set up a little treasure-hunt around my blog. In the spirit of all the best egg-hunts, I will launch it for Easter Sunday. It will work like this (please leave a comment here if this is not making any sense):

• In my blog-post on Saturday, 3rd of April, I will reveal the first “clue”.
• The clue will be a question and the answer can be found in another post on this blog.
• If you find the correct blog-post take a note of the answer and then look in the comments for the next clue / question.
• Follow the clues as far as you can; taking note of each answer as you go.
• There will be five clues / questions plus a tie-breaker question, which will also be revealed on Saturday 3rd April.
• Send me a message on Ravelry with your answers – including the tie-breaker question – by 12 noon GMT on Monday 5th April.
• There will be a five prizes.
• Getting a question correct represents passing a stage in the treasure-hunt.
• There will be a prize for each stage.
• There will only be one winner for each stage.
• If more that one person qualifies at any stage the tie-breaker question will determine who wins.
• The winners will be announced on Monday 5th April.

The Prizes:

Stage 1: 1 x 100g skein each of Donegal Chunky Tweed by Debbie Bliss in Red and Blue [Super Bulky (5-6 wpi), 218yds in total]

  

Stage 2: 2 x 100g skeins of 100% Bamboo by South West Trading Company in colour “134” [DK / 8 ply (11 wpi), 500yds]

Stage 3: 3 x 100g skeins of Rowan Colourscape Chunky by Kaffe Fassett in “Sh 432” [Bulky / 12 ply (7 wpi), 525yds]

Stage 4: 4 x 100g skeins of Homespun Multi by Craftspun Yarns in Colour “001” [Bulky / 12 ply (7 wpi), 415yds approx] and 1 x 100g skein of Wool clásica by Manos del Uruguay in “8891” [Aran / 10 ply (8 wpi), 138 yds]

Stage 5: 3 x 50g skeins of Shibui Sock by ShibuiKnits in “Pebble” [Fingering / 4 ply (14 wpi), 573yds] and 1 x 50g skein of Gems Superfine / Fingering weight by Louet in “Carribean Blue” [Fingering / 4 ply (14 wpi), 185yds]

Tour-is-tic

Thanks everyone who wrote a Limerick for my Bit-of-a Give-Away.

Karen, Bridget, Meg – who entered twice – as Meg and as Tigerseye, Averil and Deirdre.

Drum roll please!.............

And the winner (picked out by DH with his eyes closed) is…

Karen

Her winning entry is worth re-printing here:

There was a young knitter named Karen
who only knew one type of cast-on.
Siobhan got involved
and all her problems were solved
until she misunderstood “Twisted German”.

Congratulations, Karen! Look out for an email from me later (you may need to check your spam folders because I’m finding it hard to give the subject as something non-spam-oriented!) Be ready to give me your details (as in address, not bank account or anything!) and let me know your preference for the music CDs.

I hope you all had a great St. Patrick’s Day. Here’s a photo from the parade yesterday in Bray.

You Choose

Remember these goodies?

Bit-of-a Give-Away Prizes

• One Skein of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Sockyarn Fingering in a forty-shades-of-green colourway
• One Skein of Cushendale DK / Worsted in “Gorm”
• One Skein of Cushendale DK / Worsted in “Rust”
• Knitting notions: needle-case, row-counters, stitch markers, bodkins
• Book of Irish Humour
• CD compilation of Irish Music (not shown)
• New addition: One copy of “Limerick” a beret pattern by Wooly Wormhead (I’ve purchased two – one for me and one for you!)

And “je member” how to be in with a chance to win them?

Write a Limerick in the comments of A Bit-of-a Give-away! blog-post before 12 noon GMT on 17th March 2010, St. Patrick’s Day. That’s tomorrow! To be honest, I meant to post this reminder much earlier – or even mention it last Sunday – but I didn’t so you have until 12 noon GMT on Thursday 18th March before I make the random selection (names in a hat!) and announce the winner that evening.

So go on, give it a go – you know you want to!

And… the winner gets to choose which of these two CDs they would prefer (coz I couldn’t decide!):

Do romha / Your Choice

a) Ceol ’10 ***Súil Siar***: featuring Bell X1, Gemma Hayes, The Walls, The Coronas, The Saw Doctors, Mundy and many more but all songs are “as Gaeilge”. I haven’t heard any of these songs before, but I would like a lot of the artists that are featured.

or

b) “The Bests Irish Power Ballads In The World …Ever!” : This is a double CD with (as it says) 39 Driving Anthems, including Thin Lizzy, Van Morrison, Sinéad O’Connor, The Frames, Aslan, Horslips, David Gray, The Divine Comedy, Johnny Logan and many more. The “many more” would be quite a range of modern Irish music – a few I wouldn’t normally have in my CD collection, such as Linda Martin say but most I would consider essential listening.

So… if you are the lucky winner announced on Thursday evening you can let me know which CD you would prefer me to include with your prize.

Until then “Lá Fhéile Pádraig Shona Dhaoibh, mo Chairde go léir!”

Crafty Miscellany

Inside the Crafty Market

For my birthday treat this year my knitting buddies suggested a trip to visit The Constant Knitter and to fondle her wares. When we realised Rosemary – the Constant Knitter – was setting up a stall with Diane at the Crafty Market the date was set and the plan hatched.

On the first Sunday of every month the Crafty Market convenes in the most unlikely looking venue. From the outside you’d be forgiven for thinking you were on the set of a gritty gang-land movie where a drug-deal was about to go down. Of course, you’re not far wrong about the drug-deal because that’s exactly what’s going on inside:

There are so many stands to oogle and crafty delights to fondle, every where you look is a treat. We had lunch planned at the Mermaid Restaurant, otherwise I could have happily spent all day there.

I’ve shown you before all the purchases I made from on the day, but they’re worth flaunting again:

 

Merino / Tencel blend pencil roving from Diane (left), 3 balls of Kid-silk by Drops from Rosemary, The Constant Knitter, (2 shown, centre) and felted mobile phone cover and shamrock badge from Hazel Donnelly (right).

However, despite all the visual delights and the delightful stash enhancement, I realise the thing that really makes me hanker to go back is the coffee and the cakes. The barista and bakers are artisans too.

F.O.: Lacy Cropped Cardi

The other day, when I mentioned I was wearing my Lacy cropped cardigan in Bridget’s questionaire, I realised that I’d never debuted it here, nor put photos up on its Ravelry page. So here it is:

Hot Pink n' Lace-y

I made this last April / May using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran that I got from my knitting buddy, Caroline, in an exchange in December ’08. The gauge I got with the substitute yarn was completely different from the gauge needed but I was able to re-calibrate the pattern to suit. I was very pleased with myself about that. However, I found the ribbing around the overall garment much more of a challenge in that I found it hard to keep track of whether I was to work into the turning chain at the end of a row. Consequently, my stitch count varies a little from row to row but I fudged and fumbled my way through to the end.

I’m getting loads of wear out of this and I’m pleased to be able to report that the yarn is holding up well – no pilling in 9 months!

So the award / questionaire that Bridget tagged me for is “Over the Top” and the six blogs that I would like to pass this honour onto are as follows:

She Knit Up That Ball: for her erudition and enthusiasm

Knit Inc: for her sense of humour in the face of adversity

Playing with Fi(b)re: for patience in the line of flailing spindles

Aran Brew: she drives me to drink! and spin…

Thread Bear: very brilliant designer of crochet and really fun person to meet in real-life too

Wyvernfriend: an amazing volume of knitting and book reviews

And for completeness, the questionaire I filled out again:

1. Where is your cell phone? Generally in it’s new purple pouch and in my back-left bum pocket. DH & I often play the “can you ring my phone so I can find it” game.
2, Your hair? Curly & un-dyed. Still waiting for some grey hairs to show up and help me look my age!
3. Your mother? A golf- and bridge- obsessed super-woman
4. Your father? Looking out for me from Heaven and giving God some advice.
5. Your favourite food? Anything I can cook from scratch in less than 20mins that my kids will eat – I have a few recipes.
6. Your dream last night? Don’t remember.
7. Your favourite drink? Sparkling water, closely followed by wine (I’m talking quantity, not a time-line).
8. Your dream/goal? to retire early and enjoy it
9. What room are you in? I’m in the Study;… with the dagger and Col. Mustard…
10. Your hobby? Knitting and crochet. I plan to get back into sailing this year.
11. Your fear? I can’t bring myself to write it down but it’s related to DH’s father dying only aged 54 & genes etc.
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Still above ground. (stole this answer from Bridgit!)
13. Where were you last night? At home w/ DH & family
14. Something that you aren’t? Afraid of what others think of me.
15. Muffins? Poppy-seed Lemon
16. Wish list item? Set of Interchangeable Tunisian Crochet hooks
17. Where did you grow up? Won’t give exactly location, since Ireland is such a small pool of people but here’s a clue: “it’s a long, long way to…” this place!
18. Last thing you did? Tried to watch a Horizon documentary about Freak Waves
19. What are you wearing? My crocheted cropped-cardigan (haven’t debuted it here or put it up on Rav!)
20. Your TV? Mostly documentaries about ancient history; Antiques Roadshow and Mythbusters also popular.
21. Your pets? 3 dogs
22. Friends? A hand-full of close soul-mates that I trust.
23. Your life? Busy, knitting keeps me sane and relaxed.
24. Your mood? Bemused
25. Missing someone? Lemme check… nope all here, phew!
26, Vehicle? A Mammy-bus
27. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes.
28. Your favourite store? IKEA – it only opened in Ireland last July & the novelty hasn’t worn off yet!
29. Your favourite colour? purple
30. When was the last time you laughed? earlier today, reading posts on Ravelry!
31. Last time you cried? About a month ago: work was really getting me down.
32. Your best friend? My husband.
33. One place that I go to over and over? My home!
34. One person who emails me regularly? Knitting Daily!
35. Favourite place to eat? Wagamama or Yo Sushi in Dublin City Centre

WIP-ette

On the last Sunday of February I finally got the chance to join up with other spinners at the monthly Sunday’s Spin-in at Powerscourt. I brought with me the only spinning accoutrements I possess, a beginner’s drop-spindle and some dyed roving that I’d started on the Irish Knitter’s Retreat back in October 2008! I started the afternoon not being able to remember a single thing from the lesson Chicwithstix had given me way back then. However, thanks to the generosity of time and knowledge on the part of Kneehigh, Chicwithstix, DubSpinner, Deimne, Flick and Claire42 it started to come back to me. 

I was determined to finish spinning the roving I had and I learned a few things in the process too; such as dyed roving is more prone to felting and leaving it stuffed in a plastic bag for 18 months is not conducive to easy-spinning. However I did  finish up with this. Art/Novelty-yarn-esque as it is, I’m proud to have got to the end and for learning all that I did. 

Very nice dear.... but what is it?

I had the “yarn” on separate toilet roll centres, all ready for meeting Chicwithstix at the Crafy Market last Sunday, so that she could give me pointers on how to ply them together. And then… I met her scribble lace scarf, knit using beautiful blue hand-spun of her own for the accent yarn. So now my “yarn” is not going to be plied but – with the able-bodied, enabling of Bootie and Clarabel – got partnered with some Drops Kid-silk in beige from The Constant Knitter. 

When I grow up.... I'll scribble!

I’ve received excellent advice from all the spinners I’ve met recently. The advice I like best of all is from BionicLaura: “spindling for 5 minutes a day will teach you more than an hour once a week” because it means I’m going to have to invest in a whole lot of roving. Roving is just perfect to tide me over while I’m on this strict yarn diet, isn’t it? With this in mind I got 100g of pencil roving from Chicwithstix at the Crafty Market. It’s a Merino Tencel blend that I’m going to spin, dye and then ply. Until then, I just content myself with burying my face in it an inhaling. Aaaah! 

How do you catch a cloud and pin it down...

Oh! my strict yarn diet… I completely forgot! (tee hee!). The main reason we went to the Crafty Market in the first place was to get a chance to see The Constant Knitters’ wares. She did not disappoint and these two balls of Kid-Silk by Drops were purloined with a lacy wrap from Knitting Brioche in mind. 

Planned for "Herfst avond scarf" by Nancy Marchant from "Knitting Brioche"