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June 27, 2006

From knitmonkey

Knitta wannabe

I had the following message from the delectable knitmonkey:

the blog landed in Seal Rock and seemed to be in a bit of a funk from being boxed up for so long. That day i went to work & figured i'd get photo's when i came home later that day. No such luck. Apparently, somewhere along the line, the blog got hold of the info on becoming a knit graffiti tag--inspired by the Knitta sight i presume? When i came home from work it was no where to be found, but luckily it just down the road a little, defiantly stuck to the tsunami sign (that really scares the tourists). I must commend the blog for it's brilliant choice of tag location, a thing that instills fear - yet is really only trying to be helpful. Fortunately the blog wasn't capable enough to become very secured to the post so it was easily removed & quickly returned home to be photographed before my addition, then boxed back up to be sent off to our Siress Yorkie.

Beware fellow knittyheads it's a rowdy thing of fiber! sincerely, knitmonkey

Progress is good! There is a lot to see there that wasn't there in the last photo update.....

Posted by glittrgirl at 7:58 AM | Comments (1)

June 24, 2006

Knitted house

A LARGE project!

With London Architecture week came to advent of the knittingsite.org A site to record the process of constructing a knitted house. Life sized. You can see the process from start to finish by looking at the two galleries of photographs on the knittingsite.org.

You can even download the pattern.

Posted by glittrgirl at 5:13 PM | Comments (2)

June 21, 2006

Texting in private

Joe Malia's mobile phone scarf

Joe Malia designed the mobile phone scarf as part of Private Public, a series of objects that highlight the privacy we sacrifice when using mobile technological devices in public spaces - a student show at the RCA, London.

By wearing the mobile phone scarf, you can venture into public spaces confident that if the need to compose a private text message were to arise the object could be pulled over the face to create an isolated environment.

Courtesy: we-make-money-not-art

Posted by glittrgirl at 9:06 PM | Comments (2)

Bit late in sharing but.... knitted Fender guitar

Fender knit guitar
Sarah Stollack

knitPro has been featured here at glittyknittykitty before. knitPro is a web application that translates digital images into knit, crochet, needlepoint and cross-stitch patterns. The creators of knitPro, microRevolt, held a competition, the results of which came out a couple of months ago. Thanks to Rickster the Hickster for reminding me to look at the rest of the results. The Knitpro needlecraft art show is still online, but the winner was a knitted Fender guitar, by Sarah Stollak of Austin, Texas. The pattern is available to download as a PDF.

Posted by glittrgirl at 3:55 PM | Comments (0)

June 20, 2006

The girls' Secret Pal came good

As I mentioned in my previous post, my lovely SP sent a package for the girls: here are the promised photographs (click on thumbnails for full Blythe action), with Reenie MacAbre and Franke 'Maddog' Honeybaume modelling a Blythe-sized Airy Scarf in baby pink, a corset and shrug in a gorgeous emerald green cotton and a beany in a shiny chocolate brown with amber and blue beading.

Cheers Joey, the girls are made up ;)

Posted by scumkitten at 8:12 PM | Comments (3)

Quotes from Kiss Machine: the Revolutionary Issue

Thanks to my SP, we have our first quote from Kiss Machine: the Revolutionary Issue, a Toronto-based magazine of short stories, poetry, journalism and photography.

First Failed Proposal For a World That Won't Hurt

In this world,
It is widely known that
the holes in each person's
socks correspond to
weaknesses of character.

Upon meeting, people
take turns trying on one another's socks over
top of their own.

If the holes in two people's socks
cover for each other, they
instantly mate for life~
together making one whole sock,
perfectly fitted.

Shannon Gerard, 2006, Kiss Machine #13

Posted by scumkitten at 9:17 AM | Comments (3)

June 19, 2006

A perfect end to a screwy day

Parcels, wrapped.

Got back from a harsh day at work to find a parcel filled with... little parcels in brown paper, all wrapped up in string, ok, no, wool, but I wanted kittens and mittens too...

What a lovely thing to come home to. I put it to one side until we had eaten...

Parcels, unwrapped.

then went at it hell for leather. A CD made by my SP with some cool CA tunes and a doggie in a basket on the cover; hmmm, bittersweet fairtrade chocolate; a sweet moonstone and silver pendant (looking for a leather thong now!); homemade cards, covered in tulips (not bees); hanks and hanks of soft as cloud Bernat in a greyblue (oh, so my colour); a sheepy tape measure, coming out of its bum; Kiss Machine: The Revolution Issue, brilliant poetry and short stories (and there is knitting in there too!); and some knitted wonders for the girlies, pictures to come- including a Blythe-sized Airy Scarf!!!!!!

Jerky

And finally, DJ Mikey got a parcel containing CA beef jerky. His message to my SP: "tell her it's lovely, but wrong"

Posted by scumkitten at 9:59 PM | Comments (5)

Tropical

Henry Winkler. Covered in bees.

Hmmm, no Henry Winkler maybe, but certainly our Palm tree has come up trumps again, bee-wise. After last year's humongous flower, which we thought couldn't be bettered (and which, we were informed by a gardener-friend who works at Eden meant it was about to be an ex-palm), it has now produced two, yes two, massive flowers, covered in bees.

Can you smell the perfume?

And the smell- man! Every morning and evening the tropical smell wafts up through the bedroom windows. It is so intense. These palms are very popular (and very happy) here in Cornwall. You'll pretty much see them everywhere. Thanks be to the gulf stream, that's all I can say. Otherwise, we'd be in Newfoundland. Shivering. Covered in bees. Are there bees in Newfoundland? The question of the day.

Posted by scumkitten at 9:48 PM | Comments (3)

King of the castle

Posted by glittrgirl at 11:34 AM | Comments (3)

June 18, 2006

World Cup football pattern

Thanks to whipup.net for pointing us in the direction of the World Cup 2006 knitting pattern for a football courtesy of Needle Exchange. Available as a PDF to download too. You could even knit it whilst being part of Stop the world cup...... or whilst watching your favourite team play.

Vinda-looooooo
Vinda-looooooo
Vindaloo, vindaloo, la laaaaaa........

Fat Les, 1998.

An earworm from the football song with the best football song video. Ever. And it contains the lyrics,

Can I introduce you, please
To a lump of cheddar cheese
Knit one, purl one, drop one, curl one

Class. And for our non-UK reader, you get to hear how England gets an extra syllable in football chants, to become Engerland. Important stuff.

Posted by glittrgirl at 8:46 AM | Comments (2)

June 15, 2006

Knitted Ferrari

Lauren Porter and her knitted ferrari

Artist Lauren Porter knitted a full sized red ferrari for her graduate show, and it is reported with pics in today's copy of The Times, with an online version. It's also featured in The Sun. Lauren spent ten months knitting the replica using 12 miles of yarn. The car is apparently a cross between a Testarossa and a 355 (eh? I'm a girl I know nothing about these things). It is made from over 250 squares over a steel frame and the horse badge is hand-embroidered. You can see her exhibition, 12 Miles of Yarn, at Studio 95, Brick Lane, London.

Posted by glittrgirl at 10:53 AM | Comments (4)

June 13, 2006

You know the best thing about DeathGob t-shirts?

DeathGob makes clothing for the confused.

That's me.

Constantly confused.

fine T-Shirts and other excellent items of clothing to the depraved, the confused, the sick, twisted, nerdy, needy, naughty filth-mongerers such as your good-upstanding-selves

Perfect. And that was before I even ordered anything!

But you know the best thing about DeathGob t-shirts?

It's MINE!

They are PERSONALISED! Man, that makes ordering from then a complete pleasure. I got 2 t-shirts. An ex-goth one, and a pink skull with crown. Have a look at their great range of girly tees. The quality is great, they wash really well, and, you get your name on them! So no-one can nick them. Because they have your name in them. Great idea. Highly recommended.

Posted by glittrgirl at 10:35 PM | Comments (3)

Franke's feeling like a new doll

Do you like my tight sweater?

I think she looks a little Roisin-ish, don't you? She's had a haircut, a sand matt and new eyes. Here she is in a new outfit bought second hand from a UK Blythe loony, happy as a lamb in brown felt and mustard socks. Each to their own. I like her matt though, even though it was scary to do. She's come off the 'bad doll' shelf and is now on the 'favourites' shelf. Worth a little pain for that, I think.

What's your problem, maddog?

She's not the only one with new clothes. Reenie has a new dress and coat set (I say new- actually third or fourth hand- vintage Skipper, Barbie's sister, and ugly at that) from Ebay. It's too hot for a coat and Reenie is in a temper, so we're lucky to get her standing still for even a second. After I took this photo she ran off and spat in the strawberry beds. Sigh.

Posted by scumkitten at 8:41 PM | Comments (3)

Secret

I've knitted something. But I can't tell you what it is, because it possibly might be for my Secret Pal, or it might not. I haven't decided yet. But it's pretty wool!

Posted by scumkitten at 8:15 PM | Comments (2)

What is your world view?

Instead of the normal 'what sock are you?' or 'what is your ideal make-up colour-way?', here we have something slightly more intellectual.... in a way. More towards the Belbin, at least, although that is not necessarily a good thing. My problem with these sorts of quizzes is that I do not like being put in a box ;). I don't like it at work, with Belbin-style CPD and I don't like it in quizzes like this- although at least with this no one is going to read it and decide that you should move in this direction in your job, because you are obviously a...(insert Belbin-esque term here, such as Halibut, or Numchuck). P.s. I'm amazed I scored so highly as a Materialist- because I'm not, at all. Quite the opposite, at least, I'd like to think so (she said, clutching her Blythe dolls and cashmere yarn) :@

Anyway, I said I don't like this sort of thing, but what the hell...

Hmmm, Glowing...

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

Cultural Creative		81%
Postmodernist		75%
Materialist		75%
Existentialist		69%
Idealist		56%
Modernist		38%
Romanticist		38%
Fundamentalist		25%

What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com

And glittrgirl came out as:

Hmmmmm, there's a liberalist arts education for ya....

You scored as Existentialist. Existentialism emphasizes human capability. There is no greater power interfering with life and thus it is up to us to make things happen. Sometimes considered a negative and depressing world view, your optimism towards human accomplishment is immense. Mankind is condemned to be free and must accept the responsibility.

Postmodernist		100%
Existentialist		100%
Cultural Creative		94%
Idealist		50%
Romanticist		44%
Modernist		44%
Materialist		25%
Fundamentalist		19%

Posted by scumkitten at 2:41 PM | Comments (3)

Ming Yi Sung

Bunny Suit by
Ming Yi Sung

Ming Yi Sung makes fantastically humorous work using knitting and crochet, which some people out in the blogosphere just don't get. Read some of the comments on What Not To Crochet. Her work has been featured all over on the web, including one of our favourite blogs we-make-money-not-art Some people just take knitting and crochet far too seriously, which Brenda Dayne spoke about eloquently on her most recent podcast - with a whole episode encouraging us to explore humour in knitting. I'm with Brenda, and Ming, and loads of other artists we have featured here at glittyknittykitty. For pete's sake - get a life!

With freedom of expression, which we value so highly, we can be humorous in all walks of life, from the juxtapostition of totally unrelated words (a powerful way to disempower some of the linguistic taboos we have in western society, we think), to taking traditional crafts and turning them into something completely different, forcing us to re-evaluate how we perceive objects, artefacts, materials and concepts. Go check out Ming Yi Sung's website. Wonder, giggle and reflect on your own views of life, art and the universe, then come back here and tell us about it.

Posted by glittrgirl at 9:45 AM | Comments (3)

June 12, 2006

Knitty SP7

Gifts received - a skein of lovely ocean coloured merino sock yarn, a bead necklace with beautiful blue glass beads, two lovely little stitch markers, and some decaff chai sachets.

Ocean's glittr??

Many thanks SP - where DID you find yarn called Ocean's Glittr??? Or did you hand dye it yourself?

Posted by glittrgirl at 7:17 PM | Comments (4)

Ajo blanco con uvas

As it's Summer, cold soups would seem to the the order of the day. So here is a variation on the traditional Andalucian white garlic soup with grapes.

8oz day old bread (no crusts)
8oz ground almonds
2-3 cloves garlic
5 fl oz olive oil (extra virgin)
5 tbsp wine vinegar
2 tsp salt
1.5 pints water
5-6 oz white grapes, deseeded

The bread should be soaked in water until it is soft, then squeezed out and placed in a blender/food processor with almonds and garlic. Blend with a little water until it is a smooth paste, then with the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil slowly. Add vinegar and salt. Add more salt is necessary then stir in the remaining water.

Check for seasoning, adding more salt and vinegar to taste. Chill thoroughly. Serve in individual bowls with halved grapes and a couple of ice cubes. Serves 4-6, depending how hungry you are, how greedy you are, or how delicious you think it is......

Posted by glittrgirl at 4:39 PM | Comments (0)

June 11, 2006

Bamburgh

Bamburgh Castle

My sister rang this morning and asked if I would like to go to Bamburgh with her, her SO and her dog. Now, Bamburgh is one of my most favourite places in the world. So of course I said yes.

I have a lot of nostalgic memories of family holidays here.

There is a special rock there that we always spent our long summer days on the beach at Bamburgh near to. I forget the legend of Stag Rock, but I always visit it when we go to this part of the NOrthumberland coast. By the end of the day Sonny was exhausted. And so were we. But we had a lovely day in the sunshine.

Posted by glittrgirl at 9:03 PM | Comments (2)

Keep journeying onwards...

It's been a true scorcher here over the last two weeks, which is very unusual for Cornwall (we usually have sea breezes to temper the sunshine). The sea mist rolled in yesterday afternoon, in its usual eery manner, but before we lost the sunshine I visited our pal Spence's smallholding. As I drove along the lanes I had to stop to get out and take this picture, because the camoflage dapples on the road and the sun coming through the leaves (filtered through cholorophyll) just stopped me in my tracks. Is there anything more emotive than a picture of a road to.....?

The small holding is a treat, consisting of a large field and part of an old english garden attached to Spence's business partner's house (inherited from his mother). She used to have 'open garden' days when she was alive. The garden has been allowed to fall into elegant decay now, and you know, it rather suits it.... I wish I had taken more photos, but it was the wrong time of day for decent photography.

Yellow

Dapple

Day-old

Posted by scumkitten at 11:55 AM | Comments (3)

Flowers in summer

I have lovely flowers blooming on the balcony right now. The hanging baskets are starting to burst and boil over with colour from trailing petunias, the lobelia is just starting to flower, and the pansies are spewing more blooms than I keep up with dead heading. Summer colour on the balcony is gorgeous this morning.

Posted by glittrgirl at 11:00 AM | Comments (1)

Knitta please!

Go on, give it a listen

I was listening to Cast On (thanks Brenda, by the way, for giving me something to listen to before The Archers on Sunday mornings, I save your podcasts until then as a little treat) and heard Knitta Please by Mike Bryant. I urge you all to give it a listen. It's guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. If you know of other knitting related songs, please tell us about them by leaving a comment....

Posted by glittrgirl at 9:44 AM | Comments (1)

June 10, 2006

Crochet workshop

I went to a crochet workshop yesterday, organised by the delightful Anne Makepeace, the Rowan consultant for my local John Lewis. Anne secured the teaching talents of Carol Meldrum, a freelance designer of knitting and, more recently, crochet patterns. Carol was fantastic and managed to get the group though learning the basic stitches, as well as encouraging us to follow a pattern, and make our first object - a flower. It was a great day and as well as Carol's book, I was inspired to buy Erika Knight's simple crochet. This morning I hightailed it to my local Stationery Box, and bought up the visible stock of string. Cotton parcel string and polypropelyne parcel string. The synthetic stuff is being made into a sturdy string bag (it's quite hard on the hands), and I have plans for string vessels with the cotton stuff for my bathroom. I only went to learn how to finish off my knitting nicely. And I feel like another world of crafty creation has opened up. Please remind me that knitting is the thing and the 'c' stuff is merely a supplement.....

In the meantime, here are some piccies of my first crochet attempts. The colourful cotton stuff was from the workshop, and the white plasticy stuff the beginnings of a string bag. You will notice I got cocky and beaded my flower....

Posted by glittrgirl at 8:43 PM | Comments (3)

June 8, 2006

Lazy summer days...

Tinside Lido, when all was spiffing.

Tinside Lido, bang on the Hoe in Plymouth (for those of you from afar, the Hoe is the sea front of Plymouth, home to the patch of grass where Sir Francis Drake played his bowls before nipping out to wap a bit of Spanish Armada arse), is one of a number of English Institutions: namely, the Lido. Where else in the world would you get a rash of outdoor, unheated swimming pools but England, where most summers you're as likely to find us huddled under umbrellas in at least 3 layers of woollens as basking in temperate sunshine? Tinside Lido was originally opened in 1935, all Art Deco glory 'n all, for the folk of Plymouth. It fell into disarray, but luckily a few years ago was renovated by the forward thinking Plymouth Council.

Tinside Lido, now. Right now. Really ;)

Having just spent my last two lunchbreaks ploughing a lonely furrow through the slightly brackish, slightly chlorined water (not as unpleasant as you might think), can I say "TA ever so" to those who decided to do it up again? It is fab. I am intending to move my office down here and not to any work again, ever. You can even hire floaty tire things. And there is a fountain. What more could a girl ask for?

Posted by scumkitten at 2:42 PM | Comments (3)

June 7, 2006

Actual knitting

A Stuffie, three blue squares, and a Dream Swatch. And I am up to the 15th repeat of the Print O The Wave Shawl.

See - we do knit sometimes!

Edited to add:

The Stuffie comes from Ysolda
It's knitted in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride and the features are needle felted on. Can't remember the colourway - the ball band disappeared many moons ago.
Dream Swatch is a freebie from The Garter Belt knitted in a skein of Alchemy Yarns of Transformation bamboo sent to me by Amylovie in a previous SP round, colourway Forest Floor.
The blue squares will go tothe knitariver project and are in left over Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.

Posted by glittrgirl at 11:47 PM | Comments (5)

Reclaim the nipple!

I can't speak for Scumkitten, but I for one love nipples. I think they are great. Such variety, so expressive. So I was pleased to come across this community art project to reclaim the nipple, which is disappearing from the public gaze. Does this mean we are hiding them because of fetishisation? Or are there other reasons? Nipples are not bad, nipples are good, and should be seen - we all have them after all. What's wrong with seeing a perky nipple poking through your top? Nothing! It's perfectly natural! Yet we see it less and less, and there are bras which advertise themselves as hiding your nipples perfectly. Personally I steer clear of them. I like my nipples. A lot. So I for one will be making a nipple and sending it to these folks who had such a witty idea for a project!

Posted by glittrgirl at 12:10 PM | Comments (4)

Lookie! A lickable Depp!

Lookie! Choccie! Lickie!

Marks & Spencer is a wonderful institution. They started in the last few years diversifying into stocking own brand franchised goodies. The best so far has got to be a M&S chocolate lolly, with Captain Jack Sparrow on it. Kids stuff? Pfah! Depp fans will be piling on the pounds as they lick away at the star of Pirates Of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Quite right too. Slurp.

Apologioes fro the picture quality - camera on mobile phone emergency. You think this lolly would have waited til I got home???

Posted by glittrgirl at 11:38 AM | Comments (2)

WWKIP Day - more details

Attention UKers

There is a picknit happening for WWKIP Day on 10 June.

Time: 12noon onwards
Venue: Longsands, Tynemouth if it's fine (weather forecast good) for BYO food and drink (disposable BBQ anyone?), the Sea cafe on Longsands if it's not (cocoa and crumpets).
KAL: If you want to do some communal knitting, think about knitting a blue square.

Bring the family - they can play on the sand and get hypothermia in the North Sea, while you knit with us.

It'll be easy to spot people, they will have pointy sticks in their hands.......

For anyone curious, Longsands looks like this, and is here.

There is parking nearby and public transport is good with buses dropping you right above the beach, and the Metro within very easy walking distance.

To find us, look for the Tynemouth Surf Company shop above the beach on Grand Parade - we'll be down below on the sand somewhere near there.

It's a nice walk along the beach, so if you can't see us (or me!) straight away, just walk up and down til you spot the needles glinting in the sunshine. If there is no sunshine head for the cafe on the beach itself - there is only one, and it's at the Grand Hotel end. See you Saturday!

Posted by glittrgirl at 8:13 AM | Comments (0)

June 6, 2006

Our site represented visually

Theresa pointed us to this cool tool for giving your website a cool nodal visual representation. This is what our blog looks like:

Pretty spiffy glittyknittykitty!

Posted by glittrgirl at 10:18 PM | Comments (5)

The adventurer returns

Graeme, action man.

Graeme, my baby brother, is back from his climbing trip to Alaska, where he has been camping on Mount Denali, on the Kahiltna glacier... sounds like a good time was had, the toilet having good views, the plane ride in and out 'interesting', the avalanches terrifying and the accomodation...

Home, sweet home.

left a little to be desired. He and his pal Jason survived powder plumes, ice fields, bad food and now know how to navigate over glaciers in the arse end of nowhere.

White out

Now I like a good walk, don't get me wrong... and I'm not above getting my kecks dirty or mud under my fingernails... and you all know I love rolling around in snow given half a chance (as long as I've got a board strapped to my feet), but this would be a little too much for me, I think.

Posted by scumkitten at 3:51 PM | Comments (1)

Captain Jack Sparrow

There will come a moment when you can do the right thing

Elizabeth Swann

I love those moments. I like to wave at them as they pass by

Cap'n Jack Sparrow

From the forthcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Posted by glittrgirl at 2:58 PM | Comments (0)

June 3, 2006

Photomosaic fun

Schmeebot had an interesting diversion on her blog. I copied it for ours as she suggested, courtesy of Leo Reynolds and mosaic maker.

Posted by glittrgirl at 4:45 PM | Comments (1)

Salman Rushdie

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist

Salman Rushdie (Indian born British Writer, b.1947)

Posted by glittrgirl at 4:05 PM | Comments (0)

Knit a river

Can you Knit a blue square? 15 cm by 15cm.

Knit A River and help WaterAid save even more lives.

Over 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe water.

Knit A River is a campaign by I Knit in collaboration with WaterAid.

Help save lives, help Knit A River

The deadline for sending squares isn't until Spring 2007, so you have plenty of time to knit blue squares!

The river will be walked through London to Downing Street as a campaign action to tell world leaders that we want them to take action - end global poverty - make water and toilets accessable to all.

Posted by glittrgirl at 3:13 PM | Comments (4)

June 2, 2006

Some abstract purple...

Gettin' purple on yo' ass

Life seems very itchy at the moment. Many people I know personally and online seem as stretched as Stretch Armstrong and pretty much ready to snap. I'm not sure why and indeed, have felt the effects myself, eating too much home-made fudge than is good for one's bowels in retaliation. However, my emails with my new SP have made me chirpy and the last week has been beeeeutiful, with clear shiny skys, warm air (finally) and more than a hint of the summer to come. And the lido is open on the sea front. Yayayayay! So thanks to my new SP, here is a bit of a purple abstract from a tulip shot- I always think a jolt of colour helps the soul, as do painted toe-nails and some nice shoes.

Posted by scumkitten at 3:20 PM | Comments (2)

Little Sparras

Little Fellas!

DJ Mikey took this photo whilst having lunch today- two little fledgling sparras obviously fascinated by Kewpee (who is looking remarkably hot in that UKnitty jumper), apparently both bundled into the window, then started pecking the glass trying to get at the doll....

Posted by scumkitten at 2:31 PM | Comments (3)

Picknit

To celebrate WorldWideKnitInPublic Day on 10 June, I and some other northern english knitters will be having a BYO picknit on the Longsands at Tynemouth. From noon, there will be knitting in the great outdoors. If the weather permits. If not, we will take up residence in the Sea Cafe on the beach there, for cocoa and crumpets.

Posted by glittrgirl at 8:07 AM | Comments (3)

June 1, 2006

We love you Robynn

The see why - go here. We at glittyknittykitty are blushing under our shades and berets.

Posted by glittrgirl at 6:51 AM | Comments (2)