Rug up and be happy

Hello again loves! Again, I have to apologise about my self-enforced hiatus over the last month, but exams end next week, so hopefully you will be hearing a lot more from me then! I had forced myself not to blog until the end of the exam period, just as I’ve attempted to barricade myself inside the house for the past month, but alas, both of these turned out to be impossible. And being inside the house so long has basically made me a facebook addict, so decided that blogging wouldn’t be so bad either!

Anyway, there’s something about winter, whether it be the cold, the rain, the greenhouse junkie heating or the inability to leave the house most days of the week (which is great if you need to study!) that makes me want to start on some cosy craft project. Every winter I take up knitting again (despite the fact that I can only ever make scarfs and gloves), only to abandon it in the spring. I never seem to have the attention span, or the talent, for long or detailed projects. But if you’re like me, are looking for am easy craft project this winter that doesn’t involve pearling, or are simply cold, slightly poor and in the mood to recycle, this next project should keep you happy!

Ever chucked a woollen jumper in the wash only to discover its shrunk so small you can’t even fit it onto your cat (if you were in the mood to try)? I made these lovely mittens last winter from a jumper that had sadly undergone that transformation. You can also make these by felting a woollen jumper from an op-shop. And best of all, they’re oh so simple to make!

Felted Mittens

You will need:
- An old, shrunken or op shopped jumper (make sure its 100% wool, synthetics wont felt)
- Paper, scissors, pens, pins, needles and thread


Step 1: If your jumper is not pre-shrunk, washing it on a high heat setting should do the trick. You will need to felt it so that the wool will not unravel on cutting. To do this, the jumper should be about half the size after washing. You may need to wash it more than once for this to happen. To test the material, make a cut somewhere on the jumped and test for fraying. If it starts to fray, you may need another wash.

Step 2: Trace around your hands on a piece of paper, leaving about a centimetre around the edge. You will only need one template for each hand, as your jumper has two sides. Cut out both templates.

Step 3: Lay the jumper down in front of you. Using the templates, work out where you are going to cut the mittens from. For mine, I lined the templates up along the bottom edge of the jumper. This way, the pattern around the bottom edge became the wrists of my mittens!

Step 4: Pin the templates to the jumper, making sure you pin right through the front and back of the jumper. As your jumper has a front and back, each template will produce both sides of the mitten.

Step 5: Cut around the templates, then sew around the edges. I hand sewed a running stitch which I left on the outside of the mittens (I think it looks cute like that), but you may like the use a machine or a different stitch. As the wool has been felted you may need a larger needle, as it can sometimes be difficult to cut or sew through.

Try them on, and you’re done!! The only downside to this project is any wasted water if you have to shrink the jumper yourself. Luckily, mine was pre-ruined.

I hope that made sense! If you’re confused, shoot me a comment, and I’ll try my best to help. Otherwise, I’m sure some talented person on the web has thought of this before me, so Google should do the trick.

Hopefully I shall talk to you soon! Stay warm!

xS

These are a few of my favourite things

I'm so sorry I haven't posted in so long lovelies, but work is really getting the better of me. With exams fast approaching I barely have time to breathe! But while I procrastinate over my next writing folio (which I've been doing since the Easter break... its due Monday and I've barely started!) I just had to show you some of the high points of April! My favourite finds of last month! I hope you'll love them as much as I do.



I bought this lovely dress from an op shop for $15. It was a little pricey for me as far as op shops go, and I had to alter it a fair bit (which I think may have been a mistake... I think I took it up too high), but I love it ever so much! The material is so cute! It also looks lovely as a blouse under a high waisted skirt, and I've worn in to work like that a couple of times. I've been aching to wear it more but its been so cold lately...

I found this jumper a couple of weeks ago in some of my grandma's old clothes and I'm utterly obsessed with it. When I showed it to my sister however, she looked at me incredulously and asked, 'Don't you think you're getting a bit too kitsch?'. So I was fairly worried about wearing it out, but when I took it cautiously to uni last week I got a lot of compliments. Some of them may have been sarcastic... but I'm taking them as compliments. I'm so happy to have found it just in time for winter, even if it as a little confusing (see that leopard print on the shoulders? Thats vinyl! On black velvet!).

And lastly, my fabulous skates! (I'm getting better!)

But now, I should probably go back to writing my stupid story... Thanks for all your comments on my poem by the way! I submitted it with another I wrote later which I think works much better (I'm actually kind of proud of it) and I did really well. As well as I could wish for!

xS

Roller Baby

1. weheartit.com 2. Eleanor Hardwicke via weheartit.com

Whenever you have somewhere to go, an empty road, or a temptingly smooth stretch of footpath ahead of you, don't you just wish you had wheels on the bottoms of your shoes, so you could just fly down?

I bought my first pair of roller skates yesterday, from a lovely little second hand store I had never noticed before, and I'm so incredibly excited. I had been pining after such a gratuitous perchase for almost a year, and scouring op shops for relatively inexpensive pairs, but to no avail. I had nearly given up, but these lovelies were just sitting hidden in a corner of the shop, begging me to take them home.

For some reason, roller skates have always reminded me of the Baby-Sitters Club, which my mother never let me read as a kid, and which, thanks to a lovely article in Frankie, I first read on holiday in January, so these last couple of months have been rife with 90's themed discoveries (a decade I generally hate). I spent most of the afternoon today attempting to skate (which is suprisingly difficult), mostly clinging pathetically to the arm of my company. I think he was pretty fed up by the end of it, but it was a lovely day, and all in all we had a lot of fun.

The skates arent your traditional red-and-white-boot type, but are designed to strap onto the bottom of your shoes... so I can take a chance and wear them with flats... or pop them in my bag for the next beautiful open stretch.,..

xS

PS. I'm so sorry I havent updated in so long, I've been so terribly busy, I promise to update more often now I have some more time on my hands.

PPS Happy Easter for Sunday!

Poetry?

'Hide and Seek' by Sarah Hermans

This is something I wrote this morning when I woke up... Its a memory that has been sticking in my mind a fair bit this weekend, and originally I just wrote it down quickly so I wouldn't forget. But when I looked at it this afternoon it seemed to have some sort of rhythm, so, without changing the actual wording, I decided to experiment and see if I could make it a poem. What I want to know is, do you think this is poetry?

.

The Lady Died

Two o’clock that afternoon or perhaps

Two twenty five we played with an old Instamatic

In a man-made Eden surrounded by pavement.

You were Buttercup and a score of Enid

Blyton heroes I was

Jennifer Connelly searching for her brother

Before we realised how inappropriate Jareth was.

Nineties children with an eighties childhood.

A thousand pictures made only with air.

.

The day we drove in and heard the news on

The radio a five year old is caught up in fantasy

But not politically unaware

I hadn’t heard of her until then but

everybody knew.

And next to the slide that was

An entrance to an underground tunnel

A boy told me she had deserved it

Because her name was Di.

My parents made sure I

Never drove without a seatbelt and

I saw my first picture of her

In newsprint that afternoon I read

Sleeping Beauty and she became

Another fairytale.

A real life simple princess.

Unmarred by the unknowns of

Paparazzi and adultery.

Unhappy with palace life because

She had to leave the curtains

Partly open.

The next biggest news to hit the classroom

Was the breakup of the Spice Girls.

___

If not, what could make it a poem?

This weekend also marks the closure of a fair amount of festivals and shows I have been holding out to see, but unfortunately I have been stuck inside revising for mid-semester testing. Last weekend I managed to make the Linden Postcard Show before it closed this week. It made me wish I was not so incredibly broke at the moment.

xS

Inspiration

originally uploaded by margaret durow.

My assessment date is looming and I am in desperate need of inspiration to complete my poetry folio. Everything I've been writing recently feels so derivative....

I am currently listening to a super new (or rather... new for me) album I purchased especially for inspiration, and have tried abstaining from technology, becoming a recluse, and hiding away in dappled, tree-filled corners, but so far my actions have been in vain.

I would be very greatful if anyone could provide me with some inspiration, or share some advice on how to catch some, pin it down, and make it spill its elusive secrets.

xS

Tagged!

Today, I have been tagged my the georgeous Anna of vintageveggie, which is really quite exciting, especially since I was just running out of ways to put off my research task...

I have to find:

1 picture
1 poem
1 song or piece of music
1 phrase of quote
1 item of clothing
1 place
1 disney princess

And then tag 6 more lovely people! So here we go!

Picture:


Cally Orange Chair by Perth photographer Lloyd Hughes, also found on deviantart. I have a polaroid obsession and this picture is one of my favourites.

Poem

I have to find a poem for uni as well... but before I'm tempted to quote some modern free verse, I think I'll share with you one of my favourite poems from childhood. Its To Autumn, by Keats, and I discovered it in the very first poetry anthology I owned, an extraordinarily battered, probably fifth-hand collection for 6-15 year olds. It was my introduction to Keats and I still have it, though the binding's fallen off.

You can read the entire poem here.

Song

Brazillian Sun by Cocorosie. I always put on Cocorosie or Sigur Ros when I'm in a creative mood. They continuously inspire me. Brazillian Sun has nearly no lyrics, but Cocorosie's writing is also amazing and slightly scary. They're lyrics have so many levels you have to listen to them at least three times while they lead you through the difficult labyrinth they have constructed.

Phrase or Quote

'Illusion is the first of all pleasures' - Voltaire

Item of Clothing

Lets just say Cassie's entire wardrobe in Skins...can I make that one item? I covet it all! Specifically her amazing dress from the first episode, and her sailor outfit. I also love the shoes in the Lloyd Hughes photograph as well... (photographs from here)

Place

Pere Lachaise cemetry in Paris. Moliere, Heloise and Abelard, Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde are all buried there, among many others. I've always wanted to spend a day there...

And finally...

Disney Princess

Sleeping Beauty...

And I tag: Darjeeling Dreams, Here Comes the Sun, Candy Hearts, naturally nina, the tea drinking english rose and all of my dreams they fall like rain

Phew! Thats a lot of tags!

xS

As long as we have dreams

Photos by Sarah Hermans

This weekend has been so grey and rainy all the happiness seems to have been washed away in the downpour. I've spent most of my spare time traipsing around the extemily wet city in my winter clothes (only recently uncovered from their burial place at the back of my closet), trying to get my spirits up despite the colourlessness and the ill-fortune it seems to bring.

I blame the rain for:

- Making my sewing machine skitz when I was hurriedly trying to alter one of my warm skirts before leaving the house today.

- Filling up my shoes with water as soon as I stepped out into the open (they're so overworn there are holes in the soles).

- The seven years bad luck I have garnered after stepping on, and shattering, a full-length mirror on Saturday night.

All I want to do is curl up in the warmth and safety of my bed and listen to the rain beat against the roof. I love the fuzzy feeling you get when sheltering from a storm. It reminds me of the magic and security of childhood blanket cubby-houses and pillow fortresses.

The lovely Sarah Hermans' photos take me back to just those memories. Don't they just make you want to hide from the rest of the world under your doona?

I think I'll go and do that now! Theres a lovely Pride and Prejudice show on tonight I could forget myself in...

xS