greenolive

necessity as the mother of invention

Now we do a weekly market at the Arts Centre, I've discovered that packing, transporting, unpacking, displaying, repacking and transporting the silk scarves back home is proving to be a challenge. 

The market frequency means the scarves stay put in their plastic tubs during the week, there is no point unpacking them and hanging on hangers, only to repack them a few days later. But this wasn't working.

My original packing solution was to fold them in quarters and lay them one on top of the other in stacks in the plastic tubs. While this was okay for the trip to the market, in our haste to depart the market, the scarves were folded in a less than ideal manner. The result? Lots of creases.

A solution was needed. One that:
• cost nothing
• made use of the existing plastic tubs
• protected the scarves from creases
• and if possible, one that allowed individual scarves to be removed without having to move all the other scarves in the tub.

After designing something in my head, I grabbed a pile of manilla folders (file folders) and started work on a prototype. Hmmm, the reality didn't quite match my vision...

Intreigued, Drew soon joined in the fun. Once I had explained what I was trying to achieve, he suggested a grid of dividers, made from rows of cardboard that interlock together. Genius! It only took about an hour for me to fit two tubs with the cardboard dividers.

We test drove it at the last market and it works a treat! I'm going to make larger versions for the winter weight scarves.

little boy blue baby blanket

I have a real thing for baby blankets. Whenever I have a new baby to knit for I go for the baby blanket. Actually, even when I don't have a new baby to knit for I still go for the baby blanket. 

I find them so comforting to knit. I just cast on a whole bunch of stitches, knit away, and Bob's your uncle, a baby blanket. Relatively quick, easy knitting. A case of the sum being much greater than its parts.

Most of the blankets I knit are made from stash yarn. Yarns I've bought on a whim because the colour or texture appealed. At the time I just bought whatever quantity of yarn was available, sometimes one single ball, others a few skeins. I'm not sure if its inspiration or pure luck, but the motley collection of odd balls magically turns into a lovely baby blanket:

> pink bubblegum baby blanket was knitted for a little girl

> sea green baby blanket for a little boy, though at the time I didn't know that.

Little boy blue was knitted without a specific baby in mind, I just felt like knitting a blanket. I had two 100g balls of an English yarn I'd bought on sale at Wondoflex. The wool/cotton yarn had been in the stash for about eight years, and every now and then I'd get them out and wonder what to do with them. Too little yardage to make anything out of just one ball - unless you cast on a scarf - but with two balls...I thought the pale blue and grey looked nice together, and the yarn had the same quality as other yarns I'd knitted up into baby blankets. So a baby blanket it was. And now the blanket is finished, I think the yarns look great, they were a perfect choice.

If you are feeling so inspired, here are some suggestions for the perfect baby blanket:

1. pick a soft, textured and fairly airy yarn – this gives you warmth without bulk, and visual interest via the texture

2. knit it in garter stitch - this makes for a very quick project

3. don't be too hung up about size or gauge - I tend to just cast on about 80 stitches with a 6mm needle, I find a looser tension works better for the blanket

4. use circular needles – much easier to knit with.

In no time at all you'll have a beautiful, handmade baby blanket that is bound to become a treasured favourite. And, if you don't have a baby to knit for, why not make the blanket a bit bigger and give it to a young child? It makes a great "security" blanket too.

tea towel blog feature

 

I woke up the other day to find an etsy convo from Amanda. She had done a blog post on bold tea towels and featured our Urban Type tea towels. It was a lovely surprise.

Its probably not surprising that Amanda likes bold tea towels, she's a Graphic Designer after all. Her blog, calico & co, features handmade and/or eco products by independent artists, designers and crafters. Each week, Amanda features a particular designer giving an insight into their approach, products and business. Its a great read.

Thanks again for the mention Amanda! 

what makes us happy?

Perhaps if one really knew when one was happy one would know the things that were necessary for one's life.
Joanna Field

What makes us happy? What makes YOU happy? Do you even know? Do you have to think about it?

Travelling along on my Simple Abundance journey, I've spent the last few days thinking about what makes me happy. You see, I'm one of those types who doesn't really know. I don't think about happiness that much. I wasn't all that sure about what made me happy. When I asked Drew, he knew what made me happy. But I didn't know. Maybe it wasn't a case of me not being happy, but rather I didn't recognise what happy felt like.

It seems I'm not alone. In the January 7 essay in my Simple Abundance journal, the author suggests that "Most women know what makes their parents, partners or children happy. But when it comes to an awareness about the little, specific things in life that bring a smile to our faces and contentment to our own hearts, we often come up short."

"What is missing from many of our days is a true sense that we are enjoying the lives we are living. It is difficult to experience moments of happiness if we are not aware of what it is we genuinely love."

If we want to discover what makes us happy, what delights us, perhaps we should follow the lead of Joanna Field. In 1926 this Englishwoman kept a journal to discover what triggered the feeling of delight in her daily life. Her list: red shoes, good food, sudden bursts of laughter, reading in French, answering letters, loitering in a crowd at a fair, and a new idea when it is first grasped.

The author encourages us to "grasp the awareness of what it is that makes us truly happy. Let us consider our personal preferences and learn how to recognise, then embrace, moments of happiness that are uniquely our own."

I'm working on my list, but I haven't got very far yet...
> collecting shells on the beach
> the perfect pinky-brown colour
> reading a stack of magazines in bed with a cup of tea (not the trashy kind)
> a lovely rose in a vase
> spinning in the quiet of the night
> making correction, creating things...

What's on your list?

bliss is...

a home grown strawberry

photo by me, strawberry by him

The kind of strawberry that looks and tastes just as a strawberry should.

energy and inspiration align

Vintage kimono silks drying on the line, red equals energy. 

You really can't plan for this, one morning you wake up and boom, you find the planets have aligned. Kind of like you have an energy moon with inspiration rising in your chart. You feel unstoppable, like anything is possible. And when you have one of those days you just need to let go of the reins, get out of the way and go with the flow!

Tuesday was just such a day for me. There was nothing auspicious in the morning that signalled it would just such a day. In fact, it had all the signs of a stay-in-bed-and-knit kind of day. It was freezing, 13 degrees inside the house, 8 degrees outside. It was overcast, grey and foggy. And it was drizzling. But even the weather couldn't stop me.

I blogged. I flickred. I esty-ed. I charted market dates for the whole of 2010. I applied for markets. I manipulated photos. I poked around blogs. I flicked through books for inspiration. I knitted. I designed. I doodled. I planned. I felt an energy shift. And all this while still in my pyjamas.

Throughout the day I was very conscious of the energy shift. Of the energy shifting. Being in the moment and aware of what is happening, how I feel and what it means is still relatively new to me. In the past I have lived in my head, and often been oblivious to what is happening in my body or with my emotions. When I get emotional in my counselling sessions, my counsellor makes me sit with those emotions and try and understand what is going on. Often I don't know.

But there was no mistaking what Tuesday meant. (I think). I'm out the other side of the tunnel. I'm ready to create a new life, define a new future. I've let go of the old and the languishing in limbo. I'm ready for anything.

As I write this, almost 48 hours after the event, I remember the quote I read on Theresa's flickr page early in the day. I wonder if that had a part to play... 

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.
Anatole France

better made up

Do you have those sorts of yarns in your stash? You know, the ones that look much better made up than they do as a ball of yarn. Well, this yarn is one of those yarns...

I didn't take a before shot, I seem to forget about this and am too impatient to cast on and get started, but the yarn is Patons Jet. A wool and alpaca blend, the colour is a crazy blend of yellow, orange, pink and blue. Quite bright really. Not my thing at all. I bought it on sale at Kmart of all places. It was intended as a knitted gift, but I think I was put off by the colours and it languished in the stash for years. But that 30% alpaca kept calling out to me...

Anyway, wanting a bit of mindless crochet while watching DVDs in bed, I ferreted it out and started chaining. The result is an extra long, simple crochet scarf of treble stitch. The length of the rows allows the colour to build, merge and change in long elegant stretches.

Now made up, the yarn colours remind me of an intense sunset. What a nice surprise.

What yarn has surprised you lately?

the beauty of vintage kimono silks

Yet for better or for worse we love things that bear the marks of grime, soot and weather, and we love the colours and the sheen that call to mind the past that made them.
Jun'inchiro Tanizaki

On another recent buying trip to my favourite vintage kimono silk supplier, I happened upon these beauties.

Delicate. Sheer. Old. Really old (1940s the girl said). Graphic patterns that still look modern. Intense colours. Gorgeous. I just had to have them and managed to get both for $10. I dreamt of the scarves I could make from them.

Alas, after hand washing them very delicately, I discovered some very small tears, where the old and very delicate fabric had just started to give. While a bit disappointed, I knew that was normal for a fabric of this age. 

I was not too worried. I knew I would still wear a scarf made from them, as the imperfections are evidence of the silk's history and age. Maybe someone else would buy a scarf with said imperfections?

I'll just make them up and see if there is someone else out there with a love and appreciation for vintage textiles...

photographing scarves: what do you think?

I really need your input dear readers.

I keep photographing my scarves over and over again, changing how I display or style them. And I'm still not happy with the photographs. 

As I'm selling online, its critical that my images convey the style, colours, materials, size of the actual scarf as realistically as possible. Plus they also need to make you want that scarf!

Etsy recommends using real people in the photos, as it seems buyers prefer to see scarves on people. There are etsy forum threads devoted to the topic. Believe me, I've read them! 

I've resisted this approach for several reasons: 
> I don't like my photography being taken
> I'm not to good with the self-portrait with scarf taken by the camera's timer
> I don't think Drew would look so good in scarves so obviously designed for women
> I don't have another, photographic female handy
> and finally, I don't want you, my customer, to react to the person instead of the scarf in the photo. 

And so, instead, I take a more abstract approach. Previously I have displayed scarves on my vintage dressmakers dummy. This approach has resulted in sales, but could more sales be made...? I'm not sure this is the best option for a sans-real-person-model photo.

Late last week I took some photos of scarves, hanging simple over a wooden hanger, or stylishly scrunched on a white background. It certainly makes the scarf the focus, but is it too stark? Too impersonal?

Here where your input is required...

1. Are you more likely to buy a scarf online if its pictured on a real person?

2. What do you think of displaying them on my dressmakers dummy?

3. And, what do you think about the more abstract approach: on a hanger, or stylishly scrunched?

Just leave your thoughts as a comment. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. And I might just finally make up my mind on how I'm going to photograph my scarves in the future.

PS: its ok for you to tell me to get a life, it really doesn't matter which way the scarves are photographed!!

forest of pins

Its better to see the forest than the trees isn't it? Yes?

Well this is the forest I've been seeing lately. A Forest of pins in a linen pincushion. I've been doing lots of sewing, mainly more kimono silk scarves for the weekly market at the Arts Centre, and a few cushions as very belated Christmas presents...

We'll be at the Arts Centre market in Melbourne on Sunday. The forcast is for 20 degress – perfect weather for buying a new scarf!