creative urges

Hey guys. a ruminative post today, I am feeling introspective. Please excuse. I wanted to note, to myself more than anything, that today I have been gripped by the urge to KNIT.

Nothing new about that. But for the past couple of months I have been feeling very rubbish and the spark of creativity has pretty much gone out. one of the most debilitating things about depression for me is the way it makes me hate everything I make, until I don't want to make anything any more. After I finished Maddern's cardigan I declared, a bit dramatically, that I was not going to knit EVER AGAIN. I'm done with this shit, I hate it, picking up the needles makes me feel sick and I don't want to make shitty pointless pieces of useless crap any more. This turns out to be cyclic because another thing is that I don't want to see anyone, and I'm not interested in doing anything much. So I stare at the wall and despair. Then I don't want to do anything even more. Finally, I am going to bed at 8pm because I can't face my own stupid thoughts any more and then waking up 17 times a night in a panic. It's a fucking nightmare.

Making things is one of the things that got me out of massive, major, hideous depression last time. I went to Chorlton Knits and met nice people and started feeling better. Before that I used to lie on the couch 16 hours a day and cry at the thought of going to the shop for teabags. I am nowhere near that bad now but I am still pretty ropey. Helen Doesn't Make.

Anyway in a desperate bid to shut the noise in my head up I have started doing yoga and I needed a bag to put my yoga mat in so I can cart it around all over the place. I thought, oh I can crochet one. So I started doing that. It's pretty boring. However, some switch must have flicked in my brain and made me think about making things again. This morning I woke up with some splooshy ideas for interesting things. So I thought I would write about it. Making things is a nice way to calm your brain but you can't force it. If the very notion of making something makes you want to fall down a hole, don't bother. One day it will happen naturally. Wu Wei.

Well there you go, that was sort of cathartic I guess, I have not talked about depression on here before. I am nowhere near better but maybe this is a good sign. We'll see if I actually finish anything, bye bye.

#mckuwsdreamcardigan

How do guys, just popping in to tell you I finished making a cardigan that Maddern has been dreaming of for 4 years or something apparently. I am pretty proud of it because I'm not a super-measurer or anything, and I just made it up as I went along, including a sleeve that could barely fit a spider's arm through it. I finished it on Saturday, tried it on and went, meh. THEN I gave it to Maddern, he put it on and POW! It was like it was made for him! Which it totally was! I'm a genius.

Here you can see that the stripes don't line up at the front, which was ABSOLUTELY part of my mega-plan and not an accident caused by lackadaisical counting. It looks blimmin' wonderful and Maddern's dream has come true at last, what more could we all ask for, really.

This is Maddern looking at some art at the MMU show earlier today. Well done all you degree show guys! Really impressive work, very exciting. A lucrative career in temping awaits you (j/k!). 

Anyhoo that's me for now. I have a lot to do and may never knit again, but I'm sure something will be worth wittering about for five minutes in the near future. See you soon dudes x

Purl-ple rain

I hope you enjoy my pun, but I should tell you at this point that it's inaccurate because monsters are crocheted and there's no purling in crochet. Sorry! I couldn't think of a better Prince/crochet pun, apart from maybe 'U Got the Hook' which is rubbish. If you can think of one tell me and I'll gladly share it. I thought of another knitting one: Diamonds and Purls. There are a lot of purl puns.

Oh yeah! I crocheted a Prince monster.

This was a fun project. I just love it. He's so spangly. After some deliberation, I decided to go with the signature Purple Rain outfit, because it's just so iconic and wonderful. I really wish my monsters had hips and crotches at this point, so I could have given him the high waisted slinky trousers with a million fly buttons, but  never mind. He just has legs fused to the bottom of his big domey torso like the rest of them. Anyway I think I did a pretty good job of this, it looks wicked.

A story for you. I was wondering what to do about the studs/sequins/whatever they are stuck to Prince's right shoulder in the film, and had a brief wander around Fred Aldous on my dinner, but nothing seemed suitable. I was glumly rooting through my supplies, and whoa! I found a pair of fancy dangly earrings from back when I was a fancy dangly earring-type of lady.

Perfect, right? I couldn't believe my blimmin' luck! So here he is with his snazzy shoulder.

Beaut! 

I'm going to start doing a somewhat arbitrary celebrity range and stick them in my Folksy shop, so keep your eye on it. There are already some somewhat arbitrary celebrities in there, but I am going to do more. MORE.

Anyway that's like, all the time we have for now, so here's Prince doing some dance movements. Goodbye. xxx

Man monster and cat monster

Hey friends. I have not updated my blog in so long that Blogger has changed its interface and now I don't understand how to use anything. Gulp! Well here goes, if it all publishes upside down or whatever, you will know why.

 So I have been really busy in the last few months and that, and I've made tons of stuff, but I have either not taken photos of it or been sworn to secrecy. So I now have TWO monsters to show you. You lahcky people! Number one: this is Maddern. He turned thirty in February and I made him a monster to commemorate this wondrous time-passing. He makes a wicked monster because he is so very knitted anyway (he wears a lot of cardigans) and fuzzy-faced that I felt half my work was done for me, by NATURE.

 Here he is.

I had a hard time thinking of something to put on his t shirt, because 1) he wears a lot of cool graphicky t shirts anyway 2) he loves a zillion things and I couldn't decide which would be best. For a while I was trying to construct a tiny felt Green Lantern, because Maddern really hates Ryan Reynolds and I thought it might be fun, but the microscopic scale proved too difficult for me on this occasion (normally I am WELL all over the tiny work, honest mum!) so I went with the easy cover-all BANDS. Maddern sure likes a lot of bands.

So finally yesterday we managed to do a photo shoot of sorts, just before it started tipping down.

Inside.

Outside. We had fun doing this. Just after we finished up, Maddern's neighbour came over to ask if we were doing a 'sun dance'. We said yes.

Okay so second up, this is not the first knitosity made in the image of someone's pet, but I think it might be the first monster I actually made of somebody of a non-human persuasion.

Hello Fudge!

Fudge is Sarah's cat. He's the biggest, roundest cat I have ever seen, and he is beautiful. He's a bit temperamental though and doesn't like me much, he tends to bite me more than anything else, but maybe I just smell funny. 

Ages ago I made lots and lots of maneki neko(s?) in the middle of the night because I couldn't sleep and randomly developed an obsession with them. I thought Fudge would make a special one, because he's so round and handsome. Fudge has a special relationship with a big blanket, and so I thought it would make a good talisman for him. He just loves that blanket!

I did a photo shoot with Fudgy yesterday as well, and he was unusually friendly, possibly because I was putting food in his bowl. Just look at that face. He's a dreamboat.

I tried to take more pictures but he either had his head firmly jammed in the food bowl, or he was wandering around the place entirely refusing to co-operate. Cats eh! Well, I like this photo, the look on his face is pretty good. 

So that's just a mere taster of what I have been doing for the past seventy months, how do you like it? I am starting a new job soon which may render me too busy to update again for ages, but I will try my damn hardest.

love you, xxx

special offer ooooohhh

Hi guys, just to let you know that I have gone all business-like and will be doing a SPECIAL FREE GIFT with my next order! Aren't you spoilt!



Here is the wonderous prize which you will receive: a t-shirt for a beautiful lady, in delectable lemon yellow, with a cool hippo/donkey motif handpainted by ME. That's right, no one else in the world has one like this. It's OOAK (as they say on Etsy).

The t-shirt is secondhand, clean and in good condition. It's painted with Dylon fabric paint and sealed so the image should stay put. It's pretty bold and bright, I really like it. Oh and it's cotton jersey, in ladies' size 14. Here, have a close-up of the hippo donkey fellow. Int he a beaut!



So! If you want this fantabulous and unique garment, be quick smart and order a monster from me NOW! The first order I get will get the t-shirt free with their monster, what a postal treat that will be! Skates on, then.

My Hudders Field Trip

Hey lovelies. Just a v quick post today, I am going to Wigan in a bit. Hooray! I went to Huddersfield yesterday to see my buddy Phoebe, and photographed her in a pair of gloves that I made as a late Christmas prez. See, I went to visit her just after Chrimbo and she happened to mention that she had a new job in a VERY cold shop in town, and she admired my long fingerless gloves and wished she had some to wear at work so she could be a bit warmer whilst still being able to type. RIGHT! I thought, since I am rubbish and never get anyone presents, I will knit her some. So I did. Luckily it's still really cold so she will get some use out of them before it warms up a bit.

Here is a photo of Phoebe wearing the gloves whilst drinking a frothy drink of some description.



She doesn't really look like that, but I took a picture of her while she was talking and it wasn't very flattering so I doctored it so she wouldn't be upset. Although now I'm not sure if this is more upsetting. I'm sorry Phoebe.

I decided a plain black glove would be most suitable for wearing at work, and her work uniform is black so it would be pretty subtle, but how BORING, am I right? So I gave the dreaded cable knitting a go. I never do cable because I can't be bothered to count stitches properly and it always ends up wrong. Made a proper effort here though.



They look really nice and she seemed happy about having slightly warmer arms, so I'm pleased with my decision to make them. After our coffee, Phoebe took me to a fancypants shop in the Byram Arcade called Spun.



They have lots of lovely yarn that I rubbed all over my face. Also they do workshops and stuff there by the looks of it, so if you live in West Yorkshire and fancy a spot of communal knitting, you should totally go.

Phoebe is a member of the Intellectual Dinner Club in Huddersfield. I think this is a fantastic idea and am trying to think of my own '12 in 2012' goals for this year. So far I have 2: learn to knit socks and leave the country. How ambitious I am!

Anyway I best be off, hope you enjoyed my blog post today. Have a nice Sunday xxx

Lovehats (so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully pretty)

Good pun there I thought. Look, I am posting again within a week! Shocker. I wanted to tell you about this the other day but I couldn't because I promised. However, all can be revealed now, much to everyone's delight, I'm sure.

I got an email from Sarah a few weeks ago, asking if I could make two ski hats in a hurry, for a wedding present. I don't normally take commissions for things other than monsters any more, but I thought, why not? It would make a change and I thought it was a cute idea.

The happy couple are going skiing for their honeymoon you see, so Sarah wanted their hats to be personalised. I am playing the parts of both Mr and Mrs Castles in these photos.


Mrs.


Mr.

Aw nice! I was glad to hear that they liked the hats and I wish them all the best. I was reminded of these this morning after a tweet from Sarah with a photo that warmed my cockles! I'm always so pleased when people like their stuff.

Anyway that's that for now, I've got to go, I had the most fabulous idea ever before and I'm trying to get it off the ground. Just you wait and see! Laters, h xx