...somebody's watching me...

I know what you're thinking, but it felt like a good idea at the time, and now I feel weirdly guilty each time I try and pack him away in a box...

The joy of sox

I have taken this one with my phone, hence the abominable quality, just to illustrate that I am mainly into knitting at the moment, and the embroidery is taking a well deserved rest.

They are self-striped, with half the skein re-wound into an extra ball. I tried using one strand from the outside with one strand from the inside, but because of the repeat, I ended up striping at least two colours onto themselves, which didn't look great. The fact that one of these colours was sludge didn help, either...

Wasn't keen on the variation of thickness in the yarn, and they look a bit scratchy and rustic. I wish you could get the colours on a quality like Regia...

Best foot forward

If all my posts seem to look like one long trip down Memory lane, that's just because I don't have a camera at the moment, so I can't take pictures of my recent work... so here's some more old stuff !

I always loved embroidered slippers that aristocratic ladies would work as Christmas presents for their husbands, but I wanted to do something a bit less stuffy, so I mutilated a worn-out pair of trainers (Adidas Gazelle as I am sure you will have noticed), and scanned them to convert into an embroidery pattern. They were rather expensive to have made up, but then again, I went to the best bespoke shoemaker I could find, George Cleverly in the Royal Arcade.

And no, I don't actually wear them.

Granny Square

Well, almost. It's a cushion cover I made for my grandmother some years back, showing her, my mother and my aunt. The original picture was taken as a souvenir for my grandfather to take with him as he left for WW2, and he never returned. I took some time to finish this, but I finally made an effort and gave it to her for Christmas, which she was very happy about.
I am glad I pulled myself together, because 2 months later, my grandmother had a stroke from which she never regained consciousness, and she died soon after.

Steptacular

This is one for the truly dedicated (or 'anoraks', as they are more widely known...). It's a life size tapestry celebrating the genius that was STEPS. Who could forget lyrics such as "A smile's a frown turned upside down" ? Rumours of an impending reunion have so far proved unfounded, but the world still holds its breath in anticipation of Claire's solo album...

Ok, this started out as a joke, but I always wanted to work a really big canvas, and I couldn't think of a subject to suit me. For the techno freaks: it's a 10 hpi canvas, worked in cross stitch with Anchor wool, 250 x 400 sts, and I finished it November 2001. In December, STEPS split up, but to this day I refuse to accept responsibility...

Bloggo, ergo sum.

Right, then. This is what the world has been waiting for - somebody waffling on about their lives and hobbies to all and sundry. Let's see where this is going...