On sunday we had a small(ish) summer party to (sort of) celebrate the upcoming arrival of our first child, or Bock! as I have taken to calling the bump recently.

I made cake…

(terrible photo of the cake, taken with my phone, at the dark, northside of the house)

…W made beer, and a good time was had by all. I thought I might show you the presents we got: Firstly - people made stuff, which shouldn’t be shocking at all, given the amount of crafters in my life. But seriously, people made amazing things:

The mohair hat was made by Lara, and the slipper socks were made by Clare. They are both incredible, and match the colourful swedish babygro that our friends F and J bought for us.

(Plus, as I told Clare earlier today - after thinking i was done knitting stuff for the bump for a while, I’ve found a second wind, and i’m inspired to knit slippers to go over sleepsuit feet for when we’re out walking, but it’s too warm for the snowsuit. So there are a few pairs of Magic Slippers in the works. And maybe some for me too!)

My sister, Kim had been itching to make a hooded baby towel pretty much since she found out she was going to be an auntie. Hooded towels are a big deal to her, and she wanted to make sure to pass that on.

Look what she made! And she used Heather Ross goldfish for the binding! (She knows my love of Heather Ross’ work, only too well. :)

She stayed up WAY too late the night before the party making slipper. Cute!

Ellen made us a Montessori treasure basket, and that, plus a conversation about Montessori for babies, has me hunting for more information. It think it will really work with our general mindset at home, (even if we don’t end up sending bump to a Montessori school later on down the line…)

I already know exactly where this basket is going to live - the lowest shelf on the bookshelf in our new day room. I think - in a year or so - it’s going to be a godsend. :)

There were bought presents too, all of which were just as thoughtful:

Jaq gave us this cool dangly pram toy. I LOVE the colours.

Lovely Babs gave us this really cool trees and snails babygro, and duck towel. (I’m loving that none of us know the gender of bump. It’s making people really creative. :)

Kim also went ‘a bit nuts’ (her words ;) at People Tree, which is very cool. (I’m glad their kids stuff looks like it’ll fit actual people, unlike their adult stuff imho.)  All the orange and green makes me very happy. :D

Liz kinda blew me out of the water with this cute baby set. There are cute cows, and chickens…

…and sheep!

*beams*

Huge thanks to everyone who came to the party. I had a great time!

On friday my mum, Kim (of Little Green Bees), Jaq (of Confessions of a Slack Knitter), Liz (of Thomasina Knits), Ellen (of Frog Princess), Ruth (I need your blog address - gimmeh gimmeh!), Jacqui (who I don’t think has a blog… yet), and me (obviously), went to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham.

Much fun was had. Much fabric was bought. Lots of walking was done by all. (I am SO TIRED today.)

But let me tell you what I bought:

There is always one stall that becomes my favourite of the day. I don’t know what it’s going to be, but when I find it I find I’m drawn back to it again and again.

Yesterday it was TheButtonCompany.co.uk

I think I love them.

Firstly they had some of the cute japanese fabrics I have been kinda drooling over for a while now.

Cute waffle farmyard fabric! How lovely is that?

I think these are destined to be at least one pair of cute pajama pants for the bump, though I got a metre, so there is definately enough for at least two sizes, should they prove popular. Of course I might just hang it on a clip hanger for a while and just look at it’s loveliness. :)

So much JOY here! There is kitchen fabric (for ME!) and Amy Butler spots to go with it, plus little red riding hood fabric <3 and lime and orange robot fabric.

Actually let me pause for a minute to tell you the robot fabric story.

My sister - Kim - made an amazing bag with the blue version of that robot fabric. (I’m very proud of her.) Anyway, she was using it yesterday, and while we were at the stall, talking to one of the women running it about the fabric, Kim mentioned her bag, and held it up. And all hell broke loose in the best way! The woman had never seen the fabric worked up into something before. She wanted to fondle the fabric, and was amazed at how soft it got when washed. She wanted to show the other people behind the stall, and so - in the nicest way - ran off with it, to show them, and then brought it back to say that the other people were going to come over and have a proper look, and could Kim stick around. Hilarious. I think that’s when I fell in love with their stall.

Anyways it’s also important to point out the fabric being used as a back drop to the lovely fat quarters.

Wool felt.

Thick, amazing wool felt from france that The Button Company now stock.

(They have ordered 90 colours, and had the first 50 at the show. It was £15 a metre but they would cut from the fat quarter upwards. I would suggest calling them, and making an order, since they were pretty sure that availability was going to be sketchy for a while, while they and the tiny french company who makes it, got into a rhythm of ordering a supplying.

If I were you I’d keep a close eye on The Button Company Blog, and The Eternal Maker Crafts Blog, since there is a bit of a debate over who gets the stock all that loveliness. ;)

So yeah.

Another stall of note was Oliver Twists.

They had silk.

Hand dyed silk you could spin with.

£12.50 for the 130g above.

And frankly these days there were more spinners in our group than quilters.

So yeah, that came home with me too, and I started spinning it last night while watching the replay of the Men’s Track Points Race. (GO CHRIS!)

(Don’t know why the morning light was screwing with the colour - obviously it’s way more blue/green than that.)

I think I can get about 350m of 4ply equivalent (14wpi, and actually 3ply).

Oooh! And British people can now get iron on plastic for making ordinary fabric into oil cloth. (Kim has been lusting over US crafters who do this for a while now.) I got a metre for £3.50 from www.nid-noi.com. It’s called Lamifix.

Lastly we got to meet Amy Butler at the Rowan stand. She is lovely.

I - naturally given what is going on at the moment - bought her bookfull of useful patterns for baby things. (Actually Kim and mum - as eager aunt and granny in waiting insisted we went thirds on it.) And Amy put a lovely message inside, and managed not to get influenced at all when my mother decided to bring up a mortifyingly embarrassing story about how I apparently justified changing the spelling of my name, when I was 11 - nineteen years ago! :| Thank alot mum.

The pattern wasn’t available at the show, but I’m also looking forward the Birdy Sling bag (though I see that UHandbag have it in stock, so I’ll get my bum in gear and get it from there instead. :) (Ruth - thought you might want a heads up about that too. :)

So yeah, all in all a great day.

A Small moan that you should probably not read, especially if you have a happy glow from all the fabric loveliness above:
If - however - I had one criticism, it would be that, on mass, thousands of women in the fifties and sixties aren’t actually very considerate at all. i’m not talking about stall holders. All the stall holders were wonderful. I’m talking about the other event goers. I can’t count how many times I was bashed into - and yeah, i’m a bit sensitive about getting bashed into right now - how many times people suddenly came to a halt right in front of me in the narrow isles between the stall. How many times people blocked said isles while they made up their mind whether it was worth moving the couple of feet to the left or the right to actually stand *in front* of the stall they were looking at.

Lots of people had drag-behind boxes on wheels, or cases (I think for sewing machines, which I assume they needed for some of the classes. And, you know, fair enough.) But it would have been nice if they’d remembered that having them meant that they were taking up twice as much room when they stopped short, and at a really good ‘knock you off your feet’ height.

(The people in wheelchairs, scooters, and pushing buggies - all used to being ignore and complained about - were naturally not a problem at all.)

By lunch time - only a hour or so into the event, my mother - who is smack bang in the middle of that demographic - said ‘i’m not sure I like being around so many other women’. Which is very sad.

But frankly there were people there who needed a telling off, rather than the tuts they themselves were doling out. *sigh*

***

Which is a miserable way to end a post so full of great things.

But it’s worth pointing out that I’m definately glad I went, (as I was last year) and I hope to go again next year, so nothing was able to get me down too much. :)

Sometimes you go to the local farmers market and are overcome with the need to bring home a giant cottage loaf, and fill it full of onions and mushrooms, and tomatoes, and swiss cheese and bake it in the oven for half an hour, and then marvel at the huge sandwich you have created, and then manage to eat half said sandwich over the two remaining meals of the day.

And by you I mean Will (who ate his half in one sitting, because he has hollow legs - and a flat stomach. ;)

And by you I also mean me (who ate it over two meals, and thought it was amazing.)

—

Hopefully the shop will open in the next 24 hours. However in the meantime I’m going to go buy a new housephone, since you have to punch ours to have any hope of hearing the person at the other end, and then I’m dropping in to Felix’s Craftanoons so that I can baby the autumn cold that is threatening to take me over, and finish the first of my minimalist cardie sleeves.

It’s a total pleasure to point you towards a project my friend Felix is running:

The Knitted Walking Stick Cosy Competition 2007: WIN £40 IN YARN VOUCHERS!

Inspired by the dignifying powers of health-related knitting projects
everywhere, The Missability Radio Show is organising a walking stick cosy
knitting competition. With your great ideas, knitting skills and visionary
powers, you can transform even an ordinary grey walking stick into a
fantastical design!

The competition is open NOW and all entries must be received by 7th
September 2007.

There are two categories for this competition; the winner in each category
will be awarded £40 in yarn vouchers. There is no limit on submissions. The
first category is Fantastical Designs and the second is Real Life. Entries
will be judged by walking stick users and The Oxford Bluestockings, an
incredibly talented and accomplished bunch of knitters based here in Oxford.

The cosies will be featured on The Missability Radio Show. Notable
submissions will be described by our knitting correspondents on the
programmes due for podcast release 9th September!) Photographs and cosies
will be publicly exhibited from 12th - 16th September in The Drama Studio at
Oxford Brookes University and from 12th - 19th September in The Oxford
Centre for Enablement, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Oxford.

Links
Full details of how to enter the competition:
http://www.missability.com/knittingcompetition.html
See other people’s knitted walking stick cosies:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/knittedwalkingstickcosy
More information about The Missability Radio Show:
http://www.myspace.com/themissabilityradioshow
Alternatively you can phone Felicity Ford on 07835 136201