BAG IT UP It's not often that I get to make the patterns I tech edit. The list of amazing designs I've been lucky enough to see in their final stages is looong but there just aren't enough hours in the day to knit/sew/crochet everything I want.
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But sometimes, just sometimes, I can't not. This little beauty is a padded bag design by @louleigh_ that I tech edited a while ago. Ostensibly designed to hang off a peg or on the side of your sewing table it's become my go to bag for keeping knitting tools in. It stands up all by itself, which is super handy! I made the loop by re-using a leather strap from a posh handbag that gave up the ghost after 10 years. The fabric is by @cottonandsteel and sat in my stash for three years at least, waiting for the perfect project - it was an end of line so I could only buy a small amount.
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I made this bag without really knowing what I would use it for - I just loved the clever design, but it has become indispensable. Swipe to peak inside and see a little collection of the @clovermfg tools I use on a regular basis, including stitch markers, needle gauge, bent sewing needles and Really Good Scissors. Find this pattern, kits and finished products, including lovely needle cases, in Leigh's Etsy shop via her profile. .
#knittersofinstagram #knit #handmade #yarn #knitstagram #instaknit #strikking #wool #sewing #sewingbee #dressmaking #quilting #dressmaker #quilter #stylist #styling #sew #ad
TELL THE TRUTH Today marks the first of five days of protest by Extinction Rebellion in Bristol and comes at the end of a week in the knitting world that has seen the discussion around racism and white supremacy escalate in a shocking and violent way.
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There are a few reasons why I've been mostly quiet on this subject until recently. I've felt under qualified and under educated and I've been working on changing that. I haven't wanted to centre myself. But I've also struggled to accept the tone of aspects of the conversation.
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However, I have come to realise in recent weeks that this makes me a total hypocrite. I'm quite happy for XTR to close down Bristol city centre for five days and piss off thousands of people and affect small businesses. So who am I to say how this equally difficult work should be carried out?
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My family is diverse in many ways and I celebrated aspects of our diversity this weekend by marching at Bristol Pride with my young daughter in tow, safe to do so thanks to black trans women and young gay men who fought back at Stonewall and triggered the Gay Pride movement. This freedom we enjoyed was born of their struggle and refusal to go quietly. Had they been more polite would we have LGBTQ+ rights now?
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What about the Greenpeace protesters chaining themselves to oil rigs or facing down whaling ships in rubber dinghies? What about the people blocking fracking or marching on the council offices after Grenfell? Why are these direct actions all 'OK' in the eyes of white liberals? Because they don't challenge us personally. They ask no change of us. If anything, they reaffirm our 'rightness'. We need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and listen to hard truths. We need to admit when we're wrong. .
Once again I feel uneasy about centring myself in this conversation, so I'll simply end with this: believe BIPOC in the same way that you believe women. Even if you don't speak, for God's sake listen.
OR LONGER It's almost the weekend, the sun's out, Stormzy is headlining Glastonbury tonight and today I'm feeling particularly lucky to be alive.
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Five years ago today I got appendicitis and had to fight for treatment because my symptoms were atypical. No one believed I was seriously ill. But I know my body and because I am a bolshy bitch I stood my ground, got my diagnosis (after 48 hrs in agony), had my surgery, and lived to fight another day.
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Without that streak of fuck you that runs through my very core I might have done as I was told, gone home and died. So I'm staying wild forever, thank you very much.
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This morning I got to hang out with some lovely friends, old and new, at the Real Life Social meet up run by Lou Chudley of @spark_social. I've been working nonstop recently so pressing pause for a few hours was very much needed.
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Give yourself a break this weekend if you can, hold your family close, in whatever form they come, and be a little wild. Or a lot. You don't have to do what you're told!
I already posted about this in my stories yesterday, but in case it got lost in the melee I want to be 100% clear that I support @hi.ravelry in this policy.
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For those complaining about the ban breaching their human rights, I refer you to the children in cages.
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I have not made any kind of public statement about these issues until now, because I felt like I had a lot to learn first and didn't want to be performative (which of course this post is). But I have been listening, reading and learning.
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And I know that staying quiet is a choice born of privilege. I know that I have work to do.
So in case there is even a shred of doubt:
I am for inclusion
I am for diversity
I am pro choice
I am against hate
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If for any reason you disagree with that, I invite you to unfollow me.
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PURPLE HAZE These are the smiley happy faces of three people who have just seen a promenade performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, complete with elevating beds, trapeze fairies, ticker tape, a giant inflatable moon and Beyoncé.
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My brother @legallytommy invited me due to my love of @gwendolineuniverse (Brienne in Game of Thrones), who plays Titania. She shines in this play, but the whole cast is brilliant, esp @hammedhamz, who completely steals the show as Bottom. I would watch him in anything. It's at the Bridge Theatre this summer so get your tickets STAT! Thanks to lovely Tom and Martin for a brilliant evening!
