Sunday best

This is going to be my new weekly Sunday posting - a round-up of pretty/cool/funny/interesting things I find on the interwebz. At certain times of the year it’ll be themed (did someone say ‘Easter’?), but this week it’s just a random selection.

Animal prints are everywhere at the moment and I love this squirrel. This Kindle Fire cover is by the very talented and lovely Annie Sparkles. Check her Folksy shop for more covers, as well as waterbottle covers and draft excluders.

Super Squirrel Kindle cover. Photo by Annie Sparkles.

I really want to make this - the combination of chickpea and chocolate absolutely fascinates me. I've had beetroot and chocolate before and it was lovely. This cake looks like it would be really rich, dark and chocolatey - just like a chocolate cake should. I've used the word chocolate quite a few times in this paragraph. I should probably use it again, just to be sure. Chocolate.

Chocolate chickpea cake. Photo from The Cake Hunter.

I absolutely adore steampunk, so this pocket mirror really appeals to me.

Clocks and Gears Pocket Mirror. Photo from Sunnie's Gift Shop.

These wristies are unbelieveably cute and would be a great, quick project to use up some leftover yarn.

Take a Picot crochet mitt. Photo from Crochet Spot.

If you ever need reminding what a wonderful world we live in - and you happen to be on Facebook - then you should 'like' this page, Amazing Things in the World. There were loads of photos I could have chosen from, but I went for this one.

Asperatus clouds over New Zealand. Photo from Amazing Things in the World.

Finished tablet cover and free pattern

The finished article.

Last week I blogged about the crochet tablet cover I was designing. Well it's now finished, complete with button-down flap and slip-stitch border. I added a mother-of-pearl button as the finishing touch.

I've written up the pattern and I'm making it available free to blog readers. You can copy the pattern below, or if you’d prefer a fancy PDF, leave a comment and I’ll sort one out.

Candy striper tablet cover
Yarn: Sirdar Click chunky
Yarn A: colour Bloom
Yarn B: colour Lamb
Gauge: 20 rows and 15 sts in 10cm

Chain 55 (for 7" tablet) or 85 (for 10" tablet)

Row 1 with yarn A, ch1, 1dc in 2nd ch from hook, 1dc in all ch, turn
Row 2 ch 1, 1dc in all dc through the back loop (tbl) only, turn
Rows 3 + 4 Rpt row 2, but at end of row 4 change to yarn B, turn
Row 5 with yarn B, ch 1, 1 dc tbl in all dc, turn
Rows 6-8 rpt row 5, but at end of row 8 change to yarn A, turn
Row 9 with yarn A, ch 1 1 dc tbl in all dc, turn
Rows 10-12 rpt row 9, but at end of row 12 change to yarn B, turn

Repeat rows 5-12 until the cover is deep enough to fit your tablet - it should be slightly bigger than the tablet to ensure it fits in safely; it doesn't matter what colour you end on but do finish with a complete set of four rows of the final colour

Button detail.

Fold the piece in half. Join yarn A to the top corners of the held together sides and loosely slip stitch the two sides together, carry on along the bottom and up the other side. This last side doesn't actually need joining, this is just to ensure both sides look the same. You should now have a pocket that your tablet can fit in. You could leave it at this or carry on and add the flap

For flap
Join whichever colour you didn't finish with (so if your final stripe is yarn A, you'll join yarn B) to one corner of the top the cover
Row 1 ch 1, 1 dc tbl in every dc along one side of the cover, this then becomes the back of the cover, turn
Row 2 ch 1, dc2tog tbl, dc2tog tbl, 1 dc in every dc except final two, turn
Row 3 ch 1, dc2tog tbl, 1 dc in every dc except last one, turn
Row 4 ch 1, dc2tog tbl, dc2tog tbl, 1 dc in every dc except last 2, join 2nd colour

Repeat decrease pattern, while sticking to the stripe pattern, until you have 8 dc

Button-hole row ch 1, dc2tog tbl, dc2tog tbl, ch 4, skip next four dc, dc2tog tbl, dc2tog tbl Next row ch 1, dc2tog tbl, 1 dc tbl in next 4 ch, dc2tog tbl

Carry on decreasing, sticking to the stripe pattern, until only 1 dc remains, bind off
Join yarn A to one corner of the flap and loosely slip stitch all the way round, bind off
Join yarn B and loosely slip stitch in each sl st, bind off
Weave in all ends

To do list for 2013

I don’t believe in making resolutions. It seems to me that they’re generally nebulous things made on the spur of the moment without much thought as to why they’re being made or how to achieve them, and that’s just setting yourself up for failure. You resolve to ‘lose weight’, but do you think about why? Is your weight actually unhealthy? Or would you be better off toning up a bit or trying to eat more fruit and veg? How much do you want to lose? How are you going to do it? What are your actual goals?

I do, however, believe in making lists. Lists keep me organised. They’re concrete and goal orientated. They concentrate my thinking so that if I put something on a list then I can be sure I’ll do it. So here is a list of things I want to achieve this year.

1 Use my time more productively
There are four things I want to achieve with this: a clean and tidy flat; more time for blogging/writing in general; consolidate my Spanish learning from last year; and more time for designing.

The Errands app is going to help
me get organised.

I was inspired to this by reading a series of organisational posts on the A Thrifty Mrs blog. I’ve already taken much of her advice and put it to good use. By thinking about what I want to do every evening I get more done. Last Thursday, for example, I’d had a workout, cleaned the shower, dusted my bookshelves and vacuumed, all before sitting down for dinner at 7. This meant I felt totally justified to watch Utopia and My Mad Fat Diary back to back, while knitting of course.

By planning out my evenings I seem to have loads more time and my flat is already looking much more spic and span than it ever has done. So far I've been planning on a day-by-day basis – every morning I write a list of any shopping I might need, the cleaning I want to do that evening, even the TV shows I want to watch. But I'm starting to plan further in advance – scheduling weekly, fortnightly and even monthly tasks. To help with this I downloaded an app called Errands, which allows you to create different folders for every aspect of your life and add tasks, along with due dates and times and a little box you can check when the task is complete. So far it's been pretty awesome.

2 Blog/write more regularly
Last year I tried to blog once a week. I did this for a while and then fell behind, so much so that there was a five-month gap between posts. This is not the way to get a healthy blog readership. This year I want to post three times a week.

This might seem ambitious given that I couldn’t even stay on top of once a week, but with goal 1 already working well, I have found I’ve got more time in the evenings and if I do just 15 minutes of writing every weekday lunch time that’s one hour 15 minutes’ writing time. That’s a lot of blogging. I could assign one of those 15-minute slots to other writing – fiction, patterns, and so on – and get plenty done without even breaking into evening time.

3 Improve my Spanish
I took a beginners’ course in Spanish last year and loved it. I want to carry on. However, I missed the enrolment date for the next course. There’s another later in the year, and the new organised me will not miss it.

Mi Vida Loca is a Spanish-language course from the BBC.
It's actually quite fun to do and gives lots of vocab.

In the meantime, I’m going to type up my notes from last year’s classes to help anchor them in my mind and do the BBC’s Mi Vida Loca.

4 More time for design
In a way, of course, I’m designing all the time – I’m getting ideas and inspiration from anything and everything I encounter, saving stitch patterns, making sketches, or just tucking things away in my mind for future reference. But I need to be more focused.

At the moment I just design things on an adhoc basis, just because that’s how I feel, with no recourse to season or fashion. Not that I want to be totally led by these things, part of the point of designing my own stuff is that I get to do what I want, but it can only help to keep in mind what people and magazines might actually want at particular times of the year. Designing a knitted dress in the run up to spring/summer probably isn’t the best idea, for example, but something in russets and browns for autumn could be great.

More time for more of this please!

How will I achieve all these things? By staying organised, by properly allocating my time to the various tasks I want to get done and by sticking to this schedule. I will of course update you on my progress – or lack thereof.

Designing a cover for my latest gadget

How it will look. Almost.

In January I treated myself to an Asus Transformer Prime - we all deserve a present in the middle of winter, right? And, well, I love it. It’s just so useful, so easy to carry around and it comes with a keyboard so I can get lots of writing done will away from my laptop, which is pretty much all weekend, every weekend these days. I can take photos, read books, read the blogs I’m following, keep up with Twitter and Facebook and even play the occasional game. As you could probably guess I’m something of a fan.

But, of course, this makes it imperative that my shiny new purchase remains shiny and unscratched, which means only one thing - the chance to design a cover. I decided to go for crochet rather than knitting this time, as I’ve been rather neglecting the former craft. Also, fabric made from double crochet is generally tighter, and therefore more protective, than knitted material.

For the yarn I wanted something hardwearing and not too expensive as the cover is going to spend most of its time in or being pulled from bags, getting dirty and and scrunched up in the process. I also wanted something chunky so it would make up nice and quickly. I’ve got loads of Sirdar Click in my stash, and this acrylic/wool mix was ideal.

In progress. Here you can see the ribbed effect of
crocheting only through the back loop.

Of course I didn’t want a plain cover, so I chose two colours I thought would match nicely - cream and lilac - and got striping. Now a lot of knitters and crocheters avoid stripes because of all the ends that’ll need sewing in. But there’s a trick to that: don’t cut the yarn. Instead run it along the edge of the fabric, simply bringing the colour into use at the right time. Then you just hide the strands in the joining. It’s the same technique as in fair isle or intarsia.

Striping wasn’t the only interest though. By only inserting the hook through the back loop of each double crochet I created a ribbed fabric that’s lovely to look at and feel and has lots of stretch. That stretchiness means the fabric isn’t really suitable for lining, but using double crochet and a chunky yarn should ensure that the stitches stay tight and thick enough to provide all the protection Optimus needs (it’s a Transformer Prime; of course I called it Optimus).

A close up of the striped ribbing.

Once the cover was slightly bigger than the tablet, I tied off, folded the piece in half and loosely slip stitched all the way around - including the folded edge so it would match the other side, but not the top.

I’m now in the process of creating an envelope-style flap with a buttonhole to secure it and slip stitched around the edges, again to make it match the rest and to hide the stranded bits of yarn. The finished piece should look a bit like a document folder.

Of course I’m thinking of variations. Something similar, but in a brown yarn, crocheting through both loops, a square flap rather than shaped and buckles instead of a button would create a satchel-style cover that could then be lined.

This cover is for a 10” Asus Transformer tablet, but the pattern could easily be adapted for any tablet or eReader - simply adjust the number of chain stitches at the beginning.

You can just see the flap taking shape here.

The high street unchained

HMV's flagship store in Oxford Street. Photo by
Edward (commons.wikimedia.org).

The loss of high street stores HMV, Blockbusters and Jessops is sad news, especially for the thousands of employees who find themselves out of work. General belief seems to be that these - along with Woolworths - may be the first to go, but they certainly won't be the last. The internet and supermarkets simply have too much power - economies of scale mean they can offer products at ever-cheaper prices and stock pretty much everything you could ever want, and in the case of internet shopping at any time day or night.

One of the big questions is what this might mean for our high streets. As more chains fail, will our towns be overtaken by endless charity shops, bookmakers, mobile phone shops and pound shops? A few years ago there was something of an outcry about ghost towns and clone towns - town centres abandoned as shoppers move to out-of-town malls and retail parks or high streets that look exactly the same wherever you might be. The authors of that study can hardly have known just how accurate their predictions might be.

A different way
But does it really have to be like that? Back in the deep and distant past, the first video-rental shop my parents were a member of was a small, independent store. It was killed off by the likes of Blockbuster, and, no doubt, the advent of cheap videos in chains like HMV. Could it be that the loss of national chain stores will open the way for small independent shops to rise again? If, as predicted, more chains will go, it will leave behind a vacuum that will be filled one way or another.

It won't be easy. If the internet can see off national, (once) successful household names like HMV, then it can certainly beat off competition from an indie. But difficult doesn't have to mean impossible, and a savvy indie can survive, and even - dare I say it? - be successful. Running an independent store these days is very different from back when I used to visit that video-rental place. For one thing to make a success of things now requires a pretty high-profile web presence. And that doesn't just mean having a nice-looking website. No, today customer engagement is also about Twitter, Facebook, blogging, eNewsletters and more. It's about using all these (often free) platforms to keep your customers' attention.

In my little corner of north London there are knitting shops Nest (Crouch End) and Knit With Attitude (Stoke Newington) as well as bookshops the Big Green Bookshop (Wood Green) and the Stoke Newington Bookshop (unsurprisingly Stoke Newington again). Further afield is Cambridge's The Sheep Shop, another knitting shop. All of these outlets have several things in common. Firstly they're all active online - blogging, tweeting, Facebooking or keeping customers aware of their goings-on via newsletters.

Knit With Attitude in Stoke Newington, London.
Photo by Knit With Attitude.

Customer service
Any shop, online or on the high street, can sell you a ball of wool, some needles and a pattern book, and you can bet that Amazon, eBay or Tesco can do it more cheaply than most. But can Amazon, eBay or Tesco tell a beginner knitter what makes a good starter project? Or advise on which yarn to substitute for the lovely but pricey Debbie Bliss Cashmerino? Or extol the virtues of circular needles over straights? I can, and I'm sure the ladies at Nest, Knit With Attitude and The Sheep Shop can too.

Similarly, a while a go I happened to mention to one of the owners of The Big Green Bookshop that I was waiting (and waiting and waiting) for the next book in George RR Martin's opus A Song of Fire and Ice. He suggested I read Joe Abercrombie. Some few years later I've read every book Abercrombie's published and he's one of my favourite authors. Think you'd get that kind of service from Tesco? Yes, Amazon has recommendations, but sometimes they seem so random that the criteria is nothing more than Hey! You bought a book, here are some more books! It also can't distinguish between items bought for oneself and those bought for friends or family. So my Amazon account is currently trying to offer me CDs similar to Michael Buble (bought for my mum), Frank Sinatra (my dad) and Twisted Sister (my brother).

Don't get me wrong. I use Amazon. I bought the majority of last year's Christmas presents there. The choice is phenomenal and the prices right. I can't get the CDs my brother wants for the same price anywhere else. I can even get everything delivered straight to my parents' house so I don't have to lug is all from London to Cambridge. But I suspect - although I don't have any evidence - that brand loyalty to these 'pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap' emporia is pretty non-existent. If eBay or Tesco can provide the same products cheaper or quicker then we'll go there. The only thing that keeps us from swapping more regularly is inertia.

Amazon can offer choice and cheap, what it can't offer is personal service. And it's that that breeds brand loyalty. Find a local store staffed by real people who know their product and loyalty will follow. If you know you'll get great service, wouldn't you be willing to stump up a bit more cash or go a bit out of your way?

Stoke Newington Bookshop, London. Photo by
Tony Corsini (commons.wikimedia.org).

Belonging
There's another 'C' that Amazon, Tesco and the like can't offer: community. This is especially significant in London, but I think it’s important everywhere, even the sleepiest of villages. I’ve lived in London for nearly 13 years, and in that time I’ve lived in five different boroughs. The only time I’ve ever felt like I belonged to a community has been in the last three years and part of that is because I joined two knitting groups and one book group. One of the knitting groups was at a pub, the other two meetings were organised by and took place in shops.

All of the stores I’ve mentioned above run various meetings, classes and activities, making themselves important parts of their local community while also helping to create that community, that sense of belonging to something that is missing from so much of modern life. Another example would be Theatre of Wine in Greenwich, with its wine club and monthly tastings and knowledgeable staff.

What I’m advocating is a return to a time when retail was career that imparted knowledge and skills, when staff and managers understood what they were selling and could offer well-thought-out advice, when customer service was important and staff were invested and interested in what they did. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? But it could work.

• Many thanks to Charlie Moores (Talking Naturally), Annie Martin (Annie Sparkles) and others on Twitter and Facebook for comments and thoughts.

Confessions of a sewing machine virgin

I have a sewing machine; I’ve had it for quite a while. I bought it from my good friend Danger Badger (she’s awesome; follow her on Twitter) when she needed money for drugs*. So here’s my confession: I’ve never used it. I’m scared of it.

See, with knitting or crochet it doesn’t matter if you do something wrong. Most mistakes aren’t even noticeable and those that are can generally be rectified; even if you can’t fix something you can just rip back what you’ve done and start again. But sewing involves cutting. And once you’ve cut something you can’t just go back and do it again. I’m also a worried about sewing in a straight line. Really, how do you do that?

I know I should just get an old pillowcase and sit down one evening and practise - cut some fabric, sew some (not-so) straight lines. Which brings me to my other issue with my sewing machine. It involves so much work. With knitting, I just pick up whatever I want to work on, turn on the TV or stereo and curl up on the sofa. Simple. Chuck in a glass of wine (oh, OK, two. All right, the bottle) and you’ve got a perfect evening. With the sewing machine, I need find space for it on the kitchen table, get it out of its cover, plug it in, work out how to get needle and thread in it - it’s all too much. So it just remains in its cover, forlorn and unused.

But this is fast becoming Not Good Enough. I’ve been designing knitted and crocheted iPhone and Kindle covers and I want to line them, maybe making little interior pockets to keep money or cash cards in. I need to learn how to use my sewing machine. And due to the great customer service at Elna I no longer even have the excuse that I can’t find the user manual, because I emailed them and got a PDF version back the very next day.

*to move to Switzerland

It  doesn't look that terrifying does it? But it is. Photo by Idoru Knits.

Crochet project wanted

I’ve been thinking recently that I want to start a new crochet project, something big that I can really get my teeth into. The only crochet I’ve done for a while were the various iPhone covers I designed, but these were just, well, iPhone sized. I want something big. Not just big, though, complicated and lacy too. And made in crochet thread on a tiny hook, preferably in one piece rather than joined motifs. Masochistic much?

Last week I tweeted to this effect, and in a nice example of helpful the crafting community it, one of my followers retweeted me to one of her followers who suggested I search on Ravelry. OK, I probably should have thought of that myself, but I didn’t. Anyway, Ravelry has a great search function. There are more than 300,000 patterns on the site, and you can add all kinds of criteria to narrow your search- craft, if it’s free, if it has a photo, yarn weight and yardage used, among other options.

I selected the relevant filters and a selection of choices appeared. I now have seven new projects queued - all lovely big shawls, tablecloths or bedspreads. I just have to decide which one to tackle first.

This vintage shawl pattern is now in my queue;
I think it would look good in the blue.