Viewing 29 posts - 1 through 29 (of 29 total)
  • Female house members – wool, string and crafty stuff
  • theprancinghorse
    Free Member

    Just signed for a delivery of industrial quantities of wool and knitting stuff, on asking what it was for I am told “Christmas presents”. That will be the dining table and every other flat surface out of bounds for the next six weeks as “projects” emerge 😉

    Anyone else have a domestic army of crocheters and knitters in the house?

    I guess it is no stranger than riding a bike around in the mud in large circles 🙂

    sok
    Full Member

    How are you getting on with your work on casual sexism?

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Jesus.

    We’ve got enough string in this house to circle the world four times (probably). My wife is into weaving.

    geoffj
    Full Member

    I thought for one horrible moment the op was going to post a link to the artist who knits with wool that passes up past her private parts for the whole of the month.

    How are you getting on with your work on casual sexism?

    Well done. Have a biscuit!

    titusrider
    Free Member

    I too have an other half that is a knitter – Tried on my christmas jumper last night, its looking good so far.

    I like getting custom fitted jumpers but most of what she makes is for her or some family presents.

    Have you seen ravelry yet? A mixture of singletrack and facebook for knitters and crochet) and 10x filthier than mumsnet! (well – in places) 😯

    Luckly her ‘stash’ (for that is the word) isnt too large, just a corner of our spare room, you get used to checking the sofa for needles before sitting down 🙂

    theprancinghorse
    Free Member

    Filthier than mumsnet? (shudders) Will pass on the ravelry recommendation, thanks.

    BiscuitPowered
    Free Member

    Another keen knitter here, she’s always got a backlog of projects lying around – lots of her friends are having babies so the baby bootie production line has fired up recently.

    I have quite a menagerie of small knitted animals and ‘mochi mochi’ all around my computer desk which randomly appear from time to time.

    Does your missus go to the ‘Knitting & Stitching Show’? Mine goes every year and I take the piss mercilessly, but she loves it. She comes home with stories of the of men she sometimes sees there with their partners, wandering around with dead eyes.

    jekkyl
    Full Member

    I know your pain Op my wife has an online crochet business. She makes and sells patterns and she also does custom orders, this is her busiest time of the year as everyone wants their order for xmas. Our spare room is filled with wool (they call it yarn) and this weekend we’re having a sit down convo (very serious) about our future storage needs since we have No2 arriving mid April the spare room will be needed for No1.

    As a consequence there is no shortgage of crochetted goods in the house. She’s even made me a scarf with a pattern like a tyre tread, very clever!

    emsz
    Free Member

    Have made Xmas pudding have ordered the decorative bands that will go round the top and the pattern material to make the covers, which is also going to make Xmas bunting. Got a quilt to make for mum, a hat for dad and a couple of other bits and bobs for mates

    Decoupage is well on the go for Xmas table decorations and slow gin is in the cupboard

    😆

    xcwanabe
    Free Member

    Me too but then I also sew and make jewellery so 50/50, it’s something to pass the time when the weathers crappy and friends/family do like home made presents. Might also work out cheaper!

    Clobber
    Free Member

    How are you getting on with your work on casual sexism?

    ****

    Edit: it won’t let me write **** so it will have to be twit

    molgrips
    Free Member

    How can crochet trinkets be flying off the shelves when my wife’s properly high quality scarves sell about 5 a year…?

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    It is nesting.
    .
    Next a cat.
    .
    Then Daddy_dancinghorse.
    .
    😉

    theprancinghorse
    Free Member

    @matt Yikes 😯 I should be afraid, very afraid…

    munrobiker
    Free Member

    In our house it’s me 😳

    Not knitting so much, but for the past fortnight our dining room table has been occupied by a set of Humbrol paints and these three projects (a conversion of a diesel train into the Royal Scotsman posh holiday train, a brewery being converted into a distillery and a granite quarry).

    vickypea
    Free Member

    While I’m on an enforced break from my bike, I’ve knitted a couple of very amateurish looking scarves. I’d rather be MTB-ing, it has to be said!

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    And don’t get me started on loom bands! 👿

    It’s crafting for preschoolers….

    Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    As a professional crafter and maker of soft furnishings I have a workroom in the attic.
    Big table, 3 types of sewing machine, lots of shelves and boxes and stuff can be tidied away.
    Most importantly of all a fantastic view which takes in a local bridleway. Fun watching the night riders twisting their way carefully down the descent, lights blazing away in the darker months.

    bainbrge
    Full Member

    @molgrips the reasons for that predicament are many:

    1. the market for hand woven scarves is mainly to middle aged women who like ‘craft’ and who don’t spend enough on a scarf to justify the makers time and effort

    2. the market is saturated with weavers – loads of people on etsy and craft shops throughout the land hoping to make a living hence lots of crappy product.

    3. Lots of people will buy an expensive scarf if they like the brand, hence happy to spend £150 on something made in China for Paul Smith, but not for one made by your wife.

    4. crotchet trinkets are handmade impulse purchases (nice stocking fillers) – these type of crafted things always sell well I think as they are more accessible. A statement (expensive) handmade scarf is a much more difficult thing to sell someone.

    I love the stuff my wife does, but she’s employed as a woven textile designer for a mill. She tried and abandoned being a ‘sole trader’ weaver years ago because it is impossible to make a living. The only way weavers make any money is to either be that woman who has the brand name and who did the weaving on that Monty Don program (can’t remember her name), be someone like Ptolomy Mann who does corporate stuff and teaches, have some unique setup like Ardlanish weavers, or work in industry (and be one of probably <100 textile designers in that role in the UK!).

    @Bunnyhop don’t tell my wife I said this but wanna buy a venor tufter or one of those massive cast iron knitting machines from the 19th century??? Please!? They are restricting my turbo trainer location and I keep stubbing my toes.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    2. the market is saturated with weavers – loads of people on etsy and craft shops throughout the land hoping to make a living hence lots of crappy product.

    Actually not that many, nothing like as many as are selling painted wooden letters or **** cupcakes for example.

    But everything else you say is spot on 🙂

    I suspect my wife would love to be a textile designer though – got any leads/info?

    bainbrge
    Full Member

    @molgrips apologies this is a bit of a hobby horse for me but I’m an interested observer rather than an expert on any of this so take with pinch of salt.

    Re being a textile designer it sounds like a nightmare to get into. I get the impression that the universities are churning out textiles graduates, hence the remaining mills and people like Burberry have their fill of potential interns, all on low pay. The route into the industry appears to be on this basis, and textile degrees seem to be required as weaving is actually a highly technical craft in terms of mathematics and materials science (more than I ever thought it was).

    Then the number of mills has been steadily decreasing as production moved abroad. Having said that, many of those that remain are actually quite impressive as they’ve withstood overseas competition and now have niches in terms of quality (Johnstons of Elgin) or speed of development/turnaround. Competition from China isn’t unbeatable as wages over there increase, shipping is expensive and delays things, and local Chinese design doesn’t work in the main markets.

    There are lots of successful technical fabric manufacturers who I suspect have designers, but designing from the perspective of material characteristics, rather than pattern.

    I also suspect that textile design jobs are limited overall because they aren’t required directly by the entities which sell the eventual clothing etc. For example, I think Burberry has ‘designers’ who say they want a certain type of check in certain colours, then outsource the actual technical textile design to a few subcontracted mills which in reality are serving many different brands (exactly like the carbon fibre bike frame industry actually). On the other hand you’ve got mills who sell direct, like Melwyn Tregynt (sp?), who I bet don’t employ permanent designers and just commission freelancers every now and then.

    Anyway, I’m probably wrong on all this, but from observation I’d say textile design is difficult to get into without an appropriate qualification, followed by an intern role. On the other hand, if you had real talent at pattern or clothing design etc., then I bet there is a route into the market via selling these to people who want new ideas, or speculatively sending patterns or products to manufacturers? Must be really difficult though as there are so many people wanting to do it, as evidenced by craft fairs!

    Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    molgrips – I feel your wife’s pain.
    My biggest seller is a tiny thing called a toothfairy pillow, these are small and reasonably priced. My other stuff is properly made and hand finished, with fabrics printed and designed in this country, of course I have to charge more for this kind of original work and finish.
    I actually make curtains, Roman blinds and other soft furnishings for a living. The craft stuff is to help out at times such as Christmas.
    I have a friend who’s niece makes stuff which she buys in bulk From China, she glues on some bits and pieces and they sell. My stuff is hand finished and I used good quality fabrics, yet they won’t sell as well. It’s a strange world we live in.
    My stuff will also last for years, her’s may fall apart in months – hohum!

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Let me know if you want to swap a bag for a scarf 🙂

    JoeG
    Free Member

    Merry Christmas, OP! 😀

    [/url]Knitted Bike by Chris Draper, on Flickr[/img]

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    I see your bike, and raise you a crochet trampoline of immense size.

    JoeG
    Free Member

    I see your trampoline, and raise you a bridge! 😆

    (Yes, they put knitted stuff all over a bridge in Pittsburgh. Wimmenz. 🙄 )

    adjustablewench
    Free Member

    [video]http://vimeo.com/m/75471854[/video]

    a friend posted this on my facebook wall apparently it reminded them of me . . .

    Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    Let me know if you want to swap a bag for a scarf

    Yes please.

    I’ll mail you.

    ebygomm
    Free Member

    My fabric winnings arrived this week so now I have to find a use for all this 🙂

Viewing 29 posts - 1 through 29 (of 29 total)

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