The Importance of Being Crafty

As the old adage goes, you don't know what you've got till it's gone. Well, not old - pretty sure Janet Jackson sang about it, but still... The week that went by waiting for my wool to arrive is fading into a hazy fevered memory now, but it made me realise just how much knitting means to me. No, this isn't a corny eulogy - more a reflective appreciation of something I now realise has been keeping me anchored when life's choppy seas threaten to hurl me adrift.

My job as a production manager (albeit an assistant at the mo) in a theatre - while having more of a creative element than most jobs - is primarily a technical and logistical one, so my knitting is the perfect creative release. Generally speaking, theatre people are one of two kinds; the Brahmas who create the show, building the sets, finding and making props, designing the lighting and sound, sewing the costumes, bringing it all together for the opening night; and the Vishnus who keep it running for anything between 4 weeks and 40 years. (Not to mention of course the Shivas: the crews who come in at the end and pull the whole damn thing apart.) I am most definitely the former; my patience lasts fine getting all the elements in place but as soon as it's done so am I and I'm looking for the next project to keep me occupied. The longest I've ever lasted as an operator on a show was a five week run playing video, and I was so bored I wrote a novella between my cues. So after a production week, 60+ hours of technical rehearsal, running for last minute set and props and painstakingly picking apart every line of text to fit the cues to it, there really is only one thing that brings me back to earth. And it's Knitted Duck.

I don't imagine I'm alone; everyone has their own little refuge, their own little piece of heaven to retreat to after a day at the office. Some people play 5-a-side; others the XBox; my little skin and blister is a dab hand with pretty much any craft you throw at her. I guess the important thing is to appreciate the little things that make a big difference.

KD x

From strength to strength

I've been a bit quiet this couple of weeks, and there are two reasons for this: the first is that my real job has had a good deal of my attention, what with a new show opening and last minute dashes to find props; the second is that I've had three new commissions but been unable to start them due to a wool order that never arrived (if you had heard from me in the last week, in would have been little more than strangled nonsense and filthy expletives). But no more; thanks to another wool company stepping up at last minute, and the curtains well and truly up at work, I can get clacking again, with much relief. HAPPY PLACE.

I have however managed to deliver Claire's baby blanket in the meantime - and here it is!

Great difficulty parting with that in these chilly climes, I can tell you...

As much as I am now and will always be a knitter, I do find a crochet break very therapeutic, and I'm getting pretty quick at it now. (Not to mention dextrous - rewind to two weekends ago: gin in one hand, crochet in the other and a card game all on the go at once! Skillage...) I feel I need to learn a few more stitches though, and to learn how to read crochet patterns properly - I suspect the humble granny square's uses are finite. Given that I learnt to crochet from YouTube, I will happily hold up my hands and admit I am no expert on the subject. Anyone who thinks they can teach me something more complex, I am at your mercy :)

I haven't been entirely honest with you actually; there is one more recipient of my attention at the moment. For those of you who have never experienced the joy of a notepad with your picture on it, a set of return address stickers or a personalised stamp, I give you... Vistaprint. Seriously. I've gone stationery crazy. Most of the items are free or as good as, and if you are self employed or just like to write your shopping lists on your own face, you need to check out www.vistaprint.co.uk. Don't worry, I'm not being sponsored by them or anything, I just wanted to share the love.

Well that's all from me for now, I've got a whole heap of knitting to keep me occupied, and I'm hoping to have some semblance of a website up within the month - needles and fingers crossed!

Love and knitties

KD x

The customer is always right... :)

Today, knitties, I am grinning from ear to ear. No, not because of the £64 I won on the lottery, thank you very much. Not because QPR finished this season in a respectable mid-table position despite 'relegation battles' a couple of months ago. Not even because after locking myself away all bank holiday I managed to finish both of my latest commissions. Because of a lovely bit of feedback I got within minutes of the first of said commissions being delivered, which, if I'm honest, makes the whole process worthwhile!

And here it is: *cheeky grin*

"Just a quicky to say THANK YOU!! I absolutely LOVE IT !! (I am already thinking of getting a couple more made in other colours)... I have showed it off to the girls in the other office and they love it as well :) I am very happy, you're very clever."


I'm not usually one to show off but I couldn't resist!



So bragging aside, here's a photo of the item in question - this was one of those projects I quite enjoy, being given a brief and a photo for comparison but relatively free reign. It's a continuous loop scarf, which can be doubled and tripled over to make a hood or just a nice thick neckwarmer.





If you would like something similar just give me a shout - I quoted this one at £25 including the cost of the wool, as a guideline.

I'm afraid that's all from me for now - thank you to Carly for making my day and to everyone else, love and knitties...

KD xx

New promo - this week only!

Hi knitfans! Just a quick missive this week, as I've just been commissioned to do two projects, rather excitingly! There aren't any pictures as yet but I promise, you'll be the first to know when there are...

The first is a snood of the long loose sort that you can double up, and it's just the sort of project I really enjoy - the customer had a picture of the sort of thing she wanted and a specific colour, but other than that she's letting me loose on it... bold, no? :) It's pretty straightforward actually, but I do get to do it with lovely alpaca yarn, which I AM very pleased about. The second is a traditional baby blanket, which I've decided to crochet, and which again is being made up in lovely soft yarn - a merino mix this time. Between the pair of them they should keep me out of trouble for the meantime anyway... ;)

Even more excitingly however (as if I could deal with more excitement!) is the new Knitted Duck promo - every day this week, I'll be selling a different item in the KD shop for HALF PRICE! The promo only lasts for the day, and I won't be revealing them in advance so you either have to follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.com/charminglass - or become a fan of us on Facebook - here - to get the most up to date info. It's only for this week though, and each offer only lasts for the day, so get involved!

That's all for now my knitties; I'm waiting (im)patiently for Mr Postman to deliver my wool so I can get started, and the doorstep ain't gonna collar him by itself...

love and cake
KD xxx

The calm after the storm...

I have neglected you this week my knitties, for which I must apologise; the real world called, as it invariably and inconveniently does... It's been all change again, at work this time; bidding farewell to Ghost Stories and its phenomenal run, which has resulted it being picked up for a residency in the West End! V exciting in the world of theatre. I won't bore you if you're not already into your theatre but if you are, it'll open at the Duke of York's theatre in London on the 25th of June ;)

So there it is, and I'm back to the world of knitting now, albeit briefly. It feels like business has settled somewhat, what with the novelty factor wearing off and the backlog of commissions completed, so I need to get my marketing head on good and proper to shake things up again - trouble is I'm terrible at marketing! My next big goal is to get a proper website for KD, although that's some way off yet - my accounts are getting healthier, if not quite yet to the tune of my own little piece of cyberspace realty :) Nonetheless I'm hoping to have it up in the next few months, hopefully with the help of my lovely partner Andy who is a bit of a computer whizz (he has a degree in Artifical Intelligence - I still think that's damn cool). Watch this space!

Meanwhile, I must admit I could do with some feedback on what knitted things attract people and what don't - I've been getting so carried away with all the new designs that pop into my head and what things I'd like to see in the shop that the logical business part of my brain has been drowned out somewhat - apparently the point of this whole lark is to make stuff for other people, who knew... With that in mind, please feel free to add any comments below - you can see what I've currently got on offer in the two shops: Folksy in £ at http://theknittedduck.folksy.com, Etsy in $ at http://theknittedduck.etsy.com. I'd love to hear what you think!

That's it from me for now - short and sweet this time! I'll be back soon enough, probably with more photos and knittynoms for your delectation. For now, adieu!

KD x

All change

Summertime is here, announcing itself in spectacular style by first chucking in the odd snowstorm up north just for contrast, then blistering us with 18 degrees of unexpected (but long deserved) heat over the weekend down in London Town! Don't get me wrong, I'm a winter girl through and through - Halloween, Bonfire night, Christmas and New Year, all the opportunities to wrap up warm around a fire, drink mulled wine and eat lovely stodgy food - but halfway through April and with only 3 hours of daylight I think everyone is getting a little SAD. And, as much as spring automatically renders pointless about a third of my stock, I'm not sad to see a few blooms and put away the winter threads. For now. Even my chilli plant is squinting optimistically at the straining sun.

Of course, it by no means puts me out of business, all this sunshine and warmth... Beanies and scarves may be on hold for the meantime, but the store has loads of new designs and yummy accessories coming in for the season! As it goes, I've just finished a delicious looking pair of cupcakes, which can have fixings for hairclips, brooches or keyrings. Sneak preview, you say? Well, if you insist:



I'm quite pleased with these - I was tempted to make full 3D versions as ornaments or as pincushions, but there are plenty of those floating about already, so I'll put that idea on ice for now. Might try making some ice cubes for summer though :)

Knitted Duck's online presence is changing too; for those of you who haven't already been bombarded with missives on the subject, the Facebook group has been shut down in favour of a proper page, which can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/London-United-Kingdom/Knitted-Duck/282583939861

so please become a fan and show your love for the Duck :) And speaking of online presence, I'm hoping soon to have a website proper, which would be v exciting. I say soon, I mean within the next year (probably), but I'm already excited enough about it to mention it! And probably jinx it. Oh well. I'm not superstitious.

Before I sign off, I would like to say a big congrats to Becky - @howsentimental on Twitter, defo worth following - for winning the RT competition which I completely neglected to mention before! She won a commission worth up to £15 and went for a stretchy beanie in burnt orange in a slightly larger than usual size to hold in all her luscious locks, and the finished product looks something like this:




They're so simple to make; K1 P1 on double pointed needles or circular needles, and decrease at the top. Voila! They stretch nice and wide where necessary, and bunch up small when you're done making them really easy to carry around. Glamourous model not included of course (!) - I have asked Becky very nicely if she wouldn't mind sending me a photo of her wearing it so I have a nice pic to go in my portfolio of happy customers. Watch this space!

That's all for now I'm afraid - I am full (FULL) of roast pork belly (NOM), roasties, chantenay carrots and spicy parsnip mash, not to mention the lemon bars I baked earlier ("for the guys at work" - WHATEVER) and I have a glass of wine and more knitting looking disdainly at me from the sofa. For now, my lovely knitties.

Bon soir,
KD x

Work? Pah!

Definition of happiness? Both of us home on a midweek day, pyjamas, whole series of Twin Peaks to watch, knitting, coffee. After having had two weeks off, 4 relatively easygoing days back at work then the Easter weekend, the readjustment to actual dayjob is going to be, well, tricksy...

So I'm making the most of today. Granted, I've got a lot of work to do on KD but it doesn't exactly feel like a chore; in fact, if I knew it would earn me enough I would jack in the DJ and go full time on the knits in an instant. And I'd live in Candyland where everything is made of sugar and smiles, and the White Rabbit would bring me coffee every hour on the hour. Lovely thought. Not that I dislike my work - I'm pretty lucky to do a job I enjoy with a great bunch of workmates, but let's face it, wouldn't everyone like to be their own boss? Oh well. One Lottery win away :)

Anyway, enough daydreaming. The weekly bulletin picks up where the last one left off, conveniently omitting the two weekends of birthday celebrations that I now realise I don't remember as well I thought (thanks Facebook and friends with cameras). I've been keeping myself occupied with a couple of commissions, which it's nice to see I'm still getting regularly. First up a nice easy couple of iPod socks: purple pinstriped for Jen, who got matching ones for her iPhone and iPod Nano; green spotty for Holly's Nano.

Then Andy's sister Emma, who has just come back from a year in sunny Oz to England's pathetic excuse for spring, commissioned some multicoloured fingerless gloves (or hobo gloves as she calls them, which I quite like), and a pair of long leg slipper socks in boho browns and purples to take on the next leg of her world tour - 3 months teaching in Japan where etiquette dictates that she have separate indoor shoes.

Super pleased with those. They're definitely going on the stock list!

I've also started making old skool football scarves - the very simple but nostalgic garter stitch stripe style - to sell on eBay; it's a more accessible item for that market and easy to do cheaply. There'll be a better pic coming up soon but here's one in red and white before it's been trimmed and finished:

Just to clarify, I've stopped selling my other designs on eBay for the simple reason that eBay is where people go to get secondhand and cheap items, not craft or handmade pieces, and it's simply not realistic to charge even what the materials and labour cost, let alone make a profit on them. People don't want to pay £6 for a brooch when they can get something for 50p out of a house clearance :) Apart from which the listing fees are so much more than Etsy or Folksy - the system of 20p to list for 6 months and then take a commission on the sale which these two craft-specific sites employ is much fairer than charging the Earth to list in the first place for a maximum 0f 10 days, plus commission if by some miracle the item sells. Etsy and Folksy on the other hand are designed specifically for handmade and original arts and designs without the antiquated 'craft fair' stigma; and those who know about chic new designs are beginning to get wind of where to go for them! That's not to say I'll eschew eBay completely, but my primary outlets, until I get a site of my own, are Folksy (UK), Etsy (US) and of course you can contact me here or via the usual channels to get a commission. All the contact details are to the right as usual. Plug :)

Well, as much as I'd love to I can't spend all day nattering away to you lot. I've got some crazy 90s thriller series to watch and a hungry man needing omelettes. That's life.

love and knitties to you all,

KD xxx