ScrapHappy April 2021

I’m having difficulty dragging myself away from beads and shiny threads these days: I think in large part because my sewing room is in such chaos that I can’t bring myself to face it, but also because I find it therapeutic to make an entire item by hand while listening to one or other calming or thought-provoking podcast, or some lovely music. Unfortunately, this renders me more sedentary than usual – not good for the old bones!! [Note to self: make time to go for a walk down to the park occasionally, panic button in one hand and taser in the other].

But in the meantime, I have produced an entirely ScrapHappy piece of jewellery: three small pieces of a silky polyester fabric handstitched together, a mix of beads salvaged from bits and pieces that were either broken or part of an impulse purchase, some broken necklaces/chains from a friend who had no use for them, and a bit of old gold crochet thread from the year dot that turned up at the bottom of a box of kitchen utensils.

Apologies for the quality of the above pics, they were all taken late last night at my desk, no natural light involved. Pics of the finished piece below were taken about half an hour ago, at the start of another exquisite autumn day in Cape Town. I’m being taken out for dinner tonight, think I’ll wear this and wow the crowds :)

I’ve been inspired to take part in the ScrapHappy concept by Kate, Tall Tales from Chiconia. On the fifteenth of every month lots of other people often publish a ScrapHappy post, do check them out:
Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue,Lynn,Lynda, Birthe,Turid,Susan,Cathy, Tracy, Claire,Jan, Moira,Sandra, Chris, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon,Hayley, Dawn,
Gwen,Bekki,Sue L,Sunny,Kjerstin, Vera,Nanette, Ann,Nancy, Dawn 2,Noreen,
Bear,Carol,Preeti and Edith

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Baxter Food and Goods market

Karen suggested we sign up as vendors at the Baxter Food and Goods Market, which started up a couple of months ago in the grounds of the Baxter Theatre in Rondebosch. So we did. Our debut is this Sunday, but now that winter is here the market will be set up in the theatre foyer — which is vast, so vast in fact that, if they don’t get some music and some good-food smells going to fill the space, we will feel like a very small clutch of bats in a very large otherwise empty cave.

The Baxter is affiliated to the University of Cape Town and is situated in the heart of student land, between Main Road and Middle Campus. Consequently, we have surmised that bigger and more expensive items like blankets, shawls, large mirrors, etc. will not be successful, but that smaller items like earrings, necklaces, flower brooches, scarves, and little frames will be. So, a couple of new items have been strategically added to our packings:

And if nothing else, I had an absolute ball sourcing and/or making these goodies!

Incidentally, it is Mother’s Day this Sunday 13 May – is it the same in other countries?

To be continued…

Needlepoint and knangles

I have just put together a little needlepoint kit for an old customer of mine; she saw a photo of the ellie bag and decided it would be a good project to take with on her overseas trip to the states, as a large part of her time will be spent with her mom in a frail care centre.  Always nice to keep one’s hands busy.

When I got back home yesterday from work and the supermarket (all so boring boring boring), I sat myself down to start and finish the idea that was in my head for that circle of foam. Yes, it was foam – Dawn and Janet were both right but in slightly different ways, and Janet gets the box of smarties for wry humour (“a foam rubber circle – you could make one of those cushions you get to sit on after the episiotomy”) !!!

 

It’s the inner foam ring that gives wool doughnuts their shape.  See above. The wool is Elle Elite double knit and it has a lovely texture but it’s quite a thin double knit so I end up using it with something else for extra substance. Anyhow, I got it into my head that a knitted bangle would be just the latest trendy thing, so I knitted up a storm while watching my soap, and here is the finished product:

I call it the knangle (KN-itted b-ANGLE). I used a chunky Elle Timber in a dark red with light flecks, and 5.5mm needles; c/on 34, worked 22 rows stocking stitch, and bob’s your uncle. It’s really nice and snug and soft, and makes a change from the collection of jangly metal bangles I usually wear and that makes such a clatter and racket when I type. 

Or maybe it could just be a doughnut!?

To be continued…

Bling it on

On Sunday we were scheduled to meet London friends Fiona, Joydeep and the boys at Kirstenbosch to watch the Parlotones at 5.30pm. It was the last of the summer sunset concerts but the beginning of autumn had scheduled itself as well, and the place was a blur of umbrellas, hoods, black bags, plastic covers and ground sheets as hundreds of people stoically refused to let the pouring rain drive them away.

We stuck it out til about 6.50pm, by which time our sodden clothes felt like they were beginning to ice up, and the woman next to Rob was poking people’s eyes out with a massive garden umbrella as she did a kind of wild sway to the music.

So, despite the fact that I love the Parlotones, the concert was a bit of a misery! We had barely been able to have a proper chat, and our little cheese and onion rolls stayed sadly in their tupperware. We trudged down the road (river) to our cars, thinking of hot showers and dry pyjamas and food, and trying to keep the two young Ghoshs on the shoulder and out of the way of passing cars.  And then – the whole point of this blog – Fiona fished out a small package addressed to me from her boot.  My first Etsy purchase. It is a one of Amy’s (Velvetcoco) gorgeous sparkly hearts, and since it comes from Bristol I’d asked her to post it to Alex in London instead of to me here in Cape Town. Not sure why, now that I think about it, but anyway. 

And then, yesterday, the sun came out and I wore my heart.  I feel like I’ve waited a long time for this heart, and now it needs to inspire me to find my own sparkle. Nothing like a bit of bling to lift the spirits :)

To be continued…

 

A day in the sun

Our first Jam Tarts stand at the famous Kirstenbosch market!

Please take note of our beautiful new business cards, we are very proud of them! (Thanks, Anne, for organising). That’s Anne in the white top with the money bag optimistically round her waist, me in the middle, Karen on the right, and Megan rearranging everything a hundred times more appealingly after we’d set it all out.

When we arrived, as ‘guest stallholders’ we had to check in at the office and find our location. Meeting the organiser in person after a protracted email correspondence was a strong reminder that Cape Town really is a village – Tessa and I used to work together at the Argus newspaper 26 years ago when I first moved down from Joburg! We had a quick chat, mainly about the shortage of decent men in Cape Town, before getting down to business. She told me not to expect to do well on our first day because it takes a while to ‘get noticed’ and build up a customer base. A bit spirit-dampening but maybe she was right.

Ant and Rob set up our gazebo (borrowed from Faiza – thanks, friend), which didn’t seem nearly as enormous as the unpacked weight of it suggested it would be. I couldn’t even lift it, it was so heavy, and on Friday Sizwe had kindly trundled it on a trolley to my car for me. I hope I can find him when I go into work in two hours time.

The Kirstenbosch market is a very old and well-known one in Cape Town, it’s probably been going for over 30 years. The setting can’t really be beaten, situated in the meadow around the 18th century Stone Cottages built by the busy Dutch, across the road from the botanical gardens. On one side, you can buy fresh farm veggies and fruit, honey and jam and biltong, and have a ride on a horse. In the middle (sort of) you can get teas, coffees (choice of filter or nescafe), and ready-made grub. Sit at a table or plonk yourself on the grass in the shade of an oak tree. The side closest to Newlands Avenue is a sea of colourful gazebos and umbrellas and bunting, with all the crafters and their wares.

The general consensus was that yesterday was a quieter day than usual, but there were still stacks of people (some with dogs – yuck) (sorry dog lovers, but if you all carried poop scoops with you I’d be a lot less anti) and we made enough sales to cover our costs and still be keen to go back next month. I was the unofficial networker of the group so did quite a few laps handing out our cards and making new stallholder friends and yakking away like the sociable chatty friendly person I have to try to be in situations like this.

Of course, with so much gorgeous stuff around it was hard not to want to spend one’s money at other people’s stalls. Karen was very strict with me and I wasn’t allowed to buy anything until I had sold at least one thing of my own. She changed her tune a bit after she’d had a trot round and found some garnet earrings that she felt were entirely essential. Anne was very disciplined and mostly sat in the shade with a cup of tea and a cheese sandwich, crocheting the pink and lilac flowers for a new baby blanket.

The items which drew most people to us were Karen’s and Anne’s blankets, which really are works of art. They aren’t ‘cheap’ because they’re made with best-quality wool and cotton and a lot of practiced work and new design ideas, but they are realistically priced and we believe they’ll find good homes soon :) As did we, after 3 o’clock when we’d packed up and done the reckonings.

Next Kirstenbosch market = 22 April.

To be continued…