Little bit of fame and alot of changes

Hi everyone, lovely to see you again!  Well,  it's been quite a week for little moi.

First off,  I had to make two purchases a portable light studio  and a tripod  then I had to get to grips with this big boy.
 

I paid a lot of money for the camera above when it first came out but I'm ashamed to say I've  never really grasped how to use it =(  I've always felt frustrated when I've tried to take photos with it, so the majority of the time it has lived in it's camera case.  Bad I know.

Whereas for this little guy:

Never out of my hand.  That was until  Monday of last week when I received not one but three emails about the bags and needle cases that I make. Once I'd picked myself up off the floor, panic set it.   The first email was from was from the lovely Linda who asked if it was okay to feature my bags or her blog here. The second email was from  KNIT magazine  to feature one of my project bags in a forthcoming edition. The third  email was from SEW Hip magazine  they will be featuring my Watermelon Needle Case in Issue 32 of their magazine yahoo!!  The magazines asked if I could send some High Resolution images to them-High Resolution what??????  So after panicking, Googling and sharing the news with the lovely people on the Knitting forum I'm a member of.  The lovely Christine came up with this brilliant blog Eskimimi Knits.  She has a wonderful, wonderful tutorial on how to get the best use out of your camera and of course, the all important lighting and setting up your photo shoot.

So an hour and a half later I was all set up, lighting studio in middle of front bedroom, lighting set up -two lamps from Ikea hahaha!  And my new tripod - which when I set up had one leg shorter than the other two, mmmmm!  And when I placed the camera on it, well it  was at an angle?????  I mean, I don't know much about photography but even I know the cameras meant to sit straight.  So after taking it back and exchanging it we were good to go.

  I'm soooo pleased with the results.  Took me a couple of hours, fiddling around with the settings and not cursing at the Olympus camera and this is what I produced-with the help of a little editing in Photoshop, of course.
 Taaaa-daaaa! 

Owl Pyramid Bag-Olympus Camera shot

Owl Pyramid Bag-Olympus Camera shot

Owl Pyramid Bag-Sony Camera shot

Russian Doll Bag -Olympus Camera

Russian Doll Bag -Olympus Camera

Russian Doll Bag -Sony Camera

Russian Doll Bag -Sony Camera

Russian Doll Abstract Bag-Olympus Camera

Russian Doll Abstract Bag-Sony Camera

Russian Doll Abstract Bag-Olympus Camera

 So my aim now is, to always try and take decent photos for my little blog. Lol!
 
Oh! And all the above bag designs are now available in my Folksy store =D.

Second Change:  The Tutorial-Knitting and Tutorial Crochet tabs at the top of my blog, are now active and 3 new pages are live in this, more will be added over the next couple of weeks. So be sure to check back regularly ;D

You may also have noticed another change- the appearance of my blog.  Whilst composing this post on Saturday I decided to take a step back from it and found it gave me a headache just looking at it.  Hahaha!  I deemed my blog to be too busy, trashy, with a lot of colour clashing, hence the reason I've simplified it.  I'm quite content with the look now, it's easier to manoeuvre around and less sickening to the eye. Lol!
Also, in the future if I want to change the look I plan on just substituting the background colour from blue to whatever takes my fancy-simples- hahaha!

Now for another change- I actually have some knitting to show on my  blog, yes the blog that's meant to be about knitting ;P

I currently have this on the needles:

Sunshine Cardi by Anni Howard

This design asks for 4ply yarn but I've had a pack of Rowan Calmer sitting in my stash forever and I was just itching to use it.

 
The colour I'm using isn't really a sunshine yellow in fact it reminds me of  Angel Delight pudding.  The shade is actually called Delight (489)  so I'm not far off with my description.

Now this  knit is either going to go really well or be a complete and utter disaster.  You see I hate swatching.  I hate it, hate it, hate it,  with a vengeance.  Swatching makes me want to scoop my eyes out with spoons- over the top, I know- but to be honest I've never, ever swatched a garment in my whole knitting life and I'm not about to start now and anyway I've always got away with it.  My Sunshine Cardi will probably be a complete disaster now after my rant. Lol!

Anyway!  I'm progressing along with this knit quite nicely and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.  The yarn is yummy and the pattern is interesting enough to stop me getting bored (I'm an impatient person at heart).
I have already completed the ribbing detail and advancing up the body of the cardi very fast.  I've taken it off the needles once and placed it on spare yarn to try around my body and I'm very pleased with the results so far.

Also off the needles is this:

Molly Ringwald by Michele Rose Orne

 Molly Ringwald knitted in Malabrigo yarn in coral

I love this top so much. It was fun to knit and the detail around the neck is so flattering.

And The Winner Is........

First off, I'd like to thank all of you who have taken an interest in Shirley and her talents. What she does through her love of crafts is very genuine and the very likes of this wee competition is the kind of event that I hope should be one of many to kick-start a fledgling career in what takes her to a place she should probably have been a long time ago...

Okay, here we go.

I imagine a few of you will be disappointed but I thank all of you for taking part at least - that means a hell of a lot ! The entry I've chosen is fairly simple, but it's really because of how the the words run together and compliment one another... That being 'Daisy Haze' !

So congratulations to our winner and a very big thank you to all who took the time to post and show an interest. For what it's worth, I hope you all keep following Shir and who knows, you might just be the next person to pick up a future item that we need your input for.
Keep looking in and keep an eye open for forthcoming events i.e. Blogoversary!

Thanks y'all.

Paul x

Shirley pops in and pushes Paul out of the way!

Congratulations Polarpurplebear aka Loupylou on the Phoenix Knitting forum.  I'm glad I asked Paul to pick the winner as it would have been so hard for me to chose.  Some of the names where outstanding.  Paul spent a couple of hours looking at the bag and looking at the suggestions ummmming and aghhhing all the while.  It was a tough competition to call.
He's now sitting drinking a well earned beer and playing Red Dead Redemption on his PS3.
Lets leave him to do his killing, shall we.

Shirley xx

Made By Sun Rae *shop update* plus Competition!

Sewing needle case

Hi everyone, hope you are well! I've been very busy this  past week or so, making items for my Folksy shop and my website. I have now introduced Sewing Needle Cases and more Pyramid Knitting Project bags.  The new Pyramid Bags come as a standard size 7"high and 7"wide.  Heavier designer fabrics have been used in some and they are fully lined throughout. If these prove to be successful,  I will endeavour to produce more in other colour waves.

                    Sun Flower Passion

                       Watermelon

                         Sherbert

The Sewing Needle Cases are reinforced with interfacing and heavy duty wadding to stop needles protruding   out and also to help it maintain its shape.
*****Update***** Paul has just come up the stairs to spy on me and has also confessed my Sewing Cases are very cute-not me- the sewing cases Lol.
Pyramid Bags

Flower Power Love

          
 

Flower Patch

                             

Daisy Haze (name suggested by Loupylou)

                              

Sherbert Dib-Dab

Marshmallow

                            

The last Pyramid Bag is made in a lighter weight fabric i.e. cotton and fully lined.

On Safari

        

The heavier fabric pyramid bags cost £12.00 whilst the lighter fabric ones cost £10.00.  The Sewing Needle Cases cost £6.00 each.  All these items will be available from 6pm tonight  are now available on my Folksy page and website.

Competition
In this post you may have noticed one of the pyramid bag designs caption reads ??????
This pouch doesn't have a name :( .  To be in with a chance of winning the pouch, please just leave a comment with your suggestion of what I should call it.   I will leave this competition open until  8pm on Sunday 15th May.  Due to the maintenance glitch I will be extending the competition closing date and time until, Monday 16th of May at 7pm.  I will ask my O/H to pick the best name and he  will announce the winner on Tuesday 17th May at 7pm.

Goodluck!
Shirley xx    

Missing Post!

   Naughty blogger!

Well this is, exciting isn't it....... I thought I'd actually broken my blog when it crashed and my post disappeared =D but it seems it was just a maintenance glitch. And it had to happen on the very day, I launch new stock for my website, Folksy store and a competition to boot.  Oh! well not the end of the world.

With regards to the missing post and competition-well, I'm going to give blogger to the end of tonight to see if it re-appears.  If it doesn't (ever the pessimist) I will re-post in the morning (9am GMT).  I have already contacted the three guests who submitted there suggestions, so they don't miss out.


So all we have to do is prod blogger with a big stick and watch this space-the post will reappear, it will, it will. Lol

Shirley xx

Ms Messy!

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a  Happy May Day holiday.  I've decided to take some photos of my workplace. The workplace that my O/H and  I recently put together, just a little section in the front bedroom. Somewhere I can work and not be disturbed, somewhere I can make a mess and not get into trouble-well I'm not called Little Mr  Ms Messy for nothing you know!!

Mr   Ms Messy 

Now I don't just make a mess, I make a mess in style. I tend to leave things lying around for a while, I'm talking- fabric, scissors, pins, wool, etc. you get the jist-  much to the dismay of my O/H. I do eventually tidy up. However, I tidy up so well I can never find what I'm looking for, ever, ever again.  'Sigh'  The only area of my work space that is clear is the space above my desk. Well, it's a bit too high up to pin garments, block items and doodle, just wouldn't be very comfy and I think the shelves would probably fall down if I even attempted to sit on them- not good.  So instead I adorn them with The Beautiful, The Cute and The Grotesque.

The Beautiful is very girly, loads of colour in the form of pinks, red and florally items, these make my heart skip while they make boys sick. Hahahaha!

This little one flowers every year.

Picked from my Aunt's house when he passed away

Then we have The Cute

Who's a lovely sheep then? Mwah! A big smacker on your sheepy lips!

And then we have: 

The Grotesque these items reflect the darker more sinister side of my personality.  I'm only joking, or am I?

These little guys are from Tim Burton's "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories." they're hideous but very cool, and I love them.  I have all the box sets from this series, and I swap them around when I get fed up looking at their faces.  Told you I wasn't a very nice person lol!

I do have more items on my shelves, but I shall leave these for another day.  Don't want to give too much of myself away.





This week I have also started quite a few craft projects.
I don't think I have photographed any of my projects for quite some time now!  Very naughty!   I promise my next post will contain a lot of crafting bits and bobs.

On the iPod this week:

'I know I'd go from rags to riches
If you would only say you cared,
And though my pockets may be empty
I'd be a millionaire.'
ELVIS PRESLEY