Bitch about Stitches.

HAHA! I finally finished!! For those of you poor uninformed souls out there – this was my latest knitting project.  I think I started in…October maybe? A good few months ago anyway.  This was my first non-scarf knitting project and it was a relatively simple (although not terribly clear) pattern.  It was supposed to be made out of luxury silk something something and would have been a lovely light summery kind of shirt.  Except that Saree isn’t rich and won’t be buying 7 odd balls of luxury silk yarn anytime soon.  I made mine out of Bamboo instead.  Much cheaper, still kinda light, and eco friendly too. Win! I love the colour, it turned out a lot shorter than I would have imagined before I sewed the seams together (it looked mega sacky before I joined it up), and it’s suprisingly heavy! But nice to wear.  As you can see, I even work it to work today! Not the most office-y attire, but I just had to.  Especially considering I knitted a fair chunk of it at work. 😛

If you can’t tell, I stupidly chose to knit it with idiotically small needles and idiotically fine wool, which resulted in lots of tiny stiches.  Looootttss of stitches. Tiny ones.  That means lots of knitting.  An idiotic amount.  Lesson learned.  Chunky knits, here I come.

Still – satisfaction galore! I really wish Nan could see it finished, I’m sure she’d be happy that the countless times she taught me to cast on, and off, and how to tell the difference between knit and purl finally paid off.  I love that whenever I’m knitting I’m thinking of her.

The biggest issue is now…what next?? Here are some options:

1.  Making the purple cord pinafore that I’ve been planning on making since I made my last cord pinafore.  Sounds weird, but it worked surprisingly well.  It’s kinda the pattern that the middle chick is wearing – except without the weird pocket/belt things in the middle.

2.  Jumping back in the deep end and making another quilt.  I never got to show you my first one on here, because it was actually a surprise present for Steve and Sammy’s wedding, and then…well I gave it to them.  And didn’t take pictures.  Urk.  But guys if you’re reading this – maybe you can whip out that SLR or whatever large camera it is that you have and take some super flattering photos of it for me one day.  🙂  Kaffe Fassett – need I say more? Google him.  

I can feel my Mum wincing from here.

I bought this book for myself at Christmas time, and his quilts are seriously dreamy.  And some of the designs even look feasible – he makes such incredible fabric that you really don’t have to do much more to it.  Yay! Yum.

The last option is more knitting…which is tempting because I can take it with me on the train and to work.  Plus I bought a really cute pattern from Sassafras last time I was there! Hmmm.  All so tempting in their own ways.

I really have one more update to write, but I don’t think I’ll make it tonight! Noooooooo!! Damn this need for sleep.

Hold out loved ones, I’ll be back. xo

The Smethurst Transfer

A new topic for tonight – have you seen the latest K-mart ad? I have to say, something about it just isn’t quite right.

Have a look: http://www.kmart.com.au/kmartok#topimage

Fun, right? How much do you want to race on those tiny-sized bikes??  Wait, that’s not the point.

The thing is, these products have to come from somewhere.  Aussie Mums are estimating already low prices for products because logic tells them that a microwave takes a certain amount of material, skill, and labour to produce.  Those jeans that have been dropped down to ten dollars each were sewn by a person.  Have you ever sewn clothes before?  If you haven’t, I have a surprise for you. IT’S HARD. I once spent an entire summer in Mum’s rumpus room wreaking total havoc and torturing her 30 year old sewing machine.  Want to know the end product?  A pinafore.  One simple, corduroy pinafore that I probably could have bought from K-mart for ten dollars.   The only difference would be that the person swearing and slaving over it probably has a family to feed and is only getting paid a tiny fraction of the ten dollars you oh-so-generously doled out for it.

I don’t mean to be a total downer about this.  I don’t know a huge amount about economics, I don’t know a huge amount about K-mart and its ‘ethical sourcing code.’  All I know is that the small amount of information K-mart does provide about its ethical sourcing uses a lot of elusive and vague language.  Looks a lot like my resume – leaves you with the feeling that they’re doing a good job even if there’s no proof of it.

What do you think?

“Our aim is to ensure [our suppliers] meet the requirements of the [ethical sourcing] code over time…”

“We aim to audit key vendors once every two years…we recognize that many of our vendors and factories may have already been assessed according to non K-mart audit formats and it is not our intent to conduct audits of their facilities unless we see benefit in doing so.”

“…we rate the risk of our vendors in line with our strategy of providing families with everyday items at the lowest price.”

So…there’s some audits of some vendors…some years.  Nice. Providing these products at super-dooper low prices is a priority that’s affecting the basic importance of where they’re coming from.

I guess all I want to say is that while these Aussie Mums were bouncing around on the trampoline and celebrating the surprisingly low prices, I wonder if any of them asked, why? How can K-mart provide me with products at such low prices that it defies logic?  Maybe the question hasn’t been asked because some people don’t have the luxury of worrying about families on the other side of the world – they have their own to clothe and feed.  I’m certainly not denying that.  Maybe some people simply haven’t thought about it.  And maybe there’s some out there that KNOW there’s something wrong with this type of commerce.  That somewhere, sooner rather than later, there’s going to be a whole bunch of people that lose, big time.  Which one are you?

This is the most promising thing I found in K-mart’s ethical sourcing section.

“The expectations of our stakeholders are increasing, and as our business continues to grow we recognize the importance of having sound ethical sourcing standards and practices.”

Stakeholders – that’s us! I don’t know about you, but my expectations sure are increasing.  If this quote is true, and K-mart is trying to listen and keep its customers happy – as any savvy business does – we can make a difference.  Speak up, and next time you pop into K-mart, or Target or any one of those big brands, just stop for a minute and ask yourself  – how?  How can the prices stay so low, and who is losing out?

Day 10 & 11 – Why I love my dresses.

I was going to write a tres interesting post about my two dresses and the reasons I love them (sounds thrilling, right?) but I can’t find my camera! Shoot.

I’m trying to heed the advice of one of my loveable readers, who said that posts with pictures are easier on the eyes.  So till I find the camera, your eyes will have to wait.

Peas. xo

Oh you lucky things! I found it!

Ok, Dress 1 and Why I Love It.

1. It’s super cute

2. Despite the fact it may look shapeless here, it’s really flattering!

3.  I bought it from a ‘vintage’ store.  Which means, it’s second hand and as good as emission-less right?  No new materials were used to make it, and the only energy used would have been getting it to the shop – however that happened.  Woot!

Ok, Dress 2 and Why I Love It.

1. It’s cute enough

2. It’s comfy and still in good condition despite the fact that I bought it in August and have worn it extensively since then

3. It’s made from hemp! I bought it at the Camden Markets in London from a store called Braintree.  This was made from new materials, but hemp is generally regarded as a pretty eco-friendly material.  Here as some reasons why.

Hemp, and Why I Love It.

1. Products made from hemp are 100% biodegradable, recyclable, and reusable.

2. For every 4 acres of trees needed annually to make paper, you only need 1 acre of hemp. Hemp paper can also be recycled 7-8 times, whereas normal paper can only be reused 3-4 times.

3. Hemp produces lots of oxgyen while growing, and can actually clean up toxins from the ground. It was used during the Chernobly nuclear crisis to remove radioactive elements from the ground! Wow.

Ok, that’s the end.  I got my hemp facts from Natural-Environments.com in case you’re wondering.  Not my head.  Although they’re in there now.

Ciao!