I have noticed a few visitors from the lovely knitting and crochet community ‘Ravelry’ have wandered by my blog recently, if I sneak a look at my stats, so I wanted to share my new favourite scarf pattern recipe with any yarnaholics that pop on in. Why ‘recipe’ rather than pattern? Well, it’s all done in double crochet, so it’s too simple a concept to call a ‘pattern’ as such, but it’s a way of working and using double crochet with a certain type of yarn to get it to show to its best effects.

Made from a single skein of beautiful Rowan Colourscape yarn, it’s soft, snuggly and beautiful. You can download the PDF file if you like.

OK, only in the land of netdisaster.com, but the latest news is that they have infiltrated the main site, and, yes, hang on - we can go LIVE TO THE PROTEST!

You can have your own net disaster by simply entering a URL and selecting just how you’d like to destroy the internet. What about being trampled by dinosaurs, submerged in the second great flood or ruined by a baby with a biro pen?

Eskimimi.com is also still available in it’s original, unblemished state, of course!

Part 2 of a perceived series of two, unless we get commissioned for a second series and don’t suffer a writer’s strike.

buy handmade tells us why we should buy handmade:

Buying Handmade makes for better gift-giving.
The giver of a handmade gift has avoided the parking lots and long lines of the big chain stores in favor of something more meaningful. If the giver has purchased the gift, he/she feels the satisfaction of supporting an artist or crafter directly. The recipient of the handmade gift receives something that is one-of-a-kind, and made with care and attention that can be seen and touched. It is the result of skill and craftsmanship that is absent in the world of large-scale manufacturing.

Buying handmade is better for people.
The ascendancy of chain store culture and global manufacturing has left us dressing, furnishing, and decorating alike. We are encouraged to be consumers, not producers, of our own culture. Our ties to the local and human sources of our goods have been lost. Buying handmade helps us reconnect.

Buying handmade is better for the environment.
The accumulating environmental effects of mass production are a major cause of global warming and the poisoning of our air, water and soil. Every item you make or purchase from a small-scale independent artist or crafter strikes a small blow to the forces of mass production.

I agree with much of this. The sentiments are right - giving handmade makes for more personal gifts - you can give something truly unique, and who doesn’t like to feel a bit special? Better for the environment? Maybe in the long run, though I am not so naive that I don’t realise that many people do not check/know where their supplies come from. I have recently bought some lovely Fairtrade supplies and the origin of my materials is something that I am paying increasing attention to, because when you buy handmade it’s nice to think that you are doing good for as many people in the process as possible.

_{These lovely people bought handmade and started a flikr pool to let you know how great it is.}

Last year the ‘buy handmade’ pledge collected over ten thousands signatures who signed their names in a pledge to ‘buy handmade’ for the holiday season. The drive is to try and convince people of the awesome nature of handmade goods, and ten thousand hearty souls took it into their own hands to try and buy handmade items for friends and family over the holiday season.

I think that handmade goods are perhaps the nicest gifts to give, as well as to receive, but then that’s because I like all things lovely. In contrast to this I like many things that have no handmade alternative - I like videogames, robots, iPods and guitars, alongside handmade purses and hats. I also understand that buying handmade is a lot harder for some people than others. Take my lovely, sweet brothers. Twins - 14 years old, and one of them surgically attached to an XBox 360 with a Nintendo DS in one hand, the other never more than 2 feet away from a football. As lovely as the idea of buying handmade for your entire family is, it’s sometimes not as easy as it might at first seem. Frankly, they wanted videogames and football paraphernalia, and that’s what they got, because they got more joy out of those items then they would have done a handmade keyring or retro-kitsch apron and tea-towel set.

I think I have had this in mind when designing items such as the Nintendo DS cases and the iPod cosies that are currently on the drawing board - it gives the tech-lovers among us a way to be part of the handmade revolution, and allows even 14 year old boys to recieve a handmade and unique gift from time to time.

Paper goods winging their way to customers as of now include new postcards, even bigger postcards and business cards. Who doesn’t feel like master/mistress of their own new empire after having a desk full of their own stationery goods?

I even got a little automatic rubber stamp with eskimimi.com’s return address on it, which I put to good use stamping my little brother repeatedly on the forehead when he came to stay with me for a week, so now he’s a walking advertisement board for my shop. I knew he’d be of use one day.

Anyone ordering from the store will find their envelope stuffed full of cute complimentary stationery, so please pass some of it on, use the postcards to send to friends or blu-tac them to your student bedroom wall, but please enjoy.

The free Kokeshi Doll print collection offer is also still in effect, but I am running to the last of those, so they won’t be available for much longer, so grab ‘em whilst you can.

Fresh from pop art school come this new set of exclusive magnets. Bright, bold and with a perfect gloss finish, this set of four square magnets allow you to create your own Beatles pop art ensemble on your fridge or office note-board. Arrange them in order of who’s your favourite Beatle, arrange them neatly in a square - they are as much art as they are magnet. Who knew? You can be an art snob and have a handy way of holding your shopping list, all with one product! Designed by Eskimimi, these will not be available anywhere else. Available in the shop

Or, rather, she reminds me to buy some.

So, it’s a fridge magnet of possibly the greatest iconic piece of art of all time, but given a modern twist with a bold graphic update - simple, clean lines and basic forms encompass the sumptuous yet muted and aged colours from the palette of the original piece, enjoying the texture of the original but in this pop art rendition. The secret smile still plays on the Mona Lisa’s lips, because she knows you forgot to buy the milk, again. Available now from eskimimi.com.

Nintendo DS lite cases - practical and, if you will follow me to the bright and bold wares on eskimimi.com, cute and made just for you.

The newest addition to the recent trio of Nintendo DS lite cases features some cute and grinning dinosaurs (or DinoSaurs if you will humour me just a little…), but beyond the gloriously colourful front of the DS case you will find something that makes your DS case truly unique, as for the first time on eskimimi.com you have the chance to personalise your item with any message of your choice.

Featuring, as always, a colourful graphic on an inside pocket made to hold a couple of DS games for when you are on the move, these Nintendo DS cases will keep your DS safe and protected, whilst looking better than any other DS case you’ll ever see.

Completely handmade in the UK from 100% cotton and lined with soft high quality felt for extra protection.

Available in Eskimimi’s shop. Why not also check out the Zombees Nintendo DS case and the Kokeshi Doll Nintendo DS case and find the one you like the most.

…An overload of cute!

New products, ahoy! These Nintendo DS lite cases quickly follow on from the Zombee DS lite cases as the cutest way to feed that gaming addiction on the go. So sweet it might make your teeth hurt a little, the front shows a kokeshi doll on a graduated pink to purple background, whilst the back shows all seven of the Eskimimi.com kokeshi dolls in a gigglesome group.

Think that’s all the cute that one product can posses? Then have a look inside…

An accessories pocket, perfect for a couple of DS cartridges features miniature ‘polaroid’ style pictures of the kokeshi dolls - it looks like they’ve been playing with the camera, whilst the steady graduation of colour on the main fabric of teh DS case, continues inside in a scattering of sakura blossoms.

Already in the shop, get ‘em whilst you can!

Do you know a BIG CHEESE?

Someone who is always flashing their business cards and who has to network, network, network?

Make sure they are never without their greatest networking tool with this handy little swiss cheese business card holder - it’s a great conversation piece, too!

Also fantastic for keeping all of your bank/library/travel cards in a handy little bundle, it’s bound to bring a smile to even the most stony faced librarian or bus driver!

Available in the shop now.

Whether you are into training your brain or your Pokémon, the Nintendo DS has found it’s way into the hearts of millions of people, old and young alike. And so, buzzing into your online eskimimi.com store is the new Zombee DS lite case.

Extremely hard-wearing 100% cotton twill fabric, printed with Eskimimi’s own exclusive ‘Zombees’ design provides a durable but oh-so-funky outside to the case, whilst soft, protective felt (in a gruesome green colour) lines the inside. The finest stitching keeps the case in great shape, whilst little touches, such as the accessories pocket, perfect for holding a couple of extra games whilst you are out an about, add to the zombee theme with some cheeky polaroid snaps of the zombees at play!

Available now from Eskimimi.com

Wordle is a lovely little internet toy that lets you generate word clouds by feeding in a site’s RSS feed.

Discovered on KMC’s Blog I fed the Igloo’s RSS feed in and it generated the word cloud above. A great little time-waster, but put to fantastic use with the aid of some duct tape by KMC herself. Mine? I think I’ll just look at it for a while…

The return of the zombees… Bees, but on the nightshift. Adding a spooky, yet still (hopefully) cute edge to the bee collection, meet the zombees. The bees of the undead, these are the sort of critters that pollenate the dying flowers in Tim Burton’s garden…

Honey is the only foodstuff in the world that does not ’spoil’, so you’ll have to ask the zombees why their honey has gone that eerie shimmering green colour… For sale in the shop.

At up to 33 metres (110 ft) in length and 181 metric tonnes or more in weight, the blue whale is believed to be the largest animal ever to have existed.

I know what you are thinking - surely your money will get lost in a whale that big? Well, thankfully, eskimimi.com has acquired the rare midget blue whale to care for your coins, notes and bank cards. measuring just 6″ (15cm) in length he’s the perfect size to carry with you at all times, and if you are nice to him he will always smile wide and keep your valuables safe in his securely zippered mouth.

Available in the shop immediately.

…keeps your money from rolling around in the bottom of your bag.

This worm is happy he’s got a juicy green apple to munch on, but when you’re not looking, when your purse is lying unnoticed in the bottom of your bag, the worm likes nothing more than to nip inside the apple and count your money for you. He’s a very handy worm to have around because he’ll make sure that your monkey, bank cards and any other small bits and bobs that you want to carry with you are all safe and sound in his cosy, sturdy apple.

Available in the shop.

Finally, after a slightly stressful hour of holding breath and almost passing out, eskimimi.com has been uploaded to the main url without that much of a hitch. The first items have been uploaded to the shop and all systems are go!

The first order has already been processed, and everything works exactly as it should.

Eskimimi is a happy bunny.

I just want to say thankyou for the lovely people that have taken time to read this blog over the last few weeks - the blog shall be continually updated with all news and new creations. Thankyou also to all the kind people that have been such a joy and support on Flickr, and DeviantArt, and to the people that kept telling me everything was going to be OK when I thought it was all going to fall on it’s bum.

OK, so there’s my speech for the acceptance of my academy award sorted out, I’d better go and make more stuff!

What’s that you’re saying? Your site is working, running smoothly, everything is going to plan and you are just awaiting someone to move it to the correct area of the website for it to go live? But hold on, that’s not like you - nothing ever goes right - there has to be at least one more stumbling block I can throw in your path before you can sit back and admire your handywork…

I’ve got it - you know the person who’s moving your shop to it’s proper location? Well, what if their FTP program runs out? Will that scupper you getting the shop up and running today? OK - ‘pow’.

___________________

Oh well, I was hoping that today I would be able to launch the site fully, but it seems likely that it won’t happen until the middle/end of the week. The latest word was ‘certainly not today’.

Still, looking on the bright side, the shop works and the first order has actually been processed (a birthday gift was purchased by a lovely lady whilst the site was still in test mode, so it is now confirmed that the checkout process works just as smoothly as had been hoped for!) If anyone wants to send a little bit of luck this way then it’d be appreciated.

Imagine, if you will, a hunter drawing from his quiver - the smooth action of hand to arrow. It is always best to know where the things that you most rely on are to hand.

With this in mind, Eskimimi introduces the latest innovation in pea management - the Pea Purse. Never again will you be frantically scrabbling around on the floor looking for your collection of peas, for you shall be safe in the knowledge that they are all in their dedicated pea purse. Snap closure for easy access to your little green friends, and made of 100% finest cotton (printed with a design exclusive to eskimimi.com) your little spherical chums will remain comfortable in their designer pouch. Or, if you wanted, you could just keep your loose change/bank cards in there instead.

I wandered in from doing the shopping today, and what do I see when I walk through the door? Two Flat Ribbits in the above compromising position. In the name of David Attenborough-like scientific research I took the above documentary evidence before backing out of the room. I started out having made just two purses, I hope to have a whole self-reproducing production line of them soon.The design of the Flat Ribbit purses has been tweaked slightly - proof of Darwinian evolution if ever it was needed. Flat Ribbit’s eyes are now permanently fused in vinyl so there is no worry of them coming loose or getting lost, plus they have a slight twinkle to them now - must be all of that amorous behaviour, I suppose!Flat Ribbit is small but extremely roomy - he can eat your bank cards, travel pass, loose change and lipstick/keys all in a single meal. Luckily he has also evolved a little zip in his belly, should you actually need your keys to get you through the front door. Available in the shop from next week!

I just, through some research into peas (yeah, yeah, who researches peas just for a blog post? I am quite that sad) - anyway, yes, through my highly scientific research have just discovered that peas are not actually a vegetable - botanically they are a fruit! Who cared knew?

Whether fruit or vegetable, peas are not a serious foodstuff. They are too round and green, too comical looking to be taken seriously. Also, the word - pea. Roll it around in your mouth (the word, not the actual pea) - peeeeeaaaaa, peeeeaaa, p-p-p-peaaaa. Silly vegetable. Always in a big group, unassuming but amusing - peas. You can name them in comedy fashion; hap-pea, grum-pea, slee-pea, do-pea. They were never intended to be serious.

So, to honour our most stupid of vegetables, and to give them a chance to be loved as the little green alien things that they are, the sewing machine was pressed into action to make these business card holders. Fabulous for whipping out your business cards at a very sophisticated soirée, but also for keeping your bank cards safe, and for holding your travel/Oyster card, but mostly for your own amusement and because, no matter how pointless, peas are unarguably cute.

So lets us pay respect and tribute to this humble little sphere of green, and never forget what he has done for us every Sunday, alongside our roast dinner, jostled up next to the mashed potato. Fuel for our tummies, beauty to our eyes, and ammo for the hastily put together catapult made out of a spoon that you assembled whilst your mum was fetching in the gravy.
Small, he may be, by the pea is mighty of heart!

Give peas a chance.