Tapestry Workshop

Visit to the Victorian Tapestry Workshop 19th Feb 08.... as part of my elective class in tapestry weaving.

This workshop has produced many great tapestries hanging in public places- one of the better known ones being the Parliament House Tapestry in Canberra.

Somehow I can't see myself completing these huge communal pieces that take many much...

but I do love these - they are much more me :)

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study in porcelain

One of the classes I am getting quite a bit out of is Drawing.

Week one was 'Drawing the Porcelain Bus'  

First time I had touched charcoal since about year 8 high school - and it was a little bit daunting staring at a toilet bowl with a whole bunch of easels set up around it.

Week two was 'Passengers on the Porcelain Bus'

An exercise in surrealism - we had to integrate a picture or photo into our drawing. Apparently my drawing is okay, but my shading is shite... 

Considering this stuff is all new to me, I am quite happy with the results - however, I am quite looking forward to next week, which will apparently be toilet bowl free.

garage sale

Hey there - 

I have a couple of things up on ebay - an ipod and a designer handbag. Both new.

If your interested, check 'em out!

***edited to add - iPod already sold***

I signed up for PPP!

Okay - so I am selling out a tad bit :)

I signed up with PayPerPost, where every so often I will earn money for 'sponsored' blog posts. Don't worry - I won't be turning into a sad cable channel, running informercials all the time - part of the understanding when you sign up is that you continue your normal blogging. In fact - I am hoping this will encourage me to blog a little more than I have been of late. 

The plan is to use half the funds I get from this to help out with bills and such (it takes a while to get used to centrelink after having a professional salary) and the other half will go into my 'Yarn Money Box' - which is only fair, as this blog really is all about the yarny-goodness... and yarn was the first item to disappear from my budget.

All sponsored posts will be fully disclosed - I won't try to pass off any paid advertisements (which is exactly what this is) as a normal blog post. Print media can't get away with it, and neither will I!

If you could also do with some extra pocket money, and keen for a similar opportunity check out PayPerPost. 

blog reviews

mac the knife*..

oh yeah baby - I have joined the mac revolution and I'm loving it. I got my new macbook on tuesday night, and less than half an hour after opening the package I was connected to our network (via airport). The Man had terrible trouble getting his PC connecting to this network. After consulting the IT guys at his work, it appeared some obscure setting on Vista was turned off...

The only trouble I have had is that my external hard-drive - which has all my music on it - I imported about half a dozen songs before something decided it needed to be formated. Lucky the Man copied all of my music to his external hard-drive so I shouldn't lose any of it (of course, I will have to import all of my Harry Potter #7 from the CDs again... The Man didn't get a copy of that!)

*of course - I don't have one of the brand spankin' new macbook airs you could get a paper cut on (it was another $700 for that one), but I still think mine is pretty sharp!

geek-cool

I'm in photography class and this image came up - it was taken by Muybridge to settle a bet in the 19th Century.

I recently read about it in a book, and mentioned this in class. I actually admitted to finding out about it in "The Science of Discworld"... cue the nerd alarm!!!

However, I didn't feel too much of a nerd - the instructor is wearing a Dalek t-shirt!

I love school...

Just a quick one because it's the first week of my course and I am exhausted...

but I was sitting up the back of class today, quietly knitting some socks - teacher notices and...

turns the lights on for me, cos, you know - good OH&S practises :)

It's over, Socrates...

Here tis - the hemlock ring doily blocking on my queen size bed. It is about 120cm in diametre - and lovely and warm. I am really happy with the FO - I was rather worried that it would end up looking like a very bad tie-dye job... but the muted neutral colours striped very nicely.

I am rather attached to this one, but have promised a couple of friends I would make them an afghan for their upcoming nuptials. If they fall in love with this one I may end up passing it on, with a couple of cushions to match. Or I may end up knitting another threw-for-the-carch before the month is through :)

Where's my cow??? Bugrit!

'That's not my cow - that's foul ol' Ron!'

If you are a discworld fan, and have read THUD! you would be rather familiar with these lines... one of the better habits I have adopted from the Man is a rather keen ambition to consume discworld novels at a crazy pace. When I discovered that Pratchett had written a discworld picture book, I went a-hunting it down.



Unfortunately - the local bookshop didn't have it,but could order it in... and it would take about a month...and would be rather expensive.... so I went a-hunting on the internet, and managed to surprise the Man with a random gift (he didn't know about the book at all!)



The Man is rather delighted with the book - particularly with the illustrations of Commander Vimes (One of the man's fav discowrld characters - the other is Lord Vetinari)

This is a delightful picture book, great for kids and a must have for any discworld fan. I recommend you chase it up!

And on other note - just to prove Pierre did survive the three weeks without me, a cute dog photo:

evil ducky; good ducky

evil ducky said "buy me - I can show you how to have lots and lots of fun"

good ducky said "I gots nothin'! I only share my opinion with those who legally own me, and have a sales receipt for proof of purchase."

evil ducky won. Of course - good ducky came home with me too, just so I could find out what opinions it had :)

All Enrolled

So today I finally made it up to RMIT and I am now all sorted for my enrollment in Diploma in Arts: Studio Textiles and Design. My electives for first semester are Knitting and Tapestry, and second semester will be Weaving and Printing.

It's a rather full on course - I start on the 11th Feb, less than two weeks away. I get to do fun courses like colour theory, Drawing, Design Principles and Elements, Fibre, yarns and fabrics, and Photography.

Now I just need to chase up some arty materials so I'll be ready to go!

Legend says it killed Socrates...

I'm talking about hemlock, of course...

This one is addictive, but not poisonous...

And I blame BrooklynTweed! Ever since he finished his gorgeous chunky Hemlock Ring Doily, it has been begging me to give it a go.

Cast on with Paton's Shadow tweed - I love how organic the colours are, and the ripples caused by the feather and fan. And the pattern is great too - loving the fact that there is only one pattern row in every five. Mindless knitting for four rows is all so much fun!

And best of all - this is knit from stash yarn I picked up at the Wangaratta Woollen Mills last April. So far I am into my third ball.

The demon barber or Fleet Street - Sweeney Todd: a quick review

Johnny Depp appears to have come full circle - he first rose to stardom as Edward Scissorhands, a character incomplete because of razor-like appendages on the end of his arms instead of hands, and now portrays a man who feels incomplete without a razor in his hands.

As with most Tim Burton creations, this film is set in a world that is obviously not our own, but close enough to it you feel a little uncomfortable laughing at the black humourous content within.

This film you can imagine a Scissorhands who has grown up in an unkind and violent environment. The innocence has all but disappeared, and you are left with an experienced, jaded character intent on revenge.

As usual, Depp throws himself into the role - creating Sweeney Todd into a homicidal psychopath feeling such pain you could nearly empathise with him. As with previous roles, the hair, makeup and false teeth are there, but it is the acting and singing that really create the character.

Mrs Lovett is a role made for Helena Bonham Carter - you could not imagine another in the role. As the film progresses it is made clear that Lovett is just as villainous as Todd - however, her betrayal consists, not of taking the lives of strangers, but of a deceit based upon her envy and desire. If possible, she is a character flawed even more than Todd.

The horror and gore content is theatrical - the blood is a tad bit too bright a red, and behaves as an extra character within the film; nowhere near as spine chilling as the Judge (Alan Rickman). The ends of the film are poetically justified, but Rickman convinces you that none deserved their unhappy ending as much as the Judge. This is a character who is guaranteed to give you more nightmares that the blood-letting barber.

Of course, I cannot go without mentioning the cameo by Borat, sorry Sasha Baron Cohen. Playing a larger than life caricature, this is possibly the most serious acting job he has completed. I have previously not been a fan of his work, however, it again was the perfect marriage of actor to role.

I definitely recommend that you check this film out, however, if you are a tad bit sensitive perhaps try to see it in the daylight hours. For information on the plot check out the official movie site, or the wikipedia entry.

PS: keep your eyes open for Anthony Stewart Head, aka Rupert Giles from Buffy, who makes a very brief appearance!

Guess what this is....

Right about now your probably thinking this is another two needle / february baby cardy knit out of debbie bliss cashmerino...

and you would almost be right....

ipod included for scale -

This is knit out of cashmerino superchunky on 7mm needles. Turns out to be the perfect lacy 3/4 sleeve cropped cardy for moi!

Made exactly to the pattern in the knitters almanac - except for a couple of short rows around the back of the neck.

Turn in tomorrow when I show you some more chunky knitting ala brooklyntweed...

Funky links

These are courtesy of the adorable Miss Em (The Man's sister, freeform crocheter and seamstress extraordinaire*)

Links so good I had to share!

------------------

First up, a cabled goat!

http://www.cyn.ca/knit/2008/01/06/happiness-is-a-cabled-goat/

This site makes me very happy:

http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/completelist.htm

It's an archive of scanned antique pattern books, for knitting, crochet, tatting, embroidery and the rest.

And finally, Net Grannies!

http://www.netgranny.ch/sockenshop/This site cracks me up (once I clicked the translate button in the top right corner - it's in German). You go online and select a granny to make socks for you. Brilliant!

*Yes, the fact that The Man has a yarnivore in his family means he understands my addictions somewhat better than the average male :)

Harvest!

Thank goodness for housemates! I was able to harvest these colourful gems because my housemate made sure my small garden didn't get too thirsty during the reign of 40+ degree days with no rain...

This is the third harvest off my tomato plants - the first harvest was picked the day before The Man and I flew to Thailand (one grape and one sugarless yellow - you wouldn't believe how proud I was of them) and the housemate used the second harvest in a spag-bol-from-scratch.

These tomatoes are teeny tiny - but pack a big punch in flavour. These are cherry, grape, sweetbite and sugarless yellows - small fruit that is great to nibble on during the day. I also have some Moneymakers and Black Russians - however these are still ripening on the vine.

The garden appears to have exploded during the three weeks we were away. The capsicums and chillies have fruit on them, as do my cucumber(?) plants (these were a gift from The Man's dad, and look like little Heinz gherkins) and there are two red hunchback looking things on my strawberry bush. The beans are still going crazy, and the eggplants have flowers on them, and the pumpkin runner has taken off (I think it may be attempting a half marathon, or at least a cross country...)

Post-script: Yes, it is 3am and I can't sleep. During yesterday's tyre saga, I rather foolishly spent too much time in the sun wearing a tank top sans sunscreen. I now glow in the dark red across my neck and shoulders. Silly really - it was at least 10 degrees cooler here than we had in Thailand (where I didn't get burnt sunscreen or no) so I didn't think about it. Shows just how bad a hole in the ozone layer and the sun directly over head can be. Oh well, at least blogger is letting me post pictures now... And in case you're wondering- I have an appointment to enrol in my course next Tuesday. Allaz wal!

a two flat tuesday...

There is nothing like real life to remind you that you are no longer on holiday!

While I was away, I received the official offer for the Studio Textile and Design Course. Enrolment day on the letter was listed as today....

So this morning I jumped in my car, backed out of the drive, got halfway round the round-a-bout....

...and had a sneezing fit...

BUMP BUMP! I ended up driving over the gutter....

I heard a funny noise coming from outside the car, so I pulled over.

Got out of the car.... the back passenger side tyre was completely flat, and the front passenger side tyre was slowly joining it...

First of all, I called for help. The man said he was on the way...

Secondly, I called up RMIT - I spoke to a girl in the enrolments information office who made helpful comments like "oh... your enrolment session is 11-1, which is now. No one will be in their office to take your call...'' and ''...you really need to go to your enrolment session cos otherwise they will think you're not interested and give your place to someone else...'' After finally convincing this bright spark to put me through to someone because I was sure they had voicemail, she then hung up on me....

So I found a direct number for the textiles school... which was a lot more helpful :)

The Man sorted things out with the car for me... (put the spare on, take the flat to be fixed, put the new tyre on, now need to get spare repaired...) ....and I have spent the rest of the day doing laundry from our trip and pottering in the garden.

Ahh... yes... real life :P

ug

home

puppy

zzzzzzzzzz

farang* only one day more...

The man and I have spent the last couple of days in Bangkok, and have now checked out of our hotel and will be heading to the airport soon to fly home.

We stayed in the heart of 'Siam' and visited the Royal Palace, Emerald Buddha, and the giant Reclining Buddha. We also tested our bargaining skills at Chutachuk Market...

I managed to grab a couple of books on Thai and SE Asia Textiles - I am inspired by Julie over at Samurai Knitter, and may try and do a bit of run-down of some of the textile traditions here.

Oh,.. and I can't wait to see Pierre again :)

*Farang is the Thai word for foreigner