Textile Tuesday

This week brought to you by my current tapestry project - this is my final assessment piece, and I had to come up with the design for it...

Can you tell what it is? (I'll give you a clue: "it's sideways Miss Pat")
The tapestry I am studying is proper woven tapestry - not needlepoint tapestry. See - I am working with string and the colour actually makes the fabric....

This is opposed to needlework tapestry - in which usually colour is stitched onto an existing 'framework' fabric of squares.The big difference is that for this you use bobbins (not needles) and, as you are creating the fabric, you need to work from the bottom up.
I am really enjoying working on this - I have mixed neutral colours for the background, and chosen solid, bright colours for the subject. I hope to create a fun piece that explodes out of the tapestry!

Sick Sick Sick!

Ugh - I am home from school for today because I am the snot monster from planet mucus!

The absolutely worst thing about taking the happy pills, is that you can not take anti-histamines or pseudo-ephedrines* or any of those other lovely drugs that help you wake up and/or sleep when you have a cold or flu.  So now my head feels like it is trapped inside a high-pressure bubble, my body feels like a whole herd of heffalumps has trampled me, and my brains have been replaced by boogers. There is no way I would make it through 7 hours of classes today plus the 3 hours of train travel - which just makes me feel even lower :(

I am going to anoint myself in vicks and drown myself in ginger honey tea and completely indulge in Dr Phil and Oprah, and then, perhaps a little Simpsons DVDs - and perhaps I'll be able to make it to the Carlton Hotel tonight for the monthly Geelong S'n'B. I could do with a girls night out, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

If anyone has any other good home remedies that work and don't involve gall-bladders of cats or something similar, please, please share!

*Pseudo-ephidrines are actually no longer available in the state of Victoria because they are too easy to turn into speed. So even if I wanted to be norty and mix my drugs I wouldn't be able to. Perhaps I should hang out in some dodgy alley til I find a dealer for speed! 

Exposure...

When was this photo taken? Any guesses???It was taken about 20 minutes after sunset. Yes, that's correct, after sunset. The sky was completely dark! Picture of the street behind South Geelong Train Station.

That bright light you may have thought was the sun - tis a street light. I took the picture with an 30 second exposure, while the camera was resting on my car's dashboard (which is why it isn't really a fun picture - I was just playing) The longer exposure time means that the 'film' (or, as I was using a Digital SLR, in this case the film was really light sensitive silicon sensors) can pick up more detail in low light. 

I had the camera resting on my dash because, even at the best of time, I am not a very steady person. However, with a 30 sec exposure, no-one would be steady enough to take a clear picture - your blood pumping through your veins would be enough disruption to make a blurry shot.

Here endeth the lesson. I gotta get me a DSLR. Perhaps if I save real good I can gets one in a decade or so!

Textile Tuesday

In which I do my best imitation of BrooklynTweed's wonderful photography!

I have become obsessed by playing with linen stitch. So much so that I am developing a kind of 'knitted weave' - 

such as twill:

The structure of these stitches makes for wonderful bags - such as this 'mini-clutch', lined with fabric and finished with magnetic fasteners.
And chevron / herringbone:
This one also lined with fabric, but finished with a zip...
Product shoot photos completed today in class. Not only will these be used for my assignment, but also for the dual purpose when I get around to uploading them to the store. I love that my studies are teaching me skills I can use immediately!

And these are a little fun:

I am not sure whether to call this one "feed me" or "Laaaaaaaaaa"...
But this one is definitely called "C is for clutchie, that's good enough for me..."

Sun Shoes day!

Okay - I know that according to the Goddess of Footwear RoseRed that Shoesday is supposed to be the day after Monday, and not the day before, but I spent ages taking product photos yesterday and today, and felt the need to share this shot with you.

Shoe-stylin' stitchmarkers available from GingerKnits.com. 

From l-to-r; b-to-f: purple enamel high heel, high heeled sandal, slingback high heel, 

plain flip-flop, flat slide, floral flip-flop.

One of the aims of the photography class I am taking as part of my course is to be able to take reasonable product pictures. I don't yet have the Digital SLR as part of my kit, but I do have the ability to play with the ISO, exposure, white balance, macro and flash settings on my camera, and can also play with light and the composition. 

I took heaps of pictures, and got lots of over/under exposed shots, blurs, out of focus etc etc - it is very difficult to take nice pictures of teeny tiny little shiny beads and get any detail. And I only used Photoshop for cropping and extending the background colour into the back corner.

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 :)