Tulip Trap

We went to the Tulip Festival last week. I was prepared to be wowed by the beauty of the blooms and I'd armed myself with my camera and macro lens. I expected some tempting dutch treats and perhaps an enticing cafe or bakery along the way. What I wasn't prepared for is this:

There was an alpaca tent set up just near the entrance to the festival. Not just any alpaca tent, Freshfield Alpacas--these are the people who sold me my beloved Little Gem spinning wheel. Their alpaca fibre is a lovely thing. And apart from the cute animals to admire, they had tables full of beautiful textiles. I came home with a bag of hand-dyed red-burgundy alpaca fibre. Just one bag. It has E's name on it. She has a birthday in November. By then it will be so hot in Queensland that the thought of giving her a hand-spun crochet hat will be totally ridiculous, but she wants the hat, so I'll do my best to make it for her.

Up close

OK, so you know that I spent a fair bit of the day on Wednesday getting up close to the flowers at the Tulip Festival. Here's a pic of E joining in the fun at the end of the day: One of my weaving buddies works at Tesselaars--it's their Tulip Festival we went to. When I caught up with her at the Guild yesterday, she said she thought she'd seen me there, but wasn't sure enough to tap me on the shoulder and say hello. Her reasons are quite telling . . .

• I was crouching down looking through my camera lens, intent on a flower--sounds right;
• I was a long way from home--correct, we drove more than an hour to get there;
• I wasn't wearing any wool: knitted, crocheted, woven or hand-made in any shape or form whatsoever!

Now her last point is the most telling of all. If only she knew that bits of my collection of warm woollies were adorning teenagers scattered around the grounds. That's my crochet hat on E's head in the daffodil picture. Anyway, it was fun hearing her analysis. Meanwhile, E is tired of wearing my blue hat and can she swap for another one please? She's going to take her pick from my collection next time she's here.

Tulip Time

What better way to celebrate the Spring Equinox than to visit a Tulip Festival in the Dandenong foothills! I was more focussed on humans than I normally would be in a situation like this, but despite that, I have come home with hundreds of flower photos--probably enough for a tulip a day for the next year. Rather than choosing carefully, I'll just give you the first tulip of the day: It was a day for using my macro lens. That's a good thing. It was also a day for much bending and crouching to get close enough to the flowers to get the shots I wanted. That's not such a good thing. I have so many aching muscles today! Oh well, I guess it's another aspect of beauty and pain--or is it another activity for my mythical textile gym?