Lighter Things

Yesterday was a difficult day for me. I spent the morning supporting a friend in court--again. Once that was over I desperately needed to unwind. Morris and Sons was a short walk away. I had a few things on my shopping list and a few more on my wish  list. There was a sale on my favourite knitting needles. And I'm starting to get to know some of the staff there. All in all, a visit to the wool shop turned out to be a bigger priority than food. I think I made a good choice.

One of the staff proudly wears this tattoo.

I'm not usually a big fan of tattoos, but this made me smile. And some of her other body-art, though harder to photograph, is profound. If there had been a cafe, I would have been tempted to stay. But I'd spent more than my budget already and had follow up to do from the mornings developments. And I did need some food. So I moved on, with a lighter heart and purse.

 

Tomorrow is the Merlynston Diverse Voices Festival. Despite a tough week, I'm looking forward to it. If you'd like to have a go at some bunting, I'll have spare needles and wool available. The music should be great. And the Merlynston community is vibrant and welcoming. I'd love to see you there: Bain Reserve on Merlyn St. It's the Village Green near the train station. The Street Parade kicks off the day at 11.00 am.

Bitten by Bunting Bug

Up until last week I had managed to avoid catching the bunting bug. "It's cute", I thought, "but I dont' have to go there." This weekend that changed.

I received an email from the organisers of the Merlynston Diverse Voices Festival. I'm going to have a stall there next weekend, so I was already interested in whatever they're doing. It turns out there are a bunch of knitters involved in creating a long string of bunting to drape around the Merlynston Progress Hall. Knitted bunting! Who knew?

Saving the Merlynston Progress Hall is a major community focus. Making a knitted contribution hooked me right in.

The pattern is courtesy of the UK Womens' Weekly. It's a neat little knit: stocking stitch with shaped decreases. Easy enough to stitch through without any stress; interesting enough to hold my attention for the number of minutes required to get it done in one sitting. I thought I'd start with just one. Next day, I've made three and I'm dying to cast on another. They're due in tomorrow, so maybe not. Then again, they might be able to add to the bunting on the day. And it's an ongoing project, so it's never too late to join in.

Of course, while I'm knitting away, I'm designing alternatives in my head: different stitch patterns; big bunting; little bunting; crochet bunting; what about a double-knit version! So I think I've caught the bunting bug. I don't know if there's a cure. What's more, I don't care!

 

Time and Travel

Somehow in the last ten years or so some of the discarded objects of my childhood years have become desirable. With labels like "retro" and "vintage", these everyday objects are now attractive, relatively rare and possibly valuable. It's taking me a while to catch up with the trend. And, having moved house more times than I care to count in my young adult years, I have few relics of those early days. So it was that I found myself scouring the back shelves of Vinnies yesterday in a hunt for suitcases.

I'm planning to share a stall with a few others at the next Made 'n' Thornbury Market. We need a way to tie our diverse product ranges into a unified display. Old suitcases could be the way to go. I didn't own any. Now I do. Thankfully these were sold to me as just old so I got them for a price I was willing to pay. I'd like do a bit of patching and cleaning without investing too much time and energy. If we decide to go with some other display theme they will be useful for storing my wares. 

Something New

There's always something new around here! This time it's a badge machine.

I have hired it over the long weekend. I've just done a few practice badges using cut outs from a magazine. It's as easy as everybody said it would be. The woman who rents it out said her four year old could do it. Now I believe her.

So I'm off to the studio to look for likely candidates to be turned into badges. Christmas is coming. I have lots and lots of novelty fabrics in my collection. There are hand-dyes, silks and all sorts of other precious bits and pieces. This is going to be fun!

Armchair Mini

Now that I've had some improvement in my elbow situation, I'm back to working on the baby blanket. Thankfully I have plenty of time for this project. Baby isn't due until March next year. And it's a Queensland baby, so I doubt that there will be much demand for woollen blankets until a few months after that.

I've said this before, but it's a truth that never fails to delight me, so I'll say it again. I love, love, love the process of making. Especially a project like this, which is imbued with significance. While I'm stitching there's a constant undercurrent of thoughts about the baby; the Mum and Dad; the wider family; the pregnancy so far; the potential . . . At a visual level I'm thinking about the yarn, the colours I've used and the ones to come. The whole experience has it's own rhythm dictated by the stitches I'm forming in my fingers.

I call these blankets armchair projects because that's where I sit while I stitch. That's practical. Even a miniature blanket like this involves eight different balls of wool. This one is small enough, though, that I could pick it up and move to a cooler environment as the weather warms up. It's also an "armchair" project because of the relaxed attitude I like to take with it. A few rows here and a few rows there, often accompanying my morning coffee or favourite music. So, it's a miniature blanket with a big place in my heart. 

Breakfast--and the Meaning of Life

My first task for this morning was to mix up my breakfast cereal. That process got me thinking about my art-making. What's the connection between breakfast and art? I'm glad you asked.

Let me tell you what goes into my breakfast cereal. Basically it's porridge, but there's more to it than you might see at first glance:

• rolled oats
• oat bran
• brown rice
• buckwheat
• rolled rye flakes
• quinoa flakes

Oh and water of course. I heat that up, let it sit for a while, then heat it up some more until it just bubbles nicely. Then I add a combination of psyllium husk, LSA meal and brown linseeds. A good bit of skim milk and I'm ready to go. Usually I leave it at that, but I could add, fruit or nuts or honey when the fancy takes me.

What I'm talking about is a combination of simplicity and complexity. When I spin my yarn, I'm aware of the origins of the fibre. The wool might be from a farmer I know. There might be a bit of silk mixed in; or bunny fibre. When I dye I mix and match colours. Say I want blue--I often want blue--there might be five different blues in the pot. So there are layers of colour, just as there are layers of flavour and texture. And usually there are a sequence of processes.

It's fun and interesting and varied. And it's satisfying. It keeps me going all day. So, now I've had breakfast. It's time for coffee and a day of making.
 

Dear Anonymous, I Don't Know What to Do

Dear Anonymous
Some of my best friends are Anonymous. They don't have a profile that my blog recognises. I love the fact that they read my blog. I want to hear what they have to say.

Maybe some friends I have yet to meet prefer to be Anonymous too. I don't often touch on controvertial subjects in this blog. But there may be things you want to say that you'd rather not put your name to. I can understand that.

But some of you Anonymous posters must be desperate! Every day I receive several messages linking me to all sorts of things that I'm not interested in. I try to respond consistently. "Mark as Spam" is my most used button of all time. Still you persist in your unwanted attentions. What am I to do?

I don't want to treat you harshly, but I have better things to do than getting rid of unwanted comments from my blog. Yesterday I accidently hit the wrong button on my comment moderation page and ended up promoting pirated handbag designs and phone accessories on a post I'd written to welcome an old friend to my home. I don't like that. It could have been worse!

I'm pretty sure I could solve my problems by turning the "please prove you are not a robot" captcha feature back on in my blog. I turned it off when a friend of mine described it as "torture". I find that feature challenging on other people's blogs so I wanted to make it easier for everybody on my blog. Maybe that was a mistake.

I don't know what to do about my relationship with you, Anonymous. It's affecting my blog relationships in a variety of ways. So I'm writing this public letter. Maybe some-one can help us to find a happy way forward. Or maybe I just need to bite the bullet and ban Anonymous from my page.

Please help me.