One Frog, Two Frogs, Green Frog, Blue Frog.

Remember those highschool days when you used to phone a friend to see what she was wearing to such and such an event so you could match? I admit, that was never my style, but I think I missed out on quite a bit of innocent fun. Imagine a bunch of women at the Guild on the weekend . . . E has come along as the teacher's assistant, but there's not much to do. She's sitting to one side of the group, knitting socks. The conversation wanders in an out of the topic for a while. There's a discussion about the various styles of self-patterning yarns available. It turns out that C and M have handknitted socks from the same colourway: Opal, Frog. In fact M has knitted three pairs of these socks, all different of course. The conversation develops into a detailed analysis of construction methods, length of repeats and colour placement. Remember, this is the Handweavers and Spinners Guild, where I fit right in--we're all textile tragics.

"Wear your frog socks tomorrow", C said to M"

"OK, I' will"

So on Sunday morning we had this picture: What you can't see is the twists and contortions it took to get the shot: C is taller and thinner than M . . . M is breastfeeding, so her bumps are prominent and tender . . . I needed their feet close enough to get all four socks in one shot and not too much distraction from the other bits and pieces scattered around the floor . . . let your imagination fill in the details!

Happy, Happy!

I could blog for a month on the joys of a Guild Textile Bazaar: the people, the place, books, tools, fibres . . . I'm in a hurry this morning, so I'll leave you with just one of the gems I picked up:This is a textile text book. For a woman who started in dressmaking, quilting and crochet and went on to spin, knit and weave it promises hours of interest. I don't think it will make it onto my shelf for a while. It's going to be next to the armchair so I can dip into it often.

And just for fun: who'd like to take a guess on the publication date?

Travelling Light

I'm off to a colour blending and design workshop at the Guild today. I'm looking forward to it. Anything about colour thrills me. Plus the workshop leader is my friend and first spinning teacher, Teresa.

As for the travelling, well, I'll be going on the bus and the tram. So my usual take everything, it might just come in handy approach has been shelved for now. I can't do without my wheel, so there it is in it's silver travel bag. If I have to do without my car much longer, I might just get around to implementing my idea for turning it into a backpack. It's a colour blending workshop, so I guess that means carders. There are carders at the Guild, but they're a bit dodgy. I'll bring my own. Apart from that, we were told to bring some pictures for inspiration. I've raided a few from a travel article about the Northern Territory--deliberately opting for those with earthy browns and oranges to challenge myself a little. I can always count on the sky for some of my favourite blues. OK, so . . .

• wheel--check
• carders--check
• inspiration--check
• what else? A flicker to clean my carders, do I need to bring some fibre? Better make sure my bobbins are in there . . .
• OH, and remember, I'm going on the bus, so take it easy with all the good ideas!