It's been a quiet week

Well it has been a quiet week. Mostly spent waiting for tradies - cleaning windows, fixing fans. All done, all happy, but little work to show for it.

Hubby and I managed to fit in a film, on Friday at the last minute. I had tickets to the Classic Cinema in Elsternwick and so we hopped on the train to head SOUTH of the river. It was a strange documentary film: Frankofonia. The story of the pictures in the Louvre during WWII. Very bleak from the Russian director, very arthouse, but great archival footage and reenactment. Only two couples in the cinema and we both loved it!

I did manage to get to a good stage with my prototype of the next set of work based around the fabric play that I did.

Will do some tweaking, but also start on the next one. The REAL thing!

A weekend escape

In the midst of a busy life, a luxury weekend away, thanks to the organisation skills of a friend we found ourselves off on a Luxury Escape weekend to Lindenwarrah at Milawa for Saturday and Sunday night, stretching the weekend into Monday for a really luxurious weekend.

The King Valley with the view stretching to Mount Feathertop

The boys took their toys for the drive!

To get there, instead of going up the Hume, we went through Yea through Mansfield, for lunch at Whitfield in the King Valley at the Whitfield General Store. This is a more scenic trip and we were rewarded with some magnificent views over the King Valley to Mount Feathertop, still showing some snow. A generally relaxing day, finishing off with dinner at Lindenwarrah,

Our accommodation at Lindenwarrah

Next day was tasting mustards and cheeses at Milawa, just a
short walk from Lindenwarrah. Milawa has such alot of food and wine related experiences that it was my idea of heaven!

Lunch at Patricia's, the Brown Brother restaurant, literally across the road, then a very lazy afternoon, finishing off with cheese and wine, both from Milawa.

Monday we headed over to Rutherglen for supplies for the port barrel and home for pizza with the boys!

A most excellent escape and then the next two weeks of meetings came in and I'm booked up again!

When you're no longer sure, but you still keep going!

I've been working on this sculpture for awhile, which is good, as I've prototyped and experimented and made till I'm at the stage where it seems to be coming together.

But there are a few problems yet to be resolved....how do you arrange them?

Does my little crocheted flower look ok, and will it tie all the different islands together?

Crocheting next

Making fabric

Back in the day when I was studying Studio Textiles at RMIT, by the way, no longer a course, you can do fashion instead. Anyway, we had to come up with a business plan and mine was to make fabric, till the reality was that even a small designer needed a run of at least 30metres!

However, I've come back to that abandoned plan and am trying fabric lengths. I've started by diving into my handspun stash, and creating open warps. Simple weaving but, I think, quite effective. Then I'm putting them on Etsy (I'm teesjourney on Etsy) and am waiting to see what happens!

Here are my efforts so far:

The first using cream 3ply as the starting point and the warp. All the cream based yarns with the most gentle textures and colours.

Cream 3ply commercial cream warp with handspun yarn weft.

Lots of lovely soft textures and colours.

 The next was a full five metres starting with a fine black mercerised cotton warp and alternating stripes of black and colours. There are two repeats and I used the Fibonacci sequence as my starting point.

Five metres of black and coloured stripes.

I love the fabric all rolled up and waiting. 

The next one is sorted and waiting. Purple warp and, hopefully, matching weft yarns.

And would you believe, my handspun stash box seems quite full!

Getting Ready

Tuesdays are my Stitch 'n Bitch day at Four Leaves Cafe, so armed with my now started top down jumper, courtesy of 'Knitting from the top' by Barbara Walker, I have something to do!

Then, I have to get busy and work on this lovely fleece from Sheila Kempson at Perrynook, that I've washed to get ready for the plying class that I'm giving for the Handweavers and Spinners Guild Spinning Certificate course. 

I have to fill two bobbins and then start plying!

 Any wind the rest of the yarn ready for my jumper.

Starting

Weirdly, at the start of the week, it's all about new work.

Firstly, the sculpture I've been working on, based around the idea of 'no man is an island' has come to the point where I think I've resolved most problems, but I've been working on it so long that I really don't know if it works. So a good photograph of the work-in-progress has put those doubts not quite off to bed, perhaps just getting in their pyjamas!

Sculpture - provisional title 'Island'

 I also need some new knitting to take with me, but swatching was essential! Here it is and I'm using self-generating patterns from the book 'Unexpected Knitting' by Debbie New. With a mix of handspun and commercial yarn, I'm happy with the result.

Then you go down to the beach and photograph clouds!

A quick escape to Phillip Island. Weather kind enough to be able to walk along the beach and what drew my attention? the clouds, of course!

What do you make from fabric yarn?

So I've found a couple of ways to make yarn from fabric, but "what", I can hear you say, "do you do with it?"

You knit dishcloths from the woven cotton fabric. They work really well, but not so easy to squeeze dry....still working on them!

Knitting dishcloths from fabric yarn.

My first dishcloth!

You stitch and use lazy squaw stitch to make little baskets to hold those errant keys!

Little bowls from fabric yarn and fabric strips.

Lovely little fabric bowl.

And you make coasters from the knit fabric which work really well and you knit more dishcloths.

More dishcloths and stitched coasters.

A finished coaster

And, what is it all for? To start my next sculpture! This is my prototype started!

My next sculpture!