On the road to Harrietville

Getting to a Harrietville weekend is as much fun as the weekend itself. It goes without saying, that good company is a highlight. The driver has to be alert, so you just have to keep talking! (and for some, knitting.....I can't knit in a car....a failing, I know) It's a wonderful way to catch up, plan and dream. However, it's a long journey, so you just have to stop along the way.....

The first stop is compulsory, as the wonderful First Editions live in a big shed at Euroa. As you can pick and choose to your hearts content, it's just good fun. We were the first arrivals, this year. Most unusual. As you see I did make purchases, and a couple are not there as they're already being transformed.

The next stop is the Wangaratta Mills of Australian Country Spinners. They've reorganised and enlarged their bargain room, though I did feel that the better organisation limited the amount of disorganised serendipity. This was an unscheduled stop this year, but we did have a new spinner and knitter on board, who hadn't been there. Suffice to say, I only bought a couple of balls for a customer order. Very restrained.

The next stop was also Wangaratta at the Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral. This houses the Tapestry 'Into the Light'. This was woven by the Australian Tapestry Workshop, and though it was partially covered for Palm Sunday there was still much about it to admire. A beautiful church and many of the banners were made by local embroiderers and quilters, in all sorts of techniques. Well worth a visit, and with the personal connection that made us stop there, even more special.

On the road Beechworth, where we had lunch in a lovely shaded garden, and a look at The Ardent Alpaca. The softest baby alpaca teddy bears on earth. And I don't think I exaggerate. From some fibre to yarn and clothing this is full of beautiful alpaca products. Worth a look.

The final leg of the journey involved a stop at a quilt shop, just for an experiment supply....really, and the drive through the mountains. This year, unfortunately for us, there was alot of backburning going on, so it was a little hazy. As this is an important function we just admired the view as we drove along. Arriving safe and happy, with a very tired driver and grateful passengers.

Oh My!

I know I haven't told you about Harrietville yet. So much to process, so much to do and not enough photographs. It will happen, but we have been a little overwhelmed by our building works.

On being told that our services were to be cut off for a good couple of days, we decided to head down to Phillip Island.

Having only a limited time together, Peter and I decided we would do the walk up to Cape Woolamai. Basically, we walk along the beach right to the quarry. With the tide right out, this is much easier than usual. Then up we go to the highest point on Phillip Island. It's called Snapper Head and is a whopping 112 metres above sea level.

The views are spectacular all over the island to French Island and the rest of the bay and then all along the coast to Wonthaggi.

On a crowded Easter Weekend, most people are there for the beaches, which are spectacular, the sites, Penguin Parade, Churchill Island, etc and the amusements. The walk to this point is quiet, so much so that we were rewarded with an echidna at the side of the path. Crazy little creatures!

At the top is a beacon which is now automatic and solar powered, but in earlier times the local farmer, a, I think the first name is James, Cleeland, after whom the bay and streets are named after, would ride his horse, daily to the top to light the beacon on the southern most point of the island. The ocean passage being a particularly hazardous one.

The whole area used to be a farm, but they've been revegetating, getting rid of feral animals, and, whilst this is an ongoing problem, the vegetation and mutton bird nests attest to the success.

We finally got back home to find:

We had expected the front wall to come off, but not so quickly! Unfortunately, they've hit rock, so the process has slowed for the moment.

Anyway, more on Harrietville soon.

PS. Saturday I'm giving a Colour Theory and Design Workshop at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild. I hope I'm prepared and it turns out fun!

Building

OK, so this has nothing to do with textiles but, it is a momentous day. It's taken us around two years working with the architect, picking a builder, getting permits, dealing with neighbours and signing contracts, not to mention all the thinking before that! Today, they started on our extension.

We're building out the front of our house and adding a big family (read television/movie for all the boys) room, a double garage below for our cars and STORAGE SPACE. This is a very expensive way for me to get some storage space for all our accumulated collections, or more precisely, to get all the cricket bags, tennis bags, and their attendant equipment out of the house. There will be a beautiful terrace with views over to the Eaglemont hill, and, we can watch the cricket at our local cricket club!

It will take around 6 months and we're all looking forward to the changes.

Oh, and I got my haircut today, into a light fun bob sort of thing and I'm enjoying the feeling. Sorry, no pictures, you have to ask me for coffee for that!

It can't be a mistake!

Remember this:

Well, I've turned it into this:
















I love it! I've spent hours on it and the colour transitions have shown up really well, the pattern is interesting and I have enjoyed the whole process.

What's wrong? you may well ask......

I've been merrily knitting along, my only thought being that it will be lovely and swirly. So having finished it....there is no more yarn....it doesn't work as a scarf. It isn't long enough to tie, or swirly enough, or, or, or

The only thing I've come up with is a cross between a wrap and a capelet. All it needs is a pin. I need reassurance. I am going to take it along this weekend to Harrietville. A weekend away with like-minded (well, some of them, I am a bit strange!) spinners and knitters. I will put it on the show and tell table and ask for opinions....

I am NOT pulling it out!

Kreativ Blogger (Award) - blush

The lovely Kat has named me in her list of bloggers to honour. I'm blushing as this is the first time anyone has done anything like this. I love reading her blog http://thestoryofkat.blogspot.com/ and she's a lovely crafter with gorgeous bits and pieces in her Etsy shop.

Anyway, all I have to do is to tell you seven things you might not know about myself. (Deep breath, you don't have to tell things you don't want people to know.....), and, to also honour another seven bloggers in a similar way.

Seven things about me:

1. I didn't learn to swim till I was 21, and I didn't learn to ride a bike badly till I was 28. (Not sure if they're things you should admit as an Australian.


2. I always had deep desires to both paint and write. I now have done both, but not in the deeply romantic way that you might think.


3. I would love to play a musical instrument, but I have no idea what.


4. I'm only ticklish under my feet. I can release this information because my children are too old to try 'Let's tickle mummy'.

5. I like driving cars. Not driving them fast, just trying different cars. At college, I got to drive a kombi van, lime green V8 monaro (classic!), a brand spanking new datsun 120y and a few others. I did think, while I remembered this, that maybe the guys that should have been boyfriends should have been the guys that let me drive their cars??

6. My favourite movie is 'Local Hero'. I just want to go and live in a small seaside Scottish village.

7. I got my driving licence when I was 18 and the first place I drove to was my Grandma Bennett's house, about 15 minutes away. Thinking about this reminds me of how much I miss her.

I would like to nominate the following bloggers:

1. Ixchel Angora Bunny & Funky Fibre Art

2. Art journal

3. Dr Bones knits

4. Saint Verde digest

5. ii-ne-kore


They all inspire me, one way or another and this is just a little thankyou, and two more blogs, relatively new to me that I'm falling in love with:

6. Advanced Style

7. t does wool

Spinning Cassette tape and other tangles

Last Saturday was Experimental Spinning and the topic we were covering was spinning audio and video cassette tape.

I've been a bit remiss with blogging about this one, so I'm going to rectify the situation. However, thinking about this spinning raises more questions than it solves.

We didn't have many of us spinning, so were not able to explore alot of options. I used audio cassette tape and plyed it with some white top. I wrapped, around it and with it and was satisfied with the result. We did decide that to be really effective you would want thick bright coloured slubby yarn!

Some of the questions that were raised were:

1. What use would it really be, apart from 'because you can'?

2. It was reasonably soft, so would it make a hat?

3. If washed and left, would it rust AND dye the wool? (I HAVE to try this!)

Other interesting things were:

1. You need to do an awful lot of spinning to use up all those no longer used cassettes we all have lieing around the house.

2. There are lots and lots of bits in cassettes, once you pull them apart. Useful spools and potentially interesting tiny bits. (Could you glue them to glass?)

3. Don't pull apart an audio cassette tape before you spin. Cut the tape at one end and spin from the cassette, otherwise you could end up with a mess.

I now want to do some knitting with the resulting yarn and the tape on its own. I want to see how strong it is as a knitted fabric. Perhaps another sculpture or two is in order......

Drawing in the Botanical Gardens

As part of orientation week for the DVA (Diploma of Visual Arts) is a day drawing in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. Last year was rather daunting, as while I had done drawing classes, I was (and to a certain extent still am) extremely reluctant to draw in public. However, if you're going to sign up for something you might as well do it right!

Drawing is extremely important, the basis for everything that follows, an artform of itself, and it forces you to LOOK. During the process of a drawing it's fascinating to suddenly realise how closely you are looking and what you can see that you certainly didn't notice when you started.

There was significant improvement. For a start I did TWO drawings, though not completed, were taken as far as I was going to on the day. I felt far more confident. And I tried a different approach, 'encouraged' by the drawing teacher I had last year, to start working tonely with graphite, rather than with lines. I quite liked this and look forward to trying this out in the Life Drawing classes I'll be doing this year.

PS They do look better photographed rather than in the flesh!