Not another Mystery KAL!

As I seem to be spending my time today doing anything but important things that do need doing, I might as well add in a blog entry, for good measure.

My wasting time project is the HWSG Mystery Knit A-Long that has been divulged over the last four Treadles newsletters. You can catch up with others that are also participating, at Ravelry on the Guild's Forum.

I'm not usually very good at the KAL's as I either run out of time or enthusiasm, but I've decided to do this one with the dual purpose of supporting this lovely effort and making a blanket for my oldest son.

So far I've completed the first three along with two filler squares. I'm using blue for the pattern squares and brown for the fillers, all from stash. Yet another attempt to stash bust!

So, today I finished the second brown square for last month and have now started this month's square. Called 'Sea of Cables' it gives me a good chance to practice cabling without a cable needle. It is possible. Here's a video to show you how. Isn't it wonderful what you can learn on the net, though I did learn how to the old-fashioned way, in a class. 

Catching a train tomorrow, so more knitting!

Discoveries in books and knitting

I had a week of finding some new books, among them was the following small volume;

It contains lots of patterns with delightfully difficult names like Aggregation, Anfractuous, Phyllotaxy. They all refer to different patterns found in nature.

I've had this idea of using knitting to respond to the world around me and being so taken with this book I've decided to have a go. The first pattern is Agglomeration which refers to two things not totally mixing.

 This is the first pattern I've tried. One of the difficulties is finding the right size of the pattern. It's about 7cm square, which is about enough to do in a day, if required. It might mean that you could knit en plein aire.

More of this to come.

Sock Madness 10 has started!

Yes, it's started again.....Sock Madness, number 10. Last year I actually made it to Round 6. Remember the first five rounds: last blog in May. So far we've had two warm up socks and I've just finished the first round.

The first sock, called SlipStripSpiral, is a mix of two yarns in a simple, but very effective slip stitch pattern, the interesting thing is the jogless change of the stripes. One colour is used for the toe, heel and cuff. So for the second sock I reversed the pattern for these. It makes an interesting fraternal pair of socks.

Last year one of the socks was based upon the Stroopwafel biscuit, apparently a favourite of the Dutch and Sock Madness participants. A friend gave me some last year, and, this year, the lovely Fitzie (on Ravelry) has given me more. I don't know if they do make me knit faster, but who's to argue!

 The first round finishes on the 14th March, so if you're interested go see Sock Madness on Ravelry.
I'm looking forward to being put in a team and seeing how far I get this year.

Meandering Mind

All bloggers seem to have a love/hate relationship with their blogging. I would like to do more, I always thought that being a writer would be nice....even though I can't write well! My initial reason for blogging, that is keeping myself focused on my work isn't really needed anymore, studios, exhibitions have all added to that and I can say that I do work. So why write now? Because I want to. Do I care if nobody reads it? Sort of, not really, maybe??

So, where am I?

With a studio at 601 Waterdale Rd.

 I'm working on my red madness. Three metres of all sorts of yarns with a woven backing. Don't know if it's going to work yet.

Working on using recycled materials found at 601. Look what a bit of old rope can do!

Participating in the projects of the Textile Art Community making community works for an exhibition in June. This is my Daily Weave project and the second length finished by some willing helpers. 

Whilst at home, I'm participating in Sock Madness (on Ravelry). This is the first pair of warm-up socks, before the main game in March.

Finally, trying to finish the now woven Samoyed Blanket. Just working on the edges before washing.

Found at 601

This was my first full week at 601 Waterdale Rd, and I could choose and select things for the shop and for my use. We sell beautiful things at crazy prices, I'm having to get used to how things work. There are amazing things that come in the skips, some rubbish, but many little joys. These are some that I liked this week.

This is just gorgeous. Inside is a little mirror. Not a necklace, like a tiny purse!

A little pair of vases, beautiful enamel.

A beautiful glass bowl, nobody buys glass, but maybe for $10 somebody will?

I love this tray basket, it would be mine if I could think of something to use it for!

Tiny tins, for tiny things.

I wonder what will come in next week! For more come and see us at 601 Waterdale Rd, West Heidelberg.

An exciting new adventure!

It's been a funny year! After finishing up at Greensborough, the previous October, I managed to participate in two exciting exhibitions: the Toyota Sculpture Award and the Wangaratta  Contemporary Textile Art Award. I felt very special being chosen for these two amazing exhibitions.

Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award

With these under my belt, my partner and I headed off to the UK for 6 weeks, finishing with a stopover in Vienna where we met up with friends. An amazing trip.

Like all trips they come to an end and you feel just a little let down, and it's not just the jet lag! It's taken to now to feel that I have a new focus.

Just before going away I was invited to participate in a new venture, the Textile Art Community. Unfortunately, being away for six weeks meant that all I could do was read emails, I did go to their opening, where they were weaving straw animals. This is where I met up with Annie, a friend from my Visual Arts course. She was looking for someone to share her studio and shop and with some trepidition I have taken up the offer.

Annie's upcycling sculpture

601 Waterdale Rd, is a community of people based around recycling and the skips that come in each week. There are those that sort the recycling, and make furniture from what they can. There is ReVamp (Annie) who takes both collectables and makes things into Art, selling them in her shop. And there is the Textile Art Community (Gail) who are also make use of the available recyclable materials. It's a new venture, an amazing place and I'm happy to be joining it.

My space, waiting for a table to arrive..in a skip...for my loom!

This week was my first week and it's been hectic and exciting as I battle a cold and try and make my part of the studio my own, try and join the activities and help with the shop. It's just been fun.

So, come and say hello, it's an amazing place and you never know what you will find. It's open every day from 10 till 3pm. I'll be there Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays each week. I'll be there at other times, but more irregularly as I try and fit this in with my schedule of other activities.

601 Waterdale Rd, West Heidelberg (next to the bus depot)
10am-3pm daily

Hope to see you there!

Stainless steel and silk heaven

I've finally felt like working and with a commission as incentive, I ordered 5 cones of the gorgeous stainless steel and silk from Dairing.

As well, I've finally moved my knitting machine into oldest son's bedroom. It isn't technically his room any more as he lives in a shared house in Thornbury, but that's what I've called it! The knitting machine has been sitting idle in the garage since the closing of TSBtextile in Greensborough, so I was a little worried about the state it was in.

Really.....it was more about me than the machine. It's never been so well loved as I cleaned and oiled my way to finding that I'd put it together incorrectly......twice! It's now singing happily and I've finished the first scarf and working on the second.

I use the knitting machine because it creates the fabric quickly, but also, it is alot easier to simply create folds which give the fabric a 3-D bounce making it interesting. I create different sorts of folds, some just pick up stitches 5 or 10 rows below, sometimes I move the picked up stitches to twist the fabric. And this time with the last cone, I'll try something new.

As well, I'm trying to be efficient and recording what I do and how long it takes, always an interesting occupation.