a celebration of wool

Yesterday was the yearly celebration of wool day at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Canberra, which you probably already know. It is the first time I have made it along, I think. I did make it to another woolly thing there but don't think it was quite the same event.

What made it so special was the chance to go and hang out with one of my best friends for a couple of hours without boys. We have 4 young boys between us (2-7), and while they are gorgeous, they do not go well with wool days at the markets. Or any markets for that matter. Last time we went near a market we lost one of them for quite some time.

I went in with an agenda. I was planning to not make any impulse purchases and to only buy something for a Featherweight cardigan. I found just the thing at the first stall I visited. But then had to check out the rest before making a purchase. Worried? I had this little pit of anxiety the whole time that the first thing would be the thing and by the time I got back there it would be long gone.

Luckily it wasn't.


Still waiting for me were three skeins of lovely Glenora Weaving's possum, merino and silk blend in the most sumptuous red. I have never used possum before so I am looking forward to trying it an awful lot.

I did end up with an impulse buy. But a rather good one. I bought some very beautiful skeins from the best local dyer . One of our local snb and spinning group folks, Carrie, also held a stall with my lovely friend from Buttontree Lane.


It was a good impulse buy - I know exactly what they are both for it feels good to be able to support the amazing Carrie.

pfing

On my way to the mountains last week I detoured to Sydney to my sister's house. It was not just for the company, thai food, wine and Canasta games late into the night.

It was a carefully executed plan all for me to pick something up that has been on lay-by for months. ta-daaa.....

The logistics were something else. I put the machine on lay-by through a friend of my mothers who happened to be filling in at a sewing shop in Newcastle. I made regular payments over the phone. Last week knowing I was going to be within spitting distance of Sydney, everything was put in place for the delivery. My mother's friend had the machine transferred to the Maitland shop, where she usually worked, early in the week. Payday came Thursday and I made the final payment to the Newcastle shop. The call was made to my mothers friend to let her know it was OK to take the machine home, where my mother collected it Thursday night, lovingly strapped it into a seatbelt and brought it down to Sydney after work Friday. Thanks Mum.

Thanks to my family who all put something towards it for my birthday.

The stash diet will now be very hard to stick to! Now I am off to use it for the very very first time. I will let you know how it goes.

a little greener

photo

Lately I have been thinking more about how I am impacting on the planet. Every so often my energy and commitment to this surges - maybe it is a spring thing.

I have already ticked all the usual boxes - energy saving light globes, shower head, composting, recycling etc, but I know I could do much better. I have signed up for the million women campaign to support a great cause and also to remind me to do the right thing.

I am loving reading a blog about just one ordinary woman's efforts and the big and little things she can do and I am inspired. I have been trying to not buy, to consume less. It isn't easy at all, in fact I am finding it really tough. Buying things feels good, lets face it.

I have bought some great yarn and fabric lately, and received some fantastic swap gifts. For the remainder of 2009, I vow to not buy any new materials - no yarn, no fabric, no buttons, no clothes, nothing.

It is going to hurt, but I hope to finish a whole heap of projects I bought gear for but haven't got around to starting, and get into some more upcycling. Will you join me?

I also want to thank you so much for your encouragement when I was panicing about presenting at the conference. It really did help. I did it. It went well. I could do it again now. And it is going to look great on a CV!

the flavour of my day

looks like this

sniff. groan.

But it does give me time to put this together.

I blogged yesterday about the Sydney Stitches and Craft Fair.

see what leapt into my bag?

tally
2 skeins (one in a great scarf starter kit) of Lush Yarn
A couple of pieces of fabric from Ink and Spindle
off cut pack from Surface Art
off cut pack and a couple of cute kiddy tshirts from Sprout Design
a wonderful felt brooch from Dudley Redhead
a couple of cute badges from Shelbyville
gorgeous woollen felt from winterwood

I went over my budget. oops.

where else did we go???

you asked for it! well someone did.

The-one-day-nut-tour-of-Melbourne

Nut is our very good friend and a Melbourne resident. She worked out the places she knew I would love and then, with the pirate, made a plan for the day. see?

We started out at Olive Grove textiles on Sydney Road Brunswick - and while waiting for the magic opening time popped up the road to Sly Baby for some bargains. If you are into retro clothes it is attached to Episode, which was very very good. I picked up the great skull jacket the pirate was wearing in the last post.

So back to Olive Grove - it is a clothing and print space. The shop is mostly taken up by a huge screen printing set up with lots of great handmade clothes, bags, underwear and jewelry around it. We went because they have some kids stuff and the pirates most grooviest pants came from there. Sadly he is a little too old now for much in the way of cute stuff - they seem to stop at size 4.

From here we were back in the car and across to Fitzroy for a visit to Meet me at Mikes and the Art Souvenir Shop - here I picked up a great present for my sister which I can't talk about right now. Around the corner to Arcadia on Gertrude for the best French toast I have had in a long long time. I don't have any shots of the french toast - we were too busy eating it to take a photo. I do have a photo of the pirate's magnificent pizza though.

By now we had enough energy for the Rose Street Artist market. Oh my lordy what a place. I picked up a few bits and pieces from Neil Thomas and his Wooden Postcards.

I am still lusting over a ring I saw - it was a silver teacup and saucer.

By now the pirate was over it.

We headed over to Westgarth to visit the primary school. You might recall that the pirate's school is going to be the first Canberra school to have a Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden. You might also recall that I am designing it and am on the garden working group. Westgarth school has a very successful kitchen garden and I wanted to check it out - and how lucky was I to find a working bee in progress and the coordinator there to talk to? very.

I had a great look around, the pirate had a play and then we headed for the Flashback Fabrics. My wonderful friend kept the pirate entertained for a long long time while I looked at everything and came away with this.

By now we were very very tired. I had spent two days scooting around for work and eating great food and generally having a lovely time and then another day doing all this. It was good to retire to nut's house, open the red wine, make a curry and relax.

on the fourth day she cleaned up

Four days in a row - maybe I could have done Blogtoberfest...nah.

About a week ago I posted a question on Ravelry about inexpensive winders and swifts - which I decided I really really needed after my cowgirl fiasco. A number of clever people came up with instructions on how to make one - and I was really hoping it wouldn't come to that when Buttonbrite came up with a great link to here. So I hopped online and bought one - last Thursday I think, maybe wednesday.

So I will set the scene a little more - The pirate is home today with an infected foot and the first mate is here for the day too. It has all been going swimmingly until half an hour ago I could smell something pretty unpleasant and put the question to them.... "has anyone had an accident in their pants?' nooooooo they say as my pirate backs up to the furniture, knowing that I am about to make a lunge for the back of his pants to investigate. He was sent off to the toilet to demonstrate my maternal instincts, and sense of smell, were, of course, right. It took some cleaning up and we were almost through when the first mate came in with a confession and a request for clean underwear too. Another round of clothes, gagging ( it is always much much worse when it isn't your own isn't it?), washing and cleaning up. I am over it and wondering what I could ever do to get my almost 5 year old to GO TO THE TOILET and not try to keep it in. Frustration, weeping and holding back on a big tantrum was how I handled it - mixed in with a little parenting insecurity. The boys are fine and happy, now they are clean.

I was just scrubbing my hands, again, when there was a loud knock at the door - when I got there there was this to be seen...

sorry, couldn't wait to open it. I quickly set the electronic babysitter to 'Toy Story' and opened it properly.

wow. I have no idea how good it is but for $60 it doesn't really matter. And it has orange. I love orange.

there is a small issue of this bit broken off the top of the swift.

I am not sure if I will miss it but will call for a replacement anyway. I really really want to give it a go but have read that skeins should not be wound till they are about to be used. I will just have to finish what I am doing so I can wind something into a ball.

and that's not all - another package arrived too

love the bendy. and I have almost forgotten about the mess in the laundry to deal with.

not fair

This is a post to whinge. Please stay with me, it won't take a moment and I need to debrief.

This weekend I have organised for 4 friend families to go to jenolan caves to walk, explore eat, drink and have fun with our combined 8 kids.

It took almost 6 months to coordinate around shift work, other engagements and work commitments.

I have now booked the rooms, given everyone instructions on meals to prepare, what to bring, costs, directions, dietry considerations, etc etc etc

But, more than 3 months ago I sprained my ankle and it is not better. I was under instructions to carry on as normal so I have - but today - 3 days before the trip - I went to my doctor with my MRI results and he stuck a needle in my ankle and then told me I had to take it very easy - definitely no bushwalking and no cave stairs for one week. No caves!

But, there will be lots and lots of knitting - as compensation, and champagne, and red wine, and really good food. I might even teach my sister to knit cause she won't be doing the caves either - which is a whole other story. So I get to hang out with my sister and knit - it is not so bad. But I really really wanted to go on walks and in caves with the pirate and now I won't be there when he sees his first cave or finds his pirate treasure.

but again there is the knitting... of the
luminaire socks

and a funky felted bag for my laptop

from Not Your Mama's knitting

and maybe even this if the cowgirl yarn turns up in time

and if I am very very lucky I can drive up there in this....well not quite this, but I bought one almost the same, only older, diesel and red and will take posession either Friday or Monday. eeek.

my new sunny boy

isn't she cute? - and so wonderfully, wonderfully red. Quilting Mick makes things you just have to love to bits. I have filled it with my odds and sods and already feel like my red sunny boy will be with me for a long time.

and I dropped by The Front cafe at Lyneham shops today while waiting for a script at the chemist (the pirate has a throat infection) and found this magnificent exhibition filling the gallery space. I just love artwork that is lots of bits that make up the whole and this one is made up of tags with portrait sketches with copies of brain scans on the back and is by Victoria Lees. The pirate was impressed and even managed to not destroy it with the light saber.

and for information -the blocking went very well and I am a convert. It looks like the cardigan will even be wearable - you will probably have an idea of how much of a relief that is.