Some of the things I did

Yesterday I...
Gave two family members unfinished gifts (not the first time that's happened)
Did enough driving around town that I probably could have reached Sydney if I had kept going in just one direction.
Confirmed that yes, an impending house move is stressful
And had a lovely Christmas in spite of myself.

Today I...
Paid the rent for the last time
Mowed the grass in the backyard of the house the bank kindly bought for us
Finished one of those unfinished gifts
Tried a different browser
And went for a bike ride around empty Boxing Day evening streets.

In case you're wondering, at the moment, the piano is still available.
The piano has a new home.

Free to a good home

If you want a piano - oldish, in ok condition - or know anyone in Canberra who might, let me know asap.

It's a Symphony Royal made by C.E. Davies and Sons.

Conversion, transformation ... alchemy?

This is what keeps me coming back to felting again and again.

The transformation of wool yarn into felt.

And the way lots of separate colours become a visual mixture.

Although sometimes a pretty knitted fabric has to be sacrificed. No pain, no gain, right?

Just look away now if you've seen enough pears

This makes me happy: two friends who are both artists bought a cool dozen pears from me, to give as Christmas presents.

Mostly, they chose from a bundle I had already made. But they did also ask me if I could make a couple more, including a container pear.
Quite a few people have been drawn to the container version when they see my Minicard with that photo. That big one was my very first pear attempt, and my first lidded container attempt too. Until now I've just thought of it as an imperfect prototype (which my sister loves), and I'd put off trying to make another one.

But I realised that I have made a couple of lidded containers now, and although the first one (pink, above) had a lid that didn't fit perfectly, the next one (pale, below) worked better.


So I was ready to try again.

It's made from Sean Sheep Armytage in Key Lime. I'm almost out of my beloved Armytage, so if you see anyone destashing that lovely stuff, in any colours, please let me know, ok?

I'm pretty pleased with it, although I think it's a bit tall. I think it looks like a small pear sitting on top of a bowl.

And yes the upper part is hollow too.

Safe within its silent socket - he holds a coloured crayon.

Sunnyboy and the Louvre Pyramid.

Back in September, when I packed a small knitting project* for the Europe trip, I envisaged coming back with a whole series of these photos of my Sunnyboy pouch by Quiltingmick posting in front of various landmarks. The Louvre photo was the one I really wanted - and I wish I had spent more time composing the shot, but I think I was distracted by those cute kids.

Alas, the series didn't come about because the whole two weeks was flat out. Tourist opportunities often came straight after work activities, and I generally didn't carry my knitting around with me.

Sunnyboy pouch takes a train from Lillehammer to Oslo.

Most of the knitting I got done was on three train journeys, two of which were significantly delayed. At least you can see that the Sunnyboy made an excellent travel knitting pouch.

*Did you believe I only packed one project? ha, no, of course there was a backup - in spite of my efforts to pack very light - and it didn't get touched.