She meant you no harm

Knit1blog1 was thrown open on Friday night ('twas Bells' birthday too!) and a good time was had, with drinks before and during, and dinner with family and friends afterwards. Apparently at the opening my nephew was recognised because of the jumper he was wearing. Better yet, his first word to me on arriving was 'jumper'! Aw.

The exhibition is on from 14 July - 26 August, at Craft ACT Gallery Two, 1st Floor, North Building, 180 London Circuit, Canberra. Craft ACT is open from 10:00 AM - 4:00PM, Tuesday to Friday, and 12:00 noon - 4:00PM, Saturday and Sunday.

Since I have been blabbing on to various people about how I am 'totally public' online and don't care who knows that I blog, I'm thinking I might be brave and tell all my colleagues about the exhibition. Maybe it will give them a better idea of what Wednesdays are about for me (I don't work on Wednesdays). I don't mind at all the idea of anyone checking out the exhibition, nor the idea of people finding the blog. I like it. Except for just one type of reaction.

After I said my little piece at the French 'Passion Night', a man came over to me during one of the breaks and said quite bluntly "I didn't understand what you were talking about. What are these things?". He had that tone that said 'what you're doing appears to be weird. Explain yourself'. And even as I instantly assessed him as one of those and felt annoyed, still I floundered to explain to his satisfaction, even grabbing my felted camera case out of my bag to demonstrate that felting has more practical applications (why SHOULD it?).

I don't mind if people are curious and ask questions. I don't mind if you don't even think it's very interesting. Just don't give me that attitude that I am obliged to explain why this is a worthy use of my time! I guess, though, that if you talk about the odd things you do, and show them to the world, you have to expect a variety of reactions.

That pair of pink and purple pots from the other day garnered a bit of interest, and both have found excellent homes. One is holding pens at DJZ's place of work, and the other will be travelling to New Jersey to the lovely Donna Lee's place, just as soon as I felt it, and also hunt down some Aussie sock yarn for a swap.

Honourable mention goes to Taph's comparison of the blended colour scheme to 'a passionate bruise' - almost makes me want to do it again!

I'm on a wavelength far from home

Last Friday night the Alliance Français held a 'Passion night' for students to practice their French with a presentation or performance of some sort.

Only two others from my class participated, and I was reluctant but at the urging of our teacher, I found myself agreeing to 'have a go' at writing a little something that I could read out. I ended up writing a short piece about knitting and felting. (If you really want to read a beginner's short, stilted French composition, you can see it here.) I only wrote it on the Wednesday and sent it to my teacher with apologies and, you know, 'no worries at all if he didn't have time to look at it'. He offered to work on it with me before the event started, but I wasn't able to get away from work early enough, and turned up only just before the start on Friday night.

I was happy enough to think that I might just hang out in the audience with a glass of wine. But my teacher asked to see my text and started to make the corrections straight away. He had trouble with some of the things I was trying to say, and I had to sacrifice my favourite sentence, about 'mistreating' the wool. I don't know if I was using the verb correctly but maybe because he wasn't familiar with knitting, let along felting, I didn't seem to have gotten the concept across to his satisfaction. I wonder what he thought I meant?

The actual performance went well. It felt like most of the audience got what I was talking about (and this is not a given, when most of them were beginner students too). I was happy that I avoided using the microphone and was able to project my voice enough for the size of the room. I think my piece was the shortest one of the night - and some of them were several pages long! They must have taken a long time to write. I was surprised at the level of participation, and the range of 'passions' people both talked about, and demonstrated. There was the lady who tap-danced, a man who juggled and rode a unicycle, a singer, and several powerpoint presentations, including a very funny re-imagining of the gingerbread man story as a little man of cheese (l'homme de fromage). The highlight was the Mexican girl who spoke about her home - in French of course - and finished up by making a pitcher of margaritas. Yum.

Since my language was so limited, I thought I had better have examples to show, in the hope that some of the audience might get what I was talking about. So I had made and brought along this pair of pots, knit exactly the same, but only one of them felted.



It had occurred to me that a pair like this might be a good item to enter for the Knit1Blog1 exhibition. Since I often like to put a pre-felting photo on my blog, this would be a way to show the same sort of contrast, as part of the exhibition.

Unfortunately I wasn't completely happy with the finished shape; and I was uncomfortable with the pink and dark purple sections at the top and bottom too. I think I threw it the colours together in too much of a hurry. I really do like pink. And that dark purple is my go-to old favourite for felting. I actually don't mind it in the unfelted version, but the way the pink and purple merged when it was felted.....was it too girly? whatever it was, it was not 'me' enough to go in the exhibition.



So last weekend I had another go, using the same purple Cosy Wool and the same multicoloured Lincraft Big Wool, but pairing it with a lovely green from the recently aquired vintage boodle. And I am much happier with the result.

Oh, I forgot scale objects again - felted they are about 10cm high.

The green and purple pair have been submitted for the exhibition. The pink and purple ones are languishing here at home. So, how does this sound: if there are two girls' blouses in the comments to say they want one, can have 'em! (I'll felt the second one if anyone wants it).



And look at this! Last night when I arrived at stitch n bitch, Happyspider threw this pretty skein my way. She said she didn't realise til after she dyed it, that it was really too scratchy. I think it's going to felt beautifully. Oh yes, it has pinks and purples too, but the colours are more varied, and more masterfully put together than my example above. This photo doesn't capture it, the true colours are a little bit brighter and redder.

Edited to clarify: Scratchy wool is a great candidate for felting, both because I'm not making garments that need to be soft, and the felting process actually softens the wool a lot anyway. It's so nice to be part of a community that shares not just advice but precious stash.

Oui! Je parle Français, un peu

Yesterday I finally got around to seeing the marvellous exhibition, Egyptian Antiquities from the Louvre, at the National Gallery. Because it finishes very soon, I was afraid I had left it a bit late and would face horrific crowds, but it turned out to be okay, plenty of people but certainly enough room to move.



My knowledge about the ancient Egyptians was really pretty hazy, and I found this exhibition fascinating and informative. There was lots of information to read, which I always love to see, with introductions to each room, and specific stories/detail relating to many of the items. Now that I think about it, it was more of a museum show than an art show, though I don't think there is a hard and fast line between the two.

Highlights included a mummified cat, a stone sarcophagus, painted wooden mummy cases, a papyrus Book of the Dead spanning three walls of a big room, and several amazingly detailed bronze sculptures. I especially loved two ornate spoons (one pictured above).

As a bonus, since the show is entirely from the Louvre, all the descriptions of the items were written in French as well as English. So I made a point of reading all of them, noting a few new words and phrases, and called it a study session as well. Très bon.

So I've sat and I've watched an ice-age thaw

Yesterday I enrolled in a French language course.

After many years of thinking I'd like to learn a language, and at least a couple of years thinking I'd like it to be French, then at least the last few months talking about it... I actually did it.

One of the reasons I haven't done it sooner is that I'm afraid I might not have enough of a reason or motivation to learn a language. It's a big, difficult undertaking. I don't have specific plans to live in a French-speaking country. I don't have French-speaking family members.

Also, you can't learn a language without trying to speak it and making mistakes. I am a big coward and don't want to make a fool of myself. I know that as I progress, I will learn faster if I take every opportunity to talk with people I come across who know French, and I am afraid that I just won't do it. I think of my young cousin in Poland who was studying English at school but refused to even try to speak with me. Even though it would have been great, since almost no one else in the family had any English, I completely understood her embarassment and shyness.

And, it's four hours a week plus study time. That's a big commitment. I haven't been a student since 1997, and although I liked uni, I have never really missed that feeling of always having assignments and study I could be doing. But here's the funniest part. Because I don't want to give up several evening committments, I've chosen the Saturday MORNING 9am to 1pm class. That's ONE FOUR-HOUR CLASS, people!

And I am just not a morning person.

Almost all of my uni courses involved a lot of essay and report writing, even the exams. I never did much that you have to just flat-out memorise. I never really learned how to sit and study for extended periods. For exams I used to just go through my notes a couple of times, and hope that I would be able to handle all the questions based on my understanding of the content we had covered, rather than trying to memorise a lot of specific facts.

So the thought of vocabulary lists has me feeling a bit clammy. A friend described the use of flash cards and that made me feel better instantly. Sounds like a good, practical method.

I know I've taken better photos, but the one above was shot from the window of my charming hotel room, on the morning of my one-night-only trip to Paris (October 2004). It sits in a little frame right next to my desk at work. That trip was magical and I know I'll be back. That's motivating.