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.

Little bit of my weekend

Anyone want?

GONE! Full Twin Peaks series on video. I forgot to get out the separate pilot episode for the photo but it's included too. I love, love, love this show. K bought it for me many years ago (a big purchase at the time). I knew about it when it first aired on TV, but I wasn't allowed to stay up late enough to watch it - even though it seemed like everyone at school was watching it. It would have scared me way too much anyway.

I've now replaced it with the DVD edition so can't justify keeping the videos - does anyone local want to take them off my hands? Otherwise they'll go to Lifeline.

And this is another beloved TV series (both seasons) that I've recently replaced with DVDs - Poldark. Ordered in from the UK for me (and a similarly obsessed friend) one video at a time back when K was at Impact Records. If you follow my 'books I've read recently' list in the right-hand sidebar you might have noticed I've been rereading the Winston Graham series lately. He also wrote the book that the Hitchcock movie "Marnie" was based on. Closer to home, my sister was named after one of the characters in Poldark.


Edited to add:
I'm finding more as I go along: there is also:
- the Godfather Box set (3 movies).
- the miniseries of Stephen King's The Stand.
- the movie the Exorcist
- the movie the Abyss
- the movie Lost Highway by David Lynch

I'm just trying to steer this boat

This is the knitted man jewellery I was talking about. The pattern is the Herringbone Leather Cuff from Alterknits by Leah Radford. The black one, made for K for his birthday (and completed in one long Friday evening) is knitted from black waxed cotton - a substitute for leather cord. Large quantities of 1mm leather cord are both hard to find, and pretty expensive. I made it slightly narrower than the pattern and added repeats to make it longer as well.

During the Noosa weekend I made another one. The red part is hemp. This time I reduced the width even more to allow for the different gauge. I knew I was a bit short on the hemp and had thought I could try knitting stripes or sections in the black cotton, but the gauge difference spoiled that plan.

Instead I did the crochet edging in the black and used a few extra rows on the ends to make it long enough.

It took a couple of tries to get the crochet looking ok, and it's not perfect but then we know I'm not a perfectionist. I wasn't sure if it was dorky but both K and the recipient's girlfriend approved it before I handed it over.

Koala in the wild

While walking in Noosa National Park we spotted a koala sleeping high in a tree (they're nocturnal). We were surprised to find one so near the path - probably enjoying the ocean breezes.

There is a set of my Noosa photos on Flickr.

It's the end of the weekend, again

Exquisite is now open at Craft Act and goes until 20 December; above is the lot I have put in the exhibition. A couple of items sold during the opening, which is very encouraging. It really is a lovely and varied show with a lot of affordable pieces for Christmas shopping.

And these special-order bright pears were my best attempt at, as requested, a shifting series of colours and as bright as possible. They are intended for someone who is mostly blind but can sometimes see bright colours on a good day. Of course, they're a tactile pleasure (if you like felt) even in the dark.