Use What You Have Month

I haven't written so far about my Use What You Have Month. I have managed not to buy any craft materials except for a few bits I needed for my course (and for this Friday I genuinely don't need to buy anything new! I really will be using What I Have). However I haven't managed to stop buying magazines, naughty me. I did also buy one book - I really wasn't going to buy any craft books this month but this one on art quilts was exaclt what I had been looking for to help with my two major assignments due at the end of semester :)

I have made a number of things Using What I Have. For my April colourswap I sent off some sock yarn from my stash, plus I made something out of yarn and beads also from my stash (she hasn't got them yet so I won't post any more details just yet). I made myself a pair of orange (and pink) socks from yarn I had dyed at the start of the year; and I am halfway through another pair of socks also from yarn dyed then. I have knitted my mum a scarf out of (shock horror) eyelash yarn (for Mothers' Day) and I;m knitting myself a short keyhold scarf out of the same stuff for myself, all from the stash. And I think I will knit my mum a short keyhole scarf in another eyelash yarn from the stash, and use the rest of it for a long scarf for myself. I don't like novelty yarns a whole lot but this is really soft, long eyelash yarn that actually feels rather nice against the neck. Photos eventually. So pretty much all month has been spent using stuff from the stash, which I am pleased with.

I have also gone on a longer term Yarn Diet. See that ticker at the top of the blog? I'm in a challenge being run by Rebekah of Knit Knack blog (see my sidebar) which is a yarn diet with a difference. (Or you could call it a cop-out if you were feeling sarcastic!) We try not to buy any yarn for three months EXCEPT we have one free day per month (which can be cumulative). All participants donate some yarn, enough to make a scarf or pair of socks, and at the end of the three months the winner (or winners) get a share of the pot, so to speak. So far I have really not bought any yarn at all and I am so proud of myself! I even passed up the quite good and very cheap printed sock yarn I saw in Lincraft last week. I am expecting a big haul of sock yarn from Sockmonster (see sidebar) soon, but I ordered that halfway through March so I think I get let off that - anyway, I still have my free day for April. I had also signed up for a sock club but I;lm happy for that to be my yarn buying day each month over the next three months, anyway.

Project Colourswap

Project Colourswap is an offshoot of Project Spectrum (see my sidebar for a link). I have just about finished putting together my parcel to send off for April - I had to wait for some glue to dry on something before finishing it off, which I will do this evening.

There is a new questionnaire for the project which I will post here now:

Are you crafty? YES!!!!!

Would you enjoy things like: Buttons, ribbons andembellishments? Buttons and embellishments, not so enthusiastic about ribbons

Do you dye your own wool? One of my favorite things! I;m especially interested in dyeing sock wool right now.

Do you like to scrapbook or make homemade cards? Not really

What are your favorite scents? Floral scents, but either pure ones (like rose scent that actually smells like roses, or lavender, etc) or floral and/or green scents that are not too sweet or too spicey. NOT VANILLA OR TEA TREE OIL, they make me feel sick.

Do you like stationery and cards? Love cards, don't really use other stationery

Do you like to sew or embroider items? Just become obsessed with this!

Do you like beads? MMMM BEADS.... Yes, in other words :)

What kind of candy do you like? Not a big candy fun though do like chocolate and toffee.

Do you like hand lotions or soaps? Love 'em!

Do you like to wear costume jewelry? Necklace,earrings, bracelets etc. Yes, love it!

Do you like to make/or use stitch markers? Occasionally use them, don't make them, but love gorgeous ones.

Do you collect anything? Tiny teddy bears; things to do with wolves, bats or polar bears, or pharoah hounds; I also like dragons and Celtic and medieval things

Do you have any allergies?: Smoke, food, fiber, pets,etc. Smoke, most definitely. Can't wear mohair around my neck but can tolerate it otherwise, no other fiber problems.

Do you have any hobbies? All fiber related ones! Knitting, crochet, emrboidery, patchwork (sort of), textile art. Currently very interested in collecting variegated embroidery threads, of any composition or thickness.

Do you like scented or unscented candles? Don't like candles, sorry.

Are you a fiber snob? A bit - I don't like really plasticy feeling acrylics.

Do you like to play cards or board games? Only a little bit.

Do you like neon colors, pastel, light or mediumranges in the color of the month? Any and all! I LOVE COLOUR!

Do you like kitchen magnets or key rings? I do, indeed.

Do you like picture frames? Yes, sort of - I do like them but I don't really have any nor am I sure if I would use them.


I will finish off my thingy that I am making to send - which will be accompanied with a few other, colour appropriate things - to my pal on Saturday.

Project Spectrum - April - Orange/Yellow

I did this applique for my course a couple of weeks ago. We had to draw still lives with fruit and/or vegetables in charcoal - something that put me off art at school and which I still loathe to do (the still life, not the charcoal particularly, though goodness it is messy!). This is my stitched version of sweet potatoes. Each potato is layered organza using different combinations of red, orange and yellow, and then details stitched in using a variety of orange, green and beige threads. The painting around the outside was a moment of desperation when I couldn't decide how to finish it, and then I added a few orange blobs to the sweet potatoes too. It was surprisingly good fun, considering how much I hated the drawing process. Interestingly, I chose all the materials in daylight, and when the finished product is viewed under artificial light it doesn't work nearly as well, as the organza is quite sparkly and that's what you end up focussing on. This photo looks like the piece does in daylight. I have never done this sort of thing before and I am quite pleased with myself. 

Project Spectrum - April - Orange/Yellow

 

The Endeavour - or, What I Did on My Holidays Part 2

We went around the Endeavour, which is a replica of the ship was Captain Cook was sailing when he discovered Australia. This replica was made for our Bicentenary in 1987. It is a very faithful reproduction and it is a rare treat for it to be docked in Melbourne, so it was great fun to see it. We spent a couple of hours crawling around it - quite literally in the part where the clearance was only 4'!!! George took a couple of most unflattering pictures of me getting down to crawl through that bit. They are NOT in this picture collage!!! 

The Buddy System - or, What I Did In My Holidays Part 1

It's nearly two weeks since the end of the school holidays and I have pictures still to post. The Buddy System was an interesting interactive art happening where we became part of the exhibition. Participants crocheted a flower, which was then pinned to the wall. The flowers are then posted on to your nominated Loved One at the end of the exhibition, extending the reach of lovingly made craft pieces into the outer world. Non-crocheters were taught to do chains in green wool that became the connecting pieces. I had Baby Bear (12) and her friend C (13), who is a crafty male who already knits rather well. They were both very enthusiastic about learning to do the chains. It was a fun half hour and C found himself the centre of attention as EVERONE wanted to see a 13 year old boy crocheting!! It was fun, though admittedly the crochet lessons were a bit sketchy and all the yarn was the most disgusting plastic acrylic - I understand why, as they were supplying it, but I HATE using the stuff! I also felt a bit incompetent as I could only remember one flower pattern, but the wall was full of gorgeous flowers made off site by other people who obviously had access to patterns. I could have done a great one with a pattern! I really liked the interactive approach and it will look very pretty when it is finished - and I like the ephemeral feelings about flowers and about this exhibition - but there was something about the atmosphere that I still can't my finger on that I did not enjoy.

A later note - George read this entry and said that every time he wandered into the room (he was keeping Wombat entertained elsewhere in the gallery) he felt completely frozen out and very unwelcome. And he is someone who schmoozes with women of all ages/sizes/shapes/nationalities to an almost embarassing extent. He and I are both very sensitive to atmospheres and the 'auras', for want of a better word, of people, and it's interesting that we both apparently had similar feelings. And no, we hadn't discussed it at the time.

My Beautiful International Scarf Exchange Scarf

A little late, but no less beautiful, this is my International Scarf Exchange Scarf from Tina. Tina has no blog or website and barely posted to the ISE blog, so I know almost nothing about her, but she sure knows how to pick the most beautiful colours. This is a gorgeous thick and thin yarn, fairly coarse but I just adore the way the colours meld into each other. I have emailed her to thank her and to ask what the yarn is, but I haven't heard back. Whatever it is, I just love it! 

G is for Green

 

G is for Green

 

G is for Green

Green is one of my all time favorite colours! (The others being pink, blue and purple - in no particular order). Green is the colour of nature and it soothes me and makes me feel at peace. I've made a collage of sundry green images that I liked and I feel good just looking at it. Most of the plants are in my garden; the skeins of yarn are from Lorna's Laces and will become lacey scarves or shawls one day; and the tub full of yarn is my Green box and it is overflowing! 

Project Spectrum - March - Red/Pink

 

Project Spectrum - March - Red/Pink

Sirius says that her collar is in honour of Project Spectrum this month!! Notice her pink nose and lips - Pharoah hounds blush when they are happy!

School Holidays

We are slowly reaching the end of these unseasonably early school holidays here at Chez Sheep Rustler. They were brought forward by four weeks to coincide with the Commonwealth Games. This meant that first term was a headlong, breathless rush, and everyone has to cope with a 12 week term starting next week. Easter will at least give us a long weekend soonish, but we think we may take the kids out of school for a couple of days mid term and give them another long weekend, just so that they can make it to the end of term!

Wombat came down with an ear infection three days before the end of last term and so started his holidays earlier than I really wanted him to. It meant I had to miss my TAFE Classes on the last Friday as George was in Sydney. George's mum did offer to come down but as I have to leave at 8.30am she would have had to have caught a train at 6.30am and that would have been just too cruel! Besides which she then got caught up in a real family drama which has resulted in her having to hare off to Broken Hill for a month to care for her sister-in-law.

Poor Wombat took a good ten days to get over the ear problem, including three visits to the doctor, antibiotic eardrops, oral antibiotics and an ear washing out session. It left him very clingy and I am, I;m afraid, looking forward to some time without him following me from room to room all day. Yes, he gets plenty of attention from me, but it would be nice not to have to be in the same room as him all the time.

Baby Bear usually spends a week in Moe during school holidays, but that hasn't been able to happen this time. So she and Wombat have been at each other's throats half the time. And because she is used to having that week of one-on-one attention during the holidays, which I just can't give her with Wombat around, she is getting clingy too and I have trouble getting any time to myself at all. All of this plus the fact that George, despite repeated promises to sort things out and stop doing it, is still going up to Sydney at least every second week and the people in the Sydney office are now treating him as a Sydney employee who should be there whenever they say Jump. (Not that they have given him an office, or a desk, or a computer, or a phone line...) And whenever I complain he says he will talk to such-and-such and it will stop - and they have the conversation and he tells me that it will stop, then nothing happens and he tells me I don't understand the politics of it. What I do understand is that it is wearing him out to the extent that I am afraid he is going to have a heart attack, and driving me into a depression that eventually I won't be able to climb out of.

Despite all this we have had some nice times over the holidays. George took a day off on Monday and we went into the city and went to the Museum to see the props used during the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. Only unfortunately instead of going to see them straight away (it being the supposed reason for out visit) George insisted on us going round most of the Museum first, until Wombat was on a verge of a wobbly, and then we had to race around the exhibition in five minutes flat. It;s a great museum (I hadn't been to it since it moved into the new building) and I really enjoyed it, but I think we should have done things the other way round. We took three boys who are friends of ours and it worked really well, as everyone had someone to keep them company without fighting. The alarming thing is that these kids (they have a little sister too, who we didn't take as the car only has seven seats) and our kids look sufficiently alike to pass for siblings, and the various heights (more so than the actual ages) made them look as though they could just be all the one family. Scary thought!!

Knittingwise - I am three quarters of the way through a second sock; I have been working on my Project Spectrum project for March, the pink Kid Silk Haze Trinket scarf; the Diamond Patch jumper has not been touched for about four weeks; I am making a hat for Beyond Blue, or rather the Blue Hat Project, which is an exhibition and then charity auction for our deperession charity; and I have made a turquoise curly whirly for Baby Bear which i must photograph. I probably won't finish Trinket by the end of March because we are having a late burst of hot weather and KSH is horrible to use in hot weather - and I can't even use it sitting in front of a fan because it is so featherweight that it blows around and annoys me!! But I have vowed to start and mostly work on a project for each month of Project Spectrum in the relevant colour/s.

And now to get the pizza dough out of the breadmaker and make pizza!!

Use What You Have

OK, this is going to be a hard one. Inspired by Simple Sparrow and Whip Up (see my side bar for URLs) I am going to endeavour to use the month of April to Use What I Have. No craft purchases FOR A WHOLE MONTH and to use things that I already have to make something. I will only buy stuff if I absolutely need it for the course (every week we are given a list of things to bring for next week, some of which I have and some of which I don't). I was momentarily worried about Project Spectrum for April, which is Yellow and Orange, becasue they are colours I don't normally use. But I will take photos of appropriate things around the place, and I do have some mostly orange sock wool that I was planning to use anyway.

What a challenge!!!

F is for Fabric

Over the years I have accumulated quite a lot of fabric of one sort and another. I used to make most of my own clothes. I don't really now, because I have branched off in other directions and found that I was resenting the time it took me to do dressmaking. So now I buy most of my clothes and have pretty much decided to have a holiday from dressmaking.

I used to dabble in patchwork. I have a goodly accumulation of patchwork fabrics. But I discovered that I hate, and am not good at, quilting, so I gave up on patchwork. That fabric won't be wasted though, there are lots of smaller projects that don't need proper quilting that I plan to do in good time.

And lots of that fabric can find other uses, too. I am now constantly on the lookout for interesting background fabrics for embroidery - which is what this lot of four is for.

The funny thing is, when I started the Studio Stitch course I went in there not really wanting to do embroidery - I wanted to use scrumbling as much as possible. But I have rapidly become quite obsessed with embroidery and keep reading books about it and even dreaming of projects I could do.

F is for Fleece

I have lots of greasy wool fleece stuffed away in the shed. My MIL has lots and lots and LOTS more greasy fleece waiting for me to use. I adore dyeing my own yarn. My spinning is not great but I like to use the results in scrumbling, whre it doesn't matter if they are even or perfect.

This is the first dyed fleece that I have bought. I dom't know if I will spin it or use it for other things. I also bought a couple of needlefelting needles at the same time. I would like to try needlefelting, both to make 3D objects and to try putting down stuff on fabric to embroider over.

Project Spectrum - March - Red/Pink

I've decided that for each month of Project Spectrum I am going to take photos of things in the appropriate colours - as already posted - as I have found this to be a great way of starting to look at the things around me. (The course is starting to make me look at EVERYTHING differently!!)

But I am also going to do at least one project per month that also corresponds with the relevant colour/s. This is Trinket by Kim Hargreaves, which is going to be so beautiful when it is finished! I lashed out and bought the kit, which is the only way you can get the pattern. I will probably use other yarns to knit it again and again as it is so pretty. It's easy to knit, too, and once you have memorised the pattern (quite quickly!) it is perfect TV knitting, but it looks so clever because it is on the diagonal! However, I have a confession to make. After lusting after Rowan Kid Silk Haze for the past couple of years, and taking out a second mortgage to buy this lot plus another three balls of a different colour, I am forced to admit that I don't think it is worth the money!! It is very nice, certainly, but when I put it against my neck it itches. A bit of a disadvantage with a scarf! But I can wear scarves so that they don't touch the skin on my neck (it doesn't get cold enough here to really need them wrapped tightly around for warmth). It is a sweet yarn and comes in delectable colours and looks cute knitted up - but I don't think I will be buying it again. I can just see this pattern knitted up in a lovely laceweight that doesn't have mohair in it. I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that I just can't wear mohair against my skin, no matter how expensive and desirable it is!! 

Project Spectrum - March - Red/Pink

 

Project Spectrum - March - Red/Pink

 

Project Spectrum - March - Red/Pink