Art Installation

Peanut butter. Renters' solution to not being able to bang nails into the wall?

Tickled Pink

Finally my camera has batteries! Does anyone know the difference between a hank and a skein?
Here we have some more hanks from the spinning course, the one on the left is a combination of tussah silk, silk caps, cotton and camel. The brown bit is the camel, camel is very, very soft and lovely to spin. I had such small amounts, I just plied them all together and now I have no idea what to do with it. The one on the right is alpaca plied with merino tops, also a tiny amount.
This is a picture of my home made niddy noddy and lazy Kate. The wool is from a merino cross corriedale, it hasn't been washed in this photo. I have washed it and it comes up a beautiful creamy white, the transformation is amazing and very satisfying.
This is the wool tops I told you I had waiting to be dyed with food colours. The best thing about using food colours is that the monkeys can help. The finished garment is going to be for Middle Monkey, and she had lots of fun pouring the colours on. The tops are non-feltable superfine merino, and I now understand the meaning of 'buttery soft' when describing fibre. As I bought it from a shop that mainly supplies felters, this was a bargain. It is sold as stuffing. I had envisaged a bit more bleeding of the pink and yellow, and was hoping for more of a soft apricotty result. Oh well I thought I'll see how it spins up, and overdye if I don't like it.Here is the spun single:Here it is plied. I call this colourway 'tickled pink', because that's how I feel about it! I just love how it turned out, no overdying necessary. I sat and stared at it for a good 10 minutes. It is incredibly soft.


I have also had some luck at The Op Shop lately. (Any and all charity/secondhand goods shops are The Op Shop to me.) The burgundy jumper is 100% cashmere and brand new with tags (ebay or keep?) The blue jumper is 100% merino and looks new, the orangey red jumper is a bit worn but is also 100% cashmere. What else? Oh yes, four complete sets of knitting needles in different sizes and a bee costume!And here are the finished (almost) overalls.

Climate Change Soap Box

Not so long ago, I mentioned something about polar bears dying because the ice they hunt on is melting sooner than usual to my oldest Monkey. (Saw it on a doco, incidentally on this same doco, a mention was made that krill stocks in the ocean are down by 80%. I found this extremely alarming, you don't need a degree in ecology, we all studied food chains in high school, 80% is a lot, this has got to be bad.)

He asked, "why?"

I said something along the lines of global warming, electricity generation etc.
He looked in to my eyes, and his were pools of hurt, anger, outrage "Can't we just tell them to stop?" He was just about in tears, and so was I. I could not meet his gaze. I looked away. I changed the subject.

Now I know a lot of scepticism exists about global warming being generated by man or not. I don't wish to argue about this.

Let's just assume for a moment that the majority of climate scientists are wrong, that the current trend of global warming is out of our control, and has nothing to do with our past or current activities.

It still doesn't make sense to heat your spa all year round regardless of whether you are using it or not. It still doesn't make sense to orientate your house for full summer sun, and none in winter. Your hip pocket might notice, if nothing else.

Global warming is not the be-all and end-all of environmental issues. (Well it might be if it is true.) Here are some others; species extinction, air quality, polluted waterways, salinity. These are not abstract concepts, it is about the earth beneath your feet, the air you breathe, the water you drink, the food on your table.

12,000 people died in London in 1952 in the Great Smog.

(Do you think they could give a toss about the wider implications of burning all that coal when the very air they were sucking into their lungs was poisoned?)

It's about not crapping in your bed. We all live on Earth, it is our home.

Could you look into the eyes of your child or grandchild and say, "Several highly regarded scientists believe global warming is caused by human activity, and I am willing to gamble on your life that they are wrong."

I haven't got the time or the desire to turn this into some kind of highly persuasive, well researched, meticulously worded argument. It's just something I'm thinking about. It's just my blog.

I'm not saying I'm perfect, I'm not saying I'm not a hypocrite, I'm just saying I'm going to try a little harder. One small step at a time. (It took me almost a year to get into the habit of always carrying reusable shopping bags.)

I want to be able to meet my children's gaze with a clear conscience.

Crimes Against Craft

Yes it's that time of the week again, already. This week it is a case of I just don't understand. I would just like to add, I will not think less of anyone who does.These are earrings made out of cardboard, and paper mache. They are very large apparently but so light. There was nothing for scale in the picture, so I like to imagine they are massive, oh how I wish they had used a model to photograph them. (Incidentally, I think these would be fabulous for dress-ups, and might get around to making them with my girl monkeys one day.)

Now this is a mystery to me. I mean I don't really like wreaths, and wouldn't like to decorate my house with them, but I wouldn't normally consider them a crime either. But this? A fake wreath? Made of fimo?

Don't these loaves look yummy? Well you can't eat them. They are for decoration. I don't get it. I just don't get it.

I did make some salt dough christmas tree decorations one year, a monkey bonding activity. It turns out that rats rather like the taste.

Goddess? Yes. Domestic? Um...

Well, I don't bite, scratch or pee on the floor if that's what you mean.

This morning has been one of those mornings.

Monkey 1 decided to make a fuss about getting dressed in front of the TV this morning, (I let him do this yesterday, give an inch....) and met strong opposition from Husband. Anyway so fuss made, temperatures risen, Monkey sent to bedroom, crashing sounds can be heard. Husband leaves for work.

Finally we are all dressed and ready, thank God Middle Monkey decided to behave this morning and knew where her shoes were (miraculous!). Then I remembered it is school photo day. So I had to raid Monkey 1's money box. Then I realised thanks to my new policy of dressing the Monkeys in dirty clothes to save on washing, that Monkey 1 probably should have had a fresh set of clothes to wear for photos, oh well no time to change. So we are about to walk out the door, when I remembered oh, Fuck! I haven't made his lunch. So he is having peanut butter sandwiches for play lunch and big lunch. His hair is sticking out all over the place too. Also, the house has reached new levels of mess, so much so that Middle Monkey having left detritus everywhere else, started lining up her toys in the hallway....

If you have come looking for scenes of domestic bliss, you have come to the wrong place.

Spinning News

I have finished the introduction to spinning course. This is all the wool I spun as part of the course, we got to do dyeing as well. Actually I lie, I did some others, on the last day we got to experiment with lots of different fibres silk, camel, cotton, alpaca. My camera is having battery issues at the moment and I am feeling too lazy so you'll just have to make do with this photo I already had on hand.
Right at this moment I have a sink full of wool tops soaking, waiting to be dyed with food colouring. I also have started another knitting project, haven't finished anything though. I'm still working on the overalls for the girls. Middle monkey's are just waiting on buttons, she has been wearing them with safety pins, and they look gorgeous. My garish worries were unfounded.
Ooh, and I bought my first fleece the other day! I'm so excited about spinning it.
So you see, I have been doing some craft. I -am- a crafty mum.

Crimes Against Craft

The Knitted Trouser Suit issue.

WARNING: The following photographs may contain images of an adult woman wearing a cape and there may be something rather unfortunate going on in the crutch area of said cape wearing adult woman. (Click to enlarge at your own risk.)

Crimes Against Craft

This is a little gem I picked up at Savers, as you can see by the stickers plastered all over it which I couldn't remove without damaging the magazine. Idiots. Anyway it is dated 1975, I haven't got around to reading it yet, but Husband enjoyed it immensely. I think the knitted toy on the front is supposed to be a panda only it looks more like a Womble of Wimbledon with an identity crisis to me. (Can you imagine calling a magazine 'Calling All Housewives'? It's too funny.)

There's just something about crocheted toys isn't there? Aren't you just dying to make one of these? Well I've saved you the trouble, here's mine:

Feel free to laugh, I don't mind. Not only does he look kind of sad and disproportionate, he is kind of prickly too, just want you want in a teddy bear.

Birthday meme

I've been tagged for the birthday meme by Tanya and Aunty Evil.

The rules are that you go to Wikipedia and type in your date of birth without the year. From the results of that search, you're supposed to list two birthdays, three events and one holiday that are of interest. Here's my list:

Nov 1

Birthdays

Tina Arena, an Australian singer
Toni Collette, an Australian actor

I chose these two because they are aussies and I know who they are!

Events

1939 - The first rabbit born after artificial insemination is exhibited to the world.

Why on earth would anyone need to artificially inseminate a -rabbit-? (I realise rabbits are convenient for experimentation precisely because they breed like...rabbits, but I still think it's funny.)

1896 - A picture showing the unclad (bare) breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time.

1920 - American Fishing Schooner Esperanto defeats the Canadian Fishing Schooner Delawana in the First International Fishing Schooner Championship Races in Halifax.

Sorry, but it seems nothing much interesting happened, apart from bombs and death and war related activities, I guess it just shows that destructive events are always recorded.

Holiday

Mexico- Day of the Dead celebrations begin. (Sounds like a hoot!)

If you are Catholic it is also All Saints Day, and if you live in Victoria, Australia it is occasionally a public holiday for The Melbourne Cup. (Horse race.)

So that's it, and I tag Fairlie.

I would like to introduce you all to a very good friend of mine, and a member of my craft group GirlyGirl, she has just started a blog. Drop in and say hi, she bakes a mean cake.

Crimes Against Craft

Firstly I would like to talk about these strange concrete creatures that were found in our back yard upon moving in to our current abode. They are as you can see rather hideous, but I have solved the mystery of where they came from thanks to Tanya the Art Butcher, there is some sort of vortex between our backyard and Happy Hollow. It's the only explanation that makes any sense.

Now, on to legwarmers, these are actually very cute on the kids:

Somehow they just don't have the same effect on adults. Now I know how to wear those skinny jeans of mine.

As long as we are talking adults in childrens clothing, check out this clown (and I'm not talking about the picture on her jumper.)
According to the blurb on the book this design is from there are some timeless classics contained in it's pages. Take a geezer at these, timeless classics?!

At least that last one has an inbuilt head rest, beautiful AND practical.

Has anyone noticed the eighties are back? In the fashion world at least. Remember those black elastic belts? High waists? Bubble skirts? Skinny jeans? (I know I know.)
Here is a little picture that shows the dangers of tight high pants, proceed with caution, the following picture contains material that may offend sensitive viewers.
It's a camel toe. The picture is not very clear, be thankful.