A Series of Reflection

On a recent visit to Echuca, on the Murray River, I decided to do a series called "Reflection". It was a beautiful cold and crisp morning with the sun shining. The river was still and the reflections breathtaking. Here are a few of the many photos I took (aperature priority, no tripod necessary)

Tailspinning

I really enjoyed the SLOW process of making tailspun with English Leicester, using Lexi Boeger's technique. It is very time consuming (and I thought lace making was time intensive) but rewarding. I have a lot of other "tails" to spin including some magnificant Wensleydale from Namaste farm and some Mohair too.

I'm not sure what to do with this sample - I would need a lot more to make a hat or scarf.

Dandelion Beret

Just finished a Ravelry KAL - Dandelion hat by the talented Jen Adams http://www.littleyellowcat.com/. I intended on spinning the yarn but in the end decided "no", and bought some Heirloom Merino Fleck which I just love. The pattern was a dream to knit, and it's a lovely slouch hat which won't flatten my curls too much.

Thick n Thin spinning

Just finished another thick n thin spin using some fibres from Kathy's amazing shop http://www.kathysfibres.com/. I used the technique described in Lexi's Intertwined book, which is now my bible for art yarn.

Arm Knitting - scarf

Thanks to the wonderful inspiration from Teresa at Dairing http://www.dairing.com/ and some awesome (old) notes from the Marta's yarns, I successfully made a scarf by arm knitting. It certainly isn't as complicated as I thought, and oh so quick. To get this really long, and cosy, scarf it took me probably 15-20 minutes. Once knitted, I then (tried to) felt it in the washing machine (having a front loader, makes felting very difficult).

Recently I discovered an Australian aromatherapy company whose products and oils are the bedst I have come across. I recently attended one of their workshops and we made mouthwash and tooth powder with all natural ingredients (and a little alcohol!). Making your own products not only allows you the opportunity to see all the ingredients but in the long run, it is very economical. Next on my agenda is homemade shampoo, conditioner and face cream.

There website if anyone wants to have a little browse is http://www.amazing-scents.com/.

Anyhow, I don't think I am breaking any trade secrets, here are the recipes for the mouthwash and tooth powder -
Mouth wash
Water
1 tablespoon vodka (no drinking it first!)
12 drops peppermint oil
10 drops spearmint oil
8 drops lemon oil.
Shake it.

Tooth powder
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt (love this)
2 tablespoons bicarb
3 drops clove
1 drop cinnamon
7 drops lemon
7 drops peppermint
7 drops spearmint.
Mix together

Fairy Floss

Well not really, but it certainly looks like it. I received these lovely goodies from SPIN FUSION http://www.spinfusion.net/and the "fairy floss" is actually merino, tencel, bamboo, faux angora, firestar and angelina (I think I'm in heaven). It is part of a WIZARD OF OZ Spin-Along and I chose the Glinda, The Good Witch pack. There is also some pearl beads, sequins, ribbon, gorgeous stitch markers and a really sweet Glinda magnet. I'm really looking forward to putting on my thinking cap to see how to incorporate all the add-ons.

Coode Island

It was a 5.30am start but the photography groups managed the early morning (and dark) start and bused it to Coode Island to take some photos of Melbourne's skyline and port not only in the dark but at sunrise.

Queens Park

Photography has been my life of late - and all other crafts have been put on the backburner.

I must say I really enjoyed our night photography assignment at Queens Park. Here I attempted to pan vehicles to get the light trail. I also learnt to shoot in low light using a tripod and NO flash - amazing how some of the photos actually turned out (much brighter than IRL).

I have learnt a tremendous amount at the photography workshops and would highly recommend the course, if you live in the vicincity and like photography, the Club - details can be found at http://essendoncameraclub.org.au/

Pipemakers Park

As part of a photography expedition we visited a historial park surrounded by Maribyrnong River. There was so much to see and snap; I even attempted (and fell in love with) panning. We also photographed gorgeous models at the park, however unfortunately I cannot share these photos as there was no waiver form signed.

Storm

One of the many photographs of Melbourne Storm I took with my telephoto lens. I quite like this photo because it shows Cameron Smith in action.

Art Yarn - Thick 'n Thin

Had a play with some wonderful fibres from Kathy http://www.kathysfibres.com/ and spun thick 'n thin, using Jacey's video for guidance. I really enjoyed spinning this, although it does take a lot of practice to get away from even spinning, which is drummed in to every Spinner when they first learn the craftr.

Basketweave Hat

I knitted a beanie for a friend's birthday; quite a while ago he asked me to knit him a collingwood beanie and I really struggled with this however this is the closest I could get to that team's beanie using their colourway.

BTW I made the pattern for the beanie myself using basketweave for the body of the hat. The pattern can be found here at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/53667256/Pattern-Basket-Weave-Hat

Using the art yarns I recently spun at Lexi's workshop I made an art yarn scarf, bound together with silk thread.

I have already received some lovely comments on it; in fact one person asked if I would make some more and sell them to her for her business - unfortunately I just don't have the time at the moment to make more, but I will consider her offer in the future.

Close up:-

Bushfire

Travelling through Victoria, past Beechworth I spotted a humbling reminder of the horror hundreds of people lived through; remnants of the bushfire still present.

First Editions Merino

I finally finished spinning and plying 250 grams of First Edition Merino. The colour is lovely, and quite different from what I am usually attracted to. I'm not sure what I will knit from this yarn, perhaps it will just hibernate with my other yarn for the moment.

Art Yarn - plied with Silk thread

I spun this art yarn with a scarf in mind. But I think I may have changed my mind - I'm now thinking of (bring them back in to fashion, and hope it's not a fashion faux) - LEG WARMERS!!!

Back to the yarn - it's an odd mixture of bits and pieces plied with Japanese silk thread.

Branching Out

The Sketchbook challenge for the month is "branching out" and it came quite easily to me. I just used the tutorial from the previous month and just altered it slightly. Drawn with watercolour crayons and ink.

Photography challenge

I'm struggling to keep up with my photography challenge, one photo per week (it doesn't sound like much). I'm savng madly for a new lens so am rather unmotivated at the moment. Here are a couple in the meantime

Art Yarns

I just had the most enjoyable weekend I have had in a long time and met (and made) some wonderful new friends along the way.

A group of us attended Lexi Boeger's (aka Pluckyfluff) art yarn class at Footscray. For those who do not know anything about the talented Lexi, have a look here http://www.pluckyfluff.com/. We made numerous different yarns over the two days, even more techniques than are shown here (I didn't attempt the tail spin nor fabric - I want to do the former in my own time and I have done fabric spinning before). I am so inspired at the moment.

I look forward to meeting my new friends very soon - in fact we will be meeting monthly xx.

Core spinning and knots -

Navaho plying (eats up yarn) -

Mohairy (gets up your nose) -

Core spinning/quick coils/plying -

Here are some other photos from the workshop - have a look at Janet's awesome Tail spin (she is wearing it).