Adventures in Colour

Moss - a wonderful gold, green colour from Landscape dyes on Moda Vera Linen Mode and a skein of "Natural white Merino ultra soft boucle yarn in 100g skeins" from Virginia Farm.

The boucle shows the true colour despite the linen blend simmering in the dyepot for about half an hour.
I got tired of waiting for the dye to exhaust so I popped the merino yarn in for a few minutes while I rinsed the linen out. The results were impressive - it really does live up to its "dyes beautifully" description.

The reason why I was dying the Moda Vera was to get an alternative to the lime that was the only green shade Spotlight had in this fibre. It wasn't as successful as I would have liked but I can still use it to complement the taupe shade I'm using to knit this loose-flowing swing cardigan. Big needles, simple pattern and budget price yarn.

On the other set of needles I am nearly finished another swing cardigan - this time in lovely silky-soft, Atlante bamboo yarn from Naturally. It's 4ply and very slippery so its not a relaxed knit - I have to ensure my tension is constant as it doesn't allow for any mistakes or variations. the end result is worth it though - a slinky, cool summer top in rich Gold.

The other colour adventures we are having are Royal Blue. The Boy Bowerbirds have been practising - even though they are still without their mature, deep-blue plumage they've been dancing and preening, building bowers and collecting bits of blue booty. The bowers are a bit scrappy, their dances and songs obviously need a bit more work and all their booty is constantly being pinched by the adult bird, but they keep on trying. One of these days they'll be off their 'P Plates' and doing it for real.
In the meantime we get a lot of entertainment watching them rehearse.

Our Visitor

This chap is a regular visitor to our balcony. Of the many King parrots who use the bird feeder, he is the only one brave, or foolhardy, enough to venture near the house. Just how near I discovered a few days ago when I left a container of seed inside on the coffee table.





His unique wing markings readily identify him so I know he's gradually getting more and more bold in his adventures.







The next day he attracted a female to join him but he wasn't too keen to share the spoils.

Although it is nice to have such a close association with the local wildlife I won't be promoting this behaviour because it's probably not good for the parrots to get too complacent with Humans. My experiences with local possums and the Big, Bold, Boofy, Cockatoos also show how much damage some of these lovely creatures can create.

On a completely different topic I do hope to post some pictures of my latest knitting project. The Bamboo yarn I bought with the help of my Guild Raffle prize voucher is 3/4 finished. It has produced a lovely silken drapey garment which attracted a lot of attention at yesterday's Branch meeting.

Once I have cleaned off the bird seed, bird poo and silkworms from the table I'll take some photos to post.

Bloody Titus

For I must talk of murders, rapes and massacres, Acts of black night, abominable deeds,Complots of mischief, treason, villanies Ruthful to hear, yet piteously perform' ActV:Sc1

Books, blood and a bucket; apart from the nine male cast members they are the main components of the Bell Shakespeare’s production of Anatomy Titus Fall of Rome, a Shakespeare Commentary.

Adapted by Heiner Muller, translated by Julian Hammond, directed by Michael Gow and dramatically lit by Matt Scott, it is a fascinating modern/period/Australian hybrid production. The play's misogyny, cannibilism, racism, and implicit violence are gruesome and extremely confronting, even with Mullers modern commentary and its context of it being a typical 'revenge tragedy' of its time .

This 2 hour long performance has a mixture of period language and contemporary references that deviate between absurd blood letting, a la the Braindead, schlock-horror of Peter Jackson, to acts of violence and rape that recall Abu Grave and Janine Balding.

The whole performance is an antidote to the steretypical "men in tights" perception of Shakespeare and graphically prove that Quentin Tarintino and The Texas Chaisaw Massacre brought nothing new to the stage.

Despite this there is humour and meaning to what could be perceived as an indulgence in graphic violence and bloodletting. Most of the reviews have been positive although the audiences have not been huge. I've watched several people leave in the first hour because it is so disquieting but this is no reflection of the quality of the performance. As Rosemary Sorensen aptly states

"Concentrate on the words, director Michael Gow is telling us. Listen to how eloquently Shakespeare writes these speeches, allowing us to enjoy the elegance of the argumentation and the clever imagery right in the teeth of the monstrous situation we are witnessing."

The play ends with most of the protagonists being dispatched in a bloody game of ‘tag’ while the curtain call looks like the line-up from “Day of the Living Dead”.

This is a powerful play, skillfully directed and performed and, in spite of the big clean-up job for the Stage hands and the ASM, a pleasure to work.

Award Night

An obligatory bit of Knitting with bespoke stitch markers

I'm afraid I'm not the best with Blogger Etiquette. Several times I've been sent memes or other bits of Blog socialisation that I've neglected to answer and then felt bad about. The trouble is after reading all the feeds I have on my Blogline account and then (sometimes) commenting on them or checking out the interesting links they suggest, I find I'm all blogged out.

My Blog's upkeep is erratic to say the least. If I'm snowed under with work or life then I don't feel up to documenting my day-to-day trials of life. Despite this, while I'm travelling (or in the shower) I often find myself writing posts in my head about things I've observed or experienced.

Happyspider has written an interesting post about blogging and the Knitting 'Verse which does encapsulate my feelings about these interconnected activities. There seems to be a bit of a global "comment drought" about at present so I'm not too upset if my posts are not acknowledged. I've even stopped reading the Sitemeter statistics because I couldn't see the point in it.

Notwithstanding all these blog musings Lynne has nominated me for this Award and I feel very honoured, thank you Lynne.
In keeping with the spirit of the award these are the conditions I must fulfil to truly earn the Blue Ribbon.

1. Please put the award on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. You must nominate at least 4 fellow bloggers for this award.
4. Add links to the recipients.
5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

Witty Knitter
What I do, what I think and what I knit.
One of the first blogs I started reading from a very internets savvy, witty, knitter.

Birdchick Blog
To show the world that you can be a birder without being a geek.
I found Birdchick Sharon via Neil Gaimans Fanblog. I am fascinated by her bee posts and her wonderful bird photography

Knitting and Chocolate
Because they go so well together
Chocolate Trudi combines two of my favourite pursuits and always has something interesting to read about.

Disco Knitter
Knit One, Hug One....
Lara has been through some big life changing events in the past year - most of them centred around a little Spawn by the name of Inigo - but cute with it.

I could also have mentioned Pom Pom (but she already has the award) or web-goddess, or missyfee, or KnitTatPug or ... but I'm restricted to 4 choices and that's pretty good out of the 92 I have on my Blogroll. It's no wonder I don't have enough hours in the day.