Thursday, May 21, 2009

Wee Stig Rules! OK

After his supporting role at the Sydney Easter Show Wee Stig has made it to the top - a feature appearance on Top Gear Australia. His presence there was a very roundabout sequence of events originating from this post and ending up with a request from the production manager of the show. She wanted to know if I could make a few more Wee Stigs as gifts for her hard-working production crew. I explained that if I accurately charged the full amount of time and labour it would cost $300 per doll! To get round this I offered to make some String Dolls - I had never made them before but I decided to give it a go. Two weeks later I travelled to the Bankstown Studios of Top Gear Australia to deliver this:
A dozen Mini Stigs made of string, cotton, glue and felt. They are exclusively unique but I won't be taking orders as I've moved on to my next obsession - Socks.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Here be knitting...

A cold concrete Lindsay Lady gets a Scarf

There hasn't been much knitting in these posts lately and that's partly because of my recent increased workload and partly due to a lack of knitting mojo.
I decided that I wouldn't be disheartened by the ever present pile of UFO's and have embarked on a totally new project - Socks!

This is a whole new world for me as I have never had any desire to cross to the other side - I've heard that it is totally addictive and once entered you can never leave. Last weekend - just before Mother's day I dug through my pile of yarn and found a ball of Tofutsies I had won at the Sydney Summer WWKIP. Recent experience with the Stig made me very proficient with a set of DPN so the smooth silky Knitpick Harmonies were a joy to hold. I originally had ideas of creating a complex lace pair but the fact that my short term memory is worse than a goldfish meant I wisely opted for a very basic Patons rib pattern. No frills, no challenges - just get the thing finished.
They got their first outing at Lindsay's cafe in Faulconbridge on Saturday morning. We had just finished putting up a small lighting rig at the local High School for a forthcoming dance piece and happened upon this very nice restaurant a the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum.
It was sort of a pre Mother's day treat and was one of the rare occaisions that we were together as a family so we made the most of it. The food and service were good in parts, the lamb shanks were delicious, the barramundi a bit dry, and the apple and rhubarb crumble didn't live up to its promise but the setting in the little studio cottage was perfect, as was the big bowl of Latte.

The sock has progressed and is almost at the heel - I know that this has been a challenge to sock newbies before but after the Stig - nothing fazes me.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

I'm all out of ...

I survived the 11 year old's party and the pack of marauding boys playing guerrilla games in the garden to lurch into this mass display or Adulation and Nostalgia.

I am not a great fan of Air Supply's music - it reminds me too much of angst ridden Teenage years and swelling chorus lines that somehow embed themselves deep in the psyche.

I cannot fault their performance though. For two nights they captivated the 2000+ audience and totally held them in thrall. The two 80's icons gambolled, skipped and posed around the stage and auditorium of the Concert Hall and, despite being accused of having " the faint aroma of Mother's Day music" around them, they gave the audience what they wanted. There was a mosh pit full of arm-waving devotees and a chance to grab a hug or a quick snog as the two stars ventured into the stalls amongst their adoring fans.
Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell seemed pleasantly surprised that the entire audience knew all the words to all of their songs but they should have known better. This was their homeland and they were the local heroes with their easy listening lyrics and repetitious musical phrases.

All of this smooching aside it was a very busy show for me because of the last minute change as baby-sitting the house lights turned into "make the Strand board a Whole Hog so the LD can work her magic". Luckily we had the rare luxury of a six hours of plotting time the day before so I programmed the Concert Hall 500 from its standard static orchestral states into a flashing, pulsing, moving light control console. I knew it could do it and I knew I could do it. I must admit it was a lot of fun rising to the challenge and on the final curtain everyone was happy; 2000 baby boomers, the idolised performers, the LD (who admitted to being a knitter and crocheter!) and me.

Friday, May 01, 2009

End of the Working Week

Dylan Moran in his one and only show in the Concert Hall. Setting the levels for a simple design using one follow spot and 9 lights plotted into a slow colour change over his 2 hour stand-up performance.

He was very true to his Black Books character, grumpy and garrulous in that wonderful Irish brogue. He told the audience off for laughing at him, for clapping, for photographing him and for bothering to come at all. A wine (or two) at Interval made the second half flow much more assuredly than the first  and the entire show was very funny and  true to form.