Honour Bound

Honour Bound - an intense, powerful production that any thinking person has to see - it is awesome. Previews of the show are happening now and it opens next Wednesday.

"Set within an eight-metre square cage, the performance and projections take place on the walls, ceiling and floor. A daring and provocative work, Honour Bound, which takes its title from the words written above the gates at Guantanamo Bay, is about some of the most important issues we face as a society: law and order, hatred and love, humanity, and human beings pushed beyond their limits. "

I did the complete run through for the first time tonight and I was impressed. A busy show for cast and crew and very confronting for the audience; it only takes 90min of your time but you leave feeling you've experienced the four whole years with David Hicks in his cage. The background images of two normal sounding Aussies, Terry Hicks and his wife, recounting their story in their matter-of-fact way, highlights the barbarity and hypocrisy of the incarceration and the Governments that placed their son there.

Damien Cooper has created a dramatic design with a small but punchy rig including Atomic Strobes and Varilites. This is a lighting session of the production with a knitting Light Walker - (Something the light can shine on so the true effect can be seen) .

The show will be running at the Playhouse for 5 weeks before it tours to Melbourne and I think, and hope, it will be a hit.

My Local Yarn Store

Some Happy Stash Enhancement moments with Anita at the last Guild Meeting

Buying over the internet from the ease and comfort of one's computer supposedly cannot beaten -but not in all cases. Knitting is such a tactile art that it is not uncommon to see shoppers in wool stores stroking yarn, holding balls to their cheeks and (something I am often guilty of) sniffing skeins.
A computer monitor cannot convey the true richness of the colour of a ball of Kureyon or the soft texture of a skein of Naturally Mohair, or the rich, earthy, lanolin smell of a Merino/Possum mix. Nor can it easily provide the invaluable answers to the age old questions such as - "what's going wrong with my knitting here?" or "what can I knit with this?".

I thought I was above such plaintive appeals as I am a self reliant, self taught knitter; a member of many knitting groups and forums with access to the vast wealth of experience and wisdom therein; a practiced Googler and ebayer with a pay pal account and a long list of online yarn shops. Despite this, Anita, from my LYS, The Wool Inn, showed the true worth of the non-cyber interactions by solving my latest yarn dilemma in about 5 seconds.

She suggested I knit this from this. She even had an example of the completed garment available for a close and physical inspection. I could see clearly how this beautiful lightweight mohair yarn easily knitted into a sideways garter stitch boat neck top -with an additional crab stitch edging. So it seems that an essential ingredient of a successful LYS proprietor is ESP and patience, endless patience. Thank you, Anita!

Indulgence

In.dul.gence:

• an inability to resist the gratification of whims and desires
• the act of indulging or gratifying a desire
• folly: foolish or senseless behavior

Evidence - 1 set of beautiful Colonial Rosewood circular needles courtesy of the Wool Inn's visit to the Guild last Saturday. I thought I was very restrained in my purchases until I looked in my wallet and found a receipt for 10 balls of Patons Jet and the pattern book! Now, how did that get in there?

Claire Patterson Yarn

I received this yarn in the mail from Claire Patterson Design Knitwear - 3 Skeins of fine boucle destined for that slim hipped no-bust 60's pattern.
I love Claire's designs and colours but I unfortunately can't show you them as she has no web site. Apparently she has a regular stall at the Balmain markets as well as her annual visit to the Darling Harbour Craft show. The yarn was customed dyed and it has come out in the exact shade I wanted.

The skein is draped over a handsome specimen of Banksia Spinulosa in the back yard. A bush that is much loved by the birdlife in our area and which received a viscous pruning from a flock of Black Cockatoos last year. Those birds are like punk rockers of the bird world - attitude in bulk, loud, noisy, destructive and raucous. I still love having them visit .

Here, in the shade of a Tree Fern, Cyathea cooperi, is the lovely yarn all wound up and ready to go. It swatches to a very springy, very light fabric and despite my early misgivings I think the 300g I ordered will be well sufficient. The only problem I have is calculating the tension as there is no stitch definition - I can see some eye strain arising out of this task.

Charing Cross, Waverley - a Favourite Haunt

When I have to stay in Sydney one of my favourite retail therapy areas is Charing Cross in Waverley. Up to a a few years ago it was a slightly run-down nondescript area with an over-supply of Hardware and Builders Supplies outlets. It also had the odd Aussie Chip shop; a quaint "Ladies Hairdresser" with pink tiles and big "Drying Helmets", a few "Ladies Fashion" outlets and a Bakery that sold finger buns with pink icing.

As with all things in the Eastern Suburbs it is being rapidly gentrified but there is still vestiges of quirkiness that make it worth visiting. It still has the best St. Vinnies around (all those out of season designer labels have to go somewhere); there is Iku Wholefood; Shasta Bray Boutique; Bizarre Pets, specialising in scorpions and Wolf Spiders (they don't sell snakes anymore); the Verona Bakery,still selling pink finger buns along with Palmier and Croissants; and some great coffee shops including the famous Fideli's; a recent cafe newcomer, Bellagio, and not forgetting "Istvans Cuisine From The Heart Of Europe" where you can find freshly baked bagels and buns, great coffee and a slight infatuation with Soccer.

Every time I visit Charing Cross something has changed, not always for the better but so far not totally for the worst either. The Cross has a sense of place that is missing in the chrome jungle of the recently completed Westfield Mega Mall in the Junction and the feral grunge of the Bondi Beach Backpacker Hell strip.

Noro Revisited Rant

I received this in the mail a few days ago - I easily sourced it from a Canadian ebayer and including postage etc I paid a grand total of A$28. What is it about Australia that it retails for $45 to $60 in the local and internet shops?!

I can understand (well, not really) the outrageous prices some people will pay for an Out of Print Alice Starmore but this is an in print issue of a very much available pattern book that is a rip-off in Oz!
I'd much rather being paying the difference towards the yarn.
The pattern that caught my eye and made me buy the book was Jakobsberg and also Tista, a child's cute yoke jacket.

So far the cheapest Kureyon I have found is Yarns online at$11.00 a skein. On the web Janettes Rare Yarns comes in at $9.30. As I need 600g I think this item will be in a holding pattern for a while but it's still nice to have around to look at and admire.

Another Day in the Culture Factory

An eclectic week as usual - the sublime to the audacious. Start off with the annual PAU school shows, several hundred budding musicians with recorders at the ready for a soul stirring, mass rendition of Scarborough Fair. Doesn't it make you proud?

I only operated the Banksia Concert of the 2006 Festival of Instrumental Music but I am always impressed with the degree of organisation and coordination it takes to wrangle several hundred primary school children in and out of rehearsals and performances without turning the place into a giant chaotic playground. The show was of course, beautifully lit by Dave who can and does do the whole thing blind.

After my ears had recovered from the descant and trebles my next gig was back at the Studio and the fbi 94.5 Radio Play. (I missed out on Dame Kiri Te Kanawa who made a lightning visit to the Concert Hall and who reportedly sang beautifully but whose serious operatic repetoire seemed to go right over the heads of many of the audience who were hanging out for something from My Fair Lady.)

The best part of the Radio Play - besides the seriously talented actors of course - is the Sound Effects table with sticks of Celery, coconut shells (for the horses of course), wind machines, broken glass, metal bits and pieces and a bin full of 'vomit'. The third and final episode is on next Sunday so I had to make sure I was operating it so I can find out what happens to Plantanganet and his battle against Charton Heston and the Russel Crowe clones.

The week ended with a performance in the smallest set I have ever seen.
A Large Attendance in the Antechamber is one of those off the edge performances you're not really sure about but which is oddly compelling. Brian Lipson plays Sir Francis Galton – "perhaps the most brilliant, charming and eccentric example of Victorian genius. A great man of science, he was Darwin’s cousin and an exponent of social Darwinism through his founding of Eugenics". The SMH gave this 90 min one-man show a good review -"This oddball gem of a show is highly recommended" - and the usually small audience always gives a rousing applause at the end.

The lighting is minimalist - most of it is done with period candle and gas light supplemented by a few 10 degree profiles from the front, never above 50%. The props used are mostly authentic 19th Century parephenalia including a marvelous magic latern with "portable" battery which was reputably bought from a relative of Darwin for a scant few pounds.

Looking Shiny

Monday night - 23:59. I'm walking along the concourse, heading for a Taxi and as the Clock Tower in the Rocks starts ringing out midnight across the Cove, I stop and look back.
Usually I'm rushing to catch a train or scuttling through passages to get to the underground car park to beat the rush of Punters. Just now and then I catch myself and look around.
This night was particularly clear - a rare shower of rain had just passed and everything was looking crisp and shiny. And the view was shiny - I tend to forget that I'm working in one of the most beautiful buildings in the world - even if the concrete catacombs of the interior don't match up with the stylish exterior.

Stress Relief

A week that was, was this week. Stress levels extremely high but from no easily identified specific cause. A bit like the frog in hot water syndrome - gradually the heat gets turned up until 10 pm, Saturday night, I find myself spinning in circles, overwhelmed by everything that has to be done, if not now then yesterday.

What comes to the rescue? A good nights sleep, some vitamin B, an iron pill and two hours in the train, knitting and listening to Radio National Podcasts on the ipod. My favourites are; All In The Mind, delving into all things mental; Ockham's Razor, thoughtful people have their say on important science-related topics; Radio Eye, best of documentaries and features from Australia and around the world; and my personal pick; The Night Air, "hard to describe but you'll be glad you listened: a mix of all the best uses of radio in one time-slot".

I did subscribe to a lot of knitting podcast but have gradually been weeding out the banal and the repetitious so that I'm down to about 3 regulars. Unfortunately Brenda Dayne has gone on a break and Marie Irshard hasn't posted for a long while so that limits it even further.

The knitting that happens on the train is the Rib Wrap - it is progressing nicely but I am now so paranoiac about pattern corrections that I am double checking every instruction, despite the fact that there was only one listed. I question the back measurements, remeasure the front and check it against the back - it shouldn't be this stressful!

I am seriously studying Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top Down as I want to free myself from such constraints to make my own errors! She's not an easy read though. The boat neck, cap sleeve, design I have in mind requires that I read three different chapters and decipher her probably really obvious instructions. My problem arises from my presumption that all top down knitting is done as circular knitting - as I have discovered it isn't. Barbara recommends a cunning "Invisible Cast On" that starts at the back, continues to short row shaping for the shoulders and then joins with the front (which has been picked up from the cast on) at the underarms - then it becomes a circular knit. The book has some great tips in the last chapter including a stern recommendation NOT to join yarn at the sides - as it leaves unslightly bumps - but to single knot and weave the ends in the body.

I think I may try the top down jacket I recently received from Knitting Pure and Simple and that may clarify a few things.

..Radio

The next production of the weekend was Sydney Plantagenet’s Psychedelic Quest in the Studio. A Radio Play "BROADCAST LIVE-TO-AIR ON FBi94.5FM". Although it took all day to set up, light and operate it was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to "the next exciting episode" on Sunday, and the following Sunday until it finishes on the 9th of July. The production of the sound effects was the highlight of the night although the cast and support act were fantastic.

Romeo and ...

Another busy weekend that also saw good progress on the Rib Wrap. First there was a stint on the Bell Shakespeare's production of Romeo and Juliet;

"This production is as contemporary as the iPod that Juliet dances to, or the rap delivered as an opening by the street gang in Verona. It is fresh and youthful, well served by Chloe Armstrong and Julian Garner as its star-crossed lovers, poignantly evoking the emotional extremes of adolescence." The Age, Helen Thomson, 22 May, 2006

It was a good production and the script is very true to the original, which makes it a bit longer than some versions. The fast past and frenetic activity of the first half slows right down in the second act so the School audiences always get a bit fidgety towards the end.

The set is very minimalist with No Balcony, just a slope and a bit of artful lighting but it worked.

I caught up with Mary Helen and introduced her to Friar Lawrence (Philip Dodd) who is a talented actor and knitter. He is wearing a sideways knitted vest of his own design that he modestly described as 'just something to use up some spare bits" while M-H is wearing a beautiful Noro (?) creation of her own - very suitable for going out to the theatre.

The Bell company has a few keen knitters within its ranks, both male and female. I'd love to do a study into the relationship of theatre and knitting - maybe it's something about all the time spent waiting or standing by - or all the touring to those small country centres.

Supposedly there is a superstition associated with knitting in the wings - apparently it's bad luck. I've only recently discovered this and I must say that it doesn't seem to be true as I have been knitting in theatre for over 20 years.

And this is from someone who will not mention the 'Scottish Tragedy' within coo-ee of a stage and who freaks out when wished "good luck" before a show instead of "chookas". Maybe I'm selectively superstitious.

Clifford

This is 'Clifford', the amazing 'no aching arms', 'adjustable to any size skein', 'all metal Wool Winder'!
He's a very utilitarian winder, without the polished elegance of his wooden cousins, but his action is true and his base is blue. What more could a knitter ask for?

Unfortunately there are no skeins available to try him out but I have it on good authority that there are at least 3 on order.

Until then I'm sure he will wait patiently, in his box until required.

And the loser is .... the Steinway.

Further to the previous post about the Freedman Jazz Fellowship the announcement has just come through that "Julien Wilson has been selected as the Music Council of Australia/Freedman Jazz Fellow for 2006." This is the line up that he won the fellowship with - it is unusual to see a Piano Accordian in a Jazz band but I did like the total sound the Julien Wilson Trio produced and the laid back look of the whole group - it is jazz after all.

That is more than I can say for another group who had a decidedly avant-garde approach to their performance. Part of their set was performed on a Steinway Grand Piano that was later used by one other performer. During rehearsals the pianist placed a few pieces of metal on the bare strings and the tuning pins a la Steve Reich and others. During the actual performance the "placement" changed to "bash", "drop metal rods and rummage chains". I could only watch with my mouth agape in horror. Just before the house opened I had watched Terry, the piano tuner, carefully and sensitively tune that lovely instrument to it best. Needless to say when the next poor sap sat down on the piano seat the thing sounded like a honky-tonk saloon upright. I hope that this had no bearing on the fact that the group didn't win - but as a consequence of the previous group's 'artistic expression' there were many wincing moments that jarred the enjoyment of the piece.

If I was that pianist I'd be taking the bloke out the back (helped by the piano tuner and a couple of mechs) for a tuneful, expressionistic use of the metal rods and chain.

Fair Produce

I was remarkably restrained I think, in my recent Craft show purchases. Even though I left carrying at least three bags full it all packed down to one bag of luscious yarns.

In the background, courtesy of Sarah's stand, we have three skeins of lovely Colinette Fandango in Nutmeg shade, destined for a top-down, cap sleeve, summer top.

On the left is an little known Chinese brand from the Prestige yarn stall; Fantasia Cronos, 60% wool 40% silk, going for a bargain, how could I resist?

And last but definitely not least; 7 balls of lovely organic Pakucho Cotton in the Dk Green shade. This is destined for a Kitty or Glampyre pattern.

The only other purchase of note was 3 skeins of Lightweight mohair boucle from Claire Patterson Designs that are to be customed dyed and which will eventually, (hopefully) result in a version of this vintage '60's jacket.

This little leaflet from a St Vinnie's shop has on the back a classy "jacket-suit" called Park Lane. Very sophisticated and obviously designed for a flat-chested, slim-hipped androgyne.

Jazz Knit

Tonight saw the culmination of a long day's work lighting the Freedman Jazz Fellowship . It was in the Studio and was one of the few times I can actually design and operate a show I like.

There were 4 contestants ranging from ear-plugs to awesome. I had my favourite but as the winner is not announced until the next day I am still unaware who actually gets the lucrative prize money. I'm pleased to report that the Jo Sharp rib progressed during this time. I kept the rig very simple, 3 colour wash and a few open white specials with minimal changes during the set (the musicians are on show, not my lighting) so I was able to get in a few rows with each number.

I'm not sure, though, if Jazz and knitting really go together. I know that Franklin has written a very thorough and entertaining post on the appropriate Opera Arias for Knitting but I can't say that one could be done for Jazz knitting. Tonight's performance was a bit like this this yarn - all thick and thin and varying colours. I spent a lot of time tinking my 2k1p rib as I didn't have a good flow. This may be because I had to change from 2k1p to 2p1k on the return row so my concentration was out of wack. Knitting in the round is a much easier way of doing uneven rib, methinks.

Stash

Stash, Stash, lovely Stash.

Nothing quite like it to use up the cash.

Koigu and Noro,

Kallund comes tomorrow.

It will outlast me, my wonderful Stash.

Not happy Jo!

I'm doing wonderful things on the Jo Sharp Ribbed Wrap Jacket, I've got the right tension and everything is going swimmingly when the first ball finishes waay before the diagram suggest. Am I doing it too tight - have I left a swatch somewhere and used up the yarn? Google the garment in question and find the errata - 4 bloody balls in this colour instead of 2!! Not happy Jo!

You can't take the sky from me

Wash: A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything.

Jayne: Damn straight.

Firefly: Episode 13, The Message

I, like a lot of other knitters on the net, am a Sci Fi Geek. You name it, I have watched it, several times and then again and again when it comes out on video. I am not therefore surprised to see a strong correlation between knitting, geekdom and Science Fiction. Look at how many patterns there are for all the versions of the scarf from Dr Who. (I have plans to investigate this further one day.) >

My favourite Sci Fi series, short lived though it was, is Joss Whedon's Firefly. I could rave on for hours about the great music, fantastic casting, marvelous scripts etc, etc, but I'll restrict myself to the costumes. In this series they are as good as the scripts - they range from Inara's sumptuous Indian silks to the ubiquitous Browncoat. In knitted items the most famous (or infamous) is Jayne's earflap hat which, I think, does a disservice to the craft>

I much prefer this outfit that River wears in Episode 4; "Safe". It's a loose, Mohair jumper over a cotton dress that she twirls about in, during a fiddle dance. The fact that she is a slim, slip of a girl that anything would look good on does not dissuade me from planning to make one of these one day. It looks fairly basic; boat neck with bell sleeves and big needles. It's on the to-do list.

(I wonder if there's there an acronym for projects that are planned but not quite started yet?)

WWKIP

Here are some of the participants of the highly successful World Wide Knit in Public day held at the Sidewalk Cafe at the Sydney Opera House. This was a very handy location for me as I was able to duck out between shows and partake in a bit of WW public knitting. This slightly damp lot are proudly displaying various bits of knitted goods or their KIP t-shirts and bags. Check out other photos on Kris's or the SSK site.

The dampness was not restricted to the world outside - inside I was learning the cues for a wonderful show called 'Vula' which means Moon in Fiji. The show is "Performed on a stage flooded with water, it combines magic and illusion with traditional song and dance to create a captivating piece of Pacific Island visual theatre." Normally water and electricity don't mix so I'm nervous when the entire stage is one giant wading pool surrounded by lights and leads. The performance is so captivating though, that my fears, though not allayed, are forgotten as I listen and watch the beautiful singing and sinuous movements of the 4 performers.

I don't have much time for knitting either as it's an uncued show - I have to do all the lighting cues myself and after my long stint on House Lights in the Bennelong Palace I'm a bit out of practice. "Wot - you mean I have to concentrate!" I'll have to find a nice simple garter stitch on big needles project to keep on the go.

Dolores has arrived!

Dolores arrived in the mail today and brought with her some lovely rain. In the background you can see all our trees and plants celebrating her arrival. Some people might view the prospect of grey skies and drizzling rain as a depressing prospect but in these parts it is a cause for celebration.

Now, if it can only last for the next few days with maybe a sunny break on Saturday around one o'clock? Especially in the vicinity of the Sidewalk Cafe near the Opera House where Dolores will be in full display along with all the other proud Knitters in Public, life will be good...