Wee Stig - 15 seconds of fame

Here is the Wee Stig's 15 seconds of Fame, snuggled up with Warren in the back of the luxury car.
I nearly missed this spot on the final episode of the Top Gear Australia season so I was very relieved when eagle-eyed Ravelry members told me he had been on.

Wee Stig has now been retired to live with Jules and Marianne among the lobsters. He travelled a lot further than I ever imagined when I made him so I can say he absolutely fulfilled his potential.
What more can a knitted doll ask for.

Festival of ...Socks

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/778163

Last night saw the final of the Vivid Festival at work - the wonderful images that had been projected onto the sails were turned off, the Opera Theatre started resetting for the Opera season and the ambient soundscape in the Studio was silenced.

The entire Opera House had virtually been handed over to Brian Eno to play with and the majority of performance spaces were featuring something he had curated. Normally this period between the Ballet and Opera Season is a quiet time but the past few weeks have seen the Opera Theatre ringing to the sounds of Heavy Metal Rock and esoteric performances. I think quite a bit of dust was shaken out of the fly tower in the process.

One of my favourites was the 77 Million Paintings in the Studio which, I'm afraid, reminded me of 77 Million Quilting Blocks, but it was still soothing and pleasant to look at.


In keeping with this atmosphere of creative energy I've started on my own Festival of Colour and Texture with an unparalleled outburst of Sock Knitting. One pair finished, three more on the needles and a growing queue of potentials.


The recent Darling Harbour Craft show helped fuel this with tempting skeins of Jitterbug in rich gold and deep greens, Noro Sock yarn and Touch Yarns Merino.

I thought I was remarkably restrained in my purchases at the craft fair but that may have been because I was (once again) juggling work and social obligations and as always, had to be somewhere else.

I missed out on the wonderful WWKIP curated by Sally - another Festival of Yarn and Magic attended by numerous devotees and, other than a strange threat from the Darling Harbour Event Organisers to call the Knitting Police if any "teaching of Knitting techniques" occurred, it was a great success.

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.

Knitting - the new torture

The last week has only proven to me that people who say that "Knitting is the New Yoga" are vastly deluded. I was up until 2:30 am Saturday morning trying to meet the deadline for the the 2009 Sydney Royal Arts Show aka The Easter Show. I made it but it was not a pleasant experience.



My entry was a version of The Stig base roughly on a Knitty pattern with adaptations for the overalls and helmet. I was knitting in the round with anodised aluminium DPN, acrylic/viscose yarn and slightly damp hands due to the humidity and my stress. It was not a smooth process of repetitious movements generating alpha waves of contentment but a sticky, erratic, jerky process punctuated with muttering, cursing and cries of pain as I jabbed myself.

I made the deadline and Stig is now sharing a display cabinet with cute clowns, fluffy ducks and teddy bears. I trust he will remain unfazed throughout this experience while I, on the other hand am definitely in need of rehabilitation.

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.

Saturday busyness

The NSW Knitting Guild's stand at this year's Darling Harbour Craft Show was arranged by Veronica - she is sitting on my right wearing a Princess Leia hat she knitted. It was a busy and fun afternoon spreading the word about the Guild, about Ravelry and the various knitted items we had on display. There was knitted fruit, my Vintage Twist Hot Water Bottle cosies and the big favourite, a curly wurly crochet scarf from Yarn magazine by Guild member, Carolyn Murtagh.

At the same time on that busy Saturday afternoon the Sydney rep of World Wide Knit in Public day was taking place nearby at the Bayside Lounge. As I rushed to the Craft Fair I stopped by to pick up my WWKIP bags that Kris had printed for the event. I love the "No War" reference on the sails on the Opera House and I hope this will be the permanent logo for all the Sydney events.


The day finished with me rushing (again) off to work for the Playhouse performance of Possessed. A funny, slapstick but poignant show performed vigourously by Frank Woodley. It borders on painful sometimes (coccyx pain!) but it is a fast and entertaining show - think Mr Bean meets Buster Keaton with Vegimite.

Captain Underpants

This is what is keeping me occupied when I'm not doing mad hours at work. The deadline for delivery to the Sydney Royal Easter Show is the end of this week and Captain Underpants Mark 11 is still missing a goofy smile and a red cape.

If I had bothered to read the entry form several months ago I would have noticed the category I applied for was "Creative Knitting: of Original Design". Captain Underpants Mark 1 did not fulfill this criteria because it was someone else's pattern. I could have entered him into the "Soft Toys; class 202" section but this was several pages on, past the "Slipcast Ceramics" and "Mosaics" sections. Bleedin' obvious.

Nil Desperandum as they say, so rather than forfeit my $10.00 entry fee I set to and made my own Original Design. The body is knitted flat with a back seam and the limbs are a combination of i-cord and Double Knitting. Some parts are not as neat as I would like but as I'm not planning on winning any prizes with this fellow I'll let it stand. His entry is a mild protest against the clowns and toilet roll cover dolls that seem to make up the vast majority of knitting at the Easter Show.

One of these days the permitted entries may be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century and ipod covers and funky handbags will be allowed to see the light.

Bags, Bags, Bags.

I've entered a Bag swap on Ravelry - just because.

This has caused me to review my Bag situation and it's a sad prospect. Not being a handbag for every occasion type of person this is the total of my current usable carriers. The big Backpack at the back is for commuting to work and staying overnight in the city. It usually holds enough to support anyone shipwrecked on an island or stranded in the bush for a few weeks; Books, Laptop, change of clothes, toiletries, snacks, tools (spanner, Leatherman) and at least 2 knitting projects and supporting paperwork. Needless to say it is not light.

When I'm just going to the local shops the magenta bag in the front used to suffice - until the strap broke off - for the 4th time - probably because I started to overload it. It is looking very battered because it has served me for many years since I found it in a Mt Victorian Treasure shop for $20. (Maybe I should go back up there and see if they have any more). The short term replacement is the lovely marmalade paper raffia bag in front - again from a treasure shop in Charing Cross for about $20. (I don't spend big on my bags). The problem is that paper raffia is not a durable product - especially when they are mistreated handled a lot. I give this bag a few months at the most.

The final bag is the "my husband went to New York and all he bought me was a Macy's Store Bag" which I really do appreciate and which I use for my Knitting Guild hold-all. I know if I put it into general circulation it will start to look as tattered as the others so I'm trying to keep it for 'good'

Getting back to the Bag swap I have been impressed/overawed by the number of free bag patterns in the Knitting 'verse and have reduced my choice to two - guided (I hope) by my partner's preferences. The final choice of pattern was partly decided because I wanted to try Cascade 220 - a knitting staples overseas and now finally available in Australia at Yarnsonline along with a few other goodies I am trying hard to resist.

They say it's your birthday...

...We're gonna have a good time.

It was a great time. A big thank you to Lara and Mark for hosting the Western Suburbs Affiliated Branch of Rubi & Lana's Knitting group.
Despite having to work in the morning I was able to make it in time for Cake cutting and a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday".

Mary-Helen and Sandra were there, as was Jenwren, Sally and her ever-so-patient David.
Young master Inigo was a bundle of dark-eyed cuteness matched only by the soft bunnies in their hutch.

Much knitting was done, books and yarn admired and cake consumed. Sally's assertion that she was not a lace knitter was completely contradicted by her wonderful lace scaves while Mark quietly knitted his Intarsia .

Ravelry meanwhile continues to impress. I received numerous birthday greetings through gmail and ravelry mail because a little birthday cake icon had popped up on my avatar - it is very nice to get good wishes from afar.

Wicked

Despite having several WIP and UFOs on the knitting front I went ahead and started up a new pattern after impulsively buying the yarn from Little Knits.

I am on their mailing list and the mere suggestion of exclusive offers and '50% off' pushes my bargain buttons. The catch is that the postage is often as much as the yarn although they do try and reduce the overall cost. Despite this some of the best I have knitted with has come from Little Knits.

The wool/silk Mondial Giada I'm using for Wicked is light and smooth to knit. It has the same twist as Zara, another nice yarn, and although the colour is a bit lighter than I expected it is knitting up to a lovely garment. The last Zephyr design I knitted was Green Gables in Classic Elite Provence and that was a great success.

I love these designs, the way the top-down technique is so easy and quick and their flattering shaping . I might have to try Rusted Root next.

Cosy

This is a "squeak in by the skin of my teeth" post as another long day comes to a close.

I present two teapot cosies that were knitted for a Ravelry Tea Cosy exchange and which were dispatched last Thursday to their Tasmania recipient. Australia Post came through with flying colours and delivered the parcel of Cosies and other goodies today. I have it on good authority that Emma was very pleased with all the contents and I now look forward to receiving some little Tea Pot cover from my upstream exchange partner over the next month. (No pressure!)

Both the patterns came from the seemingly infinite pattern database that is Ravelry:
The Red and Black Skull and Crossbones is an adaptation of the Pirate Gal hat by Erssie and the Fulled Autumn Leaves comes from Autumn Tea Cozy by aemmeleia. My thanks to both of these generous knitters for making their patterns available.

Knitting and Music

Despite a fuggy head, a hot afternoon and the dreaded trackwork I managed to make it to the Rubi & Lana knitting meet for the first time in many months. I also wanted to pick up some of R&L's lovely laceweight yarn to send to my ISE5 partner and bought 2 balls in a rich Peacock shade. Each one has 900m of soft merino yarn!

At the meet I saw an lovely lace top knitted from just one of these. It was derived from a Vogue Knitting patten and had an edging of ribbon at the neckline. The knitter (whose name I can' remember because my brain is fuggy) couldn't recall the exact source but I'm going to look through my VK back copies and see if I can find it.

The remainder of the day was spent at work doing the final of the Rachmaninov Festival. During yesterday's rehearsal I was blown away by the Pianist playing Piano Concerto No. 3 and tonight he was awesome. I now know that "it has the reputation of being one of the most difficult concertos in the entire piano repertoire." and I can see why. He got a standing ovation at the end of the performance and I was one of them.

The SSO is apparently making a recording of this series with Vladimir Ashkenazy as the Conductor. It will be definitely going on my wishlist.

Another Scarf

This is the "other" scarf that I started for ISE5 - it's nearly finished and even though I haven't got a recipient for it I will complete it. The Mohair Goat yarn is wonderfully soft and comes all the way from Halifax Nova Scotia. It will make someone a nice Christmas present.


The scarf is in the Studio and it's the quiet before the Bump-in tommorrow morning. The set for Gilgamesh is a 7.3m x 2.4 m pit of the finest brown dirt, all 6000 kg of it.

"A high energy and brutal adaptation which combines hip hop, toys, matchbox cars and professional wrestling to deal with themes of masculinity, power, love and loss."

I hope the scarf can cope.

ISE5 Scarf finished

This pretty thing is going to be sent off across the sea to somewhere in America next week.
It's the Gypsy Rose scarf for ISE5 and it uses a blend of Belisa Cashmere and Rubi & Lana Merino Laceweight. I'm pleasantly suprised at how nicely it has turned out - it has a lovely drape and is heavier than its lacy appearance seems. I'm crossing my fingers that the recipient will like it also. Now that I have completed both Scarf and Tea Pot Cosy exchanges I can get back to completing the Cobblestone Pullover or the long suffering UFO's.

The trouble is Juno Regina is calling me.

Swinging to the Whitlams

In the Drama Theatre last night the sound of the Whitlams filtered through the layers of concrete from the Concert Hall, adding an ambient sound of thunder to Don's Party. When the audience get really excited in the big hall the sound of their stamping feet is like hailstones on the roof.

In my capacity as swing operator I worked on both shows and noted the irony that each made reference to the great, iconic Politician Gough Whitlam. Like Witty Knitter I am not a fan of Don's Party. It is not about politics as I first thought but about delusion, repression and fulfilling social stereotypes - Alpha Male, Swinging Sixties, Perfect Wife. I found the characters fickle and shallow and couldn't sympathise with any of them.

I did get a good start on the next project in my knitting queue - Cobblestone in Merino et Soie. I have about 20cm on the needles and am already reconsidering the choice of yarn. The original garment was in a tweedy yarn that suits the garter stitch details. I love the softness and drape of the wool/silk mix but it isn't right for this pattern. It is perfect for Leo and as I intended it for this design when I bought it, back it goes. I have a good amount of unbadged Bendigo yarn in the stash that will suit Cobblestone better.

Dr Egg and the Big Hat

I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink

I'm so tired, my mind is on the blink
I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink
No, no, no

After three days of drama (excuse the pun) I'm finally back home - all a bit Twilight zone - she left in the morning and was not seen until three days later.
Two and a half fourteen hour shifts with two ten hour breaks, no time to travel home and back; thank goodness for spare knickers in the locker and the little room in the city to bunk down at.

I had to fill at the last minute in for the Lighting of the world premier production of "Dr Egg and the Man with One Ear". It wasn't a huge rig nor was it a challenging plot (slight problem with a DMX triggered Animation sequence that the 510 backup decided it didn't like) but I only expected to be there for one shift.
I only had one lot of knitting with me and NO knitting Literature. Okay, I could cope with the fact I had to wear the same pair of Jeans from Monday to Wednesday but not with the fact that I had left Elizabeth Zimmerman at home in both book and DVD. That's tragic.

To rub salt in the wound when I finally did lurch home on Wednesday evening after falling asleep on the train several times, I found a Ravelry invite waiting for me. Yay (zzzzz).
I started to surf through its huuuuge database and forums and patterns but had to stop because my brain is totally fried. It just ain't fair.

The one bit of knitting I had with me is finished of course - it was the box hat from Cleckheaton's Vintage Hues. I made it a bit larger than the pattern because I've got a big head and I also wanted to felt it a bit. It's made from one 100g ball of the Ashford's Tekapo Pure Wool I bought from Cooma. So far it is proving very resistant to any felting or shrinkage, despite a fair bit of rigorous handling in hot water. This lady says its a fabulous felter so I will persevere - tommorrow. I'm going to bed now.

You are #6628 on the list.

Back from the Snow, stuck in bed with a dose of cold and flu and catching up on lots of Blogs; I've discovered that even though my Ravelry invite hasn't arrived yet I can find out where I am on the waiting list - I didn't realise I had left my application so late but at least I'm in the queue.

• You signed up on June 4, 2007.
• You are #6628 on the list.
• 1153 people are ahead of you in line.
• 9626 people are behind you in line.
• 33% of the list has been invited so far

A Pile of Stash

Does this look like someone who has been on a stash diet?
Despite appearances to the contrary I am keeping to the Knit From your Stash pledge I took last year in December and going through the stages 12 step management plan including;

1. Assess and organise
5. Periodic Evaluations.
10. Review
11. Reassess
12. Re-evaluate. Frequently.

I'm trying to see the floor tidy up my little yarn corner as well as prepare for Ravelery (I'll wait, I'm patient) so this evening I pulled out everything that wasn't in a WIP bag and took its photo.
The good thing is that in the process I have identified at least three lots of yarn that I can get rid of and have reacquainted myself with lots of lovely fibre. It was good to just get it all out and remember when or why I bought a particular skein of Mollydale or a packet of Rowan Fine Cotton Chenille.
Trudi's Stash Manifesto and her Afterthoughts, though tailored to her specific needs, are an inspiration and a great place to begin the journey of Stash Management. I have never wanted to have Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy but it is not always easy to exercise self control in the face of tempting yarns and nice LYS.

I also organised a lot of my Knitting Books and loose patterns into one location instead of being stored in stacks on any flat surface that was close. The next thing on the agenda is to sort all the WIP's and UFO's. I will probably find that despite the demoralising picture of a Queen size bed covered in yarn I have been productive and true to my pledge.

For anyone in Australia that is interested this is a 10 ball packet of Minicaraibi from Lana Grosso; 100% Italian Cotton 4 ply in Antique Rose. It's out the door for $45.

Knitter's treat - worth waiting for!

Hooray! My Knitter's Treat parcel arrived today - across the sea all the way from Cathy (not sure of your blog pseudonym) in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I picked it up on the way to work so here is the yarn on my desk soaking in the sounds of Mahler's 6th .

There were lots of goodies packed into the little box sealed with Canadian tape (and reopened by Australian Quarantine) It took a while to get here but the wait was well worth it. Along with a little sketch of the parcel valiantly splashing its way across the ocean there was a card showing a ferry on Halifax harbour (and it does look nice) plus;

• 1 x Skein "Give it a Whorl" Handpainted yarn .

• 1 x skein Turquoise Jorgenhurst Fine Fibres kid mohair, hand dyed by Gordon Jorgenhurst, the 70-something farmer who raises gorgeous little mohair goats.
• 1 packet of Just Us Coffee roasted in Nova Scotia at "one of Canada’s most successful worker-owned businesses based on a firm belief in “people and the planet before profits”.
• A sweet, silver and fused glass pendant handcrafted by Cathy herself, a sandlewood scented Candle, a copy of Hello! Canada and (yum) Salt Water Taffy!

Thank you so much, Cathy, for your lovely and thoughtful gifts. The incredibly soft mohair is already destined for a little shawl from issue 2 of Yarn magazine.

My treatee finally received her parcel a few weeks ago also and gave it a lovely review. So the Knitter's Treat Exchange Circle is complete. The tyranny of distance meant that I was unable to nominate anyone for Best Treater but I would have if it was still running. Thank you to the hostesses for putting it all together.

Berkshire Pullover

There have been wins.

This is the Berkshire Pullover from Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick.

It is knitted in Cleckheaton Tempo; a 14 ply wool acrylic blend now discontinued, with a bit of Green Sirdar Nova in the stripes.





It's nice to do a speedy knit now and then and except for a bit of fiddling with the collar this just flew off the 10mm needles. Minimal sewing of seams and plenty of opportunities to try on and adapt to individual preferences.

I think he was happy with the final garment