pink and pretty

Today I began a new pattern, learning a funny counter intuitive stitch sequence along the way. The x shaped sequence of stitches sets up a loop ready for a treble cluster in the following row.

As I created the set up line I was having a running commentary in my head of, 'oh this can't be right, I put that over here and now I do what? And where? But that looks awful...HUH?'

But as I started the next row it all fell into place. See the first treble going into the x shaped loop above, it's a neat little trick, some may even use the word nifty, some pattern makers are so clever!

(The pattern is 'Francesca' hat from 'cute crochet clothes for kids' by Sue Whiting.)

And here's some garden pretties-rosella flowers and flower bud. These are in my top five favourite plants- they are strikingly gorgeous and the fruit can be made into a lovely jam or cordial. Somehow though I seem to always plant mine too late in the year!!

And despite swearing to get them in earlier this year I slipped up again and am not at all confident the bees will pollinate them in time. I have my fingers and toes crossed, but at least with a plant this pretty I already have some joy from them.

xKate

Hello all! I am down to my 2 last markets for the year this weekend! I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by and how much has been going on! I am heading down to Victoria to spend some good solid time with my family in the town where I grew up. It has a beautiful river with red gums growing on the banks and it should be looking pretty healthy as the rains have been falling there.
What are your holiday plans? I plan to read and take photographs of the special places I loved from my childhood.
These are the books I picked up from my local library;
Last Child in the woods by Richard louv, which is about why we ate spending less time amongst nature and how this can be changed.
The social entrepeneur by Andrew mawson, which looks into social enterprises and is written by one of the leading writers and planners in this field,
and last but not least ;Kitchen table sustainability by Wendy saarkissian, which is about too much and which is too good to try and sum up here. I would link for you but my iPhone says 'no' so google them! :0)
I am having my second last stall (for the year) tonight at the avid reader bookstore, which is hosting a booklaunch at the same time.
The book is one I am yet to see is a handmade craft special, and it will be interesting to meet some of the contributors of the book and even see 'for real' what they have made! Books and craft-yay!
If you'd like to come along; avid reader, boundary street, west end, Friday night- tonight( think my blog date is out of whack for some reason)
From 5.30-8.
Cheers xkate

my creative space

My creative space....

my place this week...

Green ants

Tiny funky orange fungus.

Weeds.

Flooded lawns.

Fruit eaten by bats.
(don't you dare suggest rats!)

Weeds.

and lastly weeds.

'been busy, thanks for asking, crochet workshops and yes, okay, I will get on with it'

dash robin giveaway
One of you will receive mailed to your door;
2 dash robin brooches(a felt bird and crochet granny square)
an oven mitt made out of repurposed denim, linen and Japanese fabrics,
a clutch made from repurposed fabrics with crochet strap and vintage buttons...
and a couple extra bits n bobs...
PLUS
A copy of my favourite book, My Place, by the wonderful Sally Morgan.
'tis a 2nd hand copy but in perfect nick
if you are the kind to turn your nose up at a second hand book what are you doing here ;o)

Oh, it's much more fun giving things away than weeding!!

To enter -leave a comment and share your favourite book and something about your place.
Follow and get an extra entry.
People already following get an extra too!
xKate
P.S- Winner will be randomly selected on the 25th August
p.s-more creative spaces here

Meet me Monday -LiKim Chuah

Meet me Monday-mini interviews about creativity with my fave people!
This has been nothing short of fascinating and fun to work on, if you enjoy reading and looking at this half as much as I did you will be happy.

Viewing LiKims' photography and collage images bring me rapidly to a point to envy,but I can also find joy in sharing her sense of creative playfulness...

"I am primarily a photographer, exploring the streets of the city or new suburbs.

I am into geometric building lines, shapes, old abandoned buildings, decaying things, composition, awesome colours and textures like peeling paint or oil stains on the road.

I actually feel like I have run out of Melbourne places, which is scary.I need to know more cool places to visit...anyone with any ideas please let me know.
I use two digital cameras;my SLR EOS 450D and my crappy camera phone. Film cameras from op shops and a couple of special novelty ones like the Golden half which I bought online in a moment of weakness. I use normal film, cross process slide film, red scale film and on occasion I alter/cut/paste/ink onto negatives.

Some of my favourite creations are from a long time ago...my sister back in the day.

As an op shop addict I always come across heaps of old school cook books with garish, ugly and gross food photos.I never had any use from them, other than my buffet themed jacket costume last Halloween...

Recently due to cold cold weather and grey skies I have started using these cook book images in collage, along with old National Geographic mags, kids picture books, pet books and sports books.

I love the kitsch factor of the photos, sitting in front of the TV cutting out the pictures and covering the entire lounge room floor in peices of paper.
I don't have a table and work on the floor which is bad for my body and anyone else who is wanting to walk through the lounge. As relaxing as collage is- it's harder than it seems.
Sometimes I might sit for a hour or more trying to position a puppy in front of rioting protesters.

I use a very crappy cheap stanley knife, stolen scissors, borrowed cardboard glue and pens from work and some textas I bought in Japan.
Make something creative every week or every day, even if its crappy and lame...create don't consume! And also cheese and banana on toast is underrated. You can add in peanut butter to the mix(Don't knock it til you've tried it)'
Thanks so much LiKim,
I had such fun with this,
anyone else interested in being featured drop me a line,
Xkate
To see more of LiKims wonderful works of collage art and inspired photography go to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/li-kimchuah/
and blog
http://angryaliceart.blogspot.com/

nests and french vintage...

I found the inspiration for this...(linen& bead bird nest brooch)

from this...French Inspired jewelry, by Kaari Meng.

It is full of the most beautiful exquisite images.

I also found a way to use some of my recent bird creations...here is one holding a short scarf around my neck.

I spent a good chunk of the long weekend working on this green and red stripey one. It is finished, finally, but weaving the ends in took longer than the crocheting of it! Does anyone have any tips to make this process faster??

xkate

happy fertility day!

My feelings towards some christians views of Easter is best summed up by this...http://www.27bslash6.com/easter.html
which I think is so very funny....especially the 'pray for me' bit.

But I do love how we continue ancient pagan traditions in fun chocolate rich ways...and clearly so do these guys!! So happy guts on chocolate day everyone!
I have finally finished the bunny I began over a year ago...he is loosely based on a pattern for Stan from this wonderful book which I have mentioned before.

I didn't follow the head or ear part at all and went my own way....he is pretty happy to be here on eggy day and also the day my son Jack turns 13!!

hope everyone's having a fun holiday,
xkate

my creative space...

Its that time again-creative space- fun! What's the creative space anyway? Is it the drift of thoughts that starts with a challenge and leads to a beautiful answer? Is it the room, cluttered with materials, where objects are assembled, ripped apart, snipped, tacked together, then somehow elegantly put back together again? Is it the walk in the morning where a kingfisher was observed, it's wings shining turquoise? Where does it begin, become for others?

Creativity comes to me via these word worlds...

Appreciating someones designs is creative at times...and lastly, I have to share this,

Fozzie bear?! Well, without ridiculous but very watchable shows like the Muppet show, or things like sponge bob and 30 rock, I would never stop and sit... and nothing hand made would get created!
xkate
for more spaces head to http://www.kootoyoo.com/

new things

Please excuse this really ordinary photo!

It shows a crochet stitch, spike stitch, which is used in the project 'Sienna headband' from the beautiful book vintage crochet
I talked about this book earlier here....
http://dashrobin.blogspot.com/2009/11/treasures.html

It is a slightly challenging stitch. Simply 'spike' your crochet hook below the row you are on, yarn over, then draw through and pull the yarn up to meet the top of your work, yarn over again and draw through both loops on hook and continue...or if that made no sense, google it!

This was my first attempt but I have since being playing around with colours that are only very subtly different and the results are very interesting. Its wonderful how one new stitch or tip from someone can open up a whole field of new ideas sometimes...


Apart from crocheting my heart out, I did go into the city and shifted around and re stocked my supply of goodies at Bleeding Heart too, so it's all there for you to see at Bleeding Heart cafe, in the school of arts building on Ann street in the city.



Expect to see more changes soon as the wall behind is going to be painted(YAY!) and some more exciting things are planned...



Miss dish now has set up shop too, and her dramatic and beautiful creations are well worth investigating.


I am reminded of burlesque style outfits when I see her rich luscious pieces but they would be suitable for more down to earth fashion too...sometimes its nice to jazz up a plain jane outfit with something contrastingly pretty, do you agree?


This is such a long blog but before I sign off, one more thing;
This weekend, this Sunday actually, at the Nudgee foreshore there is a music festival in celebration of wetlands and the migratory birds who visit them. It sounds like a lovely mellow event for big and little folk, and celebrates conservation of these important habitats and the diverse species of travelling birds who live in them. It also combines another love of mine, world music, with performances by varied performers...check out the details here...

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BASE::pc=PC_5999

xkate

last market of the year...

This Friday is the last little market of the year, it all seems to have gone by so quickly.
This was taken at one of my earliest market nights, very shy looking aren't I...it always feels a little daunting in the lead up to any event, standing right behind your products, especially when so much care and attention has been put into their creation. Its exciting, also scary, no p.r person to hide behind...but I get so much encouraging feedback and it always ends up being a really enriching experience. (this photo from the lovely http://littlebrowndoggie.blogspot.com/)

Anyhoo, I am totally looking forward to having a happy pre Christmas celebratory evening. I plan to have some of yummy wine, eat some tasty nibbles' and catch up with the sweet, oh so sweet, wonderfully gifted crafty women who have shared such a lot of fun nights with this year.

I always love seeing new things everyone is working on, these are my latest'...

They are bookmarks and came about because we are all contributing a gift towards a hamper of goodies for the owners of the bookstore(Avid reader, Boundary Street, West end)which hosts our market. So I was thinking of something I could make for a book-lover.

...and then once I had made one, I was a bit chuffed with it and got a bit carried away.

Au revoir for now, and looking forward to seeing lots of dear people before I take off on hol's for a bit!
xKate

bird love

'puurrr, i love birds...a lot...'

...which is why the only cat around my place is stuffed!

As I dropped off my kids at school this morning three stunning yellow tailed black cockatoos flew down to munch their way through banksia seeds.



Perhaps this xmas if you want to encourage these stunning birds to visit you, buy a coastal banksia in a pot, decorate it with hand made or fair trade decorations and use this instead of a pine tree...which I doubt you'd want in your yard. But if you don't want this kind of tree this idea applies to any variety, whatever you want, could be a fruit tree. Once Christmas is over, plant it out into your garden, a little extra present for yourself.

My thoughts drift onto antidotes to the problematic things about Christmas.
Nobody wants to feel guilty on Christmas day-but gobbling up factory farmed meats, veggies and fruit that have a bigger carbon footprint than your car, then opening up sweat shop produced products, maybe containing various hazardous ingredients, then disposing of loads of rubbish doesn't seem so jolly...

I am all for peace and harmony and joy without compromising the environment, peoples rights or animals welfare-basically maintaining mindfulness and conscience.
Feel free to add you own-please do;

-Buy fair trade or hand made locally items, buy your gifts from op shops or antique centres or opt out of the system altogether and swap pre owned gifts-books or dvds and cds might work really well there. Write out your best recipes, give someone a massage, read a child their favourite story, take them to their favourite place, lend a hand in someones garden, cook a meal, give veggies/herbs from your garden.

-Buy organic sheets or towels for presents. They can be bought online or also at Target/Aldi.

-Make xmas meals organic, free range or vegetarian. Try and get your things as close to home as possible, and have lots of salads with each meal and less hot meals. In this climate it makes no sense cooking up roasts and puddings, heats up the house and uses a lot of energy. Buy those fantastic seasonal fruits and enjoy them.

-Try to donate unwanted items right now to charities-toys, books, things in good nick.

-Make your own wrapping paper/cards from materials you already have-newsprint or old magazines, or buy some organic tea towels to use, tied up in a little knot this works great for wrapping.

-Go on retreat! Duck it altogether! Chenrezig is beautiful, in the sunshine coast hinterland.

-Give inspiring books or dvds, bought from independent bookstores, like Avid Reader in West end or your local abc shop...these are wonderful books


my favourite book on gardening, its perfect for Australian gardeners.



and this is a random bunch of other books which will inspire and uplift while gently suggesting an alternative to chemicals and consumerism....

xkate