small world

Northey street city farm is a beautiful place to be studying permaculture...all the little things...

Join me there on Sunday if you'd like-8-12 at Village life market. I will have my own dash robin goodies and am excited to be sharing a stall with Lynne who makes beautiful jewellery using recycled silver and Australian made glass beads.

From 10-11 a.m this Sunday at the main stage on the farm grounds some folks may also wish to join me in creating a new informal group-'Village life wrap with love crochet/knitting circle'...we'll be making squares to go off to this organisation...

xKate

wood and wool

These are fingerless gloves, made with one of the Fauve fibre yarns-a suggestion was something lacy to show off the yarn...this was about the right level of lace for me and the yarn...I was so excited to share notice the needing to be woven in end!

They are really soft and light to wear. Here's another, a self timer shot which worked out a lot better than the one above!


Okay, so this is the least seasonally appropriate project I could possibly choose to make but there's never a bad time of year to finish things is there-this is something I knitted back in Autumn and all it needed was a button...and at the Brisstyle eco market I picked up a lovely button, made by Becs dad from scraps of wood.


I sanded down the edges and etched some holes into it, rubbed in some white paint and voila-a button fit for a shawl!

I also finished a few more nest brooches this morning...

I am off to take my youngest to his circus class but have a lovely weekend everyone and don't forget...

xKate

close knit finale

After what felt like an impossibly long wait the Brisbane festivals Close Knit program finished up in a big way this Saturday with a cherry picker reaching to the high limbs of this gum tree to create the most spectacular sight- a knitted tree!

The Close Knit project has been a beautiful community project-life affirming,
joy giving and funI know a few people who think yarn bombing is a waste of resources and time but for me it's a way of elevating the status of both womens work and yarn work.
And I just love the way the colours work, it's such fun to see people noticing, seeing, stopping and examining something familiar because it's been wrapped up in wool.
I love yarn bombing!

It was amazing to look up and see all the individuals work joined together to form a whole.
Knitting and crochet were the traditional skills which provided for the various communities involved in the Close Knit project to come together, to share conversation, create, learn and reach out.
The tree is a perfect symbol to me of the beauty of healthy close knit communities-they are well grounded but also extending, growing and a part of larger systems.

Who(hoooo?) would think yarn could be so useful? ;o)
xKate

thinking pink

The weekend Knitting and crochet cafe sessions were lovely...

The lovely women of Lido cafe, and staff of Vagelis cafe, made us and our groups very welcome over our Saturday and Sunday sessions with free coffees and sweets...

It was wonderful watching beginners tackling learning knitting with a sense of fun and purpose, heartfelt thanks to all who joined in!!

There are plans afoot to create some more breast cancer awareness pink ribbons and decorations for the upcoming Brisstyle mother and baby market, too-more news on this as our ideas take shape.

Now for something completely different...
a recipe of sorts...

Pasta sauce made with freshly picked tomatoes, herbs, a big dollop of olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper, a bit each oats and cooked brown rice.

Bubbling away in it are some meat balls made with organic mince beef, an egg yolk, grated lemon rind, mint, a splash of soy sauce.
You could make this vego by substituting grated firm tofu in the mince recipe.

I pre bake these til they are cooked all over and then let them heat through.

Served up with fresh pasta. Very comforting and filling.

I am in 2 minds about this but have also decided to share the news my old cat Max passed away very suddenly on Sunday.

I am slowly accepting I will never see my dear old friend again.
I am very happy to have such sweet memories of him
xKate

French knot success!

I would love to be able to pop a few French words in here just to celebrate learning a new thing! Champagne! Croissant!
All lovely things and about the only French words I know, so they'll have to do.

They might be clumsy and over sized take a peek above, my first ever french knots!
So excited to have cracked them!A sprinkle of them over things just adds a bit without adding too much...
(this flower hair clip is an old woollen dressing gown, washed until thoroughly felted then cut and shaped.)

Now sorry to rudely interrupt my stitching ravings but I have some nice news now for Brisbane locals who have some time up there sleeve this weekend!
Please feel very welcome to join me
either on Saturday from 2.30-4.30- Lido cafe at 120 Racecourse road
or on Sunday at Vagelis Cafe and Bar- 1 til 3, at 30 Racecourse road.

Bring a hook, needles and some yarn and we can swap tricks...beginners welcome!
I am attending to promote- the diversity and craftyness of the Brisbane Festival ( a great job)
and also to gently remind all that it's Breast cancer awareness coming up in October
-so pink yarn only please...
Happy crafting,
XKate
To creative space travel this way or more recent stitching here or here

Trees and banks and breasts

My latest brooches...what do you think of these?

Felt applique and teeny tiny hand stitched details.
I really like them even if they seem to take forever to make.

But I suppose these doilies took a lot longer to create!
I cleaned out all my local op shops yesterday to fit out a bank in Ascot with these crochet pretties.

I wonder what the customers think?

I also made some bunting out of some gorgeous hand dyed organic yarn.
It is perfect for yarn bombing and stall decorating and I am making more for no purpose at all beyond the fact that it is just so pretty and cheerful!

This installation was placed in the Westpak bank, Racecourse rd, Ascot, as part of a breast cancer fund and awareness raising campaign.
I would have enjoyed creating a themed installation for the cause but unfortunately I only found out the purpose of the installation on the day!

But I still am glad to have the opportunity to remind myself and others to be gentle on ourselves and look after our bodies-eat well, move about a lot, check yourself out and get all those bits checked out. We all hear it all the time - get regular pap smear tests and do breast self examinations but when do you find the time?
How about now?
X Kate

my creative space

Crochet is taking a back seat this week to knitting, as I prepare for some exciting workshops. Unfortunately I didn't realise black wool is impossible to photograph. It is not doing justice to the fact that this piece contains moss stitch, double cable, single cable and other random stitches...I am actually even enjoying it.

I will be very shortly working in West end for 6 weeks with a small group of women, who arrived here as refugees from Africa.
Our knitted textile efforts will be shared with many other groups across Brisbane to create something very exciting and special...more updates on this later.


This Autumn/winter craft has been taking over Brisbane in a big way, with projects like the Saviours of the lost arts, guerrilla knitting, suitcase markets and pop up markets...
Brisbane is getting it's craft on!


xKate

p.s- i might just sneak a crochet hook along to the workshops too...and to see more craft from all over the world head to http://www.kootoyoo.com/