FIBRE ALIVE

Vote Baby Vote - Deee Lite

It's only a couple of days to go until the General Election in New Zealand... and I can't wait! Firstly because I love the fact that we live in a democratic country and I am able to vote. Secondly I'll just be glad when it's all over. It's been a shorter than normal campaign period due to the timing of the Rugby World Cup but in reality it's seemed like one of the longest... ever... and I blame the media and their reporting of the campaign. I have been really embarrassed at the poor standard of journalism which has seen real issues pushed to the background while the tea cup saga has gained all the attention. When you talk about self importance politicians usually tend to come to mind but these days I think the title clearly goes to TV journalists.

Right that's my grump over! For anyone who still has not enrolled to vote, tomorrow is the last day to register. So get in there and make your vote count. For those of you who are still uncertain about the policies of the various parties and how they might affect you I have a solution...

ELECTION FARM

Can you tell that New Zealand is still very much an agricultural nation?!? Some whizz kids have come up with this interactive site which gives you an overview of the political parties and their policies using a farm environment. I've already decided who I am voting for in my electorate and which party will get my party vote but I did have fun playing around on Election Farm. Check it out for yourselves.

In another sign of tough economic times I was saddened to read this week that the woollen mill in Milton (just outside Dunedin) is about to close and make all their staff redundant. The Mill has seen many incarnations of ownership over the years but has always played an important part in the history of the New Zealand fibre industry. Here is the news article I saw earlier this week...

WOOLEN MILL IN MILTON TO CLOSE...

I'm hoping that somehow there may be a solution worked out and perhaps new owners might be able to keep the mill going.

In terms of knitting this week... I finished the Santa Sack jock strap! I'm quite pleased with just how good it turned out. Bi-tone honeycomb certainly is my signature stitch! this little beauty will find it's way into the mail to Canada this weekend. On a side note... Ian likes it so much that he has even requested one for Christmas. Hmmm...

Ready for some flowers now???

It's springtime so we've had some peonies on display in the dining room and I thought they were too beautiful not to share them with you. (Yes that is my laundry in the background, I'm no domestic goddess!)

A Kind of Christmas Card - Morten Harket

Last weekend was a busy one for me travelling through to Fielding each day for a craft fair being held there. I decided that it would be cheaper to drive each day than to pay for a motel and because my friend Sally and I were sharing a stall it made sense to share a car as well. I had never been to this particular fair before but it was one that my Father regularly went to with his woodturning. 

The saturday was very busy peoplewise with waves of people pouring into the venue. I made the mistake of spending most of the day up on my feet talking and knitting while I was selling my yarns. Normally that isn't a problem for me and when I worked in retail management for Pascoes there were no seats to sit down so I was always on my feet. But when I was driving home on Saturday I started to get a little cramping in my right leg and I had to take my shoe off. When I got home I saw why... the leg I've had celulitis in had become swollen and tender. Luckily not a relapse, just a bit of swelling so on the Sunday I made sure that I sat down for most of the day... which was interesting in itself since I was wearing my kilt.

So in the end it was a successful weekend as Sally and I had a great time, we both sold stuff and we got to meet lots of new people and also got to meet people we had only known from online. I'll be back to the Fielding market next year for sure.

I was at the Post Office a couple of days ago and saw the poster with Christmas posting deadlines and decided that it was time to start getting my Christmas cards sorted. I happened to be at Paper Plus so I browsed through there huge display of Christmas cards looking for something that would appeal to my knitting friends who live overseas. Normally it's quite difficult to find anything combining Christmas and Knitting but this year I spotted this card...

Not only does the card feature knitting... but sock knitting!!! It was perfect and I couldn't resist buying a pack... a portion of the sale price also went to a Breast Cancer charity so it was a done deal.

Then just as I was about to leave the store I spotted another card with a sort of Christmas knitting theme...

An ultra cute Christmas Kitty!!! I might have to see if I can replicate this image using Jazz the cat... I'm guessing that I'll have to ply him with food to model for me.

And speaking of Christmas knitting... here is another project I'm working on. Red and white... Christmasey. Reindeer looking on... Christmasey. It's another knitted jock for a friend and I know I'm going to regret this but it's going to be called the 'Santa Sack' jock because it will have a double pouch which will have gifts in it.  

And as Christmas is partly about fun and games follow this link to a really cute game about testing your reaction time by tranquilising sheep. It sounds weird but it's fun and quite addictive when you keep trying to improve your time.

THE SHEEP DASH

Doozer Knitting - The Muppets

When I was a TV addicted kid in the 1970's the two highlights of my weekend viewing were The Wonderful World of Disney and The Muppet Show. Even Mum and Dad would watch the Muppet Show with me and laugh along with all the skits although I think they got a bit fed up with my Brother and I constantly singing 'ma na ma na' at the tops of our lungs. I don't even remember there ever being a Muppets knitting song but I was pleasantly surprised to find the Doozer Knitting song when I was doing a random google search a few days ago... it may even become the ring tone on my phone soon. 

About ten years ago I bought Mum a Tickle Me Elmo doll for her birthday, the sort that when you did tickle Elmo it would gigle and vibrate. Even now it brings a smile to my face when I look at it... it's not just kids who like to have or enjoy toys.

While this video clip doesn't feature Elmo or the Muppets it does feature two very cute knitted characters called Knit and Purl... did I say very cute???... I meant to say incredibly cute!!!

  

Although what would you call the baby... Make one??? The credits appearing on a ball of yarn at the end of the clips are a very clever idea. My thanks to wonkyfilms for being so creative.

My little by little premise is working ok so far and the latest mini stockings offerings are in red and green... and the next colours will be green and white. Can you tell that I'm quite traditional when it comes to my Christmas colours?!?

I'm running late for work this morning so instead of babbling on about Christmas knitting I'll leave you with another clip from Knit and Purl... I couldn't resist because it's about tickling!

 

Little by Little - Radiohead

I guess that as you get older you learn more about yourself and the world around you... well at least you're meant to learn from your experiences... I'm learning that my 41 year old body isn't able to do the things my 21 year old body could.

Back then I enjoyed rowing and thought nothing of going to the gym and rowing for over an hour at a time. It was something that I was good at and something that I felt a sense of achievement with... and you can't deny the effect of the endorphins running around your body afterwards. Since I stopped working in Wellington with a gym only a couple of minutes walk away I haven't been doing much rowing and I think that has also contributed to my moods and rubenesque physique. So earlier this week I decided to launch myself back into the rowing saddle... and it's amazing how much out of shape I felt... and realised that I need to respect my body and ease myself back into a steady routine. There's no need to try and row for an hour anymore and it's probably far more beneficial for me to just spend 20 minutes a day to build up my strength and stamina and forget about getting back to the level I was at last year.

It's amazing just how the kilometres add up when you start rowing. Concept2 is one of the world's most well known rowing machine brands and as part of motivating people they provide an online log book where you can record your distances and times and then compare that to other people. I started using the log book about four years ago and while I've been a little inconsistent with rowing due to various things I'm really pleased to announce that yesterday's workout saw me cross the five million meters rowed threshold! It'a quite an achievement and one that I'm rather proud of plus it's come right at the time when I needed a bit of a boost. My goal now is of course to head towards six million meters but... I'm not putting a time frame on it this time. I know that if I make the commitment to row often and for short distances the meters will add up by themselves, little by little, and I'll enjoy the exercise instead of forcing myself to do it.

I also decided it was time to treat myself with a bit of fibre indulgence. A couple of months ago I had ordered myself some undyed alpaca boucle yarn from a place called Flagstaff Alpacas  with the intention of knitting something for myself. I finally got around to dragging out my dyepots again and finally got the yarn dyed.

And here is the work in progress. The four different colourways will all be knit up in a modular pattern I've got worked out in my head... danger... and the plan is to knit one module per day. That way it will become part of a daily routine and I'll also learn a little patience and balance when it comes to my knitting. I thought it was kind of cool that when I wound the yarn from the hank into these cakes that the colours took on a tartan-esque argyle look.

I'm needing to learn the balance thing again because I tend to get distracted and start multiple projects but then discard them in favour of other things. Doing a little bit on each project every day will see good progress on all of them and again help me feel a sense of achievement when I see that progress. Another example are these mini-christmas stockings I've started to knit for the craft fairs I'm going to. I could spend a whole fortnight knitting these and nothing else but then I wouldn't have any time for making up sock yarn blanket kits, skeining yarn, knitting cable strips for a friendship quilt, knitting another jock strap for a ravelry swap, knitting for me, etc etc etc. Knitting always needs to be for fun and pleasure.

Here's something to make you think twice about animal husbandry... click on this like to see an article which appeared in the New zealand Herald...

Is it a sheep... is it a goat... no it's a geep!  

After some testing it turned out that it was a normal lamb but with an unusual gene combination which gave it a more lustrous type of fleece... hmmm I wonder what that would spin and knit up like???

To finish with here's a photo of our wisteria at the front of Scarlet Oak Cottage. I was very relieved to see that it had survived the windy stormy weather we had on Friday... we lost half the green fruit off the old plum tree though so I might be having a few discussions with Ian over how many plums I get to eat vs how many he gets to turn into jam... life is all about negotiation!  

On The Road Again - Willie Nelson

Thanks to everyone for your kind wishes for Jazz our cat and for me in my silly blue state...

The update I promised you is all good news. Jazz is home again and while he's not quite back to feeling 100% of his usual self he is well enough to get up to mischief again... yesterday we came home to find a dead bird on the back door step... as Jazz's contribution to the pantry no doubt. Then tonight he got fed up with me being on the computer and not paying him enough attention so he tipped over the wastepaper basket next to me in the study and proceeded to take all the paper out to make himself a bed. Can you tell who rules the roost in this house?!?

Thanks also for the comments on my new glasses. I'm not one for really promoting anything other than my own products or the products of friends here on my blog but I think I'll make an exception here. The company are based in Hong Kong and are called Zenni Optical, you can check out their website here. It's a really user friendly site and all the pricing on the website is in US$. My experience with them has been very good and I love the glasses I've purchased... one of the pairs I got just to wear at christmas time because they have snowmen on them.

And before I forget, the All Blacks did win the 2011 Rugby World Cup so needless to say there has been plenty of celebrating throughout the country. You might remember the supportive hay bales I posted a pictured a couple of weeks ago... well there's been a victorious addition to the front...

A replica trophy... classic kiwi country ingenuity.

I called this post 'On The road Again' because the Summer circuit of craft fairs is about to start and I've booked a place at a few of them... so here's the run down.

Fielding Craft Market, Saturday November 12th & Sunday November 13th, 10.00am - 4.00pm, Fielding Civic Centre, 84 Aorangi Street, Fielding

Craft Jam in the Plaza, Saturday December 3rd, 5.00pm - 9.00pm, Sunday December 4th, 10.00am - 2.00pm, Hawkes Bay Opera House, 101 Hastings Street South, Hastings

More details on the Fruit Bowl Craft Jam website

Craft Country Craft Market, Saturday December 10th, 10.00am - 3.00pm, Greytown Town Hall, Main Street, Greytown. The same day as the Greytown Christmas parade.

More details on the Craft Country website

Rotary Martinborough Fair, Saturday February 4th, 8.00am - 4.00pm, The Town Square, Martinborough

Rotary Martinborough Fair, Saturday, March 3rd, 8.00am - 4.00pm, The Town Square, Martinborough

More details on the Rotary Martinborough Fair website

Unwind Fibrecraft Retreat Traders Market, Friday March 9th, 1.30pm - 5.00pm, Pacific Park Hotel, Wallace Street, Dunedin. I'm also teaching two workshops over the weekend.

More details at unwindretreat.co.nz

It looks like I'm going to be a very busy boy but it's all going to be fun... especially as i usually wear my kilt to these events.

And what's a blog post on a knitting website without a photo of knitting...

This is a reversible mini jock strap I knitted for the teddy bear which I included as an extra gift to go with the Feliz navidad jock strap I knitted for a friend on Ravelry. Very cute!