Pieces of Arisaig

I have not been idle.

All the pieces of Arisaig are finished! Hoorah, no more tiny rows of ribbing and boy am I sick of that lace pattern (as lovely as it is)....

I made quite a few mistakes with the sleeves, which was annoying because it's nothing complicated - I just kept losing count and sometimes I would forget to increase or decrease at the end of a row even when I had increased or decreased at the start of that row!!! Brain's gone to mush I think.

I did do something clever - a 3-needle bind off on the shoulders (see right). It saves a tiny bit of seaming (which is my pet hate, along with knitting in the round) and it looks way neater. Here's the blurb about it in Knitty but I used the instructions at the back of any Interweave Knits cos' there's a picture!

Hopefully I'll have the finished Arisaig to show and tell next week. The long weekend should help. I haven't yet decided on a colour for the tie yet but maybe a lilac or rose.

My next project will be the long awaited Asymmetrical Cardigan in Knitting Nature. In the meantime, my travel knitting consists of...


Cashmere lace scarf using Belisa Cashmere, which I started not long after Easter. Don't ask me why I'm putting myself through another fine lace project. I'm mad.

Handmade Felt Book

ISBN 4277430023

Beautiful Japanese book published by Ondori with lots of projects for bags, hats, creatures, corsages, baby booties and more.

Pics on my flickr.

A couple of the more basic projects have step-by-step photo instructions but the rest are just diagrams. Both wet felting and needle felting projects are included.

I'm not sure whether it's suitable for someone with no previous felting experience. I bought it more for inspiration and ideas rather than to learn how to felt.

Some really unusual bags are included, like the melon bag below... although I'm not really sure it's a bag - looks more like it's stuffed with fleece and it's a bit difficult to work out from the instructions when you can't speak Jap.


My absolute favourite in the book are these flower corsages...

Zoo of Socks

Came across this book on Angry Chicken's blog and just had to have it! (ISBN 4579110617)

Managed to find it at my local Kinokuniya (my favourite shop to browse at lunchtime, when I get one).


There are about 15 different animals you can make from socks or gloves. My faves include the pig, elephant, panda and red robin (I like them all!). There are pictorial instructions and look pretty easy to follow - although I haven't made anything yet.

There's even a small section on making clothes for the dolls (a top, pants, dress and hat). More pics on my flickr.


My first project will be the zebra, which is Jerms' favourite. Kudos to him for holding the book in the sun so I can take these pics.

In related news, Jerms and I did a photo shoot of a couple of my other Japanese craft books at the same time. I'll be posting pics of these in the next couple of days. Stay tuned.

Wee Make-a-long

First installment of Hilary Lang's (of Wee Wonderfuls' fame) make-a-long story is up!

I need some sewing skills.

One Angry Dwarf & 80-Piece Orchestra

Have been meaning to post about the Ben Folds and Sydney Symphony concert I went to last Friday.

It was AWESOME (and I'm not one of those cute Gen Y's who use the word liberally).

Here's a not so nice write up in the SMH. While I agree with Mr. Zuel that it's hard to improve on the originals, I think it's a bit cynical to say 'what's the point' when the arrangements showed off both Ben and the SSO's talents (like he , 'not just your usual pop-classic duet), the audience had a heap of fun and all the musos looked like they enjoyed doin' it. Isn't that what entertainment is all about?

Highlights for me were...

1. When he had to stand away from the piano and sing Not The Same - painfully uncomfortable, awkward and hilarious
2. The sci-fi'esq intro to one of the songs - I think it was One Angry Dwarf
3. Getting the story behind Cigarette - all the words are from one sentence in a newspaper article. Strangely he played Landed instead after telling the story
   
4. The orchestra playing the melodian part of Stephen's Last Night
5. And of course, finishing up on Luckiest in the encore - this last one for completely sentimental reasons
   

He also played a few of my favourites that don't usually get much airplay at gigs - Evaporated, Alice Childress and Carrying Cathy.

There are some fuzzy videos on YouTube. Of particular interest is this rendition of Rock This Bitch.

We got our photo snapped by some photographer sponsored by Jameson - hence the annoying logo. This is NOT an ad for them.

Yum Cha Fun

Went to Regal for yum cha on the weekend. One of my favourite Chinese desserts (aside from dun dan and sweet tofu) is the black sesame roll.

I have no idea how it's made or what ingredients are in it (except for mashed up black sesame) - probably better that I don't know.

I love playing with my food. Here's me unrolling the black sesame roll and rerolling it around a chopstick. Very silly I know.

Video of Jerms eating his can be found here.

Spiral

Found this amazing crochet pattern on kpixie.

Almost tempted me to buy now and learn to crochet later.

There's no description of the level of difficulty but I suspect it's of the treacherously HARD variety.

Crikey.

Nature Adventure

My Knitting Nature has finally arrived! I'll be blogging my adventures on the Knitalong with supplementary pics and excessively self-indulgent comments on this blog.

My first project is the Asymmetrical Cardigan.

I'm tempted by the Coastline Skirt though...

Fingertips & Mountaintops

I put in my preorder for Darren Hanlon's new album, Fingertips and Mountaintops, today. It's coming out on October 2nd.

This is the first album of Darren's that I'm actually forking out real money for. I've heard his songs on the J's before and loved them (especially Falling Aeroplanes and I Wish I Was Beautiful For You) but have never really bothered to find out more.

Finally went to one of his gigs a few months ago and absolutely loved it. He is so funny live.

Just to be safe I bought all his other albums as well. To save on postage, you know.

There's a few audio tracks on the Candle Records website. Well worth a listen.