greenolive

spinning the wheel

something I've always wanted to do!

 

The output of my first class last week - and the teacher spun most of this!

After many years of longing to spin, I have finally signed up to a spinning class. 

I've been inspired by all the lovely hand-spun out there in flickr-land, in particular the exquisite work of Brooklyn Tweed. Check it out, see for yourself. Lovely pinky skeins. Rich rusty colours. You can't help but be inspired can you? I had visions of creating hand-spun as beautiful as his as soon as I'd finished the course. His perfectly-timed tutorials further reinforced my delusion. Part 1, Part 2.

Until I found Jared's work I had turned my nose at all that surreal, brightly-coloured roving I'd seen in all your flickr photos. It looked horrible and I couldn't for the life of me understand why you were all raving about it. Now I know why. You can turn it into something beautiful.

As a casual observer I had mistakenly believed spinning was a realatively easy skill to learn. I'm crafty, I have an affinity with yarn, I'm a tactile person - I just need a wheel and some basic instructions. I was mistaken. I quickly learned during lesson one that spinning is more complicated than it looks. Or at least it was for me. A girl who must master anything she does. Immediately. More concentration and determination doesn't work. You need to let go.

Our teacher informed us that the wheel chooses you. And that each wheel has a personality. 'Elizabeth' was an Ashford, single-drive, Castle wheel and it seems she knew just what I needed. She knew I didn't need it to be easy, that I needed to let go, to go with the flow and not force it to work. I confessed I was an impatient Taurean: the teacher laughed, so did my fellow class mates. There was a bit of polite cursing too.

At first I couldn't get the wheel to go round. I was not pushing down on the peddle at the right point in the wheel's revolution. And if I got the wheel-foot action right I couldn't then combine it with the hands. Then I got a bit freaked out by the spindle and bobbin and was holding on to the yarn for dear life.

Finally, 15 minutes before the class ended, Elizabeth decided I had learnt my lesson and she let me spin a few metres of raw merino fleece into lumpy, bumpy and fuzzy yarn. Photo above offered as evidence!

I just hope I make better progress in lesson two...

PS: If you are curious, more photos on flickr.

 

a change of scene

about bloody time too!

Photo of some vintage linen I bought from Sandrine

I am SOOOOOO over the move. It has preoccupied my mind for the past month. I am sick of unpacking boxes and finding new homes for everything. I'm sick of feeling in transition between the old and the new, and of not having my routine down pat. I'm still feeling discombobulated. I remember saying in this post that I wish I could fast-forward the move to the bit where we are settled and everything is in its place. I think I thought that was going to take two weeks. That was overly optimistic, perhaps I should make that a month!

I'm sure you are over the move too! Most of my posts from the last few weeks have been move or stash related. I promise to remedy this right now, and get back to craft-related stuff.

As well as the move I have managed to buy some vintage linen (above), order some designer tea towels from skinnylaminx, find my birthday present (it had been bought, wrapped and packed away before the move!), start exploring a stitch for a new scarf, and even start spinning. (Not not at the gym!)

Eco Colour – a beautifully designed book and my birthday present.

On the life front, my old boss lost her battle with cancer about a week ago and in a strange way that provides a full stop at the end of that not-pleasant but ultimately life-changing period for me. 

And our new landlord informed us he is selling the property. Great, we left one place because of the impending threat of a sale and move into another that will be on the market by the end of the month!

Any of you have a lazy $1.5 million and want to invest in a property at Olinda? Mr and Mrs Booth (aka me & Mr greenolive) would be perfect live-in managers...

my uber stash

accepting the stark reality

An initial sorting, pinks from greens.

I really didn't think it was that big. Maybe bigger than normal, but not big in a bad, obsessive way.

Well at least that's what I naively thought until some of you left comments on this post, and until I actually started unpacking it on the weekend.

Storing it away out-of-sight-out-of-mind in boxes, and separating it, and hiding it around the old house actually made it look smaller than it actually was. Once you get it all out in the open and see it in the clear light of day – then it hits you: Oh, my, God! I have so much stuff. Then I realised that he's been right all along – I have enough yarn and fabric to last a lifetime, I really don't NEED anymore. But that's not really the point is it?

I've alluded to this before, but I don't think any of you realised the seriousness of the situation I am in.

I really do have a problem and I need to stop buying and start making. (At least til the end of the year, then I could re-evaluate the situation).

I might even have to resort to a de-stash. But with my "letting-go" issues this might not be as easy as you think.

As I continue to unpack, sort and re-evaluate my stash I'm discovering stuff I had forgotten I even had. I hate to think of the dollar value of my stash...

blood, sweat and tears

the aftermath of the move

Self-portrait of Mr greenolive's bloodied hand. He's right handed which means he took this photo with his left hand. He emailed it to me at work along with some work-in-progress shots of the layout of the studio so I could give him feedback on where I wanted things to go. He knows me so well! He's set everything up so I can just unpack all weekend.

The evidence of the blood (Mr greenolive's). The sweat was his also. Mine were the tears.

This move totally overwhelmed us. It was our seventh and it was just around the corner (literally).

I don't know what tripped us up - take you pick from the list below:

a) not enough moving boxes meant we had to pack stuff, move it to the new place, unpack the box, then repack it again.

b) my sister and two of her kids (The Inventor and The Button Master - read her blog!) came to stay the weekend before we moved which meant no packing, sorting and cleaning, and no moving the small stuff.

c) the move was literally around the corner (about 800m east of where we use to live) so we didn't factor in the driving time to and fro and totally underestimated how long it would take

d) we did the move ourself with the help of Trent, the father of Jack (our favourite dog)

e) we now have a studio to put all my crap, sorry, stash in and once that was moved (15 car loads - a hatchback filled to the brim) we thought we had broken the back of the move (we hadn't!)

f) if you don't factor in the studio (9m x 5.5m) the actual house is smaller than the one we were moving from which meant packed boxes actually got in the way of walking to the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, anywhere...

g) the completely anal wife who needs stuff to be sorted and placed in its new home just so

h) the fact that it rained on the big move day

i) that I'd only taken two days off work and if you consider f and g above that was woefully inadequate.

Actually, now I read this list, all of the above is the correct answer.

I will stop boring you with the details and pictures of the move and the chaos. I'll concentrate on unpacking and organising and then show you some lovely AFTER shots of the studio and the sorted stash.

Don't hold your breath, it could be a while...

Photo of one of the tidier bits of the studio. Don't be fooled, it isn't all like this.

mixtape issue four

out now!

I can't believe we are up to issue four already! Time flies.

I think mixtape gets better each issue. If you are a regular reader you'll probably agree. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go and order a copy now. Why not get all the back issues too?

Lisa Condgon's cover illustration is fantastic (the best cover yet I think!) and printing the cover on heavier weight stock is a great idea.

If you have your own issue of mixtape, then you will have turned straight to page 40 for your regular does of Crafty 101! This issue's column is all about finding your niche. Its Step 5 in the crafty 10 steps:

Step 5: Decide on your niche and style. This is much easier said than done.

A niche will make you unique, memorable and most of all desirable. And we all want to be desirable don’t we?

I've tried lots of things and am still to find my niche. Maybe you can’t easily find your niche. Maybe our niche is bestowed upon us by others, people who can see our creativity more objectively. Because lets face it, it’s hard to be objective about your own work.

Some of you have found your niches already. Let's take a look.

The Bag ladies

Did you know there are different sorts of bag ladies? Raspberry, Meringue, the Wren, and Aunty Shabby, a bag lady in the making.

I'm sure there are lots more bag ladies out there, why not leave a comment and I'll add you to the list.

Are you Artistic?

There are lots of different types of artistic ladies. Anna Laura, Tiel, Sugarloop, and Lucie, the queen of layers.

If you are artistic drop me a line and I'll add you to the list.

Are you the designer type?

Lara, Aunty Cookie, Kristen and Hollabee all design and print fabrics with their own unique and original designs, and yet they are all different.

Any more designers out there? Leave me a comment and I'll add you to the list.

Like printing?

Two of my favourites who print the old fashioned way (and what graphic designer can resist that?!). Green Chair Press and Satsuma Press, both from the US of A.

Any Australian printers out there? Leave me a comment and I'll add you to the list.

Are you seeing the link here? Niche = unique, desirable, can’t resist. If you find your niche, they will buy. I certainly did. We hope you will too.

And, if you are into scarves, there’s a great etsy shop you should check out…

(Most of my stuff is on consignment in shops, so just give me a moment to knit and sew up some more...or better yet, place a custom order!)

41 today!

Well technically tomorrow (Sat) but most of you will be reading this tomorrow...

I am now officially the WRONG side of 40!

The blog fairy has bought me the best present, a mention on the decorat8 blog!

And I didn't even know! The move meant I haven't had internet connection since Tuesday morning and when I logged in today (while at work) I saw all these referrals from the decorat8 blog. What's going on I wondered? I've been included in a list of Australian design bloggers and its seems a lot of you have clicked and found yourselves here. Welcome!

And if that wasn't enough, Mixtape 4 is out. And if you don't have your very own copy yet, rush over and order one now. Then turn to page 40. Immediately!

As for the move? Hideous! We totally underestimated the magnitude of the move and still haven't cleared out the old place. Mr greenolive has declared this the worst move ever - and it was our seventh! And we were only moving just round the corner!

Hopefully I'll have internet connection Monday and then I'll feel back to normal. Am suffering from flickr and blog withdrawals - yours and mine!

transition

between the old and the new

A couch full of wool – just the loose balls mind you, and not the good stuff which is packed in plastic tubs.

Piles of fabric and plastic tubs of wool.

We spent the weekend doing 15 car loads of "stuff" for the studio – Mr greenolive can't believe we managed to fit all of it in our old place.

We are now in that transition phase where you have more stuff in the new place than the old place and invariably you want something that you have already packed and taken to the new place.

Most of my knitting has been packed, so I'm working my way through some more knitted washcloths as I relax each night. Perfect moving-house, small and easy knitting.

One more sleep til the moving van arrives. I hope it doesn't rain!

I'm not going to miss...

One of the lovely sunsets seen from our deck, Melbourne skyline in the distance. I will miss this!

When we leave this place I'm not going to miss:

• the horrible ducted heating which dries me out
• the lack of a bath tub for me to splash around in
• the fact that Jazzy Jazz has to weather the elements because there is no garage or carport
• the young men in their hotted-up cars who think racing along the Mt D Tourist Road at 10pm on Thursday, Friday or Saturday night is ok
• the lack of space for my ever-growing stash
• the overgrown garden that the landlord won't mow
• our downstairs neighbour who cooks the smellest things and the smell wafts up our staircase.

I will miss:
• the fabulous view of Melbourne from our west-facing balcony
• the fact that the shops are a two minute walk from our place (very handy for Mr greenolive since I take the car each day)

Now only 4 more sleeps still we move! I'm so excited.

And thanks for the tips for organising my stash – I'll take lots of before, during and after shots of the chaos.