Cooler weather might still be a little way off, but that’s no reason to stop knitting. I spent the summer knitting these gifts for various friends.
A toddler’s beanie. Very easy and clever pattern.
A shopping bag out of cotton. Looks like crochet but it’s definitely knitted.
A pair of lovely cable socks with variegated yarn. It’s another Pom Pom Quarterly project, took the longest to do, but was (generally) a pleasure to knit up.
I have taken a few courses with ACP, the last being Camera Craft 3. This course involved exploring different photographic genres – the first being still life.
Still life is a very old genre that was first perfected by the Dutch Masters in the 17th Century, but can also be utilised by photographers. Both the choice and placement of objects, as well as its lighting is critical, as you can see in this series.
I hope that the Christmas holidays have gone well for you, and that the New Year is looking up.
While some of us are in the midst of summer, others are journeying through the darkest time of the year. This post is for you.
These photos were taken last July, when the late afternoon light was magical. It made my humble kitchen look like a scene out of a fairy tale. On the other hand, the scene could also be straight out of Psycho.
I became more aware of the trees around me in the autumn: how the branches of the crepe myrtle in my front yard formed a cross-hatching pattern against the bright sky.
The softer light also highlighted frequently overlooked details: like a haphazard pile of leaves on the ground.
It wasn’t not only the deciduous trees that caught my eye: in the morning light, the ridges of bark on this gum tree had a character of its own.
Time for an update of finished projects since last February.
The first project is a zip up vest using an Icelandic wool called Ístex Léttlopi. The yarn was interesting to knit with – a little scratchy, but is very light and warm to wear. The project also featured my first zipper installment, which was easier to do than I thought. The vest got plenty of wear during our cooler-than-average winter.
The second project was a teddy bear to use up some shaggy yarn that I had somehow picked up. The bear was my first toy but was straight-forward to do. I can see how some people might specialise in toy-making as it was a relatively quick knit.
Third and fourth projects were quick birthday gifts for friends using patterns I have used previously.
The last project I completed was a beanie project from Pom Pom Quarterly magazine. I did it mainly to use up some 4 ply yarn that I had in my stash, but it turned out very well. Luckily, we had a cool Spring, so I still managed to get some use out of the beanie even though I completed it in August.
I completed two projects over the summer. The first is a present for avid golfer and dog-lover, my sister-in-law, L. It’s a cover for her driver – and my first animal knit.
The second is a stripey and lacy top for myself using leftover bits of Bold Bamboo. A useful top to have during autumn and spring for layering.
Well after the scorching summer we had we’re now into a rather rainy phase. It makes venturing into the city a bit of a task.
But stand still for long enough, and I notice some wondrous things amongst the everyday.
The changeable weather also brings great clouds as well as rain.
And seeing a patch of blue after a grey day, I begin to understand why those in colder, greyer climes are so ecstatic when the sun comes out.
Minerals also feature in my collection. My favourites tend to be colourful specimens, like this polished heart-shaped calcite.
A favourite in terms of colour and pattern is malachite. I like this polished specimen that I bought in Cape Town that’s from the Congo. The swirls of green are very striking.
A visitor to our house will very soon notice that there are geological items everywhere. Many are Hubby’s, but quite a few are also mine. As you might guess, I am quite interested in paleontology and fossils, so here are two specimens from my collection.
Ammonites are fascinating and beautiful marine creatures. Their fossils can be found all over the world in various sizes from thumbnail to a few feet. This fossil is from South Africa, and is quite big at about 15cm in size. It’s from the Late Cretaceous period, so it was living at the time of the dinosaurs, shortly before the great extinction event that wiped them, and also the ammonites, out.
An older but no less fascinating prehistoric animal is the trilobite. They were marine creatures that lived in the oceans long before fish, and certainly long before animals colonised land. Today, they look a lot like the Balmain Bug, though they’re distantly related. Their fossils can be found all over the world, in 2D and 3D. I love the 3D fossils, which have been painstakingly extracted using dental drills. Most 3D trilobites come from Morocco, but this specimen comes from St Petersburgh, Russia, and is about 460 million years old, from the Middle Ordovician period.
Two more projects that I completed last year was the laptop cover that I crochet in various 8 ply yarns and lined.
And the Avalon Ballroom scarf for N’s birthday, in a wonderfully rich Bold Bamboo yarn, with an Art Deco influenced pattern.
Static and Silence 