Five thirty am Sunday morning I'm up and dressed, next, some breakfast. I glance out the window, it's dark of course and cold, ooh! bed seems like a better idea ... but I must go, I've committed to the day with the team.

What day, what team you may well ask, it's just Sunday... no, not just any Sunday. It's June 1, 2008, the Back to Back Day and our team, the Rhodes Runners, are driving to Kurrajong Heights to spend the day. It's eight hours minimum, shearing, spinning, knitting and (knowing my team mates) lots of chatting.

I arrive at Turpentine Tree ready for the eight am. start. It was still cold and overcast with wind blowing into the marquee, but I have my Uggs and a small quilt just for such an occasion.

Continue reading "Jessica Armstrong's Back to Back 2008" »

Posted by Prue Hill at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As we know many Australian women are affected by breast cancer. So raising funds for research to find a cure for this disease is very important. A group has decided to have an exhibition and sale for scarves, wraps and contemporary neck pieces to raise funds. The exhibition with be held at Craft ACT in Canberra in August 2008.

Continue reading "National Breast Cancer Foundation Exhibition" »

Posted by Prue Hill at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Helen Frostell, in association with the Journeymen, has been experimenting recently with weaving using remaindered threads. By knotting together thrums left over from other weaving projects and then dyeing them, she has used them as weft with warps of thin cotton. The knots are left showing and become an important textural feature.

Continue reading "Zanshi: Weaving using remaindered threads" »

Posted by Prue Hill at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now is the time to start designing and making your more time consuming articles for shows and exhibitions in 2009.

There are some worthwhile prizes to win available within NSW and interstate. The Guild sponsored the Sydney Easter Show for $450 worth of prizes this year - you could take out some of this prize money next year if you start NOW!

Continue reading "Now is the Time" »

Posted by Prue Hill at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Syne Mitchell operates WeaveCast, a podcasting service for weavers, out of Seattle, Washington USA. Pod casting is like a radio program that is "broadcast" over the Internet. This means that you can listen to the program on your computer or record it to listen to somewhere else: eg while weaving.

Continue reading "Broadcasts for Weavers" »

Posted by Prue Hill at 8:26 PM | Permalink

There is a new book available Handmade Style - Weave printed by Murdoch press and written by four current Guild members. The Guild bought copies which were available for members to buy at the August meeting. President Jenny Dunn asked the authors to talk about the experience at the August meeting.

Continue reading "Handmade Style - Weave" »

Posted by Prue Hill at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Kumihimo devotees can become members of the Complex Weavers Japanese Textiles Study Group. This group has an extremely diverse range of interests from social, historic, symbolic, to weaving, dyeing, and braiding techniques, to sewing and embroidery, and translation of designs to contemporary western weaving. It was founded in 2004. To become a member go to their web site: www.complex-weavers.org.

Continue reading "Kumihimo Update" »

Posted by Prue Hill at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nazli makes the cutest crochet hats to the likes of owls and frogs. The owl hat even looks like a pilot's hat when it's on.

Hats — Nazli Çetiner (via CRAFT: blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Helle Jorgensen creates amazing sea creatures that are crocheted, knitted and embroidered with reused plastic bags.

Sea Creatures — Helle Jorgensen (via CRAFT: blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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Prototype Your Own Soft Toys
KnitOwl has an excellent and extensive write up on the process of prototyping your own soft toys or plushies. I like how she says to keep all your prototypes even the not perfect ones because they need homes too.

Designing soft toys to sew — KnitOwl (via CRAFT: blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is a really nice brooch made from tape measure tape by Liana Kabel.

(via CRAFT: blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Artist Natasha Fadeeva makes almost unbearably cute stuffed animals from mohair and needle-felt.

Stuffed Animals — Natasha Fadeeva (via Neat-o-rama)

Posted by Red Wolf at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wheat weaving is a lost art that has slipped through the cracks of time. When the braiding or twisting of hair came into fashion, someone also thought up the idea of softening wheat by soaking it in water so it too could be woven and twisted to create a beautiful piece to save and cherish.

Debbie Wagner, Culbertson, enjoys doing just that — wheat weaving. She creates wheat pieces instead of sending flowers in remembrance of loved ones. She also uses wheat art for wedding decorations or to send a small thank you to a friend.

Wheat weaving a lost art — Sidney Herald

Posted by Red Wolf at 9:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A woman in Surrey has made an entire English garden out of knitted items, from carrots to snails to squirrels to a picnic lunch — she solicited contributions from all over England:

The project has been painstakingly completed by more than 300 contributors, including a group of gay men knitting in Brighton, and a 12-year-old boy in Sussex, who spent six months making the pond and waterfall.

Ms Bolsover, 46, of Dorking, Surrey, estimates her team made 4 million individual stitches, knitting together 80km of wool.

The crochet lawn — Metro (via Boingboing)

Posted by Red Wolf at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Last Knit is an hilarious animation on how obsessive knitting can be, although here taken to the extreme. There's something therapeutic in hearing the clacking of the needles. Written, directed and animated by Laura Neuvonen.

The Last Knit — (via CRAFT: blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 3:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Designer Liana Kabel makes hand-shaped bracelets out of vintage knitting needles.

At least she's using her powers for good... — Modish (via CRAFT: blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 3:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LA's Institute For Figuring created this beautiful crocheted cactus garden, as well as a matching crocheted kelp-bed.

Hyperbolic crochet cactii and kelp — Margaret Wertheim (via Boingboing)

Posted by Red Wolf at 3:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We all hate to waste an inch of our thread even though most of us have enough to last for 3 lifetimes. Here are some tips garnered from the internet on what to do with thrums.

Continue reading "What to do with Thrums" »

Posted by Prue Hill at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Museum of Kitschy Stitches by Stitchy McYarnpants features all the fun, ridiculous photos from vintage pattern books from the 40s through the 70s.

The Museum of Kitschy Stitches — (via Craftzine.com: Blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 3:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This month's sweltering temperatures haven't stopped Jeanette Renck from snuggling up in her Samoyed scarf.

And if her full-length matching coat, hand-knitted from 52 ounces of her beloved dog's hair, wasn't on display at the Orange County Fair, she would probably be wearing the ensemble regularly at home.

Dog-hair coat fetches top prize — The Orange County Register

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1. Sandie O'Neill's frog bag with fabulous eyelashes
2. Marjorie Hayes shoulder bag made with handwoven honeycomb fabric is navy and silk sari yarns
3. Michelle Cossalter's knitted shoulder bag with a tapestry inset with image of a house in the hills and
   Isabel Chiang's shopping bag made of newspaper

Posted by Red Wolf at 11:26 PM | Permalink

2006 Designer Yarn of the Year Award
The results of the popular vote for this year's award are:

1. Michelle Cossalter for a red top plied with commercial eyelash yarn
2. Chieko Fukuda for a blue and beige bouclé
3. Prue Hill for a fine yarn from 14 micron wool
4. Caroline Baker for a mix of reds, purple to teal wool plied with itself and with purple feathers and
   Michelle Cossalter for sari sikl wrapped around commercial cotton yarn

The winners and a selection of other entries will be available for groups to borrow and examine for one month. Phone the Guild to reserve a month. We mail it to you and you mail it to the next group on the list.

Posted by Red Wolf at 11:24 PM | Permalink

2006 International Back to Back Wool Challenge Results

1. Hitsujikouboh Masako, Chibaken, Japan
   2006 Time: 5hr 33min 46sec
   Previous Time: 6hr 9min 24sec (2005)
2. Spinning Knitwits, Paterson NSW, Australia
   2006 Time: 5hr 47min 00sec
   Previous Time: 5hr 43 min 26 sec (2004)
3. Toronto Spiders, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
   2006 Time: 6hr 51min 15sec
   Previous Time: 7hr 30min 47sec (2005)
4. Bairnsdale Woolies. Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia
   2006 Time: 7hr 05min 20sec
   Previous Time: 6hr 40min 45sec (2002)
5. Kurrajong Spinners, Kurrajong, NSW, Australia
   2006 Time: 7hr 06min 00sec
   Previous Time: 7hr 41min 00sec (2005)
6. Merrimaits, Paterson, NSW, Australia
   2006 Time: 7hr 44min 40sec
   Previous Time: 6hr 35min 58sec (2005)
7. Twin Rivers, Paterson, NSW, Australia
   2006 Time: 8hr 42min 56sec
   Previous Time: Unfinished
8. Gumeracha Gumknutters, Mt. Barker, South Australia
   2006 Time: 10hr 04min 11sec
   Previous Time: 8hr 43min (2002)
9. Poly Wester's, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
   2006 Time: 11hr 45min 00sec
   Previous Time: 12hr 06min 00sec (2005)
10. Pot Luck Spinners, Coldbrook, Nova Scotia, Canada
    2006 Time: 14hr 36min 27sec
    Previous Time: 14hr 10min 25sec (2005)
11. Hitsujikouboh Orange Group. Chibaken, Japan
    2006 Time: Unfinished
    Previous Time: 10hr 22min 27sec (2005)
12. Indiana Fibrefriends, Oldenburg, Indiana, USA
    2006 Time: Unfinished
    Previous Time: New Team
13. Hills Angles, Mt. Barker, South Australia
    2006 Time: Unfinished
    Previous Time: 7hr 24min 29sec (2003)

Continue reading "2006 International Back to Back Wool Challenge Results" »

Posted by Red Wolf at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Visitors to the Quilt and Craft Fair delighted in the Knitters Guild's stand.

Participants of a seminar at the Narrabeen Tram Shed decided to form the guild twenty years ago. They were well organised by Margot Chick, an active member of the Embroiderers Guild.

The Knitters have gone on from strength to strength as demonstrated by the imagination displayed at their 20th anniversary exhibition at Darling Harbour. It seems that anything can be knitted - from a paddock of sheep to a plate of cup cakes.

Posted by Red Wolf at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is idiot cord, as in any idiot can do it. Geraldine McCulloch had a splendid example on her magic square vest that she wore to the May meeting.

Instructions, as in Interweave Knits, Spring 1998:

I-cord
With a double pointed needle, cast on the desired number of stitches.*Without turning the needle, slide the stitches to the other end of the needle, pull the yarn around the back and knit the stitches as usual; repeat from * for the desired length.

Applied I-cord
As I-cord is knitted, attach it to the garment as follows:

With garment right side facing and using a separate ball of yarn and a circular needle, pick up the desired number of stitches along the garment edge. Geraldine often has to use two circular needles for this. Slide these stitches down the needle so that the first picked-up stitch is near the opposite needle point. With double pointed needle, cast on the desired number of I-cord stitches. (Geraldine casts on three stitches.) Knit across the I-cord to the last stitch, then knit the last stitch together with the first picked-up stitich on the garment (knit two then knit two together.) Pull the yarn behind the cord (pull the yarn in front of the cord for reverse I-cord.) Knit to the last I-cord stitch, then knit the last I-cord stitch together with the next picked-up stitch. Continue in this manner until all picked-up stitches have been used. (Geraldine then grafts or neatly fudges the last three stitches to the three cast on stitches.)

Continue reading "Idiot Cord" »

Posted by Prue Hill at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A preview of the article to be published in the 2006 Hand Weaver and Spinner, the Journal of the Hand Weavers and Spinners Guild of NSW. Available for $12 later this year.

The Egyptian
Twenty years ago I made my first homespun vest. At a time when I believed every bit of anything spinnable was precious, I was given a very smelly, moth-infested bag of silver mohair by a friend who was moving house. Now if you think that spinners and weavers are bad hoarders, how about this for a compulsive stasher! My friend Margy had stored this bag of mohair (along with many others) for the day when she might take up spinning.

Many hours were spent shaking out the short spikey moth-chewed bits on the lawn in the sun. What was left was blended with corriedale. I must have done a very good job shaking out the moths and spikes because I still have the vest. Just as I'd done enough to make something, my husband and I flew out of Sydney on a trip to Egypt.

Posted by Prue Hill at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Flymissy created a great looking crochet flower necklace made from strips of recycled plastic grocery bags.

crochet necklace - flowers! — flymissy (via MAKE: Blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 1:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UK art student Lauren Porter spent a good ten months knitting a full size replica of a Ferrari which used about 12 miles of yarn.

I get men admiring the racing lines and old women look at the needlework.

This is my 4-wool drive — The Sun (via MAKE: Blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 12:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Teams of handspinners and knitters across the world will attempt to knit a jumper in under eight hours in the twelfth International 'Back to Back' Wool Challenge during the Queens Birthday weekend to promote wool and raise funds for Cancer Research.

Continue reading "2006 International Back to Back Wool Challenge" »

Posted by Red Wolf at 9:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mleak, a Flickr user, recently learned to crochet. Not having any yarn to hand didn't stop her from whipping up some funky sandals out of plastic shopping bags.

Crocheted grocery bag shoes — craftster.org (via Boingboing)

Posted by Red Wolf at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just wanted to let you know that the Country Women's Association in Hornsby is holding its Australiana Beanie Competition again this year and hope that your group will put in some entries.

There are 8 categories this year.

1. Australiana
2. Cutest Girls Beanie
3. Coolest Boys Beanie
4. Most entries from one person
5. Most entries from a group
6. Novelty
7. Peoples Choice
8. Maddest Tea Cosy - Just For Fun

The Tea Cosies will be on display at our Australia Day Tea Cosy Exhibition which will be held in our rooms in Hornsby next to Hornsby Park.

All beanies will be donated to cancer patients or auctioned and the money donated to Cancer Research. Hopefully we will be brightening up some lives and keeping heads cosy - so to speak.

The closing date is 30 June and any enquires just give me a call on 04 1260 6686 or email me [margyure@gmail.com] and I will get back to you within 24 hours - I am an efficient emailer.

Looking forward to you entries.

We are still in the process of looking for sponsors so if you can help us out there in any way it would be greatly appreciated.

Margaret Ure — CWA Publicity Officer

Posted by Red Wolf at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our new monthly craft afternoon at May Gibb's Nutcote started on Sunday, 26 March. Please join us from 1.00pm-3.00pm at 5 Wallaringa Avenue, Neutral Bay. If you are not a knitter, feel free to use whatever craft skill that interests you.

Entry $12 or $10 concession includes admission to craft, a tour of the house and light lunch in the Bib & Bub Tearoom.

Phone Nutcote on 9953 4453 to make a booking.

Future dates:
23 April - Trauma Teddies
28 May - Baby clothes
25 June - Gumnut costumes
23 July - Knit squares

Posted by Red Wolf at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Proof that knitters view the world in a different way comes from Erika:

Outside our building is a sorry little sidewalk tree. At the height of summer, it had about five leaves. A dead glowstick has been dangling from its branches for three months. Tonight while I was out on a smoke break, I looked at the tree and thought, Man, that is one sad tree. It looks cold and wet and pathetic. It needs a sweater!! I went home and whipped one up, it only took an hour and a half to knit. Then another fifteen minutes or so, standing outside in the cold at half past midnight, stitching it up.

Erika even wrote up the pattern for anyone who'd like to follow her example.

Tree Sweater — Erika's Geek Knitting Blog (via MAKE: Blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Iranian artist Seyed Alavi has installed a mural of an aerial view of the Sacramento River woven into the carpet of a skybridge in Sacramento International Airport.

Flying Carpet — (via Boingboing)

Posted by Red Wolf at 7:10 PM | Permalink

What do you do when you discover that your mate has hideous taste in jumpers? Why not create a web site and show the world. Bad Sweater Guy is a reminder that today's cutting edge of fashion is tomorrow's laughing stock.

Bad Sweater Guy — (via Darren Barefoot)

Posted by Red Wolf at 7:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Laine has made a Katamari (the ball that picks up random oddments in the wonderfully weird games Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari) out of wool and stuffing, with a powerful magnet inside that allows it to actually pick up (ferrous) oddments in the real world.

Katamari Damacy — craftster.org (via Boingboing)

Posted by Red Wolf at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An immense 40" X 80" cross stitch recreation of the Sistine Chapel took 10 years for Joanna Lopianowski-Roberts to create. Joanna used 1,809 different colour combinations with a total of about 628,296 stitches. She documents the entire process in her self-published book with 45 full colour individual patterns for each scene.

Cross Stitch of Sistine Chapel — Austin Stitchery Guild (via Boingboing)

Posted by Red Wolf at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Currently on display at the Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, Poland, is the crochet artwork of Louise Weaver. Weaver crochets skins on tops of various 3d objects including taxidermists' forms of native Australian animals.

Louise Weaver — Darren Knight Gallery (via MAKE: Blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ruth Borgenicht is an artist who creates ceramic pieces of chain mail into various works of art.

Worn under Medieval armour, chain mail is made of tiny interlocking metal rings designed to protect a body in motion. I use the chain mail pattern and other woven patterns to create ceramic works that conjure up a sense of permanence and defensive concealment. Like the ancient armour, my pieces are made of a fabric of moveable interlocking rings. Using clay to make a protective mesh is contradictory; for how can it defend anything, much less itself? Visually stone-like, the pieces appear strong and impenetrable, belying their inherent fragility.

wall works — Ruth Borgenicht (via MAKE: Blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 10:41 PM | Permalink

Filipina artist Alma Urduja Quinto's Ayayam essentially stood as the Philippines' voice at the recent 2005 Yokohama International Triennale of Contemporary Art.

Ayayam's deliberately bedraggled flamboyance is another undisguised affront to quarters that insist that art and life exist on different planets.

As with many of her recent projects, Ayayam was the handiwork of Quinto and a motley sewing crew: Filipino children survivors of domestic abuse, artist-members of the Filipino women's organisation Kasibulan, Japanese artist Yoshiko Shimada, and a squad of other Japanese volunteers and visitors engaged in literally weaving together a room-size environment drawing imagery from a meshing of Filipino mythology, individual biographies, and contemporary sociology.

Weaving a message for women with the threads of her art — Inquirer

Posted by Red Wolf at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Whip Up is a newly launched craft portal that brings in 16 contributors, the who's who of the crafting world. Highlights of today's round of posts include a UK knit art exhibit, finding inspiration, and the humour and fear in the idea of making your own lava lamp.

Whip up is a multi author site with contributors from around the world united by a passion for making things, for beautiful design and for a desire to share ideas with others.

Whip Up — (via MAKE: Blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 9:36 PM | Permalink

Tom Johnson has created a Lego French knitting machine powered by the Lego Technic set. I don't know what Tom was planning to make with his Lego knit creations but the Quicktime movie makes for strange, yet mesmerising viewing.

Lego Knitting Machine — Tom Johnson (via MAKE: Blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 7:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Want a fun way to watch the Winter Olympics? Yarn Harlot has started the 2006 Knitting Olympics where anyone who wants to participate must cast on a project during the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympic games on 10 February and have the project finished by the time the Olympic flame goes out on 26 February. Everyone who completes their project in time, gets the gold medal (for their blog).

The 2006 Knitting Olympics — Yarn Harlot (via MAKE: Blog)

Posted by Red Wolf at 6:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The historic walls of Ashfield's Thirning Villa are a far cry from the remote communities of the Kimberley Region in WA, but Ashfield Council's new Artist in Residence, Veronica Calarco, is looking forward to her 4 month stay in Sydney's Inner West.

Ms Calarco is the eighth artist to complete a residency at Thirning Villa and will run free workshops and demonstrations for the community from December 2005 to March 2006.

Ms Calarco is an accomplished artist who has overseen an extensive range of community projects throughout Australia, including working with Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley region and facilitating an art project for people with a disability in Alice Springs.

Armed with a Visual Arts degree specialising in print making and post-graduate qualifications in textiles, Ms Calarco is experienced in a range of techniques including weaving, embroidery and printmaking. Ms Calarco said she was looking forward to creating a friendly and accessible environment, where community members could enjoy themselves and learn new skills.

Projects such as this are an excellent way to reach the more isolated members of the community, she said.

It is wonderful to watch people grow in confidence as they learn new artistic techniques and discover their creative side.

I am also looking forward to interacting with the different cultural groups in the municipality.

Workshops & Open Studio
Ms Calarco will run workshops on collagraph printing, polychromatic printing and stencil screen printing commencing in January.

Keep an eye out for the upcoming timetable.

For further information, please contact Council's Community Services Department on 9716 1866 or see their web site: www.ashfield.nsw.gov.au

Posted by Red Wolf at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)