Post 449 Down World Embroidery Rabbit Holes.

My week has been dominated by our World Embroidery Study Group activity. Junette told us about cloth and  embroidered quilts from Rarotonga and brought along examples she has gathered and tried out herself. It was interesting to hear about the community groups that make quilts together, and the quite particular way in which that is done.

It was a good turnout with plenty of sharing and discussion. 

Pat brought along  a Fair Isle vest knitted some 30 years ago. It's lovely - really even knitting. Pat is trying to work out how to alter it so she can wear it. I have no doubt she will find a way to do that.

Maureen, the group's oldest member who rarely makes it to meetings these days, turned up in a taxi with a suitcase full of folders for the group. The six folders hold the notes on World Embroidery that she has accumulated and organised over the years. She is giving them to the Guild, via this group.

She has given me carte blanche to deal with them - suggesting members take what they want.A small group of us got together on Friday to work it out. We have set up a database which I will explain when it's finished, but I spent much of the weekend and Monday entering data into a spreadsheet in relation to the 70 items in one folder. We are women on a mission to do justice to Maureen's work!      

 On Thursday I had bought 2 salmon fillets in an aluminium tray that went in the oven. I cooked both, ate one and then made salmon patties with the other, something I haven't done for years. They improved in the fridge on Friday so I had a quick and easy meal when I got home from our meeting. I might try that again sometime.

I got around to mending that sheet I washed last week. I decided the fabric was too flimsy to patch so settled for sewing up the tear on the inside, then taking a pleat the whole length of the sheet. It is quite a generous size and the pleat doesn't strain the fit. It will last a bit longer. In the meantime, the Lad's bamboo/cotton mix new ones are working well and feel good.

Veronica is on a school camp this week. There was a chance it would be cancelled because it now includes the public holiday to mourn the Queen, but it has gone ahead. The Day of Mourning public holiday also happens to be the twin's birthday. It's the first time they will be apart on their birthday - so quite a memorable birthday for them. We missed Veronica at dinner on Monday  - but the broccoli went further!  

I've begun the sampler of knitting stitches, marking out a piece of sheeting for the 16 samples. I have added another since the photo. I will attach each by hand. I can see differences already, but I'm not sure that at the end I'm going to feel wedded to one over another. Maybe.

I'm still knitting a shawl, and the wool from Virtual Yarns for Brigid's Aran jumper  has arrived in Melbourne. It should be in Adelaide this week.My brother's vest is ahead in the queue, but awaiting  a measurement!

Yesterday a friend (thanks Viv) drew my attention to a photo, on Portals to the Past, of the Ground Floor of David Jones Department Store in Sydney in 1963. This is a zoom in to the top left hand corner of that photo,  showing the Lady's Handkerchief Department where I worked for four weeks every Christmas from 1962 to 1968. The island counter ran between the two posts, on the side in the left of the photo was handkerchiefs and on the other side, obscured, were scarves - separate staff, and we stayed on our respective sides. The woman in the light coloured coat is at the counter, which was a display case. Behind the counter, between the posts, were drawers and drawers of handkerchiefs. At Christmas we did a roaring trade in nuns' handkerchiefs, 1/- cotton, 2/- linen. Teaching nuns must have had an endless supply.

 

On Saturday  I had a biopsy on my left eye. I spent a lot of time waiting, getting prepped, having anaesthetic drops in my eye, before the actual tissue extraction. I don't get the results for two weeks. The ophthalmologist thinks there is some underlying auto-immune disease causing, or contributing to, my eye problem. My eye was a bit achy and twitchy for several hours but now none the worse for wear.  

It continues to rain a fair bit. While it's grey and gloomy, the plants are thriving.

The cards and books from the Grazig School in Quimper, are now in the French postal system and on their way. I'm gradually putting together a presentation using the material I already have, in anticipation that some Guild members will be interested next year.  I've also been trying to draw together my November presentation on Anglo-Saxon Embroidery.  Happy in my obsessions!

Post 448 Knitting, plants and plenty to learn

 

This week's major achievement was the completion of the Carbon Vest I had been knitting from Rowan Magazine No90. I'm pleased with the result and have written about it at length in my Stitching Blog. (I know I usually refer to this as my embroidery blog, but am being more accurate in light of the topic!). 

While on the topic of knitting, a couple of discussions at our recent Sit'n Stitch sessions might be of interest. The first involves stitch markers. Both Susan and I have been on the hunt for stitch markers that are simple, flat circles. 

I once had a supply of these, but  gradually lost them, leaving a mixture of safety clip, split ring and  solid circles. While I get by with these, all have their drawbacks, and none sit flat on the needle without distorting the space between stitches.   Susan ordered some from overseas. I eventually found some at Spotlight Online and they were delivered from Geelong as no local Spotlight stores had a supply. Fussy, I know, but flat works more smoothly.       

The second knitting discussion arose from a discovery at our Sit'nStitch, where, as you can see, the Gymea Lily continues to open. 

Both Susan and I have been knitting in our current manner for decades and discovered that we put the yarn around the needle in opposite directions for a knit stitch. I was taught by my grandmother nearly 70 years ago, but I have no idea if I have deviated from the way she showed me. I'm not even sure that I knit the same way on every project. I suspect I vary from project to project as the yarn, needle size and tension changes. 

Since our discovery last Friday I have been doing bits of research, and have begun to work a series of samples showing the effect of variations in the direction of yarn wrapping. 

It's proving interesting.  I found a blog that explores the 16 different combinations of placing yarn either clockwise or anticlockwise around the needle, using  the back or the front of the stitch.  I've worked samples of the first two, left is yarn anticlockwise around the needle in all stitches and right is clockwise. I plan to work samples of all 16.  Will it change my practice? I don't know - but I can see differences in the samples already.

I've been a bit into plants this week. There were some pots of Boronia  at the Supermarket on Sunday. I love Boronia, especially this strongly scented brown variety, and bought a pot for my living room. The flowers are not yet fully open so you have to get close to smell it. No doubt that will change as they open.

Today I dashed off to Adairs on the last day of their current sale, to buy yet another plant stand for my living room. They had a few appealing ones, but only one with a circular base. As my floor is carpeted, circular bases leave less of a mark. This isn't the plant I have in mind for it, but it will do the job until I get a fuller one.  It looks gigantic here, but is about 90cm high with the plant. The wooden pot is separate, but  fits, and I like being able to put the philodendron below and emerging.

The rest of my Glazig purchases arrived and I am hooked. I had also not registered that the kit my Belgian friend Genevieve had bought for me last year on holiday in France, was  a Glazig kit! Sending was delayed because of the Covid postage situation - but Genevieve has reminded me - and it will soon be on its way. This is now a double excitement. One of my books has a page of small samples that will work well, I think, for Guild members interested to try. I have begun to translate the stitch names and might order some of the cards used to explain the stitches.

Last night we had everyone present for dinner - despite Parent Teacher interviews, after-school jobs, and tutoring commitments. The food worked (I've learned to bake broccoli!), the company and conversation vibrant.  So satisfying.

Today I had my post-Xray appointment with the surgeon about my right index finger joint. There are two distinct bone spurs. The swelling has not yet formed a cyst. We decided to leave it alone for the time being. If and when it develops a cyst and there is fluid present, I will return to have the spurs removed. An operation will put my right hand out of action for weeks so I don't want to do it prematurely. The danger is from infection if a cyst forms and the skin is broken. I've added it to the list of things to monitor!

Also today, my new sheets arrived. I recently split yet another sheet. I will mend it, but it means I now only have one unpatched sheet for my bed. Even in my mend-and-make-do mindset, I know it's time to buy a new set. 

I was curious to try The Lad Collective, a rural Australian company making 40% cotton, 60% bamboo sheets which they market as foolproof for young men (and manufacture off-shore). The fitted sheets come with cloth tags on each corner to help orient the sheet - BR for bottom right. While I remain sceptical about this marketing rationale, I admire the inventiveness - and I am into bamboo, so we shall see. The sheets certainly feel good to the touch. I'll report back.

Finally, I should mention the death of Queen Elizabeth that has dominated this week's news coverage. I do remember her Coronation, and, as I blogged in May, still have the plastic Coronation mug we were given at school in 1953. Hers was a remarkable life and era. 

I was also saddened today to hear of the death of the Australian actor, Uncle Jack Charles. I remember his first film performance in The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith. Another remarkable life and sad loss.

Post 447 I stress out on 5G and take a dive into Glazig.

It was a big day last Wednesday.  I went shopping for meat and veg, swung past Big W to buy Ann Cleeves' latest Vera book then went on to Centennial Park to visit Jim's grave.

Spring is breaking out  and it is lovely to walk there, listening to the birds.

During that morning I took a phone call from my Internet provider suggesting I switch from the NBN (National Broadband Network) to 5G.  I've been getting these calls for a while now, and had decided they were a scam, because the emails I requested them to send didn't arrive. Last week I realised they were (not unreasonably) sending them to the email address that comes with the service, which I rarely access. 

 Feeling guilty, I agreed to the switch  (scary) and on Friday a new modem arrived for me to install. At the same time, a technician was due to arrive to connect the new video entry buzzer system to my mobile phone, so I can open the front door remotely. I was daunted by the effort involved to set up a new wifi network and change everything over (including the newly installed entry system). I unpacked the modem, connected it in two places that met the (quite specific) criteria only to discover that I had very good 4G reception, but - no 5G at all. I admit to being relieved. I packed the modem back into its box and notified my provider I wanted to remain on the NBN. It's been a bit of a saga and today Star Track picked up the modem to return to the provider in Sydney. I'm glad I eventually thought and researched my way through it - and I very much miss sharing that process with Jim.

Still back at last Wednesday, I began watching a DVD I had borrowed from Brigid, Series 6 of Brokenwood, which meant digging out the instructions on my dvd player which I had forgotten how to use. In this I was quite successful! 

I also discovered Glazig embroidery from a casual reference in a newsletter. Intrigued, I looked it up -  all sources are in French, but I did manage to find a couple of web pages with translations. It is a style from Quimper in Brittany, revived and developed by Pascal Jaouen at his School of Art Embroidery in that town. I ordered 4 books, 2 linens, and a set of threads. One of the  books  and a set of threads have arrived. 

This book is mostly full page examples, and I can manage the few pages of text in French. Surprisingly (to me) I found the threads at Inspirations in Adelaide. These still needed to be posted, of course, as the company doesn't have a retail outlet. 

The remaining books, all in French, (including the one on the left) and linens are coming from France. I'm quite excited about exploring this embroidery style - and reporting back next year to the World Embroidery Study Group and through my embroidery blog. It is going to challenge my schoolgirl French - but I still have a dictionary!

Last Friday, at our Sit'nStitch, Jennifer had made a magnificent, delicious, birthday cake for Susan 

and the Gymea had opened further for the occasion.

The celebration theme continued on Saturday at JEMS when three of the students were presented with awards by the Guild President, Mary, for their embroidery wins at the Royal Adelaide Show. I had called in to drop off some examples for the students and ended up staying to help out. Glad I did. It's uplifting to see their energy and interest.

There has been quite a bit of sunshine this week, and less need for heating. I'm still waiting for my Vergola to be repaired - staff shortages still impact. Mask wearing is on the decline, although we still had 441 new cases today and a weekly average of 2 deaths. Our next peak is predicted in November.

I wear a mask inside public spaces and remain cautious. Mostly this week I am relieved to have despatched the 5G modem and retain my NBN service,  pleased that our family meal of Osso Bucco went well last night and that my grandchildren's various sporting finals  and year level camps  are being taken in their stride. 

I'm also thankful that my friend Robin, ill in Sydney, has found a surgeon and hospital to further her recovery! Deo Gratias.  I think she will be really interested in my Grazig embroidery researches with their links to pottery, and I so look forward to sharing them with her. 

I am almost up to the shoulders of the Rowan vest and plan to slip in a prayer shawl before my brother's vest - and before Summer heat puts knitting on the back burner.

Post 446 Evidence of Spring, and I win a raffle

The highlight of my week was the Certificate Course Workshop on Bulgarian Embroidery on Saturday. I have written about it in my embroidery blog, so won't go over it. It was however, a lovely, relaxed and shared time. Maybe the Great Goddess was present in more than the embroideries we studied.  

What I didn't say in the blog post, was that during the workshop I was presented with a basket of goodies, which came my way as the winner of the Guild's SALA raffle!

I was blown away. The last raffle I won was a set of Tupperware jelly moulds in about 1977. While I bought tickets, I didn't even examine the prizes, assuming I had no hope of winning. I saved the packaged prize to open at our family dinner on Saturday night. 

It turned out to be a basket containing a biscornu, a scissor fob, a cutting tool holder, a linen bag and lavender pillow, a really fabulous hexagon tote and four reversible placemats and serviettes.  

I was blown away.  I will get a lot of pleasure from it.

On Thursday morning I had an Xray on my right index finger, I have a follow-up appointment in 3 weeks with the surgeon who might operate on it to remove a couple of spurs. I'm hoping this can wait. It aches infrequently, and will be very inconvenient when healing.

I had the Xray at Wakefield Hospital, on South Terrace, and took these photos of the trees in front of my parked car. I love the contrast between the elegance of the trunks of some and the messiness of the leaves and seed pods. 

Susan's Gymea survived the wind. It seems to be getting even taller as the lily is slowly opening to reveal the inner leaves.

The potted gazania I bought last week is doing really well, producing some fabulous blooms at eye level as I go out to the balcony.

On the back balcony the pot of euphorbia I bought back in March has turned into a riot of bloom - Spring must be just about here, although it's still chilly, overcast and still raining a lot for Adelaide. 

Not too much, I hope, in the Flinders Ranges, where Niamh is on her Year 9 Camp.

I am progressing the Calico vest. On Wednesday night I ordered an extra ball of the pale colour and emailed Morris & Sons to say I thought the yarn requirements were wrong in the pattern. I can't see how this colour could only require one ball when all other colours have 2 or 3. Morris were, as usual, terrific. They refunded my postage and have contacted Rowan with a query. The yarn arrived on Friday. I have started the steeks. 

So far, so good. The moment of truth will, of course, come when I take to them with scissors!

Finally, a shout out to my friend Robin, in a Rehab hospital in Sydney. Hope your recovery is steady and smooth.

Post 445 Quiet Winter Week

I bought this pot of Gazanias this week.  They are really lovely, hovering over the chair I often sit in in the late afternoon. The long stems are remarkable, and there are plenty of buds. It's a shame I didn't buy them in time to show them off to the friends who came for lunch on Sunday, but I only noticed them as I left the shop and was in a hurry. I'd been to Book Club and didn't have a lot of time to get fresh bread and get home to put the oven on.

Book Club was again good;  wide ranging discussion and shared books and interests.

Our lunch went well - I cooked duck, potatoes with bacon and eggplant parmigiana. Susan brought a blueberry cake. The best bit was the relaxed afternoon of conversation.

Another friend joined us to Sit'nStitch on Friday. Susan had made her fabulous cheese scones in celebration. I just love them.

Susan's Gymea is slowly opening. This morning wind threatened to damage it, but I think disaster was averted when the wind dropped.  

I got to a mending job that has been waiting a while, two pair of possum wool socks whose heels have worn through. The possum wool and merino components tend to wear through leaving the framework of elastane underneath. The socks are the warmest I've ever had, so mending is in order.  

The top two photos are a plain black sock before and after mending, and the left lower is that pair finished.  The lower right is the second pair finished.   I realise, in darning them, that the wear is just above the heel, rather than right on it - which may  indicate I need a larger size sock!

I used my collection of darning wool, still stored in the box I inherited from my grandmother. Some of it is still hers, but I have added to it over the years. It's a chore, but the satisfaction on completion is worth it. 

Today our video entry system was installed in all apartments. Where until this morning, I had a phone, I now have a screen that gives me a view of who rings my buzzer.

It's an improvement, and will be even better next week when the installer returns to help each of us set up the app that will enable us to answer remotely from our phones. I am so looking forward to being able to see the postie when I'm at the Guild, and open the door to enable a parcel to be placed in the foyer. It's a bit of a scary change to master - but wow!  - improvement!

 I've progressed the vest this week.  

This is 24 cm of knitting in the round. At 35cm I get to the V neck and arms. The pattern (and therefore the kit I bought) has one ball of the pale beige, two each of the green and grey and three of the red-brown. It seems to me that the only colour likely to need two balls, is the pale beige! I'm in two minds about whether to just order another ball of beige or persevere until I run out. Fortunately, it's looking good, and is fun to knit, so one way or another the vest will be great. Apart from the beige, I am going to have enough left to make another one!

Finally,  the doves were back this morning, taking time out to catch up on avian news.

Enjoy the week and stay safe.