Blogcation

Just wanted to let you know, dear blog friends, that I won't be able to post here for quite a while. I'm busy busy busy getting ready to move out of my home so that I can get my flood damaged floors replaced and I know that work is going to be really demanding for the next ten weeks too. When I get the chance, though, I'm still planning on dropping in on you!
Blessings.
x

Small is Beautiful

I'm sitting typing this in the middle of an empty living area. Everything but the telly, the laptop and the fridge has been put into storage so that new bamboo boards can be put down. My horrible old flooring is going to be pulled up tomorrow, and I can't wait!
...although someone around here is going to miss the carpet:

(It's OK ~ I've got a new rug at the ready so that she can roll around on that instead.)

Much of the past week has been spent packing boxes and moving furniture, but I have spent a little time out in my neglected garden which, despite having grown even wilder and more tangled, is still pretty.

The potato flowers are blooming,

the pomegranates have ripened

and I've unearthed a wire candle holder that I like, made at a Saturday workshop a few years ago, and I've hung it from my little gum tree so that I can see it from my bedroom window. The glass is very reflective and glows in the sunlight:

I haven't been doing a lot of crochet but, when the floorboards have been put in, I would like to start making some new scatter cushions. I've decided that I want to make something like the first pillow you can see here. I'm going to use motifs from a Japanese craft book I own called Crochet Motif Item. (Sadly, it's now out of print.) I particularly like Motif Number 30, which I first tried crocheting last year:

I want the cushion to be sturdy so I'm crocheting the motifs out of kitchen string and I am planning on felting the backing.

...and of course, in between all the packing and moving, I've still been gaining lots of inspiration from the internet. I've really enjoyed visiting lucy at attic24. Lucy creates colourful, joyful posts and has put together some excellent crochet tutorials. I've also been loving jek in the box for her exuberant, quirky photos...and when I've been feeling tired of renovating my cramped little unit I've been going over to Apartment Therapy and reminding myself that small really can be beautiful, as you can see here and here.

Have a fabulous week everybody.

Love Notes in Library Books

I love the internet and the way it allows me to connect with and be inspired by creative people. I've just been reading a beautiful blog post on joy, written by a dear soul called Brandi. She has a wonderful, whimsical take on random kindness and senseless acts of beauty, and has had me secretly posting love notes in library books, telephone boxes and bus stops.

It's fun!

...and I've also been drawing inspiration from my friend Andrea at abccreativity. Amongst other things, she facilitates creativity workshops and gives great guided meditations.

Meanwhile, I'm still painting. I've had trouble with the the feature wall in my living room and have changed the colour three times. I started off with a french wash in a butterscotch colour but couldn't get nice, clean edges so I painted it over with a matt paint called Banana Crepe:

Frustratingly, that colour came out too bright and clashed with the lime~washed pink walls in my bedroom:

so I've just painted it again with the cafe~au~lait shade I used in the kitchen
...and I really, really like it!
Phew.

Of course, I've been crocheting and currently have a chevron lace cardigan on the hook:

Although the pattern's written for wool, I'm making it out of cotton and so far it's draping well. It's a great design ~ it involves top~down construction so I can try it on as I go and it's really quick to crochet.

I've been growing silverbeet too:

It's extremely easy to cultivate and it's lovely to have fresh greens on hand. I've been putting it in salads with fresh and sun~dried tomatoes, marinated fetta and avocado, as well as trying recipes from here and here. (Edited to add: silverbeet is called Swiss chard in the USA and Britain.)

I have been working really long hours as well. I'm glad I have enough energy to spend some time on living creatively outside of it.

Wishing you all a week that's touched by kindness and beauty.

Brilliante Spring

As I mentioned in my last post, Andrea at Indigo Blue Designs presented me with this award. Thank you so much Andrea, I'm very happy to receive it!

Here are the rules:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs for an award.
4. Put links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs for the people you've nominated.

I've chosen seven bloggers who have blogs I really love to visit but who I haven't given an award to before:
MagnusMog,
Old Red Barn Co.,
be present be here,
Moonstitches,
Resurrection Fern,
Cornflower Blue Studio and
Dancing Mermaid.

All of these bloggers take gorgeous photographs. They write and craft with sensitivity and beauty. (Also, I am really inspired by MagnusMog, Ressurection Fern and Old Red Barn Co.'s commitment to sustainability.) If you haven't visited their sites before you are in for a treat. Enjoy!

Springtime's come to my corner of the Earth.
When I go out walking I sometimes catch the scent of jasmine and freesias, which I adore.
The fruit trees are in bloom as well.
This almond tree, which grows in the laneway behind my home, is covered in flowers:

I love the delicacy of the blossoms and the softness of the colours.

The weather's warming too.
I found this tiny lizard sunbathing by my backdoor last weekend:

As you can see, it was very relaxed, and let me come up surprisingly close to take this shot.

Craftwise, I've been trying to finish off the scarves I've been making ~ in another few weeks it will be too warm to wear them. I've also been playing around with wire. I'm in the process of crocheting a beaded cuff and I am having fun!
Here's where I got to last night:

I'm using purple plastic coated 24 gauge wire, an assortment of glass beads and a 3.50 mm steel hook.
...and, for those of you who might want to have a go yourself, here's a good tutorial.
I'm hoping that I can finish it off tonight ~ I need to do some more crocheting, and I also need to "block" it and to attach fastenings. I'm looking forward to putting it on ~ it will be interesting to see how it works as a piece of jewellery when it's worn.

Have a wonderful week, everybody.

Finished!

I've finished the Cotton Candy Shrug that I wrote about in my last post. There are just a few ends that need to be sewn in.
Here it is:

...and here's the back:

It's not really wonky ~ it just looks that way because I'm swinging my arm around to take the shot. It's really hard to take good photographs of a garment while you're wearing it! I'm really happy with it...and a bit sorry that the pattern isn't available anymore because it's such a simple, cleverly constructed design.

When I've finished writing all my reports for work I'm planning on making more clothes. I've just bought this beautiful kettle dyed wool from yarnomat to crochet a butterscotch cardigan with.

I've also got my eyes on susana's jacket from the latest Yarn magazine. (If you open up the link, it's the apricot coloured cardie.) It is designed for beginner knitters and is made out of gorgeous, and very reasonably priced, handspun wool from wool connection.

And, speaking of things handmade, I recently received a beautiful hand stitched book cover that I bought over at indigo blue designs. It was all wrapped up gorgeously:

It's so pretty:

and will be perfect for knitting and crochet notes!

Have a great week, everybody.

All Wrapped Up

It's getting pretty wintry here in Australia.
I lay in bed last night listening to rain pelting onto the roof.
I think this time of the year is wonderful.
I love it because it's such a blessed relief after the intense heat of summer
...and I love it because it means I get to take out my woollens!
I unpacked my scarves recently,
they're so colourful and soft,
and I've been wearing this wrap, which I rescued from a Salvation Army Opportunity Shop:

It's difficult to see the pattern from the picture,
(black is so hard to photograph)
but it's a bit like this lacy stole
(and I should warn you that,
although this is a link to a free pattern,
it's on the Lion Brand site and you have to be registered with them to see it.)
My wrap cost $4.00 AUD
which thrills the bargain hunter in me
but also makes me a little sad.
It is beautifully knitted and its drape is fabulous ~ I think it's a shame that no~one else seemed to recognise its worth.
But it's definitely loved now ~
I wore it to work three times last week.

I've also been wearing this stole,
bought from the Lesmurdie Arts and Crafts Association a few weeks ago:

Isn't it gorgeous?
... and it's surprisingly warm.
Unfortunately,
I didn't catch the name of the craftswoman who sold it to me but I did speak at some length with her. She told me that she spun the wool out of pre~dyed New Zealand topping before knitting it up.
I love the way she's placed the colours.
It's such a simple yet striking design,
and so inspiring!
I'd love to make something similar.
Luckily, although I'm very rusty, I already know how to spin.
Here's some wool, amongst other fibres, that I spun and dyed years ago:

And,
thanks to my darling cousin
(who's mother, incidentally, made this lovely filet crochet),
I have a spinning wheel:

Hmmm, I think a trip to Bilby Yarns for spinning supplies is in order!

Have a fabulous week everybody.

A Belated Thank You

Many thanks go to indigo blue designs who presented me with this award, a while ago now, for my "enviable crochet skills, lovely photography and enjoyable posts." I'm sorry I've taken so long to acknowledge it here but very flattered to receive it.

I'd like to return the compliment to indigo blue designs and re~award her for excellence. Her embroidery is beautiful (she recently posted pictures of some really pretty appliqued book covers that are for sale in her etsy store), her stories about her little girl are lovely and her industriousness is admirable. I really enjoy reading about her online business ventures.

...and then I'd like to pass the award on to some new blogs, that I don't think I've talked about here before. I'm nominating:

little black knitting crow for her fabulous drawings and prints, and her quirky soft toys. She's a very talented artist and her art blog, which is linked to little black knitting crow, is really worth looking at too;
Cheery Tomato Productions for her quietly beautiful photographs. I love the way she captures the wonder of the world around her;
2paw who writes, charmingly, about her life in Tasmania. Her gentle sense of humour makes me smile. She's a fantastic knitter too;
wooldancer who spins, dyes and sells the most delicious wool;
Greenishlady who creates lyrical, heart~felt, honest and inspiring posts;
and
Franklin at The Panopticon. Franklin is a delight. He writes and draws in a wonderfully whimsical, mischievous way...and his photography is gorgeous.

I hope you enjoy looking through these blogs as much as I do.

I'm going to finish off here with some more photographs of the new, scarlet ivy~geranium that's hanging at my backdoor. I adore its beautiful, bright flowers:




Have a wonderful week, everybody.

And The Winner Of The Give~Away Is...

...balkan style bloggers.
Congratulations! Can you please email your address to me at inkberryblue AT gmail DOT com and I'll start putting together your package of goodies. Thanks to everybody who participated ~ I really enjoyed receiving your feedback.

On the subject of blogging and give~aways, the talented Peta at createcraft is running a competition where she's giving away a knitted scarf (her work is fabulous) and asking readers to post about the inspiration behind their blog's name and then leave a comment on her site.
Here is my story, of sorts...

I don't have any really well defined reasons for calling this blog inkberryblue
but ink berry has nice associations for me.
I've played with the words before ~
I once, unexpectedly, won a copywriting competition with them

in my very first year at Uni,

which was a bright and affirming moment

in a year that was full of self doubt.
I remember that,

as a reward,
my usually grumpy and critical head lecturer

presented me with a beaming smile
and a small tube of bright pink gouache,

that he'd wrapped up with a matching ribbon.
(I treasured the moment.)

And I like to think that inkberryblue has a sort of poetry to it.
I like the cadence of the words
~ the play of berry and blue ~ ink and art and creative juiciness...

So there you have it. If you decide to join in too please tell Peta I sent you!

I hope everyone, who celebrated yesterday, had a happy Mothers' Day. I planned on giving my mother the pouch that I started making for her birthday in (ahem) October, and blogged about here, but the buttons I crocheted looked ridiculously big and I didn't get time to buy anymore.
Here's a detail of the work that's still in progress:

Instead, I gave Mum a little affirmation stone and one of the geraniums that I propagated late last year,
which is much like this one:



She loved it.

Mum, Dad, my youngest sister and I also went out to lunch, and visited the Art Gallery of Western Australia where we saw the Year 12 Perspectives Exhibition, a display of the best work that's been produced by students in their final year of school. It runs every year, I always enjoy the exhibition and this year's works are particularly good. If you're in Perth I think it's well worth a look. Work's very busy right now but, if I get time, I'd like to go back to the exhibition before it closes on May 25th.

I hope you all have a wonderful, juicily creative week.

Ouch!

My computer was hit by a really nasty virus last week which culminated in me having to (nervously) wipe and then reinstall all the software on my computer. Thankfully everything's running smoothly again, I now have a much better security system and I've managed to take a few quick, sun~dappled shots of some of the things I'm working on:

Here's a dishcloth, which has become so enormous I'm going to make it into an eye pillow instead:

my crochet shopping bag:

and a shrug that I'm crocheting because it's going to take me forever to work out how to knit the cavern cardie I've got on the needles and I really want something cosy to wear now that it's Autumn here in The Land Of Oz:

The shrug's called Cotton Candy and the pattern's from the October 2006 issue of Annie's Favorite Crochet. I'm finding it really simple to make and it's going to fit, always a good thing. This is what it should look like at the back when I've finished.

Thanks to all the people who've said nice things in my last post. I really appreciate your feedback, and your sweetness...and to those people who've been visiting for a while but have only just commented ~ it's nice to "meet" you. I've enjoyed discovering your blogs too.

Bags, Birthdays And Loving Kindness

I've been working on a crochet shopping bag. It's the first time I've made up my own pattern and, happily, I like how it's working out.

Here are some progress shots:

I am using v stitches for the sides, and they are crocheting up sooooo quickly. I'm writing it all down as I go and I'll share the pattern when I've finished.

Now for the birthday part: I'm going to be celebrating my blog's first birthday with a give~away in my next post. Please stay tuned...

And on a very sober note, I'd like to bring people's attention to Jenni Ballantyne, who I first encountered through GreenishLady. Jen, a courageous woman, has cancer and is documenting her experience on her blog. She needs love and support, and people to witness her journey. Please consider helping out ~ you can find details about how to do that if you click on the link to GreenishLady's site. Thanks.

Speaking of loving kindness, I'd like to leave you with a photo of a Tibetan Buddhist prayer flag garland, given to me by my sister (thanks A.), that's catching the afternoon sun in my backgarden...

Unexpected Pleasure

Sometimes beautiful things happen unexpectedly,
like flowers suddenly blooming...

...and fellow bloggers giving you awards.

I was very grateful to receive a You Make My Day Award from the lovely Riggwelter, over at Jazzy Crafts


and an Art Award from my blog friend indigoblue

I'm really touched. Thank you!

The rules of the You Make My Day Award are:
"Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times."
and, for the Art Award:
"Post the award on your own blog.(Post who gave it to you)
Indicate its original link and link to that site. (The Award originally came fromArte Y Pico's Blog at,
http://artepico.blogspot.com/
from Uruguay)
Give the Award to 5 other blogs that you enjoy, find creative and inspire you."

I am going to present both Awards to:
Rachelle at Magpie Girl for writing with such sensitivity and helping to build a nourishing community ~ Small Is Beautiful,
Leah at Creative Everyday for her beautiful drawing and her lovely community, which is so inspiring,
Ellen at Los Angeles Is My Beat for her generosity and amazing creative output,
Peta at Createcraft for thought provoking, intelligent posts, beautiful craftwork and fabulous links,
Christina at Matroschka for her beautiful photography, fantastic etsy links, and the vicarious pleasure she provides by documenting how she is decorating her swish new apartment,
Kate at knights don't knit for her sense of fun and her incredible generosity (sometime very soon I'm going to post about the gorgeous gifts she gave me in a tea cosy swap),
Carola at my living room for organising the granny along blogspot which has brought me so much inspiration, motivation and connection,
and Lisamoon at dances on the moon for her honesty and lyricism and joyfulness (even in the midst of difficult life transitions).
I'd like to return the favour and award
Riggwelter at Jazzy Crafts for her warmth and beautiful knitting,
and indigoblue for her kindness and industriousness.

I really appreciate Blogland. I love how inspired I am by you all!

Seven

I belong to a lovely, blogging community called Small Is Beautiful. This community is facilitated by two special souls ~ Rachelle Mee~Chapman from Magpie~Girl and Jen Lemen.

The Small Is Beautiful manifesto states
We believe stories are valuable, no matter how many people read them.
We believe following your passion is more important that watching your site meter.
We believe in the handmade, the first try, the small start, and the good effort.
We believe that small is beautiful.

Rachelle has asked that we submit our favourite seven posts from 2007.
So,
in the spirit of the manifesto,
in no particular order
and with some shyness
I'm listing these posts, that come from the heart, which I wrote last year:

Spring,
...And A Little More Progress...,
Joy,
A Picture And Some Poetry,
Retreat,
Roses In Winter
and
Fragrance.

Aside from my humble contribution, you will find, if you click on Rachelle's link, that there is a treasury of posts, for you to read and savour, submitted by others members of the Small Is Beautiful community.

Succulence

This is a little pencil sketch I made of a small succulent that grows in my back garden...and here's a photo of it:

One of my favourite authors, SARK, uses the term succulent frequently. In fact, she's penned a fabulous book called Succulent Wild Woman where she defines succulent as " ripe. juicy. whole. round. exuberant. wild. rich. wide. deep. firm. rare. female." SARK writes, with great candour, about self nurturing, creativity and living joyfully. She also hosts a wonderful online community called PlanetSark which I've belonged to for over three years.

Some of the members of PlanetSark have beautiful blogs. These include:

Leonie life Leonie is gorgeous. She's a writer, photographer, artist and spiritual soul,

dancing mermaid McCabe also takes photographs, paints clothes and writes with great honesty and sensitivity,

abc creativity Andrea is an artist and creativity advocate who holds marvellous workshops,

romantic circus songs Lisa Marie is a writer. She just wrote a poem called Never Made it to L.A. which knocked my socks off,

and side project Melissa's blog is completely handwritten and full of whimsy.

Be inspired!