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Focusing seems to be a big problem for me right now. And not just those ghastly self-portraits. I have a huge list of tasks that I should be working my way through. So what have I been doing? Teaching myself to crochet. Is that on The List? NO. Do I care? NO.
Anina has the same problem, so I know it’s not just me. I keep seeing Pretty Sparkly Distracting Things everywhere I look. I came very close to ordering one of these loom things a couple of days ago, just because I saw these and thought they were cool. I have no idea what I would do with them except maybe sew them together to make a blanket. Like we need ANOTHER blanket. (Oh yeah, except for the crocheted ripple I’m making.That doesn’t count.)
Then I saw these really pretty thumb tacks and got all excited about making some. I DON”T EVEN OWN A CORKBOARD!!! But they are so cute…
CURSE YOU, INTERNET!! You’re too damn inspiring!!
Lots of my very close self-portraits have been out of focus. At 42 that somehow seems a blessing and so I’ve decided I prefer them that way.
This is the scariest photo I’ve ever posted! Doing this 7 Days self-portrait thing has been quite confronting in some ways. I’ve never been especially in love with my face. You’d think that by now I would be used to it!! I nearly didn’t post this one, but that would be cheating, so here it is. I’m ALMOST ready to consider using it as an avatar (it doesn’t look so bad as a 1″ square 
)
Advice for Novice Crocheters (or should that be Crocheteurs??):
1. When the Little Voice in Your Head whispers, “This isn’t working!”, listen to it the first time or it will morph into the Giant Booming Voice of Doom which will roar in your ear for the next three days, “I told you it wasn’t working!! If you’d listened to me you would be halfway to a blanket by now instead of only Row 8 on your THIRD attempt!!!“
2. No matter how much of a Card-carrying Smart Arse you are, and no matter how much like Sanskrit you think crochet patterns look, you SHOULD use a pattern. Making it up as you go along is only clever if you SUCCEED.
3. Mistakes made in Row 1 DO NOT magically disappear by Row 6, no matter how many deals you attempt to strike with God. In fact, they breed overnight. It is possible (nay, probable) to begin with 310 stitches and end with 337. If I had kept going I could have made a charming Christmas Tree Skirt.
4. Read what other successful crocheters are doing. They have all sorts of useful information if only you take five minutes to read it. It will save you at least three days of tantrums, pouting and aching hands. Thanks to some flickr ripple-alongers I found this pattern. Now, if I can figure this pattern out, anyone can.
Here endeth the Lesson.
Trying to join in the Ripple Obsession sweeping the crafty blogging world and failing. Crochet, you suck.
I WILL nail this. I am determined.
I think.
I haven’t contributed to A Year of Colour for quite a while. It just got too hard while I was away. But I couldn’t miss out on Lavender! My favourite of these four photos is the one of the two lavender flower heads. I took it at the bach in Coromandel during one of those long New Zealand twilights. The light was fading fast but I love the way it made these flowers look.
There are few things I hate more than mornings and waking up. Too sleepy even to focus the camera. My nose looks HUGE from this angle. AAAAAAAAGH!! I look like my brother!!
Now I go in search of coffee…
I like my mouth much better than my feet. I think my mouth is kind of kissy. It does do rather a lot of kissing. Just ask my family. I drive my kids nuts. Peter has gotten used to it.
The Goddess, Sarah (oh Mighty and Benevolent May She Never Pass Away) has created 7 Days (that was “created 7 Days” not “created IN 7 Days”), that we may all indulge in Self-portraits for a week. Today is Day 1 and, in the interest of not scaring you all away, I have begun with my feet. My enormous, flat, boy feet. (yes, I do know I’m a girl) My enormous feet which do a valiant job of hauling me anywhere I want to go. I pay tribute to them. Thank you, Feet. Click for a larger image AT YOUR PERIL!!
The pretty photos of others who are participating can be found by clicking the cute button that Sarah made which is at the right on my sidebar. Or just click here
At last, Robyn and Stephen’s boy has been born. Thomas weighed 3.5 kilos and apparently is as loud as his brother! Phew. We can all breathe out
I do love a good list and this one on Kate1976s blog caught my attention. You are supposed to mark the books read, want to or again and again if it’s one you keep reading. I’ve done it a bit differently.I wonder who wrote this list? I should have highlighted all the ones I’ve never even heard of!! And added all the ones that I wish were there 
Maybe another day…
1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) ho hum big deal
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) Lovely book. Bootiful, in fact.
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) Loved all of them - couldn’t stop reading and read them all pretty much straight through during the school holidays.
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) started it. can’t remember why I didn’t finish it.
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) I can’t remember which of the Harry Potters this is. I read the first one and thought it was so average that I haven’t read any more. I realise that I am far from the target demographic so that isn’t surprising.
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) so what
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling) see 11
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) This is one of my preferred Irvings.
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) Lovely book.
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling) see 11
17. Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling) see 11 - how many of these bloody books are there??
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) excellent
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) I HATED this BORING book. From an historical point of view I can see why it caused a stir, but I kept waiting for something, ANYTHING to happen and couldn’t wait for it to end
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) Enjoyed it - liked the different and unexpected perspectives
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) Liked this, too. Unlike all you smarty-pants people, it kept me unaware of the true situation for a LONG time
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) Yowser! What a fire cracker Miss Bronte must have been!
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) Never really loved this like my friends did.
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck) Like most Steinbeck, powerful and absorbing. Full of characters that you either want to backhand across the room or hug.
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)My son loves this book.
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) My sister loves this one
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) This is the single most BORING BOOK I HAVE EVER FAILED TO READ. I can scarcely describe how much I hated it. I’m so sorry, Dad.
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) Fact or fiction, either way i loved this and found it completely engrossing.
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) depending on the day that you ask the question, either this or No 51 is my favourite book ever. Mostly it’s this one. AMAZING. You must read it.
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) My dad is a big Dickens fan and it rubbed off on to me.
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) More? MORE??
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) woo hoo! Be prepared for misery and plenty of it.
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolsoy) NO CHANCE IN HELL that I will ever read this. Sorry, Tolstoy. I HATE you. And your dumb books.
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) Another of my son’s favs.
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) Interesting. One of those books that has had more of an influence on me than I thought it would. Was reading Harold Pinters plays at the same time and they and this may have screwed with my head rather a lot
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) Love it big time.
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding) READ
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)Enjoyed it at the time and now don’t remember much about it at all.
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. Tigana (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving) The most original Irving, I think. And one of the better ones.
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams) Not my cup of tea. Too many bunnies and annoying characters.
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) Another one that has had a huge impact on me. I read this when I was about 11 or 12. Knocked my socks off and really made me think.
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)One of my least enjoyed genres so I’m not a good critic!
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)My favourite book when I was ten. Now it seems so dated! But still has impact.
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce) Never in a million years will I read this. I know this because I read about three pages and nodded off having understood nothing.
So I kind of lost a son this year (he’s gone to uni so now he lives at our unit in Townsville) but I have GAINED A SEWING ROOM!!! (sorry, mate - you can’t come home for weekends now unless you sleep in the lounge room) 
Here’s what happens when you decide to move the sewing stuff from it’s present home to it’s new home…
So traumatic I couldn’t even focus…
Ah yes, but look at this! Same junk eight hours later…
Yeah, but where is all the fabric, I hear you ask? OK, I’ll admit it - I’m not QUITE finished. Um, it’s here. In the corner.
I feel compelled to tell you that this is a rented house and I am NOT responsible for those hideous curtains. There. My reputation as a Visionary With Taste is maintained. I thank you.
I suppose you truly can’t win them all. I saw this in Poppylane’s etsy shop and thought it was cute and would take me half an hour to make. It took all afternoon and turned into this pile of pooh…
I really hate the position of the eyes (I usually get those SO right!
Why didn’t I follow my instincts??).
Edited to add: SOME people make it look SO DARN EASY!
But, I had a day scrapbooking on Thursday and did a number of pages.
This is my favourite.
I love these patterned papers where you just glue stuff down and it looks like you spent hours on it. I’m SO good at cheating. Heh heh.
On a more navel-gazing note, yesterday I was talking to the new Uni Student in our family and he told me how they had done Myers Briggs tests in his management class. It brought back memories of many happy hours reading about myself and my fascinating personality type. So I googled ENFP “The Visionary” *cough cough* and reminded myself of how extraordinary I am. We should probably all do it from time to time because NONE of those things tell you that you are a loser who couldn’t make a cute softie if your childrens lives depended on it. Instead they rave about your strengths (only an Egotist a la ENFP could see “always berating themselves for being so conscious of self” as a strength!) and make you feel as if you are The Most Valuable and Important Personality Type. Not that an ENFP needs to be told that - we all know it anyway. We aren’t really up ourselves, it just that we know that “This type is found in only about 5 percent of the general population, but they have great influence because of their extraordinary impact on others.”
SO true, so true…
I know, I know, this is like my fourth post in two days. What do you expect? I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. And I had to show you this…
http://www.threadbanger.com/
Go there. If you love textiles,clothes, making your own stuff, YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!
Meshell, this is right up your alley, chickadee…
…for my sister, who saves me from disaster from time to time.
Don’t you wish you lived in Wellington? And if you do, what are you waiting for? Get thee to the Ghuznee Room!!! (at 5:30pm on 2 April)
You can be honest with me, you know. We’ve been close for long enough. Is this a good idea? Or is it a tragedy? I’m really not sure at this point.
It seemed like a pretty good idea when I was in the throes of Creative Mania!
It all started when I visited Punch Gallery in Balmain. I could have easily spent a fortune in this shop. Oh the Beauty!! Luscious jewellery everywhere I looked. I got especially excited about work by Irwin Rohl - tiny little fragments of words on paper sandwiched with glass and silver or gold (another link). And another artist (whose name I have sadly forgotten) who made wonderful little pin dolls with paper faces and fabric bodies. All very stimulating and somehow while I was in there I had a vision of this necklace.
For a while now I’ve been taking photos of water, I’m not entirely sure why. Mostly I think it’s because the colours fascinate me. And the patterns are mercurial so i never know what the image will look like. Maybe it’s a reaction to living in what is, usually, an arid environment. Probably that’s the main reason - I grew up in New Zealand where, even if you don’t want to be, you are ALWAYS surrounded by water. Now I am transplanted to a desert and it feels very strange and kind of uncomfortable.
Whatever the reason, I love these beautiful fragments of colour and coolness. The green looks like malachite.
And, yes, one of the images is rotated. And, no, I don’t know how to fix it.
I’m home. And my friend Robyn’s baby is still firmly ensconced where he is obviously happiest - in utero! I’m a little bit disappointed that I didn’t get to meet him, but happy that he is where he needs to be for a little while longer.
As promised here are some photos I took in Balmain. I wish they were better but it felt a bit funny standing on the path taking photos of other people’s houses without their permission. So they were taken at speed, with a weather-eye out for irritated homeowners!
Don’t you think this is a cute suburb? I think I will miss it now that I’m in the Outback again. Sort of from the Sublime to the Ridiculous…
waiting….waiting….
…STILL no baby….
…not really due for another week, but his Daddy is only home for another two (before heading back to the Netherlands where they will all be living soon), so Baby had better not dawdle!
Come on, Baby! We all want to meet you!! We have toys and cuddles and a big brother and cats…
I wish I could say I’ve been to all those places, but really I’ve only been to Balmain! In fact, that’s where I am right now (visiting my friend Robyn and waiting for her new baby to arrive). Balmain is a suburb of Sydney - a beautiful one. I love it here and, although I’ve said a million times that I could never live in Sydney, I think I’ve changed my mind. I can imagine living here very easily. It’s pretty, it’s busy (in a good kind of way), it’s fun and it’s quiet enough to cope with.
I have been fantasising about buying one of the cute little terrace houses that are jammed in tight rows on every narrow lane. I wouldn’t care how ramshackle it was - I’d fix it up. I wouldn’t care how many rats lived in the laundry - I’d get a cat. I wouldn’t care that it didn’t have a garage - I’d buy a baby car. I wouldn’t care that it still had an outside toilet - I’d… WTF??? You mean there are still houses without indoor plumbing? Well heck yes! There are! And those are probably the only ones I could afford.
One of these days I’ll post photos and show you just how lovely it is here. I guarantee you’ll start dreaming about living here, too. Maybe if twenty of us got together we’d be able to afford a house with an inside bathroom. Have a look here and see what you can find for us …
