lifting my head up again

I feel like I always need to write 'it's been a while' at the beginning of a new post. I guess I am gaining a first hand understanding of how difficult it can be to keep updating a blog.
My thesis has hit a bit of a slow patch at the moment, my supervisors have both gone overseas for a few months, so I got an extension and will meet my interim supervisor this Wednesday. Perhaps I've been waiting to see what advice or directions she has for my work. Sometimes I think it's a seasonal thing, I never feel much like working as the weather changes from warm, sunny days to grey skies.

I've been doing some crocheting lately and have really been reinvigorated by working with the crochet hook and the yarn...finding really cool colours, re-learning the skill and dreaming of new ideas. I love how it can become like second-nature and after a while your hands really take over and you no longer really need to think about what you are doing...automatic.

The Hyperbolic Coral Crochet Reef comes to Adelaide - I think the launch is this Wednesday at RiAus - and it should be a fantastic project to be involved in. I'm thinking that I will crochet some coral and hopefully get along to some of the public workshops.



The Ladies Silurian Atoll (detail). Photo © The Institute For Figuring (by Alyssa Gorelick)
I've also been really inspired by this on work on etsy by Hide the Good Scissors.



Loving the geometric shapes and the woodland animal shapes. I'd like to have the bird and the polar bear.

yes, these things do take time

It has been another tough week in thesis land. At the moment I am working on finalising chapters (and trying to ingnore any new information from sneeking in). Although I did find Jo Turney's book 'The Culture of Knitting' in the uni library and it is so good. I'm calling it both a karmic lucky find - you know when you go walking up the aisles at the library and just stumble upon the perfect book you have been hoping for - and the driving me crazy with jealousy book, as it feels like it is just what I want to write myself.

However, things have been quite grim, at times I feel on the verge of tears...I keep reminding myself that it will be over soon. That this is the most difficult part but it will be worth it.

I also found the work of artist Sally England, which has been a huge inspiration to my day. She works in 3D and 2D, using craft techniques including macrame



and the Mr Moustace cushion, which I think is just genius...can I have one for my bedroom please?



how handy, you can store the moustaches in a back pocket. So clever!

crafty royal wedding

 

I love this cross-stitch pattern by Subversive Cross Stitch and Mr X for the occasion of the impending Royal Wedding. It was included in the Independent newspaper and the free pattern download is available from the Subversive Stitch website. I am pretty tempted to give it a go myself! I love the idea of changing the 'Keep Calm Carry On' motto and visually I find the 'handwriting stitch' down the bottom very appealing. It says 'A Royal Wedding bought to you in association with the Coaliton Goverment' very clever.

 

It got me thinking about other wedding souvenirs that might be being subversively produced, so after a quick search I found Lydia Leith's 'Royal Wedding Sick Bags'.

 

 

While I'm not against the wedding per se, I think it is interesting that crafters are creatively engaging and commenting with the event.

 

and from England's OK magazine, knitted Kate and William dolls (they didn't provide information as to who was making them).

 

 

I found the link for the free pattern by Galt, so not a souvenir created by an independent crafter, but funny none-the-less.

amy sedaris is funny

Was looking around the internet and came across this interview for Amy Sedaris' craft book, it is hilarious. At the end she says 'it's about getting people off the couch' which I think is where the renewed interest in craft is located. Leisure time and working on the things that are interesting to us are becoming increasingly important.

Today was a good day, got words down on the computer screen and focused myself on getting the job done. It is actaully the end of my candidacy today...how quickly the time goes.

This weekend I am going to take time out to visit a couple of exhibitions and write reviews, which I will post here.

p.s, the house from the last post didn't sell at auction, there is still hope!

the systems

Here are a couple of pictures of the house that I mentioned in my last post. It went to auction this morning, but I couldn't make it...wonder how much it sold for and hope that it will be cared for by the new owners.



I've had a pretty bad week, University 'stuff' has been getting  me down. I even went to see a counsellor about it (or Learning Advisor) as they are named. That was beneficial as she helped me to focus on what was immediately important and what I could put aside to deal with later. Supervisors taking leave, no tutoring work for this upcoming semester. The writing up stage, sigh, it is so hard. But, I've decided that my only real option is to just keep pushing on - the best revenge will be a completed thesis.

So, other than that it has just been work, work, work. I haven't even really been checking out that many blogs - other than Fashademic, Home Cooked Theory and Door Sixteen.
Perhaps having a break from reading craft blogs will provide me with the clear head space to do the writing.

I did get some good news this week, I had my abstract accepted for the Console-ing Passions conference in late July.

I'm also looking forward to the Format zine and DIY Festival

and when I'm lying in my bed

First blog post composed on the phone, in bed. With the start of the school year things have returned to their 'normal' pattern. Not sue I like it, I was getting used to working to whatever hours suited me. Once again, I am back to the 9-3 blocks of time.
I really want to get a complete, first draft done by Wednesday as I have a meeting with supervisors and the Head of Post -grad research. But...we'll see. Another 20,000 words isn't that much right?

Yesterday I went with my friend to walk through the most amazing house...it made us want to weep! I'll post pictures later when on a computer rather than mobile device. Funny, we both felt kind of depressed and deflated after our look at the house.Perhaps knowing it exists but cannot be either of ours was/ is too much.

a day off

I took a day off this week to go and see the movie Black Swan. I loved it - loved the utter compulsion of Natalie Portman's character, the change her character goes through during the movie...I don't want to spoil anything...but it was such a good movie and really got me thinking. Particularly about the obsessive nature of those involved in the creative arts, being in visual art I am quite used to (perhaps the stereotype) the consumed creative, passionate and willing to follow their creativity til the end. Isn't the poster below beautiful.

 

It also remined me of a chapter in Alain de Botton's book The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work - about the painter. While the other jobs de Botton looks at seem quite absurd in many ways, even pointless, I was left with the feeling that the painter was romanticised by de Botton. The craftsman as being able to collectively see his work rather than 'wondering what we did last year'. While this has some truth, I think it could also be true of industries outside the creative arts. Also, not all paintings/artworks are kept by the artist and even they lose track of what they have made, when they made it.

I am also reminded of the work of Kate Bingaman Burt, her Obsessive Consumption blog which has her drawings of her purchases. It has also been published as a book. I find it fascintating as it brings an aesthetic quality and creative skill to the task of consuming. I wonder, how did it start? did she ever buy things because she wanted to draw them? did she draw everything she bought?
And...just from looking at her site I see that Kate has drawn Oprah's Favourite Things, now that is really cool.