red_swirl

But I'm not talking my body type, I'm talking what I'd need to wear here in Tokyo to fit in. Which I don't, I'm reminded everyday - the guys in the sewing machine shop knew immediately which machine I'd come to pay for, even though I've never seen them before ... wonder what the description of me was? ... foreign, obviously. And I agree with L you can see a foreign face in most big crowds, true, but just the one.

Anyway, in Tokyo I should restrict myself to black, beige, white and navy. Perhaps some grey or pink.

There's a lot of colours I'd wear without thinking that I don't see much here, like red, green, purple ... and a number of fashion colours I was surprised not to see more of, like yellow, cobalt and purple (again).

And I should have:
- a beige or white trench, maybe with bows on the cuffs;
- a jeans jacket, with fancy top stitching;
- suits, boring ones, no extreme burda-style cuts;
- jeans, several;
- lots of tops for layering;
- leggings, preferably with lace edging;
- funky lacy sockettes to wear in my sandals;
- fluttery tunic/short dresses in coordinating small floral prints with off-white lace (see photo from CanCam).

I'd like to make the last item for myself, in a shape appropriate to my body type. But I probably can't use my carefully collected and much-thumbed burdas for it - there are also no plunging necklines in Tokyo, indeed necklines I felt were modest work-wear in Sydney look positively scandalous here. And no knits, most, like 90% , of clothes are wovens ... and not close-fit.

So even if I'd sewed what I wanted before I got here, I'd have to re-sew it again anyhow.

Posted by red swirl at 13:28 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I chose this picture as I've always wanted to live in another country for an extended time, to see what everyday life really looks like, not just the pretty/fake touristy stuff ...
Now's my chance. Oh, and my chance to get a look at heaps of Japanese craft books, tools, fabrics ;)

Posted by red swirl at 16:15 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Big Sis has been making some interesting comparisons recently - Little Sis "zoomed to Mum like a helicopter" ie. was passed to me across a dinner table.

Posted by red swirl at 23:40 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've realised I blogged very few finished projects last year. Yup, you guessed right, I hardly finished anything. I started quite a bit, but really, do you want to read about the 3 half scarves I made with the same wool? Hmm. Actually, I'm thinking I'd have more to say if I wrote that sort of stuff...

Anyway, I have been sewing, I now have 3 unfinished practice garments. All highly unflattering, so I'm not showing.

A Shari, after which I decided the style isn't for me: the narrow V neck and wide skirt succeed in hiding my best features. A Celestina, which definitely needs a FBA, which I've been avoiding learning how to do. I'm not sure why I feel self-conscious about needing one, actually I feel a bit embarrassed I need any pattern changes.

And a BWOF 2007-01-111 skirt. It's a good style for me, or so I reckon after spending a day trying on but not buying skirts in the sales. But I'm not a size 44 (currently). There aren't any side seems, so I tried to short-cut and just add an inch centre front & back, but when I sewed it up, it was obviously dodgy. Hmm. So I'm stuck with what to do next.

If I were in a Pollyanna-mood, the title of this post would have been "Feel the fear but ... or whatever the crappy* slogan is". On the plus side, my machine can sew a double layer of upholstery fabric (pictured). Which I had kinda doubted seeing as it is a beginner-ill-informed-purchase Singer. And my topstitching is slowly improving. And I did retrieve the situation after jamming the needle in the down position so hard I had to cut the fabric free, take the metal bobbin casing out, wiggle the needle out down through the bobbin area, and remove the other metal bit that makes the needle's thread go round (red in the animation here) and put it all back together and fix all the tension issues this created. Which is actually rather a minus, not a plus? But I'm including it so another total beginner can read it in a few month's time and be inspired by how far I've progressed ;)

*Crappy: every time an ad comes on during the cricket or tennis, I tell Big Sis "don't bother watching this, it's just a crappy ad. They only have ads for things people don't normally want to buy". She's now asking me "Is this a crappy ad, Mum?" And she's right, at 2 and a half.

Posted by red swirl at 15:24 | Permalink | Comments (1)

The three kings, or three wise men or the travelling men (from Little Owl and the Star).

"We three kings ..." is one of my favourite carols, the words are really interesting, particularly if you sing through all the verses explaining the significance of the gifts and of Christmas.

Collaged again from old cards, 2003.

Posted by red swirl at 10:25 | Permalink | Comments (0)

A shepherd and sheep I made long ago, maybe 2003. Never made the important people in the story, but I've three kings to show you later in the week.

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And unfortunately, I reverted to a rather unfair amount of Mum decorating by herself for a while, after the second minor breakage. I should have explained more about how to hold decorations carefully, I reckon. Because I can have a reasonably interesting conversation with her, I overestimate sometimes.

You will note the tree is securely tied to a large box, that there are few decorations on the lower branches, and any presents are well hidden at the back ... yes, Little Sis has started to walk.

I also found the 2nd box of decorations a bit late, you know, the box that actually was labelled RPG BooksChristmas Decorations. And I still have no idea why I thought jewel-toned purples, oranges and blues would go well with the traditional red/green/gold look? At least the year I apparently wasn't labelling boxes I had my colours coordinated.

Ah well, it all turns out in the end ... I found the home-made decorations so Big Sis and I put them up together. And she did the star ;)

Posted by red swirl at 19:01 | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is how I study: pink cards for the textbook words, green for verbs, yellow for adjectives, white nouns and blue for phrases / anything else. Group 1 verbs are purple pen, group 2 orange pen, green for group 3. Gold pen for i-adjectives, pink for na-adjectives.

Just in case you're learning Japanese and haven't worked out your own format yet ;)

Miss Squiggle was watching me colour green cards blue (I always run out of one colour or another by final exam time) and she decided to help me with a few she'd made herself ... so sweet! As for Miss Moon, she's crawl / sit / crawling and pulling herself up to stand, practising really hard.

I'm always optimistic studying won't completely take over my life, but ...
See you in a few weeks!

Posted by red swirl at 00:36 | Permalink | Comments (0)

And yes, I've finally succumbed to the minimalist white craft blog look (do a little survey of major craft bloggers - most use white or another assertively neutral background). Interestingly, L doesn't like the white look, he prefers brooklyntweed's greens ... is it a guy thing? I say "succumbed" because in real life, I'm much more maximalist ... but I do appreciate that websites need different colour schemes compared to, say homes ... or clothes ... or toys. At least a minimal surround can show of brightly coloured photos...

I really like mulberries. I know they grow like weeds here, I know they're really messy (particularly the black sort, the white is better). But I like their taste. We had a spell of dry weather as the fruits were forming, I was reluctant to water due to the restrictions, so the first ones were rather bitter. I froze them and hopefully with a bit of apple and sugar, they'll make a nice pie. I watered, now the newly ripened ones in the photo taste great ;)

There's a little neighbourhood wattle in the photo and an Uzbek bag, too.

Posted by red swirl at 16:22 | Permalink | Comments (0)

The clivias, I almost left them behind at the last house, but L's Mum convinced me otherwise. They'd not flowered for 2 years at that stage, but wow, look at them now!!! And they're shaded by a brick wall on 2 sides, a tree above. And they live on rain water. And their soil is poor ... gotta admire their flowers then;)

Posted by red swirl at 23:36 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I also realised that every Spring, I want to trash my blog and start again. Sorta like Spring cleaning, only more brutal. It's one of the reasons for the interesting gaps in my blog archives - no, I haven't been deleting posts ... yet;)

As you can see from the funny little figlets on the fig tree, it's Spring again ... so this year, I've decided to make some changes. Some you've already seen (more drawings), some I haven't started yet (a photo day; a regular knitted swatch and more regular updates). Above all, I'm going to remember what Tricia from bits and bobbins says about wardrobe remix: "be nice to yourself! no negative stuff [...] post ONLY what you LOVE." Although I think this still allows for the odd critique or two?

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1. Sea plant #01, 2. Sea plant #02, 3. Sea plant #03, 4. Sea plant #04

Haven't you seen these plants at every beach you've ever visited? I'm sure I have. Actually, these plants might be confined to just Australia, or even just NSW ... anyone know?

Mood: Guess who has the teeniest tiniest first tooth today?

Posted by red swirl at 22:12 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (1)

If you live in my area, it's the Marly on King Street, Newtown. (And if you don't, Marly = Marlborough Hotel, ie. a pub. Do other countries call their pubs/bars hotels, I wonder? Probably not.)

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Why? It's mid-semester exam time. See you guys later, I'm off to study more ;)

Posted by red swirl at 18:02 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Miss Moon was born at the end of January, 2007.

Actually, I love reading about other people's pregnancies, and I've particularly enjoyed Sooz's and Alison's thoughts at the washing line. But I'm not comfortable writing for you about my own pregnancy. Least ways, not until it's over, safely, and everyone is healthy. Don't be too disappointed, friends I haven't actually seen for some months probably don't know, either.

And no, there's no secret baby knitting you haven't seen ... Miss Moon was born in the height of Summer, so there's still plenty of time to knit for her, if I'm not too tired ;) Oh, and I owe Miss Squiggle a jacket first anyway.

Mood: The astute amongst you will realise I haven't made any softies / plushies / dolls ... indeed anything figurative or vaguely human-like for sometime. It just didn't feel right.

Posted by red swirl at 15:37 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Posted by red swirl at 11:18 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Merry Christmas everyone! All of my family just got over being sick, so I didn't get to complete the Advent Birds ... still, I reckon 19 is a pretty good effort ;)

Posted by red swirl at 21:49 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mood: Squiggle has started some short sentences: "I want a book"; "Can't close" (the zip on my backpack); and "Sit here" (pointing to the stairs, so Lster would sit with her and share his orange juice).

Posted by red swirl at 12:34 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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I spent a lot of high school borrowing & re-borrowing books about puppets and marionettes, particularly this one. (The other books I read and re-read were about Berlin, Germany and the Holocaust). Yep, odd. Anyway, I already knew all about the types of puppets used, without ever really expecting to see them. They are simple puppets, heavy wood with a metal rod for the head and another metal rod for the sword arm. What was fascinating was the skill of the puppeteers - each character had his own walk, even though there is no string for the legs. The Saracens moved shiftily, one stroked his beard. The Christians strode bravely. I loved the syringe of red paint for blood, the different choreography for each battle and the slaying of the dragon.

My Dad spent his life studying old stories - mediaeval, and also Australian Aboriginal. I've done the opposite, tried to always be 20th century, now 21st ;D When he told me the stories he was thinking about, I used to tell him they didn't translate well to the modern world. Oh, except one about an old noble, a warrior, who had outlived all his family, all his friends and allies and was forced to spend his last days in the court of an enemy... that could be a film.

Anyway, the puppeteers made this version of Le Avventure Di Orlando relevant to today: about the futility of war. Orlando doesn’t blow his horn to summon reinforcements when he realises he and the other knights have been lured into a trap. Instead, they fight, and, yes, win. But then Orlando stands on the battlefield, not enjoying the victory, instead realising all his brothers, his friends are dead. He blows his horn as he should have earlier, but, poetically, blows so hard he bursts blood vessels. As he lies dying, either (as the announcer explained in English) he slays the dragon of his own errors or (as the puppeteers played it) an angel visits him. Whichever, it's a good story. I wish my Dad were still here so we could talk about it ...

On a lighter note, Squiggle loved crawling the length of Leichhardt library and back - I think it's the longest building she's gone crawling in. She crawls on all fours now, although sometimes she looks like she’s trying to stand up

Posted by red swirl at 22:45 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Participation
1+ participate in Illustration Friday most weeks;
2+ participate in A Month of Softies most months;
should I add ... participate in whiplash? I'm interested to see what whiplash's going to be like ;D

Practical
3+ knit at least one hoodie for Squiggle;
4+ knit "blu" for Squiggle;
5+ a pencil case for me (felt?);
6+ make some covered boxes for Lster to keep all his stuff in;
7+ make a Roman blind / curtain;
8+ a necklace like I learnt to make when I was a teenager (see photo);

Learning from other's patterns
9+ a rag doll (not too country-fied, I may have found the pattern);
10+ Doo Ka Ta;
11+ a Wee Wonderfuls pointy kitty (a punky one, made from Lster's old jeans??);
12+ the penguin;
13+ a Jess Hutch bunny or Kate;
14+ a Camilla Engman bear from The Happy Hooker;
15+ a Nekomimi or Dachshund by Runo;
16+ a sock doll or monkey or bird;

Softie characters in my head
17+ Miss Priss (needle felting), maybe even her boyfriend;
18+ 'facture' duck or hen, probably duck;
19+ ocean girl or graphix girl;
20+ finish Mr February;
21+ amigurumi alien (I have the wool);
22+ amigurumi dog;
23+ Japanese fan cat (moulded felt);
24+ tattoo girl/boy;
25+ make a softie or series of softies, consciously thinking about the design;

Challenges
26+ knit socks (and find a decent pattern);
27+ learn more Japanese by making something from a Japanese book or magazine;
28+ knit and felt a bag or slippers (from this book);
29+ try painting with oils (I never have);
30+ sew something on my Mum's sewing machine (the Roman blind, perhaps?);
31+ knit something aran or intarsia;
32+ learn a fancy crochet stitch, like a leaf or flower;
33+ make a Fimo doll.

Well, that should keep me busy!!

Posted by red swirl at 18:12 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (1)

Mood: First assignments done, maybe I can do some craft this weekend ... before I start on the next lot of assignments

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Otherwise known as ... the living room wall, viewed from the sofa. Blu-tacked up, during those first 2 intense months of having a newborn to care for, when I worried about how much visual stimulation little Squiggle was getting, but didn't have the energy to move far from the sofa. If you'd like to reproduce this look, simply buy a set or so of origami paper and arrange ( as Vogue Living would say). ;D

Mood: First assignments due soon ...

Posted by red swirl at 15:32 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

(To the tune for the verses of Waltzing Matilda):
Once a silly council planted some native trees,
Hoping that one day they'll give us shade,
And we sang as we watched trees grow into the clear blue sky,
Won't it be a nice and green sub-urb?

Along came the RTA to pu-t up a stre-et sign
Why not in the centre of the bottle-brush tree?
And we sang as we watched trees grow into the clear blue sky,
Won't it be a nice and green sub-urb?

Up rode the Power Co, "the trees might touch the power lines"
We must lop the trees down, one two three!
And we sang as we watched the trees grow all dis-to-r-ted,
Won't it be a nice and green sub-urb?

Seriously, does this happen elsewhere???

Ah well ... I guess the red "No Stopping" sign looks good amongst the bottle-brush ;D

Mood: Glad it's Friday!!

Posted by red swirl at 17:04 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been wanting to participate for a while ...

And I'll need to break up this little gathering soon, as I don't want little Squiggle pulling herself up on these shelves. It's theme is items from childhood. My Sasha dolls, Sasha and Amy. Lster's dragon from Bali, and his Veritech fighter (pilot Roy Focker). The red cat shoes were a gift from my cousin to Squiggle. Note the little rabbit in Amy's arms, I never knew I'd be interested in rabbits when I was older.

Mood: I wonder what Squiggle will do next? She wants to stand constantly, holding onto our fingers. I reckon she's said her first word "ou...t" and maybe "ab" for apple.

Posted by red swirl at 10:05 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Motto: when you've nothing of your own to show, show somebody else's work!

Where I live, people aren't shy about sticking up ads for bands, share houses etc. Periodicaly, the council tears them done again, hence this piece of street art. (And, as you may have guessed, I've got my hands on a camera that's more than a 0.5 megapix phone!!!)

I've often been facinated by slight decay, bad printing and rust. At one stage, I was thinking of a series of serious artworks about rust ... you never know, I may get round to it one of these days.

Mood: calm.

Posted by red swirl at 17:01 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not much craft going on at all here. I'm adjusting to going back to Uni after taking a year off to be with Squiggle. It's quite an exercise in logistics, my husband is a student too. We've arranged all our subjects so they don't clash (why are enrollment procedures always so fraught??) and Lster is bringing Squiggle in to Uni, meeting me & then I'm taking her home. Tiring, but we'll get more used to it.

Plus, Lilika the rabbit got sick. If you have a rabbit, and s/he stops eating, it's serious. Rabbits are not like humans, they can't just skip a meal or two and be ok. They can quickly go into a not feeling like eating / being unable to eat downwards spiral. There's a good article here. Also check out this excellent rabbit info. Anyway, we were lucky. We gave Lilika enough pain killers, water and baby food that she started eating again - phew!! But no craft progress at all.

Mood: Lilika looks totally sceptical in the photo - cameras make too many weird noises for her liking. N.B. the empty bowl ;)

Posted by red swirl at 18:17 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'll give you a riddle -

who has ...
... an Italian name but is not Italian?
... a law degree but is not a lawyer?
... trouble adding up but is studying science?
... fluent French but has never been to France?
... a complete set of the UK changing rooms magazine, ring bound, but no landlord's permission to paint the walls?
... bought no novels in the last 5 years but many, many non-fiction books?
... filmed, edited, floor managed, directed and produced TV programs but rarely seen TV when growing up?
... said traditional wedding vows in church, wearing red and black and receiving a plastic (and silver) ring?
... a husband who actually thinks a yellow sofa is a good idea, and whose favourite colour is also red?
... a daughter she loves very much?

All of me, all the contradictions, all me. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, singles and couples alike!

Posted by red swirl at 14:27 | Permalink | Comments (1)

My favourite in any Japanese restaurant is always Oyako-don (followed closely by salmon sushi with lots of wasabi, yum). I've been searching for a simple Oyako-don recipe for some time, and I think I finally found one here. For some reason, I love dishes combining egg and meat...

Shopping list (for 2):

• 1 cup dry (3 cups cooked) rice
  
• 150g or so chicken thigh meat
• 1 brown onion
  
• 3 eggs
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons mirin (sweet sake)
• 1 sachet dashi (soup broth) mixed in 2/3 cup boiling water
  
• 1 teaspoon sugar

• Slice chicken and onion into small pieces.
  
• Put rice on to boil. My Singaporean friends taught me to put the rice in the saucepan; flatten it; then fill with water from the tip of your index finger touching the rice to your first finger joint.
• At the same time, boil the chicken and onion in the soy sauce, mirin, dashi, water and sugar.
• Once the chicken is cooked, swirl in the eggs without scrambling them too much. Cook eggs, but once they start bubbling strongly, put on the lid and steam them about 5 minutes or until cooked.
• Serve rice and place chicken/egg mixture on top without breaking it up too much. Miso soup and a fresh green salad to complete the meal.

Mood: Tired. We went looking at primary schools for Squiggle today, more tomorrow.

Posted by red swirl at 21:02 | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first of a series, hopefully. I'm searching for enough easy-to-make but tasty recipes to fill a week or so of dinners. This is my first find, from one of Jamie Oliver's books. Adapted so that the ingredients are easy to buy at Mr Lucky's supermarket and so the instructions are the sort I understand.

Shopping list (for 2):

• enough bow-ties (pasta) for 2
• sealed pack of bacon (Weight Watchers, preferrably) 3 slices or 6 rounds
  
• 200 ml pure cream (King Island Dairy) only 1/4 actually used
  
• 1 egg (only buy 6 eggs if you don't use them much)
  
• black pepper
• small bag baby peas (frozen)
  

• Put the water on to boil. Yes, really. Cooking the pasta's the most time consuming part.

• Fry bacon in minimum oil until cooked, then turn the frying pan off. Put the bow-ties in the water as soon as it starts boiling.

• Whisk 1/4 of the cream with the egg and pepper. Keep an eye on pasta.

• Put the peas in with the bow-ties as soon as they start going pale at the edges. I like a lot of peas, 2 generous cups.
  

• Drain peas and bow-ties in a colander, immediately empty the colander into the fry pan (where the bacon is) and stir in the cream and eggs mixture. Don't turn the frying pan on again, the egg is cooked by the warmth of the bow-ties.
  

• Serve and eat. A little parmesan is nice.

Posted by red swirl at 21:11 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not what the teacher wanted, but typical of my primary school art efforts.

In my lateral-thinking impatience, I'd decided against even rows for tapestries. Quicker. Nearly the same, really. My Mum supported me, my right as a child to view the world differently, to question and explore. She helped me choose a white/brown wool for the legs, tying the owl to the branch.

The teacher hadn't bothered to check what I was doing 'till I was almost done. Again. I remember the hot, darkish demountable* and the look on her face. There wasn't time for me to do it over, I was to leave it as was.

I was half disappointed, half defiant. I do like the thick fuzzy stars, like the way the different sized rows recall the horizon. The white lines in between are merely a mistake, my misunderstanding of the teacher's instructions.

Have I changed? No. I still wish I could foresee the consequences of the shortcuts I take, and I still believe in interesting accidents. But maybe now I'm willing to do it over, to try to pull it off consciously this time.

* Demountables are temporary, moveble classrooms schools never have the funding to rebuild or replace.

Posted by red swirl at 21:25 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, if you'd've asked me 5 minutes ago whether I've done any craft since high school, I'd've said no, not really.

However, I just went through my making things box, and found 2 orange/red scalves (one knit, one crochet, nearly done), 1 red jumper (barely started), wool for 2 baby jumpers, 2 tapestries (maybe a third done), 1 cross stitch and a half-sewn skirt. Crochet needles in various sizes with single balls of wool for practice, and two size 10 knitting needles. Oops!

Plenty of things to keep me going, but perhaps I am just procrastinating in making Mr. February? I've cut out his pattern, knitted all the felted fabric parts ... time to start cutting and sewing!!

P.S. Guess my favourite colours?

Mood: hot, it's 31C here.

Posted by red swirl at 12:48 | Permalink | Comments (0)

I posted some of my collection of Vietnamese plasticware to Craftapalooza's cookie cutter show off group. Strictly speaking not cookie cutters, more like cookie stamps. I imagine they'd be used to decorate the Vietnamese version of moon cakes, but don't really know. Anyone?
Yes, I love, love, love Marrickville too.

Anyhow, got me thinking that I actually have 2 moulds for Japanese sweets, bought in the Nishiki market in Kyoto, from Aritsugu. Also a hairclip bought from Takashimaya and 2 koi hairpins from a craftshop ... Yuemiya? We went to Tokyo, Kyoto and Berlin for our honeymoon. The first big trip overseas for both of us (now we wanna go back ;D).

I'd love to be able to make hairclips like that ... maybe one day. Funny, I bought 2 books (1, 2) on making Japanese sweets 'cause they were so yummy, knowing I'd never learn Japanese but thinking that maybe sometime with lots of patience and a dictionary I might be able to figure out the pictures. Well, guess who's learning Japanese 101 next semester as a detour in her IT networking degree? That's right, me!!

P.S. I didn't realise I'd be able to find a website for Aritsugu - I was just trying to spellcheck!

Posted by red swirl at 13:15 | Permalink | Comments (1)