New Plymouth - city of dreams

If you know anyone in New Plymouth, tell them to come along to this Sunday Special at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery this weekend.

The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (image source here)

Having never been to the Taranaki region before I am actually quite excited about this little road trip with Tash of OutdoorKnit and Knitsch. Sadly the weather doesn't seem to be coming to the party...

Sew sew sew your boat

On Tuesday at my sewing night class I sewed some pretty sexy darts (sexy darts...how hilarious am I?!) for the bag we're all making:


And a crooked pocket (that needs ironing) with a zip in it:


In my defence, it seemed everyone else got to do practice zips before they did the one for their pocket, but when I went to the teacher and said I'd finished my darts she made me do my proper zip from the get go. And it's not like I was the last person to finish my darts. And because she does zips a weird way it wasn't exactly easy or straighforward so as a result my zip and my pocket are far from perfect. Sigh. Poor me. But they're done and the zip works and it's hidden by a nice wee flap because the teacher said that you should never be able to see zips. I love it, 'the teacher made me do this', 'the teacher said that'. Those teachers, they have a lot to answer for.

I was really really really tired at Monday night Knitting Circle after my first day at my new job. I made Anita drive us there instead of walking as usual because it was freezing cold and raining, so we were on time for once in our Knitting Circle lives. Although we left early so I could collapse into bed, I did achieve the seven inches necessary on my sock to move on to the heel flap. So now, scary heel flapness awaits me! When I measured my knitting so far and found that I had finally reached seven inches I said to Anita, 'I doubt that there will be second sock for a looong time; just doing this much of the first one has taken me FOREVER' and she took great delight in informing me that now I knew how she felt after finishing her first hand warmer. Well, fine. I'm going to have to finish this first sock and then knit the second just to show her. Even if it takes me until next winter.

View from my window

On Sunday morning, at my family's house in the Wairarapa. It should really be 'views' from my window, because it's a big window...well, really it's french doors out onto a small balcony (hence the height).

The horses and the sheep don't belong to my family, they live in paddocks belonging to other people. Instead of being home to animals, one of my family's two paddocks has been turned into a Moto-X (I hate spelling it like that but apparently that's really how it's supposed to be) practice track for my little brother, which I'm sure the neighbours just love.

Cards, cuteness, and Breakfast at Tiffany's

This week I've made two cards and done no knitting since Monday - except to teach my friend's 7 year old daughter how to knit. I guess the needles are pretty long when you're little, she looked so cute trying to wrangle them, but she managed to do a pretty good job!



The latter card was for the 50th birthday of my friend Hayley's Mum. But due to the nature of my mixed up family, Hayley's Mum is also my step-sister Ashmore's step-Mum; or to put it another way, my step-Mum's ex-husband's second wife. Got that? Family jungle aside, Kerry had her 50th birthday party last night and on all the tables were little favours one of her friends had made. They were all so pretty and full of jaffas!


As nice as the 50th was, so many people (especially older ones, as in around my grandparents' age) sucessfully made me feel like the absolute incarnation of Bridget Jones by either asking, 'Have you got a boyfriend?...Why not?' or 'Have you found a new boyfriend yet? You'd better get a move on.' The next family event I go to I am going to make a t-shirt depending on the status of my love life; it will either say, 'No, I don't have a boyfriend so don't ask' or 'Yes, I have got a boyfriend. Are you happy now?'

Yesterday afternoon I had a really nice time with someone who couldn't ask annoying questions. In fact he didn't do anything except be really really cute. I was babysitting the cutest baby in Hataitai again, who seems to love the Wellington International Ukelele Orchestra! I put it on at one point when he was in his high chair and he banged away with his spoon in pretty good time to the beat, and then later on, after his bath when he was all clean and even cuter, we had a bit of a dance to it and while I sang along he seemed to try to too. Babies are so nice when you can give them back.

Then this afternoon Alex, Ed, and I had our third classic movie afternoon. This time it was Breakfast at Tiffany's, which I first watched around 10 years ago and about which I couldn't remember anything except that I wasn't that impressed and thought it was a bit boring. This time, however, I really liked it. Except for Mickey Rooney's awful and pretty offensive Mr. Yunioshi.


Talking about it on the way home, Ed and I agreed that nothing much really happens plot-wise, but it's about a certain type of lifestyle and outlook on life and a lot of the characters are very interesting. Also, while the character of Holly Golightly can be infuriating, Audrey Hepburn is undoubtedly a babe and her costumes are amazing (the hat! The little black dress and that infamous long black dress! The dress that looks like she wrapped a sheet around her and tossed the end over her shoulder and still looks stylish and amazing!). I got given the book the movie is based on for my birthday a couple of years ago and still haven't read it, but watching the movie makes me want to see what it's like. Apparently the book is set in the 1940s but for the movie they updated the time setting to the present day (which was the 1960s). Favourite quotes:

Holly: It's useful being the top banana in the shock department.

Holly: Do you think she's talented, deeply and importantly talented?
Paul: No. Amusingly and superficially talented, yes. But deeply and importantly, no.

Holly: You know the terrible thing, Fred, darling? I am still Lule Mae - 14 years old, stealing turkey eggs, and running through a briar patch. Except now I call it having the mean reds.

Holly: There are certain shades of limelight that can wreck a girl's complexion.

So that's the headlines from another busy weekend and it's my first day at my new job tomorrow so I'd better get some sleep!

Things that are visually appealing

A cupcake from Tempt given to me on my last day at work on Tuesday.



The fabric for the bag I am making in my sewing night classes - the fabric on the right hand side is for the outer, the fabric on the left hand side is for the inner. Now that I look at the outer fabric, it makes me think of 1970s kitchen wallpaper. Oh well. I love the inner fabric - I love how it's like the design drawings for a formal, stately garden. Both fabrics are from Arthur Toye Fabrics and were 50% off. This week at the sewing night class we cut all the pieces out for the bag and pinned the darts, I might try to sew the darts this weekend to get a head start on next Tuesday's class.


Beautiful leaf earings by Duncan Mackay from The Vault. I got vouchers for The Vault as part of my leaving present from work, otherwise I would never have spent that much on earrings! They are just what I was looking for though.

I don't start my new job until Monday so at the moment I am being a lady of leisure. The rain yesterday dampened my vision of gadding about Wellington under blue skies, but I did go to the City Gallery in the afternoon. The John Pule exhibition was good but what I loved most was a painting by Elliot Collins that is part of the Ready to Roll exhibition of contemporary New Zealand work. It's a huge painting with what I guess could be described as a poem on it. I copied the poem down as a text in my cellphone I liked it that much. It took quite a while. Then I googled him today and found this video about him and his work. He is officially my new crush. Even though his hair is a bit too hipster for me, he is so CUTE (as a person I mean) and he loves his Mum. And I love him. Sigh.

This afternoon I went to one of the Go Solo groups at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. The thing I love about solos, having only first seen them last year, is how different they can be in every way and you never know what to expect. Some are more polished than others and some might not be to everyone's taste, but they're each only 20 minutes long so if you don't like one then you know it's going to be over pretty soon!

Cute chicks and 3D knits

It's weird, you get all grateful that you still have a nose and you're reading a book that you're really enjoying and your Earl Grey tastes particularly good and you had a nice conversation with a taxi driver about the Alexander Technique (he was trained in it, I just vaguely knew what it was) and then you arrive home at 9.30pm and suddenly have a cry. Maybe it's because today was my last day at work and while it didn't feel at all 'final' during the day or even when I was packing up my desk (which had crap crammed in every corner and hidden at the back of drawers - flyers for shows, clippings of reviews from the paper, a shoebox, flowers made from electrical wires...), arriving home always seems to trigger the waterworks. Or maybe I should just stop writing posts so late at night.

Anyway, eye leakage aside, last night was Monday night Knitting Circle and once again it was rocking! I don't know why but it seems there has suddenly been an influx of people who are coming regularly. A wee while ago five people was a big turn out; now there are consistently ten or more. I like it, even though I often end up sitting by people I know and chatting to them because I haven't seen them for a week or more.



This little chicken is SO cute and was made by a lovely woman whose name escapes me...She first came along a few months ago and said she'd bought a white mohair (I think it's mohair, it's a fluffy, fine, hairy kind of yarn) beret and wanted to knit a scarf to match it. She hadn't knit in 'years and years' but she designed her own scarf pattern and the scarf turned out beautifully, it's a big loop that's long enough for her to twist around and have drape down. Last night when she got rugged up to leave I noticed she had white mohair gloves too and asked if she'd bought them to match her hat and scarf, 'No,' she said, 'I made them!' She's a sewing teacher so maybe that gave her a headstart in craft cleverness. Also, guess who she made that little chicken for? Her son and his girlfriend's new kitten. For a kitten! I mean, honestly. That is one spoiled kitten.

The craft rage was strong within Anita last night. She's finished the baby hat from the other week and seems pretty happy with it.

(this '3D image' shows the swirled effect from the picture in the pattern)

She's also knitted one bootie. Which looks, umm, unique. But I'm sure if she washes it and then dries it with something stuffed inside so it dries in shape it will be fine.

(my attempt at making the bootie 3D)

She bravely began another after I apparently 'forced' her to. I think the craft rage clouded her perception because, as far as I can recall, I merely made encouraging noises when she was arguing with herself about what to start next and whether she'd even brought the right stuff with her and how she'd started her second arm warmer the other day but dropped stitches so had to unravel it and start all over again. Knitting actually makes our lives so difficult. For examply, my sock continues taunting me by growing ever so slightly but not quite reaching the seven inch mark.

Meanwhile, it turned out both Penny and I had been independently secretly thinking of roller derby names for ourselves for the alternate reality in which we can both skate without severely injuring ourselves. Penny had come up with 'Hermione Danger' and 'Lady Die' (particularly appropriate considering her recent obsession with Charles and Diana memorabilia), while my favourite was 'Katherine Maimsfield'. I explained that I wanted a literary themed roller derby team, so we spent a lot of time coming up with other names for members of the team - 'Margaret Mahem', 'Pain Austen', 'Janet Framed', 'JK Brawling'. In our alternate reality our roller derby team would totally be the coolest of the cool.

A big jumble of variousness

Spot the difference:

Okay, clearly there are quite a few differences and I look like some kind of Bride of Dracula who has overdone the botox. But I've been staying down at my Mum's on the farm in Hurunui for the last few days and the first night I was here I saw a pile of green velvet curtains in a washing basket in the corner of the lounge (sadly Mum doesn't usually have green velvet curtains casually heaped about the house; they're from one of the houses on the farm that's had a change of tenants). So naturally I had to take the opportunity to do my best Scarlett O'Hara impression (from the scene in which she makes Mammy turn the green curtains of Tara into a dress for her visit to Rhett in prison) and have a photo to share with the world. My Mum wasn't at all phased when I put curtains on and told her to take a photo of me pouting like a smug fish; however, my sister sat on the couch saying, 'You are such a freak. Mum, why is she doing this?' so due to my resident heckler I didn't have time to study the original Scarlett image closely, hence I'm missing the whole lifting of the skirt action. But you get the idea.

I have had a really nice few days down here in the middle of nowhere. I haven't achieved much knitting but I have been going for brisk country walks every morning and eating delicious things which seem to balance each other out quite nicely. This photo is a bit of a cheat because I didn't take it, I was still in bed. It's pretty cool all the same.


The frost was still going strong when I got up though, so I did take this one:


On Friday Mum and I went to the Mud House Winery cafe for lunch. We stopped off first at the Rainbow Food Shop in Waikari, where every Friday they have fresh handmade bread.

And pinwheels with cinnamon and coconut and jam...

And good old fashioned branding:

Where the Rainbow Food Shop is very unassuming, The Mud House is very picturesque:

The best part about it though was the amazing Beef Bourguignon pie (have I mentioned before that I LOVE food?)

Look at the cute 'B'!

I haven't just been eating though; I made some pretty average scones, some pretty good muffins, leeks in white sauce that were not appreciated by the fussy eaters that consumed them (although my notoriously fussy sister did concede, 'Yeah, they're pretty good') and I believe I have managed to perfect the art of poached eggs, finally.

Seen here with avacado on toast. Good enough to serve at Euro I reckon. And yup, those are the same free range eggs that came from the Rainbow Food Shop carton. YUM.

It hasn't all been about food though. We won the Fire Brigade raffle at the Star and Garter Hotel in Waikari, which included gourmet grocery items such as 2 minute noodles and a tin of sardines, topped off with a concrete toadstool for the garden. All the excitement got a bit too much for this little boy though, who fell alseep against his Dad's legs after eating his Friday night fish and chips.

Last night Mum and I went into Christchurch for dinner and to see a documentary in the New Zealand International Film Festival. I was really glad it was on while I was down here because it was one of the films I had wanted to see but had missed the screenings of in Wellington. It's called Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work and it was definitely worth it. That woman is amazing. 77 years old, she's a workaholic in a gruelling industry who will never be satisfied with or accept what she has achieved. She's very insecure which partly explains why she has allowed herself to become so frozen by plastic surgery and botox in an effort to stay looking young and why she's so desperate not to be forgotten that she'll do anything if it keeps her face in the public eye. But in spite of her insecurity she's also tough as nails and incredibly determined. She's still got some pretty shocking content in her comedy-wise and the clips from her hey day when she was appearing regularly on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson illustrate that there is so much more to her than the red carpet commentaries and interviews I knew her for before seeing the documentary. She was a leader in terms of female comedy and her longevity is testament to her tirelessly putting in the effort required to stay alive in show business. She's pretty amazing that's for sure.

Finally, this afternoon I got to visit Stephanie who I met through uni and who now has two very cute twin boys who are also very well behaved. She has been sewing them cute little pyjama pants and knitted them a really awesome hooded vest (apparently called a 'gilet'). Which makes me think I'm neglecting my knitting terribly as I'm not running around after twins!

So really, I'm going to have to go back to Wellington for a rest and to get some knitting done.