Yarn Along

Joining Ginny today for Yarn Along.

Our community wool festival is in full swing. I want to post a million photos as I am blown away by all the woolly talent in our community. But I will restrain myself!

Last weekend I spent a day sewing on knitted parking meter cosies and crocheted tree collars. 

Glasses cosy for the optometrist!

The laneways have been decorated by local schools.

The Community House and the Mens Shed made this amazing fruit and veggie cart to display near the community garden.

I think I know who to ask to make a farmgate stand for me!

And I delivered my daffodil teapot this morning for the opening of the tea cosy exhibition.
There are some amazing creations!

And all the cafe's tables have woolly flowers!

Eucalyptus

Wattle

Protea

The whole cafe looks fabulous!

The Girl on Fire shawl is coming along nicely - up to 308 stitches per row now, so it takes a while to get through a row!

My reading this week has been The Wedding Group by Elizabeth Taylor. I love Elizabeth Taylor and I am glad that her books have been republished in this lovely format. 
As it says in the introduction, there is no 'crashing melodrama' here. The book is a slow and steady recital of the eccentricities and suffering of everyday human life. 

'A long emptiness before her, and all the days the same.'
Sounds depressing, I agree. But let's face it, most of our days are the same - it is what we do with them that counts. We can give it to that monotony and fall into melancholy, or we can embrace our days and make of them something special, even in just the tiniest way.
Please read Elizabeth Taylor - truly wonderful in such a subtle way.

And is it too super nerdy to say I am REALLY looking forward to The Great Australian Spelling Bee coming to TV? Probably, but I don't mind! I am already spelling all the words on the ads. Someone else please tell me they love spelling as well - I can't be the only one!

This is a T-shirt from spreadshirt.com. They have a whole category for Scrabble T-shirts. Cool!

Oh, and as a self-confessed word nerd and grammar fanatic, it is driving me crazy that one of the teachers at the boys' school has posted a sign outside the classroom saying 'Have you bought your reading book in?' 
Is it just me or would that drive you nuts too?! It is like I am drawn to it - every time I walk past it, I have a mental dilemma. Should I say something or just ignore it?! Would it bother you too?

Have a lovely week  - I will be doing some more woolly exploring to see what the other towns have dreamed up!

Laternenfest - and a Shepherd

And we did have fun! It was a great night of brass bands, German singing, beer gardens, market stalls, Bratwurst and sauerkraut, kids rides, a lantern parade and a 20th anniversary fireworks display to top it off.

As I was an organiser and busy on the night, of course, I got next to useless photos. So there are no photos for me to post of my little one singing Mein Gott Ist So Gross (My God Is So Big) or Legoman dancing the maypole. Totally horrifying for him, I can tell you! Heaven forbid, he had to skip! And hold a ribbon! The only consolation, he said, was that at least his ribbon was navy blue. So it can always be worse.

As part of the leadup to Laternenfest, our community decorate hay bales. And there was some magnificent hay bale art this year. This was my favourite:

Some other great examples:

I don't know if you had the TV show, Mr Squiggle, in the US, but I have been singing the theme song for weeks, since that hay bale went up.

There were so many great hay bales - snowman, angel, maypole, vintage caravan, ladybug, cockatoo - google Tarrington Laternenfest and you can see them all!

After sharing the wonderful creativity of my local community, this is some of what I have been working on - the Nativity for the school and church.
We have been using Knit The Nativity by Jan Messent. 
I am on shepherds! This is the first one, the kneeling shepherd.

His headband is a bit wonky and I think I will add some ears to the sheep (don't you agree it needs some?) But other than that, he turned out well. Now I need to do two standing ones, quick smart!

Now that is all over on to Christmas knitting!

Linking with Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm Craft On.

Finally - a rundown on Woolly West Fest

The middle of the year was a busy time for wool crafters around Hamilton as we prepared for the inaugural Woolly West Fest, where woolcraft meets childrens' literature.

For 2014, the theme revolved around the wonderful Mem Fox book, Where Is The Green Sheep? Mem Fox and Judy Horacek, the illustrator, travelled to Hamilton for the event, which was fabulous.

The amazing Mem Fox

I now have my own signed copy of Where Is The Green Sheep? Very happy.

















Woolly West Fest was an amazing undertaking and I was so thrilled to be a part of it. There were numerous aspects to the event. The Woolcraft Walk involved decorating the main street of Hamilton with woolly goodness. The parking meters all received their own knitted cosies and the trees were dressed in crochet collars.

A bootload of parking meter cosies

Here I am, sewing on my parking meter cosy

Lots of sewing on later and the main street looked fantastic! As we were sewing on, we received many favourable comments.









Next up was the sheep show. As part of the celebration of the book, each township around Hamilton was given a colour and were tasked to come up with a woollen sheep. My township of Branxholme was given brown, not the most inspiring or lovely of colours, but a great job was done with it. And the brown sheep won Best of Show! My contribution was the knitted and felted ears and some of the I-cords.

Sir Manx Loghtan

And the children from the local school made his felted body

All the sheep were displayed at our annual sheep event, Sheepvention.

Last but not least, townships could display their colours in any way they wished. Confusingly, I live in Branxholme at the moment while we renovate our house in Tarrington. So I designed the Tarrington display, and knitted the letters and some of the flowers, along with help from some of the lovely ladies from the church.

Sign at the church

Woolly West Fest was the best and I cannot wait for next year!!