Knitting Olympics Medal Ceremony

Well, there we are, the Yarn Harlot has announced the closing ceremony for the Knitting Olympics and Franklin has designed the medal, which comes in just the one variety - gold. In the end, over 4000 knitters took part, in teams from all over the world. Quite incredible! Team GB did some wonderful work and much fun was had all round.

Certificates were issued too! Wow!

Time on my hands!

I have one of those unusual days today when I have time for me. Time to do the things I want to do rather than those things I have to do! Very precious.

I've offered to do a simple jewellery making workshop for a group of women in a couple of weeks time and so went down to look through my books for inspiration and ideas. Whilst there, I came across a book given to me at Christmas by dear Kiwi friends Fiona and Wayne and realised that, although I had read it from cover to cover when I first had it, what a great book it is!

Every Kete Tells a Story is about the little traditional Maori baskets woven by women, and there's a story with each about how they were made, where they were used and so on, along with a close up photo of the design and a great photo of the maker or present owner, which somehow brings the whole thing to life.

It reminded me of someone who did a textile project about handkerchiefs and the tales they could tell. I'm not generally interested in history, but I do like to learn about people and the lives they led and think these small items of such a personal nature reveal much about the people who made, used and enjoyed them.

Giving up on these tulips!

...though I still find them attractive in a funny way. This bunch did not droop or do the contortions tulips usually do. They simply went a little crisp and dropped the petals. Never mind.

This is another of the Picasa collage options btw. 

Playing with Picasa

I love Dijanne's photo collages she's been uploading from her travels and shamelessly investigated how she did it. I often find myself with a bunch of pictures to upload and this seemed to be the ideal answer.

Above, a collage of the stall selling the sari yarn in the market in Nelson, New Zealand, last year. I will admit that the two hanks I bought are still intact. 

Tulips

As it happens, I didn't choose a very good bunch of tulips to record, since these creamy ones simply grow taller and show no sign of drooping at all.

I heard a flower arranger say once that tulips are the only flowers which continue to grow after they have been cut. Comparing this photograph with the first one I took last week, I see how much longer the stems are now - the flower heads are well above the leaves.

But droop? Not this bunch of soldiers!