Art vs Sports

As a teacher of the arts, who has to often struggle to get funding (mainly against the sports department sadly), this piece of writing by Brett Debritz made me smile:

"Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics have, once again, shown that Australians prefer cultural pursuits to sport. While 2.5 million went to see an AFL game in 2005-06, 2.7 million went to the theatre, 3.6 million went to an art gallery, 3.6 million went to a museum, 4 million went to a popular music concert and a whopping 10.4 million went to the cinema. Rugby league got 1.5 million people through the turnstiles, but so did classical music concerts, while dance performances attracted 1.6 million, and musicals and operas attracted 2.7 million. Of course, somebody’s bound to make the argument that sport is popular on television - and so it is. But what takes up most of the TV schedules and attracts the most viewers in total? Movies, dramas, comedies and variety shows - all of which are arts and entertainment events. The next time somebody tells you Australians are a sports-mad lot, be sure to correct them and say: “Actually, we like our cultural pursuits more.”"

A Salubrious Return

It seems that blogger is finally working again, after a two week holiday from the world of moi. Perhaps I really do annoy even machinery. That would explain a lot. Throughout the last few weeks I’ve had some crafting news, but now I’m more focused on the mundane.

Yep. School is back in session.

But, before I even go into that world, I must tell you about my weekend. (Why am I using the word ‘you’? *hmm*) I was busy in Sydney at the Big Day Out (a very big music concert). It was awesome! I saw some really amazing bands, including Lily Allen, The Herd, The Killers and the Violent Femmes. For a small town girl, it was quite an experience!

We also did the touristy thing in Sydney. We chanced upon a small shop in the Rocks that only sold buttons. Imagine. Unfortunately it was closed for the public holiday. But! I will return in September to plunder it's wares.

I may not post for a while, but it's probably a mixture of work and blogger access keeping me away. I did the teacher blog thing, and it wasn't for me. So, I'll continue to focus on other stuff (when I can). Fare thee well!

Odds and Ends

Last weekend I attended a workshop held by the local fabric shop, but for beading instead of patchwork. It was three hours of people just getting together creating. Some people were absolute beginners, and some, like myself, just enjoyed chatting and creating at the same time. Here's a couple of items I made from my stash. There's one more necklace I learnt how to make, but I want to attach the clasp before I unveil it.

I'm struggling with the length of the holidays. Sacrilege I know, but for me, holidays are hard. My husband works most days, and I am left at home alone, wondering what on earth to do with myself. You would think this would be a fantastic time to create, but it really isn't. I strive on human interaction and I doubt myself when I'm alone. I don't find joy in housework, and feel useless when it's not done.

To end this odd and probably unbelievable post, here's a find from the local thrift shop. $4 for all these needles and few other odds and ends. Some of them are bent, but hey - I like bent.

Oddities and Weirdness

Ellia from green bean baby tagged me for a "6 Weird things about you" meme; and I must admit I'm at a loss with what to do about the 'rules'. Here they are:

The Rules:Each player of this game starts with "6 weird things about you". Each person who gets tagged needs to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as clearly state this rule. After you state your 6 weird things, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you're tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog for information as to what it means.

I have no problem with listing my weirdness for all the world to see - but who to tag? I'm new on the blogging block (well, in this reincarnation anyway) and well, I've always had trouble making friends.

Hence, here is weird thing number one:

1. I am a drama teacher; teaching people how to act, be confident and spontaneous. However, I have hardly any friends because I cannot be confident and spontaneous around other people unless I'm "in character". I can be *intensely* shy, though my students wouldn't believe that.

2. I used to have my eyebrow pierced and for about 9 months, my hair was bright blue.

3. I believe that certain types of plants look debaucherous.

4. I'm deathly afraid of snakes. I literally have panic attacks in long grass sometimes.

5. I wish my grandmother's cat would pass on to the giant kitty litter box in the sky. He is the most *awful* cat - he attacks her, won't let her pet him and is generally the nastiest cat I know. She, however, loves him. He's 14 years old with numerous expensive health issues. I feel bad for wishing he would move on, but I really want her to get a nice cuddly kitten who will love her back.

6. I cannot draw a straight line manually. Even with a ruler.

Okay, so that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The intense shyness has prevailed, and hence, I'm sorry Ellia, this sixth of your tagging will end with me. Thank you for your offer of friendship.

A Tropical Penguin

Here's the photographic evidence of my first crochet attempt. A misunderstanding at the start meant I didn't use the first stitch, hence the tapering. However, I fixed that up, and now I'm the master of the double crochet too.

I'm sure Mumble the penguin really needed that scarf in the tropics. A penguin can get cold when it's 33 oC. Well, it looks cute anyway!

Crochet Craziness

I've decided I want to learn how to crochet. I think I'm a bit of a renaissance crafter, I like to dabble in a bit of everything. So far, I seem to have managed the chain stitch, single crochet and slip stitch. This site has helped a lot! It has very clear videos of the stitches. I wish there had been videos of how to knit when I was trying to work that out years ago.

Perhaps I can make a small scarf for my 'Mumble' stuffed penguin that I got when we saw "Happy Feet". I think he'd forgive my massive errors. He seems that kind of penguin.

Hello again!

It has been two months! I could attribute this to the craziness of the time of year, work stress and general life issues, but I think the truth is: to me, blogging has become hard. It's so much easier to be a lurker...look at other's beautiful styled shots and inspiring words. It takes me ages to take photos, then edit them, then get blogger to admit they exist. And they never, ever look good.

However, I did edit some photos I've taken recently of xmas presents - of course, less than half of them because I always forget!

Here's a bag I made for my maid of honour/best friend made from creative little daisy's tutorial:

Another bag I made for my cousin/bridesmaid. This was a work of epic proportions. Sure, it may not look it, but there were months of work into this bag that I made from a pattern for goodness sake! My cousin selected the material, and it was polyester with some stretch to it. I don't sew shiny as a rule, and definately not stretchy shiny (bad experience back when I was getting my sewing stripes). But, you know, she's my cous. So, I bought a pattern and made a test bag. The problem was, I used interfacing that needed to be pre-shrunk (apparently - but I couldn't see any signage!) so the bag shrunk up awfully. I bought some new interfacing and just decided to go for it. Problem was, my cous wanted a zipper. A zipper on shiny, stretchy material. It's like my version of hell! After hours of wrangling, I still hadn't managed to make it work. So, I went down to my local sewing shop with a call for help. After an HOUR there, this is what emerged:

It's not brilliant, but my cousin loved it. See what I mean about the bad photos? Anywho...moving on...

And the photos just keep getting worse huh? Anyway, this is a bracelet for my Nan. It's got magnetic hematite in it so when you wrap it around your wrist, it sticks to itself. It has cute little cat beads on the end because she loves cats.

Speaking of cats...here's my Onyx wearing a very small version of a knitted cotton hat I made for my brother in law (except he's not actually married to my sis in law). Apparently, on xmas day, my neice looked cute in her Dad's hat, so I went to make one 'her size'. It's tiny! It's half the size it needs to be. Perhaps it would fit a newborn, but not a 9 month old. Onyx does look comical in it though!

And to finish off, a photo of the aforementioned neice, in an outfit made completely by me!

Phew. This post took over an hour! I don't know if I have the stamina for this high-powered world!