Sunset on Mars

We discovered some fascinating rock pools during our recent holiday at Apollo Bay, at the bit of beach nearest our holiday house. The first time we explored them I was cursing leaving my camera behind, but luckily when we returned the following evening, the light was skimming nicely over all the crazy textures. I accordingly went a bit photo mad...

(click the photos to enlarge)

The shellfish make 'snail tracks' in their pools. :)

 

I love the honeycomb rocks!

 

Innies...

...and outies!

Every bit of the rocks had a different texture! Such a magical place.

Framed!

One of the lovely things about living in a city with great galleries and museums is that you can return to the free exhibits a few times, and really see all there is to be seen.

A few days ago I made my second visit to the National Gallery of Victoria's 'European Painting 17th-18th C' collection. It's an enjoyably overwhelming experience, being dwarfed by the giant paintings on their vast walls. Last time, I had focused on the paintings themselves (and as a music history nerd, enjoyed seeing the portraits of Farinelli and Boccherini).

This time, I was fascinated by the paintings' frames! My parents run a picture-framing shop, so this is a bit of a theme for us when we visit galleries - we've been known to spend more time discussing the frames than the art inside.

I took photos of some of the fabulous Baroque and Rococo frames in this collection (I was allowed as long as I didn't use flash). It was difficult, but I managed to cull them down to a mere thirteen to share...

(click photos to enlarge)

 

 

  

 

  

New pattern: Mithrandir

Just in time to go and see The Hobbit, I've finished my very own Gandalf-inspired scarf! Gandalf the Grey (alias Mithrandir) has been my favourite literary wizard since childhood - I even had a poster of him on my wall, in addition to my Middle Earth map. Gandalf is described in The Hobbit as wearing a silver scarf, and so I created my own version of a wizardly scarf: lightweight yet practical, with an interesting textured pattern, and a rune tucked secretly in a corner.

The meandering stitch pattern represents a journey through winding roads and rivers, and tangled forests. Instead of using cables to create the texture, I used a non-lacy lace technique: simple decreases, plus yarn-overs which are twisted shut on the wrong-side rows. Sections of plain ribbing give the knitter (and the eye) a rest along the way.

My old map in the background. :)

Gandalf's rune, hiding in the bottom corner.

The scarf is lovely and long (two metres), and because it's knit from laceweight yarn, it's very light and airy. I used a skein of Vintage Purls Lace in the colourway 'Dragica' - a semi-solid mid-grey.

 The pattern, Mithrandir, is now available on Ravelry.

What do you mean I'm not in NZ?

This year for our Christmas festivities Willie's immediate family and I stayed at Apollo Bay, a few hours drive down the coast from Melbourne. We all had a lovely time - it was most relaxing! And a little cooler, which I appreciated.

It was great to finally see a bit of the Australian countryside, and I spent rather a lot of time watching for interesting new birds and other wildlife. A highlight was seeing a flock of cockatoos gathered around a picnic table seagull-style, while a family ate fish and chips! We also spied some wild koalas when we stopped at a eucalyptus forest on the way back to Melbourne, and I saw an echidna moseying along the roadside at the beach.

But there were also some surprisingly New-Zealand-like moments! Apollo Bay had pohutukawa trees scattered about, like a typical beach town back home, and there were familiar birds around, like fantails and pukekos.

The biggest surprise was when we went on a bushwalk to Marriners Falls - the bush was just so ferny it felt like being on a bushwalk in New Zealand...

(click to enlarge pics)

 

New pattern: Starstuff hat

The Starstuff hat is a cosy beret-style hat with a starry brim. I designed it as a companion to my Starstuff mitts, which I recently revised and updated.

The striped ribbing and colourwork stars are borrowed from the mitts design, but here the stars appear only around the brim, rather than as an all-over pattern. The decreases at the crown form a larger star, gathered into an optional beret 'stem' at the top.

I used Zealana Kauri once again, a lovely fingering-weight possum-blend yarn. The purple colour is 'Tuhi' (I used just under one ball), and the green is 'Kea' (left over from my mitts). I like the matching-but-not-quite effect of using different background colours for the hat and mitts set.

A giant Christmas tree has appeared in our apartment building! It seemed the perfect backdrop for a photo or two...

I blend right in... kinda...

 

Tree!

The fancy staircase is also fun for posing on. ;)

The Starstuff hat pattern is now available on Ravelry, either separately or together with Starstuff mitts.