Rusted iron and wine

Some interesting sculptures at this winery

But actually, I liked the view more

Still new things to discover

I've lived in the same suburb for years and I just discovered this park down the road.

Kinga Burza

There's nothing like a polaroid. I love these cute pics taken by music video director Kinga Burza.

Kinga is Polish/Australian but has decamped to London and at the moment there's nothing more I like reading about than Australians talking about having made the move overseas. I like Kinga's video clips a lot (the link to her myspace page is at the top) and she makes me feel like cutting my hair.

Sit down and look at the sky

I rarely buy jewelry for myself so I loved my christmas present from my bf. A bracelet made by these jewelry makers.

Doing My Bit For The Recession

I bought myself the biggest Christmas present. It wasn't an impulse buy though. For the past few months the laptop has been red and flashing so I have been using this set up:

I'm not very interested in computers and technology so I've just used whatever was around, plus living with the boyfriend who is fiercely pro PC has led me to live a Mac free existence. But working and socialising with Mac diehards has made me think for the sake of a few hundred dollars, I'm going to get a Mac this time around and decide for myself. So we set the computer up and after awhile, when the boyf said "it's a beautiful thing", I knew we were on a winner.

Textiles Matter

Textiles are a huge part of our daily life. I'm lucky with my day job as I get to work with high end soft furnishings fabrics from Europe and Asia. But this is only a tiny part of the textiles market, and humans are not the only consumers of textiles. I am fascinated that my cat is attracted to some fabrics and not to others. Here are the specimans that I have examined:

No. 1: Hessian - untouched since purchase

No. 2: Velour Parrot - a popular fabric

No. 3: Velour Alligator - you see, there's consistency

No. 4: Faux Fur - unidentified animal

No. 5: Faux Fur again

No. 6: Yet this type of faux fur proves unpopular

So this shows that working as a textile designer you have very discerning clientele to please. They may not be consciously aware of what they are attracted to, yet nevertheless know what they like.

Polystyrene

Project: Timeless Light

Knitted blanket and cushion. My first major project from this year - seems like a long, long time ago now. This blanket seemed so enormous at the time but now when I look at it, it looks like a toy blanket.

Rebecca Isgrove

I may be burying my dark side but the melancholia is harder to ditch. Photos by Rebecca Isgrove from her charmingly named flicker set The Sea and This City, found via the interesting site Cultures In Between.

Moving Toward the Light

The other day I picked up a copy of A Magazine (the name of the magazine is actually 'A Magazine', I don't mean some random periodical). This magazine has a guest curator each issue and this one was put together by Givenchy designer, Riccardo Tisci who is known for his gothic/religous influences. I saw this a few weeks ago and was tempted to buy it then but I put it back on the shelf because it had some really dark, disturbing imagery and I don't normally go for things like that. But every time I went to the newsagent I kept being drawn back to it and then I thought, oh why don't I just buy it? I'm a big girl now, am I scared that I'm going to have nightmares? So I brought it home, and then had to keep covering the disturbing cover image so I wouldn't see it all the time.

That then got me to thinking about what images I've put on my blog, what colours I've been working with lately and the things I've been collecting to inspire me for my next collection and I realised a lot of the images are in fact quite gloomy and eerie, the colours are dark and sombre. But hey, I reassured myself, I don't have a disturbed mind! What's going to happen? I'm going to think myself into a big black hole and never find my way out again? No, I should just roll with it and what I like looking at is what should go up.

But then I found myself in conversation with these two women, dressed in black and maroon, severe dyed black bobs, dramatic but minimal silver jewelry, big grey distressed leather bags, and one of them had a terrible rasping cough. The coughing one came towards me, leaned in and said "your hair is NOT normal. I would skin you alive and take your hair if I could" (I did go to the hairdresser yesterday). I leant backwards ever so slightly. Her friend was nodding to me saying, "she's always on the lookout". The first woman continued, "I was on an escalator once, behind this woman in a wheelchair who was connected to an oxygen mask and a pole, and there was a woman in front of us with hair like yours and I had to get to it so I pushed past the woman in the wheelchair and I got all tangled up in the tubes". By this time she was standing very close and stroking my hair saying repeatedly, "your hair is NOT normal...".

And then I had images flashing of some warped fashion editorial where they're all chasing this woman with long black hair through a tangle of tubes and wheel chairs (and wearing Givenchy of course). I could only laugh and feel bemused when they finally left me, but I thought, A Magazine, you're not pushing into my life. I'm going to let more light in.

More Pink Skies

Last night.

Winter in Summer

Usually I really look forward to the Australian summer; crickets, cicadas, long nights, bbqs, beer, friends... but this year somehow my head's not quite there. I've been carting these Toast UK catalogues around for the last month and I've been obsessing over the images. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's because I've been thinking so much about what I'm going to knit for next winter. Maybe I've been reading too many northern hemisphere blogs and ignoring my own surroundings. Maybe it's the erratic Melbourne weather that didn't really deliver a very cold winter but has been very gloomy lately (but thank goodness for the rain). Maybe it's because I'm dying to get to Europe but not really sure when it's going to happen. Anyway, who knows. I think that I think too much. Here are some of my favourites.

Desiree Dolron

Dolron is a Dutch photographic artist - see more here

Obus and More

You know when you have one great shopping experience that cancels out all those other horrible times when you've trawled around the shops hunting for that one specific thing that no one seems to have or that urgent present that you've left far too late to buy?

I had one of those experiences. On the weekend, not only did I manage to get most of my christmas shopping done in one day and in budget, but I also got to the Obus studio clearout, which, ok, I might just be gloating now, because it only went for one day, but I picked up this beautiful silk shirt dress, a purple anorak that has heaps of pockets, popper buttons, drawstring ties and a hood (and was immediately useful due to Melbourne's inclement weather) and also two 4 metre lengths of printed cotton voile for the princely sum of $51.

I also met the lovely Kylie, the woman behind Obus, who despite the flurry of activity had the time to stop and chat. They have a short film coming out in the 2009 Loreal Melbourne Fashion Festival at ACMI. Obus is one of the nicest local labels around so watch out for it.

Obus silk dress, (leggings from who knows where), Marni patent flats

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

I admit going to the last few Woody Allen films merely out of loyalty, but the last screening that I genuinely enjoyed was the double bill of Manhattan and Stardust Memories at the Astor. Last night we went to see his latest film, and I'm so happy because I LOVED it.

I was totally absorbed by the story. The four main characters were beautifully drawn and of course it wouldn't be a Woody Allen film if you didn't leave pondering the human condition and the meaning/lack of meaning of life.

But what I admired most was that this was done with such lightness of touch and in an uplifting way - because I'm so over those films that make you feel like you've walked a mile in the mud with lead boots on.

I say go see it!

Some Of My Favourite Jewelry

KT Kiosk chain and pearl necklace - a little jeweller who used to sell one off pieces from the tiniest hole in the wall shop off Swanston St - went to London and I haven't heard of her since. I customise this every now and again to change the shape

Old key found on the road on chain

Lucky No. 8 necklace (my day of birth 1+7=8) plus being on a European house number plate reminds me I need to go to Europe ASAP.

(and Lover dress)

Bill At Home

I'm not sure why I would want to do this - juxtapose my cloud photos with one the greatest contemporary photographers - but, a very rare image of Bill Henson in his very Caravaggioesque home in today's Melbourne Magazine.