Southern Cross Creations

An Australian Woman's Journal
about life in remote, rural
Far North Queensland

26 September 2003 - Wool, Video and Mohair!

Warming weather gave way to a last cold snap earlier this month. I got to wear my new, wool Turkish Socks, handknit by friend Jone. Mmmm. Warm feet, adorned in Beauty. One of those blues is my own handspun and hand-dyed Corriedale yarn. I also have one of Jone's handknit teddy bears to cuddle whenever I want to connect with my Inner Child....

I haven't been writing much lately. Immersed in other projects! Jerry and I have been taking turns at a borrowed computer, editing video as fast as possible before we have to return the computer. However, I edit video about as fast as I ever managed to speedskate. Not Very Fast. Learning to speedskate all those years ago, despite the lack of natural ability, led to some wonderful experiences. Speedskating helped renew a belief in my ability to do things even if it meant making a fool of myself in public. Although I diligently sharpened those long skate blades, my earnest efforts to speedskate remained within the realm of Pleasure Skating, not a bad realm after all.

Video editing likewise pleases me no end. And the tools continue to improve, compared to the 70s when I did my first editing...when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. This time I play with digital video taken at a performance by Beaches Belly Dance in Cairns. My daughter is one of the dancers. And they are good!

While I've been threading together video and learning to use an electric spinner, friends and Guild members continue producing creative work.

Sabina, one of my neighbours, models her handknit jumper, perfect for cool evenings. Gillian provided the yarn, spinning local mohair and tussah silk (a single ply of each, combined for 2ply).

Sabina wanted something special to wear when she plays flute with other performing musicians on the Tablelands.

She and her four sons formed the group: Mother and Sons, releasing a CD called Homespun, available locally. I'm sure Sabina misses playing with the two boys who are now away at Uni, but maybe she has more time for knitting?

This detail of the pocket of Sabina's jumper gives a hint of the gentle halo formed by the mohair.

Guild member Kath hand-dyed some of her fibre supply (mohair, I think) and began filling a bobbin on her spinning wheel at one of our meetings. She gently separated the colours and plans to use the Navajo technique for plying to keep the colours strong in the resulting 3-ply yarn.

A new Guild member models (with a Little Help) her handknit mohair scarf. The openness of the stitches results from using something like a rolling pin to wrap the stitches around. I'm only a novice at knitting, so this was a bit of a mystery to me. But I like the lightness of the scarf, a lovely display for the mohair which is a commercial yarn..

Winding yarn on a swift, spinning on a wheel, sipping tea and coffee, enjoying the trees and birds of the rainforest surrounding Lake Eachem, taking a dip in the Lake, gathering with friends, meeting new people, learning to felt, acquiring a new mohair fleece, arranging to view Mars through a telescope one evening, providing local colour and demonstrations of old skills for tourists.... These are just some of the things that occur when Guild members meet at the Lake.