Sunday, June 29, 2008

Househunting and birdwatching

It's been two weeks since my last post. That's because I've been too grumpy and stressed to sit down and write. Most of the stress has been real-estate induced. In the last two weeks I have put in two unsuccessful offers on houses. The first time my not too unreasonable offer on a little granny flat in O'Connor was rejected.


Two months after first appearing on the market the house still remains overpriced and for sale. The agent keeps trying to push me that bit higher and I (and the rest of the Canberra, evidently) keep thinking that the vendors are dreaming. Impasse. I've just about moved on.

The second place was a very tasteful North Lyneham townhouse and I got into a three-way bidding war and got outbid. That's ok. I hope the new buyers enjoy their divine new bathroom.


So for a change this weekend I did not do any househunting. Instead I went orienteering for the first time in ages up Mt. Ainslie. I even didn't get lost...much. Then this morning I rode out to Mulligan's Flat out the back of Gunghalin's construction warzone and went on a bird survey with the Canberra Ornithologists Group. They have some gorgeous photos on their photo gallery of local birds. Today some of the birds I saw were:
spotted pardalote
white treecreeper
scarlet robin
Such cuties!

So a weekend of getting out into the fresh air has blown the grumpiness away almost. Hopefully next week will be better.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Spinners and Weavers Open Day Report

I went to the Canberra Spinners and Weavers open day today in Ainslie. I actually had a great time. I watched microwave chemical dyeing, natural dyeing on a stove, drop spindle spinning, spinning wheel spinning, carding, three types of weaving, and got interviewed by a reporter from the Canberra Times. I had a go at the tapestry weaving and drop spindle spinning.

I got the hang of the spindle this time (my second go ever) and now realise that the first time I tried and failed was because the fibre I used was not very good for beginners, not because I was hopeless at it. This time it was much easier and although the yarn I produced um...had character, shall we say, I did do it without dropping the spindle.

The tapestry weaving was fun too. I've been looking at books about weaving recently but it wasn't until I had a frame on my lap and a bobbin in my hand today that I remembered that I had actually done this before as a young child. I had a bright green plastic weaving kit and with the help of my mum I made little rugs for my dolls house. I had completely forgotten this and it was delightful to be reminded.

So I think I have good news for all fellow 'Bitchers who may have been put off by the rumours that the S&W group is not for them. Yes, the demographic is definitely skewed towards the grey end of the scale, but obviously that's only going to change if other people join. I for one thought it was actually a privilege to connect with some very knowledgable women who are part of Canberra's crafting heritage.

Update on the graffiti knitting
Well, it seems the horn-band for the sheep statue was just too tempting for someone. Apparently it was there at 2pm today, but by 3pm it was gone! I'm not too upset. I knew/even hoped it would happen, but not inside 24 hours! Ah, well. I'll take it as a compliment that someone liked it enough to nick it and I hope the new owner likes their new wristband. You never know, I might see it again some day. The J's funky legwarmers and the P's very stylish tree cosy where still there late this afternoon.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Graffiti knitting - what a blast!


Perhaps it gives you an insight into the sheltered life I lead but I'm still on a high from today's knitting graffiti adventure for Worldwide Knit in Public Day today. There were just three of us in the end but we knitted and tagged the sheep statues and a tree in Civic near the merry-go-round today. Unfortunately I only had time to do a little horn adornment, but P and J improved the scene immensely with a sheep legwarmer and a tree cozy as well. P has better pics at her blog.

I'm slightly embarrassed that this is possibly the ugliest piece of knitting I've ever done but I had about half an hour to do it. I wonder how long these pieces will stay up?

In any case, it was so much fun. You've gotta try it!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Where was I ten years ago, etc

Menai Bridge (or Porthaethwy in Welsh), Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Mon), North Wales (Gogledd Cymru), where I lived for several happy years. It's the next village along from Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch!

1) What was I doing ten years ago?
1998 was the year after I finished my undergraduate degree. I went backpacking in Europe and then lived in Wales for the rest of the year with my relatives. I thought I would figure out what I wanted to do with my life during that year but I never did. Towards the end of the year I returned to Australia and got a job in Melbourne captioning Neighbours and Sale of the Century for deaf and hard of hearing people. I started learning Auslan (Australian Sign Language), which one day I will go back to - I loved it.

2) What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today?
Go househunting, go to Canberra World Wide Knit in Public event and tag stuff (I've always wanted to do this! BTW, check out Knitta Please for excellent knitting graffiti/public art), do washing, apply for a lifetime of crushing debt (aka submit my mortgage application), clean the house

3) Snacks I enjoy?
Chocolate and lately persimmons. Mmm! Also creme brulee. It's not a snack exactly but I'm in love with creme brulee right now.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire?
Cycle around the world. In fact, I plan to do this even if I'm not a billionaire but I think I would have much better food and accommodation if I were! I'd work with the ACT government to convert Canberra to a city which leads the world in environmentally sustainable housing. I'd invest in an excellent public transport system in Canberra.
I'd help my brother be a full-time artist.

5) Places I have lived?
Willoughby and Five Dock in Sydney; Mirabooka and Cooranbong in Lake Macquarie, NSW; Turner (3 houses), Downer and Belconnen in Canberra; Dwygyfylchi, Menai Bridge (3 houses) and Y Felinheli in North Wales, UK; Lille in France; Carlton in Melbourne; Kitsilano (2 houses) in Vancouver, Canada.


6) Jobs I have had?
During school and uni: Canteen server, Red Cross delivery driver, youth hostel assistant, indoor plant technician
In
adult life: TV subtitler, support worker for visually impaired person, health economics research assistant, linguistics research assistant, BBC project developer, office temp in accounting firm, database officer in pediatric hospital, event promoter for a bicycle organisation, ANU project administrator.

7) Peeps I want to know more about?
Everyone!

Teabag strings update


I've been blown away by the response from tea drinkers to my tea bag string collection. Here it is so far! I haven't counted yet but definitely have enough to start experimenting with some ideas. Thank you so much, everybody! Now I've just gotta find some really thin needles and get started.

If you have been collecting tea bag strings and want to continue, that is fine because I think I will need more, but if it's all getting a bit much you can probably give it a break cos it's probably going to take me a while to progress through the experimental phase.

You may have noticed from the picture that many people have been leaving the tags on their strings. Initially I didn't think I wanted this but now I think that's great. I never realised there were so many different brands of tea out there so I'm gonna make some use of the tags too- maybe around a frame or just a mosaic type of thing.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Hanging out with bird nerds (and getting paid for it!)

I've got a great job. Mostly I am an office-bound creature but every now and then I get to go out into the field with my ecologist colleagues to do what they're doing in this picture. For the past 9 days I've been on a bird survey throughout the Murray and Murrumbidgee Catchment Areas from Gundagai to past Deniliquin. This map of the Murray Catchment Area shows most of the area we covered.


It's quite hard work. You have to be up and on-site as the birds are waking up and some days that means driving 100kms before dawn. Then it's a matter of finding our way to the marked (although sometimes not very well marked!) survey points in the bush and doing a five-minute stint of listening and looking for birds. All birds detected are noted down according to their species and their proximity to the survey point. This is then repeated at another point 100m away and again 200m away from the first point. These three points constitutes a site and each team does between 6 and 12 sites a day.

The aim of our surveys is to monitor over several years the abundance and variety of bird life in a range of different vegetation types, e.g. remnant woodland vegetation, blocks of planted trees, strips of planted trees, travelling stock routes. Most of our sites are on farmland so the impact of cattle or sheep grazing on the vegetation is also a variable which is taken into account. From this we are able to make recommendations to farmers and other stakeholders (e.g. government) about best practice management for wildlife in agricultural landscapes. Our team also does surveys at other times during the year for small mammals (e.g. antechinus, bush rats, bandicoots), reptiles and arboreal marsupials (e.g. possums and gliders).

My colleague Steve doing a bird survey.

My colleague Steve knows more than I could ever hope to learn about Australian animals and even though we were there to do a bird survey he just had to look under the reptile survey substrates to check for critters.
I'm a big weeny when it comes to snakes so I let Steve do the corrugated iron substrates but I was brave enough to help with the tiles and sleepers at most sites, although the first time I found a skink under a tile I did drop the tile in fright! Luckily the little Boulenger's Skink went unharmed and after that initial shock I chilled out. Still, I was happy that this little fella happened to be under one of the sleepers that Steve turned over and not one of mine. I probably would have yelled "Ahhh. Brown Snake!" and run for the hills. But it's actually a Curl Snake - see the dark brown head? It gets its name because it curls its tail from side to side when feeling threatened.


So I am now hooked on birding. I know about 50 species of bird from the Murray/Murrumbidgee area and when I got home yesterday promptly went and bought a Birds of the ACT book. Next purchase will be binoculars. And to continue the birding theme through to its natural conclusion...knitting, of course! Here is some mohair I bought in Gundagai. It was handspun and hand-dyed in Tumut. I got it from the Gundagai Arts and Crafts Emporium at the bottom of the main street in Gundagai. If you're ever passing that way, it's well worth a look. Not a lot of fibre but a lot of other crafty and antiquey goods.


The mohair looks quite different in a ball than on the hank. The dominant colour of green becomes apparent. I knitted a gorgeous baby beanie from it on the trip for my colleague and friend Rebecca but in a der-brain moment I forgot to take a photo of it before I gave it to her. Anyway, I called it a Little Lorikeet beanie because it looked like the colours of that bird.

One final photo now from the trip of a mosaic ute in Deniliquin. As you may know Deni's biggest event each year is the Deni Ute Muster. They hold the world record for the most utes in one place. Something like 4000+ utes, I think. While I have no desire to attend such an event in my lifetime, I have made an attempt at mosaics before and once tiled a bathroom so I can appreciate just how much work went it this. It's gobsmacking, isn't it?