Komfort Wrap 11 days on

Just a short entry to display the knitted blanketwrap after 11 days and 11 squares. Actually i've now started on tomorrow's square which is yellow so far and is picked up and knitted on in the square space remaining at the top there. Don't be too bothered by the colours and design so far, as what you are seeing is the left half of the eventual wrap. The dark multi coloured yarn will be repeated down the right half as well to balance it out, and there will be a narrow edge all around to tie it all together. The colours i'm using are mostly 'rasta' colours of the Ethiopian flag.

If you've only just arrived here then read my last posting as well here http://kaiteyarngarden.blogspot.com/2009/10/aussie-komfort-wrap.html which will explain what i'm doing and for whom. Basically it's a blanketwrap for a patient in the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital to comfort her and keep her warm after admission to the hospital there for surgery to try to repair a devastating obstetric injury.

I'll post up another ongoing photo in about a week to show you how i'm going. At approximately one 10" square a day it will take me a month to finish it. My Mum has now started on a crochet "granny squares" one as well, in lovely bright colours. Also my friend Terry, who has a huge heart and puts her hand up for any good cause, has also started knitting a blanket for these ladies. So it won't be long before we'll be sending off 3 wonderful warm and bright wraps as the Winters are cold there in Addis Ababa, especially when all else you've got to wear is a simple hospital gown.

Aussie Komfort Wrap

This is the start of my latest self imposed challenge, a knitted 'komfort wrap' for a patient of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. The wrap is quite big, as it's made up of 28 squares, 7 squares long by 4 wide, each one being about 10 inch or 25 cm square. I've worked out that one ball of wool makes one square so i had to turn my whole stash upside down and hunt for suitable yarns, that was a fun exercise and kept me up till all hours of the morning.

I'm knitting it in 'rasta' colours as the Ethiopian flag is red, yellow, green and blue, and besides that they are bright happy colours. The way i'm constructing it is to pick up and knit each square off the previous square, in a horizontal/vertical arrangement. You can see what i mean by the photo. The next square, which is now done, is to the left of the red stripey one, where that ball of multicoloured yarn is, and it's knitted at 90 degrees to the red stripey. I'm trying to knit one square a day and i've managed it so far but it does take about 6 hours a day to do, so if i seem to be absent or quiet lately then you'll know why. I've gone knittin! I've given myself the challenge of finishing it by the end of November, that's just one month.

The Fistula Hospital was founded by Aussie obstetricians Drs Reg and Catherine Hamlin, and Dr Catherine Hamlin (who is now in her 80s) has been out here just recently doing a series of talks. At the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa women who have had horrendous childbirth injuries such as fistulas from obstructed labour are treated to try to repair the fistula. Unless the fistula is repaired surgically the ladies have to live with the humiliation and pain of permanent incontinence, and are often ostracized by their families. When the ladies are admitted to the hospital they are given a hand knitted wrap to wear over their simple hospital gowns, and as the hospital treats over 2800 patients a year they obviously need a lot of wraps. Although Ethiopia is a temperate climate the hospital is situated at a high altitude so they have cold Winters, which will be coming up soon so i'm trying to get a move on with this one.

After bead embroidering the Beadgarden Hand for the past 3 months, i now feel the need to do something worthwhile for someone else to balance the play aspect of the beading. It's just another form of "crop rotation".

If you're interested in reading more about the Fistula Trust and their work it's at http://www.fistulatrust.org/index.html
Thanks for reading so far, now i'm back to the knitting.

Vegie growing is the new Black

Growing vegies can be a really rewarding thing to do, especially when you can pick fresh instead of buying tired old stuff from the supermarket. It's mid Spring now in the Southern Hemi, and i haven't got Summer vegies to pick yet but this is what i picked just now for dinner tonight.

Clockwise from the left - silver beet, garlic, beetroot, broad beans just the way i like to eat them whole, asparagus and broccoli. It's not difficult to start growing vegies, i've been doing it for half a century but i started just with lettuce when i was still a kid.

The sweet little flower basket and little brown jug were wonderful surprises that i bought for only a couple of $ at a beautiful garden which was open for the Bathurst Spring Gardens weekend just last weekend. The gardens around here are magnificent and well worth a visit next October.

Thanks for dropping by, now it's time to cook up those vegies. Make sure you come back in a few days time as i will have something special to show you. cheerio, K.

The BeadGarden Hand is finished and waving

Here it is at last, the BeadGarden Hand finished and waving to everyone. It took 3 months from start to finish and nearly took over my life but all gardens eventually blossom and so this one has also. I have included a garden seat on the palm side for you sit in as you'll need to rest while viewing it, as well as 3 wise garden spirit women who keep watch over it all. The snake is an essential part of my garden and she helps to keep the balance right. The words Grow, Push and Dig seem to be what i spend most of my time doing out there and they accompany the appropriate tools.

Most of the stitches i used were the common 'garden' ones of backstitch, bocce stitch, stop stitch and couching but i also added a few others as necessary such as a rough version of peyote and a couple of others which probably don't even have a name. It is perfectly acceptable in bead embroidery to 'invent' a stitch or way of solving a bead stitch problem as the need arises.

I heard yesterday the *green* is the colour of optimism and rebirth and this garden was beaded during Spring in Australia, so it is rich in renewal. Enjoy, and if you want any part enlarged then please ask and i'll see what i can do. Kaite

A Warm and Fuzzy Basket

I've had a break from the embroidered hand this last week and instead i have spent my spare time doing a spot of basketry, well actually knitting and felting to create a basket. It has been a medical type of week and i've found that quietly knitting was the most relaxed and sociable thing i could do.
I knitted the basket from the centre base, out and up, then knitted up the handle from both sides with a grafted centre. It was larger and quite floppy as i had expected so then i hand felted it in the laundry tub with hot water and suds plus vigorous hand rubbing for 10 mins or so. It turned out exactly as i had hoped, shrank about 20% and became quite firm. I'm quite proud of myself as it's the first knitted and felted basket i have made. Of course, i now have to make at least 3 more because i like to do things in short runs so that i really explore their possibilities.

Thanks for dropping by, leave a comment if you can so that i know you've been here, cheers.

Quick Update on the Beadgarden Hand

I've turned the corner, as it were, on The Hand, and this is what the palm side looks like to date. Three little people overseeing a large pansy flower. I want the palm side to be non textured as our palms are usually smooth (except for garden callouses) whereas the back of the hand is very textured. I have a bit to go yet but i like the way it's colouring up so far.

And i must tell all you Beadies out there about this book, Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery by Robin Atkins, that is if you haven't already got it. It's not like any other beading book, it truly is a book from the soul about beading. There are beautiful inspirational photos and lots of techniques to be sure, some of which are new to me too, but it's the stories that make it different, i can't put it down. I managed to find an Australian distributor too - Essential Textile Art, in Qld.

So go buy yourself a very special beading book for a treat, it wasn't expensive and it is quite special. Thanks for dropping by, leave a message on your way out, cheers, K.

My Studio - a work in progress

Mind your step - this studio has not been tidied up for its displaying, if i did that i wouldn't be able to find anything again. No, this is a real work room with work in progress on the bead mat. I don't have to share it with anyone or anything so it can stay busy all the time.

As you know, I'm currently working on the beaded hand challenge which you can see there, and around it are all the beads that are currently in use. The remainder of the beads, well most of them anyway, are under the desk on the floor to the right. If i need to use the little old Elna i can move the beads at a moment's notice as mostly they are on a tray. My threads are stored on the right and multiuse tools are in glasses and mugs at the back.

I love my big window which faces southwest, which i have always found to be the best aspect in Oz, plenty of good natural light but very little actual sunshine and glare.

A few good fabrics are in the drawers on the right, the rest are in clear plastic boxes behind me. I have a lot of clear boxes of many sizes in which i store my fibres, fabrics, papers, yarns etc, which are stacked on each other. I know what i have and where it is, but i find that if i do a major cleanup then i tend to lose things, so i just work on one major project at a time and that way i don't have to waste time putting things away and getting them out again.

Thanks for visiting, leave a message if you can and i look forward to visiting your studio or workspace sometime in the near future.