Wet

So much has happened since I last wrote here:
there's been some creativity
(which I'll get to eventually if you can bear with me)
but last month my home was flooded in a freak, incredibly intense, autumn storm. It hit at about 5:00 pm, meaning I had to drive into it on the way back from work...under ink black clouds and forked lightning, through rain so heavy I often couldn't see out of the windscreen and flash flooding on the roads...and arrived home (safely, to my amazement) to discover that instead of a parking bay I now had a small lake, and that the water had poured off the street, down the driveway, gushed into my back garden and streamed under the laundry door covering everything inside with at least a centimetre of muddy water. After a few moments of open~mouthed disbelief and some frantic phone calls I started the very, very big job of cleaning it all up.

Luckily for me my neighbours and my family were, and have continued to be, terrific. On the night of the storm, my sister and brother~in~law drove for an hour and a half, through chaotic traffic, to come and help. My dad, too, spent much of the next week at my place doing the most horrible jobs while I was at work. Thanks to everyone's assistance, and despite a few near misses, I haven't lost anything irreplaceable. My family have mopped, moved heavy furniture, cleaned out muddy electrical points, repaired brick paving that collapsed (with me on top of it), ripped out all of my sodden, smelly carpet and patiently listened to a few slightly hysterical stinking~carpet~induced rants from me. Theoretically, my insurance company should have helped me with most of this but they were so overwhelmed by claims I couldn't get anybody to come out...so I took photos for them instead:




Mopping Up, Midnight






My Back Garden, Morning After


There's lots more to do: my no longer beautiful bamboo floor is going to have to be replaced, my bedroom's too dusty and mouldy to safely sleep in, the back yard's still full of debris...but I'm getting there.
Molly's quite happy to keep the bed warm for me, for however long it's going to take:

(By the way, the windows are always wide open when she's in there.)

I've tucked cheerful little pots of flowers in amongst the mess out the back, which makes such a difference:











I'm planning on getting bamboo laid in the bedrooms too ~ hooray!!!!!

and,
of course,
I've been crafting.
Nothing too taxing,
sorting out the storm damage's challenging enough,
but I've taken some more jewellery~making classes:


Copper Pendant and Bangle

I've started knitting another Fascinate wrap:






(I love the Noro yarn's subtle colours ~ they remind me of looking out over the sea and the sky on an early, wintery morning.)

and I've crocheted a little project bag which I'm just about to felt:






The pattern's called the Marvelous Mini Tote Bag
and the flower's another five petalled rose made with directions from Crochet Bouquet. I've crocheted with stash yarn, in much duller colours than I usually use, but I really like it regardless.

Anyway,
I'd best get back to it as there are phone calls to make and quotes to organise.
I hope, dear readers, that you're all well and happy
....and that Nature's being a little kinder to you than she's recently been to me.
x

A Guid New Year

I'd like to wish you all a belated happy new year
or,
as some of my family on the Scottish side still say,
a guid new year tae yin an' aw!
Even though this is very belated, I'd also like to express my gratitude to everyone who has visited inkberryblue in 2009. My connection with you all genuinely inspires me. Thank you.

You may have noticed that I haven't been here much of late. It's not that I haven't wanted to be...but I've been spending most of my time valiantly clearing out my (incredibly) cluttered craft room in the hope that I'll get it organised before I go back to work in a fortnight's time.
I think I'm going to make it.

I have been knitting!!!
Inspired by a fellow Raveler Angeluna's beautiful work I've been making a Fascinate wrap using Noro silk sock yarn. I'm loving it! (By the way, you'll only be able to view Angeluna's projects if you're a member of Ravelry. I think that Ravelry is the best resource for knitting and crochet on the net and if you haven't already joined you should!)





I love the way the colours in the Noro unfold as I work
...and it's an easy pattern for a beginner knitter like me.




And now,
as promised in my last post,
here are more photographs from beautiful Vietnam:


Embroidered Screen, Dalat, Vietnam.
These flowers were stitched onto sheer material ~ the embroidery worked, painstakingly and with great skill, so that there is no wrong side to the fabric.


Man Sheltering from the Rain, Hoi An, Vietnam.


Young Woman and Little Boy, Hoi An, Vietnam.


Marble Buddha, Hoi An, Vietnam.


Mauve Waterlily, Hoi An, Vietnam.


Silk Lanterns, Lantern Street, Hoi An.

Hoi An is a magical place. The people are incredibly friendly and welcoming, the city is old and very beautiful (it's a World Heritage site) and there are many businesses which custom make clothes, shoes and jewellery ~ I had some beautiful dresses made out of Thai silk. I would looooove to go back!


Carnivorous Plant, Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam.
I found the Cuc Phuong jungle to be enchanting. Our night trek was especially wonderful ~ bushy tailed gliding squirrels peered down at us from impossibly tall trees, fairylight~like fireflies followed us into deep darkness...


Forest Giant, Cuc Phong National Park, Vietnam.

Cuc Phong is also home to the Endangered Primate Rescue Center which is doing much needed conservation work with lorises, macaques, langurs and gibbons.



Jungle Vines, Cu Chi, Vietnam.


Pink Waterlilies, Hoa Lu, Vietnam.




Tomb of Tu Duc, Hue, Vietnam.



White Waterlily (and wee moth), Hue, Vietnam.



Vietnamese Coffee, Hue, Vietnam.
Vietnamese coffee is drip filtered and mixed with condensed milk ~ the sweetness of the milk counters the coffee's bitterness. Actually, I don't usually drink coffee but this was delicious! I treated myself to this cup, from a roadside stall, after an exhilarating, hair~raising motorbike ride through wet countryside.


DIY spring rolls in Hue, Vietnam.
We rolled garden fresh zucchini and lettuce, piquantly dressed carrot and cabbage, fragrant baked fish, satayed pork and beef, and savoury omelette into rice paper, dunked it in a variety of mouth watering sauces and washed it all down with Saigon beer.
Absolute.
Heaven.

Vietnamese food really is sensational. In between decluttering, I've managed to make a few dishes that I learnt in the cooking classes I went to and I'd love to share them here
but,
as this post seems to be taking on epic proportions,
I'll leave that for another time!
Until then, here are links to chef Luke Nguyen's television series and gastronomy blog, which both convey the fabulousness of the cuisine.

Blessings to you.
x

Spring Break

I'm on holidays again, which is lovely. I've been doing a little spring cleaning, but not too much. (I read this article in The New York Times and I like the idea of saying yes to my mess.)
I have made a point of going very slowly
... sleeping, catching up with friends, reading on the couch...
and I've spent time in my garden; such a restorative thing to do.
It's spring time, so lots of the plants are flowering.
My coral gum is in bloom right now:

(It's also hosting a bunch of sawfly larvae, which are all clustered together, tapping their tails. I haven't seen any since I was a child ~ we used to call them spitfires ~ so I'm thrilled that they've come to stay in my backyard.)

I've also made a memory wire bracelet to go with the pink necklace I showed in my last post:

...and I've received a wonderful surprise package from Cindy2paw as part of a swap I've participated in over at Ravelry:

Cindy's spoiled me rotten. As you can see, she's sent me a gorgeous leafy green washcloth, the sweetest floral project bag that she's sewn herself, pretty lavender soap, Tasmanian fudge, a purple notebook, postcards from the Apple Isle and a lovely card with a photo of her adorable dogs. Everything was beautifully wrapped in bright green paper and purple, silk ribbon...there were lots of squeals of delight as I opened it all up!

...and don't you think the project bag goes beautifully with the Spring Ripple Scarf that I’m working on right now?:

Thanks so much, Cindy.

May your week be wonderful.

Breaks, Bracelets and Butterflies

Tonight's the last night of the holidays for me.
I've had a wonderful break from work
...it's been a fortnight that's been pretty much free of obligation. Bliss.
I haven't crafted much. I like to think that these periods when I'm not productive are times where I'm still being creative even though it's not apparent ~
I'm just incubating ideas (if that makes sense.)

Still,
I have a few pictures to show.
Here's a memory wire bracelet I made with Indian glass beads for a friend's birthday:

and the beginnings of a pair of Maine Morning Mitts:

(This is the first time I've knitted with double pointed needles. I used a video tutorial from Knitting Help.com to get started.)

Best of all,
the Monarch butterfly, which I wrote about in my last post, emerged,
spent an afternoon flexing its wings in my backgarden before flying away
and was quite happy to pose for photographs:

It's so beautiful.
I hope it comes back to visit!

Have a fabulous week, everybody.

No Knit Saturday and Green Thumb Sunday

Saturday was World Wide Knit In Public Day. (It says at the top of this entry that it's still Saturday but actually, here in The Land Down Under, it's late Sunday afternoon.) I hope all the knitters who visit here had a fun day. I couldn't make any meetups 'cause of work (but I told my mother about it and she took her knitting with her when she went out to coffee in the morning. Onya Mum.) I spent most of yesterday and today doing paperwork. I have a week to go before I have to submit reports and then I get some me~time back. I can't wait.

Someone around here got to relax over the weekend, though:

Sometimes I wish I could swap places with her.

Despite all the hard work, there have been some nice things happening here at Chez Inkberry. I received this gorgeous package from my Ravelry swap pal, tasknits:



Isn't the washcloth pretty?
And doesn't the variegated cotton work well with the pattern? (It's Anchor Magicline.)
I love it!

This is one of the washcloths I sent to my swap partner, another Victorian Lace facecloth from Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks:

I made a Simple Dishcloth too.

I also discovered that inkberryblue had been linked by a blogger called the crafty gardener which was flattering (thank you)
and which led me to some fabulous gardening sites, that are listed on the crafty gardener's blog.
I'm in the process of joining a community of bloggers who post about the happenings in their gardens in Green Thumb Sunday
...and I was inspired to go out and take some quick photographs in my little piece of the Earth.
I humbly present to you a few shots of the cyclamen that is sitting at my front door, flourishing in the cold nights we're currently experiencing:

I love its beautiful deep pink colour and its petals.
They remind me of butterfly wings:



I'm going to finish off with my own selection of links to gorgeous gardening posts. I hope you enjoy looking at:

• primrose designs ~ who also has a fabulous online store that sells, amongst other things, vintage buttons,


• Gayla Trail's post about a beautiful kitchen garden at You Grow Girl,


• and one of the latest blog entries by the ever inspiring Alicia Paulson.
  
  
  Happy week, everybody.