Study in 2010

I have returned to South West TAFE for another year of learning and doing.

I am continuing on with Textiles with the main focus being on weaving. This year there is an added dimension which is exciting. Our small group has been approached by the Victorian Western Region of the Australian Alpaca Association.

“They are looking to promote alpaca fleece, yarns and products and would like to do so by providing TAFE students with Yarn and fibre to design and weave with.

In exchange for these materials we will exhibit our work at Sheepvention in Hamilton on 2nd and 3rd August and also at the Royal Melbourne Show in September.

AAA are looking for innovative design which ‘excites interest’ and shows off alpaca as the luxury fibre it is. They are happy to see alpaca combined with other fibres but wish to see alpaca as the dominant element in the overall work.”

So the process begins.

Jill demonstrating the finer points of spinning.

At the moment I am excitedly spinning suri fleece  - I love the process.

“The Suri is a rare and precious breed of Alpaca, representing less than 10% of the Australian Alpaca population and less than 5% of the world Alpaca population. It is truly a rare and precious specialty fibre.The primary characteristics which distinguish Suri fleece is it’s lock structure, high lustre, silky handle and long staple length.”

If you are interested in learning more about alpacas THIS is an informative site without being too in depth.

But there’s more…I am also undertaking a 16 week course in an Intermediate Photoshop course.

Great Ocean Walk

Annie and I went walking last night.

Down here on the Great Ocean Road we have the Great Ocean Walk – a 7 night/8 day walk through National Park along a beautiful coastline.

Annie’s friends are in the midst of the walk. We went to visit and have tea with them at the Ryan’s Den campsite. The map below shows a section of the walk.

We walked down to the rocky beach – a steep incline. I wasn’t fond of the thought of climbing back up.

We sat on the rocks for awhile.

I did get back up but there was a lot of heart thumping, rests and sweating involved.

As a reward for making it we walked another couple of kilometres (more sweating, etc.) to the camp site and sat on the cliff watching the sun set as we ate our tea.

An art work

I received Derwent Inktense pencils from daughter no. 1 for Christmas. I am still at the experimenting stage. This image has had a little help from Photoshop – I like it.

Colours of February

Sue from Life Looms Large continues to administer a monthly activity to record the colours of nature on a monthly basis. Here’s my contribution.

Bay of Islands, Peterborough

 

View from the top of Gibson’s Steps, Princetown

 

Gibson’s Steps beach, on a rainy summer day.

 

Summer colour in the paddocks.

Evening light on gum trees.

Searching for crabs at Wild Dog Cove.

Passing on the love of fishing – grandfather to granddaughter ( a slightly gratuitous shot).

Walk to Submarine Cove

 

First a drive to Moonlight Heads, park the car, and then a walk to Submarine Cove. You can see why it is called Submarine Cove. Once we started walking it started to rain and didn’t really stop until we left Moonlight Heads again. We were wet for the whole walk – very cooling. Thankfully the temperatures were more in line with summer and we didn’t get cold.

Wasn’t the best for taking photos though. Once we arrived at the Cove it was way too wet to get the camera out.

 

Highly unusual rock formation on the walk down to the Cove.

 

On the way down we nibbled on these white berries – tasted like lemonade.

 

And these – native red currants (Coprosma quadrifida). Beautiful.

 

We made it back to the top -  Annie with a backpack overflowing with drift wood.

And me – soaked. And filthy from clawing my way up a very slippery and steep incline. Certainly got my dose of exercise today.