I couldn't decide

whether to call this post The Dining Table, or The Exchange Department, or A Whole Lotta Stuff, or even Massive Clearance (to catch all those christmas online bargain hunters, oh the disappointment when they got my blog . . . nothing here for you shoppers! )

Because in a sense all these titles are apt.

Lately there's been a lot of packages arriving in the mail (and don't we love that)? Some from just around the corner, some from interstate and some from much, much further afield. So I took a brief pause before marking student work to carefully art direct, array, randomly pile everything on the table and photograph it.


From top, L to R.

My backcopy of IK summer 06 arrived, so I could finally cast on for (Black)Mimosa;

The very wonderful and spontaneously generous Mari sent me some Marimekko fabric (way off in the background) that I'd been casually eyeing off a while ago (along with some other little Portugese goodies.. alas no tarts but maybe the Customs guys ate those on the way through, bastards!) Thank you Mari ;

Thanks to Di, who sent me some of her stash Rowan Cotton Glace, I can shortly bring you the definitive findings on the Great Cotton Swatch Off. The colours of the swatches tone nicely with the cover artwork on the novel I'm reading The inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai ( a great read);

Great steaming cup of coffee (a belated vessel wednesday by the way);

Veronik Avery's Knitting Classic Style. Oh the loveliness. Her style is very eclectic but at the heart of it lies simple shapes and understated, interesting textures. This will be well thumbed soon I'm sure;

Merino/silk DK from the Knittery. Just like Jaggerspun Zephyr only Chunk-eeee (you have to do that last bit with a silly accent a la the old Cocoa Pops ad, trust me it's better);

Plate 12 from an exquisite collection in (wait for it) The Documents from the Bar-Kokhba Period in the Cave of Letters: Hebrew, Aramaic, Nabatean-Aramaic and Greek Payyri. (I'm currently researching Aramaic script for a job, as you do) ;

Lee Miller : A life by Carolyn Burke. Loving the B+W photos so far (I always look at the pictures first) and can't wait to get stuck in to the text (after Desai);

Last but most definately not least is a flashback from when Ele was still hanging out with us.



There he is, hanging out in the fruit bowl, with the fruit and the balled up yarn. Oh yeah, and that's a much better shot of Mari's marimekko print. I'm going to have to make another Ele. For our vet, who has a bit of a fetish for elephants. Oh, the torture! How will I ever cope?


** I'm 'upgrading' my Blogger, so if there are any glitches in the next few days, please bear with me.