Re scheduled Workshops

These are the workshops I had to cancel during lock down. I will be restricting numbers to 4 for each workshop to allow for distancing and so you can be assured you get as much assistance as you need.   An  old favourite and a new technique   at Stirling Street Summer School 2020. 

Harmony Balls
Classes on request, $30

In process

Glitzy

Colouring mandalas, round table discussions, Sufi whirling, our obsession with ball sports, the seasons - circles in our life. Working ‘in the round’ is inclusive, soothing, meditative and inspiring. This is a simple technique that uses leftover threads.

These embroidered balls are an excellent way to use up tiny scraps of knitting wool, cotton and embroidery thread. Use as a safe indoor ball for young children, as juggling balls. A few small balls can be hung  over a cot. Create Christmas and Easter baubles or simply fill a bowl with colour.

Locker Hooking

Monday 21st September 9.30- 12.30  or Saturday 3rd October 9.30-12.30

Other dates and times are available, please contact me.

Dilkes-Hoffman Ceramic Studio, Margaret River

$60, bring your lunch if you would like to continue in the afternoon. 

An Amish craft, Locker hooking was popular in 20's, 30's and 40's.Using homespun yarn, carded wool or upcycled strips of fabric to make rugs, bags and other items. Yarn is pulled through rug canvas in and “locked” into place with a strand of wool, string or fabric, using a tool that is a cross between a crochet hook and a bodkin. Quick, easy, and addictive!

 

Email me  nirala.hunt@gmail.com 0r call 0401 39156 for bookings and more information

Tea bag avalanche

Beautifully tied with old buttons

And still they come! Tea bag strings, in a range of hues and coloured tags that are a reflection of the diversity of my friends and family and the Stirling Street Arts Centre ladies happy to support a bit of creative madness. From Liptons to Twinings, green tea to Earl Grey. Some have quizzes on their tags, some have funny quotes. tea bag tags and strings from Bunbury, Donnybrook, Warnboro, Margaret River and even some carefully collected in Eastern Europe (who strangely all seemed to be named after men!

First balls of thread

Lace

To make thread, you first have to remove all the tags. Enter  my mother. Now blind and quite restricted by arthritis,  misses her knitting and sewing and is always interested in what I am doing. I had taken my tea bag string scarf for her to 'see' and she wondered if there was someway she could help. I had a shopping bag full of tags in the car. It didn't take long for a crowd to gather to see what we were up too and as mum pulled the tags off I knotted the strings as the ladies swapped craft stories. Ever since, detagging has become a part of mums world and she gets regular deliveries from me!

Scarf

It takes 2 golf ball sized balls of thread to make a small scarf and one to make enough crocheted lace to decorate the neckline of a dress. I have no idea how many. The colours have the same subtlety of variation of the tea itself, from dark browns to cream and a few pink ones from herbal teas and the knots add texture. Use needles and hook that create a loose result - it becomes too hard to work around the knots if you work on small needles. 3-4mm work for me.The scarves are soft to touch, warm to wear... worth the effort.

String of flowers

Straws Suck: joining the ranks of the recycling madwomen

Plastic Free July again. after the last few years, my single use plastic consuming has dropped drastically. This year the focus of PFJ is on plastic straws. I haven't used them since the children were small, and then only for craft projects, so no challenge for me there.

mix your own jasmine tea

My PFJ pledge is to give up using tea bags...a hidden source of plastic. We have all found the empty tea bags in the compost, tea leaves, tags and string are long gone but the bag persists.

It is difficult to track down which tea bags contain plastic, which include an adhesive made from pvc or polypropylene used to seal their edges. This is how the fill your own bags work..ironing melts the plastic to seal the bag. The only way to be sure if your bags do not contain any plastic is to contact suppliers. In the Uk, Co Op Foods with Typhoo removed plastic from their teabag range and PG Tips made the change to seal their bags with cornstarch.

Tea pouches are available, they either  have a fold in flap much like a pillowcase or two holes punched in their open end so they can be suspended over a cup. Infusers come in all shapes and sizes.The options are many, not forgetting the delights of a full pre warmed tea pot.

There are still quite a few teabags in the pantry so I have pledged to collect the tea bags strings to knit a tea bag free celebration scarf.

This is Irene who inspired me  to take on this mission: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-06/woman-makes-scarves-out-of-teabag-strings/9841612. Her scarves are a labour of love that have involved the whole community and they look amazing.

I see the process as a reflection of the persistence and tenacity we need to address the problem of plastic in our environment. One tiny tea bag at a time.

Irene tells us we will need 2000 strings to complete a scarf. There are certainly not that many in the cupboard so I will cheerfully accept donations.