Help Uncle Kev

Ok folks. Put your hands in your pockets. Uncle Kevin Buzzacott (Aboriginal Elder/Activist) needs money for a big operation soon. You can donate by buying his track “Rok Hop”. He needs your money quick, so dig deep folks and follow the link. You can donate as much as you want.

You can also buy one of my cross stitch patterns from the Radical Rags shop.  100% of proceeds between now and the end of Jan straight to Uncle Kev.

Uncle Kev is one of the most inspiring, endearing, radical and deadly funny elders in the movement to protect country.  The irony that a man who’s spent so many decades fighting uranium mining is now needing treatment for cancer is not lost on any of us.  Please give back to a man who has given so much.

Back to school

After years of dreaming, planning and saving money I went back to school last year. I’ve found a course that combines my nerdiness with my love for textiles: I’m now on my way to becoming a textile engineer! One semester down, this far we’ve had courses in knitting and weaving (and lots and lots of math).

In knittning class we’ve learned to use both hand knitting machines and big industrial ones, and in weaving class we’ve worked with several kinds of  weaving looms. And I love it, especially the labs. It’s not often that school is so fun you forget the time. :)

A sample of what I’ve been doing:

Owls from an old cross stitch book that me and my lab partner modified to work as a weaving pattern. The owls are about 2 cm wide.

A knitted skull fabric I made on one of the big circular knitting machines. Each skull is about one cm high. (I put the coin there to show the scale, and only afterwards realized that it’s probably not so useful if you don’t use Swedish money and know how big it is. :) )

I just can’t get enough

As you’ve probably noticed by now I’m a sucker for big projects. So I just had to make another one. One more Super Mario Bros 3 map, world 2 this time. Size: 59 x 18 cm on 21 count Aida. It took just under nine months to finish (although I did mix it  up with other projects during that time).

(Click for a bigger image)

And a close-up to show off the stitches. :)