Lists and sets and tags, or - why I find flickr confusing

My flickr photoset for Broken Hill can be found here* :)

I've just come back from two weeks in Menindee. I stopped by the Menindee lake lookout on my way back yesterday and it was actually quite cool to see the lake almost full - a comparatively rare event!

Further to my previous post, my project list for Finish It! is here

My first item is a pair of socks (Ravelry link) I started this week.

After a couple of early false starts and changing the stitch pattern twice, I'm really pleased with how this is going.

*at great pains, because I don't use flickr much and find it hard to organise my photos properly

Op-shopping! and 100 ideas...

My housemate loves her op-shops, so when she saw a big one in Millicent last weekend she knew straight away she wanted to go back one day when they were open. Yesterday afternoon we both finished at uni in time to get down there before their 3:30pm close, so that's what we did :)

A very successful trip, I must say:

Black/grey jeans, purple v-neck 3/4 sleeve top, green strapless summer dress.

A bag of yarn - grey, wool/ wool blend, ~5ply. 7 balls, so enough for a small garment, I'm thinking maybe a cardi.

These dark green teacups were on the free table.

Pretty handkerchief, I think maybe hand-embroidered.

Total spent: $17.

Also, this week I came across Keri Smith's 100 ideas for a journal. Seemed like a fun idea, so I printed out the pdf and cut it up.

I've done one so far, and considering my options for the next. I was hoping for one a day, but time and creativity constraints have got in the way somewhat! There will be photos when I've done a couple more though.

In the mean time, here is my little stack of squares sitting on the kitchen table, waiting for their turns :)

Blue Lake

Blue Lake
Originally uploaded by imogenesis

You can find this and other photos from my Mt Gambier placement to date over on flickr :)

Bet you can't guess why!

I found a totally fun tool today: COLOURlovers (via Design*Sponge) and have been playing around with a couple of colour palettes.

The website has this neat feature where you can point it to a picture online, and it will give you a selection of colours from that picture, which you can use to create a colour palette; plus it also gives you tools to adjust the colours and suggestions of similar colours.

My first attempt was based on this picture (also via D*S):



but, well, it sucked. The blue was too bright & clashed with the pink, which was also too bright...you get the idea. It eventually morphed into this, which is better:



but I'm still not sure about the pink, and it was a struggle just getting it to this. I was having serious issues getting the red right, too.

Anyway, then I plugged in this gorgeous picture:

(UK Vogue July 2008, courtesy m.writes

and got this:


which took about 5 seconds to come together! I swapped out the green for this softer one, but otherwise I think all the colours are ones the website pulled out of the photo. I was surprised that it didn't pick up any of the blues from the girl's dress. The result is quite nice anyway, no?

Anyway, that was my exercise in procrastination for the day :)

Is this art, or just a by-product of construction?

What do we think?

(I actually wish I'd taken a photo of this building when I first saw it like this - I think there were more)

a totally predictable post

Now, I'm not going to claim to be a fashion expert here.  I've just pulled some photos/ dresses that jumped out at me.  Enjoy :)

Laura Linney... isn't she lovely?

Nicole Kidman - I do think that "Our Nic" is one of the most beautiful women on the planet.  And that dress!! And the diamonds!! just... wow.  Can I borrow that to get married in?

Plus, she and Keith are very cute together.

There were a number of unfortunate dress choices I could point out, and one or two "What was she (or he) thinking" moments, but it's all been said, so I'll stick to just this this one:
Jennifer Hudson, taking out the "So near, but yet so far" category.  It's not a dress I would choose, but she could have looked great.  Honey, next time, please just make sure your dress fits you before leaving the house.  It's all we ask.

As we all know, there were a number of baby bumps on show at the Oscars this year, but Jessica Alba was the standout for me.  I lovelovelove that colour!  The dress is pretty and flowing, and she has that pregnant radiance about her.  Overall, I think she looks fantastic.

I just adore this pic of George Clooney and his girlfriend Sarah Larson.  I'm not sure exactly what it is; I suppose its that this is such a candid shot, and yet there is no question that they both absolutely belong on that red carpet.  She's beautiful, he's suave and sexy - they just own it!

And lastly, in the "Only a supermodel could pull this off" category, is Heidi Klum.  It's hardly the most outrageous dress ever seen at the Oscars, but there's not a lot of women who could look this great in a dress like that.  Heidi totally pulls it off, despite the slightly dubious accessorising.

Food is much easier to photograph

So, here's what I was going to show off today:

An easy and pretty salad, inspired by the idea of a 'chop salad' - with credit to Jamie Oliver.  It was followed by a simple roast, making a great dinner.

But when I opened up iPhoto, I discovered my half-forgotten photos from the final stage of the Tour Down Under, and I thought - "Hey, I should post them."

But then I realised that, to be honest, it's a bunch of mostly rather ordinary photos:

Only slightly redeemed by some better ones like these:

So someone remind me why I take the camera??

moving through the ether

I'm in love.

Maybe in that pretty veriegated  green bamboo?  Mmm yum.

(Pattern is 'Ether' from Rowan Mag #43.  Photo courtesy of Mason-Dixon knitting)