Bowls, hippie bowls, Buddha bowls…

Whatever you like to call them, I first heard of ‘bowls’ from JL Field discussing ‘hippie bowls’ on some podcast or other. Then I noticed the whole chapter on ‘Bowls & and a few plates’ in Isa does it. I’d read and heard about different kinds of bowls – I’d even made several – but I never really understood what they were until I saw Jenné Claiborne make one on Our Hen House TV, episode 8.

The simplicity of the process, and the scope for invention, got me experimenting with lots of different kinds of bowls. Now I’m hooked!

Accidental seitan

I had a mild panic tonight when I found myself accidentally cooking up a batch of seitan… Yikes! They all hate seitan. All that work and nobody was going to eat it.

Save the chickens!

It seems like everyone’s talking about chickens lately! If you were in Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall a couple of weeks back, you might have seen the inaugural Melbourne Chicken Save rally. A few days later, Animals Australia launched their new campaign to raise awareness about factory farming of chickens, and finally, the chicks (do you like that?) at Our Hen House aired the first episode of their community/online TV show.

Knitting: the colder months

From left: Patons Rainbow (8 ply acrylic), Patons Zhivago (acrylic and tencel) and Katia Degrade “Sun” (100% cotton), which I’m using to knit a neck warmer (short scarf thingy).

Winter has suddenly hit Melbourne, with maximum temperatures in the mid-teens each day, and as this is my first winter as a vegan knitter, I’m facing a few challenges.

There are not many pastimes, in Melbourne, that are quite as cold as standing at a tram stop in a chilly, early-morning breeze. So, when I reached for one of my favourite handknitted neckwarmers last week, and remembered it was made of WOOL, I had a little moment of panic. Would I wear it and feel sad whenever I looked at it, or go without it and freeze. I chose to wear it, and work out a replacement as soon as possible.

Vegan knitting in warmer weather is easy—there are so many lovely cotton and bamboo yarns around, but unfortunately, in the winter months there aren’t too many really lovely alternatives to wool.