Fun-A-Day

That makes two posts in a row named after hashtags. #FunADay is an initiative from Philadelphia which was brought to Dundee a few years ago by a student at Duncan of Jordanstone. It simply entails doing something fun each day in January. Typically, this daily fun is expressed in the form of a small piece of something – painting, drawing, collage – building up to series of 31 pieces. Then at the beginning of February there is an informal exhibit of all the fun. However, there aren’t really any rules, so the fun could be a walk on the beach or 5 minutes of crazy dancing.

I’ve followed the January antics since the project began, but this year for the first time I decided to participate and force myself to have some fun every day, especially when I don’t have time. I’ve been dabbling in kumihimo for a little while, so I reckoned a small braid every day would be both fun and instructive. I’ve been posting photos daily on Twitter, but here is a round-up of the first week-and-a-day.

And here’s a blog post by Emily Luxton about #blogmanay in Dundee. 

FunADay” was posted by Cally on 8 Jan 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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Blogmanay

Yes, it’s a thing. Blogmanay is an initiative of the folk who run Edinburgh’s big Hogmanay party to promote the event and also to show visitors that other things happen in winter in Scotland as well. They really do, you know. So they have a team of international travel bloggers and a very complicated itinerary. This afternoon, one of the stops for five intrepid bloggers was my studio, where the looms were waiting (and, yes, I did manage to clear a path to them).

I didn’t have an opportunity to take any pictures during the workshop, but I didn’t need to – these guys are on the case. You can see several on the Blogmanay page and on Twitter, Instagram etc with the hashtag #blogmanay.

It was a lot of fun and there was some serious weaving talent in the making! I was delighted to be part of such a festive occasion. Tomorrow we get back to business as usual…

Blogmanay” was posted by Cally on 3 Jan 2016 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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Uh oh

So my ‘tidying up’ has reached the point where it is no longer possible to sit down.

studio current situation

There’s not much room for moving about either, so I am reduced to standing and staring. This would be fine, were it not for the fact that I am expecting some special guests on Sunday. Guests who are going to be doing some weaving. Oops! I haven’t yet resorted to the throw-it-all-into-plastic-boxes-and-pretend strategy, but we aren’t far off.

In the meantime, I am entertaining unrealistic thoughts of what I might accomplish in 2016.

Uh oh” was posted by Cally on 29 Dec 2015 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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A taste of Christmas

The cat tree is our only indoor tree for this year – the thought of trying to herd kittens in the presence of a Christmas tree is too much to contemplate! But we got our dose of decoration when we paid our annual visit to the House of Farnell.

We were extremely lucky in this area and only caught the tail end of ‘Desmond’, who dumped 14 inches of rain on Cumbria, but still had just enough in him to make Angus look like this:

Monday morning rain

But it was worth the drive (says I, being the passenger!) for the hot chocolate and freshly baked Danish pastries. And all the Christmassyness one could wish for.

Farnell 1

Farnell 3

Farnell 2

Most of the textiles you can see there are by David Fussenegger of Austria, and they are quite moreish…

A taste of Christmas” was posted by Cally on 8 Dec 2015 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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