Monday was my first day of freedom (read: unemployment). The plan was to go to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI). I left the house in a t-shirt and light sweater, but just as I got into town, it started chucking with rain. I ducked into Melbourne Central, a posh and trendy shopping centre on top of a train station. There was a belt I'd been thinking about buying for the past two months, and I decided to just go for it! My pretty rose print jeans are constantly sliding down and revealing a bit more of my behind than I'm comfortable with, so I did actually need the belt.

While at Melbourne Central, I also returned some books to the Little Library, a volunteer library where you can take books as you please. I love the idea, so I've been borrowing and returning, and also donating books I'm finished with. Sadly, most of the stuff on the three tall shelves is pretty crap, but I'm trying to do my part to add good books.

I ventured back outside and found that the rain had mostly abated, but had caused the temperature to drop significantly. I started walking towards ACMI, but fat raindrops started falling again just as I reached Bourke St. I took this as a sign that I should forget about ACMI, and instead pop into the nearby yarn store, Morris and Sons. They have beautiful, basic, soft wool. I usually buy strange and interesting wool, then struggle to figure out what to make with it. I need to learn to appreciate basics, because they are the foundation of most of the knitting projects I admire.

Anyway, as tempted as I was, the prices were a little steep for my cheapskate sensibilities, so I didn't purchase anything. Yet.

stars in the pavement

tea towels!

I made tea towels! When we moved from Adelaide, I only brought my one tea towel, the Cath Kidston commemorative Royal Wedding tea towel (it's cute, oh yes). But after two months, it was getting a bit, let's say "crusty." So I made some new ones!

Sewing tea towels should be easy, as long as you have fabric, thread, and a needle, right? Probably, for talented types, but for total manual idiots such as myself, a few tools help. Of course, as this was my second ever sewing project, and my first ever sewing project that didn't come out of a kit, I didn't know what tools I would need! The book I bought was all, "cut out your fabric, fold the hems, and sew!" As if it was that easy.

Here's how it happened for me:

August: Get sewing machine from Hugh's mum (it was his paternal grandmother's machine)
February: Get Hugh's grandma's odd assortment of notions (which end up being super helpful!)
March: Get first sewing book of patterns!
April: Buy fabric. Wash fabric. Realise that you don't have an iron.

At this point, my wonderful, wonderful boyfriend bought me a seamstress' iron. Yeah, that's right, he coulda bought me a normal iron, but he fully supports my craftsy ambitions.

April (later): Iron fabric. Cut fabric completely crooked because you don't have a rigid ruler and have never in your life been able to do anything in a straight line. Also, realise that your scissors are totally shit.
Even later in April: Buy new scissors and long metal ruler.
May: Nod, "yeah, yeah, I know" to your sewing book which has crossed its arms at you and is saying, "I told you so," regarding having the correct tools for the job. It turns out that having a rigid ruler and scissors that work and a little blue chalk pencil (thanks, Hugh's grandma!) makes your life a million times easier! A simple task that took ten months to prepare for is finished in a couple hours (it would have been finished sooner but my prowess with the sewing machine means that several mysterious knots of thread appeared on the "right" side of the towels.)

All done!

(P.S. The pictures are pretty awful. Sozzles!)

Strategically-placed leg slit

Oh my gosh, I cannot stop laughing! I can't breathe!!

Hugh asked me to find a sewing pattern for him to learn to sew (isn't he awesome?) So I searched "men's sewing patterns" in Pinterest and this came up.

from Daddy Likey

I don't do the one-word sentence thing very often, but: Oh. My. Word. I am totally making Hugh a pair of those trousers as soon as I have any sewing skill whatsoever.

Exploring Prahran

It is Saturday, and I have the day off! Amazing! Hugh has the day off, too, but he needed to study for his upcoming distiller certification test (nerd alert!) so I left him alone to go explore this great city.

The poster is from the BEST PUBLIC SERVICE AD CAMPAIGN EVER! There's a video and a song that go with it, all to remind Melbournians to be careful around trains and trams. Go watch the video!!

I saw a thing on Twitter saying Australian American Apparel are giving away pairs of mesh leggings. I'm not one to pass up a freebie, so even though the closest AA is clear on the other side of town, requiring two train rides and about an hour to get there, I made the trek. But hey, it was an opportunity to explore. A coworker recommended I check out nearby Greville St for hipsterish-ness. I was not disappointed.

There was a great magazine store, Mag Nation, with lots of exciting stationery and gifty things. I was not impressed, however, that knitting magazines were $15-$20. Sure, they're imported from the US and UK, but really!

There's was also a trinkets boutique that had cute vases and ceramics. As my wonderful boyfriend recently bought me roses, we need a vase, but I think his antique cocktail mixer will work a bit longer.

In a clothing boutique, I bought a swingy, sparkly skirt for $29. What a steal! I've decided lately that I need more sparkle in my wardrobe.

Then on to American Apparel, where I picked out some navy blue leggings (it was that or hot pink and I had to chose under pressure!) I also bought a totally impractical but adorable strappy, knit crop top. (Hugh told me to buy anything cute that I saw.) Yay, fun times! But can you see how exploring the city is not cheap? This definitely does not qualify as a Free Melbourne adventure.

A new mission

I was just writing a letter RR, and expounding on something that has been worrying me a bit. I haven't been able to explore Melbourne much because I've been working so much, so I'm excited for lots of free time coming up. But...I won't have any money. Not having money can make it hard to explore a city. When you're out and about, you get hungry. And you have to pay to go into certain buildings. And you see pretty things that need to be bought! Okay, I'm not even convincing myself.

Anyway, I need to make it my mission to explore Free Melbourne. So, yeah. Monday, 13 May, check this space. I think I'll start by returning to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, which we visited when we first visited Melbourne for Hugh's interview. While we were there, I spent ages in the gift shop (sidenote: I LOVE gift shops! Why do people always rush you past them and complain about museums emptying into them? They're the best bit after all that boring culture!) The gift shop had these journals from a company called Compendium which I quite liked, but couldn't quite afford. But I wrote down the name and eugoogled them when I got home, and did you know? They're only $12.50 and delivery was free! So I bought two, one for myself, and one for Hugh's sister.

When they arrived, the box was full of other little goodies with the Compendium brand: a mechanical pencil, some stickers, and little inspirational quote cards. One of them said, "Compendium, Seattle, WA." Can you believe that? I come all the way from Seattle to Australia to buy a journal that came all the way from Seattle to Australia. Just think of the carbon footprint involved in that! But I've been writing almost every day, so that's good, eh? It almost justifies me buying a brand new journal from work tomorrow...