Happy new year!

You might have been following what has been called our worst maritime disaster, the container ship MV Rena ran aground in October, resutling in oil slicks, damage to marine life debris washing up on beaches..

A couple of days ago the ship broke apart, and there were reports of containers washing up on Waihi Beach.  We were staying not far off so it was something to see.  See that pile up there ^ bits of wood, a sack of milk powder and sachets of instant rice, gross!  The sack of milk powder is covered in oil, on such a pristine beach, brought me to tears.  The scale of pollution was overwhelming.

The next day we were heading home so stopped off to see how things were going..  I was very impressed to see the clean up was thorough.  The thing is, I wanted to help, with two littlees in tow, it was not practical, nor did I have any gloves, or somewhere to put the stuff!  It went from this:

to this

and this

to this

Hard to believe it was so long ago now, and we are seeing wash up and pollution as far north as Waihi Beach, and dissapointing to hear that the ship is still leaking oil.

You might have heard about this recent marine disaster in New Zealand, a ship, Rena ran aground and has leaked oil in to our the waters on our beautiful east coast.

Most heart breaking is the toll it is taking on marine wildlife.

There are a number of volunteers helping in the clean up, and our government has been slow to act, disappointing, but not surprising.

On the up side, people have rallied from across New Zealand to support where they can and I was delighted to be able to give in a small way to provide support to people giving their time to help in the clean up.

There is a Facebook page, Rena-Fundraising-Auction you can visit, and you can look at the goodies up for auction on their trademe page…

Mermaid’s Purse has donated a Rock Star Pincushion and a Sea Horse Needle book…  Seeing as I love marine animals like these little babies, I figured some of you other cats might too!

I came across a new product recently. Innergreen a toy filling made from corn, my sample arrived the other day and it is so soft, I love it!  It works out a little more expensive than the polyester filling I have been using, but in bulk it works out ok.  So I’ll be using this lovely biodegradable filling once I get the end of my current bag of polyester, it will me nicer for my softies and for you.

Here’s another photo, it feels kind of silky..

We have this new thing we’re doing, we will be heading out west once a month to clear our heads.  Yesterday we went out to Te Henga, north of Piha.   It’s been a while since either of us has been there, the first time for Luna and Blake.  The estuary has changed shape somewhat but it still feels the same.  I have most often headed out west when I have embarked on a change, maybe new lover, a big overseas adventure, or just needing to breathe.  Something about this coast just revitalises me, I feel like a gecko shedding my old skin, time for a serious change.

The kids love it.  Blake would not be up in the sling, no way!  He had to be down there getting into it, this let me run off with the camera for a few minutes… yippeee.

Something I’m really enjoying at the moment is Luna’s gentleness with nature.  She’s about as enthusiastic about exploring the beach and finding tiny amazing animals as I am.  I spent hours at the beach as a child, and it’s a pleasure to go to the beach with her just to run and look.

Here’s the head of a small paddle crab.

Snapper biscuits or sand dollars, are ecinoderms, and I find the fascinating, from this perspective, I wish I was small enough to wander inside.  So cool the way they break apart.

Amazing texture.

Always interesting getting down to see what’s washed up.

I’m really excited, I’ve started putting together some ideas for some new sewing kits, I’ve got all the bits, and I really just need to make a couple of samples up to see how they look and work out what each will need.  Lucky Luna and Blake will have some new toys over winter!

I’ve been quite distracted with cutting up the patterns and fabric to make up some tops and a dress with the cool vintage patterns I posted about earlier, as usual, too many things and not enough time!  The most helpful thing is the kiddies are sleeping better now, little Blake will give me a couple of hours in the evenings, but staying up sewing till midnight and rising at 6am gets a tad draining – although it is so much fun.

I do LOVE buttons, I caved and bought a couple of bags of new buttons from Spotlight and they have provided hours of fun for everyone.  I’m also exploring using some more natural stuffing/filling for my soft toys, as an alternative to polyester filing.  I’m trying to rid my life of plastic, it’s a long process, but the good thing is there are alternatives around.  I came across Innergreen if you’re interested, and hopefully I will be hearing back from them soon.

The sea gardens crochet coral reef that started this year at Auckland Museum will be setting down for the summer at The Estuary Arts Centre in Orewa, the opening is this coming Saturday.  I will be there and I’m planning on make some more crochet pieces for it, it’s probably one of my favourite projects, I’m so pleased to be a part of it.

So get hooking and make something to contribute!  Check out this website for the how-to’s and other info on the international Crochet Coral Reef project, The Institute for Figuring.

Also worth a look is Daina Taimina’s blog, Hyperbolic Crochet, she has also published a book on the mathematics involved with loads of beautiful photos.

The Crochet Coral Reef installation is over and has been taken down…  good news is it is not over!  Glenys is keeping our Seagardens Aotearoa project alive. 

This is one of the pieces I have been working on for Desire Lines, a group exhibition happening in July this year.  Actually I’ve been quite frantic and distracted by the Crochet Coral Reef Project happening at the Auckland Museum as well, so these little babies have been on the sideline, but serendipitously both projects work really well together and I want to make even more weird crochet forms!

For Desire Lines I have been thinking a lot about how we humans mess with our environment and the possible ramifications of our destructive behaviour.  This was highlighted by the recent  toxic sea slug scare in 2009 after a few dogs died apparently after eating the little slugs on beaches around Auckland Habour, these sea slugs now are possibly an ever-present danger! Not that anyone wants to be panicking about it all.

This news of toxic sea slugs reminded me of John Wyndham’s novel, The Kraken Wakes, (here’s a good review by another reader..) one of my favourite reads.  The deep sea trenches are colonised by aliens, aggression between ourselves and the aliens ensues resulting in catastrophic environmental changes, remarkably similar to what we are experiencing due to global warming and the damage we are doing to the marine environment.

So little is known about the deeps and the creatures that inhabit them, yet we continue to overfish and degrade the oceans.  Perhaps it is no surprise that there may be creatures that can be a threat to ourselves and our enjoyment of the marine environment?  Or perhaps after thoughtlessly dumping toxic, and even nuclear waste in the oceans, the sea itself or the animals that inhabit them are now becoming more toxic to our own life?

A bit low res, but here is a photo of the Crochet Coral Reef at the Auckland Museum.  The exhibition will close on the 16th of May so you have a few more weeks to contribute and go and visit, also entry is free until the end of May this year for lucky Aucklanders.

Here are a few photos of the new pieces I have completed…