Falling Back Into Daytripping

Toorongo Falls
| Katie

When I was a kid, my family went on daytrips all the time. We drove to Marysville to see the Autumn leaves and Steavenson Falls. We drove to Mangalore every Easter Sunday to park in a dirt road behind the airport and watch the air show from a distance. We drove up to Toolangi and along the back roads into Healesville of an afternoon, just because.

Daytripping at Flagstaff Hill
My brother, the boat-spotter. (Technically, this is from a holiday, but it’s a cute photo and I wanted to share it.)

One of my earliest memories is of being in the back seat of the car with my favourite doll, watching raindrops hit the window as we drove along and feeling like that was exactly where I belonged. Continue reading →

Time for an Update

Katie Writes Stuff Update
| Katie

Remember me? I used to hang around here and write stuff for you to read.

Until May last year, that is.

Around that time, I had plans to write an article all about Me Made May; I did the interviews with four fabulous seamstresses and was ready to go, but it just didn’t happen.

So what did happen? Did I drop off the face of the planet? Run off to live in a little country house with no internet? Spend so much time knitting that I didn’t have time to blog any more?

Read on to find out where I was and what’s going to be happening here on Katie Writes Stuff! Continue reading →

Four Reasons Why Knitting Is Good For You

| Katie

Not so long ago, I went into my colleagues’ office and declared I was going to propose a research project for an upcoming professional learning day.

“Who’s going to join my project on Knitting for Mindfulness and Community Connection?” I asked.

Surprisingly (or, hopefully, unsurprisingly), I had a lot of support. The only down side is that I’m pretty sure Knitting for Mindfulness and Community Connection is not a priority in a school. People tend to want to focus on topics such as curriculum or anything related to the whole teaching process. You know, the actual focus of a school. It’s a shame, because I reckon my project would do a lot of good. Continue reading →

#sewingvloggerlife

| Katie

Once upon a time, I had a normal life.

A relatively normal life.

OK, fine, a semblance of a normal life that’s actually a bit nerdy and old-fashioned and packed full of random roadtrips.

Now? Now, I have a #sewingvloggerlife.

There was no gradual change to this new life. No, it just rocked up on my doorstep, let itself in and made itself at home. And just like that, I went from someone who liked a little bit of sewing and knitting and also happened to own a camera to someone with a #sewingvloggerlife and an ovewhelming suspicion that nothing was ever going to be the same again.

But what does a #sewingvloggerlife look like?

In my case, it began with showing everyone my underwear. Continue reading →

Seven Tips for Beginner Vloggers

| Katie

Welcome to the shiny new home of Katie Writes Stuff! To celebrate this move, I thought I’d kick things off with something a little different: a sewing vlog.

This may not make a lot of sense, given that I’m meant to be introducing you to my all-new, all-singing-and-dancing blog home. However, this vlog neatly combines most of my favourite things: roadtripping, vintage knitting and sewing, and op shopping (or thrifting, or whatever you call it in your neck of the woods). And if you add in the fact that I recorded it on a camera, then I’ve included photography as well. So it has a little bit of everything, which is coincidentally exactly what you can expect on the blog.

(I’d love to say this was my plan all along, but I really just thought of it a moment ago.)

But why a vlog, all of a sudden? Continue reading →