Woolz'N'Yarnz

Nice Girls Don't Bite Their Neighbours.

2012-02-15T19:18:00.005+11:00

You're invited to the wedding of Nice Girl Jane Jameson to Gabriel Nightengale. NICE GIRLS DON'T BITE THEIR NEIGHBORS hits the shelves on Feb. 28.

Written by Molly Harper, one of my all time Favourite Authors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll be there knitting in spirit, I just finished this...

Another Proud Karate Ka moment

2011-12-10T15:11:00.000+11:00

OK, so the little guy did his third belt grading.

His grading was on a normal class day.

The big boy helped out,

He passed and is now an orange belt (orange? really)

His grader giving him a wee pep talk.

So...a couple of days later, they had another grading and all my black belts helped out.

We were sent a text message a couple of weeks before saying that Quinn was going to get a special award after the grading.
He actually got two, first was an award of appreciation for all his help over the last 3 years with the junior class.

He also got promoted to the rank of Sempai, teacher. Part of his first Dan is a new uniform, he now wears a black gi with a red collar. When he gets his second dan, the gi will also have red sleeves.

To denote his teaching level, this gi has a red stripe on the trousers. This is a pretty huge deal for a kid of 14.

Kyoshi giving him his gi.

Ceremonial donning of the top.

The certificate.

There was one other person promoted in his grade (a young girl, not this guy but he was promoted too)

At the end of the ceremony, one of the mother of a young boy approached us and congratulated us on raring such a fine boy. We are very proud of him. Sorry for the crappy photos..had to use the phone on some of them.

Mother Henna

2011-11-20T19:00:00.000+11:00

OK...so we finally got around to using henna on our hair. I wanted black so I also used indigo. Both natural herbs and very good hair dyes. My hair is long but very fine, the girls is short/mid length and again fairly fine.

We used just over 300g of henna powder mixed with lemon juice and left to sit overnight.

Here it is going onto my hair..

Afterwards we wrapped it up in cling wrap.

We left it for about 4 hrs, but apparently we could have left it for a shorter time.

My results were pretty impressive since my hair only had a little regrowth. You could certainly still tell it had been henna'd.

The girls was vibrant!!!

It will settle down and darken over the next couple of days..I'll take another pic then.

So here is the indigo going on, I used 200g mixed with water. There was a little left over..

it stayed on for an hour..

and the results..

Top veiw...I think she could have put a bit more paste down the part line..you can still see a bit of red..

Over all, fairly happy with the results. Worth the extra planning and time. It's like putting mud on your hair so if you are squeemish, you probably won't enjoy it much. And I did find that my hair needed alot of conditioning after the indigo. It feels a bit dry so I might look at putting an oil treatment on it in the next week.

The biggest plus is that it's all natural and I'll keep on doing it. I was using commercial dyed every 4 or so weeks and was a bit concerned about the exposure.

Now to do some dying of wool with the indigo.........

I'm a proud mother hen!!

2011-11-14T17:05:00.001+11:00

I now have 3 black belts in the family. Four of the kids do Bob Jones Zen Do Kai Karate and this weekend two of the girls graded to black belt and the boy graded to his 1st dan. He had to write an essay of 250words + on how karate has helped him. I took a couple of photos at the beginning then decided to video the rest of the essay. He had the option of the Kyoshi to read it but did it himself. He has never done any public speaking so I am very proud of him.

This boy is very conscientious when it comes to his karate. I love this pic, it's him practicing one of his kata's.

Needless to say, he passed.

Now to my little girls and their black belts. Here are some pics.

Our baby sitter was at work doing Mc Happy Day so we had to take the little ones along to the grading....

they were suitably unimpressed...

And then it was over...and they had the ceremonial donning of the new belts.

And of course...the final pics with their certificates and belts on..

And one with a very proud Teacher.

Here's his full essay if you are of a mind to read it.

Q’s 1st Dan Essay

I have been here for a long time and I have learnt the art of Zen Do Kai.

The techniques and skills, I also learnt discipline, respect and self control. Before I started I couldn’t control my anger and got provoked very easily. After two years of training here I had complete control of my anger and it was difficult to provoke me. I had mastery of myself with all I learnt. I know the next level of my training will be hard but I have complete confidence that the great teachers will help me reach my full potential.

With all my time here I gained skills which if I had not started; my life would be very different. The belt I have worked for all my time here, my black belt, is the sign that I did the time, I did the training and I learned it. It can be described as a great experience and I will never forget. As I grow older I will keep on coming week after week, learning more, just one step at a time. So this essay may be one little piece but all of the pieces makes all the difference.

And my siblings will learn that the smallest detail can add up to the full technique and all the techniques add up to the full knowledge of this form of self defence. I can’t wait to know all of the techniques. I do not do so many things that don’t give me something I can have forever. But this is the thing that I want to do for the rest of my life, till the day I die. And if I get sick or injured, I will come back as soon as I can and won’t stop coming so long as I live.

Over all I will do my best to master this art and help others to learn and train to their natural limit. And if they don’t put in much effort I will ask them, ‘do you want to do this?’ and their answer might be no, or yes but no matter what, I will teach them the techniques and make them awesome.

This is my goal.

Henna Tattoos.....(Not everyone is artistic)

2011-10-24T09:47:00.001+11:00

I found a local seller of henna for hair dye and asked if it was any good for tattoos. She didn't know and offered to send me a sample to give it ago. Lisa was wonderful for doing this and her online shop is Supernaturals, I got all my info on doing henna tattoos from Henna Tribe

I mixed my paste and left it for about 8 hours. I think 12 would have been better as it wasn’t too warm on that day. I think heat would have some effect on it. I just used lemon juice but some ppl add essential oils, sugar or honey as well. I thought the paint brushes would be ok but ended up making a piping bag out of grease proof paper. Some kind of squeezy bottle with a fine nozzle would be better or someone suggested a snaplock bag with a small hole in the corner.

So I applied the paste.

and frankly, I suck at it...

Then you leave it to dry.

It darkens as it dries.

The girls I have talked to say to wrap it at this stage and keep it on for a good 12 hrs but I just ended up picking it off when it was completely dry and cracked.

If I had wrapped it it would have been darker.

It has darkened a bit over the last couple of days..

So in summary, unless you are really arty, you'll need to practice.

And you need a really fine nozzle of some sort to make a really good job of it.

I, personally, will use it for hair dye...and maybe keep practicing..what else are kids good for?

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun.......Trois

2011-10-21T08:29:00.000+11:00

And along came the 91st Grand Annual Sunbury Show on the 8th of October. Our spinning group has a demo at it most years and a table to sell a few things. I entered the shawls I haven't given away.

AND............cleaned up if I may say so myself...

Hearts, First Place, Baby blanket, shawl, pram cover.

1st, 2nd, 3rd

Mommes Lysedug, 3rd, Baby blanket, shawl, pram cover.

Stor Lysedug, 1st price, Novice entry.

Camping, 3rd prize, handspun knitting article.

and some other photos...

Wedding cakes.

and our wee display/stall

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun.......Duex

2011-10-21T08:16:00.001+11:00

So Mr Tax man was nice to me this year so I decided to get an American wheel to add to my wee collection. It's a Schacht Side Kick from Schacht, obviously. And I bought it from Carolina Homespun in California. They were fantastic to deal with!!! (and of course the exchange rate was pretty good at the time too).

I took it to spinning group and everyone had a go on it...

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun.......

2011-10-21T08:07:00.000+11:00

Alot has happened and I have been quite busy..

The Australian Wool and Sheep Show has been and gone. The stall was a bit of a bust but I got mostly for the joy of hanging out with like minded people. AND I got to meet Richard Ashford of Ashford Handicrafts, NZ.

Richard Ashford and me

Charli got bored so I sent her over to help out at the Petlins stall and do a spot of spinning on the Ashford Joy.

The baby doll my daughter Bonnie make for me to use as a blanket prop.

the stall

I had some stuff from my friends farm, HollyBurton Cloud Quilts, she does batting for patchworkers.

Last but not least

2011-06-29T12:24:00.000+10:00

Final baby shawl is done, YAY, I had started a different one but the pattern wasn't working out so I frogged it and did this one. Love this one, will definitely do it again. It's just gorgeous!!! Handspun superwash Blue Faced Leicester again. It's so very very soft.

I am also confirmed to have a stall at the Australian Wool and Sheep Show
I'll be in Noble Hall, stall no. 63. All the shawls will be there and I'll probably rotate them around this wee beauty..

No this is not a real baby but a doll made by my very talented daughter Bonnie. Her name is Arabella and needless to say she fools most people.

If you are in Australia on the 15-17 July, do drop by and see me at the Wool Show in Bendigo.

yet another

2011-05-29T10:44:00.000+10:00

I know I know....shoddy posting...but here is the latest Pi Shawl...It's an Elizabeth Zimmerman based Anniversary addition, called Hearts.

Superwash Blue Faced Leicester handspun again.

It is for sale $300aud.

New Shawl

2011-03-07T12:12:00.000+11:00

New baby shawl, hot off the needles. For sale too, if you're interested send me an email woolznyarnz@hotmail.com

Wool is handspun Shetland, imported from the UK. I was going to over dye it but I think I'll leave it as is.

The pattern is an old vintage one. My mother in law gave me a shawl in the same pattern for my first daughter over 21 yrs ago.

A New Year, flying by...................

2011-02-10T15:02:00.001+11:00

Yet again the year is flying by...Summer is sucking big time here in Australia. Floods, fire and cooler than normal temperatures...Great for me, because I knit!!! And I have been doing a fair bit of that. I have a lot of babies coming in April/May so I am knitting for them...

Have a look....

This one is for my niece who is blessing us with my first great niece in May.

This one is for the daughter of a net friend in the USA, who is having a boy in May also.

This one hasn't been washed and blocked yet so it looks a bit small and curly. I don't have an owner for it yet so it may be sold at the huge sheep show in July. Same goes for the one beneath which is the same pattern as the first one.

Here they are blocked....

I'm doing this one cause I can, I am loving knitting these round shawls. The wool is handspun Blue Faced Leicester Superwash so perfect for the modern girl. They won't be cheap to buy, about $250, they are future Heirlooms, perfect for your first grandbaby (any baby actually) I can knit to order if anyone is interested, as I said above the first two have homes but the blue and the red are up for sale. Anyone interested? feel free to drop me a line

woolznyarnz@hotmail.com

I'm going to be a GREAT Aunty...

2010-12-22T16:42:00.001+11:00

So of course, finger well and truly pulled out I set to spinning up some Superwash Blue Faced Leicester to do a baby shawl and maybe some other bits and bobs.

In the process I managed to spin 527g into one skein. A new record for me, spun on my Majacraft Suzie, plyed with the plying flyer and bobbin.

This fibre is beautifully soft, perfect for next to a baby's skin.

The pattern I used was Stor Lysedug by Vintage.

The pattern was wonderfully simply to follow. It's supposed to be a doilie but with thicker wool and larger needles it's big enough for a baby blanket. My one ended up about 2m circumference. I used 4.5mm needles.

I am extraordinarily proud of the outcome and my niece is going to love it.

In progress

Finished, washed and blocked to dry.

It truly has to be felt to believe how soft it is. It is supposed to have crochet around the edge but I did a knitted border instead.

IPods and Audio Books

2010-11-08T09:11:00.000+11:00

Just a small post about my new love. My 160gig classic iPod!!! I got an audio book from the library and got just a tad hooked on audio books. Then my love suggested getting an iPod, his reason, it can be used as an extra hard drive and had great battery longevity, PC Geek stuff.
So we found one and now I am lost. I have upwards of 30 books on my iPod (not to mention about 40 movies/tv series and over 1000 songs) and a few new favourite authors, J R Ward with her Black Dagger Brotherhood series and the Fallen Angel series ( I have them all and have listened to them twice), Charlaine Harris and the Sookie Stackhouse series, again, got em all, listened to them twice, I have read/listened the first of the Harper Connelly series too, and Jeaniene Frost and her Night Huntress and Night Huntress world series, got them all, listened to them twice!! Last but not least, the Twilight and Potter books too.
Those are my favourites but I have also listened to Philip Pullmans, Dark Materials, it's the Golden Compass and other books and Christopher Paolini who did Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr, touted as pre teen books, I really enjoyed them.
My other fav authors either don't have any audio books or they are abridged versions, very frustrating!!

WHY? you say, I love to read but there isn't anything else you can do whilst you are thumbing through a book, however, on audio you can knit, spin, walk, do housework, the list goes on!!!!!!!!

two birds, one stone

Very small irk tho, I HATE ITUNES!!! It is the worst programme in the world.

Yes I have been busy....

2010-11-08T08:13:00.005+11:00

camel and silk and silk (2)
Originally uploaded by minihahas10

Well, it has been a while since I did a post and yes I have been fairly busy and what I have been doing has been relatively unexciting. Spinning, more spinning, knitting, knitting, knitting, oh and one of the kids broke his arm on the first visit to the park for years.

I have been spinning baby camel and silk, then plying it with Mulberry silk, planning on making a top for myself at this point.

I ended up with 325g and 1260metres of yarn. I had a bit of Mulberry silk left over so I continued spinning that.

I think I have 282g and 850m of pure Mulberry silk yarn.

And here they are together. I don't know that I will need both for the garment but I have plenty if I do.

I've also been doing a few smaller bits. I got tri coloured plaits of fibre from the wool show and I have been spinning up each colour. The fibre is actually real crap, short staple, slubs..gross. Not a pleasure to spin at all.

And then there was the day I took the kids to the park. The weather was lovely and we haven't been to the big park as it didn't have a toilet, till recently. The second eldest had given no.2 lad a rip stick a week beforehand, it's like a skateboard but with one roller blade wheel at each end and a larger range of movement. After watching the boy on it doing ok, then the two younger girls falling off it. I wasn't surprised when one of the girls came over to me telling me that the boy had fallen off and hurt himself. I told her to go get him and bring him to me and I knew before he was too close that his arm was broken. He has a broken Radius bone about 10cm below his wrist, it's called a buckle fracture, not quite right through but pretty close.

His sisters sig says it all 'I broke this arm, love Ashtyn'

He had a half cast splint for the first week, then more xrays and this lovely blue number, we go in again this week (wk3) for more xrays and he may have the cast reduced to his elbow again.

I've also spun some 4 ply cabled sock yarn, knitted a pair of socks and dyed my friends wool so I can knit her a cardi. For some reason I can't use the url's from my flickr so you'll just have to check it out for yourselves.

And I have pc issues, my laptop is currently not working so I am using a POS that is better than a kick in the a** but not perfect.

Well it's the down hill slide to Xmas again. This year has positively flown by hasn't it?

The tank that fibre paid for......

2010-09-08T09:48:00.000+10:00

Yes quite literally. Not the tank but the upgrades needed to get it up and going again...

I ousted the previous tennants, the frogs, to this new home...

So frogs are happy in their new home. It has more plants in it now.

And the tank was free to fill with water and warm it up for Tropical fish.

I did have most of the stuff for it already but needed some new bits. We found an external bio filter for a really great price at a clearance outlet.

Had to get new gravel, but I did have a heater from last time.....until it broke...

So here is the result, there is a huge story along with it but I'll put the pics in first.

Now if you have never had a tropical tank you may think that you just add water, heat it up and vah'laa, put your fish in....but no...

Setting up and keeping a tropical habitate is a lesson in bio chemistry.

To begin, you must cycle the tank..

First you have to check all your chemical levels, PH, KH, GH, NO2, NO3 and Ammonia.

The ph, kh and gh is something that you monitor mostly with your water changes on a weekly basis, your alkalinity changes weekly depending on how much waste is produced by the fish and plants. Water hardness depends on what the water is like coming out of the tap, so you may have to adjust this when you put new water in.

Ammonia is what comes when plant matter starts to decompose along with fish poop and dead fish. You generally manage this with water changes too. It makes it impossible for the fish to get air out of the water so will kill them pretty quickly.

NO2, or Nitrites and NO3, Nitrates are the most important chemicals and the ones that take the most time to achieve the right balance.

NO2 will kill your fish quick and you need fish poo and plants to add a bacteria to the bio filter which converts these into harmless NO3. This is the bit that takes the time and you basically try to change the water enough to keep the NO2 and the Ammonia levels low so as not to kill your fish while you are waiting for enough good bacteria growth to convert it.

Yesterday my NO2 levels dropped to zero, a megre 3 weeks into the cycling process, which means that enough bacteria has established to convert it to NO3.

Now I just have to keep an eye on the levels, making sure I don't populate the tank to quickly for the bacteria to take care of their bi-products and change the water often enough to keep the balance.

I started off with 10 Neon Tetras in the tank, of which I have lost 4, I think only 2 were because of an ammonia spike I had, one was injured being transfered to the bag at the store and one was bullied by the others (they are vicious little buggers and any weakness is dealt with brutally).

A week after they went into the tank and I got the ammonia level down I decided to add some more surface dwelling fish. The neons are mid-bottom dwellers. So I got 3 Platy's, one male Micky Mouse Platy and a female Micky Mouse (or Minnie Mouse as we call her) and another female who is visible in one of the tank pics.

Then a friend who I had given some fish to a few years back when I was emptying my tank, decided she was sick of her tank and needed to get rid of the fish in her tank. She had been systematically neglecting them to death for a while but had a few hardy souls left. I was only planning on getting the couple she had of mine still but ended up rescuing them all.

My tank being far too new to stand an influx of so many fish at one time, I quickly rang my local pet store and asked if they would take them. They did, and I ended up only keeping the Kuhli loach that I had originally given her and her sons Siamese Fighter who was the most pathetic fish I have ever seen. He'd been living in a tank 4" square by 2" deep, his fins were all tattered and he was very sad.

His fins are coming right and he's gradually learning to swim in a big tank. He needs to build up his stamina again so most of the time he just sits on the bottom of the tank. Sporadically he swims to the surface and gradually he is playing in the bubbles and filter current more each day.

Here he is taking an interest in what the Loach is doing...

The loach is the hungriest fish I have seen in ages and I have never seen a Kuhli so active all the time. When I last had a tank they would mostly hide, this little guy is cruising around almost constantly.

And fighters are a very maligned fish. Mostly you see them in little jars looking pretty and pathetic. But put them in a community tank and you see a completely different fish. They have great personalities, they can turn their heads and look around corners. I love them!!

Well that is it on the photo front for this time. Today I am off to see if I can find some more plants for the tank. Of course the plants I have will grow but I still need more of them and the ones on eBay have exorbitant postage costs.

I have been busy.....

2010-08-10T19:30:00.000+10:00

Yes indeedy, I have.

I started some Bouclé yarn at the show and have since finished two skeins of it.

Looks impressive doesn't it? It's not actually all that hard to do and it's fun once in a while. The fibre is English Leicester and doing this makes it nice and soft and shiny.

this is a before....

I do have a plan for it once I have finished spinning it up.

I have had the odd side track as well.

This Polwarth from New Zealand..

It is very very soft and lovely!!! Much to the locals disgust, I have said often that I prefer NZ Polwarth over AU Merino anyday.

And in the last couple of days, this 3 ply sock yarn out of some generic wool I traded for from a lovely lady in the US.

It is apparently mostly Rambouilett but I think there is a little something stronger as well as it spun up fine wonderfully and I think it will make sturdy socks.

On the knitting side, I have once again given my RSI a work out and finished my Big Gal Blue jumper...The fibre is chunky, handdyed BFL/silk.

Pattern is my own, I am really pleased with how it has turned out.

It is knitted from the top down without seams. It has cables front and back, down the top of the sleeves also underneath and down the sides. There is front and back shaping as well for a fantastic fit.

I also have a new shipment of fibre but that will be for another post......

Australian Sheep and Wool Show

2010-07-22T10:20:00.000+10:00

My favourite time of year! Three days of fibre yumminess, you just can't beat it. I have the privilege of working at my friends stall. She's the one from SA that we visited earlier in the year. I meet many friends at this show. Some I have only written to, some I have met at previous shows. SO, I suppose I had better share some photos..

The Stall

And the People...

Jane, me, Jane's girl and my wee spinner/knitter.

I sent the wee one off with my camera and a friend of mine, she took a lot of photos like this.....

And these.....

I did a fair bit of this.....

Oddly enough it's a good sales technique as most people can't resist a spinning wheel. Men and kids just flock to it and I did the Majacraft name a huge trade. I know of at least 4 purchases of this wheel at the show, two of which were told to me by the owner of the company who had heard the people saying that they bought the wheel because they saw it me on it working.

Over the 3 days I was spinning up this...

English Leicester from Moseley Park

I finished it yesterday, the blue boucle was done at the show and I had started on the silk binding thread.

It now looks like this..

262g 216 metres

Couldn't quite get it all on one bobbin so I have another mini skein of 59g

I met the lovely Joanne and Otto Strauch from Strauch Fibre Products(sorry, no link as I haven't been able to get it to work at all) at the show too.

They were plugging their carding equipment. I was very interested in this and Otto put down the challenge of bringing some of my usual fibre along for carding.

Which I did.

I took some of the English Leicester, pictured above and some EL/Merino cross I had washed.

Here are the outcomes, compared to the same job done on my Ashford carder.

This was done on the medium sized Strauch carder (Otto pulled the batt out into a more of a roving strand), and below is the Ashford equivalent.

The EL/Merino off the Strauch

Joanne demonstrated, diz'ing it off the carder

Here is the Ashford batt.

I kept an open mind when I was comparing the two carders. If I had of seen a marked difference in the Strauch outcome, I would have bought one. But there wasn't enough of a difference to consider changing what I have now. Strauch is a nicely made machine and if I wasn't having to pay import duties it would be on my list. But, the price is more than other machines so I, like most people, have to take that into account and as I said above, it's not so outstanding as to over-ride budget constraints.

Another very interesting person I met at the show as Nicola Bota from Ashford NZ.

A couple of years ago I suggested to Richard Ashford that he needed to make a new sized standard bobbin as the normal one was losing him sales.

He listened and the result was the new 90cm bobbin that fits his new sliding hook flyer and the new wild flyer for the portable Joy spinning wheel.

It was nice to have my observations listened to and acted upon.

It was a real pleasure meeting Nicola and she goes back to NZ with another problem to fix up that Jenny from Virginia Farms Woolworks, pointed out when I was buying the double heddle kit for my Ashford Knitters Loom.

I did do a bit of shopping at the show, although the only fibre I bought home, I haven't got here or was a gift.

Clothes from Wrapt Ya

I got a new plying bobbin for my Majacraft wheels , a Double Heddle kit for my Ashford Knitters Loom, Lovely bunny fibre from Ixchel Bunny , a pair of Knit Pick 3.25mm interchangeable needles, oh and I lied, I did get some Corriedale in natural colours from Wirraworra Wool.

And my helping out gifts..some EL fleece and sock yarn.

I had such a great time, I think I should be paying Jane..

Next year I am going to be having a stall with a wood working friend from SA. It's a double edged sword as I will miss the time spent with Jane but I do think it's about time Woolz'N'yarnZ had it's own stall.

New Shipment

2010-07-05T15:06:00.001+10:00

OK, I have the prices for the new shipment. These prices are for 100g, more than 100g is available with a 10% discount for more than 200g.

Since Benidgo Wool and Sheep Show is only a couple of weeks away, I am happy to take your order with me to Bendigo for collection.

Sale cost per 100g (limited quantities available, first in first served) Prices in AUD
Oatmeal Blue Face Leicester Top $10.5

White Blue Face Leicester Top $ 9.6

White Blue Face Leicester Top Superwashed $11

Jacob Humbug (White, Grey, Black) ALL SOLD

White Blue Faced Leicester Top / Seacell Top ALL SOLD

White Baby Camel Top / Extra Bleached Tussah Silk Top ALL SOLD

Bleached De-Haired Yak Down $19.5

Post is as follows, $6 up to 450g, $10.30 up to 3kg, if you don't register your parcel for an extra $2.95, I take no resposibility for any loss in the mail, no replacements no refunds

International post available, I can quote or give the total amount after ordering. Up to 450g it is $15.70 + $9 ins, again, I recommend this, I can not take responsibility for loss in the mail. All parcels are very well packed and addressed with ink that do not run when wet.

Payment Methods are Bank Deposit or Pay Pal for Australian residents, Pay Pal for every one else.

Order requests can be emailed to woolznyarnz@hotmail.com

BABY HOODIE

2010-06-26T16:18:00.002+10:00

A baby was born so I took this,

And made it into this..

I ended up with 230g of yarn approximately 544 metres.

So I knitted this..

A top down baby Hoodie with no seams and bobble buttons © Woolz'N'yarnZ 2010

Pattern will be available in my book, coming soon.

Works in Progress and Things done...

2010-06-17T10:12:00.000+10:00

I'm getting quite a portfolio going for the future spinning and pattern book..Here is a peak at some of the stuff being done...
Ok, firstly some hats, done and in progress...

I bought some dyed Falkland and spun it up a while ago. I misplaced my other slouchy hat so decided to make another. The pattern is similar,

Here it is in progress

And finished...

It has the classic Old Shale band with a trendy Tam feel.

In progress is a replacement hat for my daughter, her other one got put into the washing machine by her siblings...fatal to anything pure wool and not superwash.

It's seamless and has a square top, it will have long flaps. More photos of this one to come.

And finally, my major project. This simply came about through necessity. I couldn't find a pattern that I liked enough to do. I love cables as well so I am doing these also.

The wool is chunky, it's a crew neck, not sure if it will be as high as pictured as yet. The pattern is top down and seamless.

It has a classic celtic design in the middle with side twists. The sleeves are a bit unknown at this time as I am currently freelancing the cable and don't know what it's going to look like. It will probably take quite a while to get this one done as when you are writing the pattern as you knit it it can be rather time consuming.

Also, I will have to take a bit of a break as I am hurriedly spinning some superwash for a little boy, born just the other day and I am planning a little jumper for him.

Pics of that to come!!!

Latest Project

2010-06-06T11:17:00.000+10:00

I have just finished a traditional Faroese shawl for myself. I used the Shetland I blended with silk. Plan was just to use that but I ended up padding it with some other bits.

So the dark black is Shetland blended with dyed silk, the lighter black is English Leicester/Finnx from my friend Jane (Moseley Park, SA). The coloured stripes are left overs mostly, from the bottom, Merino, bunny blend (rabbit/Merino) and Corriedale.

The pattern starts off with 475 sts, and I didn't follow the pattern I used but put my own take on it. It has raised rows of garter sts and every 4th rep is eyelet, the body is stst with a garter sts boarder.

I really love how it's turned out. I would like to make another one in lighter yarns.

Been Busy......and sick

2010-05-27T18:43:00.002+10:00

Been a bit bed ridden with a bad cold the last 10 days. So I put it to good use and knitted my mother a promised garment. It's posted now Mum so I hope you like it...

I took a leaf out of the experts book and put it on a skinny kid so it looks it's best.
The pattern is the Reversible Lace Shrug with Swing shaping from the Elann site.

I've also managed to fit in a couple of skeins of spinning for the stall. It's on the 5th of June.

Again, 24micron Merino, fairly thick about 12wpi and approx. 150g ea.

They'll both knit up beautifully. If you are interested in buying them just drop me an email (woolznyarnz@hotmail.com) for more details. They'll be about $14 ea and I have pay pal.

Welcome Home Tobi

2010-05-19T21:34:00.002+10:00

You've seen him before but our lad is home now!!

There is great debate about the best time to take a puppy from it's mother and I feel we hit the nail on the head nicely. Although a lot would say it is too soon, there is extenuating circumstances.
Firstly, we see puppy Mummy often, so although Tobi is only 7 wks, he will be able to see his Mum for a random feed for the next couple of weeks still. She is only feeding the pups under duress now and has come into season again.

Secondly, because we do see Puppy Mum and her family so much, I was worried that he would form too great a bond with them, before coming to our family permanently. In effect, everytime we went to visit, it would be a homecoming for him.

As it stands, I have never seen a pup settle into another family as well as Tobi has. He hasn't had one minute of stress looking for his sibling or mother at all. Daddy doesn't quite know what to make of having his son around, he is mildly aggressive toward him. Tobi does all the submissive moves he should and Daddy rather than becoming physical with him, just removes himself from the vacinity. I put this down to, about 70% the cause, when we took him out to see his pups for the first time, Mum gave him a good nip and told him on no account was he to get too close to his progeny. He redily obeyed and ignored all advances of his pups from then on and even on subsequent visits.

I think Tobi's natural puppy enthusiasm will win him over soon though as Abe is a naturally playful dog and he won't be able to resist a game of chasey for too long.

So onto the photos..

A few minor rules to learn for the young fella...No you can't chew Mummy's wools

And sorry lad, but toes and clothes etc are off limits too...

It bloody hurts...his teeth are like needles...

so we have stocked up on plenty of chewy toys..he particularly likes the fluffy ropes..

And being a baby...he goes 90 mile an hour to this....

Spoilt rotten...loves the fancy cotton sheets...

In hubbys spot of the bed........

He's had no accidents inside at all, in fact he's a brilliant little guy (well not so little). I thought that he had accepted me when he licked me all over the face as a 3wk old and it just gets more evident every day. He comes when he is called too which just amazes me. Luv him to bits..

Todays dyeing

2010-05-08T15:54:00.002+10:00

This is an order for a lady at my spinning group, 1kg of grey

More merino to be spun and sold...There is 150g per plait, expressions of interest welcome..email woolznyarnz@hotmail.com

Puppy Fix, 5wks old

2010-05-02T18:23:00.001+10:00

So totally tooooooo cute....

Exhaust Dyeing

2010-04-25T10:36:00.002+10:00

So you are doing a spot of dyeing. Normally I use oven bags and boil them in a pot of water but if I want a more consistant dye, when doing a yarn for example, I do a dye bath instead. This is basically just putting your colour in the water then simmering the yarn in the water. You soak in your mordant first. Fibre tends to take up as much dye as it will take up in the first 10 minutes of heating so more often than not you end up with a pot of dye water that would still dye fibre, albeit a little lighter.

I had this problem after dyeing my BFL/Silk and didn't want to waste the water so pondered as to what to put in the pot. I did bring some raw wools back from SA so thought I might put one of them in. I chose the English Leicester as it's not so inclined to felt as the xbreeds. It also has a most lustrous curl. So how to proceed with wool that is filthy??

I had a bucket with mordant and hot water in it, so in went the fleece. To this I added a really good squirt or two of dish washing detergent to cut the grease (or I would have if all the bottles in the house weren't mostly empty, in which case I rinse all the detergent I could scrap out of the bottles). I did add a bit more hot water to assist getting the filth out.

After about 1/2 an hour I put the wool into the dye pot..the mordant water looked like this...

The wool was from the neck of the sheep so not under the protective cover that reduces some of the dust collection...

And here it is going into the pot..

I still had a couple of oven bags in there simmering.

Now I did add a bit more colour to the pot but I'm not going to share exactly what I did. Gotta keep some techniques to myself.

And here is the outcome....

Again the camera lets me down, there is quite a bit of turquoise in this fleece, and blues, purples and a touch of pink hues as well... You can see how shiny it is...I did end up rewashing it the next day as it still had quite a bit of lanolin left in it..

I will post some pics of it when I card it as it looks gorgeous..

English Leicester is a unique fibre and very easy to ruin when spinning it. It has a beautiful lustre and curl reminiscent of Mohair. On the bright side, it doesn't shed like Mohair. If you spin it like normal wool your usual result is a kind of string which is quite scratchy when you wear it.

Luckily the sheep itself has taken care of this by growning a long fleece with a curl rather than a crimp so you can spin it quick, with little twist, thus retaining the softness and loft of the fibre. It also makes great Bouclé, which is what I aim to make with this particular fibre.

Market Preparation

2010-04-25T10:15:00.001+10:00

So I've been busy doing spinning of yarn to sell at the local Craft Market on the 1st of May. I bought some 24micron Merino tops for the purpose.

I've been spinning it plain white, planning to dye it as yarn. This being because you get a different effect when you dye the yarn as opposed to multi coloured braids yet to be spun.

I have varying thicknesses of yarn and weights. The finest being a true 2ply sock yarn. So onto some photos...

They're looking a bit shabby like that but if I reskein them they will look totally different. So I am of two minds..

I also dyed up the BFL/Silk I spun up for myself..it's a lovely cornflower colour

so, since I was dyeing anyways, I thought I'd do some tops as well. Normally I would sell these and not have the pleasure of spinning them so it's going to be a treat to spin them up myself. Here's hoping the yarn sells well so I can do some more..

It looks kind of ordinary like this doesn't it????

So I wave my magic wand and it ends up looking like this....

What can I say....

The biggest problem we have when photographing our product is the colour. These colours aren't quite true and I would have to mess around with lighting and the flash to get it more true to colour. There is a lot more pink hue in these tops, so the purples are more purple and there is more depth to the blues..

Back to wool biz..

2010-04-04T10:33:00.002+10:00

I was very busy whilst on holiday, spinning. I took my Majacraft Little Gem complete with jumbo flyer for plying and skeiner. After all, I was visiting my wool friends on a farm..what better place to take your wheel.

I did actually start spinning at the beach. I took some English Leicester/Finn/Border Leicester/Corriedale fleece in white, all carded and ready to go. Also some black English Leicester/Finn. I started on the white, plied it with some black, finished the white then continued with the black. Unfortunately my subconcious has had enough of finer spinning and each ball got thicker. The last of the black is a chunky. I do have more of it so will try to spin some finer to use with the white or black and white.

black top 235m 350g, bottom 139m 157g, white 562m 355g, black and white 417m 350g

I came back from SA with quite a bit of raw fleece only to realize that I left my carder clamps with Jane's daughter who is playing with my Knitters Loom. Luckily I also bought back some exotic blends and decided to spin one up and keep it for myself rather than sell it. It is Blue Faced Liecester and Tussah silk. 50/50 blend. BFL is not found here in Aus at all. It's a very lovely wool, fine, soft and glossy.

I have plyed one skein so far..it is very nice in chunky..

I still had quite a bit left on my bobbins considering the above skein is 387g, 266m.

I could not fit any more onto the bobbin but I could have if I had been more careful in moving the yarn guide.

So I guess I had better find a pic of the fleece I bought back..

Left, Priscilla English Leicester/Merino

back black, Sista EL/Merino

Clear bag(back right), Mooritt Romney X

Black front, 2 Tags, EL/Finnx

White Front, Pure English Leicester Stud Ewe

Might just show off a few other goodies I got from my friend Ron who works wood.

An Ebony spindle (18g) and a custom made diz with threader (you use this for making batts into roving, if you are interested in seeing one work have a gander on uTube, also if anyone wants one they are $25 AU+post, send me a message and I'll put you onto Ron)

And the Pièce de résistance for me was doing a deal on this...

The jumbo ball winder is mine, it's the wood bit below that is cool. It's called a Squirrel cage Swift. The wood is gorgeous Sassafras and again, if you want one let me know, I'll put you onto Ron.

So back to what I am up to atm. Very busy spinning that white loveliness above but also I have a knit I have finished and one in progress. I hope to one day do a book of patterns and wool information and these two patterns will be in it.

First, my lovely slouchy hat with lace band. Wool is Merino/Bamboo/Nylon blend, mostly used for socks, gifted to me for my birthday by a friend.

The colour was called Wildberries and the yarn is available at Moseley Park Online

And the second number is a hoodie jumper, knitted from the top down. It is in progress but it's coming along nicely.

Modelled by the recipient, she's very pleased with it. The colour is Pillar Box Red, the wool is superwash Merino, hand spun by Me. It's about a chunky.

WHOOOHOOOOO

2010-03-30T10:00:00.000+11:00

We had a wonderful suprise when we got home....Our lad Abe, the cocker spanial, is a pappy to six lovely pups...2 girls and 4 boys!!!! born about 9am on the 28th March...Mum and pups all doing really well..

Abe's pups

THE TRIP

2010-03-30T09:49:00.000+11:00

Long, is the one word discription of our trip to SA (half way across Australia). The constrasts were huge, the people friendly (although pretty simple in a couple of take away places in Mt Barker). The people we went to see and meet were great though which made up for a few hiccups in the trip.

First stop was Warrnambool. We attended a home educators camp at a camp ground open to the public. We were only there for 4 days/3 nights of the 7 days available. We did enjoy this area immensely and hope to do it again next year. The down side was needing to get a new tyre for the van as one was stuffed.

Warrnambool is green, very green and the weather was really nice, not too hot then cooler at night. I don't really like the beach, don't do salt swimming but I do enjoy walking along the beach and fossicking..

We found a few cuttle fish bones for various friends with birds..they were pretty happy with that..

They have really set up this area for walking, cycling or skating. There is a boardwalk right around the bay and a playground park just across the road with little boats for hire. The kids had a ball..

Then it was on the road again. This was the longest leg of our journey. It took over 14 hrs and 1100+km. From Warrnambool up the state and over to Kimba, half way across Australia.

There were a lot of roads like this..

There are heaps of roads like this in SA....very different to other places I have been so far.

There are some wind farms along the route too! Some people don't like them and protested them going up as they were an eye sore.

But personally, I love them. They look surreal and majestic. I don't know why but they remind me of the sound used in War of the Worlds (the original soundtrack), OOOHHH WAAHHHH...

We did have to stop along the way for various toilet and food stops. We were driving down a road boardered by pine plantation and stopped at a rest stop..I thought there were flush toilets there..but apparently not..lol...(thank goodness I didn't need to go)

Most other cities have some kind of bypass for travelers and trucks passing through...apparently this concept hasn't quite hit one of the largest cities in Australia...

This was one of the last pics I took before dark set in..It is the tunnel on the road coming into Adelaide.

The rest of the trip to Kimba was pretty much in the dark and after 10 hrs on the road we were all pretty buggered and not particularly interested in taking photos..

We had been warned to watch out for kangaroo's on the road between Iron Knob and Kimba but thankfully we only saw one on the side of the road and that was before the turn off.

The next morning, I sent the kids out with the camera to take photos of the big thing the locals probably cringe about everytime they see it.

The very large Galah which to be honest, is a bit of an eyesore.

This is my friends B&B house that she kindly let us use while staying in the area.

It's not flash, it's comfortable and pretty typical of the houses in the area. I think it's about 80 years old and much nicer than a tent with 7 kids.

Later the first morning my friend came around and we followed her back to her farm. They have 2400acres about 15km out of Kimba.

Her driveway is 1.5km long...

They dont' do much of anything small in this part of the world.

This is the front paddock...

it's around 300acres...

I think the nature of the land demands that you do things on a larger scale. The best and most reliable stock feed is a shrub called salt bush. The light grey bush in the above photo is one.

My friends kids are quite involved in show jumping and anything horsey is one of my great loves..oh to have a bigger back yard....

We visited the horses in their huge paddock...these guys are either resting or retired.

Aren't they beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the days in the area we did a 288km round trip to watch my friends lovely eldest daughter compete in a local show. It wasn't a big affair but it was a lovely day with good friends..

This is Total Rush, affectionately known as Smack. He's a naughty boy and my personal favourite. He is the upcoming horse of the pair..

And this is Mowglii, the 'A' horse, he is a lovely gentleman..

He's a beautiful boy and a crackin good jumper too!!!!

It takes guts to jump this size of jumps, Mowglii jumps at least 1.4m before he even starts trying, Karla, I am in awe!!

You can't get away from the wildlife in this country. If it's not Kangaroos or foxes on the road, it's silly Galah's and lizards.. It's never dull, that is for real.

I was here mostly for a total fibre type fix so the kids had to find something to do where they could. They started a great lizard hunt..with great results.

The locals call this a Sleepy Lizard, mostly as it's sleeps (or warms up) on the road and don't really move too quickly. To a reptile person, it is a Shingleback.

Q found this beauty in the back yard. They mate for life so you should never remove an adult from it's local haunt. We let him go..

There is also lots of birds, Bearded Dragons, ants and mice(mice OMG, the mice, they're heading for a plague up there this winter, the kids had a ball setting mouse traps and then feeding the catch to the meat ants...gross to us but fantastic kid entertainment). With all that food of course there is quite likely snakes so the kids were under strict instructions that if it didn't have legs they were to give it a very wide berth.

Can't have a trip to the farm without at least one pic of the sheep. These are English Leicesters and had been sold so were in the yard close to the house.

So after a good 10 days of fibre luxury we were off toward home again. Stopping for 3 days in a burb just out of Adelaide to have a stall at the Mt Barker Show.

So more travel pics...it was dark when we passed through here the first time.

Looks like one of the other pics don't it....nup it's not...

The sun was in the wrong place so pics of Iron Knob weren't very good, I did manage one of the end..

I'm not sure but I think this entire hill is basically tailings from the mine...

Then came the Grampians, these are the hills on the other side of Adelaide..

Driving up the Adelaide hills on the other side of the city from this pic above, I almost missed this photo op...I did however get it and I think it may be the only pic of it. By the time the news crews got there the fire was out...

This truck caught alight going up the hill..the driver had gotten out and it was pretty dangerous looking.

As usual people were rubber necking...

We went to a camp ground close to the show where I was having a stall..It was pretty much a freak show...some odd people live in these places..

The show wasn't overly big but we all did ok the first day.

Here is a pic of our stall..

I had my fibre to spin, stitch markers etc, my partners were Moseley Wool, with her yarns and SpinningWoodie with his beautifully made wooden drop spindles and other lovely stuff!!!

The second day was cursed by rain so people came, looked, but didn't buy. We were told to pack up at 3.30pm so when hubs came to pick me up we decided to drop the tent (which was soaked through from the rain) and head home. It was a 9 hour drive but all the kids were pretty keen to get home again after 14 days away.

The trip home was plagued by drizzling rain and mice running across the road. I have never seen so many mice in my life.. The grain regions are heading for a big mouse plague this year so I hope they are pre-empting the problem..

2 sleeps to go....

2010-03-10T08:35:00.000+11:00

Onto the final countdown before going away on our big trip. Camping grounds are booked, my friend Jane is all set for us to arrive next Monday. Got a new tarp for under the tent after the other one got shredded when we used it on the new couch.
Almost sorted for having the stall at Mt Barker. Need a board to put my stitch markers on.

So the last few days I processed some East Friesian fleece. It's not widely known as a spinning fleece (more commonly used as carpet wool) but I prefer it to most other fleece. It's a bit higher in the micron but I have worked closely with the breeder and she has some beautiful soft genes that she kindly grabs for me when shearing is done.

My pet hate is processing fibre. And this lot had a fair bit of vegetable matter in it which I painstakingly picked out. Batts are time consuming at the best of times but I think they turned out really well...

I did about 800g of just plain white..it looks gorgeous and is soooo nice to touch..

I also dyed up about 1400g of coloured batts, they looking rather flat before recarding.

Now they look like this.....

After doing that, I realised that I don't have anything to spin myself while I am away. I am taking my little travel wheel with me, Jemima the Majacraft Little Gem.

So I pulled out some fibre Jane gave me for helping her at Bendigo last year.

I had three lots and chose two similar ones to take. The white one is English Leicester/Finn, Border Leicester, Corriedale x.

It was a lambs fleece so the staple was quite short, about 4cm in places. This would have been a hand spinning nightmare if I didn't have the drum carder.

This is it on my Ashford carder.

Here are the batts...

They are really soft, just gorgeous...

and spins up a treat....

The second fleece is a lovely black, it's English Leicester/Finn x.

This fleece was also coated, this basically reduces the amount of vegetable matter that is in the saddle of the fleece. There was still a fair amount of dust in the fleece when I washed it...

This was the first time through the carder. I put it through a second time and found I was putting two batts onto the carder without over filling the drum.

I was thinking these batts were kinda big and heavy. Normally the average batt out this carder is about 50g so I was shocked when I put this one on the scales and it came up....

105g!!!!!!!!

I do have a bit of a rep with my friends for not doing anything by halves but this one even shocked me...I didn't intentionally set out to make a mega batt..

I don't have a knitting project for this wool yet. I am thinking a bit of a fairisle pattern on a top down jumper..So I'll be doing some black and white ply as well as black and white balls..

Might make one more post before hitting the road. Friday we'll leave fairly early and head down to Warrnambool...

Ron Mueck Exhibition

2010-03-04T07:56:00.003+11:00

The eldest and I went to the Ron Mueck Exhibition yesterday in at the National Gallery of Victoria. He does sculptures of people and things out of silicone and resin etc. Quite similar to what dear daughter does with her dolls.

I'll start at the beginning... This is what I call cadaver man, he wasn't life size and was lying on a platform on the floor...

Next up was giant new born baby.. we were most interested in this one as this is Bonnie's forte. He did not get the face in proportion in our veiw. But I like the umbilicus...

Bonnie said she couldn't sculpt a baby that damn ugly....

Next was the giant wild man. He was just plain freaky real. I half expected him to get up and start walking around.

Here is a scale of how big he is. That's Bonnie standing next to him.

I didn't really get a good pic of these two, they were imo just gorgeous...I know a few old ladies just like these two....

They were small, just a couple of feet tall.

And back to the gargantuan

she is HUGE...

I am missing the naked fat chick carrying a bushell of sticks cause the photo wasn't any good.

The dude in the boat was bizarre. The boat is actual sized but he's not..his expression is just creepy...

I was quite fascinated with this gang banger...

he was about 2ft tall again...

His cut was fantastic!!!!

I think this one was called old lady sleeping...she just plain looks dead...

she was quite small too..

Onto the just plain weird. I have no idea why someone would want to do a sculpture of a chicken in the process of being processed....

again, it was huge...

Love the cut in it's neck...so real...

Apparently this one is a self portrait...

I just wanted to run my hand over his stubble. This mask was hollow at the back but the front was so real. Knowing a bit about rooting hair into dolls the placement of the hair in this was just great. The others hair (except for the baby) was great too!!

and last but not least, this dude was on a blue wall...not quite life size..

Bonnies critique was that the colour was too pale. Could have been the lighting too tho. They all looked pretty dead...could have been the artists aim too.

Glad I went but to be quite honest, I wish there had been more sculptures. Even if you read every little plaque on the wall and stood for a few minutes staring at each item, you were literally out of there in 45mins. It actually took us longer to get there on the train ...

Still worth a look...

Just as well I went to Morris & Sons and got some more KP knitting needles afterwards.

Picnic in the park..

2010-03-02T08:38:00.001+11:00

I organized a picnic on Saturday for my Ravelry group and sent out the invite to others as well but unfortunately, everyone seems to believe the weather forecasters and only the most stalwart turned up. Ended up 3 of us from Sunbury, one from Werribee and one from the city...

So it was a more 'intimate' gathering but just as much fun. I chose the venue as it is a great place for the kids. So my kids just had a ball...

It was the day after my birthday and my eldest daughters birthday. I made her come with me so we could spend the day together but in true 20yrold style, she mostly stayed in the van sleeping or went for a walk with her brother..that in itself made the day worthwhile.
Here's a couple of pics of the back of the van when I take it out for a Fibre Bus trip...this time...stock is getting less....argh..

Here are the stitch markers and row counters I have been making to take up to SA.

it's actually looking a bit on the empty side. I seriously need to get another shipment..

One of my dear friends bought a cake to torture me and bless her, even a present..

Here is my cake and goodies...The yarn is Merino/Bamboo, oddly enough, from my good friend who I am visiting in SA..I do have some of it already so I know it's yummy...now to knit it...

We didn't actually get to light the candles as it was getting a little breezey by this time...

so we went through the motions...lol...

Here are my friends...and ever tolerant better half. Won't put their names up since this is a public post. Needless to say, the three ladies facing us here, are regulars at our local SnB (stitch/spin n bitch) meetings. And I saw them again the next day for that event!!

So a day of spinning, talking, good company and CHOCOLATE CAKE.....

can't think of a better combination...

Back to Business....

2010-02-26T10:47:00.000+11:00

I am planning a big trip over to South Australia in March. Primarily to visit my dear friend and wool grower/seller, Jane, she has an online store and is a registered breeder of English Leicester sheep. However, times are tough and we are racing to save enough for the trip. The bonus is, I am planning on making part of the trip a business stop. I have a few lovely customers in SA so plan on meeting them.

Dear Jane brought to light that there is an Agriculture show at Mt Barker, just out of Adelaide on the last weekend I am in the state so we are going to pool our resources and have a stall. That way the ladies can all come to meet us and have even more variety of yummies to buy. More on this at a later date.

But before that...tomorrow in fact, I organized a picnic for my crafty ladies in my online forum groups here in Melbourne. I did it before xmas and everyone had such a good time that they didn't want to wait a whole year to do it again.

I had dyed all this....

To take to the picnic but I took it to spinning on Tuesday and the ladies there took a liking to quite a bit of it and I only have the merino superwash left(that is the 4 on the bottom right and the bright coloured one on the right hand end).

So I had to have a looksee at my stock and see what else I had to dye so I have some new stock to take to the picnic.

I found four lots of 200g of fibre.

firstly, Shetland humbug, it's white and brown stripes.

It's actually a lot more pink than the picture portrays.

These two are Blue faced Leicester blended with Tussah silk 70/30%

And last but not least, this one is superwashed, BlueFaced Leicester.

None of these fibres are available from the local market. These sheep simply aren't bred in Australia. Not that there is anything wrong with our local fleece. NZ and Aus do do the best merino in the world and their other breeds are pretty good too.

But we are very limited in variety so this is what I am able to offer my customers.

The picnic should be fantastic. I think it will be a spot warm but not so extreme not to sit under a tree and do a spot of chin wagging and spinning.

On a personal note...I have some finished spinning to share.

I have had this black Shetland roving sitting around for a while. You saw the first skein at an earlier post.

Finally finished spinning it..

It's quite thick, a chunky finish, about 920mts out of just over 1kg of fibre and silk.

The coloured silk is very subtle and I don't think it'll really show up until it's knitted.

This is mine and I do plan on knitting it...but of course, if someone offered me a good price I would sell it.

One thing I must mention about commercial processors that I have noticed.

This wool had been through a thorough scouring and processed into roving. If it hadn't I would not have been able to bring it into the country. This simply means that the wool has been heated to a temperature such as any live seeds or bugs have perished.

I have found however that this process does not necessarily mean that the fibre is clean.

Now this is raw wool, locally sourced Polwarth, uncoated and this is the first wash.

And this is the water from fully scoured and processed Shetland after it has been spun.

I do believe that the processed wool is actually dirtier...

Reason???? When a commercial processor who does multiple breeds and colours of fleece scour, they do the white wools and process them first. But as they go through, the moorit (brown) and black fleece go into the water last.

So while they are free of oils and sterilized of plant and bug matter, they are also full of the dirt from all the other fleeces that have come before them.

This is a real bother for me as the black roving doesn't feel very nice. It feels scratchy and sort of sticky. I do have to tell my ladies that this is because it is quite dirty but it will feel nice after washing.

Of course that water has nothing on your average Alpaca fleece....

Now that is really disgusting...

Baby is home..

2010-02-25T09:05:00.003+11:00

At long last my baby got home on Sunday...after being stuck in Washington DC for a week longer than expected due to "snowmageddon"...She was really roughing it..not..

She loved the 3ft deep snow, as I would as well..but then I am a fibre addict and would have an even better excuse to knit and spin if I lived where it actually got cold...

Had to get the obligatory arrival shots...

'No, Mum, I'm not stopping for a photo'

'I'm all sweaty and smelly'

and she was...be grateful that there isn't smellovision yet...

I had to laugh as she went with one bag and came back with four!!! That's my girl!!

She managed to get to a few of the Museums in DC. And bought home copies of the Gettysburg Address, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and another one I can't remember. Can I ask an American, why isn't George Washington's signature on the Declaration of Independence? (or did I miss it somehow)

The kids are glad their sister is back..even happier to get the lollies and crap she bought back for them..

While in Florida she did the disney outlets..

we got cups...

I collect Peter Rabbit Wedgewood plates. Bonnie found this money box..it's not Wedgewood but German porclein, but it is registered PR trademark.

Apparently this bunny is all the rage. It's from some ritzy store...will add it later as right now the girl is asleep (9am), she's just finished a night shift..

I MUST be mental......

2010-02-17T17:25:00.000+11:00

I'm heading to a Agriculture Show in March to sell some wares...not being financial enough to get another shipment of foreign fibre in I am going through my cupboards of fluff to see what is viable...I have a HEAP of very nice but kinda dirty East Friesian I have pulled out...I'm sifting through to find the least full of vm bits then throwing it through my coarse drum carder to help get the rest of the vegetable matter out.
Keep in mind that this is what stuffed up my arm and gave me tennis elbow (RSI)...

I started mid morning ish....and stopped about when Grant got home....pick pick card card, pick pick card card.........

Slaving all day......

for..................

a whole 380g......

So if anyone ever knits you anything from fleece, straight off a sheep...

BE VERY BLOODY GRATEFUL!!!!!

because it's taken them hours and hours of very hard work...

(to keep this in perspective...I would need over 1kg for a mans jumper and at least 100g for a hat or socks)

MY LATEST SPINNING

Fresh off the bobbin, washed and dried. The first of my black shetland. I have carded some dyed mulberry silk through some of it too..

After all that painstakingly fine stuff this is relatively thick. Don't know the wraps per inch but it's likely about 12-14. Weight is 384g.

The water when I washed it was absolutely disgusting!!!! It could have been a skein of raw wool and been cleaner...This means my theory is right about large scouring interests... They wash the white wools first then progress through the colour scales...black is the last...so although it has no oils in it...there is the dirt from about 4 tonnes of wool...I'll take pics next time of water.....

16 Candles

2010-02-17T10:44:00.000+11:00

My boy turned 16 yesterday....

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing topped with crushed flake chocolate.

now if I was a sane person I might have stopped having children there and I would now be technically unemployed as a mother and have to go look for a job with the big people......

but if I had......I wouldn't have had this one.........

On a roll...and Loving the Storm watching!

2010-02-10T19:46:00.000+11:00

We had a massive series of storm fronts came over today...Huge thunder and lightening...and rain....

lots and lots of rain...BIG DROPS...

Our street is prone to flooding if the rain comes down too heavy..

below is the drain next to our house spewing water out the top...

ie, backing up...the road was one huge puddle at this stage.

Luckily there was a few breaks in the heaviness of the rain.

Good thing is..the pool is near to overflowing..

I tried my hardest to get a photo of some lightening....almost succeeded...

I really love storms!!! Bella and I stood on the front porch for about an hour watching it..

Fuzzy photo but a crackin shot of the lightening in the top right corner...

and here is some of the fronts coming through..

This was 2pm in the afternoon..check out how dark it is...I was swimming at 10.30am in brilliant sunshine

They're still coming through now...great to have the big wet...

Here is the other thing I managed to get done today...

I orginally dyed and spun this bluefaced Leicester fleece then blended it with like coloured tussah silk.

I was going to make a knitted something with it but with my RSI, it's impossible, so I put it on my Ashford Knitters Loom.

I still have to wash and block it so my tassels here aren't curly..

Pretty pleased with the outcome..

I'm limited to about 50cm wide which is a bugger...that being said....I don't know if I would piss around with a larger one very much. Might have to sew a couple of wraps together next time...will use thicker wool than this lace weight though...

YAY, it's done!!!

2010-02-07T09:40:00.000+11:00

Finally, after 2 months of spinning I have finished the never ending Alpaca.

And I have blown out all previous record for packing fibre onto bobbins. I thought I may as I did start off with 700g of fibre and I put it all on two bobbins...

After a whole day of plying, I got to this stage, (we're talking 3 feature films and two seasons of the Vicar of Dibley)

After another full day of plying..............................

May not look like it but I managed to get all the fibre from the right hand bottom bobbin onto that 6mm left on the big bobbin at the top.

I ended up with this much on the left hand bottom bobbin...

Doesn't look like much does it? but that is 50g of fibre once it is plyed. That is what most baby wool balls are in the stores..

Here is the big bobbin full, and believe me, I could have gotten a bit more onto the bobbin if I hadn't have run out on the other bobbin.

After this was taken I started putting it onto my skeiner, a few turns in, it got caught on the bottom of the bobbin and snapped...BAH HUM BUG.

Not to worry, I still ended up with 500g of fibre in one skein!!!

This is a huge amount of yarn in one continuous thread. It is 18wpi (or by comparison to store yarns, 2-3ply thickness), the meterage is 1800 or 1950 yards.

I have a couple of smaller skeins too...25g that I started spinning before washing the lot, 23g that broke when I was skeining and 50g that was left on one bobbin.

I washed it last night and true to alpaca style, the water was almost black with dirt...

It's very very soft yarn and it is for sale. I may knit something with it in the future but if I can sell it, all the better...email me at woolznyarnz@hotmail.com for a price.

Time consuming craft

2010-02-04T08:39:00.000+11:00

Now I don't do crafts just as something to do...hopefully one day it'll be a viable hobby business.. At the moment I am just exploring a lot of different things and a few people have come a long for the fibre ride.

Here are a few things I am working on at this time...

A while ago I spun up some Blue Faced Leicester that I had dyed in a progression of blues and blended with a progression of blues in silk.

I had planed on knitting a wrap or something with it but when my arm cracked the sads (RSI from knitting, yes I was awfully busy with my hands). It got set aside for a while..Then I got an Ashford Knitters Loom and decided to make a wrap out of it. This is my third loom project.

I am working on it about 2 hrs a day. Weaving something like this doesn't take long but if it gets tiresome I move onto the spinning............

I bought some Alpaca from the lovely Julie from Petlyns Wool Crafts It is in a nice grey that she is trying to hybridize to add more crimp to the fibre to give it memory similar to wool... It would be great from a spinner/knitter point as the garments we make won't be so inclined to drop half a metre every time the air gets moist and humid.

That being said, Alpacas are one of the filthiest creatures whose fibre I have ever had the pleasure to process. The little buggers love to dust bath so their fibre is just jam packed with dirt, twigs, grass, seeds, poop, bugs, you name it, you will find it in alpaca fibre. Now granted, Julie's fibre was some of the cleanest alpaca I have ever had, but it is still filthy.

I spent hours picking the crap out of it and after spinning 25g I washed the lot too and repicked it. Then I carded it into batts, picking, picking, picking...........

I have been spinning this for about a month now I think. It is insisting on being spun quite finely so it is taking ages...I have the end in sight now though as I am down to the last two batts. I did this nifty thing with a button called diz'ing. Simply put it's pulling the batt through a little hole (ie button hole) to make a fine rope of roving called pencil roving. Of course they do have a machine that does this too but I haven't got one.

it looks like this....

I probably should have done it with all the batts but it is very time consuming to do (like the whole darn craft) and I had other more pressing time hungry things to do.

I had 700g originally, I have spun 25g already but I have only filled two bobbins. Just that ball up there and a smaller one left to spin...and ply..

So anyway, doing that kind of spinning can be very very mind numbing so I often grab something that will enjoy being spun to a more 8ply/10ply kind of thickness. I call them my quick spins, they are solely to break the tedium of other projects. I have had a kg of black shetland sitting for some time. Before my injury I had started carding it with some mulberry silk I had coloured and couldn't find a task for. I probably shouldn't have picked this as my quick spin given that it's a kg of fibre...but Shetland is really nice to spin.

This was one pass through the carder. I only had about 8 more lots to blend so since my arm is feeling ok I thought I would finish them off. I decided to stick with the chunky silk look as it is above.

My Majacraft wheels are busy with the alpaca so I pulled out my Ashford traveller, fondly called Bianca to do the job. She's a lovely wheel to spin on and perfect for this task.

You can barely see the silk in the single. I have a couple of 100g that has no silk and I am still undecided whether to ply it with the silk blend or keep it separate.

I will post more pics as the projects are finished.

Times are busy

2010-01-28T15:14:00.000+11:00

So we get back from camp, barely sleep then I get a wake up call from a very excited teenager.."today's the day mum!!!" She is going to the IDEX Doll Expo in Florida then up to Washington DC with a friend for a few days before coming home.

We were at the airport way earlier than need be and everyone else got to sleep in..

Here is the plane she flew out on to Sydney, there she transfered to another plane to fly to LA and onto Florida

We had a bit of pre-flight fun with little Arabella, Bonnie's latest doll, she is a very talented doll maker. She has her own blog here

Bon voyage Bonnie, have a fun trip!!

Meanwhile, back in the trenches we are having some doggy dating going on. My friends have a Brittany/Cocker Spanial bitch so I left Abraham 'whole' so they could breed in the future. Over the last couple of years her heat hasn't been at the right time for breeding but we finally caught one that works out for everyone..

This is Abe, puppy daddy..

This is Shay, puppy mummy...

Two exhausted doggies.. and below, doggies doing what dogs do..

So all things going well, in a couple of months, we should be the proud grandparents of a litter of the cutest puppies in the world...eta 30th March

Will post more pics of the expectant mums progress in the future.

RAYMOND ISLAND HOME SCHOOL CAMP '10

2010-01-27T21:58:00.000+11:00

Location, Raymond Island, Victoria.

We try to make at least one home educators camp when finances allow. They are more a meeting of families who home school and activities may or may not happen. Most activities are organized by the kids, like talent quests and birthday parties as at least 3 kids had a birthday. This year we only went for 4 nights as we had to get back for the eldests leaving for the US. The kids were all in favour of just sending a text.

Here is our home away from home. We have been camping with the kids since there was only 4 kids and friends used to send their kids away with us. The tent and vehicle have gotten bigger over the years.

Aww....aren't they just the epitomy of home ed kids....

Our foot print..

I sent the kids off with the camera from time to time...I like to call these God photos..

Beautiful sunset..

Kids jumping off one of the boat jetty's.

Pippin exploring in the lake. Well they call it a lake but it's salt water. Not very tidal on account of the mouth of the bay being so small. It makes for very interesting sea life.

Brie actually has a couple of hands full of jelly fish eggs...

Looking across the channel to Raymond island from the ferry loading point.

On the Ferry

Photographic proof that Bella does wash her teeth on camp......at least once...

Swans and gulls on a little sand bar.

Smooth as glass...the day before it was so choppy we bought a little boogy board..

Charli posing for her brother..

Kam....soo cute when she's asleep..

Waiting for breakfast....

Skinny boy..E

Ahh..onto the wildlife...I didn't actually get a photo of the Koala's this time although there were many sitings..

This is a Galah...cute but really dumb...

Swans...

This little guy cruised around the camp for a while. The kids even gave him a little pet.

Echidna.

This lovely little lady was on the roof of the kitchen the last morning we were there. She's a Huntsman, she was cleaning her face. The photo is pretty true to size, she was about as big as the palm of my hand.

Dyeing....non toxic...

2010-01-20T17:09:00.000+11:00

Most people think that natural dyeing with plants and other stuff is, in a word "natural", what most people don't know is that the mordants to get those colours to stick can be and often are, very toxic.

On the other hand, most people thing that dyeing with food grade colours is something you do for play dough and cheapy paints for kids.

WRONG

The only down side of food grade colours here in Aus is the lack of colour options. The mordant or setting agent for food colours is plain and simple white vinegar..

Cooking time is about 45 minutes at a simmer. Either immersed or in bags.

SO, here is my latest dyeing efforts...

This wool is wet and will look a lot different once I have finished prepping it.

Well that is that for this lot. Will post more pics once it's dry and presentable..

Let's party!!

2010-01-18T09:16:00.000+11:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLLYBURTON PARK

We had the great pleasure of being invited to our friends farm to help celebrate 16 yrs of living at HollyBurton Park (Anyone who does patchwork, Colita has great batts for quilts!!). We have known Rob and Colita for a good many years now and they are one of the few not afraid to ask a family of our size around for a visit. Colita was one of my first sources for spinning fleece in the local area too. She has mostly meat sheep but there is a couple of lovely merino x's in her flock.

So anyways, back to the party. I think about 30 or so people managed to arrive, about 60% of which, were kids. Colita and Rob, like myself, home school so the kids are the best kids around when they get together. It was hot on the Saturday, so many went for a swim in the lake. It wasn't very late when the temp dropped a good 10 degrees and other activities were pursued.

Here is Colita, our lovely hostess, putting a nice pork leg into the bbq and spicing it up.

It's a great cooker and the food comes out great!!

Here is the banner that the kids made. Looked fantastic!!!

Rob and a few guest catching up (I'll point out Rob properly below)

These are some photos I took when we went down to the lake for the kids to swim!!

It's a beautiful spot and I have spent quite a few visits down here. It's not uncommon to light up a fire and cook some food (when there isn't fire danger of course)

Looking back up the hill to the old shearing shed.

The soccer game was hilarious!!!! No bands to tell the teams apart and a lot of banter..

Sorry, was too busy eating, talking and generally having a lovely time to take photos of the party later on...so here we are the next morning.... Farm noises are a lot different than town noises and I was woken up by these guys who were rather disgruntled (hehe) as Colita was late with breakfast....talk about stress!! sounded like they were picking out who look the weakest ready to eat them.....

It was a little dark under the trees (not to mention it was 6.30am) and the flash from the camera actually shut them up for a few minutes.

So anyway, I was awake, so I went for a little walk to take some dawn pics. The geese were having a great time on the lake..

This pic was a bit of an experiment, I was walking up the race with the sun in front of me and it looked great coming through the gum...

Here I am...look how tall I am!!!!!

Looking down on the lake again...

The cloud sitting on the hill caught my eye...The farm ends at the top of the gully there I think, just behind the trees by the lake.

One of Colita's girls has a hobby business of eggs and fowl, this is a guinea fowl. They are great for warning the chickens that a fox is around. They're pretty flighty too it was hard to get a good photo of them as they kept running away.

Colita has a traditional stonewalled vegetable garden and this lovely stone based bird bath...it looked nice so I took a photo..

The morning after the night before...this is the teen contingent looking very tired. It wasn't long after this photo that most of them got up for some aerobics (I jest not, it was hilarious!! espcially the antics of Rob and his friend Daniel)

Speak of the devil, Rob on the left, Daniel on the right.

Many thanks to Rob and Colita for a wonderful night, food and company. And many more happy years at HOLLYBURTON PARK!!!

Summer Madness

2010-01-14T14:50:00.000+11:00

Husby got me some additions to my shelving unit and to utilize it to the best advantage I had to basically empty my room out and move everything around..

Do love how it's come out. Moved the frog tank onto it. Now have a place for my wheels so they aren't sitting in front of a window or my work table.

Took this photo before I tidied up the chairs and put them away.

Table tidied up and ready to work again...

I made the wheels a bit of a curtain out of my wraps..

Shelves kinda organized again..

I don't believe how much stuff I had tucked away till I had to move it all out...

I even put up the photos that the eldest got us for xmas. And put up my barn painting...

Needless to say I was exhausted by the time we finished and very sore today with all the heavy lifting and pushing around of heavy furniture. Do have a bit more organizing to do.

Spinning

2010-01-07T23:12:00.000+11:00

To be perfectly honest, I don't know how many people actually check out this blog. I am hoping I can educate a few people who don't know anything about spinning but like to knit, just how long it takes a "person" to spin yarn. This lovely chain of roving (fancy word for processed wool) was sold as 6.5oz or 184g of Blue Faced Leicester.

From this I separate it into smaller stripes of wool. This made it a bit easier to spin by 'fluffing' up the fibres that may have matted together in the process of shipping, dyeing and general storage.

Now I am a pretty prolific spinner(according to all my crafty aquaintances). I spun this fibre over about 10 days I think, in sections of about 2+ hours at a time per day. I spun it pretty fine as I planned to make a 3 ply yarn. This means that there are 3 threads in the final yarn.

If you haven't already done the math, that is at least 20hrs of spinning put into 6.5 oz (180g).. The thickness of this stage is about a piece of sewing cotton thick. Then I employed a technique called Navajo or Chain Plying to spin into the final yarn. For those with no clue at all, the first spin is done clockwise then 1, 2, 3 or more strands are plyed Anti clockwise.

Today I finished off the fibre photographed above and spent about 5 hours Navajo plying the final yarn. Then I wound it onto a skeiner and counted how many rounds I did so I can have a approximate meterage.

Whenever you process wool in any way, you lose weight for some reason. Whether that be moisture loss, dirt loss, or knot loss, you never end up with what you started with. I ended up with 177g of yarn, 424 metres. Plenty enough to knit a hat and a cowl or two pairs of socks, the second pair would probably be shorter. Or a hat with either socks or mitts.

In conclusion, for 177g of 20wpi(wraps per inch, it is a gauge most knitters who spin use to estimate the size needles etc to use on handspun, this yarn would be about an average 4ply in the store), I spun in excess of 26 hours.

When you can buy cheap Chinese, machine spun yarn for about $3 per 50g, it doesn't make buying hand spun for $20+ per 100g very attractive.

On the other hand, my hand spun yarn is unique, one of a kind and well made. Not to mention I have fibres that are exotic and can't be found, even cheap, from China.

If you knit and would like to get some handspun, don't be so shocked at the price. A LOT, of work has been put into that yarn and it is naturally infused with love. We love to spin, it is our chosen craft obsession. And if you want something bigger like a jumper out of your knit, you could use our unique yarn as a focal part of a garment made mostly of the cheaper store bought stuff.

Stupid As Dog

2010-01-07T08:46:00.000+11:00

I love my dog but he really is pretty much as stupid as he looks most of the time. Caught him being mental on the grass the other day. Followed by a game of chase my shoe.

He has ticklish front feet and a mullet hair style, doesn't like to swim and freaks out in the car (even though he's travelled since he was a pup). He's also the best dog a whole bunch of kids could have.

Yep...he's a real dufus!!!!

I swear, he's smiling for the camera...

Abraham Fleabus Dawg

(English Cocker Spaniel)

Farewell to Mother

2010-01-04T08:18:00.000+11:00

Mother is off home today. We take her to the airport at about 1.30pm to be there at 2..She arrives home at about 9.50pm tonight. Over the last couple of days I decided to knit my niece a little gift. She's sounded a little flat when I have talked to her lately so I hope it'll cheer her up.
I thought I was using the falkland I spun up a couple of days ago but it turns out that it's the Polwarth I got from NZ...kinda ironic really... It looks lovely and is incredibly soft.

The roving, from the south Island of NZ

Spun up

Tah Dah

Bells modelling it..

Hope you like it Jaz, gives ya a reason to hunt Gran down before she claims it as her own.

DAY TWO

2010-01-02T10:32:00.000+11:00

Day two of hatching sees us with 7 chicks. There is still one to hatch which we are hoping will happen. One had a good sized hole in it's shell but then died. Apparently, this is a fairly good hatch for artificial incubation. I'll probably transfer them to the nursery tonight if the last hatcher survives.

It's very cute watching them preen while they are still a tad unsteady on their feet. Can't beat baby animals for the cutesy factor!!!

Edited to add the latest photos of them after I moved them from the incubator to their nursery. The last egg hatched at about midday. It's the second little black one. They still need to huddle under the lamp for a bit but while I had the cover off they all started to eat. Bodes well for successful raising.

New Year, New Life

2010-01-01T20:51:00.000+11:00

I put a dozen eggs in to incubate on the night of the 12th of December. Candling at 5 days showed that two were most likely not fertilized. Then another peek at 19 days showed that we had another that was a quitter, it stopped developing at about 8 days. They sat at about 103*f for 21 days, then at about 10am this morning (1st Jan) I noticed the first peep.

It stayed like this for a looooong time....at about 3 pm it started to make that little cracked area drop a few bits of shell and we could see a little beak poke out from time to time..

The cracks started to spread right around the egg and at 5.30pm it finally pushed the top off the egg and propelled itself out of the shell.

Three hours later it looks like this.....

There is nothing quite as cute as a freshly hatched chick!!!

It really brings back the wonderful miracle of life incubating eggs.

In my pic without the flash below you can see the other peeped eggs. We should have another couple by midnight, all things going to plan..

The wee darling seems to know my voice. When I rolled the eggs, three times a day, I would always talk to them. Now this little cutie is chirping to all the other chicks.

HAPPY NEW BIRTHDAY YEAR

2010-01-01T10:52:00.001+11:00

New Year's is always a celebration in our house and not just for the obvious reason. My youngest lad celebrates his birthday.

Happy Birthday Jonas...

Opening his pressy's

The vultures hovering over the cake bowl, while Jonas opens his card from Grandma

The cake, chocolate fudge cake (ala Betty)

I wish this cake was 4 times bigger......

cutting the cake...

Other than our wee celebration I would like to wish all my friends a very HAPPY NEW YEAR

May it be better than the last..

2009-12-26T23:13:00.001+11:00

I just pilfered photos of my kids off the eldests facebook...so here they are...

work it out yourself...lol, Bonnie blew this one up and gave it to me for Xmas framed.

Elijah and Bonnie

Ashtyn and Mum, right before she went out for the first time as an 18 year old.

goofing around

Xmas...

2009-12-26T22:18:00.000+11:00

Better late than never....Mum arrived on the 14th...Kids are loving having her around.

Kamilah with Grandma

Jonas and Grandma

My new laptop, Lenovo, 2gig dual core, 3 gig ram, blah blah blah, love the screen!

The tree on Christmas Eve.

Pippin and Kam, in dresses their Granny bought. I don't know that they have taken them off since.

The best Christmas present ever. I don't think any of the kids have been off it since it was put up. I am still in awe of how Santa carried it to the back door being 100kg in the box....(Chiropractic appointment will be booked as soon as possible)

Charli-bear

Who would have thought a simple hula hoop would be so popular?

Well thats about it for this installment. I have spun up 380g of superwash for Brie in the last few days so I guess my next post will be all about fibre...

GREEN DAY ROCKS!!!

2009-12-22T14:30:00.000+11:00

We went to a Green Day concert on the 14th of Dec with the eldest. Green Day with a JET starter!!!...I have loved Jet since they released their first album so it was just great seeing them! They were great in person but their sound mixer wasn't as good as it should be. The vocals weren't quite up to the music.

Then, there was the impromptu appearance of this bunny (I think it was Billy Joe), way funny.

Green Day and Billie Joe on the other hand were just perfect!!! It was hard to take video while dancing. I have never actually seen a Melbourne audience quite so animated at a concert. Thanks Green Day!! I'm definitely coming to see you again!!

Oh, one down side!! THE T-SHIRTS WERE $55.....sooo not paying that for a shitty shirt.

I tried to upload the video, but I think it may be too big as it's not finished in over a day.

The Boys Room MKII

2009-12-13T20:38:00.000+11:00

What can I say....TAH DAH!!!!!!!!!!

The Boys Room

2009-12-11T16:18:00.000+11:00

As usual my timing is impeccable, my mother arrives on Monday and my sciatic nerve is pinched. I am under orders NOT to do anything to set my progress back by the chiropractor and I am redecorating my boys room. Started out that we got some carpet squares cheap so decided to pull up the carpet in their room which was basically a health hazard. Once it was done, the tongue and groove was in too good a nick to recover it so we decided to varnish it instead.

And of course, since the room was empty and the walls were pretty messed up I thought (in my wisdom) that we may as well paint them as well. Of course I was probably thinking that I could get others to do it (not mentioning any names) but if you want something done properly, do it yourself. I tried to get the boys to prep the walls, fill holes, sand off the plaster etc. But they have done a pretty crap job. Since I give it about, hmmmm, 2 wks till there is a hole "that no one did" I'm not worrying too much. Today I did the roof, got the boys to do the skirting boards, then after seeing what a crap job they did of them, did them again myself. Gave the walls a quick coat with the roof paint..
Before After

I was all set to get the hubster to roll the walls when he got home when I remembered we have a date for dinner with friends..."DOH"...will see how I feel afterwards...The colour is a pale blue....but never fear...I have some other plans up my sleeve before it's done. Watch this space....

Corowa Trip

2009-12-06T20:55:00.001+11:00

I took the Fibre Party Bus up to the NEVYL (North Eastern Victoria Yarn Lovers) Groups Xmas gathering on Saturday. Since I do have a bus I took a couple of extra yarn nuts with me. My good friend Michelle, a new immigrant from Canada, Megan and I better not forget my hubby. The trip took 3.5 hrs driving each way which we broke up by stopping at Mich's Mum's place to drop off her daughter and grandson. That was a really nice experience for young Megan as she got to see a fair dinkum Aussie vege garden. Not something often seen in the Arctic Circle(a vege garden that is). We lunched at a pub in Corowa then went around to one of the ladies homes for a SnB. Headed home at about 5.30 and got home about 9.30pm. We had a few stops on the way back due to fatigue. Most of the long road photos are taken on one road called, Three Chain Rd.

Here is the meet up at Shaz's place. Wonderful setting, great company, perfect day.This is the bridge to Victoria, Corowa is on the NSW side of the Murray River.

I have never driven down such straight roads!!! We had a bit of excitement on the freeway going up when some IDIOT did a U turn and traveled the wrong way down the freeway to cross at a service point to the other side of the freeway....

Here is what the back of the bus looked like..

B52's and the Proclaimers

2009-12-04T09:23:00.000+11:00

We saw the B52's and the Proclaimers last night and they ROCKED!!!!

I took some video of the Proclaimers doing I'm on my way and 500 miles. Not the entire songs unfortunately as I had never used the video on my camera before. Needless to say I am kicking myself as it turned out quite good.

x

What can I say, the B 52's just plain ROCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not bad for ole fellas. I am kicking myself for not doing some vid of them!!

I WENT, I ROCKED, I GOT THE T-SHIRT!!!

Dyeing...

2009-12-02T19:03:00.000+11:00

I did some dyeing today. Of wool to take on my we road trip up to Corowa on Saturday.
Here is how it turned out.

And here is a pic of one of the kids and the dog, Abraham, stupid as mud but oh so pretty!!!!

DECADENCE SPINNING

2009-11-26T16:49:00.000+11:00

I am very lucky to be in possession of some very luxurious fibres so what better than to spin them and ply them all together!!!!

Being this close to Christmas I will put it on Etsy. The three plys are Yak, Cashmere and Baby Camel and Silk. It's just gorgeous!!! There is 251 metres or 274 yards of yarn, weighs 110g or 3.88 oz, 18 wraps per inch. In Australia terms that is about a 4-5 ply type yarn.

Yak on the bobbin

Baby Camel and silk on the bobbin

Baby camel silk, Cashmere and Yak during plying.

During plying.

Tah Dah.....done!!

It is very soft and there are no breaks in it at all, unlike store bought.
Not to mention, there is no wool like it anywhere.