My Tweed Yarn...

Finally, I have some tweedy yarn from my 3 natural colours of white, grey and dark brown. Have only 3 skeins at present but have a fair amount carded ready for spinning so hope to get more done before the next Nagambie market.

I am hoping they sell well.

Lot's been happening....

Recently, Leigh and I have been travelling to the Northeast around Wangaratta , Euroa, Benalla, etc., in the hope of finding a property that has more rainfall and no irrigation. There were some nice properties we looked at, including one with a shearing shed "to die for", but in the end he has made the decision that we are better off where we are, and adding a shearing area and building another double garage to house all my wool, and working materials.
He found that you might have a good house and old sheds with not so good land, and vice versa. The estate agents did a great job considering there were several properties but in opposite directions at times. We almost went over towards Ballarat area which had some good land for sheep but not quite suitable for the small amount of cattle we have.
Monday, there was no work for him so he has put up a gate and some fencing around the Dairy vat room, which will work reasonably well for the shearing as well as any yarding requirements, so then all that's needed is some holding yards in the room , shift the shearing plant and put a board down and the first stage is complete.
With early summer rains and some autumn rains we had a lot of Bathurst burr set, so ongoing work to get rid of that will be prioritised, as well as more fencing before the sheep can go in other paddocks.

Below is a photo of some of the North East Yarns group with our stall during our Wangaratta Wool Day.


Recent purchases from First Edition Fibres

.....EweGiveMeTheKnits - treasures (I am not sure what I will do with these yet after they are spun).

Picking clean white fleece for my handspun tweedy yarn I have been planning....

...and carding light grey...

My father made these toys.. he generally donates these for sale at a special school in Echuca, but needs a little extra cash for glues, nails, etc. so I took them to the Girgarre Market to see what interest they held, sold one set to another stallholder.

New bright, padded tote for the stall,...

plus some more cobweb felt scarves.

Alpaca Open day at Chersam Alpacas, Koyuga...the boys are peeping over the fence to see the girls with their new offspring.

Today I am....

...picking, carding and spinning some Suri fleece for a client. It is an extremely long fleece, and I wanted to spin it as a raw fleece. Because of it's length it has proved a little challenging. I cut it half and hand carded originally, but now I am picking as a whole length then drum carding several times before spinning. I think the skeins still look lovely. This I am spinning on my Ashford Joy.
Over the last week or so I have also commenced another alpaca fleece for another client, this is on my electric wheel, another alpaca fleece is being spun on the Tara wheel.
In the meantime a grey fleece has been picked and carded, the remainder of a white fleece is halfway through being carded, and the brown fleece has been picked.
Out on the verandah a tan alpaca fleece, and a dark brown sheep fleece are drying after their washing process.
I now feel productive. Will get more photos on here soon.
I might go to Merrigum this afternoon to catch up with the ArtMooveau girls.

Wool Day...

Wangaratta Wool Day was busy, with visitors flocking to the stalls which included First Edition Fibres, Mandie from EGMTK, Anne Churches with her Tapestry Weaving, Julie Petlyn with Alpaca fibres and Fibre Picker and combs.

Demonstrations included Tunisian crochet,needle felting, weaving, and novelty spinning.

I took my handspun shawl to put on our North East Yarns stall, and I was very pleased to have several admirers of it. It could have gone on to our stall at the Beechworth Old Schoolhouse Gallery, but I thought I would continue to keep it on my own stall until Bendigo Wool Show and if not sold in that time, can then go to Beechworth.

Although I have plenty of fibre from various sources, I had to buy more. There is always something you different to do. I'll post some photos when I organise the photos.

More time....

I have recently gone back to working two days, as family (incl. extended) issues had arisen, so hopefully I will be able to devote more time to craft and still enjoy just a couple of days at work.
As I had already visited my daughters' on Monday I was able to have time for myself on Wednesday, happily completing the picking of a grey fleece and carding half of it. I am hope to blend with white and dark brown for a tweed effect.
This is a completed gullwing shawl from my handspun coloured blend.




Busy night tonight, will have to make up a loaf of sandwiches to take to Wangaratta.
The North East Yarns with Wangaratta Handspinners and Weavers are hosting their Annual Wool Day. It will be a busy wonderful day.

Happy Easter....

It's a lovely day outside this Easter Sunday. So, have been watering fruit trees and vegie garden, watching the pumpkins grow. Checked out what was underneath a dying peanut plant - not quite right peanuts - so I know we can grow them here. The other plants are still growing, not dying back, yet. Dug up some potatoes, as well.
Later this afternoon, will head off to Echuca this afternoon to have tea with the girls and family, and visit my parents as well.
My mother gave me the sad news that her brother, Les, had died quietly in his sleep last night. My uncle had led a busy life over the years, having many farms, last being at Daylesford. He was renowned for attending the Dog Trials on his scooter. when I went to visit my ex-MIL at Ballarat St. John of God Hospital 2 weeks ago, I had hoped that I would get the chance to visit Les as well, but he had been discharged that day, as there was no more they could do for him. I would imagine that he would have practically jumped out of bed when they said he could go home (if his legs would have let him). My sister took Mum to visit him a couple of days later.
Uncle Les was 80 years old (always a good innings).
My ex-MIL remains in hospital in a stable condition, so now we wait and see.

I had a reasonable day at Nagambie Market yesterday, lots of people about, a bit cool to start off with but warming up late morning.

Crafting goes on....

I decided to add a few more woven scarves to my stall items as Winter is coming. I have used some Bendigo wool yarn and some natural brown that I overdyed. I have also spun up some of my blended batts, with no colouration in mind except to see what they turned out like. And, I am happy with the results so far.



....scarf on the knitter's loom

.....a scarf completed using overdyed natural brown processed yarn

.....handspun wool yarn from blended dyed wool fibres

.....blended dyed wool fibres batts

I recently picked the almonds off our three trees, resulting in a bucket and a half (not including those picked and eaten straight off the tree in preceding days).

......almonds after picking

A little bit of sad news as my ex-mother-in-law is seriously ill in Ballarat's St. John of God Hospital. As she is 87 years old I envisage a sad outcome, as she will certainly go into care if she gets through this acute stage. My FIL also has to have an operation on his hip, which is infected (previous hip replacement several years ago), this week so they will be in hospital together. They have been unwell over the last two years, but have managed to be able to stay in their own home with services available to them. So with 2 daughter and two babies, and meeting my middle daughter off the train at Ballarat, we trotted off to visit them. It was particularly important as the hadn't seen Amelia yet. The girls were happy and the great grandparents were happy, and now we play a waiting game.

All the local markets at the moment seem very quiet. I am unsure whether it is the current economics or the fact that there seems to be lots of events on at he same time everywhere. We will wait and see what the winter brings.