Five on Friday - Five Finished Yarns

I did manage to do a bit of spinning over the Summer break. I have my Ashford Traveller permanently at our beach house, so I can swap bobbins between my two Ashford Wheels.

I've finally washed the skeins and reskeined half of them, all I have to do now is photograph, measure and put them on Etsy, the least enjoyable part of the job. Anyway, here they are:

A fibre sandwich from the Harrietville weekend, plyed with purple. Have more to go!

Alpaca, with knots throughout. Not my best knots, but always give that little extra texture.

Dyed wool from Kathy's Fibres, purchased at Bendigo, navaho plied to keep those gorgeous colours alive!

Dyed yarn from Experimental Spinning, plied with fine Polwarth from Tarndwarncoot. The fine single was not scoured, so was scoured AFTER plying. The two different fibres reacted differently and I manage to get a slightly more textured two ply.....deliberately!

This is English Leicester and was spun for a non-spinning Leanne who won it at a Harrietville weekend. I think we'll be able to make a pouch for phone and keys when she goes on one of her photographic expeditions.

I've now started several more spinning projects....but I must finish the Samoyed!

And, of course there were sheep!

As I wasn't buying any yarn or fibre this year at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo, I did go and have a good look at the sheep. Always worthwhile, but even better in the company of someone who knew about sheep...thanks Helen....

And, it is about the sheep, all sorts of sheep....

I'm not buying any fibre or yarn in Bendigo!

As you can see, I set myself a pretty tough goal. The stash is just doing my head in, a little....

Success, I didn't buy any fibre!

Sock yarn doesn't count! That's just like buying clothes...not really stash!

And boucle yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills. Wasn't going to but a friend (?) mentioned the pink and black coco chanel jacket. Who could resist?

And the blue was different and I could mix the black with cream for that classic combination.

Three spools of silk from Yarn Barn in my favourite colourway....nothing to say!

And this isn't yarn, it's rubber and wool from Dairing. Knitted, ironed (with paper protection) looked amazing. Rough lace is the only way I can describe it. Anyway, it's an experiment, not stash.

I did manage to find some small equipment, this was on my list. I wanted more weave it looms and my favourite small tool maker is Petlyn fibre products and they had these little looms. I have two sets of their wool combs and they are always very helpful and their  products are beautifully made. More  playing and experimentation.

Anyway, I think I did ok. Now off to knit socks!

The strange things that come back from a sheep and wool show!

I made a vow not to buy any fibre or yarn from the Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo, my stash is starting to do my head in....must use up the old stuff! Did try my best...However, I allowed myself the pleasure of trying to find stuff, you know, tools books, etc.

It was, however the weird things that made it back from Bendigo that make it into this post.

Shopping in Bendigo Wholefoods, which was discovered last year, is such fun. I didn't need anything, but just had to get this frog tea holder....not the monkey one...such restraint! Twinings seem to not be selling my favourite tea, Orange Pekoe, so I just had to have something to go with my frog!

 Great restraint was shown at the show, but I just had to pick up this picture book on chickens. Who can resist a whole book of amazing chicken pictures? Inspired anyone?






We've been creating a minor stir in the wonderful eateries we've found.Bella Blue cafe & bar for lunch and The Foundry for dinner. Bella Blue was found this year through the Gluten Free in Bendigo website. I'm not gluten intolerant, but having a members of our crew who need to be careful, it provides the opportunity for serious searching, rather than just taking the first choice. Both places are great places to eat and Bella Blue ticks all my boxes for a fun, quirky coffee place....and I didn't even have a coffee there. (Hint: try the teas!)

Sitting at The Foundry of an evening, knitting and chatting, certainly creates a stir. To the point where we met one of the stall holders who showed us this clipping.

After some prompting, she told us, passionately, about her business having invented the safety peeler and combined with the safety knife to create a very interesting business. Did I say she was passionate, once started..... I love passionate people and is was a wonderful conversation. I'm going to try her knives. Pity I don't have small children, would have loved these with Stuart, my youngest ,the grazer.

Saturday was spent in the antique shops opposite the Bendigo Art Gallery, though a stop in the church op shop around the corner did yield a book on France.






And nestled amongst them was Libris, a book binding shop. Oh my....Had to get a bound notebook, something, anything. They have classes in bookbinding. Too late for this year, only two spots in November left. This will be 'My 1957' project...the year I was born Sketches in a monogrammed book. What fun!

I did end up getting some yarn, but more of that later.

Samoyed and new toys!

Eventually you have to get on with things. I've finally managed to catch up with the lovely Samoyed owner W and discussed progress on the spinning and weaving of a blanket from her lovely Samoyed fur. Many things had to align for us to finally have an excited and exciting discussion. We're both passionate about this project, I for the challenge it will be and for W, the promise of a wonderful reminder of a friend.

Here is the bags of fur that I now have to spin!

It also means that I do feel the pressure and was highly delighted when I showed her the small spun samples and the little bit of weaving that I had done. The weaving was done on a weave-it loom, which is only a square with nails and gives a fairly rough approximation of the final product. Fortunately, her immediate response was positive!

In testing out the spinning I used my small wool combs and loved the result so much that I determined to buy the much bigger English combs when I went to the Australian Sheep and Wool show in Bendigo in July. I've been playing with these monsters ever since, and just love the speed of preparation and the resulting ease of spinning. It is these that I will use to prepare the Samoyed for spinning.

Now I'm off to spin up some the wonderful wool top from Andyle to make into lovely natural coloured neckwarmers. I've just realised that without really thinking, I've been doing the right thing. In the middle of winter, when I can't really get any dyeing done as there's nowhere to dry and the boys don't really appreciate having their bathroom taken over by slow drying skeins, I spin natural wool tops that I get at the sheep show. It makes so much sense. Now, I have to make a special big effort over the summer to do alot of dyeing!

Bendigo in a day

The Australian Sheep and Wool show in Bendigo (or Bendigo, Bendi, or other terms of endearment) is an annual pilgrimage for those of us that appreciate wool in all its forms. This year, with the train being replaced with a bus service due to works on the line, we decided to take a car and travel together. This enabled the usual chatter, plus the bonus of a side trip to the Bendigo Woollen Mills.

I managed to spend all my money (?) on beautiful yarns, wonderful tops and NO fleeces (I have TOO many unspun fleeces.) I've even managed to pack them away....sorry....before taking pictures!

I did manage to see sheep! There's always a wide variety of breeds and the judging of the fleeces can be viewed and increases your knowledge of breeds and quality. I did manage to have a quick look at the Cashmere and Mohair goats. Next year, I'll make it to the alpacas!

A trip through the various woolcraft sheds is never complete without a visit to Lewis Harper, the wonderful wood turner.

The Woolcraft competition is wonderful, with a shed full of spinning, weaving, felting, crochet. Young and Novices and the more experienced testing their skills and displaying their craft...and...

the Experimental Spinning group won first prize in the group entry class!

So, a brilliant day, with good company, laughs, treasures, finds and plenty to keep me occupied for awhile, at least till next year!

See you there, sometime.

More from Bendigo?

As I was writing yesterday, I forgot the surprise phone call from the Woolcraft committee. I had won one of the prizes in the raffle the Woolcraft committee run at every show.

I forgot as the winning of raffles is not an regular occurance. Except, of course, when it causes embarrassment, as when I attended for the first time the HWSG Christmas party. The compulsory plate was happily taken along, but I had not contributed to the Christmas hamper raffle, only to win a Christmas hamper, not the BIG one, but embarrassing enough that I religiously make sure a good contribution is made EVERY year!

Anyway, my prize arrived yesterday and it's this lovely print:


It's a print by the artist, Conni Togel, and I absolutely love it. If you could see my kitchen table at the moment and quite a few balls of wool inhabiting it, you would see how well I am relating to this picture!

I will hunt through our spare picture frames and it will find a very nice spot in my workshop and brighten my day, just where I need it!

Remember the Australian Sheep and Wool show in Bendigo

It's just like a dream......the train trip to Bendigo.......seems so long ago....and all I can think of is, 'gee, I wish I had (made that purchase/bought more of)....

Any, just to recap. Catching the 7.10am train from Southern Cross station, Jacqui picked me up at 6am at my place, a bunch of us headed off to Bendigo. After missing the first connecting bus, (they were organised this year, sandwich board and all!), we finally arrived at the Bendigo showgrounds.

There were lots of lovely people to catch up with, my favourite or funniest, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one who thought that, was Charley at Ixchel in her lime green fluffy bunny suit with blue fluffy tail, (which apparently got lost over the weekend). I did finally purchase one of her beautiful mixes of merino, angora and tencel. All her wares are beautiful.

Anyway, here are my purchases:

Lots of tops in all sorts of colours, lots of spinning. Another drop spindle...you can't have too many, can you? And another tunisian crochet hook, and a little bit of yarn.

Border Leicester vs Bamboo - wool wins!

We explore a variety of fibres new and old at Experimental Spinning. The last two sessions have provided a real contrast to explore.

Each year the Australian Sheep and Wool show, held in Bendigo, has a feature breed. This year it is Border Leicester.

For the last few years, the hardworking Woolcraft committee have been able to obtain donations of the particular fleece for people to try and the results have been displayed at the show. The Experimental Spinning group of the HWSG have been one of the recipients. It's an excellent opportunity to try a variety of different fleeces, most of which we wouldn't normally spin.

We did really enjoy the experience and the results have shown us that this fibre is lovely to spin and is not as harsh as you might think from a reasonably strong fleece.

I decided that I would try and spin a coil yarn. This is the latest 'in' novelty yarn and there are a number of teachers focusing on this yarn. At the guild, Janet de Knoop does wonderful yarns and is a lovely teacher who I managed to catch at Harrietville.

The yarn is really a take on the traditional bullion yarn with a couple of modern updates. The single doing the coiling is a slubby yarn and it is this slub part that is coiled. This gives a more rounded look as it changes in thickness. The trick with the slub is not to make it too thick just thicker that the regular part of the yarn. This means there is some nice twist in the slub making it neat. However, with a thicker slub it is a fluffier, lest defined coil. Fun nevertheless!

The other trick is not to use a binder to anchor the coil, as is done with a bullion yarn, but using the core yarn to wrap just before and after the coil, thus anchoring the coil. A nice twist that really allows the coil to stand out.

My version is all handspun from fleece. This makes the slub slightly harder to control and I didn't quite get it right all the time, and, it means that the core yarn is handspun, which I think gives a nicer overall look, but that's without colour!

It also meant spinning in the grease, something I generally don't particularly like. The fun however, is in the washing when all the dirt, swint and lanolin are scoured out. Well most of it and the underlying colour of the fleece is revealed.

Extremely happy!

Not so happy with yesterdays effort with bamboo.

Bamboo is one of those new environmentally friendly fibres. This does depend on the process used in production. There is viscose bamboo, which is made in the same way as rayon with chemicals breaking down the fibre and being extruded to created the fibre. The second is done in the same way as for flax, the major issue being about the use of water. This is more environmentally friendly. Bamboo, itself, is very fast growing and has some excellent properties as a textile, but again, which company doing what. There is little way of knowing what you have.

We decided that as the fibre we were using was short that this had been produced in the more traditional manner, as extrusion tends to create long continuous fibres.

In its raw state it is not pleasant to touch. Very difficult to spin and then difficult to spin evenly. I even managed to have breaks when plying. NOT happy! The final yarn is soft to the touch and is likely to take dye very well.

So, further experiments combining it with other more spinnable fibres are worth exploring. I will also be looking at some of the commercial bamboo yarns to see if I can get any hints.

And, then, what's this rubbish? Well it is. It's the stuff you get when you sort out and flick fleece. There are short cuts, dirty bits, all sorts really. What am I going to do with this? That's what I'm usually asked by beginner spinners. We'll happily throw out all the packaging we do, but wonder about the leftover from cleaning fleece for spinning!

But a challenge has been sitting there for awhile. A spinning friend did collect the same sort of stuff from one of her dyed fleeces, ending up with a bag of colour fluff that she then carded to create a really fluffy fun yarn. I'm going to take it a step further and start with the raw stuff, then dye it and then combine with with something else? A fun challenge!

I'll keep you informed!

The x-factor team wins!

Sarah, Jen and I competed in the Sheep to Shawl competition held yesterday at the Royal Melbourne Show, and we won, in a time of 3 hours and 15 minutes, setting a new record and being the first winners of the Crossfibres Perpetual Trophy. What a day.

The aim of the event was to spin enough yarn (we spun too much!) ply it, and knit it into a simple shawl. We were provided with a beautiful fleece from the Black and Coloured Sheep Association, and was a beautiful grey from Helen Wright. It was a lovely fleece to spin from.

Everyone had the same pattern, which consisted on three triangles and 3 diamonds, which we could lace together.

In the end we won by 1 minute.

We all went home tired and happy and planning to compete next year!

Back from Bendigo

The journey to the Australian Sheep and Wool show in Bendigo is one full of expectation and curiosity. This year, with the GFC, you have to wonder how our farmers and related industries and towns are faring. If this years show is anything to go by, they are doing as well as can be expected and are certainly putting in a fabulous effort to put on a good show.

There were extra tents and sheds to explore with both new and familiar stall holders. Plenty of people admiring the work, talking to each other, catching up, and, of course, expanding stashes.

With friends, I travelled on the train, 7.10am from Southern Cross, rather early for me! It was lovely, sitting there chatting and of course, knitting. For the trip back we picked up some extra friends, just lovely. Just have to do it again next year.

Here is my stash additions:

1. Banksia nut drop spindle from Ron West

2. 5mm Victorian ash knitting needles from Lewis Harper

My spinning stash was enhanced with

1. Hand dyed corriedale mixture

2. Carded bump alpaca from Fibre naturally (can't wait to try this one!)

3. Two lots of mixed Merino/Corriedale top from Ray's Ranch

The knitting stash included:

1. Natural coloured 8ply corriedale from Jarob Farm
2. Cone of 2 ply pure Finn from Marueen Shepherd at Fairfield Finns

3. Three lots of dyed 8ply from Wendy Dennis at Tarwandcoort

4. Two balls of bright blue 16ply yarn (couldn't resist)

I just can't wait to get into this lot. A fabulous mix of colour and texture.

The train to Bendigo

Had a great day, taking the train to Bendigo for the Australian Sheep and Wool Show, with friends, knitting and provisions. It will definitely be on my list for next year, though I've taken two days to catch up on my sleep.

My walking partner (we walk every Monday morning and our youngest sons are best friends) picked me up at 6am...a little early and wet for both of us, but making it into Southern Cross station with plenty of time to meet up with two more friends was worth it.



My friend is not a knitter, but had invited herself along for the train trip and the adventure, so I wasn't sure how she would go spending the day with avid fibre people. Well, I'm not entirely sure when it happened, some say somewhere around Kyneton, but spare needles and wool emerged (of course we had spares!), and by Bendigo, a good inch of garter stitch had been completed. So captured was she that 3 beautiful skeins were purchased, one for a scarf and two for a larger project. The trip home proved she was a natural, stocking stitch, rib, mastered and explanations of charts, yrn, understood.....she's a natural. I thing I've convinced her to come to the local SnB at Rosanna on Tuesday.



The show itself, was terrific, meeting up with all sorts of friends, checking up on my wool comb technique (will have another go soon), found out a bit more about cashmere and mohair (I love the passionate breeders who are always willing to talk and explain and generally be enthusiastic), animals galore, including this very beautiful Llama (who just knew he was beautiful!) and I did make a few purchases.

I picked up a large Tunisian Crochet hook from Lewis Harper, hand-dyed Silky wool and 1kg of 22 micron top from Virginia Farm Wool Works, hand-dyed merino top from my friend Charlie at Ixchel, some Gotland Lamb top to experiment with and some yarn from Glenora.


The Woolcraft was terrific, my favourite being the Water nymph who presided over the Fashion parades.


Never enough time, but I think next year I'll make it a photographic exhibition and get a few more pictures of animals, displays, and more!

Flora Fauniensis

Aaaah, finally. Judging at the Sheep and Wool Show has been completed and I can reveal our group entry called 'Flora Fauniensis'. Isn't she wonderful? She's the result of over 6 months of work, designing and making by the 3D5S group, with 13 participants.

She came together, on the Saturday before the delivery date on the Monday, and I must say that the effort put in by everyone was wonderful.

We earned a very respectable 2nd in our class, a great result, especially when you see the entries that received 3rd!!!

The quality of the entries for the whole show in all classes, are particularly good and I'm looking forward to seeing them properly displayed when I take the train to Bendigo on Friday. Should be a fun day.

Back and Competing

Having just handed in my two skeins, one fine and one bulky for the Australian Sheep and Wool Show, and, am not happy with the results, it prompts me to ask why enter the competition. Here are my reasons why we all should enter.

1. To support the Woolcraft committee who work hard to organise a fabulous display to show the quality and variety of work. Anything that promotes and showcases wool, spinning, knitting, weaving, crochet.........deserves supporting.

2. To spin the best that you can. It's not often that we worry about every part of the process in all its' detail. Washing, preparation, spinning, finishing and presenting.

3. To see if you can improve by learning by your mistakes.

So what did I learn?

1. Sample beforehand to ensure the correct amount of twist for the fibre and final yarn.

2. Practice spinning, as I don't regularly spin fine evenly and bulky evenly.

3. Pick the right fibre preparation.using the wool combs for the fine spinning was a perfect choice and made the long tedium of consistently spinning fine, much more of a pleasure. I do need to practice using them. (Back to the Sheep and Wool show for more demos from the makers)

4. When you swash your skeins, before rewinding, ensure you hang them correctly, not scrunge them up in the back seat because you have to drive all the way home.

Will I do it again next year???? See you at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show. (www.sheepshow.com)

Working hard

I've been working hard on the group Sheep and Wool Show Entry. D-day is Saturday, when hopefully all the pieces start coming together. Pictures will eventually be forthcoming when this project is finally out of our hands. Secrecy is everything.

I have also to work on my own entries for the show. I've decided to enter a couple of spinning sections. To prepare the beautiful fleece I have, I've decided to use my mini wool combs, as the rovings they produce are just beautiful. Little clouds of fibre.

There's alot of waste in the preparation, but the spinning is a delight. I haven't tried them yet for mixing colours or fibres, but am keen to.

Anyway back to the floor! (Stitching fabric on the floor....don't ask!) Wish us luck!