Sometimes, it is easy to forget that the Royal Melbourne Show is primarily an agricultural show amid the showbags, fairy floss, giant rides and booming music. These certainly make it a giant spectacle and if you get one of those amazing blue sky, spring days, it looks marvellous. But inside the pavilions, there is a […]
Tag: yarns & fibre
And here are my treasures from the Australian Sheep and Wool Show 2014…already knitted and spun in my mind’s eye! Two skeins of Mosley Park English Leicester and Merino blend in double knitting weight. Grown and dyed by Mosely Park in South Australia and the last of batch of Australian spun. There is about 200 […]
This is Rosie. Well, a bag of Rosie’s fibre. Rosie is an alpaca who with her brother and mother live with my parents in country Victoria. Alpacas originate in the Peruvian Andes and were beloved of the Ancient Incas. According to The Fleece and Fibre Source Book, the quality of alpaca fibre declined after the […]
I have been a bit of a list person, a should do kind of woman. So I rather surprised myself with this spontaneous treat of a project…a shawl just for me, knit for the sheer pleasure of it, a perfect holiday knitting experience. I cast on as soon as we unpacked and knitted into every stitch all […]
It has been hot, too hot for doing anything much with fleece other than looking at it. Just right for a spot of evening verandah knitting in the company of a cold beer. Thank you everyone who took a look at my mystery fleece and offered suggestions on identification and approaches to spinning. The consensus […]
I was recently given a bag of fleece. Beware of free fleece, most spinners will tell you. There could be moths or it could just be a poor quality fleece. I did know the provenance of the bag however. It was from an experienced spinner, passed to a new spinner to learn with and when […]
Late at night, when all is quiet, I have been spinning up a fluffy, lanolin-smelling storm. My bag of fleece: a heavenly Finn fleece from Fairfield Finns. The basket of staples: bits of the fleece all mixed up to blend any colour variations. The box of prepared fibre: flicked and laid root to tip ready […]
While I wait to cast on…something, this is what I am doing of an evening. Spinning – on the lovely spindle I bought whilst in England from Ian at ITS Crafts/The Wood Emporium. It is made of bog oak from the fenland of East Anglia. The timber is over 5000 years old! A fine timber […]
So scrumptious, so delicious…if you could, you would eat Jilly Beans all the time. This is their sock tweed in the Sunrise colourway, a glorious merino muddle of blues, pinks and a touch of orange. I reckon it might be destined for an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket. The garter stitch will be perfect for […]
Frome is a delightful town in Somerset, full of winding streets and surprising shops. Turn a corner and discover Catherine Hill – vintage clothes, printmaking and ceramics and a yarn shop…of course. I loved my visit to Marmalade Yarns – from the handknitted OPEN sign on the door to the brimming shelves of unusual yarns. […]
