Homesick

Even after 10 yrs of being here and making some lovely friends and owning my own home ( well- paying it off), which is a lifetime dream- I am still homesick.
Homesick, family- sick, friend-sick, tree-sick... the whole lot.
Not everyday, but often enough that I wonder that even if we won the lottery (Which we don't play, BTW) would moving to the bush/countryside make me happy enough to want to stay? I don't know how one figures this kind of thing out.

I know I should be thankful for what I have- and I am- but I long for more peaceful surroundings. Sirens and loud vehicles, smelly exhaust, and constant human voices are my daily life and it doesn't sit well with my interior. I don't know how to help that either.

It was a lovely day today- mostly sunny with cooler temps- about 23C as the high.
I got laundry,dishes, and two skeins of handspun all washed and dried. That's saying something for a Monday!
I also got an entire batt of fibre from Kathy (www.KathysFibres.com)spun!
Just into singles at the moment.
Last week I did a pair of slippers (as a test for a designer) in crochet and finished up a hooded scarf that I was testing for someone else. I have been quite prolific for someone who seems to get little done in a week most weeks! I am feeling happy about that.
Now I've agreed to test crochet a pair of baby slippers- if they turn out nicely I'd like to send them to Karla- my friend Jane's daughter - who, along with her DH of course, is expecting their first child this September!!!! I am so very excited for them!!

Thanks for reading.
Hope you are well.

Back for more!

After two days of less hot ( still above 30°c/in the 90°'s f) weather the old heatwave has decided to give us a 1-2 punch in the kidneys and we are meant to be 40°c (103°f) plus today with humidity and an overnight temp of over 30°c!!!! And then tomorrow is meant to be WINDY and HOT until the cool change comes through- but they can't (or won't) predict just when that will be- meanwhile they are forecasting another HOT day. I know you are doing it rough in parts of the USA with such cold temps..... I wish you some of our heat and we'll take some of your cold,ok? Please? Just looking forward to Sunday now.
OK- enough about the weather- how about some yarn and other pictures to see?
(Can you imagine!? On this blog!?? ) ;)

First off is a continuity set of photos of a roving I got back in Aug of last year... created by Kathy Baschiera of SA. ( There are rumblings of the birth of a new website for this talented lady- updates as I know them! )



This photo below is not so great but shows the whole hank/skein in not it's quite true colours. The camera we have doesn't like greens, purples, or oranges. I've tried different settings,etc.- no no avail- so now I try to find something that will colour balance the item I am trying to get.

Sometimes it works- sometimes it doesn't. This one didn't- but you can see the whole amount of yarn I made and then see the closer pictures for true colours.
The next photos are of some fibre called Rockmelon Fizz from Moseley Park Home. It was this most amazing electric peach colour- until I left it to soak (unintentionally, it was the rinse and I forogt about them being in the basin!) with another skein that has some blue in it and that coloured the water and didn't this take up some of it and toned it down! :( I bought more so this time it will be washed by itself!! ( Lesson learned!) It's soft and squooshy. :)

This is the fibre in lock form and after I hand carded it into rolags...

Light and airy rolags are fun and easy to spin!

The singles before plying...

The finished 2ply yarn. :)

This next picture shows lovely dark purple and lime green machine dyed merino blend I did after reading about it in Spin-Off magazine. It was an interesting experiment- doubt that I will try it again any time soon- wsa very prep. intensive and I am not keen on alot of prep time. I like to SPIN!!!!!!!!!! : D This was as close to purple as I was going to get- nothing else added to the picture would make it more purple...*sigh*

Speaking of shocking colour differences- here is nearly the true colour of a skein of yarn made from some mixed wool ( can't remember the combo- romneyX?) batts Jane of MPH sent dh and I as a surprise at Christmas! He spun a batt and I spun one- then we combined them. Each plying a skein. This is Dh's... since they showed up awful on camera- I didn't bother to try the other one! lol Such a lovely dark Teal colour- verrrrry nice! Once again- I apologise for the awful picture.... it was the best i could do to get close to the real colour. Another squooshy yarn,too.

But here's how the skein shows!! Shocking/Crazy- isn't it??

OK- and now I have to add on just a few garden photos of pre-heatwave....Here is the beginning- corn and various squash/pumpkin vines.

It was nice to sit in the early morning and late evening then and enjoy the garden and its changes.
Then it all grew and grew and grew!!!!!!

Some zucchini's are in there!

The corn did well- the best we've ever done

And here are the spoils!

Here are some sunflowers and my butterfly bush in bloom- the honeyeaters love the butterfly bush! I love them both! :)

And this little beauty is my Salpiglossis! I didn't get a photo of the yellow one. :(

But I had three that looked like this. They didn't get as large as they could've- I've seen them in Longwood Gardens, near Philadelphia,PA,USA- but am so delighted I finally got some to grow!

I will try for a better place next year!

OK- been here for hours now- need to get up and move, plus the rest of the family is awake! lol

Hope you are well.

ps. Happy Birthday Mom - Feb. 5 - I miss you every day.

Pics of Yarn, Yarn, and Oh- Did I Mention Yarn?

Will keep this short word-wise ( don't be shocked! )
and will post many photos of my current FY- ( finished yarns ) - and even some hand dyed roving we did!~
Before all that though- Happy Groundhog Day! ;) Go Phil!

Below is a photo of our first attempts at dyeing wool roving/tops with food colouring.
These two were dyed with leftover dye......







Then the 3 pictures below this is the one RJB did mostly on his own-the top one shows the true colours best.

OK and to the yarn- this I just finished today- not even washed yet! It's English Leicester Locks in the "Fairy" colourway done by fabulous Jane at Moseley Wool. :)
On the spindle is the small amount I had left over of singles so I navajo plied (3ply) them on the spindle so I could free up my bobbin for the next yarn. The yarn skeins show yarn I spun on my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel- 2 ply. Don't know the WPI or the length yet- sorry!







This shows it up close- I really wanted to have lots of 'hairiness' to it. While it isn't as much as I had hoped for- it is still wonderful!

The next bunch of photos are of a Merino roving I got given at Christmas from DH- (also from Jane's store)- called "Kalaidascope" (2 ply)... the top picture is of the fibre after I split it into thinner long pieces to do less drafting of the fibre so I could keep the colourway intact as much as possible. :) It's always so soft and fluffy in this state- you just want to bury your face in it! yummmmmm. :)

On the bobbin- the plied yarn waits for the niddy noddy ......


Then here are the before and afters of some EL locks ( From Jane's store Moseley Park Home, of course! lol! ) done in the 'Hotshots' colourway- the yarn is once again a 2 ply.... LOVE this one- one of my very favourite colourways- I hope she does more one day! :) I took OOOOOooooooodles of pictures- but only chose a few for here- the bottom picture shows the colours most true... yellow and pink and white and peachy colours!



OK- need to call it quits for now. More to share- but see I need photos of it! Thought I had done so before washing! Ooops!

Thanks for looking- will post some garden/flower pics inthe near future- from before the heatwave that is! ha!

Hope you are well.

Happy New Year!

I guess even being 15 days late it is still ok to wish everyone a happy new year- heck - I figure we have 'til April 1st! ( I'd read somewhere that the reason it is called April Fool's Day was because by then if you are still writing the wrong year on your paperwork then you are a 'fool'. I have since read other explanations for the day, but none stuck like this story....)

Seems there is not much to write about and yet alot.
Summer has been pretty kind to us so far this year- we have only had about 3 hot days with one stupidly hot day earlier this week.
I am loving a cooler summer- and am on Ravelry trying to figure a way to get my arse to New Zealand to live!

Great news from Christmas - my sister (waves to Donna, "HI Donna!" :) )got a new computer for Christmas so she can see pictures of RJB and lots of others and can finally see my blog!

I also have to squee a bit about 'one' of my gifts- lots of spinning fibre from DH from Jane's Moseley Park Home online store! I haven't taken photos of what I got yet- and have actually spun or am in the process of spinning some already that I won't be able to photograph it all together. ( Plus Jane was an absolute doll and threw in some extras for us - what fun! And THANKS JANE!;)

I will try to be better at posting things here- I tend to write and show more on the Ravelry boards lately.

Would like to get photos of my scarf and amulet bag from the Scarf exchange 2008 put on here- have them taken- just didn't get them on here yet.
No photos today.

On a 'sad' note- I didn't get any Christmas cards sent like I intended this year. It's just my northern hemisphere brain I guess.....hard to get in the holiday spirit when it is 90°F outside! But I want you all to know I thought of you all and gave thanks for all the friends and family I have. I am truly thankful.

Hope all is well.

Scarf Exchange 2008

This year I participated in the International Scarf Exchange put on by various spinning groups of Australia.

Last year it was held by the Gumeracha SA guild- where I first learned of it... so with the help of my friend Kathy I joined in on the fun this year. This year it was hosted by The Handweavers, Spinners and Dyers' Guild of Western Australia.
I got my scarf/extra yarn back today in the mail- so thought I should post my photos of the one I made. I'll get photos taken of my received items asap. :)

The fibre and one of the spindles I chose to use to spin the 150 grams.

Below shows the two spindles I used- the Pansy (by Spinsanity)
and The Magpie (by Yorkieslave Artworks).

This is the singles (^) which ended up being plied upon itself to create:
these 3 skeins- which when all put together - created this large bundle of yarn- shown with a full roll of paper/kitchen towels- for size comparison. :)
It was so soft and squooshy. I so hope the person receiving it loves it as much as I did. ( if you are reading this- please contact me- I would love to hear from you!)

Below you will see photos of the scarf I made in progress and then the finished scarf.

I crocheted the scarf in a pattern I found online, then added on my own free form 'fringe' on the ends- which I called gumtree leaves in order for the whole item to fit the "Outback" theme that was chosen for the year. :)


Hope you are well!

TWO MONTHS!?!!

I simply cannot believe it has been over 2 months since I last blogged. Wow.
The sadder part is- is that I can't think of anything really to talk about. Well-I can think of things to share- but at the moment there isn't enough time for me to get it all done- so I would rather wait.

I *finally* got the shawl I made for my dear friend Crystal - nearly 11 months ago- sent to her!
So I want to post pics of the before and afters of it all. But that will require some picture finding that I can't get into.

I did several skeins of yarn= including my precious Gotland Lamb, during the month of September in response to a challenge Mandie had on Ravelry to spin her fibre and win a prize package of goodies from her. I adore her fibres so I had to spin to win! I didn't- but had a good time spinning what I got done- all on the wheel- am working on some EL from Jane on a spindle from Sally of Yorkieslave Artworks. I have lots of photos to share.
I was fortunate enough to get some spindles before our dollar dropped too badly against the USA dollar ( currenly 66c to the dollar! UGH! and Sniffle....boo hoo........) ....... at the current exchange it won't be any time soon that I will be purchasing again and I am dead angry with it- as she is going to have some FABULOUS ones coming up - I just know it! *sigh*
I will add links to the names I have mentioned- please go check out their newest items in spinning fun!
Meanwhile I need to get going. But at least I have done an update so any of you who only check me here and not on Ravelry will know I am still alive and kicking.
I have started to cut back on my Ravelry time- but I sure do like learning so much from others.
And getting to share what I know is fun too.
We also have worked the garden soil and even planted some stuff.......
will post about that soon too. I am keeping a positive outlook for it ALL>
Corn, pumpkins, watermelon, cucumbers,tomatoes, lots of zucchini ( 2 bushing varieties and one vining), nasturtiums and marigolds too......all started from seeds......the tomatoes and the marigolds are not progressing very much- not sure why- especially the tomatoes.. might not be warm enough yet for them is all I can figure. Marigolds are in too shallow of a soil I think ( egg cartons... done trying with those! ) OH and radishes- they went in first.. and Love in a Mist too- those are in the front- so nearly forgot them.

That's it for now- have a lovely fleece soaking - my first time at washing a sheep's fleece- wish me luck... hoping it will not felt since I have used only cold water. Am worried about too much movement though.... I seem to *need* to move it around. lol

Hope you are well. :)

PICTURE HEAVY Mt Pleasant SACSOS Fibre and Fleece Fair 2008

We had a WONDERFUL time at the Mt. Pleasant SACSOS fibre fair- soooooo much to look at- so much to buy! Oh! if only I were a wealthy woman......
It was a mixed bag for the weather- windy with sunshine, rain, and hail even! We even managed to luck out with a non-rainy period so we could walk around Hahndorf ( a small town that boasts its German heritage) a little bit! We weren't in the right area for the sweets shop that carries US imports- darn it all ( Thanks again Robbie, for telling me about them)- but we did spend a long time in a clock shop.
RJ loves clocks and I love cuckoo clocks- this shop had lots of all kinds of nice clocks. We didn't purchase anything in the town as we were out of cash after the Fibre fair and the bakery ( called Lobethal Bakery- but we were in Woodside- !?!) we hit for breakfast - $2.20 for one choc. iced yeast donut! Plus nearly $3.00 each for a slice of apple strudel ( for DH ) and a danish pastry type thing that had dollop of apricot preserve in the middle for me. PLUS! loaf of onion and herb bread that was worth every cent of it's over $4.00 price tag. Crazy crazy crazy!!
But oh well- it's only once a year-ish!

Anyway- first person we bought from was Suzie Horne- she has Finnish Landrace- she was very low- not alot of choice this year- as the Littlehampton event cleaned her out pretty well....she even remembered us from LAST year- and we only talked with her- didn't get a chance to buy anything! She especially remembered RJB- that pleased me. :)
If you have not had the chance to touch Finn wool for yourself, please do ! You will love it I bet! It is VERY soft. I am continually amazed. I think it is my favourite fibre to date. Here are the photos for our goodies from Suzie's stand:

Below is a close up of some of the dyed Finn from Suzie.
Below are the two rovings- the purple is more pinky purple than this and the gold is more pale than this- but this is the best I could get out of my camera! lol

Here is the best photo of the green shades Dh bought:


Then we visited with, and bought lots from, Kathy Baschiera who has batts that she cards up- they are FABULOUS. Got some of those, then I went silly - RJB picked out a handpainted roving from Kathy ( in pinks and blues and purples!!!!!!! go figure!?) and I got several, will write them out with their pictures.
I have a goal to own one of each of the 17 colourways she does- eventually! lol
Here are some photos of what was brought home:
Above is one of 4 of tri-colour batts she did up HOT PINK, green, and gold. I'm a sucker for bright happy colours. Can't wait to see how this spins up.

Below you will find a few pics of the dark green batts she did with some Glitz fibre added in.

I LOOOO_OOOVE to touch this and photograph this- it is so soft and shiny and sparkly..*sigh* wish I'd gotten more... you can also see to the left of the green is a light bright sky blue- it is beautiful. IF I can get a picture of it to come up true I will post it. All that I took were no where near as pretty as it is in real life. This tiny peek is closer than I could get with any 'single' shots.




OK- and here are my real heart racers- the rovings...

This pic above shows the whole group- below you will see individuals of all but the pink/purple one.. that wouldn't photograph purple for me- just BLUE... so this is the best picture of that.

Above is one that was an experimental colourway she and her friend Hazel created called "Daffodil". She wants more yellow in it so this group she made was a one off thing. I *had* to have one! :) Below is "Flowering Gum". Brilliant name- brilliant colourway. I 'heart' it. :)

The above one is called "Outback"- fell in love with that one and Flowering Gum when I saw them at the Heart of the Hills market in Lobethal.

Below is one called- "Sharon"! Can you believe it?! I was bold and asked her a few weeks ago if she would ever try a yellow and red/rust/burgundy colour - and she did! And then when we arrive at the stand she shows it to me- and my name on it!!!! I was so embarrassed and flabbergasted as the same time! lol It was/is very flattering to have a roving colourway named after you... never in a million years did i think that would happen! (I hope she sold out. If not I will have to have more...) I really do hope it was well liked- I know I love the colours. I love where the yellow and the reddish colour meet...like on the lower edge of the picture. Just brilliant. ( Thanks Kathy- I am well and truly spoiled now! )


THEN! - THEN! I went over to the Lucinvale Farm stand and found more of FINN...... had some dyed locks i loved so got them -







and a bag of cream/white finn and a caramel colour I have not seen before- ohhh the pictures can't do justice to the perfect caramel colour of this fleece. The photos:
Above is the bag of white Finn- below is a lock taken from the bag. So SOFT.

And here is the caramel coloured one that I wrote about earlier, although it really doesn't show the right colour here- the ends of the locks are more what the colour is in sunlight:


We looked around a bit more only to find approx. 500g of white alpaca for $2! It felt nice and soft and seemed pretty nice for that! Not much VM in the one I chose!

THEN Richard bought a fleece for $4.....not sure what is 'wrong' with it- other than I think it might be last years shearing. From Eagleview Farm- it wasn't her fleece though- she was selling it from some she had from someone else- but it is 1.9 k of border x merino! Here's a peek:


Didn't even look at the Bennett and Gregor this year. Didn't seem to have alot in the spinning fibres- just the huge felting batts and yarns. RJB also got a little plastic canvas lolly bird ( had a lollipop in it's "beak"...) - it's cute.

Then with all of RJ's urging-it was off to Melba's. It was a success as RJ found his beloved construction vehicle toy with a chocolate bulldozer taped on! :) This time was a 'plow' sort of thing. Not sure what it actually is- but he loves it.

Hope you enjoyed the post and



hope you are well.