Just a girl and her carder

Well I have been a little bit busy lately doing a bit of carding. This is our boy Jack who gave me all this lovely wool. It just goes to show that even a grumpy old ram can have a fantastic fleece. Lets hope we get some nice lambs from him again this year.

Now that I have carded up all this wool I will have to find somewhere to keep it. I dont think the kitchen table is the right place for it so I will have to stash it somewhere. hmmmmm but where. And then of course I will be spinning it up. I think I will have to hang up my knitting needles for a while. I have been having loads of fun with this fleece. It has been so nice to work with, so fine and shiny. I think this is a new passion that only other fibre holics will really understand.

I came across this 2ply and have been trying to re ball it. As you can see it has been a little tangled and has taken some patience to work out. But it did give me a break from all that carding. And I wonder why I run out of time to do all those other things in life.

my latest spinning

So here is my latest spinning. I seem to have neglected my knitting for the love of spinning. I even tryied a little silver thread to ply with my reds.

Long weekend

There is nothing like a long weekend for getting away to the beach. We walked along this beautiful beach looking for anything interesting. The beach was very clean, not even any shells to pick up. But after my little stroll we stopped at this lovely art gallery. The view is just to die for. The mosaic is done by the owners daughter.

And inside I came across this knitted lady. She even had her own knitted food and mouse. What a surprise find.

our nightly visitor

I thought I should share these photos with you all. These are two of our nightly visitors. The one below is the older mother and the second possum is the 18 month old baby. We have watched mum visit us each night for many years now. Then one day we noticed she had a baby in her pouch. As the baby grew older he migrated from her pouch onto her back, clinging on and creating a grey fur patch on mums back. I loved watching the baby take food out of mums hands and even out of her mouth at times. As the baby grew up they had to fend off on older male possum who would wander through , turn his nose up at some of the food left out for him and trying to bully the mum.
They usually arrive at the same time each evening, waiting for the cat to be fed then leaving the shelter of their wattle tree. Mind you all the food I leave out for them does not stop them from eating my roses and fruit trees, and anything else the take a fancy to.
But how could you be cross with that cute little face. After all they lived here before us and deserve our respect. I just wish more people could feel compasion for all life.
After so many years I still get a buzz out of seeing my little visitors and hope you like the photos.

bothwell spin in stash

I know that with so much fantastic fiber on offer I should have been able to make an easy decision at the Bothwell spin in but I seemed to keep walking around trying to make the right choice. I knew that I wanted to buy some alpaca but which one. Which colour, and so I just kept feeling all these fantastic alpaca. Finally I decided on some light colours and then I got some silk in spring colours to ply with it. I have no idea what I will make from it but I am sure that will come to me.

But I have finished( kind of ) the jumper . This is from the first skeins I spun. But I did run out of wool for the sleeves so I have to decide if I will leave it as a vest or try to add a different coloured sleeve. So many decisions to make. I will ask number 3 child what he would like as it is for him. This means that I have started back on my muir shawl. I need to finish that as well so I will be able to start my socks. And then of course start spinning up my stash from Bothwell. Wish me luck.

bothwell spin-in

Well it is that time again and what better way to spend a Saturday but to be surrounded by wool, fibre and spinning. We headed off early so i could make the most of the day. I am not sure that the children really thought the same as I did but They did end up having lots of fun thanks to some dedicated adults that put on a range of child friendly games. That meant I had more shopping time.

These were some of the wonderful alpacas on display there. They are so adorable I would love to have a couple as pets. But instead I decided to buy some alpaca. I will show you what i bought in the next blog.

On the way home I had to stop and take a photo of these fab roadside displays. The highway was an old convict route. And a coach road.