The Australian Sheep and Wool Show

How do I write a blog post about something I've written about four times before?


How can I explain the feelings of excitement and love and passion that come up for me when I am surrounded by so much of what I love?

How can I describe in words that feeling of being overwhelmed with inspiration? Of so many plans and ideas and thoughts that start in my tummy and travel upwards until they makes me feel like I'm going to explode? Like I have to get started. Like I have to do all the things, all at once.

How on earth can I explain an event that is a tactile and aromatic and visual explosion?


How can I explain to you just how wonderful it feels to be surrounded by people who LOVE what you love and want to show you, and teach you, and talk to you about it for as long as you do?


How can I make you feel the wonderful feelings that go with bumping into friends who love what I love, friends who open up their bags to share their purchases and stoke mine adoringly, friends who admire my knitted shawl and show off their own, friends who invite me to spinning club and gorgeous friends who go home and send me a ravelry pattern because I said I loved it and had queued it.

How on earth can I get you to understand why there were cute little bags of horse hair for sale if I couldn't work it out for myself? Apparently people stuff mattresses with horse hair, but those sweet little bags....no idea.

How could I explain to you my surprise at unpacking farmer Bren's backpack at the end of the day to find everything I'd bought was navy blue or charcoal? How strange and not at all planned.

And how can I even remember to record all the different aspects of wool craft that I need to put on my to-do list from owning our own sheep all the way through to dyeing, spinning, weaving and knitting socks.

Apparently I can't. You can read my posts from the past few years here and here and here and here where for some reason I was more eloquent. Or, maybe, you could just close your eyes for a second and imagine yourself at a show that celebrates everything you love, in every detail, in all its glory.

What would that look like for you I wonder?


Go gently my friends, I hope your weekend is filled with your blessings.

Big love

xx

all kinds of woolly wonderful...

On Sunday, which felt like it might have been the coldest day in my living memory, I darned in the ends of Miss Pepper's hottie cover.

Yesterday the high and the low in temperature were just one and a half degrees apart and the high lasted less than an hour before it began dropping from 3 back down to one and a half again. Yesterday we ventured outside to gather and feed for less than an hour and my fingers ached with cold so badly I feared I'd done permanent damage.

This morning Miss Pepper is home with a tummy ache snuggled up with her granny hottie on the couch and I am feeling like it was finished just in time. She says it's helping too.

At the Sheep and Wool Show I bought these three hanks of wool. 280 grams a piece.

The darkest one on the right was hand dyed with indigo and alkamet eco dyes. The one in the middle was hand dyed with indigo and tumeric eco dyes. And I might just dye the natural one myself with something from around here, beetroot or eucalyptus leaves I think.

I bought these buttons. I always buy wooden buttons when I see them.

I bought almost a kilo of this divine black sheep wool off farmer Sue French whose sheep grew it.

We chatted to Sue for ages about black sheep, about the fact that her wool is processed in Australia from start to finish and about shearers and wool co-ops.

I bought a kilo thinking I would finally knit my farmer boy that jumper he's been asking me for.

But then we found a lady selling old Tractor Jumpers made in Australia from Australian sheep's wool, so we bought two of them instead.

We were both quite excited by these two purchases, I don't know if there is even such a thing any more as Australian made knitwear made from Australian sheep. We felt like we'd discovered a real treasure. They look so great on my boy too, but that's beside the point.

I've been wanting to try an ergonomic crochet hook for ages now, so I bought the Clover one. But honestly, I'm not sure it feels any better in my hand than my good old metal one.

And I bought a bag of 50 eco-dyed, pre-knitted squares for $15. The stall holder lady was selling them off cheap because her business had changed direction. I have no idea why I bought them off her. Maybe because they were so crazy cheap, maybe because I love the thought of a blanket in those colours, or maybe because I still owe Miss Indi a blanket for her bed and this seems like a doable before the end of this winter plan. I know it's kinda cheating, but crocheting them together and then around them is still crafting...

And lastly, I bought a bag of these. For playing with and laying out and designing and admiring. And when we're finished, I think I'll string them into a garland. Love a bit of felt ball action.

So there you have it, that's me woolly sorted for a while. Or until I dream up a project in neon...

So what are you making, baking, growing, or writing?
I bet it's wonderful.

Bye for now

xx

In theory

I have a theory that mostly people get stuck on the details and don't see the bigger picture. At least I hope so when it comes to my crazy, chaotic, colourful home.

I have a theory that the mail you pick up in the morning dictates the type of day you'll have.

Too many bills - not so great.
No mail - blah.
An invitation or postcard - fun.
A surprise prezzy - WOHOOOO!!!!

Today I had a GREAT day!!

Thanks beautiful Dria and family for this amazing, amazing, amazing parcel of wool from Israel. The most wonderful present of all. xx

I have a theory that kale added to any meal automatically makes that meal extra healthy.

Tonight we ate kale in our pasties and in the salad. Healthy ++

I have a theory that once these last few tomatoes are finished, I can go without for the next six months if I find something to eat on my toast instead.

In the last few days I've tried pickled beetroot, semi dried tomatoes, pickled cucumbers and olives but I'd still prefer a little, rosy red cherry.

I HAD a theory that I would come home from Israel and cook Middle Eastern every day, but I really haven't. Except once. 

Maybe I should have had a theory about focusing on the actual food more and the eating less. 

I have a theory that my life is about to become VERY full of caravans and caravan merch.

I made 20 of these felt caravan book marks for some sales people out of that felt I bought last week. I hope they like 'em.

I have a theory that if you pop some interesting detail at your front door, people might not notice the enormous pile of shoes and gum boots. Maybe?

Actually, maybe that theory doesn't really work. If they don't notice them they're more likely to trip over them. Not so good after all.

And I have a theory that the excitement of winter's first broccoli is right up there with the excitement of spring's first asparagus and summer's first berries. Yum!

I have more.
But that's probably enough for now.
Do you have a theory on one of my theories, or a theory or two of your own?
I'm all ears.

xx

my story in eight

These are the last eight photos I took off my camera.

Mostly with photo taking, I take a bunch of pictures all at once and download them soon after and blog them not long after that. In those cases I pretty much know what to expect. And as the photos flash onto the screen, more often than not, the words that tell their stories come too.

Other times, my camera sits on the kitchen table or near the front door for days at a time, only picked up for a quick snap here and there. After these times the downloading is more of a surprise and more fun. Random snapshots that tell the tales of my life at a moment in time. 

As the eight photos in this post downloaded I was half looking and half eating a feijoa. As they popped onto the screen I noticed how autumnal their colour pallet is. I realised that I am so very obviously the Mum of school girls now as none of the photos has little kids in them. And I saw that although a huge amount more than these eight events has gone on in my life over the past few days, these photos do tell the story of my late autumn beautifully.

Photo one of the kitchen garden up there, tells the story of tiny little lettuces and spinachs trying to put on as much growth as possible while there is still sunshine and a bit of warmth in the air before winter really kicks in. Our kitchen garden is my happy place these days. I am always kicking my clogs on and picking some herbs or greens for a meal, doing a spot of weeding or transplanting or admiring. Yesterday we noticed the first few broccoli of the season which was cause for much excitement.

Photo two is of the loveliest, chunkiest wool I am currently using to knit my farmer boy a new beanie. I don't know about you but I find it very difficult to source really chunky, soft, pure wool. This stuff is from New Zealand, I bought it in Ocean Grove last week and now I'm thinking I should have bought more. Details here.

Yesterday I drove past farmer Bren on his tractor wearing two beanies at once, so I think next up once I finish this beanie will be a balaclava.

Photo three is of a marker for a seed tray filled with onion seeds in the hot house. On Tuesday we filled the hot house with trays of onion seeds and leek seeds. I'm hoping they grow big and strong soon enough to transplant them into the garden and leave us the space to start the tomato season all over again in August.

Photo four is of the bottle tree in Autumn. I love how that tree and its bottles tells a different story each season. After a summer of thick green foliage that practically hid the bottles from view, the leaves slowly turned golden and reflected in the bottles' glass. And now as the leaves fall to a carpet below the tree the bottles remain, swaying and occasionally clinking in the cool wind.

Photo five is of the basil seed we saved from this year's crop to dry out and plant again next year. There may not be any fresh, green basil leaves to flavour our cooking for some time, but our freezer is filled with containers of pesto for the winter.

Photo six is of the carpet of autumn leaves I mentioned above. I remember when I used to live in suburban Melbourne autumn was always filled with raked up piles of autumn leaves to be burned, composted and sometimes run through. The leaves on our farm are a bit more free range, blowing around, making a pretty mess and then disintegrating back into the earth. I think they are terribly beautiful and they make me happy even though I know that the leaves on the back deck and in the entrance way are a sign of my bad housekeeping.

Picture seven is of a big bowl full of green-manure seeds I mixed up before planting. Doesn't it look like soup mix! This mix of fenugreek, broad beans, peas and vetch went in where the tomatoes came out of the garden. Our garden worked super hard making the vines and fleshy tomato fruit over the past six months and this green manure crop will feed the soil and prepare it for next spring's plantings.

And picture eight I took a few minutes ago. Picture eight is of some gorgeous wool felt I bought off lovely Lizzie this morning at Mill Rose. I have book mark plans for this pile. Book marks with little vintage caravans parked on top. The publicity campaign for my book has begun and these book marks will be a part of it. I'm both excited and nervous. The release date is still a few months away but there's loads to do before then. Eeeeeeep!

I hope your week is telling a wonderful story.
I hope it is warm, delicious and pleasing to the eye.

Ciao x

The Yandoit Lesbian Wool Festival.

When Pepper went down for her nap today, the big girls, my sister Meg and I headed off to The Yandoit Lesbian Wool Festival.

On the flyer it warned us that only women would be allowed in and that only lesbians would be allowed to exhibit.

As soon as we walked into the hall, the girls were whisked off for a lesson in felt ball making.

They loved it and rolled and rolled and rolled.

To be honest, as much as I love the look of felt, I just cannot seem to get past that yellow soap smell. Ewww.

With the girls otherwise occupied, it left us free to watch the spinning lesson,

to appreciate the displays,

to add another bunting example to my inspiration, (this one is sewn straight onto blanket squares and was made by the amazing Alanah who put the whole festival together),

to partake in a bit of retail therapy,

to search for the perfect buttons,

and to touch, smell and discuss the wool with the spinner/dyer/felter/shearer.

I bought that pink hand dyed, hand spun wool in the top of the basket. It has a sparkle through it and is totally divine.

There were granny square lessons, (the woman on the right won that felted shawl in the raffle),

and gorgeous examples of woolly crafts like this nest.

We all loved the whole festival. It had such a warm, community feel to it. It was wonderful to be able to discuss all things wool with people who wanted and cared to discuss it.

And it was great to be able to ask the silly questions I've been thinking about with no one to ask. Yes, crochet uses about 20% more wool than knitting and yes, some painted wool patterns are better suited to crochet because they have wider blocks of colour. I also found a spinning teacher which is a bit exciting.

I've come home with some beautiful wool to add to the stash and a thought that I might have to beg Alanah to make an exception and let me be part of it next year.

I hope you enjoy what's left of your weekend. X

The blanket dress.

Isn't inspiration a funny thing?

When I first had the idea for this dress I was unstoppable. I had so many ideas and so little time. I machine felted the blanket, I cut out the dress, I sewed it together, I crocheted a trim for the neckline and pinned it on, I experimented with ruffles and then I got interrupted and that was it.

For the past month this dress has been hanging on the back of my kitchen chair.

I have looked at it thousands of times but I haven't really seen it.

I have started and finished lots of other projects since I started the blanket dress, but after the initial rush of inspiration I lost interest in it.

Actually, I don't think I had lost interest in it, I just had no idea where I wanted to take it.

Mostly my creative work takes place in such short bursts of time that if I haven't answered all the questions in that time, often I find its difficult to get back to.

But this afternoon while I was having a coffee with Bren and debriefing a talk he'd just given to a bus tour, the blanket dress fell off the chair.

Almost without thinking I picked it up and started gathering fabric and pinning ruffles on.

All of a sudden I was excited about this dress again and couldn't wait to get to my machine to sew the ruffles in place. I was so inspired.

I gathered and stitched on the sleeves and some ruffles around the hem and then all too soon it was time to go and pick the girls up from school and I had to leave it again.

I hope I get back to it soon because at the moment it inspires me. I have plans for more ruffles down the back and perhaps some sort of pocket or flower detail on the front.

But who knows how inspiration works. Maybe it'll be another month before I get back to it. Maybe the best projects are the ones that aren't started and finished all in one go. Maybe the longer I work on it the better it will be.

I just hope I have it finished before the leaves start growing back on the grape vine again.

I hope something is inspiring you this week.