A new PUPPY!!??!!

Al went to pick up Liam today from child care and came home with a bloody dog. Believe it or not! Liam's carer said it followed them home from the park and believed it had been dumped. Well I have made signs up for a FOUND dog and will be putting them up at the local stores tomorrow. I do not want a dog - I am a cat person and am going to get another Siamese.

I am currently knitting a Pelerine from EZ - yep I do have that fixation. I was going to give it to Mum but she said to give it to Nan. And Nan would just bitch and moan and it wouldn't be good enough (she likes that shit feathers stuff)so I will keep it for myself. It is very similar to a poncho but with a split up the front. I am knitting in my hand spun which is a blend of brown merino and the glitz for a little sparkle. V. Nice.

Al's socks have been put on hold - I got bored. I really, really want to knit the PI Shawl. I am fixated at the moment.

Not much more to say - I have been dyeing a fair bit and will post some photo's shortly.

P.S. I love dyeing. I have heaps of Landscapre but I really love blending with the Ashford Primary Pack, but I hate having to use the vinegar.

Long time, no blog

Hi

I haven't been on for a long time but I have been busy doing the craft stuff. I've been dyeing, spinning and knitting as usual. I find I can't go a whole day without one or all - it's an illness I know.

Last Tuesday my Siamese Cat got run over. His name was Romeo. He never left the yard, quite a dork really but we loved him and miss him terribly. Well I've been going for little walks with Liam and on Tuesday we crossed the road instead of walking up our side of the footpath so I think he may have tried it himself. A man came and told us when we got home. It was terrribly sad, we all cried and gave him a big burial. Jesse and I got him before the others joined the family and he was a great saviour to us and expecially me at night. He kept me company. And you know what, he never shut up. He talked and talked and talked. People would ring our house and think a baby was crying. Nah it's just Romeo talking. RIP Romy.

Hey, also, it's been raining for 2 days - woo hoo. We need it.

Here are some photo's of what I've been doing.

The above is some Corriedale fleece which I bought from the local Black and Coloured Sheep Assoc. Let me just tell you - for all the talking up they get about the quality of their fleece, it was crap. Lovely wool with a real sheen. I've not spun this sort before but wanted to try. Bought a kilo thinking of making myself a jumper. Well it hadn't been skirted, it had wee and poo all over one side. Absolutely disgusting. The outside looked great but once the bag was opened and the fleece spread out - YUK. Very shameful for a reputable business and let me tell you it was not cheap. Next time they come for the local market I will be letting them know. I don't even think I would have got 600grams spinnable fleece!!!

I decided in the end to spin it really thin, about 3 ply commercial and make an EZ Pi Shawl out of it. I've neally finished spinning it all and I bought the needles today. 60cm, 40cm and dpn's, jeeze that turns out expensive. I would have them all in my kit but I think a lovely shawl like that deserves new and the best.

See this
and this
It turns out looking like this!!!!

Remember I have to make the Wombat Jacket that is similar (or Copied) to the EZ Badger Jacket, well this is what I decided to make it out of. It is just some fleece I bought from a local farmer and family friend for $ 5.00 a kilo, cheap and lovely and soft. I dyed about 600 grams rainbow colours in one pot. First time, really cool. Then dyed about 800 grams in purple to tone it down. Some black and some rainbow silk. I LOVE IT. I am so happy with the way it turned out. I used my drum carder to blend it and the batts were a delight to spin from.

I can't wait to start the above projects. Keep spinning and spinning (my new mantra!).

I've come to a stand still on Al's sock. I have decided they are very boring to make and don't keep me interested. Once I finished one I don't want to finish the other!

I got the new Yarn mag (http://www.yarnmagazine.com.au/) and am really happy with it. They have a great section on shawl's. There is a square one also on EZ's idea - I will definately have to make it the second shawl I make. Three things tonight about EZ - a theme or adoration you think. I love reading her books and get so many ideas, each time finding something different to try.

Anyway, enough for tonight. See you soon.

Jo

RAIN

You would not believe this but we have rain. It has gone on longer than 6 drops. We have not had rain for so long. Woo Hoo. It has not been under 30 degrees here since the start of December and heaps of those days have been up to 40. It's still bloody hot and muggy. Yuck.

You can't really tell but there is rain in them there hills!!!!

See this baby Wooy (what Liam calls Cats) - he's shitting himself. He has never seen rain. He is up on the back verandah shaking. He doesn't know what it is.

This kitten is one of 5 - one died pretty much after birth (it was the runt), one was given away and we kept 3. Two were born with tails and three without. Their mum did not have a tail but their Gran did. Their dad does not have a tail. At 8 weeks their mum died from a snake bite. Terrible. She layed under the back verandah (in other words she came home), the 3 kittens were suckling of her. It was so bloody sad. We only suspect it was a snake bite - she was very healthy and I had seen a big brown snake in the house paddock just a couple of days before. So I presume she was trying to protect the kittens.

Must go and do some more knitting of Al's socks - I am ready to turn the heal or knit up the side. Whatever it's called.

Socks

I haven't been doing much this week. I have been working on Al's Brown socks and have so far snapped 3 dpn's! You think I might be knitting a little tight? They are coming up great.

I went to spinning group on Monday and we had Delores Anderson there from Melbourne to teach us how to make a Wombat Jacket. Pinched from EZ's Badger Jacket. Bloody hell - what an ordeal.

Hope to do some more dyeing and carding this weekend. Would like to spin up a blend in the colours I did for the ISE scarf. I will have to get one of the kids under the bed to look for some nice wool!

Anyway, have a great knitting, spinning or whatever weekend.
JO

More Photos

I have some more photos from the weekends work. Here we go.

Some really black/dark brown Alpaca which I drum carded and left on huge batts. They look and feel great.
My bambino modelling yet again. This is the scarf I made for a girlfriend from the purple wool and silk I showed ages ago.

This is the sock yarn for Al's socks. Not my choice of colour but will look great knitted up. I am going to double knit with blue for the heels and toes.
Finally this is the orange I dyed with the lot from the last post. It is Ashford Red and Yellow mixed.

Well must go to bed. I can't believe how much fibery things I did over the weekend.

JO

Wombat Jacket and Dyeing

We had spinning group today Dolores Anderson from Melbourne came to show us how to make the Wombat Jacket (knicked from EZ's Badger Jacket). Bloody Hell is that tricky. We had something like 400 years knitting experience between us and you would've thought it was the first time we had picked up needles. It was fun. I'm no where near finished my sample jacket on 10 stitches but if I ever do I will publish a photo. The plan is for all of us to make one and wear them to the Shepparton's Group Sharing Day. Should be interesting from the outcomes today. We will be lucky to have the test ones done!!!

I did some dyeing and drum carding over the weekend and had fun. I love to dye and see how the wool changes on outcome.

The wool is all from a white merino roving I had which was blended with a blended with brown. Didn't know what to do with it, so I dyed it - I think they turned out great.

Ashford Yellow

Green - Blend of Ashford Yellow and Blue, Purply-Brown - blend of Ashford Red and Blue
Landscape - Sarsaparilla
Landscape - Wild Raspberry

Ashford - Red and Blue. (The red really is a true red but turned out orange in the photo)

Big Day Out

We went to the Hume Weir today and I am so tired. Mum and I did nothing but watch the kids swim, eat a BBQ and catch up with each other, it was great. My brother had a great day, he caught heaps of fish, mostly too little so he threw them back in and 2 European Carp - he threw them on the bank.



This is Dean my brother he caught two fish at one time!!! I had never seen this done before.


This is my Dad, he was the chief BBQ cooker and nag!


And these ofcourse are my boys - they had never seen a live fish before and were so excited. This one's a Euro Carp and they are a real pest in OZ.

We stayed at the Weir for about 4 hours, the kids had a blast. They only got out of the water to eat their lunch for about 15 mins.

When we were coming home the cops had blocked the road about 1 KM out of town. There was a fire blocking the road. They told us we had to go back around where we came from and go through 2 other towns - which would've taken about 1 1/2 hours!!! I knew a short cut through the bush and it took about 15 minutes. We were only 2 minutes from home the direct way.

There were 3 helicopters so we went out to the cemetary where they were filling them up. I had the camera with me still, so I got some shots. Not good ones, but hey I never have the camera.




The fire is apparently out there now but has started on the other side of town where they were originally detouring people to!!!

Anyway good day - no knitting, spinning group tomorrow.

JO

Socks, Socks, Socks

I finally finished the bloody socks! They look great and Jess is so happy to have them. He's recieved the first pair and ofcourse everyone has put their order in.




He spent the day at the lake swimming with friends and did not take the sunscreen. I could kill him. Look how sunburned his face is. Mongrel.

We're going to another lake today for a BBQ with my parents, brother and his girlfriend for my brother's birthday - should be interesting, the girlfriend is such a bitch. None of us like her, not because she's with my brother but because she's a PSYCHO!!!! I should take the camera and take a couple of photo's.

Anyway must go, Liam is being Liam and Al's cracking it.

See you later.

JO

International Scarf Exchange 2 Scarf FINALLY sent

I finally posted my scarf today. It has been ready for so long but I never got around to posting it. I was so impressed with it. Looked at it alot and stroked (!) it alot. I love the ways the colours all spun together. Very impressive I think.




This is my model Liam - he was so proud that he was allowed to touch the scarf.
P.S. He is the only one that gets away with playing with my wheels and he has quite a good rhythm on them.

I've neally finished the second sock. I'm going to knit the foot on this one a little longer. I think I might have been to stoogy on the first one. But it will be OK and Jesse will just be stoked to have them.

These are some photo's of my baby's. I got them when they were about 4 days old. They are now a couple of months old but we still have not got any eggs. I think they are beautiful.





Well am going to visit Nan and Pa now.

See you next time.

JO