jenwren's blog

At last, my slubby purple mist wool on order has arrived.  I went up to Guyra after school today to collect it.  The pattern calls for a long tail cast on, which I've not tried before.  Time to increase my repertoire of cast-on methods!  The first step will be to wind the skeins into balls.  Hopefully I'll get the cast on and a few foundation rows done tonight.

Today has been overcast all day, with only a few spits of rain.  The cloud rolled in overnight, keeping the temperature from dropping much.  I would like it to rain  - I'm having to water the plants daily.  This afternoon's forecast thunderstorm appears to now be expected in the morning.  So here comes another warm night *sigh*.

The snow last week was quite unspectacular in the end – apparently it was quite good at 2 am, but funnily enough I was tucked up in bed asleep and missed it.  On Thursday morning, very little remained on the ground, but there was some to see on any cars not left under cover and on roof tops.  It continued to snow off and on all day, but did not settle.  Not very conducive to school work either…

On Friday I flew to Sydney for another day of professional development.  Unlike last time, I stuck to buses this time to get around town.  I stayed at Tim and Jenny’s again and celebrated Tim’s birthday that night with Kath and Damien (and ‘Strawberry’) as well.  On Saturday I managed a spot of shopping before heading for Newtown and SSK.  Due to my flight back to Armidale, I couldn’t spend very long at SSK, but it was lovely to catch up with them.  I took a few photos but haven't yet put them up on the web.

This time, I allowed plenty of time to get back to the airport, first catching a bus to Central then intending to catch a train to the domestic terminal.  Since I had caught a bus very quickly, I dawdled at the Devonshire Street tunnel, browsing in the bargain basement bookshop, and picked up a cheap hardback copy of “Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction” by Sue Townsend.  I finally reached the other end of the tunnel, only to find that as well as City Circle trains being cancelled due to track work (which I had known about), the airport line was also closed!  Eeeeek!  Once I established where to get a bus to the airport and bought a ticket, I dashed up the stairs, and caught a bus within five minutes, so I still reached the airport terminal in time.  I could have done without the extra stress!

Sunday was spent with Peter and his Mum, who were visiting to look at properties in the Uralla area.  We spent a leisurely morning at the monthly markets in the Armidale Mall, followed by a lovely lunch, before returning to my place and chatting and knitting all afternoon - quality catch-up time.

Monday was a do-very-little day, mainly spent cleaning the house, surfing the internet and reading, while on Tuesday I drove to Mum and Dad’s place at Port Stephens.  On Wednesday morning we went to Mum’s Spinning and Weaving group in Nelson Bay at the Arts and Crafts centre.  I had the chance to see their craft display – or what was left that hadn’t yet sold from the display!  There was some very inspiring stuff.



Mum’s scarves had already sold, but some of her other items were still there.  Downstairs where the group meets, Mum started to teach me to spin on my wheel, starting with plying some ugly purple and orange acrylic yarn together.  When I finished that, I went back to knitting the Patonyle socks, which are now past the heel and coming along nicely.

After lunch we went home briefly before setting off to Sydney (yes, two trips to Sydney for me in one week…), again staying with Tim and Jenny.  The reason for visiting Sydney was to go to Virginia Farm Woolworks on Thursday morning.  I have been in need of a warping board for some time, and as the price of the Ashford one was ridiculous, I’d decided I wanted one from Virginia Farm.  Problem was, they are glued and screwed at the corners (the Ashford ones dismantle), so it would have cost a small fortune to post it to Armidale.  I couldn’t have flown it back to Armidale either (and hadn’t had my car in order to get out to Annangrove).  So it was a good excuse to make a trip to Virginia Farm and do some damage to both our credit cards.  After about an hour and three quarters, I came away with the warping board, a skein of 4 ply Touch yarn in a lovely purple and deep green-almost black colourway, and some silk-merino blend in deep reds and purples for spinning.  Mum bought some brown fleece, fawn fleece, carded corridale sliver, the silk-merino in pink, and some wool dyes for a friend.  We drove back to Port Stephens in the early afternoon, and I started to learn how to spin singles on some carded merino I had bought from Virginia Farm via mail order back in May.  At the moment I’m getting the hang of drawing, but I need to pedal the spinning wheel more slowly, as I’m putting too much twist in the yarn.

I’m staying here at Port Stephens for my birthday tomorrow, before heading home on Sunday.

Remember the Ugly Socks?  Well, I ordered some suitable undyed yarn (Kona Superwash from the Wool Peddler) which arrived on Thursday.  Today I dyed some of it for the Sideways Sock pattern.  I hadn't done any wool dyeing in ages - and this was the first dyeing I've done since moving house in April.  Note to self: careful what ends up in the laundry tub - this one is cream acrylic, not stainless steel...

I dyed one lot of about 50 grams with Landscapes dye in Marine Blue, Wild Rasberry and Cyclamin, and a second lot of 50 grams in Gaywool Indigo.  This was the first time I'd used the Indigo colour.  I like it, but I don't think the two skeins combined will give the effect I want.  I might wind off another 50 gram lot tomorrow and dye it with the Cyclamin and use the Indigo for something else later.

Along with the Kona, I bought a skein of 'Silk and Ivory' for the stash.  Today has actually been quite productive on the fibre front - I also finished spinning my second bobbin of Merino.  The second bobbin has taken nearly two months, thanks to my having virtually no spare time during school term.  I'm looking forward to plying and actually producing my first skein of yarn.  That probably won't happen until next weekend since I've left everything else that needs doing this weekend to tomorrow.

There has been very little knitting lately.  I bruised my left hand Friday week ago trying to quietly deal with a heater while supervising an exam at school.  I didn't close it hard enough and the door fell back on my hand leaving me with a nice swollen lump and bruise.  It's fine now, but Strawberry's Surprise #1 is awaiting buttons (hopefully I'll get a button-buying opportunity while in Sydney on Tuesday as I've ruled out all of the limited Armidale button range as unsuitable), and the Miami socks are not all that enjoyable to knit, so progress is almost non-existent.

I wasn't sure if I'd visit Rubi + Lana in Gordon.  I'd not been to the shop before, but I'd heard a lot about it from others on the Justdoitknits list.  Being so close to Christmas, I thought getting to Gordon and parking was going to be a hassle.  But I'm glad I went.  Parking was no problem at all, and the shop was well worth the trip.  I drooled over the Lorna's Laces (I just couldn't justify spending $30/skein to make a $60 pair of socks), the "Royal Silk" from Art Yarns, and numerous other imported yarns, and browsed for ages.  They also have Addi Turbos, but as I hadn't received the shawl pattern before leaving Armidale, I didn't know what size I wanted (or if I already have the size I need).  No matter, as I'll just order from STYK again.  But I ended up buying some "Rubi + Lana" 100% wool 2 ply (pale blue) and 3 ply (brown).  I took ages to settle on which colour to choose because there was quite a range.

I've added a picture of the yarn under "Stash Enhancement" over on the left.  And just for my Mum, if you click on the link above the images in that list, you'll get a bigger version.

Not a lot of progress is being made on the knitting front.  My output of late is three baby socks and four swatches.  Four?  Yes, well it has taken that many to get the right needles and stitch pattern.  You can't have too many swatches!  It's the brown 3 ply from Rubi + Lana for the lacy cardigan.  From the top down the swatches are: strawberry bobble (SB) lace on 3.5 mm needles, tulip lace on 2.5 mm needles, stocking stitch on 3.0 mm needles, and lastly, SB on 3.0 mm needles.  I'm happy with 3.0 mm needles, and SB now, but have to decide if the SB is a border or all over design.  I've yet to measure it, but I think my tension was different between stocking stitch and the SB, so it might look odd as a border.  So there's still a bit of planning to do before I launch in and start knitting.

Here's two of the baby socks in scrap Opal sock yarn.  Cute, and easy to knit.  They're for Charlotte, but as yet I have no idea if they'll fit.  I've started another pair in the variegated yarn I dyed for the never-going-to-work sideways socks.

My mail was full of goodies today - more Addi Turbos from STYK in 3.0 mm for the lacy cardigan (I only have a pair of pins in 3.0 mm, so this was very necessary), and 4.5 mm (because I use that size a lot).  And as a treat to myself, some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Safari from Purl Yarns.    This is destined to become a pair of Rib and Cable Socks from Interweave Knits Fall 2005 issue.  And I'm really keen to cast on.

Both on the same day - 'Yarn to Dye For' and 'Dyeing to Knit' arrived from Amazon, and some Mollydale hand-dyed silk from Purl Yarns April Fools sale.  Mollydale Knits is actually based here in Armidale, but I hadn't seen any of her silks at Black Sheep Wool n Wares in Guyra, and hadn't had time to go to the Wool Room in Uralla to try my luck.  Hence I grabbed the opportunity when it was on sale at Purl Yarns.  I was unpacking my mail while a tradesman was fitting a smoke alarm for my landlord.  He admired the yarn and said his wife dyes yarns.  Yes, this is one of those crazy coincidences - his wife runs Mollydale Knits.

The school holidays can't come soon enough at the moment.  I hope to have time to do some yarn dyeing of my own.

I appear to have transferred the sock bug to my Mother.  My parents have been here for a visit since Thursday.  On Friday we went looking at cars for me.  I decided what I'm buying, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen immediately.  Anyway, on Saturday morning it was very cold, and we were going to Guyra - partly to see the new Devils Pinch deviation of the New England Highway that opened just before Easter after about two years of construction, and partly to go to Black Sheep Wool n Wares, my LYS.  Guyra is colder than Armidale, so I told my parents to be warmly dressed.  My Mother asked to borrow a pair of my hand knitted socks because her feet had been cold.  She liked them a lot so buying some sock wool in Guyra became a goal.

I bought yarn to make up for not buying a car - Madil Kid Seta (kid mohair/silk blend) in a variegated blue.  Mum bought the same yarn in a multicoloured variegated colourway - we've both admired the shawl patterns in the latest Yarn Magazine issue, so this yarn is likely to end up in something like one of the patterns from there.  Mum picked out a Patons Patonyle sock yarn in a self patterning colourway.  With some needles borrowed from me, Mum has made a fair bit of progress on the first sock, and is enjoying the magic of the stripes appearing and changing with the progress of the sock.  I had ordered some cream Patonyle before Easter, but it hasn't come in yet - I intend to over dye it in my own choice of colours with inspiration from the Yarn to Dye For book.

My own sock project, with the Lorna's Laces has made progress over the last week.  The first sock is now finished, and I've started on the second.  As the picture shows, the striping of the second sock is not quite the same as in the first sock.  So these will be fraternal rather than identical socks.  We had a BBQ lunch today and Mum and I sat in the sun knitting away on our respective socks.  Tomorrow, Mum, Dad and I will head to Nundle to visit the woollen mill before they continue on home.

Here's my new car - a Kia Rio.  The colour is called "polar silver" which is basically silver with a pale blue tinge to it (they also make them in "clear silver" without the blue tinge).  I'm still very nervous driving it, and especially nervous putting it into my garage.  It's both longer and wider than the Jenny Jeep, as well as being lower, so it's a big change to get used to.

I drove it (it needs a name!) to Guyra to the wool shop to pick up my ordered cream Patonyle for custom dyed socks.  I hope to dye the first two balls tomorrow.

I forgot to mention Nundle from Monday.  That's mainly because there is little to say.  Both Mum and I were disappointed with what they had on offer and neither of us bought anything.

Here are the finished Lorna's Laces socks, on my feet since they are so nice and comfortable.  I can also now reveal what the cotton I dyed over Easter became - a little cotton jersey for my friend Jean's baby, due next month.  With these items finished and only another pair of socks started, I've finally cast on the strawberry bobble cardigan, which will probably be a very long term project.

I had a very busy and enjoyable weekend with Wool Expo, demonstrating spinning and helping children use a spinning wheel we had set up with scrap yarn to play with.  Being in the woolcraft tent with several retailers made it inevitable that I would buy something, and I ended up purchasing 500 grams of Optim for spinning, 50 grams of Ingeo to spin and three more Landscape dyes.  Belisa Cashmere, in the next tent, had some laceweight hand-dyed skeins and cones for sale as well as many items of clothing, but I passed on buying any more yarn since there's plenty in the stash already, and I'd done my dash on the Optim, Ingeo and dyes.

Alas, I finished one lot of marking, and a new lot was handed in today.  *sigh*

I’ve finished blocking, stitching bits together and sewing buttons onto Anouk and I’m pretty pleased with how it’s turned out.  I was very pleased to find some suitably bright orange buttons without much difficulty.  Charlotte should look good wearing it over the coming Summer.  I’ve had fun catching up with friends and catching up on some shopping (clothes, books, chocolate, various notions including the orange buttons etc.).  Today I picked up some Anchor Magicline cotton in a nice bright orange/pink colourway from Lincraft in the city.  I have various ideas about what it will become.

In my sister’s absence I’ve been enjoying the company of Oscar, her puddy tat.  He and I are best friends, though we weren’t on the first night after my sister etc. left.  See, he’d been being fed at 4 am when Kath or Damien were up because of the baby (or World Cup Soccer), and Oscar tried to persuade me to feed him at 4 am.  Suffice to say he failed, and hasn’t dared to try again.  Since the second night he’s been coming and sleeping on my bed.  He’s slowed down a lot in his old age, and has been seeking out my attention to “unscrew his ears” (give him a good scratch around the ears and under his collar) - I’m such a softie that I always oblige.

I’ve also taken the opportunity while in Sydney to go and see the movie “Wah-Wah” (since it still hasn’t opened in Armidale), which I thoroughly enjoyed, and I’m currently reading the accompanying book by Richard E. Grant, “The Wah-Wah Diaries”.  Not only is the film a remarkable story, but the story of getting it filmed is also quite something.

This has been a much-delayed post, mainly because my computer chucked a hissy fit every time I wanted to edit a picture, and I was determined to have this post contain pictures!

Firstly, better pictures of the moebius scarf.  Since it isn't flat, no matter how this scarf is arranged, it doesn't seem to show it off well.  And since it is a dark colour, much of it was lost in the shadows.  So I've adjusted the contrast so that some of the detail is visible.  On the right I've laid a small section out flat so you can see the chevron pattern created by the "right side" and "wrong side" worked from the centre double-sided cast on.

At the start of the school holidays I decided to knit and full some  pencil cases from the yarn my then Year 8's dyed in June last year.  I had made one of these pencil cases before from some yarn that went horribly wrong in the dye pot.  I hated the colour but made it into a very nice pencil case.  It's the one I currently carry to and from school with many essential bits and pieces inside, and the kids love it (although they threaten to use it to wipe the whiteboard every once and a while).  I sorted the natural dyed yarns into pinks and greens for one case, and yellows and creams for the second.  I forgot to take some 'before' photos, but couldn't resist a shot of the mucky water that came out of the washing machine - I could see it was quite bad so I had the machine pump it into the sink with the plug in, rather than directly down the stand pipe.  The bucket with the pencil case in it was filled with cold water (the machine water was hot) for shocking the wool to speed up the felting.  Clearly a lot of the dye wasn't too colourfast.  The rosehip and hibiscus tea in particular was a flop as all the nice dusty pinks became various shades of green.  I thought it might be the colour bleeding from the wattle (olive green) and beetroot (sage green), but the yellow pencil case didn't pick up any of the colour.  The beetroot became more bluish too.  The best ones were the brown onion (bright yellow) and eucalyptus (lemon yellow) in the yellow pencil case.  They don't appear to have faded at all.

Kathi arrived from Sydney via Bellingen on the Thursday of the first week of the holidays, in time to see the pencil cases above in the final stages of completion prior to fulling.  By the time she returned from a bell ringing practice a few hours later, they were fulled.  She liked them so much that I pulled out my bag of scrap non-machine washable wool and told her to pick out some colours, together with some matching beads for the zipper pull.  She pulled out some colours that work really well together, and I knit up another one (before fulling - left; after fulling - right).  I didn't finish it before she left last Sunday.  It's in the post now so she'll have it early next week.

On the Friday while she was here we went to visit Saumarez House.  I've nearly visited several times since moving to Armidale in January 2003, yet this was the first time I actually got there.  The picture on the left is of the part of Thomas House that is still standing at the farm site down the hill from Saumarez House.  Sadly we missed a tour of inside the house, but spent nearly two hours taking in the garden and farm.  On Saturday we went to Uralla to visit Peter, and walked down into town with him to visit The Wool Room.  The shop is now run by Nicola Wilkins, who also runs Mollydale Knits.  Back in April I had bought some of Mollydale's silk in pink and purple through Purl Yarns.  This time I got to see her yarns in all their glorious colour and touch and feel them.  I couldn't resist some more silk, this time in purple and blue, and bought a skein despite still not having touched the first one.

On Tuesday my parents arrived for a visit and do a few jobs around the place that needed doing - the main one being creating a means for me to put some shade cloth over the outside of the lounge room window to cut down the heat load of the Westerly sunshine it receives in Summer (and I'm pleased to say it was very successful).  We celebrated Mum's birthday on Wednesday by going out to dinner and on Thursday we made a trip to Uralla to The Wool Room (Mum bought two skeins of blue mohair) and then back to Armidale to Wool On Wheels (WOW).  WOW's shop opened only last Saturday (before that she was doing the Sunday Markets at the end of each month), and has a range of interesting yarns, including soy silk and bamboo.  There were some really great buttons too (buttons are not easy to get in Armidale!).  I didn't buy anything, but Mum bought some lace weight alpaca that she might ply with something else.  I now have quite enough lace weight yarn on hand as it is...  After returning home, we wound the Mollydale mohair into balls on my ball winder, and my skein of blue/purple silk.  I forgot to photograph it in the skein, so there's a picture of the ball.  The purple doesn't photograph well.  Mum and Dad went home yesterday.

I've managed a few more rows of the kiri shawl (right) I started months ago, but mainly haven't had the brain power.  The Mollydale silk, however, was crying out to be used.  And I wanted to do the Icarus Shawl from Interweave Knits Summer 2006 issue.  The first chart has plenty of stocking stitch in it and does not require too much brain power, so I cast  it on two days ago (left), since I need an easy project once school returns on Monday.  I actually ended up working yesterday (and today and tomorrow) following a rather last-minute call to teach at an HSC Study Camp after another teacher pulled out.  Where did the holidays go????

This moving house thing has been far too drawn out for my liking...  Thankfully the end is in sight now - the furniture etc. is to be collected on Wednesday and arrive in Sydney on Thursday where my parents will receive it for me while I clean up here and return the keys on Friday before heading to Sydney myself.  The broadband here is due for cut-off today and the phone is already on in Sydney with the new broadband connection ordered.  So this is my last post until the broadband is connected there since I won't blog from work.  I've also moved my web site from my ISP provided free web space to a web host, and eventually this blog will be hosted there on Movable Type.




I have some stash enhancement - three skeins of Nepali Cotton for a weaving project, and some more cream Patonyle for hand dyeing for socks.  I bought them at Wool on Wheels, and would have gone more crazy but needed a better idea of an intended project before buying the yarn (I really want some Rowan 4 ply soft and Wool Cotton - both absolutely beautiful yarns!).  Danielle is having a sale on Noro yarns, but I have no projects in mind for that either.  I will go crazy ordering some books I've wanted for a while just as soon as I'm back in Sydney and clearing my post office box regularly.  There has been very little knitting progress as I've been doing a lot of marking for school when I haven't been packing boxes.  But the second cable sock is at the toe, so it should be well and truly finished by the next post!

Alas, the Roza's Sock are truly destined for the frog pond - I don't like the pattern enough to continue, and my books have all finally arrived from Amazon. Sensational Knitted Socks reached me on Monday (it actually arrived on Friday the week before, but as I went to the pub after work, I didn't go to the post office), Favorite Socks arrived on Wednesday (five days to get here - impressive!) and No Sheep For You arrived on Friday. Between writing fifty reports and marking 132 exam papers, I haven't done much more than glance at them so far. And once I've finished this post, I have to make a start on another 27 reports and class preparation for the coming week. And go see to Oscar the puddy tat up at my sister's place again. I just don't have enough knitting time at the moment.

I made it to Rubi and Lana yesterday, and actually did some knitting on the Alpaca Bolero. I'm nearly at the top of the first sleeve, and despite initially working from the wrong pattern instructions, actually made some progress. David and Elaine were there when I arrived, and Sally, Kate, Lien and Candy all gradually turned up as the day progressed. Elaine and I were even working with the same colour of the same yarn - Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette in Dusk. Before Rubi and Lana closed and we moved on to the cafe (which has changed owners - hopefully an improvement) I bought some Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK Cotton in Putty for a bag I want to make with a flannel flower fabric lining. I've been meaning to buy the yarn for some time, but kept forgetting to take the fabric swatch with me. I really needed that swatch to get an appropriate colour match.

I will be missing from SSK (is it on?) and World Wide Knit in Public Day next weekend. (Sydney is missing from the site - go here for details) I'm off to see my parents and go to Tocal for the Back to Back Challenge. Mum's in one of the teams. It should be fun!

School is out for me this week so I've been busy doing things before school holiday madness kicks into gear properly (government schools don't start their hols until the end of this week) - things like finally replacing my CDMA mobile phone with something that won't go flat in under 24 hours (I'm pleased to see the end of that problem), going to see a movie (Driving Lessons - it was good) and visiting Ikea to buy more bookcase parts (Ivar system), only to find that "in stock" on the web site didn't quite convey that only one side piece was in stock, and you can't build a bookcase with only one side piece... And still I came away having spent $180. When I go back, I'll be going straight to the warehouse to get the Ivar parts only.

Today's outing was to the Craft Fair at Darling Harbour. I arrived at about 10.45am, and spent about 3 and a half hours there all up. There were several yarn retailers - Bendigo, Touch, Prestige, Colinette, Yarns Galore, Ecoyarns and Belisa Cashmere just to name some. Certainly enough to keep knitters happy, but the majority of stands were quilting or beading oriented, with scrapbooking also represented.



I was particularly taken by the merino fine wool boucle at Touch Yarns and how nice it was for both knitted and woven items (particularly the blue shawl on the wall in the picture above). I contemplated buying some Tofutsies yarn at Ecoyarns, but didn't like any of the colours, so went away satisfied that I had at least seen the stuff in person. I came across the Knitters Guild stand and found David and Kate on duty.





I also visited the Spinners and Weavers stand and saw some lovely woven articles.



Then I visited the quilt show where I found this crime against Flannel Flowers:



Then I ran into Elizabeth, who was on duty down the back of the quilt display. She told me there was a Flannel Flower quilt, which I duly visited, but it turned out to be Daisies (and pretty good ones, botanically speaking).



Before leaving, I went back to the Colinette Yarns and chatted with Sarah, whom I'd never met before, but know through her blog and the Justdoitknits Yahoo! group. It had been much too busy in the morning to try chatting earlier on. That was pretty much it for the day and I headed back home.

By the way, all the pictures above were taken on my new mobile phone, which has a 2 megapixel camera. I was trying it out, and some pictures are a bit grainy, but are okay considering the convenience of not having to carry around an additional gadget. The following pictures, of what I bought, were taken on my regular digital camera, which is 3 megapixel, and is now four years old and showing its age (and a tendency to gobble batteries and an ever increasing rate...). Sunlight is in short supply at present, so these aren't ideal photos.





In the first photo, from left to right is some Colinette Jitterbug (copperbeech colourway), Addi Turbo Lace needles (I do hope they will be bringing them out in sizes larger than 4.0 mm - I wanted 4.5 mm, but ended up buying some 3.5 and 4.0 mm ones) and a Touch Yarns scarf kit (that contains a skein of the merino boucle I admired in a nice blue colourway). The second photo is of some charms I bought. I couldn't go home without the sheep or the dragonfly in particular.

I succeeded in buying a new camera, so this post actually has pictures. The Flannel Flower Bag is now absolutely and completely finished with magnetic closures, but the photos were both out of focus, so I'll have to try again (I know how to change the settings to what I want now).



The shopping trip on Wednesday was also successful for book shopping (two japanese amigurumi books) and yarn (Ranco sock yarn).



As I travelled to the city by train, I spent some time working on the beaded rib socks. I'm so determined to get these out of the way as I have the Ranco I'd like to play with as well as a ball of Noro Kureyon Sock yarn I bought in a group purchase arriving this Tuesday.



I actually completed the first sock last night having worked on it at SSK yesterday afternoon. We met at a different cafe than usual as Barmuda was closed. I didn't like the cafe - it was way too noisy with 80's pop songs playing. Argh! It was a great turn out though. I'll put more pictures up in the Flickr pool.



Seeing as I suffered first sock syndrome on the beaded rib socks, I'm wondering if I'll really have the resolve to finish the second sock without casting on another sock....

Life has been very hectic since the last post. I've survived Year 7 camp (I had a great group of kids, so it wasn't as bad as I had feared) and I've been to Adelaide for a conference. The trip home from Adelaide last Friday was a bit of an ordeal, but I won't bore you all with that other than to ponder why people feel the need to have a hissy fit when things go a little awry - it's not going to change anything or help! But I will tell you about the better part of Friday, spent stash enhancing in Adelaide.



First stop was the Yarn Barn in Rostrevor. I found the range of yarns there quite impressive - they have some lines in Sublime, RYC and Sirdar that I haven't seen before. I'll be keeping them in mind once I've managed to run down the stash a bit (there's already a couple more jumpers worth of yarn here). I bought Noro Silk Garden in two colours to make a Noro Scarf, and 4 balls of 8 ply Jolly Jumbuck in a natural grey (no particular project in mind).


The second stop was the Walking Wheel Studio in Seaview Downs run by Bella Head. This was like being let loose in a candy shop. Extra photos for teasing my Mother:







I would have happily have bought much more than I actually did, but had to be restrained because I had very limited room in my suitcase, and will have more fibre buying opportunities over the rest of this month. I came away with a ball of alpaca/silk lace weight yarn in Mulberry and 490 grams of merino/alpaca/silk. I wish I'd bought the Romney I had picked out too, but I knew there would be no room in the suitcase for it (the merino/alpaca/silk bag has split because I had to squash it so much!).



Had the weather been better (it was very overcast with constant drizzle) I might have ventured further, but really, two shops was enough.

This seems to be becoming an annual pilgrimage for Mum and me. We went to the NSW Spinners and Weavers Guild open day in Burwood again today, as we did last year.



We went around all the stalls taking in what was on offer and chatting to many people - particularly about the spinning camp Mum's group is holding in two weeks' time. This year I bought some English Leicester Kid Mohair & Bamboo rovings from Freelance Fibres and some Tussah Silk yarn and a copy of the Interweave Felt 2008 issue from Glenora Weaving & Wool.



Mum bought some blended fibres and a wraps per inch tool. When we were done we had sausage sandwiches from the Rotary Club outside for lunch and then went on to Newtown for SSK. So we had a very lovely fibre-filled day!