Spring At Garfield House

October has had a special springtime feel this year with the addition of more tulips planted last autumn. This is the yellow and pink bed and while perennials are still abed, I have coloured chard and strappy iris leaves filling in.

Spring is just not spring without the lambs! We are bottle feeding seven little maids much to the delight of little boys on holidays. Add to that the 50 chicks in the brooding pens and we are full to the brim with babies!

The boys always enjoy pasta making

and lots of crafts too....

Collages with a definite springtime theme...

Colour and science play with bi-carb and coloured vinegar from pipettes.

(Instructions Here)

More colour play with food dye in milk and watching the reaction to soap.

(Instructions Here)

Check out the video to see how the colours swirl like magic....

Some lovely, squishy, swirly sensory play in coloured water beads.

Lots of games, cards, "jobs", a water fights and good appetites.

And when the sun went down....

The fairy garden under the white peach tree lit up with little lights as the fairies played and magic misted among the sleepy calendula buds.

Then off to bed for sleepy heads and goodnight fairy stories to send them off to lands far away in dreams.

Yarn Tour Tasmania 2016

Last Saturday I had the honour once again to crisscross Tasmania's Midlands with 35 yarn lovers. Some came from as far as Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria.

Picture This....

Two days before

The midlands was covered with snow, winds gusting up to 100km/hr and I was convinced I was going to die with tonsillitis.

The Mill - Oatlands

Happily this is the land of the great changeable weather and Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin so we had a sparkling Tasmanian winter day with only a light breeze and lots of sunny faces.

Our first stop was just a few kilometres outside Ross to see some sheep shearing at the historic property of Beaufront. 

It was a really special opportunity for people to see inside a very large, working and historic shearing shed. To experience the labyrinth of pens and ancient timbers greased by the lanolin of years of sheep.

The long rows of machinery overhead that drives each shearer's stand. The skill and infrastructure required and the complexity of sheep farming. Within the constraints of limited time they touched on animal welfare, stock value, the tight-rope walk of nutrition, pasture, lambing and final product. It's important for consumers to know that the end product they use is a result of a complex process requiring many hands, skill sets and months to accomplish - and that's BEFORE it even gets to the wool processing stage of cleaning spinning dyeing etc.

Time is fleeting and we must push on...

After the shed tour and shearing demo it was a "rustic" morning tea back at the bus with carrot cake, apricot and pumpkin seed cake, date slice and chocolate chip cookies.

A very special thank you to Julian and Annabell Von Bibra for their kind hospitality, their generous spirit and warm welcome at beautiful Beaufront.

Hobart street planters & Lucky Ewe yarns

We now head to Hobart to visit The Stash Cupboard and some of us even stop for lunch.

Stash Cupboard yarns

Along the way we had lots of games like, Greyhounds and Racehorses, Heads and Tails and lucky draws and raffles.

One of our prizes was a special commission piece of textile art made by the very talented Claire from Sweet Birdy Love

Lots of yarn goodness and fabulous embroidered hand towels, washers and other textiles kindly donated by my step-mother in Queensland. XXX And two gift vouchers for the yarn stores up for grabs!

Our next stop is a firm favourite with the tour adventurers, it's The Lucky Ewe in Oatlands. Nestled in this quaint historic Georgian sandstone village is a teeny tiny shop PACKED with all sorts of yarns and associated textile crafting. They stock 18.5 micron superfine merino wool, alpaca, angora, cashmere, silk, possum, wallaby....

She stocks dyes, kits, tools, roving, needles, hooks and miles of unique hand spun, hand dyed goodness. 

It is always exciting and a real treat. Everyone got a gift and Rowena gave us another two special gifts for prize draws on the way home as well.

There are so many people to thank and not the least of those is Jack's Coaches of Longford and our driver Neil on his third tour of duty, always obliging, and patiently waiting with a smile on his face.

I also need to thank the ladies themselves for the continued support, enthusiasm and friendship.

Especially my SIL Leeann and my friend Cindy who chip in at every opportunity and also contribute to our delicious home cooked morning teas.

Big love to Vanessa who takes all the photos and helps record our day in style (because we are all waaayy too busy shopping for anything else).

Having this much fun is seriously simple and requires only a little effort. The only trick is to get the right number to cover your cost. A day spent in camaraderie with like minded people is so good for the soul. Just do it! 

Mid Life and A Crisis

I'm midway on the path of life!

Last weekend, I turned 50 and although it was intended to be low-key and quiet it turned out to be quite eventful.

It was the weekend of the Campbell Town show. Founded in 1838, it is the longest running show in Australia. Plenty of agricultural displays along with wood chopping, dog trials, horsemanship, whip cracking....

And LOTS of sheep, fleece judging, shearing competitions, yarn bombing, knitting and wool corporation fashion parades. This area was built on sheep and still remains a key part of the community today.

Tasmanian Fisheries had a great interactive educational set up for the youngsters too.

With two grandsons in tow, the hours were filled and fun. There's nothing like looking through the eyes of the young, and a fitting way to celebrate the onset of midyears.

The rain held off for the show but the next day it poured...

and poured....

and a king tide hit and the swollen rivers couldn't escape fast enough.

Massive flooding hit Tasmania and it rivalled the worst not seen since 1920 but the millions spent on flood levies around Launceston and the town of Longford proved to be well worth the cost. The worst was held back but unfortunately other areas experienced disaster. 

Thanks for all the messages and well wishes and concern. We stayed high and dry and we pray for those still missing.

And through all the highs and lows of the weekend, just as he has been in life, one of my best friends flew down to surprise me. It was the best birthday wish come true.

"Into each life, some rain must fall
But if the storm becomes too much for you all 
Don't be afraid to enter my life
I will be there when you call me."

(Lyrics from "Call Me" Style Council)

A Remote Dinner Date

The Shearer has been working away for a while on a very large property up near Gladstone in the very far north eastern tip of Tasmania. I joined him for dinner one night mid-week and arrived on sunset. The weather was mild with no wind and picture postcard.

It's a 2 hour drive from home.

He cooked me a lovely stir fry with vegetables from our garden and then it's a pretty early turn in for exhausted shearers.

The nightly concerto of snoring from three bedrooms and the occasional bump and shuffle from the ladies in the shed were the only sounds except for the young working dog far away, on guard, probably barking at a possum.

Next morning it's an early rise and as the shearers head over to the shed, I start the 2 hour drive back to town.

Wild Wool and Silks - Yarn Tour Part IV

You could be forgiven for mistaking this as a knitting blog but it does become a bit of a past time round here in the winter. So we bid Hobart a fond farewell and climbed back on the bus and travelled an hour north of Hobart along the Midlands Hwy to historic Oatlands, home of the (still working) flour mill (recently restored).

Oatlands is very much like Ross and remains mostly untouched by modern paraphernalia, maintaining it's original sandstone and clipped hedges streetscape. As you can see, our beautiful mild winters day morphed into an equally mild and cloudless sky afternoon. The day was picture perfect.

Opening especially for us was the "Lucky Ewe" shop, and again, a shop quite different to the previous shops at Ross and Hobart. 

Though it is probably smaller than my lounge room, it certainly is Aladdin's cave for yarn lovers, especially weavers, spinners, dyers and felters. Above is a selection of yarn dyes.

Colourful roving and hand spun. 

(and beautiful ancient floor boards)

Gorgeous silks among the woollier yarns.

I bought this silk mix for my mother. Rich vibrant golden colours.

and these sea greens for me! 

But what I was most excited to see was the "wild yarns". Hand spun merino with possum and wallaby fur, bound together with a fine silk thread. So soft and warm.

This is knitting up beautifully into a cowl for Craig when he is on the bike.

Pattern here on Ravelry

(The beautiful stitch markers were a thank you gift from one of the ladies on the bus. So beautiful)

And a hank of Jenmark Alpaca, a local alpaca fleece yarn grown just north of Hobart.

So soft and luxurious. I haven't got a project in mind yet but I just had to have it.

And more unique Tasmanian knitting needles from Tasmanian Forest Beads, made from Tas oak with Huon pine, myrtle and eucalypt burl. The larger ones look like horizontal scrub knobs.

Plenty of great gifts for knitters here!

Again we would like to thank Rowena for specially opening and for the goodies she gave us for our gift bags too. Such a unique little shop and if you can't get to Tasmania to visit it then check out her facebook page here or her site here

The tour was deemed great fun and we are planning to do another in autumn next year. This time we will travel the north west way probably late April early May. Vogue Knitting tours, eat your heart out!

The Stash Cupboard Hobart - Yarn Tour Part III

Seriously, the name says it all!

Eermahguurd!

(And PS check out that gorgeous original pressed tin ceiling of the street awning!)

We hit the Stash Cupboard in Hobart with full force. Thank you ladies for staying open and looking after such a crazy-for-yarn hoard.

I know y'all probably got a big ole yarn shop where you come from but we were just a pack of silly giggly campers when we walked in. I really thought I was prepared mentally with my projects and what yarn I was looking for but I was truly overwhelmed and just like a hunting hound dog I had to circle that whole place twice giving it a good sniff before I could settle in for some specific choices. Apparently I wasn't the only one. "Overwhelmed" was a phrase repeated by many describing their first foray into the shop.

Yarn was set out in fibre types and the white fixturing made the colours pop! Plenty of knitted display garments and quirky, energetic displays.

There is a space for social knitting and also a computer so you can look up Ravelry and even a print to print your patterns! They regularly have guest designers and knitting classes too.

Over by the door next to the register is a big yarn winder set up so you can convert your hanks/skeins easily to ball before you go home.

Seriously, yum,yum,yum. Oh and the pattern book range. 

I had just enough time for a comfort stop and a sandwich before it was back on the bus.

Thank you to Penni from the Stash Cupboard for our extra give aways and lucky dip fun.

It was here that we left our box of donated knits for the Women's Shelter too. 

The Stash Cupboard is right in the middle of Hobart at 159 Liverpool St and they have a great facebook page too.

It's 2pm and time to get back on that bus.....

Wool Centre at Ross- Yarn Tour Part II

Our first stop was historic Ross on the Midlands Hwy about an hour south of Launceston. Ross remains mostly untouched and unchanged visually from it's convict times and is so steeped in Tasmanian history that I'll revisit that subject another time but for now we'll visit the wool centre.

By the way, I think Ross has THE cleanest and most pleasant public toilets in the whole of Tasmania and makes an ideal stop for morning tea. It was an idyllic mild winters day, crystal blue skies, no wind and warm sun shining down. We set up a quick tea and coffee station on a nearby bench and served ANZAC biscuits and an Apple Spice Cake.

Directly across the road is the wool centre, perfect!

It is a retail showcase for woollen garments and knitting accessories but it is also houses a fabulous "museum" and historical display of the sheep industry in Tasmania.

You could spend at least an hour looking at the displays alone but unfortunately we only have half an hour and it's back on the bus so I arranged for a talk to the ladies about 

White Gum Wool

You can read the full story here about the ethically raised sheep in the Tasmanian midlands and you can also watch a story clip here from a Landline special here.

I contacted Nan Bray, the owner of the sheep farm, to see if she would speak to us at the centre but unfortunately she was right in the middle of shearing but we had a lovely lady from the centre give us a brief insight into the difference of White Gum Wool. Many of the techniques employed on the farm are in direct contrast to most properties and I would imagine there a few hairy-eared farmers having a bit of a scoff but I think Nan is a real hero. One of the really interesting things she does is manage pasture for greater diversity of food selection and she allows the lambs to self wean and stay within their family groups for five years. Her philosophy is that though genetics are certainly important, just as, or if not more importantly, is the way in which sheep are raised. You get back what you put in. Do watch the video link, it's a great story.

The ladies had a great time and most bought something from the White Gum Wool range. I bought a ball of the sock wool to try and look forward to working with it. They will become a pair of socks for Craig.

Don't you just love these needles? These are from Art Viva and are Tasmanian made, you may recall from a recent post that I tried these out at the Campbell Town show this year and bought a couple of pairs. I really like the point and angle on them. Here is the link for Art Viva if you would like to see more.

That's it, time's up!

Back on the bus for a bit more mystery knitting and on to our next stop in Hobart!

........