New Year, New Challenges. Craft.

This year will be all about celebrating the stash.  Or rather the stashes.

The yarn stash is, despite much pruning before we moved last July, vast.  It deserves to be enjoyed, not just in the having but in the creating.  .

The fabric and sewing stash has enjoyed a bit of growth in the last few years.  Mum's stash came in for a start.  I am blessed with fabrics, threads, notions and buttons and continue to rescue them from landfill faster than I can use them. Time to get creative.  I've made a start in the last few months, but I want to really revel in this stuff.

Fibre. I have an abundance of raw and processed fibre that should get more attention.  Spinning has been off the agenda for some years but I hope to make up for lost time when the weather cools a little.

I'm not saying I won't add to stash, that would be foolish and self-defeating, but I will play with my pretties before adding more.

Image courtesy Surachai,  FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How I clutter my home

This spinner doll was in the 50c bin at the Salvation Army shop.  Couldn't leave her behind.

Early Spinning and Knitting on the Monaro

Archibald Crawford was born in 1833, in Campbelltown, Scotland and was 10 years old or so when his family settled for a year on The Dry Plain on the Monaro in about 1844. He was in charge of a flock of 800 lambing ewes. 

He writes in his memoir Eighty-Five Years in Australia (Sydney: John Sands Ltd; 1925), pp 22-23.

My mother, of whom I was very fond, used to spin all the wool for our knitted garments, of which we wore a good many. She never spoke English in the home, although she had an average knowledge of it, but always Gaelic. When she was knitting, sewing or spinning, she would sing old Gaelic songs to us; she had a very sweet and pleasing voice. One of my brothers-in-law, named Brayshaw, made the first spinning wheel which she used in this country; later on, when we went to Victoria, she got an imported one, which is still in existence as far as I know, and would probably be used during the Great War. At night I had to tease the wool for carding, another thing I did not like doing, and one night I was complaining and mother said to me, "No doubt you do think it a great bother to have to tease the wool, but you just think when you are out in the snow to-morrow how you would feel if you have no nice warm socks to wear." The next day I had reason to remember her lecture.

Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum

Inwood Smith Drum Carder

Christmas came a little early, Chez Taph.

Unashamed of the strength of my needs

Others will have posted about how fantastic our day with Helen Rippin (above) of Waratah Fibres was but it's my blog and I'll bore you if I want to.

An early start meant a fatty breakfast at the golden arches in Goulburn where Spidey and I indulged in the mental chasing of sheep in a nearby paddock. Spidey also made the mistake of pointing out a couple of Westies in the carpark. I can be surprisingly speedy given the right motivation and my sprint to hijack Piper and Lucy, the wee Westie sisters, was just the excercise I needed. I won't go on - you'd have to love a Westie to understand. I may have delayed our trip by half an hour and made small children cry; I am unashamed.

Helen generously welcomed us into her home and arranged to have her friends, Glenda, Phil and Chris, there to wrangle us. Helen and Glenda have experienced the full-frontal attack on their wares by Spidey and me before - it was a sensible precaution.

Eleven of us, including the Monkey Sherpa, who charmed all with his fibre-fu, descended locust-like on Helen's home where a spindling class was set up in short order.

There was a cup of tea and some delicious home-made slices and pikelets, a quick trip to the auto-teller for extra readies (not just me), more S.E.X. and spindling.

Then there was lunch. Home-made gourmet pizzas (to add to her attractions, Helen is also a chef) and garden salad.

Lunch over, a dye worshop took place.

Then another cup of tea and birthday cake - KMS had the birthday we all wish for - and it was time for us to say good-bye.

Jealous? You should be. Helen Rippin's spinning and dying is divine. A BIG thankyou to Helen and her friends and to our Happy Spider, who organised our day.

Wanna see what I bought? Manana. ;)

The play's the thing

Sundays are for Spinning. I've been saying that for months and yet the wheel has been gathering more and more cobwebs, and I don't mean laceweight.

Yesterday Spidey had me over for a play date. We drank tea, ate delicious tropical muffins and spun. I finished this bobbin of Bendigo roving in the Damson colourway.

The roving was discarded by Monsqueak several months ago at a similar play date. It went on holidays to South West Rocks and came home much rested, thank you very much for asking.

Someday soon, perhaps next Sunday, this bobbin will be plied against something interesting.

Sundays are also for socks. Almost finished the first of the Stanbridge Socks watching teev with the family last night.

Stanbridge Sock at Leeton Racecourse, Sunday 30 Sept 2007

The yarn is Ornaghi Filati "Luna Park" which was part of a prize won from Yarn. I wasn't all that keen on it in the ball, but it is perfectly charming knitted up. The best thing about it, though, is that Mum hates it so is unlikely to decide they should be hers.

Bad and buggered blogger

A busy week Chez Taph - or rather not Chez Taph - haven't had a night home in over a week.

Not home = no blog but it doesn't mean no knitting. Neither does it mean no shopping, *sigh*. There's been a rather big falling down in the no shopping department.

The Lifeline Bookfair in Canberra is, reportedly, the biggest in Australia. I have to go for work. I line up an hour or so before the doors open with all other diehards, then storm the barricades. I worked on the latest sock in the queue (forgot to take a photo) spent three hours combing the tables for items for our collection and then checking with staff back at the library for holdings. In the course of this I have to pass the craft sections and it would be just wrong not to look. Result, 32 Patons patterns and a couple stitch pattern dictionaries into to the collection. Oh, and I made time to have a cuppa with TSS. We really should have thought harder about the likely pitfalls of a Seven Things Spring Challenge when Spring in Canberra means a Lifeline Bookfair and the school fete/garage sale season.

Add this to the 4 Tinkingbell sent, the 4 TSS found and the 6 I'd bought the day before, we have 46 patterns in this week.

After the Bookfair I popped in to the Salvos Store at Mitchell. Nothing to be had (much to my relief) but as I was leaving I heard behind me - "Just hold that bag open for all that spinning wool". It was mine within seconds, as was the bag of knitting yarn they were about to throw in the skip because it was so hopelessly tangled.

I haven't weighed it yet, but there is a substantial amount of dyed, ready to spin roving. Pretty good for $5.

An hour's work last night turned most of this tangled mess of yarn into 12 balls of Anny Blatt pure wool (roughly 12 ply), 7 balls and part balls of Patons Totem, and some part balls of Patons Bluebell. There is also a large tangle of wool still to be worked on. It's going to make wonderful TTWCs and wristwarmers.

Sometimes I'm just the panty liner of my wallet's incontinence.

Oh, and here is the one hundreth Time Thief Watch Cap for the year. It's knitted from natural greasy wool produced by the Little Bo Peep company of Geelong.

TTWC 2007.100

Speaking of Geelong - Go the Cats! (but if you ever tell Dad I said that, I will have to kill you).

Skeining the heights

Skeiner, 8am, Pearce

The last woodwork project is now (almost) done.

It's sanded, oiled and put together and until it was tested this morning, I thought it was finished. Turns out it needs a longer screw through the middle. Tomorrow. Spidey, hold off on the songs of angels for a day or so. ;)

Skeiner with pink cottton, 8.05am, Pearce.

New Toy

Ok, so it doesn't count as a corruption of the Use What You Have Month principles if it's something you've wanted for a long time and something you got outbid on eBay for last month and if it's a bargain - does it? I'll think the answer to this question is "no", otherwise I've fallen of the wagon on the very first day and might as well indulge. Definitely a "No", then. ;)

Last night I won this on eBay. Is she not beautiful, mes amies? We will have a poll to name her when she arrives and perhaps a little christening party?

Spin Sisters, when shall we meet?

Spidey, Mon and Heidi - I'm going to NEED you. Now that's the kind of spin class I'd be interested in joining!

In knitting news I spent yesterday afternoon in the company of some wonderfully talented craftswomen following up on our hat workshop from last month. Our facilitator was the wildly talented Lynne Johnson . I am trying to make fine wire and yarn work together in hat form. Not there yet, but getting closer. Will also try and incorporate the wonderful sinimay fibre.

This is all for the Blue Hat Project which I urge you to support. Make a hat (doesn't have to be an actual hat, could be drawing, painting, poem, jewellrey, embroidery etc) that expresses what the blues are to you and send it to the another amazingly talented and creative woman, Waltraud Reiner, by the end of June. She will exhibit it in the Hat Extravaganza during Hat Week (first week of September) at Federation Square in Melbourne. The hats will be auctioned to raise money for Beyond Blue.

If you don't think you can make a hat, you might like to buy a button or a key chain. I have some buttons - they are $4 each.

Canberrans, there will events around Hat Week here, including a Knit-In at Duffy School on 5 September. It's a work day, but I'll be applying for leave and it would be great to see as many of us there as possible. More details as they come to hand.

Spun Out!

When you attend as many community events as I do, you quickly learn to

1. Chat up the person serving the warm, cheap booze and hope they keep 'em coming
2. Position yourself nearest the entry way from the kitchen if there is wait staff, or near the buffet table if it's serve yourself
3. Have an excuse ready for leaving just as soon as the mayor or other minor dignitary has said their piece.
4. Carry a little hand fan (there's never enough airconditioning to deal with the crowd) and a hanky (to deal with the really bad meatballs or to mop up the sweet chilli sauce from your good silk blouse or mop one's sodden brow if the hand fan is forgotten or to stifle a yawn if the mayor or other minor dignitary goes on a bit)
5. Bring your imagination - sometimes the only refuge is to let your eyes glaze over and your mind wander to more interesting things like what to do with the really gorgeous sock yarn you just bought, particularly when forced to listen to the local 4th graders sing, the local (insert any ethnic group you like) folk dance troupe do their thing in colourful dress or someone recites a poem.
6. Paste on a smile.

Last night at the Queanbeyan Historical Museum's opening of an exhibition exploring Struggletown's multicultural heritage, however, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the textiles on display and the lovely drop spindle in one of the display cases.

For the speeches and the entertainment (see 5 above)I had positioned myself next to the buffet table (see 2, above) and fortified myself with a top-up of the warm, cheap domestic methode champagnoise (see 1, above). A group of Croatian women, who may have been to one or two of these events as well, also positioned themselves around the still empty buffet table so I was surrounded by them. I was enjoying their chatter and the comparison of the quantity and virtues of their grandchildren when the MC announced the entertainment.

Not only was there to be no dancing (see 5, above), but there would be a spinning demonstration!

One of their number, fully kitted out in a fantastic red and cream woven costume entertained us by using a traditional drop spindle.

The fleece was attached to a long paddle, the the narrow end of which was tucked into the waist of the woman's apron. She set the spindle a-spinning (it looked like an elongated teardrop) and worked the fleece from up near her chest at the paddle shaped object until the spindle nearly touched the ground. She then wound the spun yarn onto the spindle and started again.

Captivated immediately, I was blown away by the spontaneous singing of the spinner, particularly when the women around me all joined in. Just magical, people, magical. Our spinner had not spun in 40 years, but the muscle memory was there and her yarn was pretty even and quite fine - about a five ply weight.

I spoke to some of the women afterwards and they told me that they used to spin at night in each other's homes and chat and sing.

My dears, it was a Croatian Stitch 'n' Bitch and the smile was genuine (see 6, above).