Sheep Show 2015

I spent last Sunday at the Sheep Show.  I left home very early on what turned out to be the coldest day in 18 years and here’s the frost and fog just over my back fence to prove it.

I had planned to meet a couple of weaving friends there which may explain why there was much talking but not much photography.  The only photos were the ones I took during the parade, so here are a few highlights.

A couple of felted garments, great garments but unfortunately I can't remember who made them

A lovely tabard from my fellow weavers - Members of Black Pearl

An entry from the students at Genazzano College who were inspired by the ANZAC Day centennial with poppies on a khaki background

And my jacket, looking good on someone who is tall and slim, unlike the intended wearer.

Though I probably won’t wear it with a very short skirt and bare legs

The jacket was woven in 6 shaft turned boulevard weave, with the last meter woven in plain weave for the facings, button, cuffs and pocket detail.  The yarns were 2/22 weight wool from my stash.  I was happy with the selection of colours I had.  Most were machine washable, a few were not so I dyed some machine washable yarn in the colours I wanted.  The fabric of course did not shrink or full at all so I backed it with the lightest iron on interfacing I could find and after that it behaved almost like store bought fabric.There were a few places where there were multiple thicknesses of fabric and it wasn't as smooth as I wanted. Then I remembered that I had a tailor's clapper in the cupboard.  

I don't think I had ever used it but with plenty of steam and vigorous clapping the lumpy areas flattened very nicely, just as they were meant to. 

We went to the showgrounds dining room for lunch.  The Sheep show is one of the few places where the lamb served at lunch is breed specific.   On the menu were not just any lamb pies but Dorper lamb pies.  They had obviously come from a local bakery and were just glowing in the food cabinet.  We couldn’t resist and not only that, they were served with 5 vegetables, nothing like a hearty country lunch. No pictures of the food either, too busy eating it!

And here’s the obligatory Bendigo stash picture, some bought, some won, some gifted, everything from knitting markers and snail biscuit cutters to wool detergent and everything in between.

A good day all round.

I’ve started spinning, not sure what moved me to do it though it might have been a perusal of the spinning fibre stash before I went to Bendigo.  I’ve finished a braid of Angel Bunny – angora bunny, cashmere, blue faced Leicester and Tencel -  from Charly, colours ranging from silver to indigo.  I’m very happy with the yarn, beautifully soft and after trying 2 knitting patterns, then 2 crochet ones, I finally think I’ve found the right one

It’s still winter here and while I realise that people who live in places where it snows regularly would consider it to be quite mild, it wasn’t mild enough when my heater failed during the week.  The control panel looked fine, the outdoor heating unit felt warm but I noticed that it had tilted a bit away from the house.  Fortunately I was able to get someone to look at it the next day and when it had tilted, the duct from the heating unit had parted company with the rest of the duct work.  Sure enough everything was working OK but the hot air was all under the house instead of inside it.  There was an emergency duct transplant, secured I was pleased to see by duct tape, the unit was returned to its usual, vertical position with the help of a couple of pavers and everything is back to normal and Winter is more than half over

Helen