2012 - New Year's "Plans"

Over the past few years I have kind of forgotten about this blog but I've decided that in 2012 I'm going to keep it updated more often, at least twice a month or more if anything interesting happens.

A review of 2011:

I started the year off slipping back into depression. After finishing Tocal at the end of 2010 I get home from my month in South Australia with the lovely Jane and family at Moseley Park to discover that some scumbag stole my precious cat; Iris. Iris was involved in some sort of accident when she was 17 months old and had to have her rear left leg amputated about an inch from the hip but that didn't stop her getting around and hunting. I put a 'Missing' ad in the local freebie paper in early December but that was a dead end. I also went for a few jobs at the end of 2010 and beginning of 2o11, but it seemed like all the bosses were jerks or just never bothered to get back to me so I kept hoping that something would come along but meanwhile was trying to live off about $225/week.

However good things did happen. Late January I welcomed a beautiful pair of male kittens into my life; Castiel and Gabriel. My stepsister's cat had a litter of four kittens and after hearing about Iris' disappearance she said that one of the kittens was mine if I wanted it... at 4 weeks old I went up for a visit and my mother decided that the little grey kitten who didn't have a home to go to as yet would be coming home with me so my little tabby boy would have a playmate and wouldn't get lonely when I wasn't home.

I was invited to the annual NSW/Qld Graduate Woolclasser of the Year Competition down at the Sydney Royal in April, I went down nervous as hell, forgot a few things but although I did my best I didn't get a placing... however just getting there was achievement enough and apparently I did get the highest score in one of the non classing sections. I came home feeling a bit down that I was unable to do better and felt like I had let Stu; my long suffering Wool Classing teacher down but I'm sure he was proud of me none the less.

Mid June I applied for a job at the local Woolworths Supermarket, I made it through the first group interview stage and got called back for a second interview; they were mostly looking for juniors for the position but would I be willing to do night fill. I said yes and got a job. I started with the usual induction days before starting out on the floor... six months on I'm still there and although suffering a foot injury of some unknown cause I'm doing my best and so far haven't got told off from the bosses.

In early September I took in a rescue kitty; the couple had only had him a few weeks but he was causing their older, original cat to stress and throw up so they had to rehome him. I thought that he was only a young cat looking at his photos but as I soon found out he was at least 10 years old. He got renamed "Sir Puss" and settled in, despite the odd spit and hiss from the boys. I was also able to get in contact with the vet who did some work on him.. in Brisbane! She had estimated his age to be 12 although he could be a lot older than that. Sir Puss didn't seem to care.

October a miracle in my life happened. While out at dog washing one of the regular customers asked if I was still missing my 3 legged cat which I had obviously told her about previously. A friend in her Buddhist group had a 3 legged cat hanging around her place and had been for roughly the past 3 to 4 months. I passed on my information and got a call from the lady; Robin, after hearing the description of Iris she was pretty sure it was her. I went out to her place on the Sunday afternoon but there was no sign of her, but I'd come back. Monday morning I got a call, Robin had just seen the cat come up for some food and called out "Iris" to which the cat stopped and looked around, she recognised her name.

I went out quite early on Wednesday morning and sat in Robin's kitchen until I saw movement outside, I grinned when I saw a familiar figure hopping over to the food dish, I let myself outside with a container of milk and when she saw me she started to turn to run away... I didn't want her to disappear so I said "Iris" softly, recognising my voice she hopped over and let me pat her. I pulled a huge shellback/paralysis tick from behind her ear and gave her more pats, gingerly I picked her up and she let me cuddle her. Holding her against my chest I showed Robin who was so happy... knowing if she got away I'd never get her back I tried to force her into the carrier, she tried to get away but I managed to pull her back by the tail and after sinking her teeth into my finger and scratching Robin and I got Iris into the carrier and put her into the car to let her calm down a bit... we chatted for about 10 minutes before I drove back into town. I dropped in to see mum at work who went out to say hello, it was also just after 8:30 meaning the vets was open. I had been down on the Monday to let them know Iris had been found and when I got her I'd bring her in... so when I showed up on Wednesday the vet nurses were surprised. Iris got in to see Kim who was the vet who did her amputation surgery many years ago... after telling him what had happened over the past year he was not only shocked but surprised, she was in good condition and although scared didn't show any 'feral' signs. After getting some blood drawn for a FIV test I took her home and put her in the shower, she hissed and growled at the small of the other cats and to my surprise went straight to the litter tray. About an hour after I got her home I brought her into my bedroom where I was going to curl up for a quick nap, Iris curled up and purred her head off. She was more than happy to be home and definitely not feral.

It's been months since she got home and although she still hisses and growls at the boys she seems to be getting use to them and is even letting them into my bedroom where she spends almost all of her time.

Those are the highlights and lowlights of the past year and a bit. In 2012 I'm hoping to add to my menagre of animals with an angora rabbit, I've discovered a breeder down in Port Macquarie and am on the waiting list for a kit, whenever that will be. I'm now looking at how to build my own indoor rabbit hutch and what kind of things I need as I've never owned a rabbit before.

I'm also in a bit of a spinning rut at the moment but hoping that things will change this year.

Kitty Spam!!

Below are a selection of pictures from the past 4 weeks of kitty visits.

3.5 weeks old, fast asleep!

At 4 weeks old having a drink from mother cat; Soxy.

At 5 weeks, this is also the week where my mother piped up and said that I'd take the grey kitten who didn't have a home. So now I've got twins and got to work out another name.

Kitty pile!

6 weeks old and having a nap.

Their names are Castiel Angus (the tabby) and Gabriel Phillip (the grey)

Cas complains when you pick him up but after the treatment my stepsister's 5 year old has put them through it's no wonder!! When they come home they'll have enough time to settle in and hopefully they both enjoy cuddles as much as I do.

I'll definitely keep my blog updated with kitty posts!

Tour de Fleece -2009

Day 1- Saturday 4th July 2009:

Spent about an hour spinning the remains of the funky pink merino/tussah silk batt from May's installment of Moseley Park's Fibre Club. Spent another hour starting to ply it up, although it was all done in roughly half hourly installments because I spent from 4-7:30am and 1-4pm on milking duties here at college.

Day 2 - Sunday 5th July 2009:

Again I spent my day milking but in between I managed to get some more of the pink batt plied up, about 90 minutes this time. Over half way through plying it.

Day 3 - Monday 6th July 2009:

Today I managed about 75 minutes plying, finished plying what was on one bobbin and made a 'handy' plying bracelet with the remains.

Day 4 - Tuesday 7th July 2009:

Plied up the remains of the pink batt and made another bracelet of the purple rolag that I had one my last bobbin, finished plying the pink batt 'bracelet' and started on the purple rolag 'bracelet'. All up, just over an hour spinning... would've done more if I didn't have to sit through a 2 hour dinner!

More to come.. plus pictures on Friday!

Bad, bad Em

OK so life's gotten away with me and I haven't updated this for months. Doesn't mean I haven't done anything though! I've done quite a bit of spinning and crocheting, as well as studying and practical learning.

Main spinning projects:

200 metres of "Brownie" (English Leicester x Merino x Corriedale fleece) crocheted into a Gulf Shores hat/beanie

350+ metres of "Green Bananas" I spun this up for mum to be turned into a scarf, can't seem to find the right pattern so it's currently on the 'to do' pile.

550 metres of "Sea Lace" The thinnest I've ever spun on my wheel. Is currently with the ever lovely Pip getting turned into a Swallowtail Shawl

I also got myself a new spindle in early March, it's tiny compared to my others, the shaft is about 17cms long and made from Eucalypt while the two flatter whorls are from Tiger Myrtle and the rounded one is Myrtle burl. I have spun a heap of super fine yarn with it and it's a total of 23 grams. Even Pip had a go on it last weekend and fell in love. Might have to get myself another made by the ever lovely Spindlemaker.

Right now I'm working on a beanie made with what I call my "Zebra" white and grey Border Leicester tops.

In the next few weeks I will also be the proud owner of an Inwood Smith drum carder, more pics when it arrives!

Hello from Tocal

Well it's day 3 at Tocal Agriculture College and so far so good, pretty much settled into my room and adjusting to college life. Because of my age I'm across the road from the campus at Glendarra 1. I have my own room with a big sliding door that looks out over the parts of the dairy, I'll have to get more photos once the weather clears a bit. Monday night there was a storm about midnight, woke me up and I ended up having to pull the curtain across so I didn't have lightning flashing in my eyes every minute or so. Believe it or not there was another storm yesterday during the day and again this morning! Yes there's been a bit of rain but a lot more is needed. The room is simple as is the ensuite but they both do their job so I can't really complain, even if I've got Ida sitting in the middle of the room next to a 'carry on' roller suitcase full of fleece and my 2 laundry hampers (1 for fibre and 1 for dirty clothing) not to mention the things I brought down that I can't figure out where to stick.

The past few days have been all orientation stuff but serious work begins tomorrow, after my Q Fever test at 7am. Breakfast is at 7, lunch is at noon and dinner at 5:30... aparts from weekends where breakfast is from 8, meaning some sleeping in can be done on weekends.

Aparts from doing my Certificate III in Agriculture this year I'm also planning on doing another course; Rural Production Studies, which is a stepping stone for Certificate IV in Wool Classing, this one is the better value cause you learn the basics of wool classing as well as welding and a few other things. Next year is solely wool classing... remember that this is in my spare time! Monday nights from 6pm. So by the end of next year I'll have a Cert III, IV and Diploma in Agriculture as well as a Statement of Attainment - Rural Production Studies and a Cert IV in Wool Classing!

And now for the good bit for the spinner in me... I might just score some free fleece that the farmers don't want, my teacher; Steward said that one year a few of the Cert IV students he had were spinners!

I promise more pictures next time, providing it'll let me get into my photobucket or Flickr accounts

Cheese!

A few weeks ago I found the Nundle Woollen Mill through Google and had a look in their Spinners and Weavers section where I found something they were selling called "Cheeses", so I sent off an enquiry via their form which unfortunately didn't get answered so I sent them an email asking for details about these cheeses. This is what I got told:

Our cheeses are 23 micron Polwarth fibre (carded and separated in about 3mm widths)

So I put in an order, and at $25 for a kg I thought it'd be good to try out. Thursday there was a slip in my letterbox saying I had a parcel, which mum kindly picked up for me when she was downtown. Opening up the bag this is what was inside..

Four cheeses.
An individual cheese which weights roughly 350 grams or more. Altogether there's 1.3kgs!

The raw width of the Polwarth fibre and it's so lovely and soft!

Out of interest I got out one of my lovely Spindlemaker spindles and started spinning up some, however the 30g Tassie Blackwood/Wattle one seemed a bit too light so I got out my big 50g
Budgeroo/Blue Gum spindle and started spinning. Without the worry of having to draft it spins up quite quickly and last night I sat on my bed with the spindle over the edge of the bed spinning roughly a metre at a time.

This is the thickness it's spinning up at. I'm very happy with this wool and now I just need to work out what colours I want to dye it when I finish at least 100g of it.


In other spinning news I finished a batch of English Leicester fleece. I did about 120 grams and got over 220 metres of a real fine yarn (roughly 17 WPI), some of the fleece I washed but some still has the lanolin in it cause I started with washed fleece and went back to unwashed when I was comfortable with spinning on the fold.

The flicked fleece, with it's pale tips left in for effect.

A super macro shot of the yarn, due to camera settings the picture has a slight blue tone to it.

The EL in the sun
All skeined up.

This is going to get turned into a pair of Knucks minus the writing at the moment, they're in mum's "To Knit" pile which doesn't have a lot in it but lately it's been way too hot to knit!

I'll have to post again before I head off for Tocal, only 3 short weeks to go!

Introducing.... Ida

On Saturday night I took the 8 hour train trip down to Sydney to meet Tia and pick up my wheel. Getting in around 7am on Sunday morning I was met around 8 by Tia and Issy we then went to Burwood Westfield for some breaky and shopping. Around 11 we went back to the station so I could get the 11:45am train back home.

Introducing.... IdaIda is a Sheridan Matilda, not sure about when she was made but she'd be 30 years old, at least. She's a double drive and so far she's really liking me and I'm spinning up quite fine yarn! After I finish this next lot of 'self striping' yarn I might give some of that yummy angorino stuff a go.

She'll also be fantastic for Tocal, she's so small and takes up less room than a chair, I also have a nice big laundry basket to store my fibre in... and a dozen or so calico bags to store fibre in. Got two things sorted out for college at least! In the next few weeks it'll be time to buy some clothes, get some op-shop jeans for working and next week I go looking for riding boots.

Spinning wise I've done some beautiful yellow, orange, red and pink yarn that I've called "Sunny", it's going to be a lovely iPod/mp3 player bag for my friend in Brisbane, when I can find the right pattern. I got about 170m out of the 100grams, it's finer than what I usually spin so I'm surprised!
Very happy with how it's turned out.