About the time I went to Bendigo for the Sheep and Wool show...

What I came home with from "Bendi Spendi" this year.

Hello my sad neglected blog...I'm back with a post that is weeks overdue. This is my round up of the Annual Australian Sheep and Wool show that was held in Bendigo back in mid July.

For woolcrafters in this neck of the woods this once yearly sheep and wool show is one of the most exciting weekends of the year. It is this event that will prompt the migration of knitters, crocheters, spinners, felters and all fibre lovers into this lovely regional city each year. They come in their little gaggles donning their handmade woollies and find a fibre heaven in the woolcraft market sheds.

This year instead of dragging the family up with me I did the day trip with some knitty girlfriends. We piled into the car with the largest boot and headed off even before my littlies had woken up (such a rarity, and of course it happens on the day that I'm not able to sleep in.). As much as I love having my family with me on such adventures, doing the show with friends who are on the same page when it comes to fibre was such a nicer experience than having to put up with the complaints of Sir S who declares, "I don't like sheep." 

My "Women of Wool". Love you girls!

I confess, I went quite crazy last year at the show because it was my first and I'm going to blame it on the wool fumes. This year I prepped myself to be restrained and to be the supportive enabler for my friends instead. To help me, I was prepared to stick to my woolly wool filter and continue to avoid purchasing any superwashed fibres even if the colours sung to me. My one must buy item was a knitted dinosaur softie because last year that was the one thing at the show that Sir S took an interest in and I told him that if I had money at the end of the day I would buy him one. Well, I'm sure you can guess that I ran out of money last year.

The show did not disappoint this year. The selection of beautiful yarns, fleeces, knitting accessories and bits and bobs were all marvellous. I love seeing the number of independent hand dyers who are around these days and discovering new people who I were not familiar with before. I love seeing how Nan Bray's White Gum Wool is becoming quite a popular base for hand dyers to use and that makes my heart sing because I am a huge fan of her principles and practices. It excites me to see Aussie hand dyers using her bases because it means that I can still buy from indie dyers and support their small businesses.

Here are some of my stand out favourites from the show this year:

1. Alpaca Allure

At this stall I met a family who run their own alpaca farm and a mini mill out in the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria. They had all this lovely undyed yarns in gorgeous natural alpaca fleece colours. The thing that really got me was on each of their labels they listed the names of the animals that the fibre came from as a dye lot. So, I bought a skein of their 8ply that came from Rose and Leo in 2016. It is so so soft and I love the natural sandy grey colour.

2. Dyed by Hand

I bought some yarn from her last year and I was happily a return customer this year. It was the super luscious camel/ silk lace weight yarn that got me this year. Knitting with lace weight yarn is a bit of a scary prospect but getting to work with this beautiful yarn will motivate me to give it a go.

Impossible to resist touching this fleece.

3. Bellevue Park Wool

A family run Australian farm that is growing some beautifully crimpy and superfine merino. They had this raw fleece on the table and I could not keep my hands away from it. What can I say, crimp excites me.

4. Wool2Yarn

I had a lovely conversation with the man behind this mill, Alasdair while I pawed over and sniffed his skeins of Gotland wool. He too runs an alpaca farm and mini mill in regional Victoria and he had some really exciting blends of Gotland with fibres like silk and recycled wool or cashmere. I am so impressed to find a small industry of fibre milling and production just on my doorstep in Victoria. I am filing away this information for future fibre dreams.

I came away with a couple more business cards and flyers of things that caught my eye but I restrained myself from buying. If I get the chance to follow up on those yarns and fibres in the future I'll tell you about them.

It was such a fun day amongst the wool fumes and the tactile heaven of fibre. Did you make it to Bendi this year? What caught your eye or should I say hand as you fondled through the stalls?

BTW, I did buy the dinosaur for Sir S this year and redeemed myself (and wool) in his eyes.

It was clear I had a bit of a colour theme this year.

Bendi 2015

I took my first trip to Bendigo for the Australian Sheep and Wool show this year and I just had a blast. I caught up with some friends and hit the wool craft stalls and found some beautiful yarns that I will enjoy knitting with.

I went into the show with the intention of exploring new yarns from Australian indie dyers and hoped to also find some small flock yarns being sold by the farmers themselves. I also had an interest to take a look at yarn from sheep breeds other than merino. I just feel like the market these days is flooded with merino and mostly superwash merino too, but this year I have had a growing interest in learning about different breeds and I am curious to experience how their fibre will knit up.

I am extremely happy with the haul that I came home with. I found exactly what I was looking for and came home some Polwarth, Shetland, Blue Faced Leicester (BFL) as well as the unavoidable merino and even some superwash too. I'm not totally anti-superwash, I just wish to avoid it if I have other choices, but yesterday some absolutely beautiful colours jumped at me and I had to grab them even though they were a superwash.*

So, what did I buy? Well, I can't write about all of the purchases but here are a few of my favourites.

Tarndie Polwarth DK/8ply in natural undyed silver grey. 

This is my most exciting purchase because I have been eyeing off this yarn for a while now. I want to knit Joji Locatelli's True cardigan and I wanted to make it with yarn that reflected the name of the pattern. I chose the Tarndie Polwarth because it is wool obtained from the farm that developed the Polwarth breed back in the 1880s. According to their information flyer the sheep that they currently have in the flock are the descendants of the original Polwarth sheep and the yarns that they sell are truly "single origin" yarns. The other thing that appeals to me is the undyed nature of the yarn. They have 3 undyed colours - silver grey, brown and black - I think the silver grey will be perfect for the garment I have in mind. I also love how they sell nice big 205g skeins so I estimate that my 5 will be enough to make the True cardigan.

Little Plum Yarns Lush Sock in Sari.

This was actually my first purchase because Little Plum Yarns is a dyer that I have been hearing a lot about from my friend Jenny. I picked up one mini skein (among other things) of Sari coloured Lush Sock which is one of the few superwash merino yarns that I picked up. I bought it because I am hoping to match this yarn with a skein of green Miss Click Clack sock yarn that is short a bit of yardage for Kelly Brooker's My Aunt Doris cardigan for Miss L. I plan to alternate the two skeins and hope that the colours can blend well and just give the cardigan a nice subtle variegated look.

Oyster Yarns Duchess in Secrets at Midnight.

This DK weight beauty is a blend of extra fine merino, silk and silver stellina sparkle (75/20/5). It is so soft and squishy and the sparkle is a nice touch that gives the yarn a bit of extra prettiness. I think the dark blue will be easy to match with other items of clothing and I plan to knit something to gift to our dear friend who put us up for the night in Bendigo.

Dyed by Hand Yarns, Big Blue Stocking Fingering weight Superwash BFL in Purple Sea Urchin.

This colour just jumped at me and I couldn't resist. I bought 2 skeins and also added a skein of Fog Bound (grey) so that I can make a cardigan or sweater with the two colours because another one of my knitting goals is to knit more colourwork patterns. This is the first lot of BFL I've bought and I really notice how the yarn takes on the dye differently to merino. It has a beautiful sheen that is similar to the way silk blends reflect colours but this is a 100% wool yarn.

Jamieson & Smith 100% Shetland Wool from the Shetland Islands.

I bought this from the Purl Box stand where I also picked up the Oyster Yarn and I got it because I am just curious about Shetland wool. The touch of this wool is not soft or squishy, so I like to think of it as a workhorse wool. I can imagine the fisherman wives in the Shetland Islands knitting with Shetland wool hundreds of years ago because their men needed warm, sturdy, water and wind repellent jumpers for daily wear. I love the tradition and history that is embedded in this breed of sheep and their wool. I think a pair of cabled mitts will be best suited to this yarn rather than any accessory that would be sitting against more sensitive skin.

Along with the yarn I did also find the time to pop into the sheep sheds and wander among the animals that grow this most special fibre. I find the sheep a soothing and peaceful creature. How fabulous is it to be a walking squishy ball of wool? I love being clothed in sheep's clothing and I love these creatures that God created to provide us with that precious fibre.

Now I've got some serious knitting time ahead of me, so it's time to pick up the needles.

* I'll explain my thoughts on superwash yarns another day, today I want to just enjoy my Bendi purchases.