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.

I think I need to attend Yarnaholics anonymous

What is there not to love about a sweater lot of Canopy Worsted?

At the start of this year I decided to try to stash less after to reading Felicia Semple's series of stash less posts from her The Craft Sessions blog. I even set it as one of my goals for this year in my making list and tried to mentally match up the projects that I listed with yarns currently in my stash.

Well I need to confess that I have fallen off the wagon and if I really want to be honest with myself and with you all, I have fallen off the wagon, doused it with petrol, struck a match and set the whole thing on fire to burn it to the ground. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit melodramatic but suffice to say I have failed at the stash less challenge.

Ever since my yarn splurge post a back in late January I haven't done too well with the challenge. This last couple of weeks have just been a complete wash out and I blame it on the horrible time we've been having with the kids being sick, then me straining my back and now me catching the cold off the kids. The urge to buy yarn during this very testing time has been due to the very comforting feeling that yarn brings. Yarn lifts my mood when I am feeling tired and frustrated.

This thistle bloom is such a yummy colourway

After being at home for about 5 days straight with sick little Miss L I felt compelled to visit my LYS, Sunspun for a bit of yarn therapy. While there I bought a sweater load of Shilasdair DK to knit Bristol Ivy's Fairchild pullover from Pompom Magazine Issue 11. I probably won't get to this project until June but I needed to buy the yarn now for some yarny goodness. Even Miss L needed a bit of yarn therapy as she clutched onto a skein of the Shilasdair and cuddled it all the way home.

Like mother like daughter.

Alas, the yarn therapy doesn't end there. A few of days later I popped into Yarn + Co. in Collingwood and got very excited that they are now stocking The Fibre Company's Canopy Worsted yarn. I had been eyeing this yarn for ages and wanted to buy some for Carrie Bostick Hoge's Maeve Shrug. So, I found myself walking out of there with 6 skeins of turmeric coloured Canopy Worsted and I love it. 

This is such a yummy yarn to work with, it's becoming one of my favourites.

I can't wait to start on this project even though I have many other things of my list to get through first. In the mean time I'm being a good knitter and swatching the yarn. This is like getting a small 'hit' of the yarn in preparation for the real thing. I have to say I am loving this yarn which is a merino, alpaca and bamboo blend. I recently used it in quetzal colourway to knit a Garter Ear Flap Hat and love love loved it.

So squishy and cosy for the coming winter.

So there you have it, "My name is Rebecca, and I'm a yarnaholic."

Yarn splurge

Despite trying to stash less this year I have been a little naughty this past fortnight and splurged on a couple of bundles of yarn.

Firstly, I picked up 4 skeins of Madelinetosh DK Twist for $65 + postage from the FB destash group page, Australian Hand Dyed and Luxury Yarns Buy Sell Swap. This is a bargain for Madelinetosh and with 4 skeins I will have enough for a jumper for Miss L. 

Madelintosh DK Twist in Vermillion

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the world of yarn beyond what is stocked at Spotlight or Lincraft in Australia, Madelinetosh is a luxurious brand of yarn from the US. They hand dye their skeins of yarn into a multitude of delicious colours that are vibrant, unique and totally addictive. 

Madelintosh Tosh DK in Begonia Leaf

I knit with Tosh yarns twice last year and the yarn is so beautifully soft that it is a delight to work with and wear against the skin. My Mara shawl, knit with Tosh DK is the favourite item that I like to wear over my shoulders while I knit into the evening. Unfortunately when binding off I lost out in yardage chicken and had to patch in a different colour to finish the project. Because Madelinetosh hand dye their yarns in small batches each batch could be subtly different to other batches of the same colour. When I lost out in yardage chicken buying another skein wouldn't have been much different to just patching it with another yarn altogether since the colours could potentially be different anyway. Also, I didn't want to fork out another $25 for one skein when I only needed a few meters for the last little section of bind off.

Yardage chicken; sometimes you win and other times you lose and you just have to live with it.

The other yarn that I splurged on was from the Nunnaba Artisan Yarn's birthday suite. Nunnaba is an Australian indie dyer and her birthday suite brought together many of her indie dyer friends offering up yarns specially dyed for this occasion. I snapped up 2 skeins of gorgeous Red Riding Hood Yarns "Bubbles Darling!". Now, this purchase was seriously a splurge because it cost me $84NZD for the two 200g skeins of DK wool. 

I have a soft spot for RRHY because I have been following Hannah's weekly FB stockings for awhile and never been quite quick enough to snag the yarn before other buyers. Back in November I put in a preorder for some of her yarns and I'm still patiently waiting for it to be dyed and shipped. It might sound like a lot of effort just to get some yarn but seriously this stuff is magnificent. The colours are vibrant and unique and Hannah is so creative with the themes she uses and the colours she creates to match the characters from each theme. I'm waiting on some "Princess Leia" and "Gone Girl" skeins from the preorder which should be in my hot little hands by mid February.

Photo from Red Riding Hood Yarns

Ok, I now pledge to not buy any more yarn unless I am making a project from my make list that I cannot pair with anything from my existing stash. 

Photo from Red Riding Hood Yarns

 What tips do you have for not buying too much crafting supplies? or just going on splurges in general?