Starting from scratch

Discussion in 'Members' Systems' started by Possum, Oct 23, 2010.

  1. Aussie

    Aussie Junior Member

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    wow, how awesome is this, you guys are living the dream.
    shame about your sheep, snake season is well on its way here in QLD ive been seeing several a week for a good month now. look forward to reading about your adventures on your block of paradise.
     
  2. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Umm dumb question - why can't you spin it? Do sheep have to be a certain age before their wool is spin-able? I feel like I'm missing something obvious here….

    With a couple of long lived pigs you may find the urge to keep a dog passes….
     
  3. Possum

    Possum Junior Member

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    It has been too dry for my liking. We have plenty of water for gardening and feeding the critters from our creek water rights, but I would like all our rainwater tanks to be at least half full so I can have a guilt free leisurely bath! DH made me a bath caddy for my birthday a few months ago, so I can have a cuppa and book in the bath, but alas our tanks are struggling to stay quarter full. :pout: The shed will be built early next year if not at the end of this year, so that will almost double our water collection capabilities. 8) We'll still need it to actually rain, though. In 2011 our tanks were full to overflowing in the middle of summer!
     
  4. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    I love having the luxury of water laid on too. Love my showers :)
    Haven't had a bath since I was a little kid. Just thinking about having to sit still long enough to take one makes me feel sick! :)
     
  5. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Possum you can still have your cuppa and your book in the bath - you are just going to have to learn to love it when you are fully clothed and have shoved your doona in underneath you!

    It smells like rain outside, and there's a frog calling it down. Fingers crossed it's enough to actually run off the roof into the tank this time!
     
  6. Possum

    Possum Junior Member

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    Not a dumb question at all. It's too short for a beginner spinner like me and the merino would have been too short regardless if that lamb had survived. The other problem is that the ends are too brittle. The first bit of wool a lamb produces isn't suitable for spinning. I'm told a spring lamb can be shorn in summer when they're very young, to get rid of those brittle ends, and then the following spring they have a good long useable fleece. But mine were autumn lambs, so this first shearing is not particularly useful.

    I think the need for a cuddle-able pet will not pass. ;)

    Um, yeah, thanks. :rofl:
     
  7. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Well - I learned something today. If I ever have lambs I'm sure it'll come in handy.

    I'm pretty sure you can cuddle a pig. At least when you keep them out of the bog for a few days. You might even be able to train them to fetch your slippers!
     
  8. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Well - I learned something today. If I ever have lambs I'm sure it'll come in handy.
    I don't suppose you to have a little wispy swatch of gold hair attached with yellowing sticky tape to a piece of card with the words "eco4650 - 8 months" written in a very neat hand underneath? And another piece of card with 2 lovely 6 inch gold pig tails attached, with the same hand writing, but with the words "eco4650 - 10 years" written under them?
    Well it's the same with sheep :)

    I'm pretty sure you can cuddle a pig. At least when you keep them out of the bog for a few days. You might even be able to train them to fetch your slippers!
    No dear, you can't cuddle a pig. At least not with any degree of satisfaction on a cuddle-metre. And fetching slippers? eco how many times have you watched Babe??? Well stop it. It's a movie!
    :)
     
  9. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    My mum still has the hair clippings in a cupboard somewhere. I think I have to wait until she dies before I get them. Which is OK because I have my own kids ones in a cupboard too… And they might be waiting a similarly long time. I think mothers get more of a kick out of them than the owners do anyway.

    Felting sounds like fun. I haven't done it but I once spent a day with a woman in Tassie who made really amazing fashion felting onto fabrics. The colour and texture was amazing. I took lots of photos but most of my photos got eaten by a nasty disc drive accident. I'll have a dig and see if I still have any.

    Damn about the slippers and the cuddles. Next thing you'll be telling me that pigs can't sing either. I'm still trying to train my cat to make my breakfast. It isn't working out so far. But I have had huge success with training the cat to be a hot water bottle in winter.

    BTW - didn't rain last night. "They" (the weather man on the telly) keep promising me storms. Heck Im even starting to think a little bit of hail and a few destructive winds would be nice if they came with some rain. But still nothing….
     
  10. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    My mum still has the hair clippings in a cupboard somewhere. I think I have to wait until she dies before I get them. Which is OK because I have my own kids ones in a cupboard too… And they might be waiting a similarly long time. I think mothers get more of a kick out of them than the owners do anyway.

    Felting sounds like fun. I haven't done it but I once spent a day with a woman in Tassie who made really amazing fashion felting onto fabrics. The colour and texture was amazing. I took lots of photos but most of my photos got eaten by a nasty disc drive accident. I'll have a dig and see if I still have any.

    Damn about the slippers and the cuddles. Next thing you'll be telling me that pigs can't sing either. I'm still trying to train my cat to make my breakfast. It isn't working out so far. But I have had huge success with training the cat to be a hot water bottle in winter.

    BTW - didn't rain last night. "They" (the weather man on the telly) keep promising me storms. Heck Im even starting to think a little bit of hail and a few destructive winds would be nice if they came with some rain. But still nothing….
     
  11. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Found one! It's just a tiny thumbnail but it'll give you the idea. This was a dress - the sheer turquoise fabric has the darker blue and golden wool worked into it, and the peacock feathers were sewn on somehow. I can't imagine owning a garment like this - it's too precious to wear. I'd spill soup in it in the first 5 minutes!
    View attachment 1899
     

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  12. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    No dear.
    You wouldn't spill soup on it.
    You wouldn't spill soup on it because you wouldn't be eating soup while you were wearing it.
    You would be lying back on a pile of velvet cushions, being fed organic, locally grown grapes, by men with physiques shredded & tanned from toiling away at their post fossil fuel PC endeavours, being fanned with ostrich feathers by semi naked exotic children rescued from the latest sinking refugee boat.
     
  13. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Oh! So THAT'S why it was expensive. I didn't realise it came with grape peeling men…
     
  14. Possum

    Possum Junior Member

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    Oh dear, you've all been having a good gas-bag while i've been out in the rain. 210mm in 14 hours!

    Yes, I'll be felting the wool and other such fun things. It'll be good for stuffing too.

    Eco, that photo is beautiful! I love felting, although most of my felting is knitted and deliberately thrown in the washing machine. It's so much fun!
     
  15. Rick Larson

    Rick Larson Junior Member

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    Those men might force you latent women to eat peeled grapes right from their mouths.
     
  16. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Awesome about your rainfall :) That will make a big difference - & back to long, luxurious baths :)
    I've never tried the boiled wool sort of felting, although I've seen a few gorgeous things that have inspired me to want to have a go. I'm not much of a knitter, so it would be a big effort for me to knit it in the first place, & then to throw it in the machine after all that ... well, I dunno if I could do it to be honest :) I've done it with a few old pure wool jumpers & made house coats for my dogs, & I've done a couple of vests for myself. But nothing I knitted myself :)

    You don't happen to have a machine carder do you? :)
    What sort of spinning wheel are you using at the moment?
    And what were you thinking of stuffing with the wool?
    It all sounds very exciting & inspiring (& I need a bit of inspiration just now) :)
     
  17. Possum

    Possum Junior Member

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    We are beginning to doubt our rain gauge. I mean, it rained solidly for the best part of 24 hours... but the nearest BOM reading is in a town 20kms away and they only got 32mm. Further on from that they got 71mm. Nowhere in the state got over 100mm in that 24 hour period, so I don't know what to think.

    It was hard to knit with the intention to felt the first few times, but once I saw the results it seemed worth it. My very first knitted+felted project was a hot air balloon for Jack Frost to travel in:
    View attachment 1900

    I have borrowed a drum carder (is that what you mean?) from my local Handweavers and Spinners group which I'm a member of, in preparation for the influx of fresh fleece. So far I've only spun on a drop spindle but DH wants to make me a spinning wheel based on an Ashford Joy. He's a timber craftsman so it should be relatively easy for him. I hope. I make lots of knitted, crochetted, and sewn toys and things so I'm always using stuffing. Right now I'm making four Apples to Oranges sewing kits as Christmas gifts, so I am using quite a bit of stuffing for the pin cushion part.
     

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  18. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    I want what she's having. Still waiting here….

    Wish I had time to be crafty… At the moment the most crafty I get is rearranging the icons on my desk top.
     
  19. helenlee

    helenlee Junior Member

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    Ricky dear ... this is Possums thread & I'd hate to make a mess here ... so see you on my thread hey?
     
  20. Possum

    Possum Junior Member

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    Not much is happening around here except for this:
    View attachment 1910
    (yes, we finally managed ot hatch a single solitary egg!)
    and a new fence is in progress to replace a pretty beaten up fence along the far end of the paddock.
     

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