As another year comes to a close …
November has seen activity at the Guild as in town ramping up in preparation for Christmas. The weather has been hot one day and cool or wet the next, but not too hot yet for our handcrafts.
Summer is a great time for spinning in preparation for the cooler months when we can snuggle under our knitted, crocheted or woven projects. It’s pleasing to see we still have a lot of traditional (if modern) wheels coming to Wednesday Guild Days, and quite a few drop spindles, as well as e-spinners.
The last few weeks has seen lots of sneak-peaks of finished projects to the delight of Wednesday’s Guild Members. We hope to see as many of those as possible at our last Guild Meeting for the year, where we will also enjoy our traditional Christmas morning tea. Hope to see as many there as possible!
November’s Workshop was Lavender Bulbs and Wands which was well patronised. Every participant finished a bulb and extra lavender was available to take home. The pictorial instructions PDF is linked off the Workshop article below and available for download.
Fleecy Follies this issue follows the (mis)adventures of our fleecy friends behaving badly, or at least being naughty, and the heartwarming tales of older sheep overcoming health problems to get back to their boisterous selves.
As the end of the year is fast approaching, and some Members are already leaving for holidays etc, we would like to take this opportunity to wish all readers a happy and safe Christmas and New Year, and hope to see you all in 2024!
For those who are staying in the area over the Christmas period, the Guild Rooms may be opening over Christmas/New Year. Keep a close eye on your email, and any discussions at the December Meeting.
So without any further ado (apart from our regular meme) we’ll get right into November’s Show & Tell!
Cheers all,
KathyW, Editor.
Current & upcoming events
| December 13th | Business Meeting, Christmas Lunch | |
| December 20th | ||
| More Workshop Ideas | Inkle Loom Weaving Online weaving workshop with Elizabeth Calnan Dyeing Day early in the New Year? |
Committee 2023 – 2024
President:
Deb Carpenter
Vice President:
Jane Manning
Minute Officer:
Ella Teuben
Secretary(communications/events):
Amanda Eaton
Assistant Secretary:
Julie Hofer
Treasurer:
Rhonda Delahoy
Assistant Treasurer:
Julie Hofer
Newsletter Editor:
Kathy Wheeler
Library Equipment Officer:
Rhonda Delahoy/Heather Mulqueeney
Social Media Officer:
Kathy Wheeler
Public Officer:
Julie Hofer
KeyHolders Roster
Wednesday Work Days and Meetings
1st Wed of month – Amanda
2nd Wed of month – Deb Carpenter
3rd Wed of month – Rhonda
4th Wed of month – Louise Quirk
5th Wed of month *IF* there is one – tba
The Showground Trust also has keys.
| Morning Tea Roster 2023 – Business Meetings | |
|---|---|
| 8th February | Amanda/ |
| 8th March | Heather/Rhonda |
| 12th April | Sabine/ |
| 10th May | Loraine/ |
| 14th June | Julie/Jane |
| 12th July | |
| 9th August | Louise/Kathy |
| 13th September | Ella/Jill |
| 11th October | Judith Jones |
| 8th November | Amanda |
| 13th December | Everyone bring a plate!!! |
Show & Tell - 8th NOVEMBER 2023
Rhonda
Deb
Heather
Amanda
Sabine
Robyn
Ella
Lavender Bulbs & Wands
22nd November 2023
with KathyW.
Last year a number of members had expressed an interest in learning how to make old-fashioned lavender wands. As the wands are best made with fresh lavender, timing of the workshop had to coincide with the availability of fresh flowering lavender! So come November, with the lavender in full bloom, the time was right to run a lavender wand workshop.
All participants were supplied with lavender and ribbon and pictorial instructions for both wands and bulbs. Verbal instructions were minimal, as the only tricky bit is getting started. Once the first few rounds are complete it’s simply a matter of over-and-under with the ribbon until the desired shape/length is reached.
Everyone chose to start with the lavender bulbs.
For the first 10 minutes or so the room was quiet as everyone concentrated on their handfuls of lavender. Then once the first few rounds were woven and confidence grew, so did the banter until it was back to normal levels.
A few important tips were offered along the way:
- Both bulbs and wands have to use an odd number of lavender stems.
- Both have different layout requirements. Bulbs need the lavender flowers aligned, whereas wands have the flowers staggered (see the pics in the PDF).
- The stems have to be tied snug close to the bottom of the flowers.
- Once the stems are securely tied, they have to be carefully and gently crushed so as to bend easily but not break.
- The first two rounds are the hardest; from there its easy.
- Tweezers come in very handy for tightening the ribbon as well as pushing any lavender sticking out back inside the woven cage.
- Old fashioned English Lavender is the best to use.
Many of the participants took the extra lavender bunches and made their wands at home, sending in photos.
And the rooms had the pleasant scent of lavender all morning.
Fleecy Follies
There’s always at least one!
Sheep and alpacas LOVE food, and will go to extraordinary lengths in search of the tastiest morsel. Pair that with a knack of finding trouble to get themselves into in both alarming and hilarious ways, there’s rarely a dull moment around the farm.
Every year we have one or more lambs discover the grass on the other side of the fence is indeed greener in their eyes. While they are small, they can squeeze their heads through the fence mesh in search of tasty tidbits. This is amusing while they are small. Not so amusing as they grow and invariably get their heads stuck in the fence.
Even less amusing for their human shepherds is their totally uncoperative behaviour during “rescues”. No matter how hard you try to pull, wriggle and twist them back through the fence, lambs will try just as hard to push forward through the fence. Not happening kiddo, you’re just too big for that!
Long necks are just as bad!
We have a number of alpacas that prefer what’s over, under or through the fences too. Some will balance on their hind legs, or steady themselves on the fences to reach the branches of trees. Alpacas standing on their hind legs reach up a long way!
One of our boys regularly mows the grass outside his paddock by pushing his head through the slightly larger holes at the top of his fence and reaching his long neck down. Another of the girls is a regular offender leaning on the fence tops to reach over as far as she can for tasty tidbits on the loganberries and tree lucerne.
And we have at least three alpacas that cush next to the fences and push their heads and necks under the fences to reach as far as they can outside the paddock to the tasty longer grass of the transit lanes and driveway. This brown girl (left) is one of the regular under fence offenders. She’s quite happy to go under her paddock mates too!
Mom I’ze hungry!
Lambs will go to great lengths to get their moms to stand up and let them feed, but it doesn’t always go to plan, as Tony, one of Timmie’s twins, discovered. Mom wasn’t budging!
So when animals go off their feed it's time to worry!
When Zombie the English Leicester wether was shorn recently he was found to be worryingly thin. He’d been paddock companion to one of our rams and although they got on well generally, the ram would always push Zombie away from his food.
Zombie had been drenched at shearing to clear up a case of nasal bot and any parasite issues that can crop up when an animal is stressed. But instead of improving, he got worse and became quite weak.
Moving him into his own smaller run we discovered he had puffy jaws, indicative of tooth or teeth problems and a probable jaw infection, was grinding his teeth something shocking and getting skinnier and weaker every day. He was given a couple of antibiotic shots to address the jaw issues and we started him on softer food as he did not seem able to eat hay or his usual dry pellets.
Within a few days the jaw issues mostly resolved and his appetite began returning, loving his soft soaked pellets and soft fruit and veg. Three weeks later he is a different animal; his hollow flanks have filled back out, weight has bounced back, as has his food demanding personality. He is eating normal pellets as well as the soaked ones and tooth grinding has almost stopped.
Zombie is still running in his own shed and paddock, but will soon join the alpaca boys in a bigger paddock where he won’t be bullied by the rams and have plenty of room to graze ( and Zombie, no alpaca bowling please?!?!?!? ).
Although it wasn’t malicious on the ram’s part, it did have a profound effect on a submissive wether. Zombie is only middle age for a sheep, with plenty of years left to enjoy.
Eartorn at 10 years old is one of our oldest ewes, and one of our foundation girls. She had twins this year, a still-born ram lamb and a strong but skinny ewe lamb. It was decided given her age and the low birth weights of her lambs that she should be retired from the breeding program and moved to a separate paddock with our other 10 year old ewe when her lamb is weaned.
However our changeable weather, cold snap one day and high 30’s or even low 40’s the next took their toll and she developed a respiratory problem. The day she could barely walk a few steps without stopping, head down, coughing and wheezing, and did not want to eat, we penned her without her lamb and gave her a shot of antibiotics. The next morning she was much brighter and her appetite had returned – all the extra food we left for her overnight was gone! As she was still coughing we kept her penned for another 48 hours, and a follow-up shot of antibiotics. Once she started bellowing to get back to the flock we let her out.
She had lost a lot of condition during her illness, and it will take time to build that back up, but her feisty attitude is back with a vengeance and her appetite is good. Now we just need to convince her she doesn’t need the whole flock and retiring with extra treats and softer food is a good thing. It may take some doing – she seems to love a lot of company … except when she’s eating.
Do you have a funny or amazing fiber animal story? If you’d like to share it in a future Newsletter contact the Editor.
And for the last time this year:
2023 Full Program
| January 4th | Casual Workday | |
| January 11th | Casual Workday | |
| January 18th | Casual Workday | |
| January 25th | Casual Workday | |
| February 1st | Casual Workday | |
| February 8th | Business Meeting | |
| February 15th | Casual Workday | |
| February 22nd | Free-form Dyeing Day |   |
| March 1st | Casual Workday | |
| March 8th | Business meeting | |
| March 15th | Casual Workday | |
| March 22nd | Spinning Linen with Heather |   |
| March 29th | Casual Workday | |
| April 5th | Casual Workday | |
| April 13th | Business Meeting | |
| April 19th | Casual Workday | |
| April 26th | ||
| May 3rd | Casual Workday | |
| May 10th | Business Meeting | |
| May 17th | Casual Workday | |
| May 20th & 21st | Canberra Wool Expo, old Bus depot Markets | |
| May 24th | Hexagon Name tag with Heather. | |
| May 31th | Casual Workday | |
| June 7th | Casual Workday | |
| June 14th | Business Meeting | |
| June 21st | Casual Workday | |
| June 28th | Spinning Wheel Maintenance Day. Could any members who are borrowing any of the Guild's spinning wheels have them back to the guild rooms on or before this date. | |
| July 5th | Casual Workday – Annual Cleanup | |
| July 12th | Business Meeting | |
| July 14th – 16th | Australian Sheep & Wool Show (Bendigo) | |
| July 19th | Casual Workday | |
| July 26th | Christmas in July needle felted decorations with Kathy |   |
| August 2nd | Casual Workday | |
| August 9th | AGM, Business Meeting & Guild’s Birthday | |
| August 16th | Casual Workday | |
| August 23rd | Navajo & Andean plying with Jane & Julie | |
| August 30th | Casual Workday | |
| September 6th | Casual Workday | |
| September 13th | Business Meeting | |
| September 20th | Casual Workday | |
| September 27th | ||
| October 4th | Casual Workday | |
| October 11th | Business Meeting | |
| October 18th | ||
| October 25th | Casual Workday | |
| November 1st | Rooms closed (Albury Show) | So we're meeting at the Lincoln Hotel on the Causeway Wodonga! |
| November 9th | Business Meeting | |
| November 15th | Casual Workday | |
| November 22nd | Lavender Wands with Kathy |   |
| November 29th | Casual Workday | |
| December 6th | Casual Workday | |
| December 13th | Business Meeting, Christmas Lunch | |
| December 20th | ||
| More Workshop Ideas | Inkle Loom Weaving Online weaving workshop with Elizabeth Calnan |
Last words ...
A few housekeeping items:
1 – Some members have been getting spam type emails saying they are coming from Guild members. If anyone gets a suspicious looking message, do not open it or any links within it.
2 – Please do not park in front of the Guild’s side double doors. This could cause a problem in the case of an emergency. Please park in the undercover area well clear of the doors and grandstand stairs, or on the grass area.
3 – The drain area outside the Guild door that fills up with water when it rains is becoming DANGEROUS with one of our members slipping in the mud and algae growing there. PLEASE KEEP WELL CLEAR OF THE DRAIN AND MUD even when it appears dry!
Newsletter contributions are always welcome. So, if anyone has anything they want to contribute, or requests for articles, email me!
Cheers for now,
KathyW, Ed.
