An AGM and a new committee …
Time is galloping by. We’ve come out of winter and straight into some confused season that might be spring but just can’t make up it’s mind! During that time we’ve had our AGM and new committee elected, which bears a strong resemblence to the previous committee … The President’s report reminds us of all the highlights of the past year, and the treasurer’s report the challenges we as a community group face with growing costs and little real growth in membership.
Shearing season is almost upon us, some have already started although the nights dropping close to 0°C are another challenge for the animals and their keepers. No doubt soon there will be bags of shorn fleece available for spinning or felting. We frequently get contacted by folk looking to get rid of fleeces so if you have a particular raw fleece requirement it would be worth letting the committee know.
Speaking of the committee, a big thank you everyone that stood for positions. Without a committee groups like ours cannot operate.
A number of our members have been both delighting and teasing us with photos and stories of their holidays away and abroad through their FaceBook posts. It looks like there may be some great show and tell when they all return!
But for now, after a word from our President, we’ll get on with August and September’s Show & Tell …
Cheers all,
KathyW, Editor.
Current & upcoming events
| October 2nd | Casual Workday | |
| October 9th | Business Meeting | |
| October 16th | Casual Workday | |
| October 23th | Casual Workday | |
| October 30th | Possible closure for Albury Show? | |
| November 7th | Possible closure for Albury Show? | |
| November 13th | Business Meeting | |
| November 20th | Casual Workday | |
| November 27th | Lavender Wands with Kathy |   |
| December 4th | Casual Workday | |
| December 11th | Business Meeting, Christmas Lunch | |
| December 18th | Clean up workday? | |
| More Workshop Ideas | Tatting with Heather M's sister? Inkle Loom Weaving? Online weaving workshop with Elizabeth Calnan? |
Committee 2024 – 2025
President:
Deb Carpenter
Vice President:
Darlene Anderson
Secretary (communications/events):
Amanda Eaton
Assistant Secretary (communications/events):
Julie Hofer
Minute Officer:
Amanda Eaton
Treasurer:
Rhonda Delahoy
Assistant Treasurer:
Julie Hofer
Social Media Officer:
Kathy Wheeler
Library/Equipment Officer:
Heather Mulqueeney
Newsletter Editor:
Kathy Wheeler
Public Officer:
Julie Hofer
KeyHolders Roster
Wednesday Work Days and Meetings
1st Wed of month – Secretary
2nd Wed of month – President
3rd Wed of month – Treasurer
4th Wed of month – Julie or Louise
5th Wed of month *IF* there is one – tba
The Showground Trust also has keys.
| Morning Tea Roster 2024 – Business Meetings | |
|---|---|
| 14th February | Judith/ |
| 13th March | |
| 10th April | Rhonda/ |
| 8th May | Heather M / (Deb) |
| 12th June | Julie/Jane |
| 10th July | Heather A / |
| 14th August | Louise/Kathy |
| 11th September | Ella/Jill |
| 9th October | Judith Jones |
| 13th November | Amanda |
| 11th December | Everyone bring a plate!!! |
President’s Report 2024
A wonderful year full of fun things we have done and experienced together.
Exciting trips to the Milawa wool day, Wangaratta Weaving display, Wangaratta Woollen Mill, fun was had by all. Another highlight was the Bendigo Wool Show.
This year members of the guild set up and demonstrated at both the Wodonga Show and Holbrook Show with huge success and so many first prizes. I know the Show organisers great appreciate our input. Congratulations to all for your participation, successes and community spirit. We also attended the Mirembeena Craft Day.
The workshops have been great this year and have taught many of us new things we would not have attempted without the expertise and willingness of our members in sharing their skills and knowledge. Needle felting, paper star, entrelac knitting and crochet, dyeing techniques and weaving, I hope I haven’t forgotten anything. Our community spirit shown again with creating trauma teddies for emergency services in a workshop.
We have welcomed new members this year, Alison and Heather who have shared their experiences with us bringing new ideas to the Guild.
A big thankyou to Kathy, our Newsletter must be the envy of other Guilds. The bar has been set to stellar heights.
Lastly and most importantly, I would like to thank the Committee member and everyone who has helped with workshops and other duties taken. You have all helped me do my job and most importantly helped the Guild run as smoothly as we can. Thank you.
President
Debbie Carpenter
Show & Tell - 14th August 2024
Jane
Robyn W.
Louise
KathyW.
Debbie
Heather
Judith
Show & Tell - 11th September 2024
Jane
Heather A.
Jill
Darlene
KathyW.
Ella
Alison
Rhonda
Morning tea
Market Bag Workshop
Our September Workshop with Ella (and Julie) saw a number of members knitting (or crocheting) the Market Bag Ella showed at Show & Tell earlier n the month.
To knit a market bag….
- 60cm Circular needle, gauge from 5mm to 7mm
- A ball of cotton yarn at approx 18 wraps per linear inch of 100grams and around 200metres.
- A ✂️and
- A tape measure
- Pattern supplied by Ella for the knitted version and Julie for the crocheted version.
The versatile stinging nettle
Considered a weed by most, the much maligned Stinging Nettle can be a friend not a foe, and has a variety of uses including as a natural dye.
Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) has been used in herbal medicine since the time of the ancient Egyptians and Romans. Originally native to Europe, temperate Asia and western North Africa it is now found world wide.
In Europe nettles are prized as a tasty and savoury food. Although care must be taken in harvesting, once the nettles are processed into a supplement, dried, freeze-dried or cooked, they can be safely consumed.
Nettles make an interesting and nutritious addition to egg dishes like omelettes and quiches, and can be served as a side vegetable in their own right. One of the dishes at our AGM was savoury omelettes with nettles, sun dried tomatoes, cheese and eggs from the farm.
It is also safe to eat fresh nettles straight from the plant if picked with care. Take a tip which usually has immature stinging cells, roll it between your fingers firmly (it should not sting) then consume. It has a rather pleasant taste. Livestock like them too, but more on that in Fleecy Follies.
As well as the nutritional and medicinal uses, nettles can also be used as a natural dye. It imparts a pretty sage green colour to wool mordanted with alum, and turns a darker grey green when modified with iron.
Having a bumper crop of nettles in the paddocks I decided to give it a go. Results in the dye pot were promising, but most of the colour washed out. More experimentation required! If I can get a decent result I’ll post another full article in a later Newsletter.
Fleecy Follies
The alpacas and sheep are appreciating the longer milder days, spending more time grazing and less time consuming hay.
Stinging nettles seem to be on the menu for both sheep and alpacas. This past season they have discovered the tips can be quite edible, and they seem to be able to move freely through the nettle stands protected by the fleece on their legs.
Stinging nettles are also a prized food source for the larvae of the beautiful Yellow Admiral butterfly also known as the Australian Admiral, Vanessa itea. The female butterflies seek out nettles to lay their eggs, and the caterpillars eat the young shoots, pupating around the stems.
The barn cat regularly prowls through the nettles seemingly unharmed. I am also assured by my husband that when your hands are frozen from washing out an animal trough on a cold early morning you don’t feel any sting or develop any rash from ripping nettles out with your bare hands!
Nettles lose their ability to sting as they dry off. Slashing them and leaving them in the paddock to dry is the easiest way to contain them, leaving some for the butterflies off course. Once dry, alpacas and sheep will consume the lot! At least all the piles disappear once dried out.
Sheep and alpacas are creatures of habit, making them wonderfully predictable. They get used to feed times and will appear like magic from all over the paddocks when feed is due. Then they just lie about, sometimes the alpacas will sun bake, while the sheep prefer to snooze in the shade.
Neither our sheep nor alpacas like the rain, retreating to shelters, sheds or under trees to wait it out. The alpacas particularly do not like strong winds. They get quite skittish and jumpy.
While sheep sheltering from bad weather are fairly quite, mostly just cud chewing, alpacas hummm up a storm. While waiting for breakfast or supper, they hummm up a storm. While waiting for a gate to be opened, either to get into their day time grazing paddock or be let out of a lane they shouldn’t have been in (the baling twine holding the gate closed perished in the weather and they pushed it open!) they hummm up a storm. If an alpaca is unhappy or impatient, for any reason, the humm is on.
There is always one or two in every crowd. This is Hail, demonstrating her impressive ability to balance on her hind legs to reach some tasty tips of flowering tree lucerne.
2024 Program
| January 10th | Casual Workday starting with a clean up to remove residue from the insect “bombs”. | |
| January 17th | Casual Workday - Come and spin and hear what we need to do in preparation for Dyeing at the end of the month. | |
| January 24th | Casual Workday - Come and do your own thing! | |
| January 31st | Workshop - Dyeing Day!!! "Dye or Be Alive 😉 " |   |
| February 7th | Casual Workday | |
| February 14th | Business Meeting | |
| February 21st | Casual Workday | |
| February 28th | Casual Workday | |
| March 6th | Casual Workday | |
| March 13th | Business meeting | |
| March 20th | Casual Workday | |
| March 27th | Workshop - Trauma Teddies, Charity Animals. With Deb. | |
| April 3rd | Casual Workday | |
| April 10th | Business Meeting | |
| April 17th | Casual Workday | |
| April 24th | Entralac Workshop. Crochet with Julie, knitting with T.B.A. | |
| May 1st | Casual Workday | |
| May 8th | Business Meeting | |
| May 15th | Casual Workday | |
| May 18th & 19th | Canberra Wool Expo, old Bus depot Markets | |
| May 22nd | Workshop - Rigid Heddle - colour & weave. With Heather. | |
| May 29th | Casual Workday | |
| June 5th | Casual Workday | |
| June 12th | Business Meeting | |
| June 19th | Casual Workday | |
| June 26th | Workshop - equipment & fiber sorting | |
| July 3rd | Casual Workday | |
| July 10th | Business Meeting followed by annual clean-up | |
| July 19th – 21st | Australian Sheep & Wool Show (Bendigo) | |
| July 17th | Casual Workday | |
| July 24th | Workshop - Christmas in July Decorations - Needle felted decorations with Kathy - Paper Star with Julie. |   |
| July 31st | Casual Workday | |
| August 7th | Casual Workday | |
| August 14th | AGM, Business Meeting & Guild’s Birthday | |
| August 21st | Casual Workday | |
| August 28th | Workshop T.B.A. | |
| September 4th | Casual Workday | |
| September 11th | Business Meeting | |
| September 18th | Casual Workday | |
| September 25th | Workshop T.B.A. | |
| October 2nd | Casual Workday | |
| October 9th | Business Meeting | |
| October 16th | Casual Workday | |
| October 23th | Casual Workday | |
| October 30th | Possible closure for Albury Show? | |
| November 7th | Possible closure for Albury Show? | |
| November 13th | Business Meeting | |
| November 20th | Casual Workday | |
| November 27th | Lavender Wands with Kathy | |
| December 4th | Casual Workday | |
| December 11th | Business Meeting, Christmas Lunch | |
| December 18th | Clean up workday? | |
| More Workshop Ideas | Tatting with Heather M's sister? 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.
