May 2022 – Albury Wodonga Handweavers and Spinners Guild Inc

Nearly half way through another year …

While we are all hoping to get back to normal, whatever normal is these days, Covid and the flu continue to make their presence felt throughout the local community. So it is good to see members still turning up to the Guild rooms every Wednesday, even if it’s only for a few hours.

Our next Guild Meeting is coming up on the 8th of June, and with it another opportunity to catch up on what everyone has been crafting recently. So come along for a hot cuppa, tasty nibbles, and bring your current projects. One of the May Show and Tell items features as our Knit Along pattern in this Newsletter

Thanks go to the Morning Tea ladies again for the lovely spread of sweet treats at the last Meeting. Volunteers are always welcome to add their names to the Morning Tea roster.

Masks are optional at the Guild rooms, but if you feel unwell please stay home and look after yourself.

With the colder weather upon us it is an ideal time to get out the knitting, crochet etc, any unfinished (UFOs) objects from years past. Gloves, scarves, wraps, warm socks and beanies make ideal projects for all that yarn Members have been spinning all summer.

So, without further ado, on with the May Show and Tell …

Cheers all,
KathyW, Editor.

Committee 2022 – 2023

President:
Jane Manning

Vice President:
Debbie Carpenter

Minute Officer:
Rhonda Delahoy

Secretary(communications/events):
Julie Hofer

Assistant Secretary:
Amanda Eaton

Treasurer:
Loraine Parker

Assistant Treasurer:
Rhonda Delahoy

Newsletter Editor:
Kathy Wheeler

Library Equipment Officer:
Rhonda Delahoy

Social Media Officer:
Kathy Wheeler

Public Officer:
Julie Hofer

KeyHolders Roster
Wednesday Work Days and Meetings

1st Wed of month – Pam J
2nd Wed of month – Jane or Julie
3rd Wed of month – Heather or Rhonda
4th Wed of month – Loraine
5th Wed of month *IF* there is one – tba

Show & Tell - 11th May 2022

Jill

Pam

Heather

Julie

Things to make with that yummy spun yarn

Knitting,knitting, 8, 9, 10,

I knit socks for gentlemen;

I love muffin and I love tea;

Knitting, knitting, 1, 2, 3!

Contributed by Heather.

King Cole - Riot DK Scarf Pattern

This is the pattern for Pam’s beautiful scarf shown in Show & Tell. A simple, 3 line pattern!

Scarf width approx 14cm and length approx 120cm (stretched).

Materials – RIOT DK x one 100g ball.
1 pair 4.5mm Knitting Needles for average knitter.

Please note: To achieve extra softness, this scarf was knitted on needles one size larger than normally recommended for this yarn. If you are a loose knitter – please use needles one size smaller than those recommended, if you are a tight knitter – please use needles one size larger.

Abbreviations: K = knit; P = purl; tog = together; yfwd = yarn forward.

SCARF
Using 4.5mm needles, cast on 36 stitches.

Row 1 – knit.
Row 2 – K3, * K2tog, K5, yfwd, K5, K2tog *, repeat from * to * once, K3.
Row 3 – purl.

Rows 1 to 3 inclusive form pattern.
Continue in pattern until just enough yarn is left from ball to cast off, noting to end with row 2 of the pattern.

PLEASE NOTE:
When using a multicolour yarn, if you cast off at the same point in colour as the cast on edge, both ends of the scarf will match. It may mean wasted yarn but may give a more pleasing look.
Cast off very loosely purlways.

Original design by:
Lucia R Designs & Craft Agencies Pty Ltd
Fax – 03 9795 0876 – Mobile – 0418 178 573 – Email – luciarusso@bigpond.com

Fleecy Follies

Keeping, breeding and raising our natural fiber animals has it’s challenges. They are like our children, needy but independent. All with unique personality traits, and all capable of having a bad day or three or being totally delightful. So here’s another fleecy story to give an insight into the world of keeping livestock.

This story was posted on FaceBook early May by the author, Shalom Alpacas. Reproduced here with permission from the author.

Shalom Alpacas

Joan of Arc was problem child number 2 for last week. This problem was a first for us, we’ve never seen it before in alpacas.

I was looking forward to this bub. Joan was an excellent birther and while she was giving birth, I noticed that she had abnormally large teets. We’ve got girls who have massive teets but the teet always goes down to a point so baby can get on and suck. Joans were like 4 big thick, long ‘thumbs’ that did not have a point but a thick round end.

I’ve seen this in older cattle or a young cow who lost its calf the previous year. They develop big, thick, fat teets and the calf is unable to drink because they can’t get their mouth around the teet. The young cows get ‘fixed up’ once they have a live calf who drinks the udder back down to a normal size and the teets are fine the following year when she calves again, but those old cows get culled from the herd because they: A) have what is commonly known as a bad udder, b) are time consuming because the calf can’t drink and C) have the genetic ability to pass that undesirable trait on to their progeny.

After watching little Miss fiddle around for several hours trying to figure out how to get milk out of those enormous teets, it was obvious that she wasn’t going to be able to drink off them.

This could have all been quite easily fixed if Joan had been a placid female. Joan on the other hand was quite frankly, a cranky bitch. If we went within 3 metres of baby, Joan would have a crack at us. This made things interesting and luckily for my Mum, I was around this day to help. It is quite intimidating having an alpaca try and attack you and Mum doesn’t like those ones at all. A cranky mumma alpaca is nothing compared to a cranky mumma cow, so I personally don’t find them too bad (if I didn’t have the cattle experience I have, I’d find them downright frightening).

Joan was quite ridiculous. It took both Mum and I to distract her enough that I could grab baby and take her to the yards with Joan following behind. A good tip for handling cranky mumma’s, if you hold baby at ground level and walk backwards (keeping baby between you and her mum) as if baby is walking/ following you, the cranky mum settles down most of the time. (And when I say settle downs, she isn’t trying to kill me, she’s obviously still very unhappy about the situation). The main reason for moving baby that way is to keep Joan as calm as possible because we will need to hand milk her and feed her baby.

Catching Joan wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and unfortunately, milking wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I was holding Joan while Mum milked her and while she had plenty of milk, her big teets made it quite difficult and not easier. (Something to check next year when she has her second bub to see if it’s the same? Joans a new girl on the block so we don’t know her history).

Mum fed bub Joans hand milked colostrum and hand milked frozen colostrum out of the freezer for 3 days, day and night. Bub was finally able to drink off her mumma’s teets by herself on day 3 and we didn’t have to intervene anymore. (Thank the good Lord!) Mum had to put Joan ‘next door’/ on the other side of the gateway, every time she fed Joans bub because Joan would try and attack her the moment she went near the baby.

Bub is 7 days old and Joans teets are a ‘normal’ healthy size. Joan doesn’t mind us getting close to bub now, but I must admit that I still don’t trust her

Joan was extremely placid when we brought her through the yards as well, no silly business. She is a very intelligent animal and whether she realised we helped save her bub or if it’s just the hormones settling down (which is around 7 days that happens), we can’t say for sure, but it’s nice to not have to watch our backs as closely around her anymore.

On another positive note, Joans daughter is absolutely beautiful. Fingers crossed Joan has a good udder next year!

Do you have a funny or amazing fiber animal story? If you’d like to share it in a future Newsletter contact the Editor.

Re-Posted on FaceBook by a front line nurse who is also a fellow crafter:

I am a nurse, and this I ask

Help our health workers, wear a mask

It’s not just Covid, it’s also the flu

So many are sick, what can we all do?

Take a minute and please decide

Think about the people who have died

Think about the patients in ICU

Think about tomorrow and what you can do

The call has come from the nursing crew

At all of our hospitals, not just a few

Lisa Fitzpatrick* asks we wear a mask

Just for winter, it’s not much to ask.

[ *Lisa Fitzpatrick is currently the state secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victorian Branch) and a registered nurse. ]

Last words ...

Another month has flown by, and winter has hit with a vengance. Everyone please keep warm and safe in this wild, chilly weather!

A few housekeeping items that arose last Meeting:
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 them or any links within them.
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.

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.