Bendigo Woollen Mills

If theres one thing Im passionate about, its buying local. When I hear about imported fruit while ours rots on the ground, my blood boils. Living near orange groves, I eat my fair share of local oranges. The juicer gets a workout too. At $8 for a box of 64 delicious and fresh juicing oranges, why on earth wouldnt you?? But I am going on a tangent…

My choice of yarn follows a similar pattern. In Bendigo, Victoria, Australia is a great wool mill. They use Australian wool (imagine, a mill using wool for yarn!) to make all different coloured and ply yarn. Garments Ive made out of their yarn always turns out beautiful, washes well, and best of all, theres probably a chance Ive driven past the sheep wearing the wool itself, with it being sourced from central NSW!

So for my upcoming knitting patterns, I will be using Bendigo Woollen Mills yarn. Please go and check out their website. They have beautiful yarns, mostly 100% wool, but also 100% alpaca, 100% cotton, and wool with blends of alpaca, silk, bamboo, mohair, and angora. The mill brings out limited editions of yarn in different blends and colours a few times a year, plus the regulars that are always available. Their yarn range is from 2 ply through to 12 ply, and comes in large 200g balls. And one of the best things I love about Bendigo Woollen Mills is the value for money. Their prices are low because they manufacture the yarn themselves, meaning you are buying direct.  AND if you spend over $50, you get free postage within Australia.

Now, where are my needles…

Shower cap for Mums birthday!

I was talking to my Mum this week and she admitted that she would like me to make her a shower cap for her birthday. So today, I did just that! Picking through the numerous different colours and patterns I have of PUL, I just couldn’t go past the deer pattern that I used in an earlier tutorial on making wet bags. Pairing it with brown gingham, I finished it in less than half an hour.

Im happy with how it turned out, so off to the Post Office we go!

Has anyone else tried out the shower cap tutorial yet?

Weaving fun!

Just this week, I had a lovely day learning weaving outside in the sunshine with my good friend, Louisa, from Road of the Curious.

She had done some classes earlier this year, and so we dabbled, and this is the start of what I did. Ill post up some pictures once Ive finished it completely,

Here is Louisa’s post on the workshop she attended earlier this year. Dont get too excited.. I don’t think mine will look as good as any of the ones from House of Maryanne!

Just some of the yarn we had to choose from..

…and some more yarn!

My fave for the day.. some awesome pom-poms Louisa made with the kids!!

Nautical beach, ahem, pool bag finished!

This bag has been nearly done for too long and with Summer coming, I decided it had to be done. And done it is.

It was designed to be a beach or pool bag, and now being finished, I think thats what it will stay. It can probably fit a few towels, water, and bathers/clothes.

It has 2 little bags for smaller things. I think keys, wallet and phone in one, and sunscreen and lip blam in the other. The little bags can be attached to little loops I put in the bigger bag, so they dont drop down to the bottom.

The inside showing the loop and lining

I didn’t use a pattern for this bag. I based it off the size of the fabric that i had, and it turned out perfect-sized!

Lets go to the pool!!