Sunday Link Spam

* Novelist David Mitchell looks back on the heartbreak – and joy – of learning that his son had autism. And an extract from the book 'The Reason I Jump' by Naoki Higashida, translated by David.

* Meet Thelma... and Louise, the Baby Two-headed Texas River Cooter Adorable turtle that seems to be doing well.

* Fibre Art Specimens a look at some gorgeous science based fibre art compiled by Magpie & Whiskeyjack.

* Five must see tutorials for getting started in Machine Embroidery I'd love to be able to get an embroidery machine. I'd like to digitize my own art but I also love the designs you can get at Urban Threads. I don't have the space or the money though so for now I dream.
I'd love to stitch these gorgeous butterflies on the back of a hoodie

* These Photoshop and Illustrator tips on Threadless are really useful

* I wish I could afford a blog/webpage designed by Bakercourt

* The needle felted art by ex-soldier Kiyoshi Mino is amazing.

* This tutorial on making a screen print from an embroidery hoop and water proof glue by Reasonably Gumi has given me loads of ideas I want to try out.

* This Peacock Dragon art by David Revoy is amazing

* A gorgeous crochet Mario Bros blanket

* A Toy Maker Makes A Toy Maker by Doktor A. "It is glorious! Just look at the intricate detail of this robot toy maker making more toys at his trusty workbench with a plethora of spectacles. The tiny details, from the miniature glass dome to the tiny bench clamp are absolutely fantastic." Gorgeously steampunk as usual from Doktor A. I love his stuff.

* Cake Wrecks: Sunday Sweets - Video Games theme Not sure I've played all of these but the cakes are amazing.

2013 Heritage Wool and Natural Fibre Muster Part 2

Part one can be found here




Such pretty yarn


Felted fire


Felts and dyes








Gorgeous fibre


Cute placemat






These were all fantastic. Ruth ended up buying one


So much pretty




So many things we wanted but couldn't afford




We left the Arts Centre and walked over to the Court House where the rest of the stalls were.


Outside the Court House


I ended up spending ages feeling these Artisan Lace yarns. So soft and amazing colours. I wanted to use them for embroidery. I ended up narrowing it down to the purple and the peacock green/blue. I went away for a while to look at other stuff as I'd just bought some Woolganic from them but ended up coming back and grabbing the green/blue one. It's stunning. Not sure what exactly I'll embroider yet but I think it will be on the back of a black hoodie.




This stall had the most amazing felted alpaca hats. I fell in love with the grey one. The prices were good but I just couldn't afford it.

 
Here it is. Isn't it pretty. I also love the little alpacas




And here is our spoils. From top left we have a new cable for Ruth's interchangeable set as the old one broke. A gorgeous yarn by"", 8 balls of Woolganic wool. It's so soft and pretty.
Second Row: The peacock blue lace weight yarn, a bag of white corn silk fibre, a lovely nostepinne that looks like a beater's bat from Harry Potter.
Bottom row: black, purple and white Merino/Silk fibre, a bunch of business cards and some needle felting needles.

I did enjoy the show a lot and will try and get there again soon. I ended up with my health crashing badly after walking around for so long. Still managed to get to Orange and get some shopping done.

2013 Heritage Wool and Natural Fibre Muster Part 1

Last Saturday we went to the Heritage Wool and Natural Fibre Muster in Carcoar.

We turned up later than we hoped. Managed to drop in to the Bathurst Co-Op for veg and The Wholefood Kitchen for fantastic coffee and some delicious lemon and coconut cake on the way.

 

They had two gorgeous Alpacas out the front in a pen. Adorable things they are. The bigger one kept stopping the other one from getting to the food bucket.

 
Bumble Hill Alpacas

These are the gorgeous prizes for the raffle. The jumper on the left was so soft, knit in a fine alpaca yarn. Sadly we did not win. Would have loved that. The first prize is a beautiful woven throw rug and third prize was a cowl made with hand spun, died and knitted alpaca yarn. The proceeds of the raffle are going to aid the spinners in the Christchurch area.

I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to put names to most of the stalls. It was packed and I was in a lot of pain. I grabbed a whole heap of cards but I really can't remember which one went with which stall. 

This one I do know though. This is Casbar. Their farm is just outside Hill End, we're practically neighbours. 

There was a gorgeous grey fleece that I would have loved to buy but it was out of my price range. 

There was also some soft, soft alpaca, some beautiful spun wool and lovely jumpers, hats and scarves.

Casbar's gorgeous scarves and a jumper

Gorgeous hand painted yarn

Denise Lithgow Designs

Smooshy skeins, jumpers and hats

Pinwheel jacket and lovely pastel yarns

Dyed locks

Orange lace

The bobbin lace demonstrations were fascinating.

We ended up in a photo in the Blaney Chronical. We're in the third photo along watching 10yr old Anna demonstrate bobbin lace making.




There was a competition through the local spinning and craft groups. The theme this year was bags.


 It was a great day out with loads of smooshy yarn and fibre to feel.

It's great to get to see stuff in person, see what it looks like in natural light, feel what it's like, how stretchy or bouncy it is. Without Internet shopping we'd be terribly limited in yarn choice but it's so hard to know what stuff is worth buying.

We will definitely try and get to the muster again next year.
I have way too many photos for just one post so look out for part two soon.