A Busy Week

The end of the holidays here in WA! I ve had a relatively quiet week at work with few tradesmen and a couple of teachers coming in to start on the coming terms work. My assistant had to go to Perth so I had a nice few days to potter around the grounds and catch up on the little jobs I couldnt do with other people around!

The first Monday was abit rough with the Invasion of the poor old Mouse Spider stired up by the demolition of the West Hall nearby.One was found inside the main office complex starting off a panic of "these spider being not native and highly dangerous" ,blah,blah,blah!As a result I spent the first day back at work dealing with a Pesticide man who was more interested in talking about his family and what car he drove! He didnt wear any protective gear save a pair of old gloves and proceeded to spray the eaves ect with poision wearing, only, The Gloves and shorts ,t shirt attire!!!!And he was prattling about he and his wife hoping to have two more bubs!Being his main occupation I would have thought at least overalls be included!

The first sign of a rough day came when he set off the security via the fire alarms, needing myself to call and settle any feathers in that department before we had the local Fire Brigade land on us!

The fire alarms screeched for at least Hour and a half by which time Security did come out from Kal to make sure we were not indeed in dire troubles,bless their souls. As it turned out this was a common problem for the pesticide people as the bombs they use set off alarms!

It was with interest that Talking with the local builder that the nature of the pesticides used to kill spiders became clear. Im a big beleiver of less chemical the better and this builder recommended highly to all who asked him to deal with these insects in their homes not to spray, the impact of the chemicals in the future was much higher than a few cobwebs,I couldnt agree more!

The poor old Mouse spider in the centre of this wasnt what a majority thought anyway, but it did make for some sensational headlines locally and an altered photo of a giant spider crawling over the Plazza Sign here at the Supermarket gave us some laughs! Heres another photo! Aren't they pretty boys, the girls look a bit mean though!

Tell you what though,wouldnt there be stir in one these beauties appeared! If your game click on the photo at the bottom,its supposed to be life sized! They are around here as a specimum was handed in to the library for ID but the librarian was so spooked she wouldnt give us a look,should have seen the masking tape wrapped around the parcel!!!!

Hope I havent scared anyone with these bits! .......

On the spinning front I have around 600 metres spun of that Machine washable laps,had a couple of days off so I should have spun what I had in the bag by now....

On the knitting front I have about 3 inches to go on Hubbys socks, and two sleeves and half a front to finish on that Studio Mohair cardigan jacket!

And Ive started this! I love the pattern now that I have ,dont why it spooked me before,especilly as Ive nearly got it memorized already.Late nights dont make for clear brains....

On another front I acquired a bit of Finn/crossbred and abit of English Leicester.Both were the greasiest fleeces Ive seen and have the 'experience to touch',LOL

The F/CB is quite long as is the EL but I only wanted these to be a texture additive, not sure what Ill spin as the intitial ply but Im texturally influenced by Taueret in her July 5th entry of citris merino plied with marigold English Leicester, not sure what colours Ill choose as it changes with the day and mood!

Poor Mandie must think Im loopy as I suggested that I would be after some pastel dyes and what did I put in my list?,heaps of colours that are Not pastel!!

Anyhow...

The first picture,Before bath, this sent the kids out of the kitchen

The second is the Bath.....

And the End result,lovely clean nice smelling locks that curl and gilt with their lusterous wealth! Now bear in mind I rarely wash my wool before spinning as is normally fresh of the Baas Baas back and only extremely good wool that the staples fall apart like little creamy(depending on colour of course) islands that I would flick with the old trusty wide tooth dog comb and spin straight up!

This is a learning curve for me,washing the wool that is,Im petrified of matting the fibre but oh my! Id forgotten the joy of fluffing the staple! I wanted to dye some today but its windy and half raining( just heard a rumble but it was the Wattle Dam mine exploding more 'dirt') so the wool wouldnt dry quick enough,rats... Oh well theres always tommorrow! Now Im off to make a Pav Roll for desert!