i have found a retired sparky just up the road who has some tags in his van, so I’m heading up there tomorrow with everything. Hopefully it works out!
Thanks heaps for your advice redhen! (and thank the SO for me too!)

ahh so only the cable from the powerpoint to the transformer then, and nothing beyond? that is good to know.
I may call a friend – if you do not need to be a sparky, he might have th ability. having the tags is another question LOL

felt makes excellent hard-wearing handbags. Either the old way of hand felting, or a really simple way – find a woollen jumper at an op-shop, buy it, throw it in your washing machine on hot, and it comes out the other end as felt. Then cut and sew.
Or you can cut and sew it first, then felt it.
Or you can give me a couple of weeks, there will be…[Read more]

It depends on the price you want to pay as well. I have some Pear Tree Merino here, which is the squishiest, softest Australian merino I have ever felt. It’s commercially spun, and retails for about $24/100g.
I also have an alpaca/merino blend from them, comes in $12/50g balls.

Gosh I mustn’t be paying any attention to the news – why are they re-opening parliament house???

Would’ve caught up too only there’s that time thing.. you know, never enough of it.

I’d love to help out for you jen, but I’m already fully committed up until probably one week into June. If the time frame isn’t an issue, then I can do it for you.
Ali

i wonder about the price of food – as in, how much value we place on it.
Because when you come to a point (like we have reached recently) where the amount of $$ to go around is stretched incredibly thinly, that’s when you realise that there are really only a few important things in life.
Food, Shelter, Friends.

I don’t count electricity. I…[Read more]

I’ve had mine since 2008 so a few years. It got a good workout the first year with loads of soups and chicken stock and some beans and meatballs and sausages.
The second year I did more soup and baked beans.
This year I’ve only used it as a waterbath so far, because I haven’t had the time nor the finances to bulk buy in for soup or beans and my…[Read more]

I have a presto.
I don’t know that it’s ‘not as good’ it’s just more of a toyota rather than a mercedes.

The All American, I beleive, is stainless steel, the presto is aluminium with an enclosed heavy base. The AA has a tooled stainless steel fitted top that screws on plate to plate to produce the seal. The Presto has a rubber gasket fitted…[Read more]

If you are after a flick carder, there’s a gentleman in Nairne who hand-makes them and will sell you one brand new for $8.
Well, that was the price when I bought mine.
I can find out his contact details at spinning next week if you like.

He doesn’t do the hand cards that come in pairs though.

Happy Birthday Kathy!
*is wondering if you are wearing your present to work today*

for thickening here, as we have a gluten-free member of the household, i either use potato starch or potato flour, buckwheat flour, arrowroot, or maize (corn) flour.

The main differences in them are that the corn flour and arrowroot both thicken in a ‘clear’ sort of way – the sauce will become thicker but stay a similar colour/shade/density of…[Read more]

I hope it is too! Haven’t been stopping in here much lately MOSTLY because I’ve been up to my elbows in fleece and dye and wash water and carders and … well, you get the picture!

Sandra, i have a website with a store (it’s in my sig below) and some of Kaff’s lovely spinning is there at the moment. I have lots of other things too but the fleeces…[Read more]

If you are using modern cloth nappies then it is recommended that you don’t soak in anything (with a few exceptions, such as if your toddler is taking panadol or teething in which case a water soak can help to counteract the acidity of the urine at these times)

It’s called dry=pailing. Just rinse off any solids into the loo and put the nappy in a…[Read more]

How does it go with cakes? I have no big oven, and a year or so ago I bought one of those little convection ovens (with the rotisserie for the small roast). It works OK but there’s just not enough room in it for a decent size cake to cook.
Either the top burns, or the bottom does!

HOw much was it? (if you don’t mind me asking)

Ali – who seems…[Read more]

THere’s always this one Kirsty…

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/90511AD.html?noImages=&r=1

Oh man, I need photos!

I’ve done both. The fleece that I have been practice spinning on is rather dirty! But I like the feel of the lanolin.

I recently ran what was left of it through a drum carder, still unwashed, just to help pick some of the grass seeds out.

I have been madly washing fleece for the last few weeks and then carding it into batts, but that’s because…[Read more]

Let me know if you can get Alexander Henry, Michael Miller, Amy Butler by the metre.. LOL

don’t do it, it aint worth it.

I mean, bathing with the fleece. Unles you really really LOVE the smell of wet sheep. It tends to stick to you.

As does the lanolin – and the dirt it carries LOL. You’ll have very soft skin though!