A busy November

Well it is nearly the end of November and the weather is finally hotting up. It would seem that we have gone straight from Winter to Summer and completely missed my favourite season of the year; Spring. Spring is such a wonderful time, the hint of the warmer days to come, the blossoms blooming, the grass growing and the cattle fattening. But never mind, I am very lucky to live in a beautiful part of Victoria so every day really is beautiful. Well as the title says "A Busy November". As we all start to rush towards thinking about Christmas we finally have sorted out our online shop but don't think when you look at it that these are the only products we sell. It is a huge job setting up a site and it now means that I run two shops but I can promise you there will always be more available in the bricks and mortar by way of garments than on line mainly due to the issues around the sizing of ladies clothing - really need to try it on! The other big milestone we pass each November is alpaca shearing. This year our day went off seamlessly with a band of helpers and a happy shearer which is always a good thing. We started at my farm at 7am and sheared 43 alpacas and 3 very fat sheep and then moved onto two other farms so it was a long day in the end and I am always glad when it is over, all the animals are back in their paddocks with shelter or whatever they need and I can put my feet up with a glass of wine. Little Nickelby Gatsby and Nickelby Darcy had a huge day. Not only did they get shorn, they had their brass ear tags put in their ears and they left their mums to go and live with the big boys. I am pleased to announce that they have settled in very well but do look rather funny as they are so much smaller than the others but they are holding their own. The other exciting development is that we are dying our own yarn now using 100% alpaca and having a great time playing around with colours. These are available instore and some come on line. They are great for freeform work or scrumbling as it is also know or to put trims on jumpers or to knit up a hat for next Winter.

This one I have called Dusk and is available on line and in store

Well that is about it for November so good luck with getting ready for Christmas and I plan to blog again before then xx

A busy November

Well it is nearly the end of November and the weather is finally hotting up. It would seem that we have gone straight from Winter to Summer and completely missed my favourite season of the year; Spring. Spring is such a wonderful time, the hint of the warmer days to come, the blossoms blooming, the grass growing and the cattle fattening. But never mind, I am very lucky to live in a beautiful part of Victoria so every day really is beautiful. Well as the title says "A Busy November". As we all start to rush towards thinking about Christmas we finally have sorted out our online shop but don't think when you look at it that these are the only products we sell. It is a huge job setting up a site and it now means that I run two shops but I can promise you there will always be more available in the bricks and mortar by way of garments than on line mainly due to the issues around the sizing of ladies clothing - really need to try it on! The other big milestone we pass each November is alpaca shearing. This year our day went off seamlessly with a band of helpers and a happy shearer which is always a good thing. We started at my farm at 7am and sheared 43 alpacas and 3 very fat sheep and then moved onto two other farms so it was a long day in the end and I am always glad when it is over, all the animals are back in their paddocks with shelter or whatever they need and I can put my feet up with a glass of wine. Little Nickelby Gatsby and Nickelby Darcy had a huge day. Not only did they get shorn, they had their brass ear tags put in their ears and they left their mums to go and live with the big boys. I am pleased to announce that they have settled in very well but do look rather funny as they are so much smaller than the others but they are holding their own. The other exciting development is that we are dying our own yarn now using 100% alpaca and having a great time playing around with colours. These are available instore and some come on line. They are great for freeform work or scrumbling as it is also know or to put trims on jumpers or to knit up a hat for next Winter.

This one I have called Dusk and is available on line and in store

Well that is about it for November so good luck with getting ready for Christmas and I plan to blog again before then xx

Happy Memories

Today was a day to remember a dear friend of Nickelby At Darnum. Two weeks ago our friend Jo Butters died in her sleep aged 63. Jo was one of the ladies who started Nickelby Nutty Knitters over 4 years ago. Nutty knitters is a group who meet here once a month to knit and crochet and originally it was to undertake free form / scrambling work, throw all learning a and patterns to the wind and just do whatever. Over the years it was really only Jo and myself who stayed true to this concept and others went back to safer territory which was fine as we all had such a lovely day it didn't really matter what we did.

However after Jo's death I made the announcement that we were all going to spend the next two nutty sessions scrumbling and putting together a piece which I would then have framed and display in the shop in honour of our founding Nutty Knitter.

Well today was the day. I wished Jo had been here to a) help me answer all their fun complaints about how they like straight lines, patterns and to know what they were doing at all times and b) to share in the laughter and fun that was had making all the pieces and discovering that it was actually fun and they were good at it.

Jo's funeral is tomorrow and we will all miss her very much but in a few months there will be a fun piece of work hanging in the shop honouring her and that will continue to keep her love of all things creative in our hearts. RIP Jo and may their be the biggest stash of yarn in heaven that you never run out.

Here is the start of our piece

Wow! What a wonderful couple of years

It has been such a long time since I did the blogging thing and it is not because I haven't been thinking about it. It is mainly because I have been caught up getting my head around the world of social media whilst still trying to run the farm, expand my own clothing and accessory range; Nickelby Designs, and for most of 2011 and 2012 travelling all over the state of Victoria speaking to women as the 2011 RIRDC Victorian Rural Woman of the Year. I clocked up over 37 engagements and they are still continuing but I have stopped counting!

I know, I hear you say, whow, you should have been blogging about all those wonderful events like the time I met the ladies who were hit by devastating floods in Charlton and we shared a wonderful day or the time I spoke in South Gippsland to the business group and of course of the wonderful experience of being the Australia Day Ambassador for the Baw Baw Shire in 2012 and again in 2013.  But hey, I am slack and these days, quite disorganised!
So life has settled down a little bit more, I picked my first harvest from my olive trees this year and everything is brewing nicely so I have my fingers crossed that it turns out to be yummy as I already know it will be healthy.

On the alpaca front we have 40 something animals on the farm and I also currently have 14 steers which I purchased late last year to eat the grass and of course we have one of the driest Summers so we didn't have much grass anyway so I was left just shaking my head and saying "why?".  I also have my uncles 4 horses and 3 fat sheep on the farm who came early last year for 3 months and who are all still here. Families!  If you follow Nickelby At Darnum on Facebook you can read about the antics that this menagerie undertake each day.

As my own range of alpaca garments and accessories comes to life under the banner of Nickelby Designs I have decided that the blog will not only share life on the farm but also my successes and not so successes in the world of textiles as there are so many lovers out there of all things natural and hand made Australian product it just might be of interest to some.

The other scary piece of work I am working on at the moment is getting the online shop up and running!!!!!!!!!! It is such a lot of technical work that my poor IT guy has to tell me what to do in small bite size pieces so I can remember it all, but I am enjoying doing the work with his guidance and not just paying someone to do it.  The next step is to "talk" to the bank about all those fees they charge for the privilege of using their merchant facilities.

Well another beautiful cold winter's day is drawing to close here at Nickelby At Darnum and the alpacas are looking to be let out of their day paddock and the 3 fat sheep have escaped from their area again so I have some talking to do with Geraldine - thankfully she has a collar so I can drag her back to where she and her "babies" Jase and Joee belong.

Until next time stay safe and smile every day.  I read the other day that those who knit are happier people so get knitting!!

Best Wishes

Angela