Yurts come to Darnum

My business has been operating for over eight years now and many of you would know that I managed to build the shop and studio but as yet building a house had eluded me.

Over the years I had designed many houses for my location at the end of the farm, both on paper and in my head and the one I had settled on about 4 years ago was going to have everything that opened and shut and was just lovely.  Unfortunately so was the price tag - yikes!

What is a girl to do? Well I suppose I could have made it a bit smaller (it was rather large) but then I thought every time I tripped over something I would think, if only I could have built the house that I really wanted.  Any of you who have popped your head into my studio will know I am not the tidiest person around!  So I decided I had to design something completely different.  So I did!

On a day when I  really couldn't be bothered doing anything of any significance I did what many of us do and played on the internet.  Somehow I came across yurts and my imagination started to go where it had never gone before.  Maybe I could live in a round house!  Many of you may know but many may not as I am often asked "what's a yurt?"  Yurts are best known as the houses used by Mongolians and they are usually made of felt.  I was pretty sure, whilst I knew I could make the walls with alpaca, our local shire would not allow me to live in a felted house.  More the pity as it would have been cheaper and I do have access to lots of alpaca fleece.  So I found a company in Goulburn in New South Wales and I sent up my plans I had drawn using a dinner plate and two bread and butter plates as my templates to their draftsman of choice who helped me put straight lines around my scribbles.

Six months later three yurts arrived down by truck and they are currently now being put up by my wonderful builder Craig and his team and they are going to be joined together by two "pods" that I put into the design. (no plates used for the pods, they are rectangles!)

So my house of 3 yurts and 2 pods has started and is gaining lots of attention from friends and locals, not to mention the alpacas in the surrounding paddocks. Craig and his team are coping well with the designs and the 4 engineering reports that were required, but that is another story for another day and I now think they are feeling quite pleased with themselves.  However we are yet to get to the roof frames and putting up the cupolas (the glass tops that sit on top of the roofs).  Think I will stay away that day.

Probably one of the hardest parts has been thinking in the round.  Put two French doors side by side and they don't both look at the same view, there is about a 45urt degree difference, so the view you wanted you might miss completely.  All good fun.

The next stage is to make the pods and put on the roof and wrap it up so it is water tight so I have spoken to my 3 dogs to see if they can think of any way of raising more capital but as yet they haven't come up with a plan but I am sure something will turn up.  You never know we might even sell some more alpaca clothing in our shop

Speaking of which, I went to Japan earlier in the year to study SAORI weaving and now Nickelby Designs is producing SAORI garments in our range and they are proving very popular with many special request, so the loom is working overtime.  Here is a sample of what we are producing which you might like to come and see or check out in our online shop.

Well with winter well and truly here I am trying to tell myself that I should get out of the studio and into the olive grove and start my pruning but it is just so very cold and the shop and studio are so much warmer.  If you are passing, pop in for a bowl of soup or a ploughman's platter and a glass of wine or even a coffee and cake and I will update you on the state of my yurts and pods!

Until next time

Angela

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

What a busy time

Hi
Well it has been awhile (again) between posts but believe me we haven't been sitting still here at Nickelby At Darnum.
As many of you know I am chair of our local tourism association; West Gippsland Gourmet Country Tourism and a couple of months ago another member and I decided that since our shire won't open an Official Visitor Information Centre then we should!!!
It is now open with a paid staff member and hopefully soon a lovely group of local volunteers to support the running as the shire are still not coming to the party. It has been a very busy time but totally worthwhile.

As everyone has seemed to become climatised with this wet weather more and more visitors are coming to Nickelby At Darnum and it has been great to see some familiar faces again.

Next week I am off to "Fibres Geelong" and I am participating in a week long felting workshop which I am really looking foward to. Mum is looking after the shop so you are sure to leave Nickelby At Darnum after having a few laughs next week.

Gardivalia our festival of gardens is about to kick off next week and Nickelby is again participating. October 16th and 17th we are doing a cupcake afternoon tea with the alpacas and you have to wear your favourite gardening hat!!! $10pp and we would appreciate bookings but check out our website to see all the details.

Also for those who love a shopping outing, Nickelby At Darnum is holding a Christmas shopping night on Wednesday December 8th 5.00-9.00. Come along and have a glass of bubbly, start or finish your Christmas shopping.

We will have our wonderful alpaca accessory range available, our body products, hampers and all sorts of wonderful things. The best part about shopping at Nickelby is that there is plenty of parking, no traffic, no crowds and you can have a break and enjoy the wonderful views and the lovely alpacas. Why not get the friends together and make an evening of relaxing retail therapy.

Well that is about it for now, the alpacas are looking quite fluffy with all their fleece and I think a bit sick of the rain. Most have had their toe nails cut but some just said "no" so they have to wait for shearing in November. Pip and Humphrey are all grown up and we are looking foward to our next drop which is due to start New Year's Eve.

I shall post again when I return from my week of creativity and share with you my successes and I am sure disasters but as long as you can laugh at yourself then nothing really matters.

Live every day as if it is your last and give someone you love a big kiss!

Until next time

Ange

Winter is here at Nickelby At Darnum

Hi
It has been awhile since my last posting basically because it has been really busy. I won't bore everyone with all the details but to say that we have launched our own hats made by me and from Nickelby fleece which is exciting and are practically running out the door. We make to order and red is a speciality so orders of course are taken.

We had some bad news over the last couple of months with the death of two of our little boys. Nickelby Benjamin and Nickelby Henry Higgins only made it through a couple of days/weeks with us but they were of course beautiful so touched us all and we miss them. Nickelby Pip and Nickelby Humphrey are growing up very quickly and Pip thinks he is a bit of a ladies man which is quite funny.

We are about to start planting the olives (again!) and I hope this will be the last of the plantings as it drives me crazy, not to mention the strain on the back.

For those of you who wonder if I will ever have a house to live in I am pleased to say that it is getting closer and I have the planning permit and the builder is just getting everything together for the building permit to go in. I am off planting more trees in the paddocks and the garden so I figure by the time the house is in place everything should be in place. Ha Ha!!

I am busy organising a black tie dinner at the moment which we are holding at Lardner Park in our new exhibition centre. It should be a great night as we have Li Cunxin (Mao's Last Dancer) as our guest speaker and the band "Essential" which is a 6 piece playing and the tickets are only $125 pp so I am madly promoting it at the moment. It is Friday August 13th so give us a call and get some friends together and come along!

I am just looking out the door and it is just on 4pm which in the winter time is play time for baby alpacas and Pip and Humphrey are playing chasy in the paddock with the calves next door watching in amazement. You can't beat the country.

Shall update again shortly as it is injection time and toe nail cutting time so there are sure to be many stories come from those days. Stay warm and hope to see you at Nickelby soon.

Out and about with the alpacas

Well the heat is on its way and now that the shearing has been completed the alpacas are enjoying sunning themselves inbetween sitting under the sprinkler! Afternoon Delight thinks the sprinkler is hers alone and chooses often to sit right on top of the water jets much to the objections of the other girls.
Being the school holidays, we are receiving many visitors to Nickelby At Darnum and the alpacas are coping well and are staying quite polite when meeting the visitors.
Even though it is hot over the next few days it is time for us to organise our events for our Palate of Passions Festival starting mid Feb. Here at Nickelby we are having two days of lunches on Feb 20th and 21st and we are again doing "A Taste of Alpaca" on March 21st. View our website for more details.
I am also very excited today because I have managed to secure a position at Fibres Geelong in September and also the workshop that I was after. I am off to Geelong to work with Sachiko Kotaka, one of the founders of Nuno felting and I can't wait.
If you are out and about why not call in and see us and all the lovely alpaca garments we have in our shop. Alpaca is not just for Winter, we have alpaca blended with cotton and silk for some very stylish summer garments.
This is just a new blog so photos of the alpacas will be on their way and we intend to update everyone on all that is going on at Nickelby At Darnum. We are very excited about all our planned activities.