I gave away a dozen this morning ~ which they replaced two-fold throughout the day!  ... nearly all the chookies are laying right now. We eat the eggs ... I feed them to the dogs & cats ... I give away as many as I can ... I bake ... but they still give us more than we could ever, ever use!!!!!

Yes ... yes ... I do!!!!!!!!!
... and I've got them.
After standing about all day yesterday at the Lions Poultry Auction, I bought home 10 new girls. I wanted normal (read b-i-g) sized breeds to let out to free range in the horse paddocks, where they do a great job of being tractors and spreading the horse poo. I wanted them with big buxom breasts & big buxom feet!! 
I got some Old English Game, Red Ancona and Black Ancona; as well as one Buff Orpington ... and she is a BIG girl. I wanted to get some ex-battery hens, but the ones that were there were in a deplorable state and I knew they wouldn't last in the out-of-doors enclosures we have. They were featherless and many were bleeding.  They were also de-beaked and I couldn't see them doing too well free ranging. I felt so bad watching the new girls enjoying the sun and having dust baths as I was building new perches and putting up new laying boxes this morning. 
All I could think of was those poor girls I didn't buy yesterday.

Oh ... and Natalya & I are having a stocking at Woolly Butts Store on Wednesday night (September 9th) at 8.30pm. Please go take a look  
There are lots of 8ply/DK yarns, as well as some hand kitted pieces.

Our last stocking was a h-u-g-e success, thanks to our valued return customers; as well as a couple of new ones  We were so encouraged by your support that we will have another stocking during the first week in September.
All the yarns are 8ply ~ some are BWM Luxury .. some are not!!

We will also offer a few hand knitted items. The brightly coloured Frilly Butt in the pic below, is not quite finished yet. The mosaic of the yarns shows just some of the hand dyed 8ply yarns which will be on offer. There will be a few surprises there too! I have done quite a few 'boy colours' as I am aware that it can be difficult to source these. Plenty of 'girl' stuff around, but not so much for the wee men in our lives.

We are having a stocking of yarn on
Wednesday night, 12th August at 8.30pm AEST.

 Here's the link to WOOLLY BUTTS STORE

All the yarns, except one, are Bendigo Woollen Mills 10ply Luxury, which I have spent the past several days hand dyeing. There is one lot only of Luxury 8ply/DK weight. They are all 200g balls which will sell for $25, postage included.

This diversification came about because many people asked me to dye yarn for them. There were enough requests that I thought it would be interesting to see if yarn I dyed myself would actually be popular enough to sell! If this stocking is successful, I may dye some 8ply to do another stocking in about 4 weeks.

DH threatened to lock me in my own en suite at 2am the night before last if I didn't go to bed!! I thought I was being quiet ~ but apparently I was banging pots, etc. and keeping him awake!

This has been a L-O-T of work, but it was also heaps of fun. I take my hat off to those WAHMs who do indie dyeing all the time :)

Here are a few of the yarns which will be offered ~ please go take a look in the store. We hope you like what you see ...

These photos hang in my bedroom, where I see them constantly ... yet they continue to amaze me on almost a daily basis. The two young women are my daughters. The baby is my grandson Brodee, when he was ten days old.
In the first photo, Brodee is pictured with his mother.
In the second photo, it's Brodee and Zia.

This lovely garment was made as a wedding gift for a lovely young woman.
The pattern is Luna Moth by Shui Kuen Kozinski.
It was made from DK Sea Silk in Ivory colourway - just beautiful.

I made this beautiful Swallowtail shawl for Natalya (DD1) for her recent birthday. She chose the pattern and the yarn ... which is Hercules from JollyJumbuck in gloriously vibrant shades of violet and cerise. I really love the way Natalya wears her shawls around her neck - clever! The pin came from nicolasandfelice at Etsy - fair prices and excellent service for a great product.

I have become an addicted knitter of lace!
I love everything about it ~ even the frustrations it can cause ... but I love the feeling of gifting such lovely things to people I know ... some of whom I love.
Here are just a few ...

Gail (aka Nightsongs) by Mawelucky/Jane Araujo

Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark

Swallowtail by Evelyn A. Clark

Flowers and Frills Shoulder Shawl by Yvonne Senecal

Some dye-ups I did on Bendigo Woollen Mills 10ply Luxury during the week.
Luxury has a very limited range in the 10ply yarn, so what better excuse than to do some over-dyeing for my friend Rita to use as she knits for her eagerly awaited new baby grandaughter??? This was such fun :)

Have you ever seen those great pics that "other" people publish on their blogs?? Well, today I found out how they do it ~ thanks Vanessa!!
Have a look at Mosaic Maker
Took me a couple of hours to figure out how to use it without linking it directly to Flickr, but once I did ... it was suuuuch fun.
This big fellow is Jethro ... my friend, confidante and body guard.