Melbourne Cup Day Nov 1st 2011. I've chosen a green background today because that's the colour I see everywhere right now on the farm. We have had terrific rains in the last month ("normal" levels according to the weather bureau) so the pasture is leaping away and stock are knee deep in clover, lucerne, rye grass etc - goat and sheep heaven. Dams are full and everything seems perfect but of course fly strike is lurking just around the corner for the poor merinos, so we have to keep a close eye on them.

	It is overcast this morning and the hills are a bit misty, making it very atmospheric out there with the goats who are pretty fat and happy with so much feed. The kids are growing out well and are now approx two months old except for the little one taking a snooze in the bucket who is only a few days old.
	I love public holidays like today because peace and serenity decend on the farm like at no other time. Mostly it's pretty quiet here but we notice when the winds head our way from the South and carry the road and airport noises into our valley uninvited - the hazard of living near a major city !

The goats looking wonderfully clean and shiny after heavy rain in the last week. They love camping on the stoney rises surveying the scenery.

Fibre Forum at Geelong - September 2011 .

I have just returned from the Fibre Forum at Geelong Grammer School and although quite exhausted, am buzzing with ideas for new projects, new products and the need to follow up with new contacts to add to our ever increasing network of fibre friends and business partners. It really is a stimulating environment where everyone is busy expressing their creativity to the max and having such fun doing it. Congrats to Textile Fibre Forum (Janet de Boer, Jude Skeers etc) for their ongoing fabulous work in bringing together such a wide range of creative and stimulating people. I think the star of the week was Soomee Kim a Korea born, Melbourne based Felting expert who managed to inspire her students to such an extent that they each produced three wonderful garments. Other stars were our home grown Fibre Artists including Catherine O' Leary and the Grand Purl Baa herself, Loani Prior of Wild Teacosy fame. It was an honour not only to meet them but also to supply some of them with Lara Downs products.

If you haven't been involved with the Fibre Forum and it's fibre art educational offerings todate, I recommend that you make a start today and check out the wonderful workshops that they run all around Australia.

Sept 10th 2011. The price of Wool .

Yesterday at Precious Purl a customer was complaining about the increased pricing which now applies to a number of our wool based products. Yes it's true that these have gone up in price substantially over the last six months and we commiserate with those who have got used to cheap woollen products over a long period of time. However I thought it was important that everyone understands the context of these price rises. Wool growers such as ourselves, have been doing it tough for a long time through being paid a price for our wool that didn't cover even the costs of growing that wool, let alone provide some sort of profit to cover living expenses. Farm costs have continued to be covered by off farm work and this has been the case with many farmers, particularly during the long drought.

2010-11 finally brought a reversal not only to the drought conditions but also greasy wool prices which for us have virtually doubled. At last we have been able to see a small profit after 10 long years of drought and poor wool prices. Our farm will post a profit this year for the first time in ten years or more and this is to be celebrated, but it doesn't recoup all of the lost income over those 10 bad years .

So when you're feeling grumpy about the increased prices of wool or woollen products for your felting or knitting, spare a thought for the wool growers and be glad that at least they are now being paid a reasonable return for their labour.

Close up of a cobweb sampler.

Yes it really does hold together !

June 19th 2011. Other local suppliers of LD products.

I'm pleased to say that our hand dyed goodies are now available in several new outlets around Melbourne as well as interstate and o/s. Onabee in Kensington now stocks a good range of our mohair yarns as well as several other yarns. Open Drawer in Hartwell is also a relatively new stockist of mainly felting and embellishment products as well as some yarns. Contacts for both these businesses are on our links page.

The Vic Felters: June 18th was my day for visiting the Victorian Felter's Group for the first time since becoming a member last year. It was an interesting and busy day with a formal meeting, followed by a demonstration and later a show and tell by members. In between members had the opportunity to browse through their extensive library as well as check out the various trade stands there for the day (including Lara Downs). Very informative and enjoyable sharing the day with such friendly people. I can only recommend it to other would be felters or anyone looking for support in their felting adventures. Thanks Felter's for the opportunity to have a trade stand. It was great meeting new faces as well as catching up with familiar ones from Precious Purl visits and particularly seeing the wonderful things you've made with our products. I wish I'd had a camera with me - next time !