Road trip: day 3

Morning at the Wang consisted of music videos and then a very large breakfast at our new favourite cafe. Mmmm, breakfast chips!

The first thing that drew us to Scribblers were the black and white tables, so TSS was a little disappointed by their only decent pepper-grinder...

We went by a yarn store and I saw a felted pear that was far inferior to the beautiful ones a certain lovely lady makes, so i took a snap for proof.

We then went to Wangaratta Woolen Mills, where there are a lot of signs to build the anticipation. the yarn fumes overcame me and I didnt think to take a photo of the inside of the shop... but be to fair, this is what we bought and it's a fairly decent reflection of what was once in the shops :p
bag in middle and left are mine... wasn't TSS a good girl? Her pruchases weren't even for her!

We then tore back towards Canberra, swinging by everything remotely resembling an op-shop on the way. The most memorable thing we saw would have to be this amazing sweater kit in Wodonga - with a pre-knit yoke! We didnt buy it, it smelled a little like moths and by that stage our purses were all a little light.

We made in to Canbbera by about 6.30 and collapsed in a heap.

BEST. TRIP. EVER.

Road trip: day 2

The morning in Bendigo began with the dawn chorus. That is, workmen drilling and reversing trucks for long periods of time. Sock knitting, however, took the edge off it all.

After a hastily consumed breakfast, and a few wrong turns, we ended up at the mill. We savoured the moment by exploring outside for a little while...

And then we hit the bargain room.
YUM.
Some damage was done, at least to our reputations as sane and rational modern women.

We hit some op-shops.
We dragged ourselves off to a strange mohair farm in the hope of a tour of cute animals but sadly no tour was available. The man who was manning the store was obviously VERY confused by our arrival and had some trouble dealing with idea that I am under 25, knit, spin and may not totally suck at either of the latter (I do totally suck at being under 25, i tend to swing rapidly between mental ages of 4 and 50).
Some nice spinning fibre was located but no photos were taken.

We then raced towards Mooroopna and made it there just the very minute that the SPC Factory Outlet Store closed. Luckily, TSS is far more persuasive than I am and talked our way inside to buy large quantities of tinned tomatoes.

We then proceeded to Wangaratta (or 'The Wang' as every local calls it, much to my amusement). We had a swim in the motel pool, ordered thai food and enjoyed some bevvies at the local pub while we waited.

We watched The Wedding Planner and I knitted my pink cardigan and we periodically shared idiotic grins of pure joy.

Road trip: day 1

So, bright and early at sparrow's fart on Sunday, TSS and I started on our mission to deprive Victoria of all bargain-priced yarn.

We saw a submarine, and pondered the logistics of having a submarine so far inland.
We saw a monkey. Nearby there were discarded socks, so I maintain it was a sock monkey taking a little breather.

We went through Albury, and viewed our accommodation for Monday night... and were less than thrilled. Any place with a drive-thru bottle shop, in my book anyway, is not high living.

We stopped off at Wangaratta for lunch and kind-of-accidentally-on-purpose changed our booking for the second night's accommodation. Oops! We ate a fabulous lunch at the worlds best cafe (Scribbler's, but they might change their name) which is friendly to both Coeliac's and Vegetarians.
We saw a beautiful dress in a window that could've been a great wedding dress (but when i tried it on the colour and cut was all wrong for me).

We pushed on to Bendigo and arrived about 5pm. We walked around the pretty gardens and lovely conservatory. Eventually we located our accommodation at The Fleece Inn. So pretty!

Dinner was on Coles and after-dinner entertainment was down to Roxy.

We admired the staircase and my amazing scarf cast on and off in one day.Then we went to bed and tried to sleep through the excitement about visiting Bendigo Mills in the morning.

TO BE CONTINUED

a Rippin day out

As some of you may know, there was a little road trip yesterday to visit the divine Helen Rippin in the country. Round up the usual suspects (georgie, neet, Taph, joods, kms, Rachel, Kai, Hannah, and a gorgeous lady who is making a baby who's name i just didnt seem to catch, sorry)

Taph, monkey and i went up together. We may have been a little late because i foolishly said "ooh look Westies" and Taph was forced by DNA to launch herself at them. The dogs clearly knew what was what and promptly ignored the little kids who were playing with them to jump about impatiently til Taph got there. They were bloody adoreable... and we managed to leave without them.. just.

We met up with the rest of the crew in town and then headed to Chez Helen. It is...
Well.It's heaven. basically.
There was knitting and some drop spindle lessons (think i missed snapping those. needless to say we have some converts in our midst. You can see a few ladies spindling - the giveaway is having a hand up in the air)

There was a colour sampling demo. (Please note Jood's wee-wee jiggle. there was excitement and a half!) I was deeply satisfied to discover that even Helen gets dye on herself occasionally.

We each ended up with a set of colour sample cards. This was so exciting!

There was a delicious lunch care of used-to-chef-Helen. There was cake for kms's bday care of georgie. there was a run to town for the atm care of Taph (yes, we all brought cash to start with...). There was severe fibre whoredom.

A joyful and educational day was had by all. i sure know what i want to do for my birthday ^_^

Thankyou Helen, for your generosity with your time and materials. Those of you wishing to enquire about fibre you left behind, or other converts from the pics of her in-house yarn store can contact her at hrippinATbigpondDOTnetDOTau. but perhaps give her a few days to recover (a phew days even?)

Peace out
Ms Spider xo

PS apologies if i havent linked you to your blog or written your name properly or remembered your name at all.. feel free to comment and i'll edit this post to fix everything.