dear cedar

The excitement of the week involved playing a wee morning veggie market gig on Wednesday morning with some lovely friends. we ladies call ourselves "Dear Cedar" and have been lucky to have various beautiful fiddlers join us. This Wednesday we were joined by an old mate of mine, Steph, and my didn't he add a special deliciousness to the morning.
We met a gentleman, Peter, who was kind enough to record a song and take lots of photos. We also had a television crew stumble into the veggie market and upon us, and they filmed us too.
My favourite part of the day was when two tiny girls decided to dance to our songs, and one wee dot was in particular very taken by Steph and his fiddle music, and danced softly and attentively just under his nose, her eyes not leaving the fiddle for a moment! ah, the power of music, the great communicator between souls.
The song in the video, "I wish my baby was born"  is one of my favourites. It is found in the movie "Cold Mountain" (the director Anthony Minghella wrote extra lyrics, according to the CD sleeve notes), though of course the song is a traditional folk song from the Appalachians, no doubt with roots in English folk music. Like many of these songs, there are numerous songs with variations on these lyrics or melodies floating about. It's a melancholy and fragile song, yet so beautiful and plaintive.

a little sangin'...

Me and ma ladies, aka "Dear Cedar" at Open Studio last Friday night...
oh the dreadful wind and rain......

woolly times

Last weekend my dear knitting buddy and i took a trip to the Bendigo Wool and Sheep Show...all up a very absorbing and woolly affair! We raced around, meeting folk who knit, spin, whittle, peddle luxurious yarns, design knitting patterns, enter knitting competitions, dye wool and  breed woolly beasts! Pure indulgence for a wool obsessed gal like moi...
I was quite restrained in the wool procurement department, very largely due to a few boxes of the stuff sitting at home awaiting transformation!
Here's a few pics!

This gentleman was a real charmer, wearing the viking mail and helmet (complete with beard) made from his own spun yarn! Marvellous!

 The beasts!!

 Weaving by Heather Dunn, preparing for her exhibition in Bathurst. Below is her "leaf litter" dyeing.

 This gorgeous dress was showing at Viewpoint Handmade Gallery in Bendigo. I failed to note the maker of this divine felt and leaf dyed garment (if anyone know be sure to enlighten me!)

And the very modest booty, but very exciting!

 The Fibre Company Meadow: a 2-ply lace weight blend of merino, baby llama, silk + linen purchased from the lovely Alex of ZigoZago. It was so great to meet her and rant and rave wool!!
The colour is Pennyroyal, and oh my goodness....
I am toying with the idea of creating a Seashore Cowl  like the lovely Lori made, combining with the Suri Silk/Alpaca (above) purchased by the most amazing salt of the earth woman, Robyn Betts, gets this soft heavenly stuff spun from her own animals!!
Below is a skein of her MeriSuri, where she has teamed with a friend to make a truly incredible merino and suri alpaca mix. The colour is also enchanting!

And something else a'brewin'.
Knittin' and sangin'. Just heaven. We got a name'n'all.
 Dear Cedar.

Joining Ginny and her Yarn Along: still going with Hitch (very slowly!) and reading a wonderful book written by an incredible creative couple, Australian actor William McInnes and his wife, filmmaker and animator Sarah Watts (who since writing the book has passed away), Worse Things Happen at Sea. Amazingly intelligent, inspiring read!