Funky Getaways

Old Parliament House | Canberra

| CELEBRATION OF WOOL |

Berrima | Canberra | Bowral

| day 1 | 


One year on and another trip to Canberra for the annual 'Celebration of Wool' at the Old Bus Depot Markets [ OBDM ] | I need no encouragement when "wool" is in the tittle !


As I was away two weeks ago for knit camp my suitcase was not packed away but only waiting to be re-stuffed once again with various warm woollies to take with me. Last Saturday morning with my suitcase well stuffed a couple of friends and I set off to Berrima for a slight detour for some morning tea to break up the three hour long journey.

| Who am I kidding  ? | I wanted to stop because last year I discovered some fabulous stocking blockers at that fantastic store called Peppergreen Antiques and Collectables and I wanted to go back to see if they still had them so I could buy a pair | clearly that memory did not leave my mind in a year. 


To my surprise they still had them, however and very saddened the foot sizes were too big so with excitement deflated somewhat I threw myself into the rest of the stores delights.  

...and what did I shop for | vintage buttons.

I love the contemporary and worn-in look of these and although not Japanese they do have that aesthetic feel to them. My friends and I trailed through trays of buttons in every colour | size | and shape imaginable. This shop is like Aladdin's cave once entered there is no escape, we all came out of the store with stuff.

Rested up we continued on towards Canberra to Manuka where we were to stay for the weekend, and as luck would have it Manuka has a yarn store the Woolshed. With pre-made plans set in place a few of us from Sydney met up here for the afternoon to have a knitalong and catchup with the local knitting group. The Woolshed has a cafe located conveniently right in front of the shop where one can sit and knit whilst drinking coffee.. arhmm and maybe a wee bit of cake to go with that | the weekend was off to a great start.

After our knit in we agreed to meet up again the next day after the OBDM for show and tell and another catchup. With plans sorted we then booked ourselves into our great accommodation for the weekend and relaxed [ knitted ] a bit before some of us met up again for some dinner at Abell's Kopi Tiam, a Malaysian restaurant with great service and food | YUM !    

| celebration of wool | 

| day 2 | 

..and so the day finally arrives.

It started out with meeting up with friends at the Kingston Grind for some breakfast at 8am and then off to the OBDM by 9.30am. On the way I managed to snag a poor man going back to his car to take a picture of us, we were all excited and rearing to go and as you can see my Missoni Inspired got a work out over the weekend. 

As the market officially starts at 10am we had time to scoot round before the large crowds came and we managed to grab a few things along the way. As the day progressed we met up with some other Sydney friends that were driving in for the day. When we were all done at the market we went for lunch at the packed-lucky-to-get-a-seat restaurant Sammy's Kitchen | fantastic food and great place !

After lunch we parted ways as some left back for Sydney and we headed back to the Woolshed for our catchup afternoon tea | show and tell | and some knitting of course. When all was done here we returned back to our accommodation to settle in for the night. Pizza was ordered and delivered | knitting was in progress | whilst we watched and laughed our way through the finals of Eurovision on TV | loved it ! 

This years market was a little disappointing although fun. There were some great vendors and I didn't go home empty handed, but there was however less yarn vendors than last year. I found that this year it was more like the usual OBDM with some yarn vendors thrown in, last year there were far more exhibiting | we did however have a great day !

| what caught my eye ? |

Considering there were less vendors I did still manage to come home with a few things. I always go to these events to look at what people are doing creatively and if I manage to purchase a thing or two then so be it but it's not my main aim.

1 - show and tell at the Woolshed.

| buttons |

2 - olive buttons | I got these particularly for the large ones you can see.

3 - leather vintage buttons | I love the worn-in look.

| yarn |

4 - fibrewebs platinum sock | 75% superwash merino 25% nylon | beautiful shades of green in this skein and I plan some socks for it.

5 - fibrewebs mcn sock | 80% merino 10% cashmere 10% nylon | this is a very masculine colour with splashes of green thrown here and there, more socks await this.

6 - berga wool laceweight | glenora weaving and wool | ...and so my love of orange continues.. it's for a shawl of course.

| wooldancer |

| ..then I was bedazzled by Wooldancer's store |

| yarn |

1 - cria silk lace | 70% baby alpaca 30% mulberry silk | colour - peridot | the instant I laid my eyes on this I was a gonna ! ..so soft ..such a saturation of colour ..did I mention COLOUR ?! ..ohhh it's screaming to be a shawl.

2 - blue ram sock | blue faced leicester | colour - velvetine | another wonderful colour, shades of brown with a hint of mulberry running through it, you guessed it - more socks.

| fiber |

3 - madeira rayon thread | colour - ink | purchased for plying or auto-wrapping handspun

4 - black diamond | carbonized bamboo fiber 

5 - hand-dyed hemp fiber | to throw into batts 

| autumn colour |

| day 3 | 


Monday morning and with the weekend coming to an end we packed our bags checked out and went for a lovely breakfast to another very busy cafe called the Urban Pantry. I loved this place it has a great urban buzz about it with lovely food and coffee, and with the added advantage of being in walking distance to the Woolshed.


After breakfast we started our drive back home and headed to Bowral for a bit of a meander around and for lunch at the Elephant Boy Cafe. We did go to visit the yarn shop Wool Addiction but as luck would have it they close on Mondays. After a nice lunch and more of a meander we drove the rest of the way home where I was greeted by my two favorite men awaiting my return. 


The weekend was as always loads of fun, filled with fine fibery indulgences | food | and friends. However after a very busy May with various family birthdays including DH's | our 14yr wedding anniversary | Mothers Day | and two weekends away | all crammed into the last two weeks I'm ready for an easy few weeks.


..now I'm off to knit - spin - chill !