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Looking forward to seeing more of your dying adventures! I don't dye yarn but I find the process super interesting, and I do really enjoy chemknits' videos. I am particularly interested in your idea of a dye garden that is suited to the australian climate but also conscious of not using invasive species. hopefully you can find some great resources! i am not a gardener myself so can't offer any advice. I have bought naturally dyed yarn from Nomad Farms in the past - they are south australian based and all of their yarns are naturally dyed.

The best coverage of The Sheep Show. I couldn't be there this year. You nailed it 👍👍

Bendigo WOW! All that yarn for spinning, knitting, amd crochet. A happy experience seeing all the beautiful colors. And sheep and a dog trial, too. And raw fiber to tempt the spinners. HEAVEN.

I use a lightweight umbrella swift (it is a bit wobbly but it works) to wind yarn into skeins. The one I have has a little handle on the top so you can spin it. I set it up so it is almost at a 90 degree angle. I have tried a sturdy wooden swift but you cannot change the angle and there is too much friction to freely wind. Good luck with your dyeing project, that green color is gorgeous (and I've done that to myself too! 😆).

wow just found your chanel and what fun to see the wool show and you are epic as well

Thank you Amy for your video showing us around the Sheep and Wool Show. As a vendor I don’t get to see most of the Show, but your video made me feel as though I got out and about. So glad that you survived the weather, it was one of the most changeable and challenging years: wet, windy and cold (but no defrosting the windscreen this year!) 😊💖

An umbrella swift is very handy to have when trying to turn a commerical skein into a dyeing hank or twist.

Thanks Amy for walking around the show. Loved it when I went a few years ago but ill health etc etc I haven’t been back. Good to see how many people were there and so many people I’ve bought from. Thanks again😊

Thankyou for showing us, you've inspired me to want to attend next year's show & l will drag along a friend who also loves to knit. We love all the fibres & amazing colours. Blown away by how big the expo was, why have I never been before??? Crazy. Might have to be an annual trip. Again thanks for sharing & all the names which helps.. I live in a very small regional area - Sale and closet woolshop which I am grateful for is Rosedale & we go there often for supplies, aww & arrr at what the owner is creating. Also nice shop in Traralgon & next good one would be Drouin but bit of a drive for me, unless going that way then easy to make a pit stop. But always nice to know of other shops for different colours. We might need to make a trip to Bendigo as I've been told by a local here that there wool shop is awesome with great selection of different fibres & colours. We only have spotlight in Sale for wool which they have now stopped stocking sock wool! Blasphemy I say.... might even go online & have a sqiz. Cheers have a great weekend ahead. 😊 ❤

As a fellow sock obsessive with a similar propensity for second sock syndrome, I’ve found that knitting two at a time is the best way to get around it… I’m not into magic loop, much prefer a 25cm circular or even dpns, so I just have two identical sets of needles, split the skein into two balls rather than one, and literally do each step on one sock then the other. Overall it takes a bit longer to see the payoff but when you get to the end of one, all you should have left to do on the other is the toe! Huge game changer.

Get a niddy noddy! I find it to be the absolute best way to quickly skein yarns. Also, if you want some extra inspiration - I'm going to shamelessly toot my own horn here, haha - I'm doing a series on different techniques of yarn dyeing on my channel, much like Rebecka from ChemKnits, where I show the entire process from beginning to end. There are several episodes out already, but more to come. Feel free to stop by if you have the opportunity. 🙂 Have fun dyeing! Can't wait to see what you make, and also to see that garden in the future. I'm thinking about doing a series on natural dyeing next year, which will be a completely new process to me. Can't wait to try it though. 🙂

There is a CZcamsr called Margaret Byrd who has lots of dye experiments on her channel Color Quest. Be aware that she doesn't care much about colour fastness on clothes or yarn. So some of the dyes wouldn't work well for that. But it is still interesting to see the experiments. In some recent videos she experimented with eucalyptus.

Apparently madder has been found in Tutankhamun's grave in Egypt. So maybe madder can also tolerate hot weather then. Alkanet (Alkanna tinctorium) gives nice purples. It seems Alkanet likes warm weather. It is from southern Europe. I saw some fabric samples, dye from Alkanet looks much better if it is extracted with alcohol.

The colour fastness of natural dyes vary greatly. Wild Colours has some info on this. The ones that are often quoted as having the best colour fastness are woad, weld and madder. Looking at the website it says woad is from the Middle East originally. Woad should work in Australia then, I would think. But woad also grows in northern Europe. Natural dyes are also sensitive to things like water PH and dye bath temperature.

A dye garden would be so interesting. 😃 You might have to grow dye plants with European origins in the winter instead. The woad pigment likes heat though, apparently. Another CZcamsr did an experiment, and if woad leaves were harvested under 25c. they didn't give much pigment. (I have forgotten which CZcamsr so I can't say who it was). I don't know how madder will react to the hot weather in Australia. Maybe you should grow madder in the shade? I don't know.

When I saw the beginning of the video I thought "it looks like Chem Knits". 😃 Cool that CZcamsrs are inspiring each other. 😊

Hey, this is my first time discovering your channel and I have to admit that I was thoroughly entertained by your name… as I too am Amy, and live in Melbourne!! It looks like we have many shared areas of interest, so I can’t wait to binge watch more of your videos 😁

Awesome record, Amy! <3 Thank you for visiting our stall too xx (I stopped camping at Bendigo a few years ago because.... yeah...... LOL)

That’s it, I’m going for sure next year!!!!!

Many thanks for your terrific trip around the show. I didn’t make it this year but if I had I would be broke by now. As a spinner I like the fleece and fibre goods and making my own yarn. As on the first day you bought yarn I was surprised when you bought fibre and are a spinner.The colours amaze me of

This is great! Being a stall holder (Wyndara Black Sheep) I didn't get to explore very much so now have some stalls I definitely want to check out next year

I loved your video! It was so comprehensive and informative. I've never been to the Bendigo Show and your video has absolutely inspired me to go next year!

Just found you and have been bingeing your videos! Found a lot of new free patterns thanks to your video! Love your hair too! 😊❤

Thank you so much for taking us with you to experience the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show. I live up in Queensland and would love to make the journey and go one year. But in the meanwhile this was perfect. I totally agree with you about supporting our local (Aussie) producers, makers, etc. 💖❤💙

Thanks for sharing your adventure ❤ regards Marg.

Thanks for making this video! It was so interesting to see the show, as well as BWM. I don't envy your camping in that weather!

So many amazing things and so overwhelming but I loved it. I’m in NW Ontario, Canada and not much of a traveller and won’t ever see this in person so thanks for giving me a glimpse. Happy Knitting.

I love it. Thank you for introducing me.

Omg I had never been so cold in my life and I’ve been to the arctic circle lol. Couldn’t imagine camping in that weather.

Thanks! I missed so much in my mini visit to the show. Come sit the warm Bowls club to knit next year.

Thanks

Thank you so much for walking through the changes you did !! I really did appreciate it !!

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful video with us all. It was absolutely amazing! You are very game camping in a tent in that windy winter weather Amy - good on you girl!

I'm a yarn dyer and spinner in Tasmania and I've bought from a few of those vendors online. It was wonderful to see their setup.

Blue faced Leicester (pronounced Lester) is one of my favourites. It is so nice to knit with.

How fun! I went to my first fiber festival last month and I was very good and only got two things. I really liked seeing the dogs and sheering competitions.

This was my first year and it was a bit overwhelming. I think if I go again I will spread it out over 2 days to not feel so rushed. I enjoyed your vlog footage and I saw a lot of stalls that I must have just breezed past as I don't remember seeing them on the day. I didn't get a chance to see the fashion parade or spend much time looking at the competition entries either which would have been very inspiring as a relatively beginner knitter.

Thank you Amy. Australian podcaster in the knitting community most appreciated. The Bendigo show is huge.

If I ever won the lottery I wouldn't tell anyone, but there would be signs 🧶🧶🧶🧵🧵🧵🪡🪡🪡

Thanks for sharing - I didn't get there this year :( Sooooo many pretties!

This outfit is so SO lovely!! I honestly teared up at the reveal.. 🥲 I've always wanted all these beautiful whimsical clothes, but even when I could afford them, I rarely found anything I liked in my size and/or shape (my body is very similar to yours, it's actually kind of ridiculous how similar we are, it's like looking at me with another face 😅). I am currently negotiating with myself if I am ready to take the leap and sew everything myself. When I finally make it, I'll definitely start with your patterns!

Oh my goodness! That was totally awesome! Thanks for sharing!!

Preach! I feel like I was born sewing, knitting, and crocheting - Pennsylvania Dutch farm born and raised - with spinning and making soap thrown in. As an adult, I had a sewing machine that I made good use of. Now that I’m older, I gave away my machine and went back to my childhood - 100% by hand. I make clothes and quilts, and I take whatever I’m working on with me wherever I go. Yes, it seems like it would take longer - but, factor in that whenever I’m not engaged in something that is actively using my hands - like on the phone at work- I’m sewing. I get my projects done in roughly the same amount of time it would take me doing it only on a machine, where it might take me a week from cutting to sewing as I had to wrangle free time to sit down at the machine to sew. Now, if I’m idle, I’m sewing by hand, and it still takes me a week from cutting to completion - it just more hours sewing and much less hassle finding the time!

I have been going to this event for 14 years and then coming home and watching the CZcams videos about it. This was the best and most comprehensive I have seen. Also, you are very stealthy at filming. You must have been next to me, you can see my jumper and hair in the video and I didn’t even notice 😂

I think next time I go, I'll put a call out for a craft buddy, looks like you were on your own. It would have been more fun and I'm sure I would have seen more. I went with my sister, who is not crafty at all. She was lovely, I did warn her I'd be idling and admiring. However, I was aware how bored she was, so I think that had an effect on what I did and looked at. I feel I missed things. Loved what I did see and do.

I wasn’t able to make it this year so thanks so much for taking us along! Sorry about the food poisoning 🥹

Is there an online shop for the button ladies? I'm always looking for great, unique buttons!

First time seeing you, Amy, and I love your video skills showing enough of the stall holders highlights to tempt me to look again. Your tummy experience brings back memories of the same thing happening to me after camping at a Tobacco Festival at Myrtleford and having a dreadful drive back to Sydney many years ago.

What a great time you had! Thanks so much for taking us along! You are a brave lady camping in that cold weather! haha

tiny ghost is ADORABLE