Bit like how I feel about my knitting – moving from the corporate life to running a credible retail business. Sometimes it feels like a crafty indulgence, but we take our work seriously as artisans and now as a commercial business.
The Convent, Cementa_15 and Lots of Artists
Cementa_15 is a contemporary biannual arts festival held in Kandos. The first event was in 2013, in my very early Convent days. This year the Convent will participate again and host a number of artists and welcome the public through the gates.
Approximately 60 artists will be exhibiting at over 20 venues around town for four days from Thursday 9 – Sunday 12 April. The Convent will be hosting Beata Geyer & James Culkin’s: Geometries: Kandos, which has already been installed at the front of the property, Dan Kojta’s: Infinityscope in the Grotto, Kim V. Goldsmith’s: Indicatus, 2104 which looks like it will be a standout display in the Chapel and Alexander Jackson-Wyatt & Paulina Semkowicz’s Standard Boxing Tent No 1 in my paddock next door.
Looks like a great few days and it will be exciting to see so many people wandering around Kandos. I’m sure there will be more photos to come.
The Latest Convent Residents
It’s been a while coming but now it’s all happened at once. A kindly local put together my amazing but very big and heavy chook tractor that has been sitting in the carport since before Christmas. The next day I arrived home to find four lovely girls settling themselves in.
I have Rosecomb Bantams and they are pretty, friendly little birds. They came running over to me and let me pat them immediately through the wire. The dogs, however, are another story and went totally crazy. Popcorn settled quickly and only spikes interest if the little dogs get the birds to flap. But the little dogs are besotted and going through conditioning of gradual introduction to their new housemates. I was assured that the girls are used to annoying dogs and will cope, but I’d prefer them to have a settled start to their new home. At present, if the dogs annoy them, they go up into their enclosed nesting area for some privacy but one chook, in particular seems quite unperturbed by canines.
For now, I’m just enjoying their company and giving them a few treats to make them feel welcome. Once settled, they can have a dog free run around the yard for an hour or two each day and, of course, the tractor will regularly be moved to other sections of the yard for happy grazing.
It will be an exciting day when I find my first egg.
Beanie Binging
We are finding that the hand knits in our shop are incredibly popular – it’s both a blessing and a curse. Whilst it’s great to sell them and they are good little earners, they are also very labour intensive and sell much faster than we can knit them. Sometimes we’d like to see them sit in the shop for a few weeks and we don’t know whether to laugh or cry when a new item comes up to the counter for purchase an hour or two after we’ve just put it on display.
With a bit of a nip now in the air some days, we’re expecting greater demand for our knits. In choosing what to create, we try to mainly use shop stock and patterns that are either our own or can be easily accessed online, so they double up as project samples for keen knitters. We are also fussy with the quality of yarns we use and try to utilise patterns that offer interest in texture and colour (whilst not being overly time-consuming to knit).
The last few weeks, now Show knitting is over, has been beanie knitting time. I’ve put together very basic patterns for spiral beanies in 6 and 10 ply – simple but effective with a banding effect being emphasised with different stitches and colour waves in the wool. I’m mainly using Zauberballs and Noro for these and they’ve been incredibly popular.
I’m also using Cashmere/wool blends for beanies – the texture is so beautifully springy. Basic ribbed beanies are particularly popular with the blokes and look natural and rustic in earthy colours.
Adding to the collection is more of a Slouchy style with an interesting travelling stitch which looks a bit like a cable effect. I’ve tried this in a few yarns and they are all coming up well.
I’m sure there will be a few more styles in our near future – we’re working on berets and more slouchy versions – and also using some of the gorgeous local alpaca yarns.
Our Lace Scarves sell well year round and we can practically knit them in our sleep (I wish we actually could!). Once the beanies supplies have been topped up (if they stay in the shop for long enough), it will be mitt time again.
The Beginnings of an Orchard
When I purchased the Convent, I also bought the vacant paddock next door with the hopes of turning it into an orchard/parkland. Well, the best laid plans… There’s been so much else to do that my attentions haven’t quite made it that far, although I can now mow it and have started mulching it in parts.
In the meantime, I’ve done a quick inventory and was surprised by how many fruit trees have found their way into the Convent garden. I had originally planted a small grove of about half a dozen olive trees, which for the most part are happily and healthily growing. The side colorbond fence bed was mainly established out of compost, much of which was kitchen peelings directly thrown on the bed, so a few interesting things have emerged, including a self sown Peach which is looking just peachy.
The citrus are well represented with the back garden path to the church being flanked by 4 limes and 4 lemons and there are a couple of Finger Limes, a Chinotto and a Kaffir Lime spread around the property. Some old fashioned plants have made themselves at home including a fruiting Quince, two Elderberries, a Damson Plum and a very old fashioned but absolutely lovely tree called a Medlar.
I love the leaves on the Medlar as well as the shape, and the blossoms are also quite lovely, however I’ve read that the fruit are somewhat unflatteringly called dog’s arse fruit. I leave that up to you to guess why. The fruit can be used in jams and jellies, however is treated quite differently to other fruits. It is picked but left to go ripe in cool shaded spaces.
In fact it’s called “bletting” which is similar to letting it rot. I’ll be interested in trying this when I get a bit bigger crop. I also have a couple of crab apples which appear to like the area and seem pretty healthy. There’s a small fig that hasn’t really taken off and some Tea Camellias. Vines such as Passionfruit and Kiwi Fruit will add interest in seasons to come.
These plants just need a bit of TLC to get them to the point where they will provide a harvest. In the meantime, I just enjoy watching them grow and become part of the garden.
Back to the Garden
What with the new shop and show knitting (and other commitments), the garden has not been receiving the attention it needs. Now things are a little more under control and with great weather, including some much wanted rain, energies have been redirected to green things. The Convent will also be one of the venues for the Cementa_15 artists and with lots of people wandering through the property over 4 days in April, I’d like the Convent to be shown at her best.
Fortunately with some watering, mowing and a bit of weeding, the garden is now coming along well. I’m now trimming, feeding and mulching which will also prepare the garden for Winter. As I see the garden every day, I tend not to notice how far it’s come and appreciate the changes as much as I should but taking new photos has been a good reminder.
One of my focusses has been on the veg beds. I think I neglected these a little over Summer and they weren’t as productive as they should have been and I wasted a bit of produce too, but opening the shop was a pretty big commitment and I’m promising myself that this time around the beds will be well loved and the produce appreciated more. That being said, the colorbond fence bed which has made the bare side fence much more interesting, is now a wealth of produce and between the raised veggie beds and the fence bed, I’ve harvested masses of zucchinis and now reaping eggplants. The carrots continue to be abundant and I’m also now getting pumpkins. The original intention of the fence bed was to be a rambling pumpkin patch, so I’m delighted with these results.
Beds have now been replenished, fed and mulched and are now planted with sugar snap peas, brocollini, rocket, beetroot, bok choi, chop suey veg and lettuce. I’m hoping there will be established plants and new growth emerging for Cementa to give visitors a taste of a country garden.
The Results Are In!
So we’ve just finished the first wave of local Shows. The shop has done very well overall, but no thanks to me.
G was the champion by a long shot with her beautiful Jamieson & Smith cobweb lace shawl that took out first each show, also scoring Best Knitted Article at two of the shows. This year my shawls languished with minor awards, however I still picked up some firsts, seconds and highly commendeds for more minor articles.
Overall it was lots of fun and we still may enter some more local shows. A few of our items are currently on their way via CWA to the Land Handcraft competition.
This year I’ve been pretty focussed on shop knitting and my entries were predominantly the items I also make for the shop. I’m already thinking of next year’s entries and planning to start sooner rather than racing to the finish line as I usually do.
First Results
First Show results (Gulgong) were a tad mixed but overall pleasing.
G pipped
me at the post for the Baby Shawl category but we can’t complain with a first and a second. I also picked up a second for my linen stitch scarf, which was great but a little puzzling when my lace shawl, which I thought was significantly superior, in the same category only scored a Highly Commended. There wasn’t really the right category for the Shawl so maybe it just suffered a little in the Accessory class. Although I thought G’s may have taken a first for the category…
We did think that this Show preferred entries that were a little more conservative but have taken in some learning and should adapt our work next time.
Anyway, between us we came away with four prizes. Just a little disappointed that this Show doesn’t award ribbons. We love our Show ribbons!
Anyway, this weekend is our Big Show, with our local Rylstone Kandos Show, so we’re a bit nervous. We both have new baby shawls which we’ve put some work into, although I’ll confess, I’d make a few changes if doing mine again.
Pictures and results will follow after the Show (unless our heads are hung in shame).
It’s Showtime!
It’s that time of the year when we have our local agricultural shows and the community get to display their produce, animals, cooking and handicraft.
G and I have been doing the hard knitting yards for some time now, to the detriment of shop knitting but it’s now culminating with the local shows, all hot on each other’s heels. This week we dropped off a few items each at Gulgong Show – we should find out the results late tomorrow when we pick up our knitting. The big one for us is next weekend with our local Kandos Rylstone Show, with Mudgee Show (which is the bigger one) the weekend after.
Our major pieces are still on the needles, hoping to make their debut for our local competition. Other Shows will come up, including the Sydney Royal Easter, but next week is the one that means most to us.
Will update the blog and post pictures as results come through (or not!)
Social Butterflies
… or Flutterbies as a friend’s child engagingly calls them.
Last weekend G and I joined the social community with a few outings. Firstly was the regular country music night which is often held at Ilford Hall, but made its way to Rylstone this weekend. Ever few months a few intrepid locals put together a great night of country music which includes a sausage sizzle (out here you get a generous number of sausage pieces, piles of grilled onion, homemade coleslaw and sauce of your choice!) and a great country spread. The entertainers this time were Ged and Trudy, with their laid back and more gentle country ballads, which was quite a treat and Pete Smith, the yodelling cowboy (I think his promo shot may have been taken a little earlier in his career). All three were entertaining and talented and kept us glued to our seats for hours of great music in the little local hall.
The next night, we went to the opening of Alisa Burlington’s works on display at Gallery 47, with the wonderful Coffee Concrete supporting the catering. It was a great night, seeing some of our favourite locals and also discovering how talented Alisa is. We’ve always admired her stunning individual jewellery, but had no idea of her painting skills. We came away the night a little lighter in the purse but our homes will be all the richer for it.
We continue to be amazed at the level of activities available here and how busy we are in what was supposed to be a quiet lifestyle – although the activities are hardly stressful (other than prioritising and scheduling!) and we are adding so any different aspects to our lives.
CONVENT AND CHAPEL 