We began daylight saving on Sunday here in California. I know we only lost one hour of sleep, but as the week has gone by so fast it feels as though I lost a couple of days!
Belisa Cashmere had a booth at Stitches this year. It was the first time I had seen their yarn although I had heard of them from friends who attended Stitches in 2008.
Alan and I stopped to chat with Stan Cooper one of the owners. It was wonderful to meet him firstly, because we love to see Australian products promoted overseas, and secondly because we were familiar with the town of Bundanoon in New South Wales. Alan used to play the bagpies regularly and several years ago we had the opportunity to go to Bundanoon for a weekend for the Celtic festival called Brigadoon.
Stan and his wife Bev have the most gorgeous fine cashmere products available for purchase. Being a knitter I was very interested in the selection of yarn that they had on display in natural and dyed colours. They also had a fine selection of ready to wear garments for sale and some lovely kits were also available.
Their website www.belisacashmere.com is full of great information. It tells the interested craftsperson all about the goats, the fibre and the processes they use to end up with the gorgeous product that we can use. I could easily be tempted to order some of the fine cashmere now to make a heirloom shawl…..
By a very strange coincidence I was invited to join a group of knitters on Ravelry last night. Called The Southern Highlands of NSW it is based in Bundanoon. They are a recently formed group so there is only about twelve members at the moment. One of the members is from California now living in the Bundanoon area and actually here in the US for Stitches West 2009 so it is quite peculiar to have had the invitation from them.