FleeceFolk Diary

17/08/2026

Tour de Fleece 2026

This is most of what I spun over Tour de Fleece (including spinning with Tour de Femmes!). I thought long and hard about gathering all these skeins for a complete summary but it just feels right to show them as they came off the bobbins - mostly late in the evening/midnight!

This was a very very Wyndara and FleeceFolk Fibre tour and I am so so pleased with the finished skeins. I really enjoyed spinning Whiskey and have a bit more left of her to finish. I harp on at length about her fleece and what her finished skeins mean in last week’s FleeceFolk diary entry (link in bio).

In total I spun Polwarth, Corriedale, Corriedale Silk blend and merino!

Thank you so much for joining me this Tour and for sharing your makes under Tour de FleeceFolk! Can’t wait to do it all again next year x

17/08/2026

This beauty almost missed the grid but I had a quick snap before it got caked for swatching 🧶

Singles spun entirely on Elizabeth Thornberg drop spindles and plied on the wheel. I love this delightful mix of colours on Polwarth by Helen Waratah Fibres 🧵

This will meet my own hand dyed handspun of Polwarth for a new cast on!

209m to 119g 🫶

05/08/2026

This week’s FleeceFolk Diary entry is all about what I consider to be the SECRET Bendigo Show - The Bendigo Artisans Annual Fibre Fair! If you are heading to Bendigo next year, it should definitely be part of your itinerary! It runs alongside the Bendigo Sheep and Wool show at the North Bendigo Bowlo and is a very cosy hall with a wonderful collection of artists!

I visited this year in pursuit of some Angora rabbit fibre and as you can see I am very pleased with Inky’s saddle clip that I’m holding in the 1st snap! Angora Rabbit Fibre Australia

I was also fortunate enough to meet Liz Elizabeth Woods and want to thank her for the gift of her time! We had such a lovely chat about cotton and mills in Australia. I walked away with a colourful box of goodies too. Liz is also a dealer of Clems & Clems products if you are after pop locks and the like, she’s your gal!

Finally, I made my very first trip to our beloved Bendigo Woollen Mills ! Such a treat to finally step into the infamous back room and I share some of that haul too!

I hope you enjoy this one and fill your trip down to Bendigo next year with new spaces to explore! How lucky are we to have so much fibre goodness at our fingertips! 🫶

🔗 Link in bio to my channel on YouTube

21/07/2026

That’s a wrap on the Australian Sheep & Wool Show 2026! It was such a delight and privilege to attend this year and spend so much time with the sheep and people behind our joyful craft!

I strongly recommend approaching the show from an agricultural/sheepie lens and filling your lungs with shed 4!

This is only a small collection of snaps from when I remembered to pull the phone out! Thank you so much to everyone that made this weekend so so special!

A recap of my weekend at the show is now on my YouTube channel (link in bio).

Let’s do it all again in 2027!

20/07/2026

Fabulous to see top ribbons for NSW and familiar faces in Victoria! It was such an enjoyable watch to see the sheep judging Saturday morning too!

17/07/2026

10/07/2026

The Great Australian Breed Study | English Leicester 🐑

This week’s FleeceFolk Diary entry is now available on YouTube (link in bio). With a week to go for the I thought it very fitting that we talk about the feature breed for 2026, English Leicester.

It is a packed episode where I show how I go from raw fleece to yarn. I cover the development of English Leicester (EL) as a breed, its history in Australia and NZ (incl. the development of the NZ Halfbred as a result), comparison of EL locks from a young hogget fleece to a 7 year old ewe who became the case study for the episode, side by side comparison of 2 methods of scouring, tips for combing and spinning the breed, as well as a 3ply and 2ply version of the breed.

More than anything I am so chuffed with how many farms and FleeceFolk come together in one episode:
🐑 Fleece spun from the gorgeous Pesto at .coloured.corriedales
🐑 Impressively long lock sample from Ember
🧶 Vintage EL Lambswool scored in a destash by (thank you Su!) which is now in a test knit for
🧶 Combs from Petlyn to understand the point of English wool combs
And the conversations that have followed from dedicated EL breeders that do so much to keep this lovely breed alive in Aus!

Thank you so much for watching and for continuing to be interested in Australian fibre ♥️

03/07/2026

Arrrrr y’all ready kids!?? 🏴‍☠️ Tour de Fleece 2026 kicks of tomorrow, Saturday the 4th of July, and runs the length of July to the 26th! This year I’m hosting the tour over on my Ravelry group - FleeceFolk Flock - and here on the gram!

We are a no rush, no pressure, just keep the wheels turning sort of group! My only goal this Tour is to spin every single day 🚲

If you’d like to join us on Ravelry, the link is in my bio. If you’d like to stay connected on Insta, simply tag me and/or use the hashtag and I will post you to my stories daily!

I always learn so much during the tour and it’s just such good fun! Whether you join us intending to spin 20g or a kilo, on the wheel or on the spindles, I’m excited for where this Tour will take us!

I’m off to polish and oil my wheels! Catch ya tomorrow! X

01/07/2026

Romney | Inverleigh, VIC

I’ve been so busy clearing bobbins for Tour de Fleece that I forgot to share this wonderful spin. This Romney fleece kicked off the Great Australian Breed Study on my YouTube channel. I was fortunate enough to connect with Jen at Clydebank Farm who sent over some gorgeous Romney fleece from her flock 🐑 These babies produce some stellar stuff and I spun this up in record time - the signature loose lustrous locks made it so easy to comb up and spin on my Ashford Traveler. Low twist was the name of the game as I assembled a few 3ply skeins 🧵

Romney can be so varied from fleece to fleece and in that first snap you can see how the crimp can change throughout the fleece. It was so hard to source months ago but I’m excited to see more Romney becoming available in Australia!

The adorable snap of the sheep has been kindly provided by Jen ♥️

clydebankfarm