Raes Junction.

Right now I am way out in the country in the southern part of the South Island.

The internet here is dial-up and I have a cold so I can't tolerate the lack of speed to put up posts here.

I have learned how to spin on a wheel and have already made a toque out of the wool I spun. They have huge industrial wool carders here and make all sorts of rovings for spinners. The past few days have been black merino and silk. It is so beautiful and I wish I could have a huge bag of it, but it would take a year to spin it all on a drop spindle at home. The grandfather has been running this place for years and he does all the dying too. This week he dyed a bunch of hanks of spun merino pink, purple, and blue. Not really my colour combination, but I did find some I liked. He sold me 3 HUGE hanks of light heather grey, dark heather drey, and light heather purple for $10 each. There is enough to make a giant sweater. I'm going to make a normal sized striped raglan sweater and still have a ton left over. I haven't figured out how I'm going to get it all home yet. I'll probably leave some other things behind.