Willunga Artisan Market & more Heteropoda Adventures

Yesterday started out very cold. It was 2 *C when I climbed into my Subaru at 7.30 am  and backed out of the shed. The monitor pinged and proceeded to ask me to drive safely and slowly as the roads may be icy....well, that is not likely to happen in Willunga but still, it was a nice thought.
I always like to get to the Agricultural Hall early to get a good parking spot as Our Artisan Market is on the same day as the Farmers Market across the road and the Quarry Market as well and the streets get fairly busy and parking can be tricky.

Our young market coordinator Emily was already opening up the hall for us to set up. She is an inveterate collector of other people's shopping lists and she found one that had "Black wool Holiday on it. So she adopted it and made it the name for her business. You can see her site at
www.blackwoolholiday.com and see all the intriguing art and film work she does.
On the right she is talking with Mary who is a print maker and specializes in whimsical animal
prints.

On the left is Emma's stall with the amazing mandala hanging her late mother sewed, as the backdrop. She makes wooden beads and creates amazing necklaces and bead hangings.
You can go to her stall and gather up and choose the beads that appeal to you, for a very modest price. Children adore her stall as there is nothing breakable there and they can rummage around in the bead basket to their hearts content.
There are six other stalls as well, with two pottery people, one who does individual glass beads, one who does exquisite calligraphy and also slumped glass wear

one who makes skirts out of retro materials and a jeweler who makes finely wrought metal jewelry out of anodised saucepan lids.
And then there is me.....
We were filmed by a group of people doing a promo on the Fleurieu peninsula and perhaps we may have a flash of two seconds fame in some future TV add....
The most interesting part of the morning was
 after we closed, one of Emily's friends gave a talk on how to present our Market to the general public and how we as individual stall holders might improve our presentation and induce customers to linger longer and perhaps even buy something.....my stall could do with de-cluttering I think.....

Now further to our little Huntsman, Heteropoda which I had tossed out of the tube Friday morning.....
This morning I went to measure the rain we had on Friday night as I had not done so yesterday'
When I took the funnel off, there it was again,not in the measuring tube but on the rim under where the funnel fits......so I went back and got my little Nikon coolpix  and took yet more photos and gently put the funnel back making sure it didn't squash its little feet. Is it trying to tell me something?.....

Intrepid Heteropoda.....

We have had some very wet weather of late, winter has arrived at last after a very sunny and dry autumn.
So I have great pleasure in the morning donning my Bluntstones and rain jacket, to go out and measure the rain we may have had yesterday and overnight. Our rain gauge is well away from trees in the front of the house in an area which was once garden but now is a weedy wilderness.
For the past week or so, we had a Huntsman spider, not a big one, take up residence in the actual tube where the rain collects to be measured. I marvelled at how the creature managed to squeeze in through the small hole of the funnel but thought , he will never be able to get out again...
So I tipped him out onto the surrounding weeds along with the sometimes (Oh Joy Oh bliss) 8 or 9 mls of rain.
However, the next day the Heteropoda would be back again, always on the side facing the wind and well and truly where
 it could not be rained on......
So it climbed all the way from the weedy patch back out and up the post and into the tube...it would be like us climbing up the tallest building in the city. I left it there for a couple of days but I felt it would starve to a mere shell so I finally photographed it in the tube before tossing it in the weeds once more and hoping it would find a better home. Remember to click on the photos for a clearer view.

I have just finished a red jacket based on the pattern I had made for the pink jacket,with gores and knit-woven in wool, wool boucle and mohair.
The pink batwing has woven- in contrast yarns to give it some textural interest
They will be on display at the Willunga Artisan Market tomorrow....I hope it is a better day weatherwise tomorrow as well.....

The Tawny Frogmouths have re appeared in the last few days and spend their day resting on the vine stumps under the gutter so as to stay dry. They are such lovely birds to have on the patio as they give out this Zen like air of calmness, nothing seems to disturb them even if you get quite close. If you do get too close they point their beaks in the air and flatten themselves out and close their eyes pretending that they are not there and so we are not able to see them..... bless their hearts....