Rosabella Threads
From bottle-fed goat kids to hand-dyed skeins, Rosabella Threads is a labour of love spun straight from the Tathams’ farm at Merritts Creek.
Published 13 August 2025
Photography: Daniel Somervaille
Words: Barb Somervaille & Sam Kirby
Just when Dianne Tatham thought she’d finished raising children, she found herself, once again, up at night bottle-feeding babies. Only now, her babies had hooves, curls, and were surprisingly prone to bleating.
For locals Dianne and her husband Peter, who have been running their Angora goat stud at their Merritts Creek property just north of Toowoomba for nearly two decades, kidding season is both a joy and a juggling act. The paddocks come alive with the sound of tiny hooves and high-pitched bleats. Baby goats bound through the grass, poddy kids nestle in the yard, and bottles are lined up for orphans and little ones whose mothers haven’t bonded.
In the early weeks, feeding happens four to five times a day and continues until the kids are weaned at around three months. With a herd of around 100 goats, that means there's always something to keep an eye on and always a little chaos in the mix.
”Angoras,” Dianne says, “are like the thoroughbreds of goats, [but, also] very delicate, highly strung, and high maintenance”. They’re expert escape artists and often require constant monitoring - especially first-time mothers, who don’t always bond with their babies right away.
Thankfully, Dianne and Peter tell us, they are not on their own. George, the Tathams’ nine-year-old corgi, takes his job as poddy goat nanny seriously - showering the babies with affection and keeping a close eye on the yard. Out in the paddock, their Maremma watches the rest of the herd, ever alert to wild dogs and anything out of place.
Angoras, you see, are kept not for milk or meat like other goat breeds, but for their fleece - mohair, one of the world’s most prized natural fibres (fetching upwards of $30 to $50 per kilo).
It was natural then when Peter - a skilled restorer with a knack for antique machinery - and Dianne - a passionate knitter and aspiring designer - launched Rosabella Threads: a small farm-based fibre business centred on their own mohair.
“I’ve been knitting for longer than I can remember,” Dianne shares. “Like most things in life, my mother taught me the basics", and what began as a childhood skill quickly became a lifelong passion — a creative outlet, a source of calm, and, as she puts it with a smile, “definitely something that lowers my blood pressure.”
[Side note: Research shows that knitting, crochet, slow stitching and other hand crafts calms the central nervous system, aids concentration and releases the neurotransmitter dopamine – the ‘feel good’ hormone that can help overcome stress, depression and anxiety.]
"I've always loved working with natural fibres, and I'm constantly amazed at the yarns available these days compared to when I first started out in the 1970's."
So! together, they began shearing, processing, and spinning fleece onsite — bringing their love of natural fibres full circle, from paddock to product.
From her garden studio, Dianne began hand-dye skeins in small seasonal batches — mixing her own recipes and blending Australian-manufactured dyes into earthy, tonal shades often inspired by the landscape around her. Peter, ever the willing support crew, lent a hand with the heavier jobs: winding hanks (a surprisingly fiddly task), lifting dye pots, and keeping things running behind the scenes.
“I couldn’t buy the muted colours I wanted,” Dianne explains (the softer palettes and subtle tonal shifts weren’t really available in commercial yarns).
So she decided to start creating her own.
. . .Colours that speak softly of nature. Sometimes, the palette leans into dusty eucalyptus greens or sun-bleached ochres. Other times, it’s the soft blue of a winter sky or the rich purples of flowering salvia.
The response was overwhelming.
When demand quickly outpaced what their small herd could supply, it soon became clear they needed to expand. Not in size (that wasn't feasible for the boutique family-run operation) - but in scope. And that’s when cotton entered the picture.
The answer, at least to Dianne, was an obvious one.
Soft, breathable, and entirely Australian-grown - it felt like a natural fit.
Importantly, it was also an opportunity to support Australian farmers, much like themselves, something they both felt very strongly about.
Despite Australia being one of the largest (and highest quality) cotton producers in the world, it’s rare to find yarn from cotton that's actually grown here, with most shipped overseas, disappearing into the disposable tide of fast-fashion industry and the rise of mass-machine manufacturing. Even rarer, high-quality fibre, coloured and curated in small batches by hand.
And for Dianne and Peter, that was part of the point. An ethos of small-scale, slow production - that gives Rosabella Threads its character. The colours are grounded in earthy tones and the seasons. The yarns carry a softness and depth that can only come from time, care, and a maker’s eye.
And it's a sentiment that has seemed to resonate. Locally grown products and a quiet return to materials made with care. To slow crafts and small batches. To things that carry the mark of the maker - and in this case, through yarn - a way to reconnect, to slow down, and to choose quality over convenience.
These days, Rosabella Threads is quietly flourishing.
Word has spread — through makers’ circles, craft fairs, and the kind of conversations that happen over cups of tea and half-finished scarves. Their yarns are being picked up by knitters, designers, and fibre artists who appreciate the difference: the softness, the story, the sense of connection. What began as a passion project on a small farm has become something more — a trusted name in the fibre arts community, woven into projects near and far.
Dianne has developed her own patterns and kits for shawls and blankets, with easy scarves particularly suited to beginners. And with plans to experiment this year with new blends — think silk and mohair, linen and merino — it’s clear she hasn’t stopped exploring what’s possible.
For Dianne, though, it was never about building a business empire — it was about building beauty, slowly and thoughtfully. About creating something she would want to knit with herself. Something grounded in the land, coloured by the seasons, and spun with a sense of story.
In a world of speed and shortcuts, perhaps that’s exactly what we need more of.
@rosabellathreads
