# FAC - May '08



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I'm late with this, so what else is new 

This is the Fiber Arts Chat aka FAC for May. Around here this is where we all meet up and catch up with what we are all doing both fiber wise and in our busy lives as well. This is also the place for newbies and lurkers to come out and introduce yourselves to us. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I can tell you up front that we have all been there done that. So don't be shy because we aren't.

Fiber wise for me, let's see. I spun the other night watching Rob Roy and spinning Shetland wool. Now how perfect is that?!

In the mail the other day I got a nice little box from Cyndi and inside was a wad of Corridale for me to play with, woohoo! I this from her new fleece she just got and boy is this a BLACK fleece. I can't wait to card it up and play! Thank you Cyndi!!! She also generously gave me a bar of her soap, Lily of the Valley :goodjob: One of my favorite scents in this world.

I'm about halfway through the Cobblestone sweater. I'm up to the armpits on the body and one sleeve is about half finished. I really love the way the wool is looking beautiful with subtle color changes. I need to take more pictures and put them on my Flickr page. I've had some major computer problems, first it was lightening now it's download problems with my laptop. That is my mail computer and this (desktop) is the old dinosaur, it is slow but works.

Today I made reservations at a local camp ground for the weekend of the Shepherd's Harvest wool and fiber festival. I'm getting pretty excited.


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

Well, we made it though the Sierras and around SLC and through the Wasatch.

I am in Rawlins, WY now. Yesterday I-80 was closed due to a blizzard so we were stuck here from 10.30 in the morning. They had up to 70mph winds and blowing snow from Rawlins to the NE border, and 80 was closed in NE too. This morning it is open again, so we will continue with our trip, stopping in Lincoln, NE tonight. I haven't gotten anything fibery done on the trip except read some Spin Off magazines. These motel rooms don't have good enough lights by the sofas to knit with. 

Looking forward to arriving in Iowa very soon.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Very, _very_ strong winds blew half my compost-to-be skirtings off the porch and all through the yard yesterday. It's strangely attractive to have wool and llama bits strewn everywhere.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

LOL Falcon! The wind here has been blowing strong too.

Lezlie thanks for checking in with us. Be safe in your travels. I got a map of the fairgrounds where the Shepherds harvest will be help. If you decide you want to meet up someplace other than the fleece show let me know and I can find someplace. When we get closer to the time I'll PM you my cell phone number.


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## MOgal (Jul 27, 2002)

Falcon, we've had the wind too. I-70 isn't much fun when there is a thunderstorm going on! 

Nothing much going on here as far as fiber stuff. My last project at work ends Monday. Part of the team I worked with will start on another the next day while the rest including me, won't have the next project until the 14th. The bosses over there offered me work doing preparations for the other projects that I gladly took--things like making name tags, collating training materials, cleaning computer keyboards and screens. The contract requires all the projects be completed on or before June 18 so if they want me this extra week, I'm all for it. 

I haven't heard from all my friends in Arkansas but none were really close to the damage. The town Damascus, where several people were killed, is only 60 miles west of our old place in Beebe. The sister of a childhood friend lost her house in Earle AR--all her family has left is the clothes on their backs. A former neighbor in the Kansas City area lost part of her roof Thursday night. She just lost her daughter to an aggressive form of breast cancer and when I reached her I found out she was in the hospital for pneumonia. 

Yesterday a woman who lives about 40 miles southwest of me called to see if I would teach her how to spin. She had gotten my name from a friend of mine so it should be interesting.

Take care everybody. Good luck with your move, Lezlie. We've been on 80 crossing Wyoming in a thunder and hail storm and I don't envy you trying to cross in a blizzard.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Marchwind said:


> In the mail the other day I got a nice little box from Cyndi and inside was a wad of Corridale for me to play with, woohoo! I this from her new fleece she just got and boy is this a BLACK fleece. I can't wait to card it up and play! Thank you Cyndi!!! She also generously gave me a bar of her soap, Lily of the Valley :goodjob: One of my favorite scents in this world.


I got that from Loren at Windy Ridge in NY. Wonderful, isn't it! That only has one scour and one rinse on it I really separated the tips before I scoured, so the the lock structure isn't what it was pre-picking. I'm so glad you like it. Hope it's enough to add accent to other fiber for you.

Lily of the Valley is a scent I only make in the Spring and only 10 lb at that. When it's gone, it's gone until the next year. Don't know if you've ever used whole, raw cow's milk soap before - but the liquid in the soap is courtesy of our Jersey, Loddie. Rich, rich cream in her milk. 



> I'm about halfway through the Cobblestone sweater. I'm up to the armpits on the body and one sleeve is about half finished.


Are your kidding? It wasn't that long ago you were just casting on! What size yarn/needles do you use??

The past two nights, I have been reconstructing a miniature loom. I have replaced the fabric that held the heddles in place (2 harness loom), and the fabric for the beams.

I tied up 60 heddles, 30 for each harness. The wooden reed has 45 slots, so I thought I'd do a few extra.

I've got the warp on the warping board and will probably warp it up tonight ... Going to make, hmmmm ... coasters, or doll house rugs


Do girls still play with doll houses?? 

eta:

While I was knitting at Farmer's Market today, I was approached by a young lady who invited me to a weekly knitting group - it's held during the day, so I can't go BUT this lady is interested in spinning. I gave her a short lesson on the drop spindle and sold her a drop spindle and gave her a bit of roving. She said she'll give me a call about spinning lessons.

I need to find someone interested in collecting antique wheels to sell my Irish Saxon to. I don't want to sell it to a new spinner but I really, really want a Sonata.

Got a Polish husband, might as well have a Polish wheel!

Windy here too.

No snow though - guess it all got dumped in S Dakota


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## thatcompchick (Dec 29, 2004)

Heyy - THIS girl still plays with dollhouses LOL. I'm going to complete my minis someday.

Warm and ucky around here - going to escape to MD Sheep and Wool tomorrow with my mom for Mother's Day retreat...

A fellow Black Welsh breeder called me from the festival - The two skeins I entered placed 1st and 3rd (two seperate categories)! I'll post pics later! One was the 'attempt at balanced' yarn 'Moody Ewe' - 

Andrea
www.arare-breed.net
www.faintinggoat.net


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Mogal how good to see you posting. I know you are busy with your work. That always seems to take you away from us each spring and part of summer. How neat to have a perspective new student for spinning. I am sorry to hear about your friends who had storm damage, how sad. But as I have said many times before. Give me a blizzard in April any day over that sort of thing.

Cyndi, this pattern for the sweater is really nice to work on and well written. I'm working on size 7 needles and the yarn is my handspun Romney, 10 wpi. It is knitting up really fast and I';m really loving the way it looks. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow.

I didn't know your soap was made from your Jersey's milk. How special! How did your bird fiber holders sell at the market? They are so cute I would think they would sell really well.

Andrea congratulations on the ribbons for your yarns. Have fun at the wool festival.


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## Cloverbud (Sep 4, 2006)

Lezlie, when my dad spent a lot of time on the road and staying in motels, he always carried a decent watt lightbulb with him. He'd switch out the one in the motel lamp for his, so he'd have light enough to read by.

Cyndi, will you post a pic of your loom when you finish? It's so darned cute!
Also, two questions--Do you need the traddy back to give your lessons on? I can bring it back and then whine to DH about how I need my own wheel.  I noticed you didn't mention looking for a buyer for your traddy. Do you have a buyer in mind?  *giggle & duck* 

Amazing G has an interesting theory on yarn...it should be spun thick, so that it is very warm. And, I'm guessing, so that she doesn't have to draft the roving. (smiling and shaking head)


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## Sherri C (Jun 21, 2002)

We went to see the Yarn Harlot last week and she was so funny! My sides hurt from laughing so hard, and on the way home I was still thinking about what she said and ended up driving right past my exit! I got to the bookstore at 3:30 and ended up getting seats in the 4th row. Stephanie didn't come out to talk until 7pm but the waiting time just flew because it was like a great big knitting party. I think we frightened some of the bookstore staff! We ended up leaving at 10pm and Stephanie was still there signing books. I'm on her blog twice, once in a crowd shot and once showing off my first pair of socks. I thought she was only taking a picture of my foot and I didn't realize my whole body was in the shot until I saw it up on the blog! 
Yarn Harlot in Indianapolis

I've also managed to bring another member into the fold. My friend Liz is using her stimulus check to buy a used Kromski spinning wheel from one of the ladies in my spinning guild. One more victim dragged into the world of fiber! Bwa-ha-ha-ha! (that's my evil laugh)


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Well done Sherri on the new recruit :clap: Now you have to bring her on over here and get her on the waiting list for Ravelry.

I plan on using part of my stimulus check on something fiber related. Mine should be in my bank this week or next. If you don't know what the schedule is for release of the check I can post it on here. It has to do with the last 2 digits of your SS# and how you filed your refund.

I'm off to look at the pictures of Sherri at the YH book signing.


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## thatcompchick (Dec 29, 2004)

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=181665,00.html

there ya go!

Andrea


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

Sherri, I'm kicking myself for missing Stephanie's visit. Sounds like you all had a great time.

I haven't had any fiber fun recently - unless cleaning up after shedding dogs counts. I'm just running around doing too many things and still not getting my housework done, and it's not making my temper any sweeter, so I just better sit down with some yarn and a certain pattern that's been calling to me before I turn MEAN. 
Oh my. Do I sound a little stressed?


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## betty modin (May 15, 2002)

I'm sitting here in bed listening to the tree frogs in their frantic spring courting ritual. It's amazing how such a small creature can make so much noise. Saturday a Spotted Towhee courted his prospective mate outside my bedroom window. Earlier it was a lovely pair of mouning doves. Spring is such a wonderful mystery.

We went from snow last week to spring this week! Now I'm behind on all the outdoor spring chores. I got a bit of the garden prepped after work today, but couldn't get the lawn mower started-it has an electronic ignition so it probably needed a bit more charge than it had after being stored all winter in the barn. I'll try again tomorrow.

I'm hoping to to get to the Black Sheep Gathering again this year. It's one of the things that drew me to this part of Oregon. My family is planning on coming to help me replace the deck and the carport roof after snow damage, and the Black Sheep Gathering is just about in the middle of the time frame we all seem to have free this summer. Maybe I can go for a at least an afternoon, even if I can't take a workshop this year. It sounds like many of you have fiber festivals planned for the coming season.

The sweater I'm working on is nearly 2/3 finished. I need to spin up three more skeins and I'll have enough to finish it. Someone asked for pictures, which is a feat I'm not sure I know quite how to accomplish-but I can point you all to the pattern. It was in Interweave Press's Knit magazine in fall 2006. The pattern is called A Cardigan for Arwen, and that's my oldest daughter's name. I made the first one for her. This one is for my younger one. Now I need a good hooded sweater plan for my son.... I do one a year.

The sheep were shorn in the last big snow of the season. They always look rather forlorn when they'e all newly shorn and naked. They don't seem to feel forlorn though; in fact, they seem grateful to have all that long wool off their fat little bodies. Theyve been playing 'head butt', 'chase', and 'scatter'. This afternoon while I was working in the garden, they were playing 'begger sheep'! They seem to think I should toss all the weeds over the fence for them-even though they have a fresh green pature to eat. Silly sheep.

I need to lay the fleeces out on the deck this coming weekend and skirt them all better and start the washing process. I'd rather wash them on the old deck. The part of me that's pratical thinks I have too many fleeces. The rest of me knows better than that. I do have a bit of work ahead of me though.

It sounds as if you all are working hard. I hope spring comes to you all soon, and brings all its wonders with it. Enjoy all it has to offer you, betty


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Cloverbud said:


> Cyndi, will you post a pic of your loom when you finish? It's so darned cute!


As soon as I find the camera. this little loom is an amazing thing! I really need to find the buyer I got this from on ebay and send him something i wove on it, but I'm not sure how i can find him again. I won the loom for a great price (around $20-$25). As the seller was packing it up to ship, one of the straps that holds a heddle broke. He promptly emailed me, apologized and gave me the opportunity to cancel the auction. I declined. He then said he would give it to me at half price. Sweet! But to my amazement, he canceled the auction, refunded all my money and sent it to me any way.

It did need some repair, but nothing I couldn't handle. 



> Also, two questions--Do you need the traddy back to give your lessons on?


Not right now.



> I can bring it back and then whine to DH about how I need my own wheel.


If you think it will work!



> I noticed you didn't mention looking for a buyer for your traddy. Do you have a buyer in mind?  *giggle & duck*


Sweeite, you get first right to buy her when the time comes that I decide to sell and get the Sonata. That time isn't now though.


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

Learned the long draw this weekend,thanks to a suggestion about how to HOLD the fleece in my draft hand....it is coming out alot fuzzier than my inch worm... dh asked me if it was supposed to be fuzzy, and i said of course in a all knowing offended huff lol.

I'd be interested in the irish wheel do you have pics and a price?

about finished with my shetland shawl, I about froze to death at the back porch demo I did last month, also finished my felted bag i did on a long knifty knitter loom, but it shrunk too much width wise instead of length wise and looks a bit like a cat in the hat hat.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Cloverbud said:


> Cyndi, will you post a pic of your loom when you finish? It's so darned cute!


this isn't my loom, but it looks like my little loom
http://tinyurl.com/5p6ktr


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

jerzeygurl said:


> I'd be interested in the irish wheel do you have pics and a price?


I have more on my other computer that I'll have to upload. These are some I took when I first got it, before i cleaned it up and fixed some worn pieces to get it to work.



















I'm thinking $250 for her


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

* when did we get limited to 2 pics per post??


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Cyndi they limit you to the number of smilies too 

I have a little loom like that one. Is yours a 2 harness, and would these be counter balance? Where when one shaft is up the other is down, I think that's a counterbalance.

I've had a few days of recouping from a colonoscopy I had on Monday. Darn those anesthetics just hang in there don't they. Everything checked out A-ok. Today was a beautiful day weather wise, about 60 degrees and sunny for the most part. I got some outside work done and some inside work done. I am even beginning to get my fibers organized, I got some see-through bins from Target to store fibers in. I finished drafting out the Corridale that Cyndi sent me. I've got 4-5 balls of nice roving to spin up. I bought Braveheart on DVD (it was on sale at Target) so I can watch it and spin to that fantastic music.

I only have to work one day this week then it is off to the Shepherd's Harvest Festival. Lezlie I'm sending you a PM if you are reading this.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Is today the day my newest fleece arives? Hmmm, got another 15 minutes to wait.

Here's what's coming: Ain't it purty?

















Polypay cross with Suffolk Columbia Rambouillet Moreno & karakul - this be one confuzzled poor woolie!


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

It's here, it's here :bouncy:. Seven and a half pounds of the _softest_, most silvery fleece ever! Ramses (the ram who donated his coat) may be a confuzzled sheep breeds-wise, but his wool is to drool over!


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## Cloverbud (Sep 4, 2006)

I got a wild hair last night and tore apart the corner behind my chair. That's where I have all the wool piled up. Made an inventory of sorts, actually somewhat organised everything, and today I'm scouring. Amazing G told me that I needed to spin today because I have too much wool. I'll thank her to stick to her dye pot and not worry about how much wool I have, the little heathen! She obviously doesn't understand. I'll get rid of some wool when she parts with her stuffed horses. Hmph!


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

How's that bag of wool I gave you scouring up?

Too much wool - indeed! (your wool cost less than that $58 unicorn spindle!!)


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

Hi Everybody!

I've been in Iowa for a few days now, and we found a place to buy, our offer has been accepted, now we just have to get through the contingencies in 30 days. We have found a 108 yo farmhouse on 3 acres with 4,000 sf Morton Bldg and it's a lovely setting surrounded by corn fields and a creek. 1 mile from the pavement, and a few miles from the closest town, it is cat safe. Good thing is, it has high speed internet available! Let's hope it all works out. We have a good feeling about it. 

I will be in MN on Friday, and heading the wool festival on Saturday as scheduled.

Nothing much fibery going on, though.


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

So are you now LezlieinIO? 

That sounds like an awesome place, I hope it works out!


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Since this is the 'chat spot' for all us fibre nuts, I guess I can ramble on, eh?

So ... I got married this week. 

We are having our ceremony next weekend in the mountains (in Canmore, Alberta, actually) ... but we wanted to get all the legal bits sorted out ahead of time, so we did that yesterday. We are "recycled" spouses - we both were married before, my first husband passed away and my Reluctant Farmer and his ex are separated on VERY good terms, it was just a really bad match but everyone gets along famously now, which is unusual, but absolutely wonderful and I'm grateful for it all the time, believe me! Anyway...

Last week we visited the lawyer and got all the prenup paperwork sorted out (we want to make sure our kids each inherit their 'fair share' of what we have, so the prenup is mostly to handle succession issues, although, the whole once-burned-twice-shy thing is in the mix too, of course). Yesterday we met with the marriage commissioner, along with two of our friends for witnesses, and did the civil ceremony. So, I'm legally married!

Our actual wedding is next weekend, but it is a Quaker style ceremony, which traditionally has no 'officiant' or 'legal standing' so I think it's kinda neat to do that part separately - I mean, we do need the legal part too, but it's really separate from our promises to love and cherish and all, which, to me, is the "real thing". 

So ... I'm "mostly" married - and next Saturday (the seventeenth) it is the big party and the vows & all that, and then we get to go away for a week and do NOTHING ...

... and best of all, my wonderful husband thinks that me bringing a bunch of knitting stuff with me is just .. well ... inevitable. 

Now .. to find enough projects to keep me going for a week that are packable!


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## MOgal (Jul 27, 2002)

Congratulations! It looks as though my being up at ridiculously early hours gives me the chance to be the first. Sounds like you are making wise and actually fun/romantic decisions for this time around. Wishing you all the best and a long happy life together.


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## thatcompchick (Dec 29, 2004)

Awesome!!! I love how you are doing the seperate ceremony - best wishes for a life of happiness ;-)

Andrea
www.arare-breed.net
www.faintinggoat.net


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## swamp_deb (Jan 9, 2004)

I haven't been posting in fc because so much is posted I don't want to forget people when I post but your marriage is fantastic news...........CONGRATULATIONS! I pray that you will have a lifetime filled with peace, contentment and wonderous joy with your hubby.

Now I'll go back to spinning and knitting. I am loving my wheels more and more there is something about spinning that soothes me like nothing I've ever done before. I'm also knitting more than ever and learning new things. I read that you can ward off alzheimers by learning new things all along so that's what I'm trying to do and enjoying the learning too. I have socks on the needle and lace to knit a round shawl, both are new to me so we'll see how they go.

Lezlie, I would love to see pictures of your new home scenery after you close. I love seeing the different areas through online friendships (it's cheaper than buying the gas to travel).


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## Katherine in KY (May 11, 2002)

Congratulations, Frazzlehead! Since the Reluctant Farmer hasn't become the Unwilling Farmer over the last year or so I think you've got a good thing going. Best wishes for a long, happy future together. Are the kids going on "the honeymoon" with you?


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

What lovely news, all the best.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Boy does time fly. It seems like last week you were just telling us you were getting married. Well, CONGRATULATIONS to both of you and the kids (children) too! How nice to have everything so civil (no pun intended) and on the up and up. Don't forget pictures!! We want to live vicariously through both of you. Ok, I want to, maybe not everyone, but I want to.

Who takes care of the animals while your gone for the week? Is that your neighbor friend you have talked about?

My life continues to amaze me in all the twists and turns it takes. Who ever says life is boring hasn't lived my life 

On Wednesday after noon I went to get my oil changed. They were really booked up but squeezed me in. I wanted to get that taken care of before I make the trip down to the Cities for the fiber festival today. Well after the oil change, the replacement of a few belts and light bulbs they tell me that I can't be driving my car home  WHAT? I live 20 miles north of town what are you saying. The water pump is out and it's bad. I asked if they had a loaner but the answer was no. I asked if I could drive my car up the road to the airport to see about a rental car. They told me if I drove the car at all I needed to carry a gallon of water and stop, let it cool, and top it up if the temp even looked like it was going to raise. In the end it looked like it would be a week before they could get me in to get the car fixed. Once I calculated out what it would cost me to rent a car and then to get my old one fixed ( it is a '93 Toyota wagon) it was money better spent to get a new car. Sooo..... I'm not the proud owner of a new Toyota Yaris http://tinyurl.com/6r3cbd Now I'm completely broke for the rest of my life  But it needed to be, I now have a reliable car that will last for a very long time.

I'm packing up now and leaving this afternoon for the Shepherd's Harvest. Lezlie and I will be meeting up tomorrow. I have my camera packed and my knitting. I don't think I will be taking my wheel, maybe a spindle. The weather is looking sort of crappy, cold and cloudy maybe even rainy.

I wish all of our mothers a Happy Mother's day!


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Marchie, I'd have been telling them they were full of hooey -- had you noticed any trouble before? Having to top up the radiator every so often? Dash lights ("service engine soon") coming on? It's very very rare for a water pump to suddenly and inexplicably go critical with absolutely NO warning unless it's been damaged somehow - like when a careless mechanic smacks it too hard accidently and dings it somehow. Either that or it was a gasket gone out (which wouldn't have been caught by the work you describe.) What'd you do with the old car?

Anyhoo, today I must get in the garden, which precludes wool work AGAIN. I have seedlings dying for lack of real soil but it's been so swampy.....

A dear friend of ours has asked if I'd bring (at least one) a wheel and wool to camping at the end of the month. Phillip and I try to go every year for the Mem Day festival - 5 days and 4 nights of no cellphones, no noisy neighbors or car noise, no nothing but lots of good folks and nature sounds (well, a couple free concerts and drumming ). Took the Traveller last year and got a little spinning done. Told Greta that IF the weather looked less-than-soaking, I'd throw in a wheel, maybe some spindles and have a spinning 'class' for her and a couple other gals.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Falcon, The car was making a funny noise and had been for about a month. I had asked them to check it out when they did the oil change. The car is OLD and has about 250,000+ miles on it. I had just recently been putting more and more money into it and it just wasn't worth it any more. I have been looking at new cars for about 2 years so this just pushed the decision a little quicker.

I'm packed and about ready to go. Falcon you have fun camping too.


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## hoggie (Feb 11, 2007)

Congratulations Frazzlehead - what wonderful news 

Marchwind - sometimes that time just comes doesn't it - my van is on the verge of going to the great scrapyard in teh sky as well - just putting it off as long as possible.

Well - my news isn't anywhere near as exciting but it is fibre related LOL. Having struggled badly with depression all winter, and a few other problems as well that were stopping me moving forward, I gave up the day job a coupld of weeks ago. I have had a couple of weeks doing "nothing" and all of a sudden life has slowed down and I am suddenly managing to get all sorts of things done. And my evenings which for months have been spent in a sort of daze, I am suddenly finding the energy to do all sorts. And I have got out my spindle again and have been doing a little spinning each night. 

I got out all my lovely packets of fibre, and my wonderful spindle that I treated myself to and off I went. The only problem was that my mum, in an attempt to help me out, had "tidied" them. So although I can remember where some of them came from - some have been taken out of order and I can't remember  So I am really sorry if I get any of it wrong.

Anyway - I spun up the Romney that katherine (?) sent and had a great time with that. I was able to spin much it "finer" than the wool that came with my spindle. Having finished that, I thought I would try the merino that Marchwind sent (mainly because it was ready to spin, I wasn't feeling brave enough to try silk, or angora or alpaca yet, and I was in a yellow mood LOL)
That I am having problems with. It keeps breaking as soon as I try to spin, and I can't get it to join at all. So I may be putting that away again and trying something else tonight - have to see how I feel LOL

Anyway - I guess that means I can start posting again with a clear conscience as I have actually started doing something fibery again 

hoggie


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Congratulations Frazzle!! How wonderful!!

Paul & I had a separate civil and religious ceremonies also.

Lezlie - your place sounds wonderful! What area are you in?


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## Annie in MN (Oct 15, 2002)

Congratulations, Frazzle!

Yes, Lezlie, what part of IA are you in? I think I remember you said Northeast. I am only about 30 miles or so from the IA border, we could be neighbors! My spinning/knitting/fiber arts group has some members from Iowa, perhaps you could join us (depending where you are, of course). We are informal, no dues or officers, just a social group that tries to meet once a month at a member's home, or this month, a group is going to Shepherd's Harvest. I can't make it though. Waaaah! 

I hope you all have fun at Shepherd's Harvest for me!


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Aww you're all so wonderful and kind! I just love you guys.  Thanks!

My parents are coming in from BC for the wedding, as are my sister and her husband who are home from Lithuania (although my sister and her husband have many obligations while they are home, all of us staying 'nearby' makes coordinating time together that much easier). So, after the wedding the Reluctant Farmer & I will take his two kids to meet up with their mom (who has a sister who lives an hour from where the wedding is, and is quite happy to go there for a visit and to pick up the kids - everyone gets along very well so this is not 'weird' even though it probably sounds that way) then he & I will head on out for a week of rest (and knitting!). My son will go back home to the acreage with his grandparents (my mom and dad) and he will manage things back at home (with help from the grownups of course, but he is TWELVE and actually, he knows what he's doing for the most part!). Fortunately, the sheep are out on pasture (well, we'll turn them out by next week), and they don't need much looking after in the good weather we FINALLY have ... it's the eight eggs per day that someone's gotta go collect!Good thing everyone likes omelettes....

Now I just have to get my house cleaned up so that when my mother stays here for a week without me she doesn't spend the whole time throwing her hands in the air saying "my goodness, the board of health is gonna come shut us down if I don't mop in this place!" 

That, and I have to decide what projects to take with me for a week of uninterrupted peace and quiet and KNITTING time! (he did say no to the idea of taking the wheel along ... )


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## thatcompchick (Dec 29, 2004)

ROFL. You've got it BAD. Taking your fiber on your honeymoon. 

Andrea
www.arare-breed.net
www.faintinggoat.net


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## TiaD (Oct 30, 2007)

Hi ladies
haven't posted in a while since I haven't been doing anything really fiber related lately - well, other than using up odd bits of yarn and making it into a blanket one row of color at a time. I'm calling it the ugly blanket as it certainly won't be pretty, but at least it will be warm and will free up a bunch of space in my yarn storage area.

but now on to something really fun. One of my goals has been to learn to go from sheep to shawl and I'm one step closer to that goal. I already know how to get from yarn to shawl but didn't know a thing about going from critter to yarn. 

yesterday we went to visit a family we know that has a bunch of llamas. I got to help with the shearing of two of the animals. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed myself. We used a blower to get the worst of the dust off of them, then used brushes to smooth out the fibers around the barrel of the body. Then it was into the chute and we sheared them by hand using special scissors (electric shears are in next year's budget apparently). 

next time we are out, I'll get a chance to learn how to spin up the fiber and she is going to give us some to play with at home.

it's nice to be this much closer to finishing up a goal.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Tia Congratulations on your step closer to fiberdom :rock: You will love every minute of it.

Well I'm back from the Shepherd's Harvest! Just walked in the door an hour ago. I camped in an okay site, too many people for my tastes but I just wanted a place to sleep. The weather was atrocious, cold and wet but mostly cold. They had snow up a bit further north than where I live, 4", akkkk!!

Lezlie and I met up Yesterday. The woman has limitless energy. I think if I was her I would be dead on my feet. Oh yes, her DH was there too, what an interesting person he is and a very good sense of humor. He suffered along very well while Lezlie and I walked and checked out all the vendors. We were really waiting for the judging of the fleeces to be over so we could go in and touch and feel all of them and then bid on the ones we wanted. This was a silent auction so we wrote down our bid and left and then went back to check on them. The bidding ended at 3pm and Lezlie and her DH didn't want to wait that long so, we went on a quest to find another fleece for Lezlie. She had her heart and mind on long staple wool. In the end I can't remember what she ended up with we found and looked at so many nice fleeces. 

I won my bid, I was the only one to bid, on a nice Shetland. It is very pale silver and I got it for $20. There were so many fleeces that some never got bid on and many went for fairly cheap. The blue ribbon and grand champion fleeces sold for a good amount of money. Mine had a second place ribbon on it. I also found a bunny. She is a beautiful dark chocolate satin. I'm pleased. There was a nice big chestnut agoti I would have liked but I had no idea who the owner was so I couldn't even talk to them. I also bought a small Kumihimo kit from the weavers guild. It was only $5 and it is simple idiot work. I looked and was amazed that no one had any size seven DPN's longer than 7", that just amazes me. I did see some beautiful needles and other fibery tools. Lots of fleeces and fiber of every kind. There were some booths with home made ceramic buttons, very nice!

I have to say that I am glad I went but I really wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. This was my first time going and I'm not sure if I would go again. The weather was nasty but that was out of everyone's control. But it seemed pretty disorganized. I had a really hard time finding anyone who knew what was going on. Everyone I spoke to was nice enough but when I asked a question the response was, "I'm just a volunteer, I don't know anything." No one could even point me to someone who did know. The information booths were empty every time I went by them. They had paperwork on them but no one to talk to that I saw all day. If I do go again I want to go for a day only and maybe take a class.


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## Oceanrose (Mar 25, 2005)

This has been a horrible month here for many personal reasons, and personal demons I've been fighting. I live in the present and work toward the future but some months the past bothers me  Plus work has been horrendous with a new changeover so I've been working late nights helping them with paperwork and misc stuff. 

March, I can't believe we were both in the same place for 2 days and never ran into each other. We were at Shep Harvest from 11:00 - 4:00 on Saturday, and I was there today with my nephews from 10:00 - 2 or so.

This was SO huge this year I think everyone was overwhelmed. I was surprised that there were so few wheels for sale, and also how many vendors and people there were. I will agree it wasn't as well organized but the people I talked to could not fathom this many people coming. 

I did the fleece auction too. I bid on several and was shocked that I actually won virtually all of them on the first bid. Last year, it was so competitive that I got outbid on everything. I think the rain drove most of the people away. I brought home all the fleece I will be buying this year. Matter of fact, with this, and with the alpaca I have I will not be purchasing more till next spring. And I will be reselling quite a bit of it on Etsy. After I wash it and card it. 

I brought home: 

a shetland/leicester white fleece
a wensleydale/leicester colored fleece (this one is GORGEOUS!)
2 cormo fleece
2 dorset that are a silver gray/cream, gorgeous if it doesn't wash out
a mixed black and white fleece
half of a pewter gray corrie cross
a couple small icelandic fleece
a gray lincoln
and something I'm forgetting

I also collected some alpaca/silk batts from Annie and oh my goodness they're gorgeous. I didn't buy any roving except for some silk/ BFL /mohair cross.

I did ALL the shopping yesterday and today I just bummed around with the kids and let them goof off. 

I did find a place that is teaching saori style weaving and I think my mom and I are going to take a class. BF took the spinning wheel repair class today and learned some stuff. He's such a good BF, and even had fun spending the whole weekend stuffing fleece into the car.... He didn't even say anything when I explained to him I hadn't MEANT to win all the fleece at the auction. He just drove the car up :sing:

Now to just process all of this and sell enough of it to make my money back. I didn't go over budget by a ton, just a bit. Guess I'll start saving for next year... I do think next year we'll be doing a booth there if I can get it in gear over the summer/fall. I think I need to decide on 2 types of wheels to vend out, I'm tihnking Baynes and something else, we'll see. Looking for something inexpensive that is not sold in this area.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

I am irritated and don't know what to do about it.

Remember when I got my looms last August? My girlfriend asked and I told her I'd sell her the tabletop one for $125 and she gave me $11 earnest money down. It was what extra she had at that moment. At the _first of this year_, I asked her if she still wanted it. She was all huffy because I mentioned she hadn't paid anything more! I told her a couple months later I was going to put it on the market if she didn't do something SOON. They don't have much money but always enough for a bunch of _stuff_ (that I don't consider vital or even really important, but maybe I'm just being too judgemental).

Last summer the gal I got the free llama wool from said she was getting another llama and I could have the wool from that one, too (younger animal, finer fleece). A few days later, the friend (who wants the loom) crowed about how she was getting the wool - the owner had forgotten our public convo in the cafe. No biggie, just an irritant. Keep in mind this friend does NO spinning of any sort or felting - or weaving (because she never paid for the flippin' loom!).

Tonight she calls and says to come pick up this year's llama fleece at her house. I go (there ensued a little upset about my goats but that's a different story) and she brings out the cinnamon (other) fleece. Plunks it down on the trunk lid and asks how much I'll barter with her for it off the price of the loom. Got all upset when I said that I didn't know if I wanted to barter for something that was supposed to have been mine anyhow. Told her I also shouldn't be expected to accept it whole (little bit of vm, second cuts and guard hairs galore). In the end, she told me to take it home, clean/dehair it and then give her a fair price off the loom! 

*I* do all the work and still have to take the price off? Arrggghhhh. She's a good friend, but there are times she is so freakin' ...... stupid!

What to do without souring the friendship (or getting my goats evicted before I can board them at home)?


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Oi! Rough call Falcon.

she gets a bag of fiber free, does nothing to it, insists that you take it and wants you to take $ off the loom that you've held for her for a long time?

If it were me, I'd find a way to get my goats home, give her back the llama fleece and put the loom up on ebay (or here.)


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Exactly what I'd like to do, Cyndi! I want my goaties home (town doesn't allow 'farm animals' except for bunnies but a half dozen of us are already comming civil disobedience - yeah, there's a story and an organized movement underway) so need to have fence, etc. up and be moved before (the house we're moving to is still in town but can't move until it dries enough we can re-roof!).

Just talked to Phillip about it. Was too aggravated last night. He was p***ed off! Said to give the $11 back and sell the loom elsewhere - what I'd just decided to do. If she wants to put it into writing that she's either going to pay for it or barter out in acceptable goods within a certain period (thinking 30-60 days), then fine. Otherwise, I really just want it gone. 

Problem is, of course, that her ideas of how this has all happened and what is acceptable differs widely from everyone else's. But she's the one who also believes in "survival of the fittest' in her animals - as in they are allowed to roam with no restraints and if the coyotes or the highway get 'em, well, they 'weren't meant to live' (don't know how many dozens of chickens she's gone through in the last three years), her goats are being 'too picky' when they won't eat moldy hay (wouldn't tarp it properly this fall and it stayed wet all winter) and cracked corn thrown on the ground is perfectly fine for goat grain. 

Don't want to lose the friendship but this just irritates me to no end!

(To reiterate, she's _not_ a bad person....our ideas on some things just vary so widely it's a wonder we ever agree on anything sometimes!)


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## Katherine in KY (May 11, 2002)

Falcon, your goats are with this lady? You need to get them home! Sounds to me like you've made the right decision; give the money back, sell the loom elsewhere. What a pain!
Oceanrose, I'm counting something like a dozen fleeces you bought--wow, you really have your work cut out for you! You think the weather may have contributed to slower sales, but I think the high price of everything essential is really going to cut into "hobby purchases". Unless of course you're an addict--the fix comes before all else  Still, I envy you people who live where people know and want real fibery things.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Falcon what a ordeal. After reading this I'm wondering what is so special about this friendship that you are so wanting to salvage it? She doesn't sound like she has anyone's interest in mind other than her own end goals. I agree with Cyndi and your DH give her back her money, the fleece (that was supposed to be yours anyway) and put the loom up for sale. Then I would sit back and have a good long, hard look at this friendship. The older I get the more discriminating I find I need to be. I personally don't have the time and energy to put into a friendship to have it come back and bite me in the rear when I'm trying to help someone out. I'm sorry you have to go through this, it's always painful when you get to one of these points in a friendship.

Good luck! Hugs coming your way.

Heather I'm sorry we never met up. I was able to find Lezlie pretty easily right off the bat. She sure does describe herself well. I wish you would have posted a spot to meet up. Oh well! I kept hearing people talking about how big it was this year. The women running the auction were saying that the number of fleeces this year compared to years past was more than double. I too was surprised at the lack of wheels for sale. I was also surprised at the lack of known vendors. There were none of the big names there, no Yarn Barn, no Rovings, No Woodland Wool Works. Even when we had out little retreat up here we attracted some pretty big names in the fiber world. Babe's Fiber Garden wasn't even there, and he is usually at most of these things.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Marchwind said:


> Babe's Fiber Garden wasn't even there, and he is usually at most of these things.


Nels wasn't at the Cedarville fiber fest last month either. He's _always_ there. I pray he isn't having health problems

Heather - you really scored big! Now the work is on!


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

well I hope the sedalia meet is better, last year it was pretty small, organisers claimed it was due to gas prices, I hope not this year as well....

dh has said I should get a room instead of driving back and forth for the 3 days, i still think driving would be cheaper, I hate hotel rooms.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Found my camera ....

The small loom I was talking about before ...


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)




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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

And a shuttle Paul made me for Mother's Day


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

It _seems_ as if we're in for a few days of dry, so I hope to get some wool washed up! If I try to dry it inside, the cats roll ecstatically in the fibery goodness, so it needs to go outside . 

First fleece on the list to be washed? Not one of last season's (stored in an unheated bedroom).......rather, the silvery fleece I bought last month. It's a ram fleece and a bit more .... _sheepy_ than the others. Not bad, mind you, but a sharper smell to the lanolin which is interfering with the more mellow scents of the others (and hindering my passive enjoyment of sheep-smell).

Guess this also means I need to sort through the stash before any more follows me home, huh. I mean, the Nat Color Sheep & Wool Fest in Sedalia is in a couple weeks - and I'll be gone all the end of next week so won't have the chance then. What if some of theose fleece insist on jumping in the car with me?  How will I be able to be strong enough to tell them "no"?

Oh, the perils of fiber addiction!


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Ok, well, no fleece has been washed yet. Been too busy trying to get garden tilled and plants in while Nature has the waterworks temporarily turned off. Today's supposed to be hotter-than-you-know-what, so that bodes well for clean wool .

Just realized how much I needed to get done before Wed night (camping commences first thing Thurs morn) and loading up the wheel to take. All the regular bobbins are full and need to be paired off, plied and cleared, fiber prepared (will take some raw, some washed and carded). Not taking a whole bunch, mind you. Oh, and wanted to put together a handful of spindles just for a lark to see if there were any potential Devotees of Fiber to be found .



Ps. Marchie, who is the new user who posted in the Festival (opqr something) thread? Makes me highly nervous to see a covert url automatically in the message line (smacks of bad juju).

(Nvm, caught Angie and she took care of the miscreant.)


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Falcon I don't know what you are talking about :shrug: But if Anfffgie took care of it that is a good thing. If you guys see something that bothers you please feel free to send me a link in a PM or post the link in here or something. I have to admit, I do not always read all the threads. Especially if they are things that have nothing to do with me or my life ( that sounds bad doesn't it. I don't mean it that way).

Thanks Angie!!!

Cyndi that is a beautiful little shuttle. I have taken to collecting small shuttles like that. I just love the feel of the smooth wwood in my hand.

Falcon have fun camping. I hope the weather holds out for you and it doesn't get too hot.

I planted peas last week and this week I'll be planting lettuces and working on my bigger garden.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

I'm rapidly losing what little mind I have left, I tell you!

Took two laundry bags out to sort wool into for washing (too hot to garden right now but perfect for wool drying). Thought I'd be venturesome and work two fleeces at once - it gets boring in the boonies . Filled the first loosely with Lincolnwool, brought it in to the washer which was waiting full of hot water. Went through the other fleeces, trying to decide which to wash up a bit of first, decided on some Shetland I had tucked away for a good contrast of colors, and went outside to the table to sort --- but the other mesh bag has vanished!!! 

I have retraced my steps three times throughout the house and backyard, and it is nowhere to be found! Now, it's bad enough that two of those bags have gone missing over the winter. (They have string closings, and I have an inside cat who is string-insane. I think she's drug them away somewhere to indulge in her fetish secretly. And no, she hasn't claimed this one; I left it outside on the table!)

Guess it's one partial fleece at a time after all. Annoying.


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

Wow, it's so nice to be at home again after so many days on the road!:banana02: I was jealous of all of you doing fibery things while I was driving behind a big yellow truck all day, sweaty palmed and gnashing my teeth. My son and his GF are here for a while, so the house is a little crowded. She wants me to knit her a pair of green socks, so we have begun designing the yarn and preparing the fibers. I washed wool the day we got home, as it was 101 degrees here. Here we were caught in a blizzard just 2 weeks ago with 400 miles of Interstate shut down, and now we're miserably baking hot and dry as a bone...We missed Spring completely here at home.

At the Shepherds Harvest Festival in MN I bought 4 pounds of a fleece and 4 oz of black angora wool. The fleece is 3/4 BF Leicester, 1/8 Romney and 1/8 Suffolk. It's not a whole fleece, I don't think. It's *very* clean for an uncovered fleece. The wool hangs in long, curly ringlets and it is very lustrous. Very soft. I washed most of it up, and have dyed a portion of it a beautiful cornflower blue, to be blended with a deeper cornflower blue nylon, white angora, white glitz, and blue sari silk. So I have lots of carding/blending to do for this yarn. It's for socks, of course. 

I joined a sock-a-month knit-along online club, and am working on my pair for May. http://sockamonthkal5.blogspot.com/2007/12/test-post.html. They give out prizes that people donate. I have to post a photo of my finished socks to prove I did them for the month. I'm on the foot portion right now, with just the toe and grafting to go. Knitting was the only fibery thing I could do on the trip. Now, before I have to go to L.A., I'm cramming in other fibery things. 

I'll post photos of fibery things when I get a chance to take some. 

For those of you curious about where we're moving to in Iowa, the place we are trying to buy is 3 miles from Luana, Iowa. That's about 20 miles West of the Mississippi River, and about 30 miles South of the MN border, I think. I'll post photos when the sale is official. Until then I am an anxiety-ridden mess, just hanging in there. I'm a non-practicing Buddhist of many years, and I've never prayed so much in my life, as I have done in the last 3 weeks during sleepless nights. I sure hope the second half of 2008 isn't as stressful as the first half has been.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Lezlie I'm glad to hear you are save in one place or the other. Are you in Iowa right now or back in Calf.? I'm assuming you are in Calf. with the 101 temps. I know This part of the world can get that hot and usually does but not until much later in the summer.

That fleece sounds nice, and the colors sound to dye for (yes, pun is intended <groan>)

Hopefully you will be settled soon in your farm house. And then you can enjoy the shade of some wonderful old tree as you work on your fibery things.

Falcon don't you just hate it when you do that sort of thing? I mis placed my cell phone last night so I had to have my son use the land line and call my cell so I could find it  Isn't Ginko Boloba (sp) supposed to help with memory stuff?


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

LezlieinCA said:


> . I washed most of it up, and have dyed a portion of it a beautiful cornflower blue, to be blended with a deeper cornflower blue nylon, white angora, white glitz, and blue sari silk.


That sounds simply wonderful!! I love cornflower blue!!



> For those of you curious about where we're moving to in Iowa, the place we are trying to buy is 3 miles from Luana, Iowa.


Just west of Praire Du Chien WI. Beautiful area!! Back in the 80's I did a lot of motorcycle riding up in that area. There is a forest preserve in that area, Yellow River, I'm thinking?? Has some effigie mounds there. 

Glad you're back home safe and sound though!


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Lezlie, you _are_ going to provide us with poics of that lovely color, right? And then pics of the finished product?

I cannot imagine picking up household and moving states away (well, actually I can, but it's been _years_ ago). I'm stressed over moving three blocks away - you're gadzillion times stronger than I am!

Marchie, I eventually found the other mesh bag.....in the washer with the one full of wool. Have no idea how it happened since I _know_ I left one on the table to fetch another fleece. Yeah, ginko is supposed to help but I don't want to be responsible for putting the poor tree on the endangered list!


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

FalconDance said:


> Yeah, ginko is supposed to help but I don't want to be responsible for putting the poor tree on the endangered list!


I tried taking Ginko a few years ago to help with memory .... can't tell you how well it worked because I kept forgetting to take it.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

MullersLaneFarm said:


> I tried taking Ginko a few years ago to help with memory .... can't tell you how well it worked because I kept forgetting to take it.


:rotfl:

I need my head examined - I'm talking with a gal on buying a Romney/Cotswold fleece. Like I don't have enough and then more than enough right now!

Here is my fine "wool watch cat", Agrotera:








I wish I could have caught her asleep - she was stretched out covering both baskets of skeins!


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

What a beautiful cat!

I know what you mean about taking on another fleece.

I finally gave a full Cheviot X fleece to Cloverbud a couple weeks back since I had it for 2-3 years and hadn't done a thing with it.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Flacon I think the Ginko can hold it's own. From what I have seen it's a very prolific tree. Cyndi don't I know about forgetting to take meds  And all the things you are supposed to use to remind you I forget to put into action anyway.

Beautiful wool watch cat. How do you keep her from burrowing into the yarn or kneading it to death?


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

She's a purr-er not a kneader . She 'sings' it into submission and comfort.

Her daughter, 'Zilla is only about 3 months old and hasn't figured out that the fleece is already 'dead'. She sneaks off with rolags for later wool carnage - and has been severely reprimanded many times! Apparently I'm not supposed to notice a black cat carrying a mouthful of white wool .


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

Your wool watch cat is cool... I LOVE cats!

Here is a pic of the cornflower blue BFL wool and blending fibers. Blue and white nylon, blue sari silk in assorted shades, white angora, and white glitz. 










Here is a pic of the raw wool and the washed wool before dyeing. 









I spent today reading a book about Postville, IA, so got little fibery things done, just cut up the silk and mixed it and cleaned off the carder drums. My cat brought me a baby Brown Bird from the Backyard Brown Birds (they are big brown birds and I don't know their name), who spent most of the day scolding my cat and showing great concern for the baby which I rescued and put back out in the bushes for them to claim. The baby had jumped out of the nest on his own, I think, as he would jump anytime I put him up in a higher branch on the fence where the parents hopped. I was mad at Missy, as I don't have time for nursing baby birds right now. I don't know what these birds eat, bugs or seeds...


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Lezlie, last time you did a sari silk blend I remember you having trouble with the dye bleeding out - are you going to do something with this batch that will prevent that?

Lovely kitty, what does Agrotera mean? I'm not getting any more cats since I've yet to have one content to stay in. Maybe later when I'm old and living in an apt. or condo and not going out the door every 5 min.

Bob takes Co Q10 for his memory - it improves blood flow, so recommended for heart issues too.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

In one of my meandering research jaunts years ago, I found the name Agrotera as a _really_ old alternative name for Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt. Then I was reading the Meredith Gentry ('paranormal' "romance" - lately it's been more like soft porn, neither of which are my normal reading fare) books, and the author had used it as a surname for one of her characters! It means "Dark Huntress", and my Agro certainly thinks she's a panther of the Highest Order. When she was small enough to fit on my desk, she would 'help' me game on the computer by swatting the bad guys as I tried to play.

Now, of course, her hunting is limited to finding a comfy spot for a cat nap.

Used my mini combs last night on some of the Lincoln, tried to blend it with a bit of Shetland. It was amazing how the Lincoln went from a compact bit of tight curls to a huge POOF of fiber ! The blending didn't work very well - ended up bending a few teeth on the combs slightly, so I decided I'd just stick to carders. If anyone has any tips on how to avoid that, I'd be highly interested.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Falcon, the only thing I would recommend is loading the combs with less fiber.

As for your Lincoln/Shetland work .....


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Amount of white Lincoln that created the poofball below it. Shetland to the right and the blended below it. The blend is a bit lighter in person.

(I had to find the blended - it had been kitten-naped by 'Zilla.)


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

Wow, I carded up the blue fibers yesterday and finished today and have spun up the first batt. It's to die for!:happy: I'll post pics when I get it plyed this afternoon. The various shades of blue in it are gorgeous! I just love the process of designing a yarn so much!

I carded the fibers four times. First the wool alone, then I divied out the other fibers amongst the nine batts. Then I carded in the other fibers, and then I divided the batts in thirds and made nine new piles, all mixed up. Then I carded the nine piles of strips of batts. Talk about fluffing up! My goodness it fluffed up and wound up in every crevice of the carder! Next, this morning, I carded the mixed batts a fourth time for full blending. This is the first time I've worked with a longwool fleece. I like it! It's not too hard to spin up, either, at first I had a little trouble drafting with the various lengths of fibers in the blend. I just made my drafting triangle longer, and am doing a modified long draw, I think it is.

Liese, I'm just going to wash the finished yarn and socks in cold water from now on. It was hot water that made the Indian sari silk dyes bleed. And red/pink is always the worst at running. At least the dyed wool is completely free of lanolin, so no need for more hot water.

I made a tomato yarn, too before the trip to Iowa. Tomato wool with red sari silk. A plainer yarn, but I just love the color of the reds. Boy, I'm going to have colorful socks for next winter!


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## ozarkcat (Sep 8, 2004)

Well, the month's 2/3 gone and I can finally post what I'm working on again - had a bit of a break for the last couple weeks with finals, and then about a week of catching everything else back up.

Went to the local fiber & yarn store - their prices are pretty high compared to what I can find online, even with shipping figured in. However, they did have some very nice bamboo (white) that I'm going to get to play with in another couple weeks. DH picked up some grey & some white linen yarn that he wants to make a linsey woolsey shawl out of - linen for the warp & handspun wool for the weft. I've got some light grey Shetland that should work with it, so that's my next spinning project after I get the white Shetland off my wheel. Don't know what I'm going to do with the white bamboo - maybe make myself a lightweight top or some socks for DH.

Has anyone tried kool-aid dying plant fibers using a mordant? I'd rather be able to hand-paint the bamboo roving, but mainly have kool-aid at home at the moment.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Ozarkcat I'm not dye expert but I believe that acid dyes and other dyes for protein fibers will NOT work on cellulose fibers. I think you have to use a whole different kind of dyeing for plant fibers.


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Marchie's right, Cat. Acid dyes are for animal fibers. Rit dye works well for bast fibers if you're looking for pre-prepared. (Brain is still caffeine-starved or I'd throw a couple links your way......give me a bit.)


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

Here is a closeup of the cornflower blue yarn and batts.









Here are some of the piles of fibers as I divied them up in 9 parts. 









Oh, and some of you have wondered why we can now only post two pics and smilies in one post, and some of you prolly have lots of problems with the forum when trying to view or make posts, like I do all the time, well, it's because HT is hosted on a cheap $10 a month server. We pay a good deal more than that for our server plus professional management for it, and it's a real good one. Cheap servers come with lots of limitations and problems. So now you know.


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

This is the tomato yarn. It's just red sari silks blended with Liese's Precious' wool. No angora or glitz or nylon.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Gorgeous Lezlie! I love that blue!


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Of course I like them both but have to be partial to the Tomato. That's a nice red.

Today I started getting the warp ready to dress the big loom. And dyed about a pound of dorset for sock yarns - an 8 oz group is an Underwater theme and the other is a Dianthus theme. I will post pictures tomorrow, right now I'm drinking a glass of wine and not interested in the intricacies of posting a picture.

Did I tell you all that I've got a bag of wool out on the front porch confiscated by a Carolina Wren? Yup, she made a nest in there with 3 tiny eggs. Sometimes one of the hens gets up there and I have to **** her away otherwise I can watch her comings and goings from the 'puter desk - don't hear any peeping yet tho.


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

I like the red, too, but I like both yarns. Red is my color, but the blue makes me swoon. I had so much more fancy stuff to add available with the blue. The photo of the tomato yarn does not do it justice. It is a plainer yarn, but has much depth to it, because of the various shades of red silk in it. It must have two ounces of silk in it, there was a lot of red silk in the bag of mixed colors I got direct from India. In total there is 7.5 oz of fiber, and that is 27% silk, rounded off. 

The cornflower yarn, is 7% white glitz, 7% nylon, 3% angora, 7% silk, and 73% wool. All numbers have been rounded off, so don't add up to 100% exactly. I tell DH how many oz or parts thereof I used, and he tells me percentages. I can't do this percentage-from-weights math but DH does it easily and it mystifies me...

I have a 20 yr old back injury from a bad car accident in which I dislocated 5 ribs from my spinal column and permanently fractured all the ribs/cartilage around my sternum, so I can only sit at the spinning wheel for so long each day before I am in in pain. I get a few hours in and that's it. I can't use a vacuum cleaner without repraisal, either. I'm limited in what I can do. Doing something artistic like designing a yarn is something I can do and gives me great satisfaction.


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Lezlie, you have mentioned about the batts really fluffing up - what kind of carder and carder cloth are you using? I'm not really getting that kind of puffing up after carding and yet I usually run the batts thru 3x's in various configurations.


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

I have an old Patrick Green Deluxe carder from 1988. I bought it in partners with a GF back then, Leslie F. I bought her share out later. We bought it from the famous spinning author, Diane Varney, of Albany, CA. She wrote her book, then took her money to Tibet and went on a trek for 6 months, then came home and sold off her spinning equipment and quit the hobby/biz. We went to her house, and she was going to take our money and send us on our (3 hrs one way) way, but we parked our butts in her living room and refused to leave without tea and conversation. She was not happy. The carder has the fur drum on it. That is the best carding cloth you can buy, I think. Very fine. I can get 1.5 oz of fiber on each drumload, exactly. 









Here is a batt and a skein on it. For reference, the rockwool hydroponic cube you can see is 4 inches square.


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Here's mine but I think the drum is coarser cloth, maybe I should see about getting a different drum - any thoughts?


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I have a fur drum on my PG carder and get very fluffy batts also.

This is a pile of 4 batts:


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## ozarkcat (Sep 8, 2004)

Well, I'll be different - I really liked the blue! But I'm rather partial to the cool tones


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## Ana Bluebird (Dec 8, 2002)

Our knitting/sewing group is ready to dedicate 51 chemo hats (for cancer patients) this Sunday. Let me see if I can get a picture. What a wonderful response from a wonder group of folks!


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Ana that is a lot of hats. Congratulations to your group for their efforts. I'm sure they will be much appreciated.,

You drum carder girls are something else. Cyndi I didn't see a picture of your carder, just the batts or is that what the point was? Nice work ladies. My computer that has all my photos on it and the one I used to post pictures I think is terminal :Bawling: I'll figure pictures out on this other computer and try to post some of my carder and the batts I can make. Do all three of you have the PG?


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

I only posted the fluffy batts. 

My PG is the Deb's Deluxe. Looks just like Lezlie's only a 9.5" wood wheel pulley thingee on back side instead of a 7". 

Wow Ana! That's a LOT of hats. What wonderful work you all do.

Lezlie - I was going to ask you something, and now I've forgotten..dang mental-pause.

Your back injury sounds very painful. I have a couple ruptured discs in my lower back (S1 & S2) and I finally gave up my veggie garden. Thankfully, there is CloverBud & Pony! who are putting extra in their garden and I'll tote my pressure canner and water bath canner to Clover's place when the harvest is in.

Way to go parking your butt at Diane V's place - that's Hutzpah (or however you spell it)
.
.
.
.
.

still can't remember what I wanted to ask you ....


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## Cloverbud (Sep 4, 2006)

I've decided to enter my yarn in the county fair. I don't recall seeing any handspun last year, so even if the judges don't like my beginner's efforts, I'll still have a chance a a purty ribbon.

I'm thinking the heathery corriedale.










What do you ladies think? It hasn't been washed or thwacked yet. I'm planning on a nice day so I can thwack outside.


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Here are my batts of Dorset to be sock yarn, 7 batts = 11" high after 2nd pass. Since it has taken me three hours to card to this point I think I'm moving on to spinning. Any suggestions for speeding this up gladly accepted!










The first of 2 blankets when they were on the loom, now both are hemmed/wet finished and one being sent off to the new grandbaby for whom it was commissioned.


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Cloverbud, if you want a really bloomy finish on that yarn you might look into Judith MacKenzie's method of hot/cold followed by a couple good thwacks. I think there is a good explanation on the Spinning Spider's blog http://spinningspiderjenny.blogspot.com/2007/06/plain-vanilla-two-plying-and-balanced.html 
this is my funny link, then I nav around - too lazy to redo.


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## Katherine in KY (May 11, 2002)

Liese, another impressive piece of weaving--wow, it's amazing how fast you've progressed. I haven't woven an inch on my rugs in weeks. I think my weaving days are about over.

Re drumcarders: I have the Strauch Finest and get fluffy batts. The time spent, though, is not in the carding; it's in the prep that goes before the carding.

Summer seems finally to have come here. I've been spending my days in the garden trying to get everything planted and mulched. It seems like I'll be away a lot this summer, so I'm laying soaker hoses everywhere and trying to minimize what DH has to do. Next week I go to my parents' for a couple of weeks and plant what will probably be their last vegetable garden--it's getting too much for my dad to do minimal maintenance and even harvest the stuff. I have some Finnsheep fleece waiting for me there, so I'm really looking forward to getting there with my wheel.


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

Liese, I stacked 6 batts of pure Precious' wool on the table, they have gone thru the carder once. They measured 12.5 inches tall. They look like your batts, but are fluffier, and will get even more fluffy when blended and carded 3 more times. How much do your batts weigh each? I fill my drum full and get 1.5 ounce batts pretty consistently. A skein of mine usually weighs about 3 ounces, if spun on my Norwegian wheel's smaller bobbins. 

I notice your carder's intake drum may have different cloth on it than my older one. Mine will need to be reclothed at some point here, the fabric is getting brittle. My fur cloth is a lot finer than the cloth on your carder, from the photo. Do you know what kind of cloth your drum has on it? How new/old is your machine? Is it the same as my model, the Deluxe?

From what I understand about carders is that you can always card coarse wool on finer cloth, but you can't card finer wool on coarser cloth. I don't know if that is totally true or not, and I don't remember where I got that knowledge. At one time I had thought about getting a coarser drum, but have never really needed it. The fur cloth is finer than the merino-clothed drum PG offers, or used to, but in my mind it'd be like dumbing down the carder to use it over the fur cloth on fine wool like Precious', for instance. Maybe the curly BFL wool is inherently fluffier than the crimpy corrie.

Maybe you should call Paula Simmons and talk to her about this, she is supposed to be the carding expert. Her ads say she likes to chat, but when I called her a month ago she was short and brief and didn't encourage chatting with me. Of course it was her nickel, not mine, and purchasing a drum is more $ profit for her than a simple driveband. 

My batts also puff up sideways, too, not just top to bottom. They grow in size as they sit in a pile waiting to be spun up. Carding and blending the blue fibers took me the entire day, with a few breaks. Very slow work. I had dismantled the carder completely and dug snagged wool out of every joint and cranny, and that blue stuff got so out-of-hand fluffy now the carder has it in all it's joints again!

And Leah Mae's blanket is gorgeous! Thanks for posting the pics so I could see part of it! I love bright colors. I'll forward the washing instructions to my daughter, too. Thank you so much for making it for me!

I'll know later today for sure, but it looks like I'll be going to L.A. on Wednesday next week for a few days. I may get to visit the fiber store there again. So I will have plenty of time to spin between now and then, and I'll be able to get a lot of knitting in on the 8 hr drive down boring old I-5... I'm going to ask all of you to cross your fingers for me later next week, as this trip will determine where I live in Iowa, and rented or bought. If it works out for the best, I'll be posting pics of a farmhouse for you all to see, and I'll be able to sleep again. It's what I've been praying about so much this last month. If it doesn't work out, well, someone will have to scrape the pieces of me up off the floor. I'll be a worse mess. I have too much time on my hands, and my mind is running away with me...


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Just a reminder - today is the last day to sign up for the Fiber Swap!!

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=250750


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## Annie in MN (Oct 15, 2002)

I sheared the herd yesterday with help from my sister and BIL. Everybody is done, what a relief. Now there's the skirting and washing and playing!

I've been doing some carding too.










I felted a beret for a friend, and now I have an order for six more. He has a couple of friends that collect them, and one wants to give them as Christmas gifts. Woohoo!


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

Back from camping. My brain is definitely still at the retreat - it rained on us more often than not (kind of a tradition, actually) but had a BLAST! Took a few drop spindles, a bunch of roving and yarn. Sold all but one spindle, most of the roving (all but the cotton/ramie blends) and a skein. I've been asked by several folks to bring more (as in, lots more) next year .

Really really tired so going to pop in a few forums and then call it an evening. Flwr, sent you a pm about the swap.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Annie OMG you have been busy! That photo looks almost good enough to frame and hang on the walls. Just beautiful, it helps that most of those batts are in my favorite colors. Pretty, pretty!!!!

Falcon how lucky you are. Isn't it nice to have a group of friend to do retreats with? Did you take an pictures?


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Annie, I went to your blog to see if you'd put about a blow by blow of that beret making, didn't see anything but pictures of great looking berets. Can you post a link to where you learnt to do this? I don't have any 'paca fiber but I understand Jacob felts pretty well.

By the way, just to edge back into the carder topic- I checked into getting a fine/fur drum and one shop charges $195+ship. Think I'll just do a couple more passes when necessary. Like Lezlie, the batts weigh in at 125 gm but are a wee bit more compact. Maybe because I strip the batt into a long exaggerated, many legged Z I don't have any trouble spinning a supported long draw from the wool so I guess the fiber is prepared enough.

Thanks for all the compliments on the weaving - anything looks good from a couple feet away you know! The blankie for Leah Mae has 6" squares rather than the 2" wide rectangles which makes for a completely different look - more folksy to me. I have a picture of the rectangular checked blanket after wet finishing on my blog.

Have a great day everyone!


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## FalconDance (Feb 4, 2007)

No pics, Marchie. We all meant to take them this year, but everyone forgot their cameras! It's a 168 acre retreat, and Phillip and I have been going to this particular festival (most of the year it's "just" a nature retreat - a few times in the summer, there's an 'event' weekend) for nearing a decade and the same eight or so individuals/families have camped in the same area by the lake now (out of about 1000 who camp elsewhere on the grounds), our very own community within a community within a community of sorts. Attendance was only about 750 this year; we think gas prices and stormy weather kept a lot of folks home.

I was pleasantly surprised to find several spinners....... and taught one gal how to use a drop spindle so that eventually she'll spin her own lace weight yarn for a shawl. The fiber stuff was a super bonus since we go to enjoy the woods and seeing folks we don't normally get to see very often (some of them, only once a year!).


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## jerzeygurl (Jan 21, 2005)

I ended up getting the patrick green deb with fur cloth and love it, the batts puff up to a foot by 2 foot and a bout 4 inches deep....and i also zig zag them into rovings to spin, soft and lovely easy drafting.....

dd and I are going to enter a few things in the fiber fest in sedalia, eh why not....

garden was hard as a rock from no rain,, now its a mud pit.....we are running out of room and had to till some other spots.....

got 42 eggs yesterday, bout time the girls kicked into high gear....


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## frazzlehead (Aug 23, 2005)

Hi everyone!

We had a lovely wedding.  It was very simple and it was exactly what I hoped for. I'll have updates on the blog but not until after Achievement Day which is on Monday! Yes, I planned my wedding to fit in the space between the end of lambing and 4-H Achievement Day ... I'm a 4-H mom and a shepherd, what can I say?

I got a bunch of knitting done on my shawl (yes, I took knitting on my honeymoon) and we did nothing at all for a week (shawl knitting in garter stitch counts as 'nothing', believe me). It was weird not having a ton of things to do but we slept lots, soaked in the hot tub, swam in the pool, ate, drank up a bunch of the excess alcohol from the wedding party and had a nice time away!

It's time for fencing, gate building and outside infrastructure work so I'll not be around as much but I did want to stop in and say hi. 

Hi!


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

Congratulations on the wedding and I'm glad you had a week of rest and relaxation too!

Nasty Fiber Moth season has arrived on the Left Coast!! I have been seeing them around the house the last 3 days! I had a bag of angora laying out in the bedroom and went to put it in the cedar chest and found 2 moths laying eggs in it! Eee Gads! I killed them, looked for eggs, put in moth crystals, put it in the chest, and promptly panicked over all the raw wool I have in new hefty lawn bags that aren't sealed tightly. I'm washing all raw wool to kill any eggs, and then will bag them with moth balls in them. We also get every kind of grain moth in the world, too. One less thing to worry about in Iowa, I hear.

Memorial Weekend was cloudy, chilly, and yucky here. Yesterday I washed up two fleeces and dried them in the returning sunshine. I had a dark gray ewe fleece, and a charcoal lamb fleece, and darned if Stan didn't move the bags around the house and I got them confused! I think I can tell them apart now, but it really threw me, they look so similar except for weight.

Today I'm going to wash a dorset-corrie "3 yo lamb fleece", is how the shepherd described it. I divied it up into 2 shades of light gray. Then all my current fleeces are washed and will be moth-proofed.

Out of curiosity I opened up my container of cochineal bugs to see what they look like. They are pale silver pink dried up scale bugs from cactus plants in Mexico. I have a small hand-cranked antique coffee mill that I'm going to use to grind them up, because you don't want to blow the dust around from grinding them up like an electric spice grinder would do. But I don't have time for them right now. How the silver-pink bugs make such a deep red dye, I don't know!

On Ebay 4 days ago I won an auction for a whole pound of soysilk/cashmere blend roving. Got it for $16.45 from Canada, altho postage was a bit high. I am going to use some of it to make a very special thank you scarf for a relative who has been very kind and generous to us during our hard times these last few months. I haven't spun with cashmere or camel in a long time! I'm excited to see it when it arrives! The scarf pattern is in an article from a 1989 Spin Off magazine about cashmere and silk. I "stalked" this auction for 3 days... figured bidding would be slow due to the Holiday. I love lurking on Ebay, especially around holidays when bidders are scarcer. If an auction closes at 2am, I stay up and win it. Ahh, the attraction of the hunt...

Yesterday I finished and photographed my raspberry socks for the SAM5 group. That's the Sock a Month knit-along group. We are going to L.A. next week so I'll start my tomato socks for June on the trip.

Don't know what else I'll do to keep busy today...


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## Annie in MN (Oct 15, 2002)

Liese, I found the instructions in a book, not online, I'm afraid. The book is "Felting by Hand" by Anne Vickrey. This book is how I learned to felt way back when. If others are interested in a blow by blow tutorial, I could do that. It is pretty easy. 

Congratulations, Frazzlehead!


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## thatcompchick (Dec 29, 2004)

Annie, does that book have felting patterns, or how to make sheets of felt? My mom has really gotten into felting her knitted creations - wondering if this would be good for her.

Also, anyone know any good resources on prepping camel???

We're under tornado watch and have hail coming down - just been messy, so I've been spinning all day! This is from Somerhill (Lisa)'s Blue Faced Leicester Roving and my Black Welsh hoegget roving - (2 BFL to 1 BWM) - is bulky spun










This goes in my 'for sale' tub for market (which is full now! got to figure out how much I've been spinning the last month!)

Andrea
www.arare-breed.net
www.faintinggoat.net


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## Liese (Dec 12, 2005)

Anne, a blow by blow tutorial is pretty time intensive - could you just feature a few highlights assuming we either know or get instructions on standard wet felting?

We are planning to shear Lashes tomorrow - gotta get a pen set up.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I have that book too Annie! It's a great book and probably one of the first written on wet felting. Yes there are a few projects in the book. I'm not even sure this book is still in print. If you can't find the book let me know and I can make a copy of the beret pattern and send it out. I think she has also made a video or two and they are put out by Victorian Video I believe.

Frazzle can't wait to see the pictures. I'm glad you two had such a nice relaxing time together, that is what it is supposed to be like. I assume the kids both human and four legged type survived well.

Andrea we have a bunch of tornado warnings right now to. Not up here, yet but just south, hail and severe t-storms. They have seen tornadoes but nothing touched down yet. These are all in the same general area as the really bad ones last weekend. Stay safe.


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## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

The new FAC is up for June after today please post there. Here is the link http://homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?p=3115692#post3115692


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

frazzlehead said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> We had a lovely wedding.  It was very simple and it was exactly what I hoped for. I'll have updates on the blog but not until after Achievement Day which is on Monday!
> Hi!


Hi back at cha!

Let us know when you've posted the pics on your blog!

Andrea, that is a wonderful color combo! I got some of Lisa's wisteria, carded it equal parts with colonial blue & white merino, then sandwiched some grey BFL in between, but shhhhh - it's going to Heather (OceanRose) for the fiber exchange.


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