December: The Month of More, Part 2

December also features a couple of notable fiber-oriented gatherings for me.

First is Christmas On The Farm - a cozy group of vendors who kick off the holiday craft festival season at Stone Edge Fibers in Phelps, NY.  Fibergoddess Amy (and DH Fred) clear their garage to make a lovely venue for herself and five other vendors to offer goods to early Christmas shoppers. 

I made up more beginner drop spindle kits and packaged some yummy alpaca/silk, camel/silk and dyed waste silk roving.

Besides Amy's and my fiber and yarn (and Andy's fiber tools and 'gift items' like cutting boards), there are vendors with amazing soap and lotions, jewelry, turned wooden bowls, holiday decorations and jams.

 

Don't you love this sweater? I asked the lady if she had made it.  She did not, but I think it could be done reasonably simply by embroidering those flowers on a plain sweater with yarn.  Done by someone... probably not me.  Sigh.

Also at this event was a Guiding Eyes pup in training and an information booth about the organization which was selling baked goods and hot cider as a fundraiser. 

This is Vanguard.  He's actually a 'loner' pup from another family as a female pup in his household was coming into heat and the policy is to remove males from that distraction until it passes.  He was a very good boy and worked very hard at ignoring people and tempting items on the floor during his lessons and concentrated only on his handler.

But don't worry, he eventually went off duty and we all got to pet him and he had a good nap too.

The other fun gathering was my spinning guild's December meeting.  It features Christmas cookies and a 'secret Santa' style fiber gift exchange.  Participation is not mandatory but many people choose to join in. 

The cookie table (more came in later, too).

Look at these!  Almost too cute to eat!  (Almost).

And the table of gifts was full to overflowing.  Anne Marie presided over the drawing of names and gift choosing.

My name came up second!  I took one look at the box with this little guy on top and grabbed him up.  It's Dominic the Donkey!!

Alas, I didn't get to keep him very long as 'stealing' was allowed during the course of the gift game and he changed hands many times.

It's been such a busy month I didn't get a chance to give the crazy guild challenge roving much thought but I figured I better jump in and decide how to handle it.  I laid it out and stewed on the colors a while.  I could make them harmonize fairly well except for that white - it stuck out like a sore thumb to me.  I finally settled on laying them out in a dark/light/dark/light sequence and hoped it was random enough that the white would be spread out and quieted down when the finished yarn was eventually plied back on itself.

I started from the left, rolling the roving like a cinnamon bun and adding each length of roving in turn as I had laid it out.  I also sprinkled some Forest Blaze angelina on the roving as I rolled it up.  In for a penny, in for a pound.  It ended up looking rather appealing and I was eager to spin it.

I had to spin it a little chunkier than I had wanted.  Since the fiber came from lots of different sources the preparation varied a lot.  Some colors spun easily, some seemed to have been around the block a few times and were almost felted and didn't draft well.  All in all, it didn't turn out too badly.

Next was plying.  And measuring.  The plying went well in that the colors blended quite nicely and the only color that matched up to itself in one place was the white.  Wouldn't you know.  Happily it was only a few yards.  Then I measured it.  Ninety-nine yards.  In the immortal words of Scooby Doo... "Ruuh-rooh!"  The pattern we're to use calls for a minimum of over 200 yards.  It's adjustable in that you can make it shorter or narrower but I have a sneaking suspicion that to avoid looking like a choker I'm going to need more yarn.  At this point I turn to the vast stash of handspun samples I have from roving colors that are long gone.  I'm thinking I can alternate a few rows of the challenge yarn with something from the stash to stretch the total yardage.

I hemmed and hawed and held everything to the light of day and finally decided on using the mocha (moorit) in the middle.  At least, that's the thought right now.  I know I don't have time to get started until after Christmas so I'll look at it again then with fresh eyes.  So it's decided......kinda.

The Most Bestest Visit - Part 2

Sunday begins the same as all other days - morning chores.  The sheep and chickens come out and get ready to face the day.

It's still dim in the barn and Betsy, up in the rafters, has her headlights on.

Sunday includes church.  I love this place.  Small, friendly and sincere.  Sara plays the piano and has a knack for picking the exactly right hymns for the service.  No small feat with hundreds of choices in the hymnal and learning the week's message when you walk in the door.

After church we took a bit of a field trip to the farm that Rocky and Jared were delivered to last year. It was a great chance to see some of the lambs they produced and to see them, too.  First though, we stopped at yet a different farm to pick up two fleeces Sara needs to work with.  The LGDs (Livestock Guard Dogs) there were very fierce.

Then we were off to AnneMarie's place.  All the farms we went to have a perimeter fence that enclosed the yard and driveway so you never know what creatures might be wandering around besides the dogs.  In this case there were some very chatty young turkeys that came to greet us.

The head Border Collie was poised to herd them but no order was given so she just stood there .....waiting....watching......

"Wait!  Where's that one going??  They're supposed to stay together!"

We walked out into the pasture to see the flock.  You couldn't ask for a nicer place to lounge and just be a sheep.

Some of the youngsters were friendly to the shepherd but of course with us it was 'stranger danger' and they were wary and ready to beat feet.

Lovely sturdy lambs and everyone is clean and sleek.  What a great place.  The flock finally decided they'd had enough and took themselves down the hill farther into the pasture.

The LGDs here clearly sensed that Julie was ready to attack the flock so they cleverly hemmed her in so she couldn't do any damage.

And if you're a great big dog how do you get through the woven wire fence into the next pasture?

The rams were in a different pasture of course and less willing to let us approach.  Actually, I think the colored rams would have been fine but the white ram was having none of it and led them off.  There was no point chasing them so we just watched them move around the field.  They are clearly living the good life.

Returning home we were grateful to see that Betsy had been keeping a keen eye on everyone while we were away.

What a great vacation!  But fish and house guests start to smell after three days so we had one last morning cup of coffee on the porch.....

and headed back to New York.  Thanks, Crazy Sheep Lady - it was totally awesome!

The Most Bestest Visit - Part 1

Taking a vacation with my friend Julie to visit Sara (thecrazysheeplady) at Equinox Farm in KY is the highlight of the summer.  Animals, wooly pursuits, food, socializing.....OK, we do that here too but it's all a fun change of pace from our own brand.

The sunrise was quite pretty which Andy points out happens a lot if I were just up at that time to see it.  Har har.

Eleven hours later (heavy rain, accidents ahead of us, road construction, gas/potty/food breaks) we made it and set about saying hello to old friends.

Count Chocula.

Miss Maisie.

Hershey and his very cool hair.

Elderly Allie in Del Boca Vista with some chicken friends.

The flock slowly drifted in from the pasture for evening chores. (Standing right to left are Popcorn Pee Pee Pants, Renny and Ewen McTeagle).

Handsome Hank came over to indulge in a cookie.

We went next door to do evening chores for vacationing neighbors.   Kate and Weaslie came along. They never miss a chance to take a ride.

There we met Traveller, who loves him some watermelon rind.

And of course the babies had to have their evening ba-bas.  Biscuit is on the right and his BFF Muffin is on the left.  (I fiddled with the video a little to get Muffin to show up. She is that black.)

The next day was sunny and perfect for RIDING!  Wheee!  I haven't been on a horse in nearly 30 years but we oiled the heck out of my saddle (it was clean and sound, just really dry) and tacked up. Hickory would be my steed for the weekend.  You can tell he's thrilled.

Sara rides T-Bone, a very handsome and tall boy.

Kate supervised while I brushed Hickory off.  I have to admit.... I kept leaning in to smell him.  Horse people will understand.

And we're off!

T-Bone:  "Haw haw - you got the one that hasn't ridden in decades!"

Kate and Weaslie were game for a good romp so they came along.  The neighbors are mostly congenial about riding on each others' property so as long as one is polite and passionate about closing gates a ride can cover hundreds of acres.  Kate did follow us all the way but Weaslie was cagey and stopped at the top of the hill by Stella's house and begged treats waited for us to come back.  We went riding Every Day.  Swoon!

"That horse-following is a lot of work for us short legged Corgi dogs."

Later in the day Sara decided we needed to retrieve the Giant Metal Chicken from his stall at the neighbor's and set him up to greet friends who were coming for dinner.  For the original story of the GMC, click here.  (Warning - some adult language)  The particular chicken we'd be dealing with is a whopping seven feet tall.  

How do you move a Giant Metal Chicken?  Standing up in the back of The Unit, of course.  Now, in the spirit of full disclosure there were watermelon mojitos involved but the plan was to move that chicken even before the melon hit the blender.

The "Welcome Home" chicken in the yard.

Then we ate a lot and had another adult beverage and after a day of that much fun we all pretty much collapsed.

Next time - part 2!