Prairie Daisies

Working on the Shop and Yet Another Craft

2012-02-02T09:54:00.010-06:00

I thought I'd pop in for a little update. Though you wouldn't know it from the blog, I've been busy working on my Etsy shop. Since I switched it over to photography, it's kept me busy getting things listed, taking new photos, and adding other items. Besides 8x10 and 5x7 photo prints, there are now photo note cards, ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions and Originals), and photo blocks. I've thought about doing ceramic tile coasters, but am still working on that idea.

In the meantime, I've also become enamored with Mod Podge...can you believe it?! You'd think that sometime in all my craft obsessions, I'd have discovered Mod Podge before now, wouldn't you? I mean, it was invented in 1967! But I don't think I had unless it's been so long that I'd forgotten. Anyway, there are lots of neat projects out there to try with Mod Podge. Here's one that I'm working on:

I already had this small lamp shade. It was kind of plain, though, and seemed to be a good candidate for "podging." I used a paper towel to trace and cut patterns for the different sections, then laid the pattern on some lace fabric and cut it out. I placed the cut lace on a shade section, and then Podged away! A foam brush worked well. It took a really thick coat to soak through and get the fabric to stick. Dabbing down over and over with the brush smoothed it down nicely, though. Fabric Mod Podge would probably have worked better, but I just used what I had on hand.
It's not quite finished yet, but so far I like how it's turning out.

And one more thought for today about photography...getting a great shot sometimes takes a hands-on approach--
:)

Taking a Licking

2011-11-07T10:01:00.010-06:00

One of our bulls has a thing for licking. If I'm close to the gate, he'll try to lick.

What he especially likes to lick, though, is Bo. The tie ring where I tie him to saddle him is on the post next to the bulls' gate, and whenever we're getting ready to ride, here comes the bull.

Bo: "Why is this bull's nose so close to me?"

Me: "He's just being friendly."

Bo: "Aaaaack!!!"
Me: *giggles*

Bo: "This isn't funny!"

Usually, Bo's a good sport about it, and lets the bulls lick him. Yesterday, though, I guess he was getting tired of it. Right after this he gave a big snort, which startled the bull and made him jump back. I doubt if that will stop him for long, though. :)

Big Changes for my Etsy Shop

2011-10-28T11:41:00.008-05:00

I wanted to check in and tell you about big changes to my Etsy shop.

In my previous post (from long ages ago), I had said that my real hobby was trying out new hobbies. Well, that still seems to be the case. Even since that post, there has been a new one or two. First off I did a little restoration on an antique treadle sewing machine. It just needed a little oil and a new belt, and it was running smoothly again.Then, back in March, about the time of my previous post, another ~~hobby~~ ~~pastime~~ passion began.

This hobby (let's just call it "hobby" since that's easier to type than all the strikethrough code) wasn't one that you could stick in a closet or drawer when you became distracted with something else.

This hobby is 14 years old and weighs over a thousand pounds.

This hobby has a name.

Bo.

We've spent the summer getting to know each other. I used to ride a little several years ago, but hadn't for quite awhile. Most of the riding I did was on a horse that for the most part just followed my husband's horse. And I just sat there and came along, too. But she foundered a little and became a bit stumbly, so I hardly rode after that.

We had looked off and on for several years for another horse but hadn't been too serious about it. Then, for some reason last spring, I was seized with an overwhelming urge to ride horses again. Maybe it's just some kind of middle-aged craziness, I don't know. But we did a little searching online and found Bo. The ad said he was gentle, so we called about him, went to look at him, and came home with him.

We're still getting used to each other, and I still have much to learn, but we are making improvements and gaining confidence from when we first met.

And now, to the shop changes. Early this fall I rediscovered an old hobby...photography. Back in my early twenties I bought a camera (no, it didn't make tintypes, it wasn't that long ago) and took lots of pictures. But of course, film and processing are expensive, and have since tried digital cameras. So much fun! Just delete the blurry ones and play around with Photoshop Elements for all kinds of effects.

With my dye studio equipment stashed in the garage for some home improvement projects, fiber has kind of fallen by the wayside. But I wanted to do a little something with my shop and decided to list a few of my photos. Etsy recently let us change our shop names, too, so I took advantage of that and changed the name to Prairie Daisies so I could list photos or yarn. I changed the name of the blog, too, but am keeping the address the same for you wonderfully patient folks who, even after the long absence, haven't taken me off your list of blogs you follow.

Anyway, stop by the shop sometime and see what's going on. I only have a few prints listed so far, but have several more to go, and another batch to send off to be printed.

An Apron...and a Realization

2011-03-10T16:43:00.013-06:00

First, I thought I'd show you a sewing project I recently finished. A vintage-style apron:

The front:
And the back:
This thing really covers you up. It's practically a dress. The pattern is Simplicity 3544. After seeing some aprons online, I got the idea that I needed to make one. I really like the vintage styles and found the pattern and material at Wal-Mart. The material for this apron somehow just shouted 1950s to me with its bright yellow background and red flowers. I haven't been much of an apron wearer in the past, but probably should have been, seeing as how anytime there is flour involved, it usually seems to go everywhere. I haven't actually worn the apron yet. I'm thinking I may have to tie a dish towel around me to keep my apron from getting dirty. :)

If you haven't looked lately, you can't imagine how many aprons are sold and available for sale at Etsy! I didn't realize they were so popular now. I bought some more material, and would like to try and come up with a pattern similar to some of the ones I've seen on Etsy.

And now...The Realization. It seems like every time I post, I've become enthralled with some new hobby/craft. I go surfing around the internet and think, "Oooh, isn't that cool?! I should try that!" Then while looking up information about that hobby, I come across something else and think, "Oooh, isn't that cute?! I should try that!" And so on. And of course, you have to order the equipment necessary to try it. I've often wondered why I can't seem to stick with a particular craft without trying out something else before I've hardly learned the first one. Is this weird or what?

The first "needlework" type crafts I remember doing are probably embroidery, crochet, and sewing. Since then, I've made miniature quilts, appliqued on sweatshirts, done counted cross stitch, and, of course, there's the whole fiber thing: knitting, spinning, wool dyeing, carding, wet felting, needle felting, weaving. And this isn't even counting photography, genealogy, soapmaking, digital scrapbooking, papermaking, and who knows what else. I think sometimes even baking and trying out new recipes fall under this category. Then a couple of weeks ago, on a trip involving my latest project (I'll save that for another post), as I pondered all of this "first-one-hobby-and-then-another" and "why-don't-you-stick-with-one-hobby" business, I came to the realization...I have stuck with one hobby all this time. My real hobby. Yes. My real hobby is...Trying Out New Hobbies.

Wow! It's kind of a relief in a way, figuring this out. A little hard on the pocketbook at times, but nice to know that maybe it's not so weird after all. I guess the excitement is in the learning.

Next time, I'll try to show you my latest "new thing." :)

Oh Look...

2010-12-22T09:17:00.003-06:00

...it's my Post-of-the-Month post. Maybe I'll get back in the swing of things in Blogville after the first of the year.

I wanted to pop in, though, and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Catching Up

2010-11-01T09:49:00.007-06:00

Shame, shame on me for being such a lazy blogger again.

Seems like things were really busy during the summer, with all the outside activities that come with it. Mowing the yard was pretty much a full-time job...there was only a short time where it got dry enough that you could skip a week or two.

So what have I been up to? Late in the summer my husband's folks gave us a big dishpan full of grapes from their vines that I made into jelly. I thought I'd never get all of them picked through so I could make the jelly, but finally I did.
Yum!

And remember in my previous post I talked about my newest ~~addiction~~ ~~obsession~~ hobby, digital scrapbooking? I've become so enamored with it, that quite a bit of my computer time has been spent learning software and doing layouts.

I'm also still working on going through our fleeces from this year's shearing. (See, I'm almost always behind.) I'm thinking this year I may have the wool spun into yarn at the mill instead of just roving. There's quite a bit of combed top still left to spin from last year's shearing.

This past Saturday was National Hug a Sheep Day. I'm embarrassed to say that I forgot it on Saturday (though our sheep get quite a few pets and scratches on a regular basis anyway). But I made up for it yesterday and hugged four or five of the ones that would let me. Maybe I'll try another one or two this evening. :)

Digital Scrapbooking

2010-08-26T10:42:00.008-05:00

Wow, it's been ages since I posted! It's been really hot since about the first of July until this week. Things have made a nice cool down in the past few days.

We've been baling some prairie hay...some small square bales and some big round bales. I got in a little raking, but not a lot. One more field, and I think we're done baling for this year.

I've discovered another interesting hobby. And it's not even fiber related. Can you believe it? I've been going through a bunch of old pictures and slides and have been trying to get them converted to digital. In the process of this I discovered digital scrapbooking as a way to spice up some of the old pictures. The layouts can be printed as hard bound photo books, which I thought would be neat for some of the really old family history pictures. Here's a couple of layouts I did just for fun. Note they have fiber-related subjects, so it's possible to combine fiber and digital. :)That's Velvet, our Shetland ewe. She really changed color after her first shearing.

And that's what's on my rigid heddle loom right now. The idea is to use up lots of different handspuns, hopefully having enough to make a little afghan or blanket. The loom is a 16 inch, so the plan is to put three panels together to get it wide enough. I'll try to show it to you when it's finished.

(If you're interested, the software I used is My Memories Suite 2.0 from Poloroid, and some free papers from scrapgirls.com.)

Pickles

2010-08-03T08:24:00.003-05:00

We finally got back online about two weeks after we took the computer to the shop. They thought there was probably a power surge (maybe from lightning) that had caused the trouble. Remember, I had been working on pickles in the meantime?

There were just a few cucumbers to start with.

Then there were more.

And more.

I made lime pickles.

And Claussen-type (is that spelled right?) pickles.
And hamburger dill slices and sweet pickles that I haven't taken pictures of.

The heat has caused the cucumber vines to slow down quite a bit now, or maybe it has just slowed down my ambition for picking them. There are still lots of blooms at the top, though, so they may take off again later on, I don't know. This is the first time we've put out any cucumbers.

Who knows how many years it will be before we need to plant any more. :)

Computer Trouble

2010-07-13T14:00:00.002-05:00

Here I am again at the library because the computer is in the shop. I've been offline for about a week, and the technician says it will probably be Friday before it's ready.

The cucumbers in our garden are keeping me busy in the meantime. I'm in pickles up to my ears!

Better go for now! :)

Newest Fiber Obsession, Er, I Mean, Hobby

2010-06-25T08:56:00.009-05:00

Yep, I've taken up a new fiber hobby. Look.Can you tell what it is?
A rigid heddle loom.

I've always thought weaving was pretty, but I'd never really thought about trying it myself. But then about a month or so ago for some unknown reason, I was suddenly seized with this urge to weave. So after some research, I decided to try the Ashford 16-inch rigid heddle loom. I thought I might not have enough patience to do something larger, and also didn't want too big of an investment in case weaving and I didn't get along.

It came unassembled, of course, but it really wasn't hard to put together. Soon it was warped and ready for my first project, a scarf.You can see it takes a little while to start getting the hang of it. Or it did me anyway.

Next came more scarves using some of my handspun yarn.And then I used some acrylic yarn to give plaid a try. This one is a table runner.I've just been using it on my lap. It works pretty well with the footrest up and a pillow underneath, so I can weave while watching TV in the evening.

There are all kinds of patterns and textures you can do with the rigid heddle loom, too. I should probably get to spinning up some more yarn...

I Guess I Should Always Carry a Camera

2010-06-10T15:06:00.003-05:00

This guy was spotted recently while I was taking a walk.
Look at the cool patterns on his shell.
So pretty!

Processing Velvet's Fleece

2010-06-09T13:56:00.005-05:00

I've been working on Velvet's fleece. I had read somewhere about someone rolling the fleece in a sheet and letting it soak in the washing machine. I decided instead of a sheet, though, to use some netting that was in my stash, thinking maybe the dirt and VM could get out more easily. Here's the fleece laid out on the netting:
Next I rolled it up jelly roll style starting with the long side, then tied the ends and pinned it closed with safety pins.
I filled the washer with hot water, added Dawn dishwashing liquid, and eased the roll into the tub.
It soaked for about half an hour, and then I let the water spin out. (NO agitation.) I repeated this step, this time not letting the water get quite as hot, and then one more fill with plain warm water, almost a half-hour soak, and then one more spin.

Here's my make-shift drying rack. The panel is 16 feet long, so I just kind of laid it up on the porch and over the steps so some air could get under it. It was dry in about two days. (I did take it inside at night.)
I combed several locks with some Indigo Hound combs (the menacing beasts that they are), and here's the result:
I have to get some out now and then just to stroke it. :)

Sheep Shearing

2010-06-04T09:05:00.008-05:00

Sheep shearing day for 2010 came and went, and now there are bags of wool in the barn. The shearer got here pretty early in the morning and the sky was cloudy, so it made it really nice for shearing. There have been times when it was blazing hot by the time we got them sheared, making things really uncomfortable for the sheep, the shearer, and the shepherds. Here's what Velvet looked like last fall not long after we bought her. Of course, her wool grew quite a bit more over the winter.And here's what she looks like after shearing:Quite a change, huh? I just thought she was small before. The other day I mistook her for one of the lambs.

And here's Angus right after we brought him home. (He, too, grew a LOT more wool over the winter.)And now...This picture really doesn't do him justice. He's so slick and black and handsome! He almost looks shiny.

We fixed a skirting table in one of the sheds outside. I'm still learning...I had seen a picture somewhere of someone skirting using a similar set up. Before when I had skirted fleece, I spread a plastic table cloth out on the ground and put the fleece on it. This is SO much easier! And probably works a lot better, too, since some of the VM has a chance to fall through the grate and out of the fleece.Here's Velvet's fleece spread out on the table. The picture doesn't do her fleece justice, either. Somehow it's really hard to capture the color of her fleece on film. Or should I say "in pixels?"
I couldn't wait to wash a little section. Here's the result:

It has a really long staple, compared to what I'm used to, and is sooo soft. I'm planning on working on it again today, hopefully a bigger bunch at a time. I'm getting anxious to spin some up!

Did You Think I Flew the Coop?

2010-06-01T15:56:00.004-05:00

I really didn't fly the coop, things have just been really busy, and blogging kind of got pushed to the bottom of the to-do list.

With the arrival of spring came yard work and mowing, and we put out a garden again this year. It was kind of late getting planted...several weekends were spend working cattle, and then there were several rains that prevented us from getting the ground worked up. Most things were planted and set out on May 22, and started coming up in about four days. I'll have to try to get some pictures soon.

Also, the sheep were sheared on May 21, so the girls are sporting stylish new do's. It was just in time, too, before the weather turned hot.

And can you believe it? I actually listed a new yarn today! The poor shop had been really neglected, too, having one lone item for sale for what seemed like ages.

Here's the new listing:I called it "Prairie Sunset." This is some of our own wool from our Rambouillet ewes, Belle, Scarlett, Rachel, and our Rambouillet-cross ewe, Lily. I spun it first and then painted it.

There's lots more things to talk about, but I guess that's all for today. Maybe this will get me back into the swing of things. :)

Another Lamb Report

2010-04-06T10:33:00.005-05:00

I'm finally getting around to the next lamb report. That makes nine ewes, so lambing is over for this year. First, on the 21st, Rose had twin ram lambs. Here's Rose:
And here are the lambs:
Next, on the 28th I think it was, Hannah had twin lambs, one ewe and one ram. Here's Hannah having a little snack:And here are the lambs:It's kind of hard to see the one in the back, but he's kind of black and white spotted, but also with a spot or two of the dark curly fleece like the ewe in front. Her fleece is really curly all over with kind of white undertones.

We finally got all the ewes with lambs back together out in the lot, so that has made doing the chores a lot easier than when we had to feed and water several of them separately.

The older lambs, well, all of them really, are growing fast. I don't think I've ever seen any animal grow as quickly as lambs.

Catching Up with the Lamb Reports

2010-03-26T11:52:00.007-06:00

Whew, it's been awhile since I've posted! Things have really been hopping around here. Eight of the nine ewes have lambed so far. Here's what's happened since last time:

March 18: Angus was probably really excited when he saw Sydney's ewe lamb:The black fleece toward the front is kind of short and crimpy, and the gray-tan fleece along her back is longer and more wavy.

March 21: I found Rachel (a Rambouillet) with her first lamb, a little white ewe, whose fleece is already kind of long and wavy.
Still March 21: The sheep did something they've never done before in all the years we've been raising sheep. I went to check on them about 1:30 that afternoon, and nobody was doing anything. When we went out to do the evening chores, awhile after 5:00, I looked in the little shed out in the lot and found two ewes with three new lambs! They had both apparently lambed at almost exactly the same time. Now this was a pickle. One ewe had twins, and one had a single lamb, and neither I nor they were sure who belonged to whom. Abby is an older ewe and not in the best of shape, and Violet is a younger ewe. It looked like maybe Abby hadn't been able to get up yet, and that Violet had licked everybody off. I helped Abby to her feet and she promptly went outside to find something to eat. She soon came back, though, to see about her lamb/lambs.

Two of the lambs were black and white spotted (one ram and one ewe), and looked like they were probably the twins, and the other lamb (a ram) was tan and white. The lambs were trying to nurse first one ewe and then the other, and Abby and Violet would go from one lamb to the other. I was afraid one of the lambs wasn't getting any attention, while one was getting attention from both ewes. I got a little colostrum on my fingers from Abby and got in the lamb's mouth several times to at least give her a taste. I thought about separating them, but was afraid I wouldn't get them with the right ewe, so we decided to leave them all together and let them work it out. I really think probably Abby had the twins, and Violet had the single tan and white lamb. That night when I went back to check on them, the lamb I had given the colostrum to was nursing from Violet, and the next morning, she was nursing from Abby. Now several days later, they're still all together, and seem to be doing okay. Maybe they've got it figured out or maybe they're just helping each other.

March 22: Rose had twin ram lambs in the barn, but I don't have pictures of them ready. We're still waiting for Hannah to lamb, so hopefully I can post pictures of all of them next time.

Again, whew, things have sure been busy!

The Next New Arrival

2010-03-19T09:38:00.006-06:00

When we put Scarlett in the barn the other night before she lambed, we also got in Rachel and Lily because this year is their first time lambing and we wanted to have them already inside in case they needed any help. A little before 10:30 Tuesday night I went out to check on the sheep, studied them for awhile and thought Rachel looked like she was breathing faster than normal. No other signs, just breathing a little fast. I decided I'd come back in for awhile and then go check on them again later. So, about 10 after 11 I went back out to the barn and found Rachel just standing around, but Lily was hard at it in front of the hay rack.

She didn't seem to be making much progress, but sometimes it takes awhile, especially since this was her first lamb. She made several attempts, and I could see his front feet and nose occasionally (which was a good sign, at least, since he wasn't coming backwards). After awhile I began to worry that if she had too much difficulty, even if she was able to do it herself, she might be so exhausted and traumatized that she wouldn't have the energy to take care of him as she should. So I finally decided to help. I went back to the house and washed my hands. (Also took off my ring. Remember what Billy Crystal said about his watch in "City Slickers"?) Then it was back out to the barn.

Lily was still working, but still not making much progress. She'd get up and walk around a little, but seemingly to no avail. So finally as she worked, I got hold of his front feet, tried to make a little more room for him and pulled out and down. I could tell he was pretty tight. We kept at it for a little bit, and finally got his head where I could see it. In the midst of all this Lily scared me by getting up a couple of times and moving around. I just crawled after her, and then pulled some more. I could tell then that one of his legs seemed to be farther back than the other one, and decided he was probably stuck at his shoulder. After a minor adjustment, out he came!

Lily jumped up and started licking him. He shook his head around, and it wasn't long before he was trying to get up.

It was about 10 after 12 when I came back in, so, needless to say, I didn't take any pictures of him that night. But the next morning I did!

See the little brownish black spot on the tip of his ear? By yesterday, it had dried some more and didn't look as dark, but you can still see it. Angus is excited about it. (Don't tell him, but Lily had brown on her ears when she was a lamb.)

First Lambs of the Season!

2010-03-15T12:43:00.009-06:00

On Saturday morning when I went outside, Belle was standing in the lot with a white ram lamb! She probably had him sometime up in the night, because he was already dried off and out running around with her. When we bought Belle, she was really wild, but she's calmed down a LOT since then. She stomped her foot at me when she thought I was too close to the lamb, but I finally got close enough to pick him up and carry him to the shed so they could have a private little place of their own for awhile. I held him where she could see and smell him, and she followed me right into the shed.
She did lots of talking to him after we got in there.Angus has a separate little space of his own in the same shed. He did things the old-fashioned way...waited in the waiting room.
He still hasn't passed out any cigars. Maybe he just hasn't had a chance to get out and buy any. :)
Then Saturday evening when we were doing the chores, I noticed that Scarlett looked like she was thinking about lambing. So after doing some shuffling, we got her over into a little pen in the barn. When I came back to check on her awhile later, she had a little white ewe lamb!
The other girls should be lambing before long too, so hopefully more lamb pictures soon! :)

Do You Get This Excited...

2010-03-10T09:50:00.004-06:00

...when it's time for supper?

Jade and Velvet do. :)

Meanwhile, over in the other pen, we're still waiting for lambs. The girls are looking closer every day, so maybe there'll be some lamb pictures soon!

Our Wool, Now in Color!

2010-03-03T10:30:00.004-06:00

I finally got around to playing in the dyepot the other day. Here's about four ounces of our Rambouillet top in some bright colors:
This particular batch seemed a little hard to spin...I think in my haste to get it finished I may have gotten a little too vigorous in my rinsing and caused it to felt a tad. I tried spinning up some with just pre-drafting, but it still didn't flow as smoothly as it should. So I ran some through the carder and that seemed to work a lot better. The colors, of course, are blended, giving it kind of a tweedy look, but that's okay. I don't like to fight with it as I spin. The plan is to use it in my adult surprise jacket. I've had to rip out several rows of the baby surprise jacket, after I figured out I'd been doing the Make 1's wrong. I guess that's why they say to do the baby surprise jacket before the adult one. Just think how many stitches several rows of that would be!

Do You Think the Bill Collector Would Believe Me...

2010-03-02T10:23:00.003-06:00

...if I said...

...the goat ate it?

In the midst of doing chores the other day, I went to the mail box and got the mail, laid it on the wagon, and left to do some other chores. When I came back to the barn, I found Monkey (whom you can't seem to keep in any kind of pen, and has now become pretty much a "free-range" goat) tasting the mail. :)

Waiting for Lambs

2010-02-26T08:59:00.005-06:00

I've been studying the girls every day to see if there's any sign that there might be some lambs any time soon.I was actually a little worried for awhile as to whether there would even be lambs this year. The ewes didn't seem to show any signs of being bred, and remember the rocky start they had with their suitor?

We put the ram in with them around the 10th of October, and according to this sheep gestation calendar, we can start watching for lambs the 4th of March. They don't really look that close to lambing to me, but like I said, they weren't too thrilled with Angus when they first met.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'm excited to see what the Rambouillet/Shetland and Suffolk/Shetland cross lambs will look like!

Can You Tell What I'm Thinking About?

2010-02-23T10:11:00.005-06:00

Don't you just love going through seed catalogs? I've been poring over these and dreaming of gardening. Of course, dream gardens are a lot easier than real ones. We raised several tomatoes last year, and a little zuchinni, along with a few cantaloupe and pumpkins. This year, though, I'd like to expand and maybe try for some sweet corn and green beans. And cucumbers for pickles. And some peppers for homemade salsa. And...well, you get the picture. The soil here is good in places, and not so good in others. And then there's the rocks. You may remember me saying that one year we broke three hoe handles trying to get the ground ready. But when spring comes around, I seem to forget about that and want to give it another go.

Have any of you ever used a "green bean tower"? There's one in each of the catalogs. They are for pole beans and only take up about 5 square feet of space. They can support 12 plants and are 6 feet tall. This sounds like a clever solution. Not much hoeing (yay!) and no crawling around on the ground to pick the beans!

Are you thinking about your garden, too? Leave a comment and let us know your favorite gardening tips! :)

Baby Surprise Jacket

2010-02-22T11:18:00.005-06:00

The other night I cast on for a new project: Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. I was wanting to make a baby gift and thought I'd give the surprise jacket a try. Here's what's done so far:The pattern seems pretty easy to follow. It's still kind of hard to tell how it's going to turn into a jacket, but you're just supposed to trust the pattern and follow instructions. Kind of like "sit down, shut up, and don't ask questions." So that's what I'm doing. :)

I ordered the pattern that includes the adult surprise jacket pattern, too. I had wanted to make a sweater from the wool from our sheep, and decided maybe this would be a neat idea. You can use lots of colors and odds and ends of different yarns, so this way I can dye up and spin a little at a time and just add it in as I go. No worrying about do I have enough of the same color for the whole project?

I know the adult jacket is an awfully ambitious project for me...she of the Mountain of Unfinished Objects, but maybe the added inspiration of it being from our own wool will help. :)

Working in the Wool

2010-02-17T09:04:00.004-06:00

Remember some time back when we sent the wool from our sheep off for processing into combed top? It came back in a long, long rope, and the tag didn't say how much wool was in the finished product.I was curious as to how many pounds were in the sack, so I decided to weigh it out into approximately 4 ounce balls and then see what the total was. I used my digital scale and then marked each with the weight. Most are between 3.7 and 4.2 ounces. Added together, there are 5.4 pounds. That doesn't seem like much weight, considering that before processing, the wool weighed 19 pounds! The raw wool contains lots of dirt and lanolin, and many of the shorter fibers are removed in the combing process.
I'm probably going to keep part of it back for a sweater, and maybe some hats, and then probably put some in the shop just as dyed top and some as handspun yarn. The shop has been kind of neglected lately, so hopefully all this softness will inspire me!

Canning Potatoes

2010-02-16T10:54:00.005-06:00

Over the weekend I tried out something new for me--canning potatoes. I've done some canning over the years, but not on a huge scale, and never potatoes. The canners I had used in the past were really old, though in good condition and good working order until their gaskets wore out. Gaskets are kind of expensive, and the canners were pretty small, so recently I ordered a new 16-quart canner. It's tall enough to be able to do quarts as well as pints.

I peeled almost 10 pounds of potatoes. There were a couple in the sack that were quite a bit bigger than the rest, so I left them in the sack, thinking they would cook more evenly if they were all about the same size. They just filled four quart jars.

We haven't tried them yet, but hopefully they'll be tasty and quick to fix some time when we're hungry for potatoes and in a hurry. (According to the instructions, though, be sure to boil canned foods for at least 15 minutes after opening and before tasting.)

I'm thinking maybe beef stew next?

Blog Pages

2010-02-15T14:12:00.008-06:00

Did you notice anything new? Look, up at the top! Pages. They may not be a new Blogger feature, (and maybe they are), but I just found out about them a day or so ago. So I've been trying to get things organized a little, and now, here they are! Each section has a picture and a link to posts about that category. "The Spinning Wheel" has posts about fiber arts--spinning, knitting, etc. "Barnyard Critters" are my posts about the animals and farm life. "The Old Cookstove" has posts about my attempts at baking and cooking. And "The Garden Path" is still pretty much a work in progress. There are only a few posts there, but as spring gets a little closer, maybe I can fill it up a little more.

Of course, some posts appear in more than one category...sheep and fiber arts are kind of related, you know. And some posts aren't included because they don't fit into any of those categories. But anyway, maybe you can find something you hadn't noticed before.

A blog with pages...oooh, I feel so professional! :)

And now, simply because this post needed a picture, here's Angus with a weather report:

Sheep Manners

2010-02-12T16:16:00.004-06:00

Me: "Levi! You know it's not polite to talk with your mouth full!"

You Know You're a Farmwife...

2010-02-10T16:03:00.005-06:00

...when your husband brings you home one of these...
...and you're excited about it. :)

As long as I've been feeding square bales of hay to the sheep, I never knew there was such a thing. (We'll just say they're new.) It's kind of hard to see in the picture, bit there's a razor blade down at the bottom of it kind of like those letter openers. You use it for cutting the twine on the bales. I'd been using a knife, when I remembered to bring it, or just pulling the twine off over the sides if I didn't. If you've ever tried that, you know how hard it is to do, especially when the bales are packed tight. I'd been leaving a knife up on the barn shelf, but something got up there one night (I'm thinking raccoons after Geronimo's cat food crumbs) and knocked it and some other stuff off. The knife either disappeared down into the hay on the floor, or the coons ran off with it.

(I'm not sure if this is connected, but my husband brought this to me the next night after I borrowed his knife.)

Anyway, these things work like a charm, and you can hang them up on the wall to keep the coons away from them. :)

Baking Mixes

2010-02-08T10:33:00.004-06:00

In my efforts to make more of our food from scratch, but still with an element of convenience, the other day I mixed up a few different baking mixes.
It's mostly just a matter of measuring and mixing the dry ingredients together, which is quite a bit of the effort in baking things like cornbread, cake, etc. By mixing up several batches at the same time, you can get all the ingredients out once and dirty up bowls, measuring cups and spoons once for several times of baking.

One of the recipes I mixed up here is a cookie recipe that calls for the sugar to be creamed first with oil. Since the sugar isn't mixed in with the flour at the same time, I just whisked the flour and other dry ingredients together and put them in the bottom of the jar. Then I measured out the sugar, set a storage bag in the top of the jar, and poured the sugar into it, keeping the sugar separate from the other dry ingredients.

I wrote instructions as to how to mix up and bake each one on a card and also labeled each jar with the kind of mix it was.
Here's a honey-wheat muffin mix, pie crust mix, the cookie mix behind it, and two corn bread mixes.The smaller jars are pint jars, and the larger ones are quarts. The cookie recipe just barely fit into a quart jar. I saw some half-gallon jars at the hardware store a few days ago in the canning aisle. Those would probably work better for larger mixes. Canning jars are nice because a lot of the lids are interchangeable, and you can even get plastic screw-on lids if you don't like using the flats and bands.

We've eaten up the cookie mix already, and I'm kind of getting a hankering for some corn bread again. My mouth is watering already!

Goat, Pig, or Cat?

2010-02-05T11:06:00.004-06:00

Thought I'd show you this picture of Geronimo, the barn cat. He's begun taking his meals on a shelf in the barn.
The reason? Monkey the Pig, er, I mean Goat, has developed a taste for cat food. If Geronimo is eating anywhere she can reach, the next thing you know, she's stealing his food.Don't worry, this particular sack she's diving into is cracked corn. I try to keep her out of the cat food if possible. It surely can't be good for her, can it? If I don't close the lid on the barrel where the cat food is when I leave the barn for a minute, upon my return I find her trying to get into that sack, too. One night when the wheel barrow was parked beside the feed barrel, she managed to climb high enough to reach Geronimo's "out-of-reach" shelf anyway.

Don't be surprised one of these days if I post a video of the world's first meowing goat. :)

Felted Mittens

2010-02-02T13:32:00.007-06:00

So what did your groundhog say? We've had mostly cloudy weather today, but the clouds may be breaking up a little. Maybe it depends on what time the groundhog looks outside.

Wow, this post is actually about yarn and knitting! Can you believe it? I finally finished some felted mittens I'd started some time ago.I used some KnitPicks "Wool of the Andes," holding two strands together and knit them in kind of a combination of two patterns. (And although it doesn't look that way in the picture, they really are both pretty close to the same size.)

I was in a hurry, of course, to get them felted and forgot to take a picture before throwing them in the washer. I used warm water and a little dishwashing soap, and ran them one time through the heavy duty wash cycle. It agitates faster and longer than the regular cycle on our machine.

It took them two or three days to get completely dry. They're really thick (which makes them a little stiff), and seem like they'll be really warm. You can find lots of patterns for felted mittens on Ravelry if you think you want to give some a try. :)

Sorry, But I Couldn't Resist...

2010-02-01T10:13:00.006-06:00

Who says you can't find any classy literature here?

Look!!

"A Trail of Two Kitties"

I know, I know, but that's just what came into my mind when I saw the tracks. :)

A Closer Look (1-27-10)

2010-01-27T09:40:00.001-06:00

The little pine tree in the front yard covered with frost:

Cafeteria Style?

2010-01-23T09:27:00.005-06:00

Monkey the Goat during evening chores:

"Hey, don't they keep cattle food in here? I wonder what it tastes like?"

"Maybe I'll just go up to the barn and see what they've got up there."

"What? The sack isn't open?!"

"Um, excuse me, a little help here..."

"There, that's better. Thanks!"

"Mmmmmm. Corn. Delicious!"

A Change of Scenery

2010-01-22T13:04:00.009-06:00

About two weeks ago I took this picture of our thermometer on the back porch rail:

See how fuzzy? That's because I took the picture through the window without opening the door. Why? Notice the temperature...10 degrees below zero. We had several snowfalls with accumulations and some really cold temperatures. Now we've gone from this:

to this:

And doing the chores looks like this:

and this:

Sure glad these boots don't leak. (I have another pair that does.)

Friends or Foes?

2010-01-19T12:03:00.003-06:00

They haven't decided yet. :)

Computer Glitch

2010-01-15T15:33:00.002-06:00

Well, our computer is in the shop again, so I'm coming to you from the library. The computer guy said he'd have to keep it for a few days to see what was going on. Just thought I'd let you know where I was. Take care.

A Closer Look (1/11/10)

2010-01-11T18:20:00.000-06:00

Frost on the back storm door glass...

Getting Spiffy

2010-01-09T16:07:00.003-06:00

No, wait! You're in the right place! I've just been working on the blog a little. Not posting, as you can tell, but a little housekeeping. Every year after new year's, I always get this urge to organize and rearrange things. And this was easier than moving furniture, so...ta da! I used a background from The Cutest Blog on the Block. I've been having trouble with Firefox disappearing, and the version of Internet Explorer I was using wouldn't let me copy the code, so it took awhile to get it done. But after downloading IE 8 and getting the hang of things, I found that it's easy to change the background and header picture, so now you never know what things might look like when you get here! :)

A Closer Look (1/4/10)

2010-01-04T11:08:00.002-06:00

I'm baaa-aack! I've been a bit of a lazy blogger again, but we also had computer problems and were offline for about a week. The computer was in the shop to replace a CPU fan, whatever that is.

I hope you had a merry Christmas, and may I take this opportunity to wish you a happy new year!

I'll try to get back into the swing of posting again with this "closer look" picture:
This was the view out the basement storm door last weekend. We had several inches of blowing and drifting snow, and some of the roads were drifted across for a couple of days. Somehow the snow piled up in this pretty pattern on the screen door.

We've had more snow since then with some really cold temps for a few days, and the forecasters are calling for even more Arctic air later in the week. Brrr! Sounds like a good time to burrow in and curl up with a wool blanket! :)

A Few Flakes and a Little Baking

2009-12-18T21:38:00.005-06:00

Remember the sourdough starter from awhile back? I've been using it fairly often. I'm not feeding it every few days like one of the recipes called for, but am adding more flour, water, and sugar after each use like another recipe said. It makes really yummy pizza crust, and today I just did a regular loaf of sourdough bread. This was taken after rubbing the top with butter (actually "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" stick). The texture turned out pretty nice, but a little chewy. That may just be the nature of sourdough, though.

And on another subject... here are some pretty snowflakes for your viewing pleasure:
They didn't really stick, but were pretty coming down. :)

A Closer Look (12/15/09)

2009-12-15T17:47:00.005-06:00

Pie, anyone?I found this rock on a walk a few days ago. It's pretty good sized...the squares on the floor vinyl are probably about 6 inches wide. It looks like it has a crust and some kind of whipped topping on top. Hmmm. Petrified pie.

P.S. This isn't a flop from my kitchen. Really.

Our Wool Becomes Yarn

2009-12-09T16:13:00.007-06:00

My newest spinning project? Our wool. I finally got around to spinning up a little bit of our Rambouillet combed top that arrived from the mill.
I spun some just as it was. Except for pre-drafting, of course. It wasn't quite as buttery smooth as I thought it might be, but still it was nice. There seemed to be some clumps that were kind of hard to draft, but the yarn came out really lofty and squishy.There were about 80 yards in the first batch. Being impatient, I just spun it up without dyeing it first and then used some big needles and the chunky yarn to knit a little scarf.
I tried putting some of the wool through the drum carder a couple of times for a batt. That seemed to break up the clumps and made for a smoother yarn. It was still nice and lofty, though. The twist was set by washing in lavender baby shampoo and then another rinse with lavender Eucalan. And boy, does it smell nice! :)

A Closer Look (12/7/09)

2009-12-07T18:28:00.003-06:00

Taken late in the summer...a prairie flower of some sort. Don't know the proper name, but I thought it was pretty. :)

Homemade Pop Tarts

2009-12-04T11:02:00.007-06:00

Still on my make-it-from-scratch kick, yesterday I decided I would try Suzanne's Homemade Pop Tarts. Here they are in the early stages:Next, they're on the cookie sheet, ready to bake. The recipe called for a greased baking sheet, but I like using parchment paper when I can, so that's what I did. It's really great to keep things from sticking and makes for easy clean-up. (This will be important later in the story.)
I got them all ready and placed them in the oven. The recipe says to bake them for about 8 minutes on the top rack and then transfer them to the bottom rack. When the timer went off, I grabbed my oven mitt and pot holders so I could move the cookie sheet (it's a really big one) to the other rack. I pulled it out...lowered the cookie sheet...and the parchment paper filled with beautiful homemade pop tarts SLID OFF THE COOKIE SHEET!!! Pop tarts, beautiful homemade pop tarts, went down onto the door, down into the crack between the oven and the door, down into the drawer beneath the oven, and onto the floor. The parchment paper came in contact with the heating element and began scorching and nearly smoking. I managed to salvage two pop tarts that stayed on the paper, but the rest went into the scrap pan. What was it I was saying about parchment paper making for easy clean-up?
I had to wait for the oven to cool to clean up. I decided I would NOT be defeated by a piece of parchment paper. There was a little dough left, so I rolled it out some more and had enough for four more smaller pop tarts. I was afraid the crust might be tough after so much handling of the dough, but it wasn't.

And now...the finished product.
Mmmmmmm. Delicious. See where I, ahem, someone broke off a piece and sampled one? :)

Look, An (Almost) Finished Object!

2009-12-03T10:31:00.005-06:00

Remember awhile back I started on the Brooke's Column of Leaves Scarf? It's finished, sort of.

The pattern says it needs to be blocked. Being new to lace knitting, I've never blocked anything before. I don't know if it would make much of a difference or not. Here's what it looks like now:
It's about 35 inches long and 6 inches wide. That's not a very long scarf, it's more of a neck warmer, but I just knitted until I used up the skein. It was worsted weight, 220 yards. With the lacey holes, it could probably have a couple of buttons added somewhere to keep it in place. Okay, expert knitters, let's hear your advice!

The Wool is Here! The Wool is Here!

2009-12-01T16:30:00.007-06:00

Yesterday the UPS man rumbled into the driveway and came out with a HUGE box. "My wool!" I squealed. Our processed wool had come back from the mill!Back in September you might have seen the raw woo l.Off it went to Zeilinger's in Michigan for washing and combing. This was the first time we had gone to the extra expense to have it combed instead of just carded. We'd had it processed elsewhere a couple of times before (with just carding) and there had always been more VM left in it than I wanted to pick out before or during spinning. But this time it was different.

This fleece:Became this combed top:
Amazing, isn't it? I can't wait to spin some up! That is, if I don't just curl up and cuddle in it. :)

A Closer Look (11/30/09)

2009-11-30T13:13:00.004-06:00

I've decided to change the format of the "closer look" posts just a little. Instead of "closer look" meaning literally a close view of something, it will mean, rather, stopping to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us. So here's today's shot:

Handmade Natural Soap

2009-11-27T14:01:00.007-06:00

I mentioned in my previous post that I've been on a made-from-scratch spree. One of the things I did first in this spree was make a couple of batches of soap. I had made a batch some time ago, and liked the soap, but just hadn't tried it again. But deciding to give it another go, I dug out my supplies and jumped right in. The first batch was done without any fragrance oil because I didn't have any at the time. The recipe came from a soap book I found at the library.

My hands get really dry sometimes, and even using lots of lotions, they can still feel dry and uncomfortable and crack around my fingernails. The recipe said I could add ground oats to the mixture to make it more moisturizing, so I threw those in, too. Here's the result:I just poured it into some small plastic storage boxes to mold, and then cut it into bars with a knife. The bars aren't very even and the corner pieces are kind of a strange shape, but that doesn't really matter.

Getting all enthused, I ordered some fragrance oils and other butter-type ingredients for a "skin-nurturing" recipe from the book. I also enlisted the help of my husband, and we made a wooden soap mold. (He actually did most of the "making" while I did the "helping.") And ta da! Our home made soap mold!
Armed with more of the right tools and some fragrance (gardenia), I tried the new recipe and the mold:We made the mold where you could cut the soap into bars right in the mold. These bars came out more even, but they're not quite the shape I was going for. They're more square than rectangular, making them a little too big to hold comfortably in your hand. But I just cut a couple of them in half, and that worked fine, too. I guess the mold should have been a little longer in length or something. Also a soap cutter would work better than the kitchen knife I was using. This is kind of a learn-as-you-go operation, you see.

**IMPORTANT**Be sure to do your research before attempting handmade soap. Also be sure to follow ALL of the safety precautions recommended. And do your homework about any fragrance oils or essential oils you use. Essential oils especially should be researched before using them, as some of them have restrictions about not using them if you have certain health conditions.***

So, how does this home made soap work, you ask? Wonderfully well! Both batches make really nice lather, and the difference in my hands is amazing! It's probably not all due to the soap, because I've also been using some handmade hand lotion and sugar scrubs, but I could tell a difference before using them. More about them in a later post!

Made from Scratch

2009-11-25T16:38:00.009-06:00

For some reason, I was recently seized by this urge to start making more things from scratch. This includes bread (well, sort of scratch, because I'm employing the help of my bread machine), soap, and hand lotion. Yes. Hand lotion. But we'll save that for another post.

Part of the reason for some of these projects was inspiration from a blog/website I recently discovered...Chickens in the Road. There are lots of recipes and how-to's, and all kinds of neat stuff.

This morning I mixed up some starter for sourdough bread.It seems to be doing what it's supposed to so far. See it bubbling up?

And then later, I tried a "Chickens in the Road" recipe for Apple-Streudel Ladder Loaf. Here it is after baking. I didn't get a picture before. I was too sticky. And buttery.

Please ignore the un-Martha-Stewart-like tearing of the parchment paper.

The dough recipe I used was the one in my bread machine book, but otherwise I followed the recipe for the most part. I did drizzle on a little powdered sugar glaze after it cooled.
So far I've resisted the temptation to try it...trying to wait until after supper. I'll let you know how it comes out!

After-supper update: The verdict? Yummy!! I think it would also be good to use more apple filling, spread it out on the dough rectangle, roll up jelly-roll style, and slice and bake as for cinnamon rolls. Mmmmm...maybe next time! :)

A Closer Look (11/23/09)

2009-11-23T09:42:00.008-06:00

No guessing today, either...just a beautiful autumn rose to enjoy.

Farm Math...

2009-11-17T11:05:00.011-06:00

Several sheep-who-like-to-stand-out-in-the-cold-rain

+

One shepherd-girl (using the term 'girl' loosely here)
holding-a-bucket-of-feed

=

Brrrr!

You folks with sheep know what I'm talking about, huh? This time there was a soaking wet sheep crowding in from both sides. Boy, talk about something that will wake you up! :)

A Closer Look (11/17/09)

2009-11-17T10:52:00.003-06:00

I'm a day late with my closer look picture this week (probably a dollar short, too) but here it is. It's not one you have to guess...just one to take a look at. I believe it's a locust tree. Click for an even better view of the thorns. Ouch!

Friends Come in All Shapes and Sizes

2009-11-10T10:36:00.015-06:00

When we bought Velvet, the little Shetland ewe that was born in March of this year, we decided we'd let her wait until she was older before putting her in with the ram. We already had a spring Rambouillet lamb named Jade we were going to keep back, too. So when the ram went in with the ewes, Jade and Velvet became roommates. For now they have a little pen in front of the barn and can go in the barn for shelter.They're pretty close in age, but look at the difference in size! They seem to be getting along pretty well together, and are even pretty good about sharing their food.When it's time to take the ram out, Jade and Velvet will probably go in with the rest of the ewes. They seem to be pretty content right where they are, though, and maybe even getting a little spoiled. :)

A Closer Look (11/9/09)

2009-11-09T13:37:00.006-06:00

So what do you think? Upside down tree?

Just the reflection in the water of the sky and the trees on the other side of the creek.

More Sheep Sorting

2009-11-06T11:30:00.008-06:00

Remember back in October we put the rams in with the ewes? And we thought we'd try the two spring ram lambs with the Suffolks?

We left them in about a week and from what we could tell, they didn't seem to be too interested. I don't know if they're just a little too young yet, or if it has something to do with the fact that they were raised on the bottle. Anyway, Eli and Levi seemed to be more concerned with grazing the pasture and eating grain than chasing the girls. So after a week, we changed the panels around again, and put all the ewes in with the Shetland ram. (I doubt that he minded too much.) Here he is with his ewes:

I'm still debating about giving him a nickname. My plan was to give the Shetlands each a Scottish or Gaelic name in honor of their Scottish heritage. The first (and only) one I could think of for the ram was Angus, which fit because of his black fleece and all the Angus cattle running around here. If I do call him Angus, though, he of course would still be known "professionally" as Fairlight Omen, on any breeding papers, etc. Most of the Gaelic/Scottish girl names I found were ones I couldn't pronounce, so my plan for all Scottish names for the Shetlands has kind of gone by the wayside. I think for the little ewe, we've decided on Velvet. It kind of seems to fit her somehow. (She, too, will still have her registered name of Three Ring Mai Tai on paper.)

So for now, anyway, Eli and Levi, otherwise known as "The Boys," are busy running around in the pasture and eating. The girls will just have to wait. :)

Newfoundland Mittens

2009-11-03T10:26:00.008-06:00

After trolling around on Ravelry one day looking at patterns, I came across these Newfoundland Mittens. I thought they were SO cute! I'm still working on both of the scarves I started, but being awfully bad about starting something new before finishing the project I'm working on, I went ahead and cast on.

I had some leftover yarns in my stash, and used a natural white wool for the body and some hand dyed wool yarn for the rest. This was the first time I'd used a colorwork pattern. I always thought colorwork would be really complicated, but this pattern has been pretty easy for the most part. I had a little trouble now and then figuring out where to start each row for some reason, but it wasn't too hard to get back on track.

I think they're going to be really warm, too, because of the double strands. The first one is done, and the second just needs the thumb and the ends woven in. Surely I can stick with them long enough to do that! :)

A Closer Look (11/2/09)

2009-11-02T17:45:00.005-06:00

Shame on me. I've neglected my blog this week. But here's today's closer look picture:

I cropped it quite a bit, so it's not the clearest of pictures, and for you critter lovers, it's probably too easy again...

The velvety soft nose of one of the horses. Don't you just want to pet it? :)

A Closer Look (10/26/09)

2009-10-26T12:07:00.006-06:00

More moss? Maybe, but the subject is actually what's underneath the green stuff.

A rock, shaped like some ancient piece of broken pottery.

You find some rocks like that around here, but the majority of them are more irregularly shaped.

Though they can make for some difficult gardening and post hole digging, there are some really beautiful ones.

Plying with the Lazy Kate

2009-10-20T13:39:00.009-05:00

In my post a few days ago, I showed you the lazy kate with bobbins ready for plying. Here's the result:

I thought it was actually a little harder to use than the built-in lazy kate on the wheel. It could just be that I'm new at it and need more practice. I had one bobbin on the top and one on the bottom. It might have been better if both bobbins had been on the bottom at the same level. It seemed as though sometimes they didn't quite turn exactly together.

I really like the colors in this yarn.

It was a Falkland wool dyed roving I bought from Fat Cat Knits on Etsy. There were about 140 yards as I wound it off the bobbin onto the niddy noddy. Of course, it will shrink up a fair amount when the twist is set. It should be listed in the shop soon! :)

A Closer Look (10/19/09)

2009-10-19T13:05:00.005-05:00

Here's today's "closer look" picture. What do you think? Too easy?

Moss.

In the movies they always say moss grows on the north side of the tree. Well, this particular moss? Smack dab on the south side. It's not too far from the house, so maybe it shades it a little more and allows the moss to grow on the south. Who knows?

Lazy Kate

2009-10-16T14:31:00.005-05:00

Awhile back, when I ordered the jumbo flyer for my spinning wheel, I also ordered an Ashford lazy kate. My Ashford Traveller (see the picture in the sidebar) has a built-in lazy kate on the front of the wheel, but it will only hold the standard size bobbins.

Of course it came unassembled. The assembly wasn't complicated, but it was really hard to put the screws in on the sides. I think I almost had a blister before I got it put together.

But anyway, here it is, ready to ply with some Falkland roving I ordered from Fat Cat Knits on Etsy. There were four ounces all together, with about two on each bobbin.

I haven't tried it out yet...I'll have to let you know how it works.

Love is in the Air

2009-10-15T10:06:00.008-05:00

Well, maybe. The Rambouillet girls seem to be warming up a little to their suitor. When I fed them their grain last night, a couple of them actually ate from the same pan as he did.

Then afterwards I caught Scarlett giving him a closer inspection.

Maybe spring lambs are at least looking a little more promising!

Love at First Sight?

2009-10-13T21:07:00.001-05:00

Not even close. Saturday evening we put the new ram in with our Rambouillet ewes. Let's just say the girls were not amused, not even a little bit. I'm not sure if they thought he was a bear, or the creature from the black lagoon, but either way, they were not impressed. They took off running to the other side of the lot and then back again. When I came in from doing the chores, the ewes were standing together wide-eyed in the corner watching this new creature that was blocking their escape route.

On Sunday afternoon, I went out to the pasture to see how things were going. Here's the ram with three of the Rambouillets. At least they were standing still now.

Here the ewes look like they're discussing which would be the best course of action to avoid The Thing...

And now they've decided...RUN!!!!

A few minutes later, though, things calmed down a bit again. He's a little closer to them anyway.

Well, at least that's progress.

We have a couple of Rambouillet ram lambs we raised on the bottle this spring that we decided to try with the Suffolk ewes. (They are related to some of the Rambouillets.) We thought we'd leave them in for about a month or so to give them a chance to see what they could do, and then put the Shetland ram in instead in case they missed anybody. They may be a little too young yet, though. They haven't really acted very interested so far. May have to rethink that idea and put the Shetland in sooner. That is, if the other ewes haven't given him some sort of complex by then. :)

A Closer Look (10/12/09)

2009-10-12T12:43:00.007-05:00

Can you tell what this is? Don't worry...it's not another spider. :)

It's a black walnut from the tree north of the barn.

I need to get out and pick up a bucketful. You can use the hulls to make a natural dye for wool. It makes a beautiful rich brown color.

And you don't need a mordant to set the color, which I'm sure you know if you've ever crawled on your hands and knees to pick up walnuts. The stain doesn't wash out of your clothes. It's been awhile since I tried dyeing fiber with walnuts...sounds like a good fall project.

Fiber Update

2009-10-09T20:05:00.003-05:00

Just a little update on the fiber I sent to the mill for processing. I received a receipt in the mail from the mill that said the wool I sent weighed 19 pounds. Of course, the processed top will weigh a lot less than that because washing removes a lot of dirt and lanolin, and combing will remove quite a bit of the short fibers. Can't wait to get my hands in it, though!

New Critters on the Ranch

2009-10-07T13:36:00.010-05:00

I recently added Google Friend Connect to my blog and soon discovered a bunch of terrific and interesting sites. I kept finding other folks interested in fiber, sheep, etc., and came across several blogs about Shetland sheep. They looked SO cute and small! The Suffolk and Rambouillet sheep we have are pretty big sheep, so that really made the difference obvious, too. Anyway, it's getting time to put a ram in with our ewes for spring lambs. We were needing a new ram this year since some of the ewes are related to the one we had.

I wondered what kind of fiber you'd come up with by crossing a Shetland ram with the Rambouillet ewes. They have really soft, fine, crimpy fiber, but it doesn't have a very long staple length. I understand that the Shetlands' fiber is soft, too, and long. That sounded to me like it might be a good combination. Also, I love the beautiful natural colors found in the Shetlands.

My search led me to Fairlight Farm and Tammy's registered Shetlands. She had a ram for sale that I thought would fit the bill. He was being boarded at another farm, and Tammy agreed to meet us over there to see the ram. With the help of her excellent directions and our GPS, we found the place without any trouble. We met the Jacksons of Three Ring Ranch, who happened to have a few registered Shetland ewes for sale also.

Here's what we brought home:

The ram, whose registered name is Fairlight Omen...

And this little ewe, whose registered name is Three Ring Mai Tai...

Check out these gorgeous fleeces:

The ewe was just born this spring, so although some people go ahead and breed them the first year, we'll probably let her wait until next season, so hopefully it will be a little easier on her. I have another young ewe lamb I'm keeping back till then, so they'll each have some company.

The ewe seems really friendly already. She likes being petted and doesn't seem to mind my fascination with her wool. The ram is still a little wary, but that's probably normal for rams.

So as soon as the paperwork all goes through, I guess we have the beginnings of our own flock of registered Shetlands. Their registered names will stay the same, of course, but I'm hoping the previous owners don't mind if I give them each a nickname. Haven't settled on anything yet, but am still thinking.

Hopefully over the weekend we can get everybody situated and let the ram get on the job. I'm thinking he's hoping so, too. :)

P.S. Be sure and check out the Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival at Alpaca Farm Girl!

A Closer Look (10/5/09)

2009-10-05T13:05:00.008-05:00

This kind of reminds me of one of those ink blot tests. What do you see?

A sure sign of fall...an argiope aurantia spider (I didn't know the name of it until I looked it up) and its web:

You can get an even closer look here and see its eight eyes!

More Lace

2009-10-02T13:49:00.007-05:00

The other day I showed you my first attempt at a lace scarf. I also said that I had cast on a more complicated pattern just for fun. It was another pattern that was on Ravelry, Brooke's Column of Leaves Knitted Scarf.

This was another of my hand dyed yarns (worsted weight). It starts out as a really pale green and gradually gets darker as you go. The pattern really hasn't seemed too difficult. The hardest thing I think for me about lace is keeping track of where I should be (kind of like the Kitchener stitch). So I did another color coded chart to make it easier, especially when I'm knitting while watching TV. The scarf pattern isn't mine, so I won't reprint it here, but I made up a sample chart to show what I've been doing. Remember, this isn't a real pattern...who knows what it would look like if it were actually knitted! It's just an example of how I wrote out the other one.

I wrote out only two rows on each sheet of paper, the right side row at the top of the page, and the wrong side row at the bottom of the page. Then I took a colored marker and put a box around two or three sets of stitches. Then with a different color, another box around the next few sets, etc. It somehow makes it easier for me to keep track of where I am on the pattern.

This lace is turning out to be more fun than I thought. Who knows what I might try next!

P.S. Be sure to check out the Fiber Arts Friday Blog Carnival at Alpaca Farm Girl!

French Bread

2009-09-30T13:53:00.005-05:00

Remember my post about The Machine? I've been using it right and left, and still haven't been buying much store-bought bread. I decided to try something different today...French bread. The machine has a dough-only setting, where it mixes the dough, and after rising, you take it out, shape it by hand, and bake it in the oven. Here's what it looks like:

It smells yummy, hoping it tastes yummy, too.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2009-09-29T09:51:00.006-05:00

One of the goats born on the farm this year has earned the nickname "Monkey."

Let me show you why.

If she sees anything she can climb, up she goes. Here she is on one of her perches. (A half-moon shed made from an old hog feeder.)

After nibbling at some leaves, she's ready to jump down...see how she has her front foot up? Ready, set, go!

And then down and off to the pasture.

A Closer Look (9/28/09)

2009-09-28T15:11:00.005-05:00

Maybe not that intriguing at a distance, but soft and interesting up close...foxtail.

Lace Knitting? Me?

2009-09-25T13:07:00.007-05:00

After all my talk about simple knitting, for some strange reason the other day I was seized by this sudden urge to try lace knitting! Can you believe it?!

So I searched around on Ravelry and found this pattern. It said it was easy, so that sounded like a good one to try first. Here's my progress so far:

I used a fingering weight sock yarn that had been in the shop and didn't sell, and size 3 needles. I did change the pattern a little since the yarn was pretty fine and would have made the scarf awfully narrow otherwise. It has an 18-stitch repeat with two knit stitches at the beginning and end of each row. So I just doubled the repeat, making 36, and added the four end stitches, for a cast on of 40 stitches. The lace pattern repeat is only four rows, and was pretty easy to memorize even for a simple-knit person like myself. I'm kind of liking the way it's coming out so far.

I've even cast on for another more complicated pattern just for fun, but I'll save that for another post. :)

Yes, Sir, Yes, Sir...

2009-09-22T16:27:00.005-05:00

Three bags full!

The weather has finally cooled off enough that I could get up the courage to sort through our fleeces. We had our sheep sheared later than normal this year and it was getting really hot by then. Too hot to want to play outside in the wool. So this afternoon I went through and skirted three fleeces to send off for processing. These are from our Rambouillet sheep. Their wool is really soft with a nice crimp. I'll probably have these processed into combed top. The sheep weren't coated (well, some of them were, but we had trouble keeping the coats on and finally just gave up), and I've been told that combing will remove the vegetable matter. This is the first time we'll have had any of our Rambouillet processed into combed top, so I'm anxious to see how it comes out.

Now to find a big enough shipping box...

A Closer Look (9/21/09)

2009-09-21T09:34:00.006-05:00

Last week I talked about having "A Closer Look" as a regular feature. So...Ta Da! I guess we now have a weekly feature on the blog! Here's today's installment...can you guess what it is before you scroll down?

A sunflower!

This was the first year we had planted sunflowers. We didn't get any of the seeds to eat because the birds beat us to them. I think this is a finch.

It was more fun watching the birds than having to prepare the seeds anyway. :)

Yummmm!

2009-09-19T14:20:00.002-05:00

Is there anything from the garden better than home grown tomatoes?

Sweet corn, maybe? Too close to call, I think. :)

"Prism" Sock Yarn

2009-09-18T15:53:00.005-05:00

I just added another bright sock yarn to the shop in my "Prism" colorway. This is one of my favorite colorways...kind of like a new box of crayons with its bright colors. They're in order, of course: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

This is what it looks like out of the dyepot, before reskeining.

I have a "recipe" for this particular colorway making it sort of repeatable. I say "sort of" because with hand dyed, there's bound to be some variations in shade and/or section lengths. Anyway, if it should happen to sell and you're still interested, just contact my shop, and I'd be glad to try to do one up for you. :)

Aaaack! It's the Kitchener Stitch!

2009-09-16T16:04:00.007-05:00

Last night I finished the knitting portion of my "seven-needle" socks. Now to figure out what color to make them. What I did last night was to weave the toes with the dreaded kitchener stitch.

This time seemed to be easier than most times when I've done the stitch. I guess it's not really hard to do...the main problem I have is in keeping track of which step I'm on. Here's a trick I use to make that simpler. (Remember I like my knitting simple.) This isn't a tutorial on how to actually do the stitch. This is assuming someone already knows how, and like me, finds it hard to keep track of what to do when. I wrote up a chart with some color coding according to the directions I use for making the kitchener stitch.

The key to my abbreviations:

Step 1
FN, P, LO = insert weaving needle into the first stitch on the Front Needle as if to Purl, Leave On the needle.

Step 2
BN, K, LO = insert weaving needle into the first stitch on the Back Needle as if to Knit, Leave On the needle.

Step 3
FN, K, Sl Off = insert weaving needle into the first stitch on the Front Needle as if to Knit, Slip Off the needle.

FN, P, LO = insert weaving needle into the first stitch on the Front Needle as if to Purl, Leave On the needle.

Step 4
BN, P, Sl Off = insert weaving needle into the first stitch on the Back Needle as if to Purl, Slip Off the needle.

BN, K, LO = insert weaving needle into the first stitch on the Back Needle as if to Knit, Leave On the needle.

Then......(this is sounding more complicated as I'm writing it than it really is)...as I repeat steps 3 & 4, I can look at the chart and think "red," "yellow," "green," "blue" as I do each step and look at the corresponding directions for each color.

Wow, I don't know if that will help anyone or not...after seeing it written down I'm thinking maybe I'm just weird. :) But who knows?

Calving Time

2009-09-15T15:08:00.006-05:00

The fall calves have begun arriving. I went to check the heifers this morning and noticed one that seemed to be thinking about calving. She happened to be where I could see her from the house, so I kept watch on her every so often through the window with the binoculars. A couple hours later she was lying down, so I went back out to the pasture and found her with a brand new calf. Here she is cleaning him off.

A couple hours after that, he was up looking for an afternoon snack.

Here's another heifer and calf:

I'm not sure, but think he might have been born this morning. He still looks a little wobbly, don't you think? :)

A Closer Look

2009-09-14T09:36:00.005-05:00

Sometimes there are lots of beautiful and interesting things we might not notice if we don't take a closer look.

If you want to get really up close and personal with this grasshopper, just click on the picture. (I didn't realize that grasshoppers had little black stripes on their back legs.)

I've been working on my blog a little...trying to be more diligent in posting, adding Google Friend Connect, changing the sidebar around...hopefully making some improvements. I may try to make "A Closer Look" a regular feature, maybe once a week or so. What do you think?

A Novel in Me?

2009-09-12T13:14:00.005-05:00

Well, I don't know about that, but I am working on a book. Before you get too impressed, I'm not really writing a book. I'm just sort of putting one together.

Last week we had a different operating system installed on our computer. So I had to reinstall the software programs that had been on there previously. One of them was BookSmart from Blurb. It's a really cool software program you can download for free and use to make all kinds of books. You can then have them published into book form (soft or hard cover) with several different sizes to choose from. I decided to put together a bunch of my favorite recipes into a cookbook. The software has templates for different styles of cookbooks, too. You can also add your own pictures to the front and back covers, and on any pages you choose. I counted about 90 recipes on my list, so it may take awhile to get them typed in. I may not have a novel in me, but this project has certainly made me hungry. :)

Two-at-a-Time Sock Progress

2009-09-11T09:31:00.005-05:00

My "seven-needle" socks are coming along. I've started down the foot and have maybe another inch or less to go before starting the toe decreases. It's been kind of slow going, but this is fast becoming my new favorite way to do socks. As I said before, it might have been easier to use separate balls of yarn, but then you would have had to divide your original skein exactly in half. So in the long run, this way might be simpler after all.

Did you remember this is sport weight yarn? I'm kind of liking it, too. I have kind of narrow feet anyway, so thicker socks might help some shoes to fit a little better. And besides, winters can get pretty cold here sometimes. A few more evenings of knitting, and the "seven-needle" socks should be ready for color!

Equal Time...

2009-09-08T15:07:00.004-05:00

...lest the sheep get jealous of my previous cattle post. :)

Ranch Wife Duty

2009-09-02T13:16:00.008-05:00

I shot an interesting video yesterday evening of one of our bulls pawing up dirt, but couldn't get it to upload. So we'll just have to settle for a picture.

Most of my readers probably don't get to see anything like this very often, and I usually just talk about the sheep, wool, and yarn side of things, so I thought I'd give you a little peek at another side of farm life and "ranch wife duty." (Don't worry...I'm not crazy, there was a sturdy gate between the bull and myself. I just held the camera between the bars of the gate.)

Women who are married to cattlemen often get involved in all sorts of interesting activities. When your husband comes to the house and says, "Can you come outside for a minute?" you never know what you might get into.

This particular instance was pretty "incident-free." We simply had to haul one of the bulls from one place to another in the stock trailer. My job included watching while my husband backed the trailer up to the barn door and letting him know how close he was getting, then pulling the pickup forward and out the gate after he got the bull loaded. When we got back over here, he opened the gate on the back of the trailer to let the bull out, and I caught it and held it back. The bull was kind of stirred up for awhile, so I went in the house and got the camera to take a video of him pawing up dirt. He's doing that a little bit in the picture, too.

My "ranch wife duty" often involves helping with such things as raking hay, rounding up cattle from the pasture (that can be interesting), catching the cattle in the head gate so the men can vaccinate and work them, filling syringes, checking heifers who are about to calve, feeding an occasional bottle calf, etc.

It can be a little scary at times, and sometimes you get in the path of some flying "green mud" as I like to call it, but it's never dull, that's for sure.

Two Socks at a Time on...How Many Needles?!

2009-08-31T13:25:00.005-05:00

Seven!!? Yes, seven. I'm not a very fast knitter, and by the time I get one sock done, sometimes I have a hard time getting motivated to do the second one. I've seen the directions for two socks at a time on two circular needles, and two socks at a time on one long cable needle, but I'm awfully bad about getting things tangled up, and both of those just seem too complicated for me. I get along pretty well with double-pointed needles and decided to try something different. I ordered two sets of size 3 DPN's. My sock book calls for #3 needles and sport weight yarn, so I thought I'd give it a try. (Less stitches per round, too. I'm kind of a lazy knitter, you see.) Anyway, after winding the yarn into a ball, I cast on one sock pulling the yarn from the center, and the other from the outside of the ball. I thought I'd do maybe five rows on one and then five on the other, and so on. But then I have to keep track of those (see? lazy knitter) and decided to just do a row on one and then switch over and do a row on the other. It goes a little slowly that way, but then both socks will be done at about the same time, and without too much concentrating! I haven't dyed this yarn yet. The pattern called for a 270 yard ball, and the one I'm using has 274 yards. Since this is the first time using this pattern with sport weight and that might be cutting it close, I thought I'd wait and dye the socks after they were finished.

It seems to be working pretty well so far, though it would probably be easier if the yarn was in two separate balls. May have to try that next time!

Sewing Project

2009-08-25T09:32:00.002-05:00

I did something a little different the other day...sewing. I keep noticing that everyone seems to be carrying around these giant purses lately. I usually try to carry a pretty small purse because I have a tendency to fill them up no matter what size they are. So a big handbag could make for a pretty heavy load. But one has to be fashionable once in awhile, right? So I bought a pattern that had several sizes of purses, from regular size to enormous (Simplicity 4117). I chose kind of a mid-sized one to start with.

I used what I would call upholstery material. It's red with a little gold and black and lined it with some red and black cotton fabric. The pattern called for just an "O" ring at the end of the tab in front, but I attached a hook instead. The hook doesn't stay hooked as well as it should, though, so I'm thinking about trying to add a zipper. It might keep things corralled better in case I drop it. :)

The huge purse on the front of the pattern is made of faux fur. I may get really wild and make one of those next!

Jumbo Flyer

2009-08-05T09:28:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I installed a jumbo flyer on my spinning wheel. It's an Ashford Traveller that came with a regular size flyer and standard bobbins, which work really well for fine to medium yarns. The ratio, I think though, is a little high for soft, chunky low-twist yarns. (At least that's what I'm blaming my too-twisty singles on.) The jumbo flyer uses the big bobbins also, which hold a LOT of yarn.

I spun up some Falkland singles on it, and got about four ounces (over 150 yards) on one bobbin! The yarn twisted back on itself a little when it came off the niddy noddy, but after I set the twist in water and "thwacked" it a little, it hung pretty straight.

I painted this skein after spinning instead of dyeing the roving first since I was in a hurry to try out the flyer.

It should be listed in the shop soon! :)

Woman vs. Machine

2009-07-18T14:07:00.011-05:00

Ever since we got married a little over 22 years ago, I've been working on learning to bake homemade bread. You know, a really tall, finely textured loaf. My first loaves were about two or three inches tall and pretty coarse. I found out that I was probably getting the water too hot, so after leaving the candy thermometer in the drawer and testing the liquid's temperature with my finger, the height improved, though it still wasn't like that of some of the homemade loaves I'd seen. The taste was all right, the height and texture were what needed improvement. A couple of months ago I thought maybe I should try a bread machine...maybe that would help. But I'm one of those people who think that anything made from scratch is probably better than store bought. (Except for cake mix. I can probably get a better cake from a mix than most I would make from scratch.) Anyway, I considered buying a bread maker. The pictures of the machine-made loaves looked really nice. After all these years of working on it, though, I kind of hated to be defeated by a machine. But then I realized that if the bread maker would make a really nice loaf of bread, it was only my stubbornness that was keeping our family from enjoying fresh homemade bread. So I researched different kinds, decided on one, and ordered it. Soon, it came. I took it out of the box. There it was. The Machine. Could it really make better bread than I could by hand?? I had to find out. I eyed it suspiciously and read through the instruction manual. I used the recipe for a simple white bread first. The loaf came out tasty, but not perfect. I wasn't sure whether to say "Ha! You couldn't do it either!" or be disappointed that it didn't make the loaf I was looking for. Some of the first few loaves fell a little on top, which after reading in the manual and on some cooking websites, was probably due to not using enough flour (or adding too much water). It seems that the amount of flour needed changes along with the weather and humidity. But after several tries, the loaves started staying tall. Really tall. And most with a very nice texture. I've hardly bought any bread since, even for sandwiches. It also has a dough cycle for mixing hot rolls and cinnamon rolls and such.

So, even though The Machine needs a little help from me in making sure the dough is the right consistency, I guess I'll have to send up the white flag in surrender. Could someone pass the butter, please?

Twitter and Facebook

2009-07-06T16:24:00.003-05:00

Well, I decided to take the plunge and try out Twitter and Facebook. Trying to get it all figured out has made my hand and wrist somewhat numb from holding the mouse and my head a little swirly...or should I say squirrley? Maybe both. Anyway, now you can find Prairie Daisy Handspun on Twitter and Facebook .

If I can get away from the computer for awhile, maybe I can even spin some yarn! :)

Rrrr-ibbit!

2009-06-20T15:49:00.002-05:00

On the way to do chores the other evening we were met at the barn door by this guy:

Kind of reminds me of a pickle with eyes. And legs. :)

I'm Back

2009-06-16T16:17:00.005-05:00

Actually, I haven't been anywhere...we've just had a really busy spring. I've even been on a bit of a break from my Etsy shop. A couple of the sheep and one of the goats had some health issues back in the early spring and needed some special care. I also had a set of twin lambs on the bottle for about three months (they were in the basement for about three weeks). Thus the basement project I talked about in the previous post went on hold. I did work on some felting pursuits in the meantime, but not really anything for the shop.

Lately I somehow got the urge to start carding spinning batts with lots of sparkly fibers in them. I ordered some Firestar and Angelina, some dyed mohair locks and bamboo, dyed up a bunch of Merino in bright colors, and started carding away. I really like the way the shiny stuff looks in the batts and the handspun yarn. Here's a few of the batts I listed in the shop:

I'm calling these my "Sparkle Petite" batts. They're small (around one ounce each) with several natural fibers (wool, bamboo, mohair) and lots of sparkle.

I'm also wanting to try spinning some more novelty or art-type yarns using my "sparkly" batts. That's not my usual type of spinning and I don't really know that much about it, so I've ordered a couple of books to get me started. We'll just have to wait and see how these "new-fangled" yarns turn out!

Neglected Blog

2009-02-10T08:43:00.002-06:00

Yes, I've neglected the blog a bit, but I have been busy. We've started on a little "fix-up" project in the basement. Nothing fancy, just planning on painting the walls and putting down some vinyl and carpet. But first there was the job of organization. The basement had become a spot for stashing, stacking, and piling, with a few trails here and there to go from place to place (like back and forth from the freezer). Last week I made enough space along two of the walls to start putting the mold inhibiting paint on over the weekend. I finally ran out of paint, so I'm off to buy more this morning. I had planned on doing that yesterday, but instead found myself spending nearly the whole day trying to get our digital converter boxes hooked up before they turn off the analog signal. Aaargh! It wouldn't have been very complicated, except for the fact that if you want to watch one program while taping another, you need two converter boxes...one for the TV and one for the VCR. And the instructions that come with the boxes don't show you how to hook it up that way. I found some instructions on the FCC website, but I couldn't seem to get it to work even though I thought it was hooked up correctly. After doing some thinking about it, though, I may have figured out how to do it a different way...just need another cable or two. The picture is definitely clearer on digital TV, but it makes using your VCR a lot more complicated. I can hardly even describe what you have to do to tape something using the timer recording feature. And now, not only are there remotes in the living room for the TV, VCR and DVD player, each converter box has it's own remote, too!! Eeeek! I think I'll just go paint.

Sock Yarns

2009-01-26T10:08:00.004-06:00

Wow, can you believe it? I actually stopped felting long enough to put some new sock yarns in the shop. Here they are...

It had been awhile since I'd painted sock yarn...it was nice to play in the colors again! :)

The Felting Obsession Continues

2009-01-13T13:02:00.008-06:00

I'm still in my wet felting craze. Recently I ordered some Optim Merino wool fiber. I can't describe how soft this is!! Optim is Merino that has been stretched to make the fibers even finer. It's really silky and even shiny. I've been working on doing a wet felted scarf with it. The first try didn't turn out like I had planned.

See?

Then the folks at the Felting Forum encouraged me to do something with it anyway, so I took a piece of the "scarf" and used it in a needle felted picture.

I called it a "Great White Octosquid" since it had too many arms to be a regular octopus.

But the Optim was so soft I couldn't give up on it, so I gave it another try yesterday. This time it looks like an actual scarf:

If you have any kind of interest in felting, you might want to check out the Felting Forum. There's lots of great information and felters from around the world that are really helpful and encouraging. But be careful...you might develop a felting obsession! :)

Cold and Gray...

2008-12-17T13:22:00.003-06:00

...pretty well describes the landscape lately. I just came in from making sure the dogs and cats have water, and also thawing out the hydrant and giving some to the horses. There's a tank heater for the sheep and goats and another for the nurse cow and bull, so their water isn't frozen. The temperatures aren't quite as cold today, but we've had some light wintry precipitation again. The cats are tiptoeing around and shaking their paws. They say you can tell what kind of winter weather is coming by looking at the wooly worms. I saw one several days ago that was black all over, and another some time ago that was I think black on both ends and tan in the middle. I guess they have differing opinions on what kind of winter to expect. :)

Brrrr!

2008-12-10T11:08:00.007-06:00

The calendar doesn't say so yet, but it feels like winter is here. We had a little dusting of snow last night and the temps were maybe in the 20s or 30s.

Not too bad, but the wind made it feel really cold. Also the snow/sleet combination was stinging our faces while we were doing the chores yesterday evening. We've started feeding hay to the critters and I had to break the ice on the water tanks and buckets this morning.

I've been poring over the Uniquely Felt book I ordered. There's a ton of information in there. I thought I'd show you some of my latest wet felting projects. You may have seen this one in the sidebar already. It's listed in the shop...a cobweb felt Moebius scarf. It's made from Wensleydale wool, which has a long staple and is really wavy in cobweb felt. This was felted all in one piece with a half twist and no seams.

Next is a purse from Merino wool. The wool I used was already dyed in several different colors. The handle was supposed to felt on, but somehow that didn't work out and I just sewed the handle on.

Here's a vase covered in a thin layer of felt, along with a felted stone. This sounds silly, but I bought a package of decorative rocks at Wal-Mart to use. If you knew how many rocks we have around here, you'd understand why that sounds so silly. But these rocks were smooth, and Missouri rocks are not. You might find a smooth one now and then, but the majority are jagged and unusually shaped, not suited to felt around. Anyway, it would make an interesting paper weight, or you can just hold it. I'm not sure why, but the combination of the weight of the rock and the texture of the wool somehow just feels nice in your hand.

Then we have a felt-covered plastic egg, some swirl beads, and a vessel. The vessel started out to be a beret. I'm not sure why I decided to make a beret. They somehow don't seem to look right on me...but they looked so cute on the people in the book. Anyway, I used a flat resist and about four ounces of wool. There was a thin place in the seam and when I tried it on, it didn't look nearly as cute as it should have. So I decided to turn it into a bowl instead. I tossed it in the washer and gave it some good agitation and ta da!! An interestingly shaped bowl! I needle felted on some one-ply handspun for decoration.

I think I'll get a lot more good out of it as a bowl than as a hat!

A New Look

2008-12-05T13:21:00.002-06:00

I've been wet felting again this morning. I'll have to show you some pictures soon. Just a short post today, but I've also been redecorating the blog. Can you tell? :)

Fulled Slippers

2008-11-19T09:08:00.006-06:00

I thought I'd show you a little knitting project I finished up...my first knitted and fulled slippers. I used sort of a combination of patterns. They're based on the Fuzzy Feet slipper pattern, but also on an old faithful sock pattern I use for regular socks (from Learn to Knit Socks by Edie Eckman). The sock pattern calls for sport weight yarn and #3 needles, casting on 48 stitches. Instead I used worsted weight yarn and #6 needles, also trying to knit rather loosely. I did the cuff in stockinette like "Fuzzy Feet" called for, then did the foot like the other pattern. Except that the foot had to be 12 5/8 inches long! I wasn't sure how much yarn I'd need, so I knitted them first and then dyed them a bright red color. Here they are after coming out of the dyepot:

And after fulling:

I ran them through the spin cycle to get most of the water out, and wore them around for an hour or so over two pairs of fairly bulky socks to give them a custom fit.

And boy, are they ever warm and comfortable!

Wet Felting

2008-11-06T08:37:00.005-06:00

I really hadn't forgotten that I have a blog. I've just been really busy with something new...wet felting. I've seen examples of wet felting before, and had even tried making a sample, but hadn't really gotten into it that much. After seeing some pieces on Etsy and other places, I thought it looked so interesting that I'd try it again. I've dabbled in several different kinds...some nuno felting onto fabric (lots of work), felted soaps, felting using a resist, and cobweb felting. It's so exciting to watch just plain roving become fabric as you pat and rub and throw. Yes, I said throw. I learned that slamming the felt object down on the counter over and over again helps to shrink and strengthen the fabric. It also helps give it that puckered texture that looks so neat, besides helping you take out your frustrations. Most of what I've learned so far has been from reading things online, but I did order the book Uniquely Felt by Christine White. It's supposed to be a good reference book for several different kinds of felting.

Here are some of my projects so far:

First, there are some felted soaps, and then a mitten done over a foam resist.

Next are some cobweb felted scarflettes. They're actually listed in my Etsy shop.

There's also a miniature purse or coin purse that's waiting for a handle and maybe some needle felted decorations. Isn't it amazing how versatile fiber can be?