A Little Bit of Plying...

Pure Angora Two Ply Handspun Yarn

This was a special order; I carded the fiber by hand before I spun it up. I don't do much carding, but this went faster than I expected. I had planned to go up north today and deliver this, but the weather was terrible yesterday: rain, sleet, flooding, wind and whatever else November could think to throw at us. The power was out for hours; we finally went to bed early after the last episode of darkness. I kept TJ in the house with me all day because of the weather. He was good but it was really hard on him! Lily liked curling up by my feet on the tartan blanket I had draped over my lap while I was spinning.

Sunshine today, with puddles and mud everywhere as reminders of the day before. The wind is still brisk and folks are passing by on their way to moms and grandmothers' houses for dinner!

I've been meaning to talk about these

Tiny Photo Cards!

I've been meaning to talk about these for weeks, but then something else always comes along. Jane found about this cool site, where you can have little cards made up that have your very own flickr photographs on the back. I'm using them as business cards, and people are having fits over them. Not only are they just plain neat because every one of them is different, but they show fiber stuff and dog stuff and rabbit stuff....Love them!

Fiber Friday

Hand Spun Corriedale Singles

I've been doing a lot of spinning for demonstrations, so I'm getting quite a collection of singles. These are Corriedale, from roving that I had processed from a Rising Meadow Farm fleece. The color on my monitor is terrible; gray rather than the soft browns of the single. I'm thinking of over-dyeing the yarn, although I like the browns. What I have of this in natural colored yarn hasn't been selling and I'd like to experiment with it.


Different Fibers and Singles

While I was at the Folk Festival, I blended merino with angora on my hand cards to show people how the process was done. So I wound up with several balls of white merino/angora blend from spinning on the Reeves wheel. Then I bought the little upright wheel, and picked up some mohair roving at SAFF. That's the pink and blue looking singles in the basket, along with a pure angora single in blue that is part of a special order I'm working on. When I get all the blue angora spun up, I'll set up the Reeves for plying and get all of these singles taken care of!

Saturday Sky

Saturday Sky

Clouds today, there's a possibility of rain heading this way. Right now the sun is bright and the day is warm, with just a hint of fall's chill this morning when we walked in the lower part of the field.

We have a guest blogger on Fiber Femmes this morning; Donna Druchunas, author of Arctic Lace, has posted her entry, which tells a little about her book and about the sources of qiviet. Check it out!

After a busy day yesterday, I'm prepared for whatever happens today at the shop. Lots of things ready to go onto the web site, and I'm also hoping for a visit from Sandra. We have a lot of Fiber Femmes business to discuss!

Where We Belong...

At the edge of the woods

I'm taking long walks with the dogs in the morning, just around the farm so that TJ can dash wildly across the fields while Lily and I follow at a more sedate pace. Both dogs love the corn maze; now that it's not being used I feel OK in letting them play there. TJ romps through the rows; he seems to love the rowdy noises he can make shaking the dry stalks and leaping around surprising us at every turn. Lily primly follows the paths and sniffs urgently at tattered cobs where deer and raccoon have fed.


Riches!

My very generous aunt in Connecticut send two boxes of wonderful books this past week; I've already delved deep into the piles and come up wealthy. Aunt's tastes are broad and she tends to send books that probe deep and leave haunting thoughts behind them. I just finished one, Three Junes by Julia Glass. About a family and the changes they face, it appealed to me at first because of the quiet theme of the dogs that ran through the pages. A telling line, for me, anyway, reads, "When it comes to life, we spin our own yarn, and where we end up is really, in fact, where we always intended to be."


Strange view of the house from the barn

So I walk through quiet fields of family land, and think about the paths that have led me here, back where I always intended to be. Sometimes I lost sight of my intentions, I think, in my younger days. Knowing where you belong isn't so hard, but realizing it, or acknowledging it, is sometimes the struggle.


TJ and Lily, after the walk

So I walk, with happy dogs that want so little of life, just attention, food and a safe place to doze in the sun. Tending to the needs of the animals brings a contentment to life. Watching birds at the birdfeeder through the ivy covered windows, listening to the rustle of hay as the rabbits feed, shearing a sleepy doe in the sunshine in a corner of the barn, and seeing the sheer joy of TJ as he runs through the fields. Changing seasons, slowing down, and taking the time to understand that I did, indeed, spin the strands that brought me here, back where I always intended to be.

Saturday Sky

Saturday Sky

Life is slowing down now, with long days of spinning and crocheting while a spaniel dozes at my feet and the leaves blow off the trees. Suddenly cold; rabbit water bottles have been frozen the last couple of mornings and a cozy chair near the heat is bliss in the evenings.