New Babies in the Bunny House!

Time for Fun!


Things to do, people to see...


Let's Have Breakfast!


We're getting sleepy!

Blue Virginia Blues

There's no blue like blue Virginia blue

Saturday Sky

Saturday Sky

Hopefully just passing clouds on what started out as a beautiful festival day! A parade of tractors just passed by here; one great big fancy one and some little tiny ones trailing behind, with a little boy marching along in between.

The Continuing Yarn....

Hand painted singles, ready for plying

In a previous post you saw these hanging up to dry. Now here they are, nestled in the pansies all ready for another trip through the spinning wheel.


Fox on the Run

The skeins shone like gold in the hot morning sun.....*


Living Water Farms Angora; blends yarns

And more yarns, this time from Living Water Farms just up the road in Natural Bridge. Terri is a wonderful spinner and her three-ply yarns are positively lush! I wish you could feel how soft these are, and the colors are so subtle and as enticingly soft as the fiber used to spin them!

Everyone is getting ready for the big holiday weekend and it has been busy, even in my little corner. Getting ready for the festival, company (hurrah) and more festivals in the future have kept my spinning wheel and crochet hook busy. Today I had a delightful break, though, when a young cousin came by to show me her hand spun yarn and knitted projects! It's wonderful to see such enthusiasm, and talent!

*Probably one of the best song lines ever!

Announcements

The winners of our Fiber Femmes Newsletter give-away are posted on the Fiber Femmes blog this morning. If you're a newsletter subscriber head on over and see if you won, and if not, go on over to Fiber Femmes and sign up for next time!


Choking Hazards

JAG started a new photo group at Flickr, all about "Completely irresistible and irresponsible small things - mostly toys - that children (and dogs, and even the occasional adult) would be unable to keep from putting in their mouths. Look at this as a sort of public service announcement." Who doesn't love small things, but these folks are obsessed with them. Don't miss the discussions in the comments and the notes on the photos!

And I don't even know what this is about, but go on over, 'cause it's going to be something, I think, and you want to be a part of it!

Edited May 17 PM to add:

I just realized that Memorial Day weekend is coming up, and so is the Hit and Miss in the Mountains Festival here in Meadows of Dan. Y'all come out and see us!

And also check in at the Lonesome River Band web site. They have some awesome videos on the site from their recent show in Canada!

What I do on my days off

Spinning...and dyeing!

When it rains on your days off, and the truck is broken, again, the best thing to do it DYE!

I've been saving up this yarn for a good dye day, and this one came about due to having to cancel plans at short notice. So I dragged out the dye pots yesterday and got busy with the hand spun done back in the winter. The purple is some brown Corriedale spun from roving from Rising Meadow Farm. I over-dyed it with acid dyes. Actually, the dye was a bunch of left-over blues and purples; this is just what came out of the mix. Sort of dusky purple, nice!


Silk, lovely silk, and Shetland!

The blue yarn in the first photograph is really a variegated blue and silver with hints of rose. From a commercial roving and spun at demonstrations with the little upright wheel. A nice easy spin! I'd like to have more of it; there's a sweet little jacket in The Happy Hooker I'd like to make with these colors.

The variegated fiber in the second picture is silk, and this is my first try at dyeing silk roving, or top, or whatever it is. It's a bit tricky to keep all the colors from pooling together and becoming green when you're working with yellows and blue, so I was pleased with how this turned out. The other two skeins are Shetland singles that I painted. The Shetland is from Thistle Cove Farm, and I originally intended to ply these with a wild purple single I have spun up already. But now I really, really like the way these colors came out, and may ply the Shetland singles together instead. In the meantime I'm spinning up the rest of the Shetland I have washed to dye next week, on the official dye day I meant to do!

While I was up to my elbows in dye, and the house and I both looked like we'd been through Armageddon, I was nevertheless delighted to look at at mid-day and see Colleen of Loose Leaf Notes and husband Joe coming across the yard. They braved the disorder and came in to chat, with the dogs making the usual distressing racket. Fortunately we could escape to the shop for some quite time to catch up with the news I hadn't seen on Colleen's blog. She's in the process of moving to a new server; I just checked in over there and things seem to be settling down nicely. And happy birthday, Colleen!

Yarns...and Yarns

Fiber on the Mountain Yarns

Jane from Fiber on the Mountain has fallen into the routine of coming up here for a visit every couple of weeks. We have a wonderful time talking and she knits away at great projects while we chat. Socks and the "Wonderful Wallaby" are current projects. This week she brought some more gorgeous hand spun yarns for the shop. Beautiful wools, Corriedale, vibrant colors, ah! She just emailed about scoring some wonderful mohair; looking forward to her creation from those dyed locks!


More Fiber on the Mountain Hand Spun

I'm really eyeing the pink and green yarns in the first photo, and I think my partner Sandra would love the bright greens in the second one. I like to watch what grabs people; it's fun to see how different things appeal! Jane works with soft colors and bright, both with style!


Bilbo's Birthday Party

Linda stopped by on her way to sing somewhere, and left this absolutely wonderful skein of hand spun yarn. The colors are amazing, lots of sparkle, just like Linda! It's beautifully spun and has a lot of character. She also brought a lovely skein of deep, deep chocolate!

News from the bunny barn:

Two nice litters are growing in the nest box. Lucy kindled yesterday and pulled enough wool for three nest boxes. I dug around in it and found her five bunnies; then I took a lot of the wool out to save for later and made a smaller nest so she could find the babies to feed them! Bell is taking good care of her nice little ones. I like litters of five or six; easier on mom and not so much competition among the babies.

Busy days at the shop, and now that this issue of Fiber Femmes is up I need to get to work on my web page.

Saturday Sky...and Stuff!

Saturday Sky

We had a storm last night. Lily huddled on the bed shivering while lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. I didn't think it was as wild as it can get sometimes but Lily wasn't happy about it! I had to dash up to the shop to cover the books on the front porch and unplug the computer, just in case.

This morning the light is strange, and everything outside looks very bright. Inside the colors are muted and soft. There's a lot of traffic already;hope it's a busy day! I'm finally putting Fiber Femmes up for May/June; it's a nice issue!

Bell delivered her litter of bunnies, right in the nest box, just like she should have. She's a little protective of them; this is her first litter and she didn't want me to look last night. This morning I gave her a carrot to distract her and inspected the bunnies. There are six well-fed little ones in the nest: three that look like they will be white and three that should be black. Before I was finished with them Bell came over and watched me put them back. I think she's proud of them!


Greenberry House T-Shirts

I finally got some dyeing done. Not yarn or fiber this time, though. I decided I wanted to do something more with the beautiful logo that favorite cousin designed for me, and hope that t-shirts might be interesting to some buyers. I dyed them myself and did an iron-on transfer. They look pretty nice, except in the picture they should be blue instead of green!

Spring Morning

Shady nook

After another foggy morning the sun is out bright and the sky is wonderfully blue, with big puffy clouds drifting lazily over town. I got out early with the dogs and let them romp through wet grass while the owl-eyed cats hovered near their food dish.


Baby leaves

This is one of my favorite times. The leaves are just coming out on the trees. Bright greens, pale greens, yellows and golden tans; each tree is an individual right now. The shapes will soften into deeper green later.

Bell is busy making a nest in the bunny house; so there may be babies later today!

Spring Frolic, Reynolds Homestead

My booth; it was too wet to bring a lot

Yesterday was the long awaited "Spring Frolic", held every year at the Reynolds Homestead. I haven't been able to go in years; May 5 seems to be the busiest day on the calendar. Hope it didn't rain on all the folks at Maryland Sheep and Wool!

It didn't rain much at the festival, but it was cloudy and cool all day. Not many people came out, at least not as many as usual, apparently. Too cool and too wet. The folks that came out had fun, though. There were quite a few kids and they really liked seeing Gem, the rabbit I brought. And the beautiful alpacas from Hope Springs Farm in Willis. Because I was in the booth, I didn't get to see much of the other activities, but there was a sheep shearing, music, and dancing around a Maypole. There was also a Civil War encampment out past the cemetery.

I met an old friend, and I think she's going to come to the stitching group next time. Also saw lots of other people I knew and caught up on some news. And I got lots of spinning done! The little upright wheel cooperated beautifully; maybe I have finally figured out how to use it!

Gem didn't enjoy the festival much. She's not as outgoing as some of the rabbits but she was the only one that wasn't sheared. I had a feeling that she wouldn't be as friendly as some of them. Gem handled the situation well, though, and I gave her some rest time hiding under a basket in the carrier. Little kids can be a bit sudden, for a rabbit.

Cloudy again today, with flashes of sunlight and some blue sky making me hopeful that the rain is leaving for awhile!

Camels

JAG found this the other day. Scary.

Fun in the Fog

Back to crochet!

We're having a stretch of foggy days; the kind where the stuff just settles down on top of the mountain and obscures everything. It's a strange world out there, not quite real.

Several people ventured out last night for a "Stitch and Chat" sort of meeting, though, and we had a world of fun! Lots of goodies to eat and some beautiful work being done as well as a couple of folks that just wanted some inspiration to get back into stitching. There were two sweaters on the needles and one young lady had several interesting projects in both knit and crochet. Her mother made the fastest granny square I've seen in a long time. I worked on my little slip-stitch purse for the first time in awhile. I think we boosted the creativity of a former crocheter and got her started back with the hook and met a charming woman from the North of Virginia who we tried to convince to move! I think the gathering was quite a success and we hope to get together on the first and third Thursday of every month. Y'all come!

May Day

Seen at Greenberry House the last day of April:


TJ: Here I come!

Is it possible for a Labrador retriever to walk?


Corriedale singles on the Reeves wheel

I'm planning to ply these with camel and angora.


Speaking of camel....

This fine fellow made the trip down from Northern Virginia with JAG, traveling in that adorable little purple bag. I'm collecting camels now, y'all. But only the kind with two humps. I still think it would be awesome to have an alive one out in the field next to the house. Keep checking in. Little Mr. Camel is residing now in the window of the shop and I'm delighted with him. The adorable little purple bag is gong with me!


Stella

This beautiful young lady needed a home, and while she isn't quite as awesome as a camel she has certainly made a place for herself here at Greenberry House. She may soon rule all of Meadows of Dan!


After a long day

Please note paw-over-the-nose look of innocence.