We have a guest!

Over at Fiber Femmes we are honored to have guest blogger Donna Druchunas, who is on tour promoting her new book, Ethnic Knitting Discovery. I haven't seen the book yet, but Sandra did a great review on her blog and it sounds like a fantastic and unique journey into some wonderful techniques for knitting.

I'm such a knitting beginner myself, but a visit to the web site makes me think that this will be a book for my future! The idea of preserving tradtions appeals to me and the description of the techniques that Donna included in her Fiber Femmes post is intriguing!

What to Do On a Cloudy, Cool Day?

Hearts and Diamonds Soon to Be Baby Blanket

Here I sit, with lowering clouds and an empty shop, enjoying the soft light and crocheting while I listen to music from the Crooked Road. This blanket is for the grandchild of a friend, coming along soon so I've been working steadily on it. The pattern is adapted from a doily by Cylinda Matthews; it has been fun working with it!


Coopworth/Alpaca Hand Spun Yarn

And the latest spinning I've done, which isn't all that recently. Fiber Femmes July/August issue was late, late, late; so much has been happening. So I've spent most of the last couple of weeks concentrating on that and letting the spinning wheel sit idle. But I'll soon be working on my next yarn; perhaps a blend of angora and merino in pure, pure white.

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!

Maybe Winter Is Over...

Pussy willows in the garden!

and I can start blogging again! I've really missed making my entries, and even more I've missed all the other blogs that I usually read every morning! I can't wait to get back into my blog routine, but there are a few more weeks ahead before I can really settle into that. I've made a few sporadic visits lately but not many!

What have I been doing? Some fun things, really. Maggie Alexander from Maggie's Farm in New York asked me to redesign her web page. It was a lot of fun, especially since Maggie is a wonderful photographer and her pictures of the farm and animals really make the page. Go on over and check it out; she has stuff for sale! I'm especially looking forward to trying out some of her lavender soap!

I also had fun designing another web page; this one for a friend in Richmond that is selling log home kits. So if you're in the market for a gorgeous log cabin, go visit her new web site. And even if you don't have a log cabin in your immediate future, the pictures are lovely!


Two little purses, a chenille scarf and a basket of hand spun Corriedale

And we got the March/April 2007 issue of Fiber Femmes up, a couple of days late because Sandra and I were both fighting the plague. Sandra did an amazing job as usual of getting great articles and patterns together. My contribution was the pattern for the little purple purse in the photo above.

And I made another little purse, plus a scarf for me from Dovetail Farms chenille (I think they did the dyeing) and I spun up the last of the Corriedale roving I had. This will go into the dye pot later when I have some more spinning completed.


Jacob Wool from Avillion Farm

Most mornings I'm spending up here at the shop, with afternoons reserved for harvesting some gorgeous angora wool on rabbits that are due for shearing again. I try to get most of them done in December so that in the coldest months, January and February, they have a nice coat. But now everyone is going to need to be sheared in March and April. The good thing is that the does will have short coats when they have bunnies in May! And in the evenings I'm spinning, of course; right now some fun Jacob wool that should make some interesting yarn. I'm still working on filling my booth spaces at the shop; we have some shelving up and more to do this weekend.


Early Daffodils

I've been seeing signs of spring all around the farm, although we still take our morning walks in chilly breezes. Robins have been hopping around the fields for quite awhile, but yesterday a flock of red-winged blackbirds carpeted the ground under the apple tree in search of sunflower seeds dropped from the feeders. The old-fashioned daffodils are starting to bloom, and there are buds on every tree limb around the place. The cats are enjoying the warmth of the sun as the day goes on; I find them stretched out in warm nooks all over the farm.


And of course these two are still...on the couch!

Happy New Year!

Lily's Waiting

Rather belated good wishes for the new year to everyone! I've been up to here with the new issue of Fiber Femmes, and have done very little else since Thursday except work on that. It's a terrific issue; Sandra has recruited some excellent writers that did a splendid job on articles ranging from festivals in Australia to really good pieces about spinning techniques. I did some minor modifications that took a great deal of time, hoping to make the magazine more useful and fun!

Cold this morning; my young friend and I had a very frosty walk. I brought Lily here to the store with me, and soon we need to go back and tend to the rabbits. Too cold at our normal time; the water bottles would just freeze back up again. I'm planning to clean the kitchen today; it has reached a state of clutter that even a hillbilly can't tolerate.

My other minor accomplishments this past week were getting some more pieces on eBay to sell; the first lot went really well. I'm trying to move out some art magazines; they're old and fragile and I want to get them sold before something happens to them. I also did a short review of a book I just finished, started reading two more and finished filling a bobbin of an angora/merino blend while showing Sally about plying. I ran out of yarn for the shell stitch cape I was working on (rats) so I started crocheting a purse last night. I want to write up the pattern for Fiber Femmes; so I'm having to go slow to pay attention.