A sheep adventure with 2 friends and a dog

I heard via e-mail that there were a couple of sheep in need of rescue. The owners had lost their property and had moved out of state. They needed someone to pick up the sheep. I don't normally take in unwanted sheep, but these were two that had been purchased from me as lambs and had never been around other sheep or goats. So I rounded up my friends (Chris and Colleen) with the enticement (bribe) that there was another fiber event going on in the area and my dog and we drove to Placerville. The first hard part was finding the place. We had very detailed instructions, but I'm glad that there was someone to read them as I was driving. I knew that Rusty couldn't effectively herd these sheep with a cone on his head so I found a rib band from our collection of arm/foot/shoulder injury paraphernalia and put that around his middle so that the drain tube wouldn't get hung up on a bush.  The sheep gathering itself went surprisingly well (you can read about that on Rusty's blog as he described it fairly well, if you can get over his know-it-all attitude). What Rusty didn't say is that, even with his skill and expertise, we never would have got those sheep in without the extra friends and the panels.

Next stop was the Yarnival, a celebration of the opening of the PluckyFluff workshop at a winery in Placerville. It seems like I usually recognize everyone at out local fiber events, but the PluckyFluff following includes a different group of people. There were vendors, live music, and pizza on the winery grounds. I don't usually take my dog to events like this, but I couldn't leave him in the hot car (the sheep were OK in the back with the shade) so he came along.

The yarns are wild and crazy. I'm not sure how you actually use most of them, but they are certainly fun to look at.

This is a collection of handspun yarns from around the world made into the "world's largest skein".

Here is a detail of that yarn.

There were a few sheep and goats around. Isn't this a beautiful colored Wensleydale? Do you notice the color of the dirt? Dirt in the Placerville area is red. That sure makes for a beautiful sheep, but I'm told that under that red color this sheep is really a brilliant white.

A huge Angora rabbit.

The little girl at the end of the bunny' leash was walking it right towards Rusty. I told Rusty to lie down and cautioned the girl to avoid the dog.

An amusing sign.

Ideas for my husband since we have at least 3 places that need handrails.

Yesterday

In a round-about way I figured out how out how to find my photos that are resized for the blog. I will probably learn a better way later.

My friend, Jackie, had asked me to check Rusty's social calendar  for Wednesday because she needed help moving her sheep into the shelter in preparation for shearing a few of them today. What a difference a dog makes. Poor Rusty didn't get to do much because once he showed up the sheep WANTED to go in the shelter with the llama.

Back at the shop, here is what UPS delivered today. This is silk/merino sliver in several colors. Soft, ready to spin.

And this is soft Merino fiber. Now I need to get this posted on my website.

Community Cloth Celebration

I have posted before about Rebecca Burgess's Fibershed project. Rebecca made a personal commitment that for a year she would wear only clothes that originated within 150 miles of her front door. Think about it. That's not an easy task. This project is still ongoing, but yesterday there was a celebration of the project and of  Community Cloth , an effort to build the first farm-based cotton mill in the U.S. To have a viable "Fibershed" there must be a source of fine threads so that we can create cloth for t-shirts, jeans, and "regular" clothes, not just the kind of garments that most of us think of when we knit or weave. It is exciting that it is happening right here in northern California on Sally Fox's organic cotton farm. I drove over to Point Reyes Station with 3 friends. Here are some photos of our evening.

The event was held at Toby's Feed Barn, originally a feed store and still a feed store, but also an event center and gift shop. Chris and Diane and I wandered around town for a little while before the event officially started.

There was great music all evening.

I provided a blanket and a lambskin for the silent auction.

Diane, Chris, and Shelby enjoying before-dinner beverages.

When it was announced that those people wearing their own hand-made garments would be first in line at the food table we all put our outerwear back on.

Check out this bicycle-powered drum carder. The power-source for the new mill will be the sun, not bicycles!

The highlight of the evening was the fashion show. Models wore clothing created by local designers from local fibers for Rebecca's Fibershed project as well as many natural-colored cotton garments sewn from Sally's cotton fabric stash. This is the sweater knit from Meridian Jacobs 2-ply yarn. Note the straw-bale runway!

This model is wearing natural-colored cotton garments. The slide show in the background was going on throughout the event. Paige Greene is a fabulous photographer and she, being the daughter-in-law of a fiber grower, has documented the project from it's inception.

Those are my rams looking on as another model passes by.

Great event, great friends, and you know what is really great? There is so much enthusiasm, especially from people younger than me. I want to keep producing fiber, teaching about fiber, weaving, but not only do I not have time to adequately market my products, I don't have the energy  to think about it or the expertise to do it successfully.  There are people out there who appreciate what people like me are doing and want to help!

Holiday Open House

Does it bother you when people call an event the  "First Annual..."? Well, we had such a good time today, that I can say that we had our First Annual Holiday Open House. We WILL do it again. Two friends joined me with their wares. Jackie's business is Jack's Wool/Isabelle's Items.

This is one of Jackie's signature paw-print felted bowls and a felted sheep.

How about a felted hot-pad?

or felted ornaments?

Diane's family are commercial bee-keepers. She has recently explored local marketing of their honey and beeswax products.

Diane had sage, wild-flower, and clover honey. We sampled them and there are definite differences in the flavors.

Jackie and Shelby taught visitors needle-felting throughout the day and everyone took home a needle-felted ornament.

One of the best things about the day is that my shop is clean and orderly.

Thanks to Jackie and Diane for helping me with that. It is such a relief to have that done. What a pleasant place with Christmas lights sparkling and Christmas music playing.  This was our big advertised day, but I plan to be open again next weekend even though Diane and Jackie won't be here. I really love my shop and it's a great place to spend the day!

Scarves and a pony

I'm trying to get my shop ready for Shearing Day on Saturday. I'll be spending my time in the barn, but my friend will staff the shop and I need everything organized, labeled, etc. Here are new scarves.

This one is rayon chenille with a supplementary warp using a ribbon called Luna.

Same basic warp, but a different supplementary warp.

Here is another "left-overs" warp. The blues.

Another left-overs warp. This one is deep purple, but I can't get that color on my screen. Maybe it will show up purple on your computer.

I carded some sample batts using the Ashford drum carder and the new Wild Carder. Lots of fun! I wish I had time to do more of this.

The top two batts are using fiber that I dyed for a Color Wheel class. Those will be fun to spin. The white batt is from Jacob wool--it is thick and soft. I have a new packer brush on the drum carder and it really lets you pack in the wool.

Last, but not least, is a pony from the Wool Pet pony kit. I love the look on his face. I am also needle felting a donkey, but she is not finished yet.

St. Fleecia Day Celebration

I belong to the Spindles & Flyers in Berkeley. I don't get there very often because it means LEAVING HOME and going to THE CITY. But I did make it to the annual holiday celebration on Sunday. This is the day that the group honors the great Saint Fleecia, a spinning saint (sprung from the creative mind of a past president of the group) who brings fresh fleece to diligent spinners, but leaves sheep droppings in the shoes of negligent spinners. As is the tradition at the St. Fleecia Day celebration, the legend of St. Fleecia is read, eggnog is consumed (except by designated drivers), and wonderful food is shared. There is also a challenge. This year it was to make a fiber avatar using the fiber it represents.

These are some of the entries. In the back is a handspun, knitted llama. There is a pair of felted bunnies and a knitted bunny, all of Angora. The pair of bunnies was 3rd place.

This opossum is felted from wool and opossum. (This is fiber from the Australian version, which is different from that found in the U.S.)  I love the babies hanging from the tail. This was 2nd place.

First place was inspired by the recent program by Linda Cortwright of Wild Fibers. This is a yak diorama with an actual (well, sort of) yak in the foreground.

Can you understand why I like the people in this group?