Meet the Sheep

Meet the Sheep is our annual spring open house event. That was last weekend. Rusty already shared his story but here is mine. I rely heavily on Farm Club to make this event a success.

First was getting pet-able sheep into pens. This is Jazz who is a big pet and has twins, one of whom I'm going to keep and is now named Jasmine.

Amy, Mary, and Sumi ready for visitors.

We had vendors. Colleen, with Fiber Confections.

I offered space to Farm Club members this year. Gynna brought knit caps and other goods. Here is her website.

Brenda has sheep-shaped soap and other items. Here is her Etsy store.

Jackie with Sheep to Shop brought a new item--plant boxes made of felt!

This is another felted piece using Jacob wool.

Carol of 2NFrom  brought hats and these fabulous new pouches. After Farm Club members saw this there were only two of the sheep pouches left.

Many visitors come just to look at sheep. But there are other things happening as well.

Rigid heddle demo by Lisa.

Blending Board demo by Roy (of Clemes & Clemes who makes the blending boards as well as carders, etc)

Great Wheel demo by Deborah. By the way, this Great Wheel lives at my house and I have no room for it. It is for sale but I don't have it listed on the website yet. Contact me if you're interested.

Laura demonstrated inkle weaving.

Alison sketched sheep off and on -- in between spinning -- and left her finished product with me at the end of the day.

Julie is the person who many people look forward to seeing year after year. She brought her dyeing demonstration, but also...

...bunnies. Oh boy, were those bunnies a hit!

Julie also brought a couple of Karakul lambs and an Angora kid. They all had plenty of attention.

I can't believe I got through the day with hardly any sheep photos (although I did spend most of the time in the shop and when I got out I tried to get photos of all the other things going on). That's Jade who is our best pet sheep ever.

And this is my bottle baby who found a new mom to take him home.

This is most of the Farm Club crew who made this possible. Thanks, everyone!

Lambtown, then Spinzilla

I haven't posted since I was in Texas over a week ago. I had a great time with my granddaughter but what did I bring home? Not a puppy. Not a longhorn. A cold. So I felt pretty awful for several days, but I'm back and trying to catch up with things. (Although I'm catching up on computer stuff early in the morning because the cough kept me from going back to sleep.) Lambtown, the annual sheep/wool festival in Dixon was last weekend. It's only 15 minutes from home so it really couldn't be easier. But being a vendor at a fiber festival is never easy.

It is always a challenge to decide what to bring and how to fit it in a 10'x10' space (which really wasn't this year, especially when you subtract the space with the post in the back corner). This year I focused on products that no one else would have.

I brought my brand new lambskins (incredibly soft and fluffy), brand new handwoven ponchos, and Jacob fiber and yarn and buttons.I brought my new farm photos in 2 sizes and as notecards. There were also my new calendars. (As I'm writing this I realize that there are a lot of new things to get listed on the website.) I also brought rigid heddle looms and weaving equipment.

In addition I brought sheep. I had chosen to not bring sheep because it's just too much work to have a vendor booth and sheep in the barn, but the show organizer asked me to bring my sheep. With the help of Farm Club it all worked out. The Primitive Breeds Sheep Show wasn't very big but there was some Shetland competition. Honey and Marv were awarded Champion Ewe and Champion Ram in the division. They make a nice looking pair.

As Lambtown ended, Spinzilla week began. From the website: "Spinzilla is a global event where teams and individuals compete in a friendly challenge to see who can spin the most yarn in a week!" This is the fourth year that I have hosted a team for this program that raises money for youth needlearts mentoring programs all over the country.Not all of our spinners are local, but some who are showed up here Monday morning.

We had to take a puppy break at one point when my sister-in-law visited with her new 2-month old Queensland heeler.

Spinners are continuing to spin at home all week, but on Wednesday several showed up here again. The weather was nice enough to be outside. Notice the wheel in the background.

I had seen this on the way to the bank in Dixon on Thursday evening. All it needed was a drive band and a cotter pin to hold the wheel in place.

Alison and I got it going. I had figured that I'd resell it because I just don't have room in the shop or the house. But it is way too cool. I'll have to hang onto it for awhile at least.