2010 Calendar Update ...from a procrastinator

I am a procrastinator. Yep. It is true. I have projects due, deadlines to meet, and yet I can't seem to get out of my own way when I have weeks or even months to accomplish them. I have found that sticky -notes help keep me organised - when I don't misplace them. I write events and schedules down in a calendar, then I forget it at home. I have even begun scheduling things in my cell phone so that it reminds me the day before with a cute little "din-dong" sound.

But you know I figured something out about myself two years ago, and that is that I am at the top of my game and the peak of my creativeness when I work under pressure. I can't even wrap my brain around the end result of my work or how to even begin when I know I have time before it is due.

Take my calendar for example. I guess I have a bit of an excuse with that one, as I need seasonal pictures to fill the pages. I swore I would begin designing it in June ...well I stated it four weeks ago. I took pictures all winter, spring and summer looking for the perfect cover shot. I took that picture of Handsome Mike exactly four weeks ago. And isn't it just perfect!:)

Here are a few preview pages. Joker, my Olde Babydoll Southdown ram looking wintry and woolly.

My precious little Katie from a few days old until age two.

And here is Junior with those long fuzzy ears that some how end up in my hands everyday after he eats. I call them his daily ear massage ...he just loves it.

I signed the proof on Friday so the calendars, documenting a portion of my life that I love to share, are off to the printers. They will be available in early Nov so if you like, hop on my website and order. They usually sell quickly.

My new 3 ply yarn is in and it is just scrumptious! The good folks at Green Mountain Spinnery convinced me to try this method of spinning with the chocolaty yummy brown fleeces I brought them in early summer. It is light weight, lofty, and slightly heathered ....mmmmm mmmmmm good! I have thought of several projects I would like to make with this yarn, but I keep coming back to the Ascutney Mountian Hat & Earwarmer pattern in the new Green Mountian Spinnery book 99YARNS and Counting. I am also in love with Maureen's Cardigan on page 56 ( I love her hair too!!) This yarn is fantastic for cables and patterns, it is a light worsted weight - 258 yards/4 oz skein. Every color I pair it up with looks great! Ahhhh I need to go make something with this yarn !:):)

OOOPS ...almost forgot! :)

Well, how could I forget! Look who followed me home from New York!!!! Meet Paulie Walnuts and Silvio Dante! Two wether Angoras with Texas lines ...where they grow em' big!:)

I walked by their pen several times in Rhinebeck, thinking what nice firm little bodies they had and beautiful horns ...no trouble since they are wethers ( I convinced myself ) small and easy to bring home ....hmmmmm should I get one or two? Well you can't have just one since one gets left behind, so we loaded them up on Sunday and headed back to Maine with two sheep ( belonging to my friends Chrissy and Regina ) and three goats, my boys and a little doe for my friend Betty.

To answer a few questions about my wall hanging, Joe was completely needlefelted using his cap and face wool from this spring's shearing. His face and ears were felted with Babydoll since it is so full and lofty, to create depth.

Uma's face and ears were knit with hand spun wool/mohair yarn, her curls and horns were needle felted, and her nose and mouth were created with stitching yarn.

Mellow Yellow is needle felted from his own clip and his face and ears are crochet. Martha's face and ears are hooked with hand-spun yarn from her fleece (this picture doesn't do it any justice) and her fleece is needle felted on. The last sheep has a woven face and crochet ears.

I'll try and post better pictures this week!

18 HOURS, & 7 MINUTES & 2 SECONDS

8 hours of needle felting.

1 hour of applique.

1 hour of rug hooking.

2 hours of sewing.

30 minutes of knitting.

30 minutes of weaving

30 minutes of crocheting.

2 hours of fussing.

5 hours of driving to N.Y.

30 minutes of picking hay off ( after I dropped it in the horse trailer) heads and faces.

5 minutes of walking very fast to building E to make the deadline for entry.

2 seconds of shock and heartbreak from the words " your too late, the competition is closed."

1 minute of disbelief.

1 minute of pleading.

1 kind and understanding judge .....equal one BLUE RIBBON!

When I signed up for the HarborArts Show in April, of course it never occurred to me that it wouldn't be a bright, sunny, fall weekend to sit overlooking the harbor and spin or knit while shoppers perused my booth. Turns out it was quite the opposite! Saturday began overcast and the clouds loomed in my rear view mirror as I drove up the coast to my destination. Foolishly, I wore my favorite, beat-up pair of Keen shoes with a thin pair of socks, but I layered my upper end with my Joe sweater -had to show that off, and down vest. By noon, the rain began falling, it was a heavy mist for a few hours. Boats cruised in and out of the harbor, and people began raising their umbrellas. But you know ...they kept coming! And my booth ...in the dreary grey weather, glowed with bright colors ...and more people began to walk down the paths and into the hollow where I was set up. And the cold inspired folks to knit! Yarns for sweaters, yarns chosen in coordinated colors up for hats and mittens, yarns for ponchos and scarves and vests! Folks became excited and one lady who said she hadn't knit in years chose enough skeins of the bright Turkey Red to make herself a vest! The energy inside my booth was fantastic!By the end of the day I had finished my Weenie Hat, and began a pair of thrummed fingerless mittens. The visitors had inspired me as well.

On Sunday it was a quieter, slow-paced crowd. Fog and heavy mist slowly gave way to cloudy skies and warmer temperatures. The morning was quieter, and I opened up two sides of my EZ- UP tent and watched the bustle on the docks. You could smell breakfast cooking on the big yachts, and dog-lovers brought their dogs to the park for their morning fun. Yesterday I was back to work on my 2010 Calendar. I finished up last night and will send it off for proofs today. I sat on my computer last night cracking up over some of the pictures I found from years past. This project reminds me each year of how fortunate I am to live the life I live. Whether it is shots of my kids laughing and sledding in the snow, lambs bouncing around the paddock, or dogs chasing each other around the yard. It is a good, good life ...and I am so blessed.

Common Ground Fair

Yesterday I took a little "me" time. With the kids loaded on the bus, water troughs full and sheep quietly munching hay, I headed out to the Common Ground Fair. It was such a beautiful drive into the central area of Maine, the leaves are beginning to turn, the sky was deep greys and blues and the wind was moving the clouds across the sky allowing the sun to peek out and cast rays of light on the earth from time to time. I turned off the radio and drove in silence. Ahhhh peace and quiet.

Quite a few of my fellow fiber farmers were vending at the fair this year, I was accepted, but was put on a waiting list. I didn't push the issue though, as I had such a busy year with the wholesale line that I decided to adjust to the demands of that new venture and enjoy one last year of being free to roam around.

I found my friend Polly first by following the smells of Sweet Annie. Polly was busy cutting this incredibly sweet-apple scented plant and hanging it in her booth. She was wearing one of her beautiful Icelandic sweaters, handknit from her Icelandic yarn ...gorgeous! You'll find the nicest hand-made soap around at her farm, Fibah For Ewe, she is a master soap maker! Next I saw Susan Perrine, my weaving friend. Susy was teaching folks how to weave in the Demo Tent. This summer Susy wove some beautiful scarves using two different weights of my yarns. She is an excellent teacher and offers classes for beginners. Don't have a loom? No problem! She can teach you using boxes, sticks ...just about anything! Ohhh and take a look at her Garden Structures on her website, I want her to build several around my property for my sheep!:)
After a cup of hot cider and roaming through the Craft Tent, Rabbit Barn and Poultry Barn I found Betty. She was busy sharing her knowledge of Angora rabbits and how to spin their fiber. Her booth was overflowing with hand-dyed yarns and roving blends for spinning. Across the way I found Louise and Stephen Hessert of Pleasant Valley Farm . Louise was her usual cheerful self, displaying her yummy Romney yarns and rovings.

From there I wandered off to see Robbi - my favorite potter from Maple Lane Pottery. Robbi creates pottery with sheep ( The "Judy Design" I call it as they look like my Judy ), and Belted Galloway cows, and the coolest chicken designs I have ever seen! I spent most of my money at her booth ( Thanks Robbi!!!) which prevented me from going back through the Rabbit Barn and purchasing another Angora rabbit!

Off to look at the beautiful oxen. mules, cows and goats.

These girls made me feel like my butt is not that big.

Please honey ..... can I have one of these?

Wouldn't Romeo love this little girl to play with?
My day ended watching these beauties effortlessly pull thousands of pounds across an arena.

Back to reality! Back to Romney Ridge!

Circles

Sometimes I have days when I go in circles, I used to think that I was this great multi-tasker, who accomplished so much in one day, but the reality is I start a lot of things and take three or four more days to actually finish them.

Yesterday I started and completed some very important tasks that I needed to get done, some because the yard was a mess, some because, well, the leaves are turning and the cold will creep up on us before we are ready, and some because I have several deadlines to meet before the end of the month. I started in my humble little barn, mucking out the stalls, and preparing to re-bed them for the winter. Comet, a.k.a. Evil Bunny is free once again to roam the paddocks and raid what is left of my gardens.

Once the barn was mucked out, I pulled down hundreds of dusty cobwebs, packed up the fans, plugged in the emergency lights, and moved the ponys to the front paddock where the run in shelters them from cold November winds and rain.

Then I set up the "boys" side of the barn. All wethers, three of which are still growing, and Angus, whose "beans" have yet to drop therefore making him a ram still, moved to one side where they can have access to plenty of grain and minerals and have less competition for food from the fat piggy ewes. Then it was on to Queen Uma, whose long locks needed to come off before it gets too cold, and they get too long. They fell from my scissors and piled up ion the stand, a beautiful clip!

I did decide to breed two ewes, one out of curiosity and one for saleable lambs. Shirley, Lyra's dam, went in last week, and Annie, my brown Babydoll ewe is in for the rest of the winter. I am tempted to put Millie in as well, as she always gives me such beautiful lambs, but I have a busy spring ahead and two should be enough to lamb out.After barn chores were done, 125 bales of hay were delivered and put in, and I needed to sit down. I sat on the deck and skeined off the latest batch of Wool/Mohair/Angora blend that just came back from the spinnery. My plans were to over-dye the beautiful , light grey yarn, but seeing it in it's natural state, the mohair shimmering in the sunlight, I decided keep it it's true color. It is gorgeous! I'll put it on my website today along with the new shawl pins my potter friend Donna is making.
In two weeks I will be at the Harbor Arts Show in Camden, then off to N.Y. to judge fleeces and win that big ribbon ( that's a poke at my friend Betty! :) ) So the next weeks will keep me busy preparing, dyeing, and creating. The Harbor Arts Show is a beautiful "high-end" show on the waterfront park in Camden - October 3rd and 4th. Hopefully I can focus on the tasks as hand now that my "Sheeple" are all set for cold months ahead.

Maybe I should follow Sam's lead and talk football with Romeo. :)

From Sheep To Sweater

Yesterday was a day I have waited a long time for. For years I have been saying " One of these days I am going to knit myself a sweater from Joe's fleece." Then every spring, I shear and Joe's fleece becomes roving that I spin. Some I sell, and some I have stock piled in my basket of I-will-eventually-get-to-it projects.
This year though, I decide it was time. Joe is getting old, his beautiful silvery fleece came off his old sheep body this spring and revealed a thinner fellow that years past. His teeth are wearing down and he is treated to a soft mash dinner once a day. Now don't worry, I expect a few more good years with him. My husband was working on the barn yesterday and when he crinkled the wrapper of his granola bar, old Joe came running from the other end of the paddock, hopped over a ladder and began begging like a dog for a piece of the yummy surprise that I am sure he thought was for him.

This spring, I needed a few good knitters to turn out some sample knitting for me so I posted my needs on Ravelry. A young lady from Portland responded and within a few weeks had whipped up two samples. WOW!...this girl is talented ...I knew I had found my "Joe Sweater" knitter. We looked at patterns, took a few measurements, and off she went with a 2840 yard cone of Joe yarn.

Saturday, she returned with the most beautifully knit sweater I have ever seen. I chose a pattern that made up into a long swing-coat type sweater. The detail is exquisite, the silvery yarn flows, and has beautiful drape. I can't stop looking at it, showing it off to friends, holding it, wrapping myself up in it! I just LOVE it! Thank you Bristol! Thank you for your beautiful work, and the time you put into this project. Thank you!

And thank you old friend...here's to many more seasons of watching you grow that beautiful fleece ... and to many more seasons of you.

Rich Reds and A Fall Palette

I'm getting really excited !!! A few of my very talented knitters are almost done with the patterns I am working on. Some have designed for me, some are following, tweaking and correcting my patterns, and some are following patterns they have used for years. All are creating finished products to show how nicely this beautiful 100% Maine yarn knits up. I have introduced some new colors for fall. One being a rich mulberry red, and another a soft pear yellow. YUMMY! They look so beautiful drying on the deck in this perfect weather. Look closely my Yarn-Of The-Month junkies ....September's yarn is in this mix. Remember to check out the Dachshund Rescue of North America's website - Hamlet is who I am donating sales portions to this month.


Aloisia Pollock, a knitwear designer from Jefferson designed this beautiful scarf for me using only one skein of yarn. She displays and sells her work at Pinetree Yarns in Damariscotta. I am so impressed with her work, and she uses Maine grown wools and llama blends. Yea!!!! Her patterns are available for sale at Pinetree Yarns.

Well I cannot show you the beautiful harvest from my garden this year. Mostly summer squash and buttercup squash made it through the damp, wet spring, the rainy summer and the cool late summer that we are experiencing now. The celery and broccoli didn't do too bad, but it is all eaten up and none was left to freeze for winter. These Jerusalem Artichokes look just beautiful though, I suppose I could dig up the roots and eat them. Romeo and Uma are enjoying the lower leaves, and will ultimately eat the whole thing when the first frost sets in. This week I will work on sorting another 250 lbs of fiber, clipping Uma is high on my "to-do" list as well, and Joker's bachelor pad needs securing. I am hopeful that we will have a beautiful Indian summer. Why not, we deserve it.

The cool, dry, sunny weather puts an extra spring in my step, and makes me feel very artsy-fartsy. Time to get cracking on the entry for the New York Sheep & Wool Festival. Last year I won 1st place, this year I am going for Best In Show ... hmmmmm I wonder what Betty is up to? ( wink, wink).

All was well.....

All was well on the little farm. Peaceful and good, sunny and bright. And then one morning, the mercury on the thermometer rose ...and rose ... and suddenly the chickens were panting, beaks ajar, panting as if they were dogs and fanning their wings to keep cool The sheep hid in the dark barn, and the ponies lay in the shade of the maple tree. No one came out in the heat of the day, no one except Joker, who stood in the hot sun and protested the heat. His loud "burp-like" baaaaaas came from deep within him, and suddenly I remembered. He had not been shorn in the spring, Joker needed relief!!!!

A quick call to Jeff, our shearer, and within 20 minutes he had shorn Joker, along with Mabel and Vespa, my two Border Leicesters. As always, Joker's fleece came off looking like a bear rug.

The it was Alice & Mello-Yellow's turn to find relief. My scissors flew around the bunnies' backs and up their bellies. Ahhhhhhhhhh ....what a relief it must be for them. And a treat for me to have these fleeces and beautiful Angora fur to blend into soft roving for spinning.

Today the temperature reached 104 on my deck. Of Course it is in the direct sun with no shade. Standing in the shade makes the outdoors bearable, but still the night time relief is welcome.

After 4 o'clock chores, we are headed for the beach.:)

Maine Fiberarts Tour Weekend ...a great success!

This past weekend, many folks stopped in as they toured farms and studios across Maine. Romeo, exhausted from guiding folks around the farm, pulling zippers on coats and purses, bumming food, and pulling tags off my yarn, finally took a rest on his "front step throne".

Over 65 visitors came, some from as far away as Finland and England, who told me that my yarn was some of the nicest they had seen ( yes my head is swelling ) and bought skeins to take back as gifts for their families ( yes, I am very proud ).

My good friend and weaver Susan Perrine brought over her loom and we designed what we are calling The Kelly-Green Scarf. It is woven from hand-dyed skeins in two weights, in shades of greens and a slight bit of blue. I could have sold it a few times, but instead took orders ....I am wearing this one to the show in Camden, this September!:)

Greens seem to be the "in" color this year.

Two years ago I couldn't keep up with the purples, then it was teals and blues. The colors change with the seasons as well, more natural colored greys and charcoals leave in the hands of knitters, and DK weights go fast in the fall as the sock knitters are replenishing there stash for winter knitting. The last batch of DK yarn that I dyed was in late summer colors ...golden yellows and crisp blues look stunning along with deep spruce greens, and dark turquoise.
August is a lazy feeling month on our farm. The heat of the day causes large woolly creatures to lay in sleepy lumps in the paddocks. Fat ewes and babies pile together like hound dogs on a porch, chickens stretch out in the dust and sun themselves, and freshly clipped Angora bunnies are relax in front of fans in the barn. Uma and Tomday have decided to be "lawn ornaments" like Romeo. Each morning they sneak under the fence to eat grass all day, then relax and digest on the front steps. If we ever get the deck built, we will have to pull the current steps off the house and attach them beside the new deck so the goats can continue their reign.

This morning I delivered more washed fleece to the spinnery. After this run I am going to have a nice fat bulky spun, then more DK weight. Only 3200 lbs of fleece left to work through!