Another Post

I just read Yarn Harlot's Blog.... OMG... thanks to her I just remembered....  I'm supposed to have a pair of socks knitted by now with silk hankies.... it's the end of January and I was supposed to do one a month until I had enough for everyone for Christmas next year.... right.... I was happily forgetting in blissful ignorance until the Yarn Harlot reminded me of this.....

Argh!

Run Around

Yesterday was a complete run around day. I had finished the 100% Cashmere sample for level 4 and had moved onto the cashmere/wool blend but I didn't get a chance to get as much done yesterdays as I hoped since it had a couple of meetings and didn't get home till  well after 2 p.m. Then I was working for about 1 and 1/2 hours before I had to get supper ready. It's days like that that you scratch your head and wonder where the time is going. Today is lining up to be a better day work wise.

The weather has been very strange here for two days. One day cold one day above freezing with the snow dripping off the roof. With Chinooks blowing in one after the other it almost feels like spring which is not good since if the snow melts too quickly we will not have enough grass for hay again this spring.

I know I talk about hay issues a lot but really it means the make or break of a farmer. Without feed there are no animals... or if the feed is too expensive too many years in a row then it does not bode well for making enough money off the animals to keep them.

Part of the reason why I decided to get animals in the first place was because I needed to feed the mill wool... but now that I've sold the mill I'm trying to decided what direction I want to go. There is not much market around here for spinning fibre... unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) I don't live in an area where there are a lot of people who spin and weave... and frankly weavers want fibre already spun. There is a fellow alpaca farmer who lives north of FSJ and has just gotten back some really nice yarn that came from her animals. She sent it to a mill in eastern Canada and it is lovely and best of all sells like hot cakes.  That is pretty much where I am.  I'm thinking that it is time this year after shearing to sort my fibre by colour and send it off to the mills to be spun... (some of it I will keep for me) and make a business of selling yarn both dyed and natural. My summer dyeing retreat would be all about getting fibre ready for sale... I'm really liking the idea. Ye Olde Batt would have to become Ye Olde Batt... Strung Out.  (Hee hee!! Teapot might think Strung Up!)

Anyway as for the Cashmere samples... here are a couple of pics....

!00% Cashmere 3 ply yarn very soft and lovely to touch.

50% Cashmere, 50% Wool, 2 ply yarn also very soft but not as soft as the first sample.

I think I'm using these as examples for my 150 hour project.  I will decide based on these two samples and a few more samples which yarn to use for this...

yes this was my final decision... I had bought all that Cashmere fibre and I couldn't very well forget that.... almost $200.00 dollars worth of Cashmere.... you don't just throw that away! So onward I go.
no Lopi Sweater... at least not now! : )

So today is all about the write ups for these two samples and then I'm on to the silk section...  I hope your not too bored with all this shop talk. Bare with me and I'll try to say something awesome or funny tomorrow... (snork!)

Valley Girl

Ok... so this makes my valley look like a regular hole! Oh to be in Switzerland.... the Switzerland of Heidi...

Feb. 1st

You know who's poppin their head up tomorrow....

It's Groundhog Day tomorrow and though we just had a quick dip in the temperature with -20 degrees for the last three days, I woke up once again to another Chinook... it sounds like there is a gale force wind coming down the valley... almost like there's a train rumbling through my front yard. The temperature has risen over night to +5 degrees... and though it is still black out there I know it is clear because I can see lots of stars shimmering in the sky.

I never really related to Groundhog Day growing up. But now, when the 2nd of February rolls around, I am glad... not so much because there's a groundhog going to get poked and prodded into showing his face whether or not he wants to, but because for me the 1st of February means that the worst of the winter is over.... and because I have to get crazy speedy on the level 4 homework...and because I can cook dinner in the evening by daylight now.

Several things to update on....

1. I did not get the cashmere section done yesterday, though I'm expecting to today... I finished all the written work for the camel down section of homework, and I have the cashmere ready to spin.... for both questions (there's only 2 questions in the cashmere section). Last night, Teapot was stricken with a head cold and sore throat, so in an effort to be kind to me, he decided to snork his way through the night on the couch... so I went to bed long before I was ready to, and so I, in great foresight, took some of my work to bed with me... I ended up sleeping with a baggie of cashmere, some cashmere and wool rolags, a set of hand cards, my level 4 text book, and my notes that I took when I was in the level 4 class. I know this seems weird but I was working until midnight last night and was so tired when I finally put my books away that I didn't have the heart to get up and actually put my books and things somewhere off the bed, so I slept with them!

2. Daughter #1 now has her First Aid ticket. She was away over the weekend with the JCRs to do a First Aid course. It was her first time staying in a hotel without her mother or father being there and she came home completely wiped out.... I think she stayed up too late and watched too much TV (which she doesn't get to do too often)... I'm filled with maternal pride....

3. Hay.... finally we have some. Ten bales for which Teapot is paying today when he meets the farmer in town later this afternoon. We are paying an exorbitant price for it... $75.00 dollars a 1200 lb. bale (last year we paid $45.00 a bale) which includes shipping.  The price is making me think that maybe sheep are not going to be in my future... however, alpacas will remain here on our farm... and I'm not sure what to do with Honeydew. In the meantime the shipper will send it in to us as of Saturday...

4. Thanks to you all  who emailed or left comments on my blog to tell me that you liked my hair cut... I've had tons of comments on it from people who live nearby and a few emails, and one very nice comment on the blog itself... thanks.  It does the ego good.  It's growing on me more and more, especially as I don't have to fiddle with it each morning. I do rise from my bed with a hen's arse on the back of my head though... it's quite funny... but a wet comb makes short work of that!

So there you have it... my news flash for Feb 1st.... (as exciting as it is snork!)... enjoy your Groundhog Day tomorrow as I will be off line tomorrow and away from the computer....

A Walk On A Sunny Winter Day

Don't you just love days like this?.....

Sleeping On The Job

It's beautiful and sunny here today... Which is why I find it strange that I can't seem to keep my eyes open.  I slept like a log last night... 10 hours of uninterupted sleep... I can't remember when that happened last. I never opened my eyes until 10:10 a.m. this morning, so feeling pretty darn good, I jumped out of bed and had a shower. Downstairs a short while later, I decided to read a little on the couch while drinking tea after breakfast.... it was 12:30 next when I opened my eyes after falling asleep while reading... Teapot is absolutely astounded at my ability to doze off after only getting up 45 minutes earlier. It has been a once in a lifetime relaxing Sunday morning... one of the reasons I retired from the church almost a year ago... I think I was burned out at that time and now I'm always ready for this kind of relaxing day. As a matter of fact, I'm still feeling like if I dropped my head back on the back of this chair I could doze off once again.... which is really weird.

Meanwhile I wanted to finish the little sweater that I was doing for my level 4 homework. All I had left to do was to sew on buttons... so I did that just a few minutes ago. And here is the result of all my last few days of work.

Sweater in foreground and behind it is the 10 metre skein and the fibre I used to make it.... and in the far background you can see all of my camel down skeins, blended or not....

Teapot is quite disgusted that my little sweater is so little... he wanted to wear it. : )

So I will spend a few hours sorting my samples and getting the write ups done and putting them in my binder. Later today, I am going to get my Cashmere out and get going on the next section which only has two questions... so if I'm very good I might.... I just might get my three sections done before the end of January yet!

That is if I don't fall asleep again.....

Catch Up On Work

It's been a while since I have blogged about what I am doing. It can be hard to balance this blog with all kinds of information. Some of my readers are family and couldn't care a fig about spinning,weaving and knitting... while others follow this blog for exactly that purpose, then there are others who follow this blog because I farm so I try to write a little about that too. It is hard to find the perfect balance and I know that I'm not even close doing this perfectly, but today I'm going to show you all some pictures and tell you all about what I've been working on.  

 The current question that I am working on for my level 4 of the MSP is a camel down blend question... basically I have to blend camel down with something and make a yarn and then use it to knit or weave or crochet a tiny garment. I decided to blend camel down with silk at a 40/40 blend and then blend in some bison too. So I have 40% Camel down, 40% Silk, 20% Bison. It is very luxurious and soft. I decided that a 3 ply in a worsted technique would be best and I decided to weave it on my tri loom in a continuous thread thereby not breaking a perfectly good yarn. It started out really well and I just love, love, love the yarn.... this picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice.... it is so soft and all the silk really makes it sparkle in the light... this picture just makes it look brown but in actuality it is a combination of silver, (that would be the Bombyx silk),  gold (that would be the camel down), copper, (that would be the copper dyed Tussah silk rovings), and earth (that would be the Bison)... it is gorgeous... even if I do say so myself...

Here are some pictures....

This is the best picture I  could get.... God, it's nice! Just look at that shimmer and then imagine that ten times more and you might be close!

Then I started weaving.

But I realized in very short order that the weaving was not showing the yarn to it's best advantage so I pulled the weaving apart. Considering that it is a 3 ply, (for you non-knitting types, 3-ply yarn works better for knitting because it is a round yarn and looks best in knitted form), I decided that knitting was the best option and so I got to work and cast on 32 stitches and began knitting a man's vest... but really tiny... like for a Teddy Bear.... but I knew after a few rows that I had too many stitches and would run out of yarn before I could finish it... so I raveled it out and began with fewer stitches. It took two more times before I got it right but I have the back of the mini vest done and I have half of the left front done. It is showing the yarn off as I wanted it to... but I will show pictures here later today when I get it finished.

So I have not been idle... these last few days... it took two days to card and blend and spin enough yarn to have the required ten metre skein and enough for the little vest too. 

It doesn't look like I will get the third section done before the end of January but I hate doing a half assed job on stuff and so I wanted to do this question well before I moved on. But if I get this question finished today there's still a chance I can get a little done on the next section before the end of January. We'll see...

Anyway, do stay tuned to see my itty bitty vest.....