Tour de Fleece 2011

Tour de Fleece has begun! My goal this year is to finish processing the fleeces I have in the stash. Not spin. Process.

Day one is dedicated to washing the one fleece I bought this spring. It's a lovely Border Leicester x Wensleydale ewe fleece. I have a dark fleece from her lamb last year already in the stash. Her fleece is soaking in the tub right now and it's coming out a variety of grays from pale silver to pewter.





Prior to the Tour, I also did some weaving.





I knitted a baby blanket and a monkey.





I spun some yarn.



And played with a new alpaca cria at my friend's farm.



All in all, I've been a bit busy since my last post!

I need a time machine!

I don't know where the summer went. I've been super busy dyeing and spinning and gearing up for the Fall Fiber Jubilee but I keep thinking of more things I need to do. Since this is my first show, I am flying by the seat of my pants. It's anyone's guess how much I'll need to bring or what will even be popular. My Etsy shop has already taught me that my favorites are not the same as everyone else's. I've been cranking out batts as fast as I can and today is a big yarn dyeing day.

For anyone who isn't dyeing, this is National Alpaca Days weekend. Find a farm near you and go check them out! I was going to do a spinning demo today, but a friend's alpaca finally had her cria yesterday and I was up too late last night. Between that and needing to get ready for next weekend, I had to make the executive (hah!) decision to stay home and behave myself. I even declined seeing the cria again today! I'm so dedicated to my art.

Look at what I'm missing!

Lots of catching up to do

Tucked in with my mail yesterday was a flyer for the Tall Grass Farm Fall Fiber Jubilee. I've been a shopper there before, but this time is going to be special for me. Ambrosia and Bliss is listed for the first time ever as a vendor. I'm working on my stock and trying to figure out how I'll set up a table with my yarn and fiber. It's exciting and a bit nerve-wracking. This has been such a hot summer and I don't have air conditioning, so I haven't dyed much lately. When I'm already a melted puddle, cooking a big pan of steaming water at 185 degrees for hours is counter-intuitive.

I spent most of my summer looking like this:



Now that the weather is cooling off a bit, I've been dyeing again and slowly making progress. I have a few things I'm excited about. I'll be bringing batts, dyed locks, lots of roving and some hand-dyed yarn. One of my yarns has real silver in it and sparkles - hopefully it'll be a hit at the Jubilee.





I won't have any to sell, but I've been weaving more blankets with my Hazel Rose looms. This one was made with a variety of "pink" Phat Fiber samples spun together and then plied back to make a two-ply. The skein gradually changed colors, which was perfect for the weaving. Although all of the diamonds came from the same skein, each one looks distinct. I wove the pale pink areas with Cascade 220 so the handspun could stand out. These are so easy to make and a nice change from knitting.





Another reason I haven't been dyeing much this summer is I've been busy with other non-fiber things. Hard to believe, but it's true!

Since I moved, I haven't had a yard that I can fill with gardens. I've been very lucky to have a few small gardens to play in at the EAA Seaplane Base. I started planting them several years ago and they are finally coming into maturity. The EAA Fly-in happens every year at the end of July. The rest of the year, the Seaplane Base is private land. I designed gardens that would hopefully peak for that week and need very little maintenance or watering. Because of these restrictions, I chose mainly prairie plants with deep root systems. I was thrilled to see this hot weather was good for them and they were full of flowers this year. Even better, the swamp milkweed was covered with Monarch caterpillars. Each plant had 20-30 caterpillars in a range of sizes and I saw an adult laying more eggs during the week. Little things like that make me happy.







A friend of mine keeps alpacas and had two crias born earlier this summer. I actually had my hands on one of them during delivery (very warm and slimy) and got there right after the other one was born. Due to some post-natal excitement, one of them had to go to the veterinary hospital, so I also got to play chauffer. There are few things in life funnier than driving an alpaca around in a mini-van. I've been spending a lot of time hanging out with my friend and her alpacas. I need to live vicariously through her because I definitely can't hide an alpaca in my back yard. The two babies are growing so fast and they are fun to watch when they play together.





I also made a much-anticipated trip to Portland, OR last month. I used to live there and hadn't been back in about seven years. I planned a trip with my two sisters and we had an action-packed six days to see as many sights as possible. High points were Voodoo Donut (where I had a bacon maple bar - yes, a donut with bacon on it), driving up the Columbia River Gorge and visiting the coast near Newport. I had forgotten how beautiful it is out there. I really need to go back. All those mountains are good for my soul.

What happened to April?

I swear I had no idea I went so long without an update. I did have a vacation somewhere in there, but it's been a busy month.

My April PhatFiber box arrived last week! I still have to do a write-up of all the goodies, but here's a preview. This month I got all fiber and no yarn. A few of the contributors got boxes like this instead of the usual mixed yarn/fiber style. I suppose it all depends on how many of each kind of sample show up. I don't mind since I've been a spinning maniac lately and haven't been knitting at all. I'd rather see the pretty yarn samples end up with people that may actually go on to purchase more from those talented sellers.



I haven't touched my box since opening it because I've been busy working on my May samples. I worked again with CJ at Extreme Spinning to develop a custom colorway for the "Flowers and Showers" theme. It's called "Crabapple" and is a lovely blend of pinks, green and brown inspired by spring-blooming crabapple trees. I'm getting it in several fibers, but the Suffolk/Hampshire sock roving arrived first. I've written before about how much I love this fiber. It's a dream to spin, especially with my new Jumbo Sliding Hook Flyer. I can get a LOT of yarn on a jumbo bobbin. They'll handle 4oz no problem and I'm working on filling one bobbin with as much as it will hold.

This fiber looks very bright in the roving, but it's more subtle when spun. I can't wait to see how it looks once it's plied. Green and pink is one of my favorite combinations.





I also had a wild, fiber-filled weekend. I went to the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival and volunteered to demonstrate drop spindle spinning. My cousin's wife and my new fiber co-addict came along to demonstrate needle felting. I met a bunch of women from the local spinning group and recruited several vendors to hopefully become future Phat Fiber contributors. I also fell in love with an alpaca and am keeping my fingers crossed that I can buy her fleece. After she's shorn in a couple of weeks, I should get notification on the weight and price of her fiber. It's lovely stuff and I hope I'll have some swoon-worthy pictures to share by late May. I LOVED being around alpacas again. I used to work with them as a vet tech and the first time I heard one hum yesterday, it brought it all back. I've also volunteered to help with a shearing day in May. I'm not sure yet if I'll be needed, but if I am, I'll get to see first hand how shearing works and I'll be able to refresh my alpaca handling skills.