Moving on

I went to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show today and picked up enough beads to get me through the next two years. They will be my color inspiration for a while. The multicolored strings were the most interesting this year. I have learned that the weight of the beads makes a big difference in spinning and the final look of the yarn, so I went lighter and looked for different styles. There was a definite shortage of purple beads. The attendance at the show was a lot less than last year. It was nice not to have to fight the crowds.

I discovered that none of my white does were bred by No Size's Father, so he got replaced by younger bucks. I am not sure, if they will breed. They will have babies in July, so I will have to watch to be sure that they don't wilt in the heat. The young does, that were moved to a regular pen, have yet to figure out that putting their heads through the fence means they can't get them back out. I removed three from the fence yesterday and had to help three others tonight.

This is the laid out version of an abstract landscape that I lay out and then wet felted on Thursday. I will photograph the felted piece before I start embellishing it. It looks nothing like the picture above. My southwestern landscape sold on Friday, so I lay out and wet felted the base for another one. My goal is to make sure that it looks like the Tucson area and nothing like the previous ones. I don't want to get in a rut. I have already spun a few yarns for its surface design.

A friend caught this hummingbird that flew into the studio to check out my yarns. My friend, Stacy, is teaching a class here on needlefelting a hummingbird on the 21st of February. How can you resist?

This is Lindt with one of her babies. I have not named them yet. They will be named after cities in Arizona, since that is my theme for the year.

I am sad to report that Garnet and her lambs did not make it. I had to deal with it myself before I could write about it. My breeder friends told me that I did all of the right things. Unfortunately, once they get it, is is usually too late to do anything. She would have been the first to deliver, so I am going to be antsy, until one of the does or ewes delivers safely. Several ewes and one doe are fairly soon. I hope they wait till after Thursday, when the weather will return to being nice.

I know that losing an animal is part of the farm circle of life, but that does not make it any easier. Each of the animal's that I keep has some characteristic that makes it special. Garnet was friendly and had really cool looking horns. She is already missed.